IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd November 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
PRINTING FROM TYPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus whereby
through the action of a finger key or finger keys types may be caused
to imprint their characters in parallel lines upon paper supplied to the

page_text: apparatus. The paper is laid around and temporarily secured to an
elastic cylinder mounted on a horizontal axle so as to allow of its
receiving an intermittent endway motion along its axle for a distance
nearly equal to the length of the cylinder. A continuous rotary motion
is given to this axle by means of a weighted cord and pulleys, and the
endway traverse of the cylinder is effected on the completion of every
rotation by a screw cam fitted on one end of the cylinder, and taking
into a fixed rack on the bed of the machine. At one end of this axle a
pair of ratchet wheels is fitted, the number of whose teeth is pro-
portioned to the number of types required to be operated upon to
produce a line of printing. These ratchet wheels act as escape wheels,
their teeth being taken into alternately by one of a pair of teeth fitted
at opposite ends to a rocking bar. One of these teeth is pivotted to the
rocking bar, and weighted so as to allow of its receiving a lateral
motion. The ratchet wheel with which this pivotted tooth engages is
formed with a wide notch at a part which coincides with the line of the
clip that holds the paper on the cylinder, and also with the effective
portion of the screw cam before mentioned.
By this arrangement the rotation of the cylinder is made intermittent,
and when the wide notch comes into coincidence with the pivotted ratchet
tooth a "dwell" is produced, and at this moment the cylinder receives a
short endway motion.
Below the cylinder is situated a horizontal disc provided with radial
slots, and forming a type carrier. Above this disc stretches an endless
inking tape at right angles to the axle of the cylinder. The tension
pulleys over which this tape passes are rotated by the weighted cord
that drives the cylinder. Assuming for the purpose of simplifying the
description that the machine is provided with a single finger key, the
depression of the key will through an arm pendent from the rocking
ratchet bar lift one of the teeth into contact with one of the ratchet
wheels, and thereby lock the cylinder; at the same time a pivotted
finger will be caused to lift a type up to the cylinder, and produce
through the inking tape an imprint on the paper. On removal of
pressure from the key the other ratchet teeth will engage with its
ratchet wheel, and thus arrest the rotation of the cylinder, it having
meanwhile moved round the distance of a type's breadth.
It will now be understood that as types to spell any desired word are

page_text: brought up into position to act upon the paper, words and sentences
may be imprinted with expedition upon the paper laid around the
cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
'IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRINTING FROM TYPES," being a communication
to me from abroad by Emmett Densmore, of Meadville, in the State of
Pennsylvania, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
66
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :—
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus whereby
through the action of finger keys types may be caused to imprint their
characters in parallel lines upon paper supplied to the apparatus. The
paper is laid around and temporarily secured to an elastic cylinder mounted
on a horizontal axle so as to allow of its receiving an intermittent endway
motion along its axle for a distance nearly equal to the length of the
cylinder. A constant tendency to rotate is given to this axle by means
of a weighted cord and pullies, and the endway traverse of the cylinder
is effected on the completion of every rotation by a screw cam fitted on
one end of the cylinder, and taking into a fixed rack on the bed of the
machine. At one end of this axle a pair of ratchet wheels is fitted, the
number of whose teeth is proportioned to the number of types required
to be operated upon to produce a line of printing. These ratchet wheels
act as escape wheels, their teeth being taken into alternately by one of a
pair of teeth fitted to opposite ends of a rocking bar. One of these teeth is
pivotted to the rocking bar, and weighted so as to allow of its receiving
a lateral motion. The ratchet wheel with which this pivotted tooth
engages is formed with a wide notch at a part which coincides with the
line of the clip that holds the paper on the cylinder, and also with the
effective portion of the screw cam before mentioned.
By this arrangement the rotation of the cylinder is made intermittent,
and when the wide notch comes into coincidence with the pivotted
ratchet tooth a "dwell" is produced, and at this moment the cylinder
receives a short endway motion.
Below the cylinder is situated a horizontal disc provided with radial
slots, and forming a type carrier. Above this disc stretches an endless
inking tape at right angles to the axle of the cylinder. The tension
pulleys over which this tape passes are rotated by the weighted cord
that drives the cylinder.
The machine is worked by the depression of finger keys which will
severally through an arm pendent from the rocking ratchet bar lift one
of the teeth into contact with one of the ratchet wheels, and thereby
lock the cylinder; at the same time a pivotted finger will be caused to
lift a type up to the cylinder and produce through the inking tape an

page_text: imprint on the paper. On removal of pressure from the key the other
ratchet tooth will engage with its ratchet wheel, and thus arrest the
rotation of the cylinder, it having meanwhile moved round the distance
of a type's breadth.
It will now be understood that as types to spell any desired word are
brought up into position to act upon the paper words and sentences
may be imprinted with expedition upon the paper laid around the
cylinder.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews the improved machine in
plan view; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same taken in the
Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken in the line 3, 4,
of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the machine, and Fig. 5 is a
back view of the same.
line 1, 2, of Fig. 1;
A is the framing of the machine; B is a horizontal axle mounted in
bearings on the framing A. This axle lies directly over the spot where
the types strike, and the lines which they imprint on the paper will lie
at a right angle to the axle. C is a cylinder carried by the main axle B,
and rotating with it, but it is free to receive an endway motion on its
axle. The cylinder C may be clothed with a blanket of caouchouc or
other elastic material. The periphery of this cylinder is grooved from
end to end to receive a cranked rod D which is pivotted to the opposite
ends of the cylinder, and is intended to catch into the groove and hold
fast the printing paper that is lapped around the cylinder. G is a
ratchet wheel on the main axle B in front of the cylinder C; H is
another ratchet wheel on the main axle B in front of the first ratchet
wheel G, having one wide notch or space between the teeth of its
circumference directly opposite the groove on the periphery of the
cylinder C, and in the same radial plane; I is a ratchet bar pivotted in
the middle directly under the ratchet wheels G, H, parallel with the
main axle B, and which at the end next the cylinder C is also pivotted
to a vertical rod E, and which vertical rod at the under end is fastened
to a bar Flying across the top of the keys between the fulcrum and the
types. This ratchet bar and its fittings are shewn detached at Figures 6.
J is a ratchet on the ratchet bar I directly under the first ratchet
wheel G to work in the notches of the wheel; K is another ratchet
directly under the second ratchet wheel H, attached by a pivot 6 to the
ratchet bar I so as to be free to vibrate at a right angle to the vibration

page_text: of the ratchet bar, and which has a weight arm a projecting sidewise, so
that when draw out from a notch of the ratchet wheel it may roll side-
wise the space of a ratchet tooth; L is a screw cam or segment of a
screw attached to the near end of the cylinder C, in line parallel with
the groove on the periphery of the cylinder, and the wide notch in the
ratchet wheel H, and in the same radial plane. This cam is shewn
detached at Fig. 7. M is a rack (formed of a series of pins or cog
teeth) directly under the main axle B, and in line parallel therewith, so
that at every rotation of the cylinder C the screw cam L will engage
with the teeth, and pass through a notch or space between them; N is a
cord or chain fastened to and wound around the rear end of the main
axle B; O is a weight attached to the other end of the cord N; P is an
inking ribbon passing under the cylinder C and over the point where
the types strike; Q are two spools on two minor axles, one on each
side, and below and parallel with the main axle B, and on which is
wound the ribbon P; R, R, are pulleys on the axles of the spools Q, and
around or over them the weighted cord N is passed; S is a series of keys
pivotted on a fulcrum below the ratchets J, K, to reach under and work
the types; T is a slotted disk fastened above the rear ends of the keys,
and directly under the main axle B; U is a series of bars carrying each
at their inner ends a raised type. These bars are pivotted in the slots of
the disk T so as to strike at a point in the centre thereof directly under
the main axle B. Each key S is fitted with a crutch S¹, which is intended
to lift the type bar U overlying it and press it upwards in contact with
the inking tape P, and thereby impress the paper that is laid around the
cylinder C. This paper has its edges pressed into the groove on the
periphery of the cylinder, and held firmly therein by the cranked rod D.
The paper and cylinder thus rotate and slide together, and the cylinder
becomes at once both a platen and paper carriage. Instead of being
covered with an elastic blanket the cylinder itself may be of a homo-
geneous elastic substance.

page_text: the cylinder platen paper carriage are determined by the size of the
paper to be used. The cord and weight N, O, continually tend to turn
the main axle B, cylinder C, and ratchet wheels G, H, and are only
prevented from turning them by one or the other of the ratchets J, K,
being thrust into a notch in one or other of the ratchet wheels. In
printing the front ends of the keys S are pressed down one after another,
and the cross bar over the keys behind the fulcrum is lifted up every
time a key is pressed down, and évery time the cross bar is lifted up it
thrusts the ratchet J into a notch in the ratchet wheel G to hold the
paper from turning while a letter is being printed. At the same time
the vibratory ratchet K is drawn out from a notch in the second ratchet
wheel H, and as soon as it is clear the weight arm a falls and rolls the
ratchet sidewise the space of a tooth, so that it cannot go back into the
same notch it came out of, but when again lifted up will catch and must
go into the notch next forward thereof. Simultaneously with the lock-
ing of the cylinder O the crutch S¹ of the depressed key lifts its
overlying type bar and causes it to impress the paper as before explained;
the pressure of the operator's finger is then removed from the depressed
key. When the key after a letter is printed rises again to its place of
rest to let the type used fall back and give place to another the cross
bar F falls and draws down the ratchet J, and thrusts the ratchet K
again into a notch in the ratchet wheel H, but this ratchet being
pivoted to the ratchet bar I and going into a notch next forward of the
one it was in before permits the cord and weight N, O, to turn the
cylinder and ratchet wheels the space of a tooth, and to roll the ratchet
sidewise back again to the place of rest. In this way the space of a
tooth of the ratchet wheels being the space of a letter the paper is held
firmly while a key is struck and a letter is printed, and while the key
rises and the types fall again to their places the paper is moved the space
of a letter and all is ready for another action. This letter space rotating
movement will continue regularly as the printing proceeds from one
edge of the wide notch of space between the teeth of the second ratchet
wheel H around to the other edge of that same wide notch or space.
When the wide notch or space between the teeth of the ratchet wheel H
5 in the course of the rotation of the wheel reaches the vibratory ratchet
K the wheel will turn at once instead of a letter space the whole
distance of such wide notch or space, as the vibratory ratchet K, and the
rack M are in a line directly under the main axle B, and the wide notch
or space in the second ratchet wheel and the crank rod D, and the screw

page_text: cam L are all in the same radial plane, while the wide notch or space
between the teeth of the ratchet wheel is rotating past the ratchet, and
the lapped edges of the paper are revolving past the point where the
types strike the screw cam comes into gear with the rack M and draws
the platen paper carriage C lengthwise over the main axle B the
distance of the space from one line of printing to another. In this
way after the ending of one line of printing and before the beginning
of another, the paper is moved from line to line in a direction at a
right angle to the line of the letter space movement. The cord or
chain N from the main axle B put under one of the pulleys R and over
the other will run the inking ribbon P in one direction, and put over
the one pulley and under the other will run the ribbon in the opposite
direction.
The necessity of constantly moving the ribbon a little at a time as the
letters are printed is to give a uniform supply of ink to the types. And
in this way the inking ribbon can be moved from one spool to the other
over the types and under the paper forth and back without changing
anything but the cord. The operator sits at the front of the machine.
Fig. 8 shews in sectional elevation a modification of the means for
operating the type bars. The finger keys S instead of being furnished
with a crutch for lifting the type bars are in this arrangement connected
by rods to rock levers V, which connect at their other ends by means of
rods with the type levers U in rear of their fulcrum. These type levers
work in radial grooves in the disc T, and they are held in place by a
pivot wire cut into and circumscribing the periphery of the disc T. :
When a finger key is depressed it will rock the lever V with which it is
connected, and drawing down the rod which connects that lever with
the type bar will bring that bar into action, as shewn at U'. The mode
of fitting the type bars to the grooved disc T is shewn on an enlarged
scale at Figures 9.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved
Machinery for Printing from Types," as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The arrangement above described for presenting the paper to
3
3

page_text: Secondly. The means above described for simultaneously locking the
cylindrical platten and raising the type bars to impress the paper
supplied to the platten.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two