Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-06-18
Type Setting Machines.


feet type setting and distribut-
ing machine, has drawn forth
from inventors some curious
letters.
1t is odd to mark the conf
dence that marks this cores
pondence. If inventors were
not the most sangulne OF men,
few important inventions would
be struck out. A walk through |
the long corridors of the Patent
Office is one of the saddest re-
alizations one can ever expert
en- &c of baffled hopes and vast
ed energies. What time, what
pains, what perseverance, what
expectations, what dlsapoint-
ments are represented in those
dusty models which fill all the
interminable rows Of glass
cases ...... .....ga... ...ft ...
Men toiled and starved and
grew gray over those cog heels
and cranks, yet thousands fol
low where they led the way each
one Of them quite assured Of
success and fortune and fame.
.Ofthe World $ letter writers,
one is ready to invent such Il
machine as is demanded all
other writes that he is able to
produce the machine ) third
says, | have the machine in
my brain ) a fourth, who is
blind, is planning machinery
for stereotype and stereotype
moulds which he thinks will SUI
percede the use Of single types
and so on and so on. The only
inventor who has completed his
work is not quite sure that it is
perfect, and writes to know
what are the requirements OF
perfection in the mechanism.
The correspondent who has
the machine in his brain, has
also an idea in the busy work
shop that is sufficiently start
ling. can set type by tele-
graph IN a number of places
simultaneously The results
of such a revolution in journal
ism as this would effect, are too
momentous to be considered in a
paragraph. Think Of setting
up the same article at the same
moment by the same motive
power in ali the cities Of the
Union Think OF publishing
the great Univ ersal Gazette Of
he.tuture in San Francisco, in
N. York, in New Orleans with
the same corps of editors, only
distributing local reporters at
the several points of publica
ton. ..
As to the sum proposed as a
reward, it is thought too large
by the inventors themselves,
who would, every one Of them,
be glad to furnish the machine
for a much smaller amount. -
One gentleman offers to return
ten thousand dollars of the sub
scription in the eve Mt of his
success. But the most sensible
comment that is made on the
original proposition is that OF q
practical man in Providence,
who has not finished machine,
but who simply intends t."
compete for the prize. He
doubts the wisdom OF Civ
ing to the unsuccessful COM,
petltors the large sum: $3.50
600, which it is proposed to
offer for the machine itself. lie
thinks only so much should I've
allowed them as viii b.. Sutfi
cient to cover the cost of their
efforts. s,.s
70 offer more would be to in
vite the competition OF bunglers
and sanguine novlces, whose
failure was assured from the
beginning The objection to
paying the cost of experiments
is, that we should not know
where the expense would stop !;
otherwise the suggestion of the
Providence correspondent is iu-
dicious. .-. .4.. s.t
1t is to be uotea Of great in
ventions, however, that large
premiums have never awaited
to produce them. The London
Times, for many years, has
made an offer OF ESQ, 900 for a
cheap substitute for paper,
equal in all respects to the pa
per manufactured from linen
rags, yet the check for the mo-
ney has never been drawn, -