Polynesian., 1862-11-01
Type-SeIfin. by Steam.

The Alden type-setting and distribut ing ma
chine promises to bear the relation to manual
- composition" that the locomotive does to the
stage-cOach, the photograph to portrait painting,
and the sewing machine to stitching by hand.
We say PROMISES because its capabilities and
economy yet to be fully tested In the nightly
rush and wear and tear of newspaper printing
Office. If it do all the work that seems to be
in it, then there is another nOiseless revolution
ahead But cOmpOsitors need not fear that they
will be thrown out of employment all at once.
They will only have to master the machine (Which
their nimble fingers can readily do) As the stage
coach driver became transformed into the railway
conductor, the pOrtrait-pa painter into the photo
grapher, and the sewng-girl into the operator of
. Singer" or - Wheeler & Wilson, so will the
compositOr be changed by the irresistible destiny
OF mechanical improvement, into the manipulation
of the Alden type-settIng and distributing ma
chine.
There wonderful stories told of the inventor
Alden !; how he tOiled for twenty years over his
distracting problem how he ruined his health and
gained the undesirable reputation of Il madnan
among his particular acquaintances and all to no
purpose, until the phantom of success which
Knocked him so long was caught and pinned down
in a strange vision Of the night how, rising from
his bed ut this moment of almost supernatural
perception, he jotted down his plan a piece of
paper; and. his great task being ended, died IA
few months afterward. The story of the - divine
ahLtus," or whatever else it might be called
which threw flood of light all over the dark parts
of his puzzle. and made the whole clear as day to
him-iS not hard to believe, because it is in some
such mysterious way that genius often attains it's
trumphs. That he should have cleared his path
through all the complexities of this machine with
nothing but cool logic and figures and tentative ex-
perments, would be still more incredible.
To describe this machine in popular language,
so that every reader will know all about il, is
simply impossible. To do it justice in technical
terms, which few thoroughly educated mechanics
could understand, would be almost as difficult
watch. a Hoes lightning press. steam engine, a
jacquard loom, are far less complicated. Nothing
but diagrams, representing all the important por-
tions of the machine, taken apart, accompanied by
very full descriptive text. could give a clear idea
of it to quick-witted reader A person may see
the machine with his own eyes, and have it picked
to pieces for his special benefit, and explained to
him by the present of the patent, and, after
all, carry away very imperfect notion of 1t as a
wonderful whole. The following is all the deScrIp-
tOn that he might be able TO give of 1t to others
and 1t Is quite as much most others could COM
prehend The machine, he might say, is support
ed on an iron frame about as large and as high as
a small family dining table. In the centre of this
frame, and parallel with the surface of It, is a
large iron wheel with twenty-four cOnyeyers'' or
nippers, arranged at equal distances apart on the
circumference. Twelve of these are for setting
type, and twelve for distributing. All around the
wheel, with the exception of small arc in the
'front.' are grooves just large enough to hold single
row of type Of one kind, letters, numerals, pune
tuatiOn marks, or spaces. Each groove answers to
a box IN the printers case, and all the grooves
make up the whole case and good deal more too.
These grooves radiate from the periphery of the
wheel (Which moves freely 10 she centre of them)