IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRINTING
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRINTING."-A
communication from abroad by Benjamin Livermore, of Hartland, in the
State of Vermont United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1863.
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 APPARATUS FOR PRINTING," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a portable device which may be
held in the hand and operated with the greatest facility for printing direct
upon paper or other suitable material. To this end the Invention consists in
the use of a combination type, that is to say, a type composed of several
sections arranged and combined in such a manner that any one of the sections
may be used separately, and certain parts used combined in order to form
figures approximating to the different letters of the alphabet and to numerals
if the latter are required.
The Invention also consists in the use of finger pieces or keys arranged in

page_text: a novel way with levers for the purpose of operating the several parts of the
type, and also in a certain means employed for causing the type to traverse or
move so that proper spaces may be allowed between the impressions, and the
type allowed to adjust itself properly at the termination of each line for the
printing of a succeeding one. The space between the succeeding lines is
obtained by traversing forward the paper at the completion of each printed
line.
The apparatus may be described as a box containing a roller, which carries
the paper to be printed, and a second roller, which is rotated by means of a
pawle and ratchet wheel for drawing off the paper as it is printed; attached to
the cover of the box is an inking pad saturated with ink, and below this (the
paper or fabric to be printed intervening) is the compound type. This type
may consist conveniently of six parts, the faces of four of which form a
rectangular figure, and the inner parts two V's set end to end. These parts are
severally connected through rock levers and arms to levers which constitute
the keys for setting the type in action. The compound type with its con-
nections is mounted on a plate which is capable of moving on a fulcrum pin,
and thus traversing the type over the paper in curved lines. A bent lever
mounted on this plate serves, by operating a couple of ratchets which tako
into a notched curved bar affixed to the case of the apparatus, to move the
plate with the type and its connections from side to side of the case. When
a line is thus traversed and printed by the raising of the parts of the com-
pound type into contact with the paper (through pressure on the keys before
mentioned) the ratchets are thrown out of action, and the plate falls back to
its normal position. At the time the line is completed the projection of the
bent lever before mentioned operates the ratchet which drives the second
paper roller, and thus the traverse of the paper is effected.
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 15th February 1864.
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 Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, 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 APPARATUS FOR PRINTING," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
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 bo particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
-
The object of this Invention (as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent) is to obtain a portable device which may be held in the hand
and operated with the greatest facility for printing direct upon paper or other
suitable material. To this end the Invention consists in the use of a con-
bination type, that is to say, a type composed of several sections arranged and
combined in such a manner that any one of the sections may be used sepa-
rately and certain parts used combined in order to formn figures approximating
to the different letters of the alphabet, and to numerals if the latter are
required.
The Invention also consists in the use of finger pieces or keys arranged in.
a novel way with levers for the purpose of operating the several parts of the.
type, and also in a certain means employed for causing the type to traverse or
move so that proper spaces may be allowed between the impressions, and the
type allowed to adjust itself properly at the termination of each line for the
printing of a succeeding one.
The Invention further consists in a means employed for moving or feeding
the paper along at the termination of each line as it is printed.
In the Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan or top view of the improved apparatus,
the top plate being removed in order to show the interior; Fig. 2 is a longi-.

page_text: tudinal central section of the same taken in the line x, x, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a
longitudinal section of the same taken in the line y, y, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an
enlarged face view of the combination type; and Fig. 5 is a view of the
alphabet as formed by the combination type. Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A represents a metal case in which the working parts of the device are
fitted. This case at one end a is of a semi-cylindrical form, within which a
cylinder bis placed to receive and wind up the paper c as it is printed. B is
a plate which is placed on the bottom of the case A, and is secured thereto at
its outer end by a rivet d, on which the plate B is allowed to work freely;
C is a curved rack bar placed transversely of the case, and secured permanently
to the bottom of the same. This bar C has its rack on its concave edge, and
underneath it the plate B is allowed to work freely.
The pawl E is acted
rack bar C, and the
On the plate B there is secured by a fulcrum pin en bent lever D, which
is acted upon by a spring f, and has a pawl E attached to it by a pivot g;
this pawl has two prongs h, h', one of which h engages with the rack bar C;
the use of the other prong h' will be presently shown. F is a holding pawl
which engages with the rack bar C, and is provided with an arm i, which has
a projection j near its outer end, as shown in Fig. 1.
upon by a spring which keeps it engaged with the
holding pawl F is acted upon by spring which performs for it a like office.
From the above description it will be seen that by forcing or pressing the
longer arm of the lever D inward or towards the cylinder b, the pawl E will
be raised and slipped over a tooth of the bar C, and that when the lever is
relieved of the pressure, the spring f will throw the lever D back to its
original position, and the inner end of the plato B will be raised in con-
sequence of the pawl E catching into the rack bar. The inner end of the
plate B is thus elevated from the lower to the upper edge of the case A,
the latter when the device is in use being held in an inclined position in the
hand of the operator. When the plate B has roached the upper end of the
case A, the prong h, which is the pawl E proper, passes over a projecting
part m on the rack bar, and causes the prong h' to act against the projection j
on the arm i, and throw the holding pawl F out from the rack bar C, and
admit of the plate B falling by its own gravity to the lower part of the
case A.
This movement of the plate B, under the operation of the lever D, is
separately described in order to avoid confusion. On the inner end of the
plate B there is secured a box G, in which six bent levers H are fitted on a
common fulcrum pin m; the form of these levers is clearly shown in Fig. 2.

page_text: I represents what may be termed a combination type; it is formed of six
different parts designated by 1, 1', 2, 2, and 3, 31, as shown in Fig. 4. The
parts 1, 1, and 2, 2', form a hollow square, while the parts 3, 31, are of
V-form and within said square, the part 3' being inverted, and having its angle
adjoining the angle of 8, as shown clearly in Fig. 4. By means of these six
parts the alphabet is formed or indicated, as shown in the Diagram, Fig. 5.
The part 3 when pressed against the paper forms the letter A; 31, 1', and 2
form the letter B; 3, 2, and 1', the letter C; 31, 1, and 2, the letter D;
1, 1, and 2, the letter E; 2 and 1, the letter F; 31, 2, and 1, the letter G;
3 and 2, the letter H; 2, the letter I; 1' and 2', the letter J; 3, 3', and 2, the
letter K; 2 and 1', the letter L; 3, 2, and 21, the letter M; 1, 2, and 21,
the letter N; 1, 11, 2, and 2', the letter O; 3, 1, and 2, the letter P; 3, 1,
and 2, the letter Q; 3 and 2, the letter R; 1, 2, and 3', the letter S;
1 and 3', the letter T; 2, 21, and 1', the letter U; 8, the letter V; 3', 2,
and 2, the letter W; 3 and S', the letter X; 3 and 1', the letter Y; 1, 11,
and 21, the letter Z.
The levers H are connected one to each of the parts of the type, as shown
at n, in Fig. 2, and each lever H at its lower end is provided with a pin o,
which pins project laterally from one side of the levers. The position of these
pins is shown by a dotted circle in Fig. 2.
The lever D has a flat bar or arm J attached to it by a pin or pivot p, and
this arm is formed with a notched ledge g at its inner end, into which a series
of six arms Kare fitted; these arms K are each provided with two notches r, r¹,
at their inner ends. The outer notches fit over the pins o of the levers H,
and the inner notches r fit in the notched ledge q. The notches r are mado
sufficiently wide to admit of the arms K having a certain degree of play on
the ledge g, as will be seen by referring to Fig. 2. The outer ends of the
arms K are connected by pivots to levers t, which have their fulcra u at
opposite sides of the case A, there being a levert for each arm K, and each
lever t has a key or finger piece L attached to it, which keys are marked to
correspond to the part of the type with which they are severally, connected
through the medium of the levers H; the pivots of the levers t are about in
line with the pivot or rivet d of the plato B.
By pressing inward any one of the keys or finger pieces L, the part of the
type I which is connected with it will be raised, and at the same time the
plate B will be raised one notch in the bar C to admit of a proper space being
between the letter, as the arms K, in fitting on the ledge q, are connected to
the lever D, the operation of which has been previously described.
The paper c to be printed upon passes from a roller M, which has a spring v

page_text: bearing upon it to prevent it from casually turning, and thence over the type I
on to the cylinder b, before mentioned. N represents a pad which is saturated
with the ink or coloring material; a piece of paper having a mixture of
coloring matter and grease rubbed over it will answer. This pad or paper is
secured by springs to the under side of the lid O of the case.
impression is given by the parts of the type passing the paper in contact with
the bed N. The keys or finger pieces L may be readily operated either
singly or two or more at a time so as to form the several letters.
The
The lines, it will be seen, are printed on the paper in curved form owing
to the curved path the plate B describes in its upward movement, and at the
termination of each line the plate B drops, owing to the throwing out of
the holding pawl.
The paper c is moved a trifle upon the cylinder 6 at the first upward move-
ment of the plate B, so as to cause a proper space between the lines. This
movement of the paper c is effected as follows:-As the lever D is pressed
inward at its first movement in commencing a line, the end a¹ of its longest
arm comes in contact with a sliding pawl P, which engages with a ratchet b¹
on one end of the cylinder b. This pawl P is at the lower side of the case A,
and connected thereto by a swinging plate a*, and it is provided at its front
end with a barb c', which catches over a projection d' on a pawl Q, which
works on a pivot e', and which also engages with the ratchet b'. R is a spring
which lies between and acts against both pawls P, Q, and has a tendency to
keep them both engaged with the ratchet 6' when the pawl P is pushed
forward, and also to throw the pawl P back from the ratchet. The pawl Q
is a holding pawl, and prevents the cylinder 6 from casually turning while the
pawl P is thrown back by the spring. By pressing down the back end of the
pawl both pawls will be disengaged from the ratchet 6', and the paper c
adjusted as desired.
I would remark that numerals may be formed by the combined type I, the
several parts being used singly and combined so as to approximate as nearly
as possible to the known form of the same.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Printing," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim,-
First, the combination type formed of a series of parts arranged sub-
stantially as shown, so as to be capable of being operated singly, or any two or
inore of them simultaneously, for the purpose specified.
Secondly, the arrangement of mechanism above described for operating

page_text: the combination type and transmitting impressions therefrom arranged in
lines, as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)