IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES FOR COPYING LETTERS AND OTHER WRITTEN DOCUMENTS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Owen, of No. 24, Compton Terrace;
Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon.Dentist, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES FOR COPYING LETTERS
AND OTHER WRITTEN DOCUMENTS."
Sealed the 16th January, 1866, and dated, the 25th August 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Owen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th August 1865.
I, GEORGE OWEN, of No. 24, Compton Terrace, Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, Surgeon Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES FOR COPYING LETTERS AND
OTHER WRITTEN DOCUMENTS," to be as follows:-
An oblong rectangular frame of any convenient size, say 9 inches
by three and a half inches inside measurements, made of wrought iron
or other suitable material of any required strength, say, seven-eighths of an
inch square if wrought iron be used. A piece of hard wood, as mahogany,
say nine inches wide, ten inches long, and one inch thick, or of such other
dimensions as may be desirable, passes through the iron frame and resting at
its middle upon the lower bar of the frame is secured thereto by screws from

page_text: upon.
beneath or in any other suitable manner. This arrangement constitutes the
bed and bridge of the press. The upper plate of the press consists of a piece
of hard wood, as mahogany, of requisite size and thickness (in general about
the size of the bed plate), which is altogether detached but made to pass
through the iron frame. This upper plate has a strap of stout iron
screwed across its centre, which answers the double purpose of preventing the
wood warping and also of furnishing a hard bed for the fulcrum or lever to act
When in use the copying book is laid upon the bed plate, the upper
plate resting on the book, the cranked lever is then placed between the
middle of the bridge and the iron strap on the upper plate, and its handle
pressed downwards so that the broader diameter of the lever is brought into
action, and thus produces the required pressure. The cranked lever applied
as above described to produce the pressure requisite for copying consists of a
bar of iron say, of one inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick, tapered at one
end to fit into a proper handle if preferred, and bent at a right handle about
an inch from the opposite end. The length of the lever may be twelve inches
or thereabouts. Although from its great lightness I prefer wood for the bed
plate & the upper plate as above described, I do not confine myself to it;
metal or other convenient material may be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Owen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE.
OWEN, of. No. 24, Compton Terrace, Islington, in the County of Middlesex,
Surgeon Dentist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Owen, Her special licence that I, the said George Owen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Owen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN COPYING PRESSES FOR COPYING LETTERS AND OTHER WRITTEN
DOCUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Owen, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
Great
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Owen, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a stout oblong frame of wrought iron or cast iron
or other appropriate material of any required dimensions, say nine inches by
three and a half inches, inside measurements. To one side of this frame and
within it is secured a plate of wood of the size of the copying book intended
to be used, and of sufficient strength to bear the needed pressure. This board
with the frame attached as above described form respectively the bed plate
and bridge of the copying press. Another piece of wood of the required size'
and thickness having a piece of stout iron about an inch wide screwed across
the middle in the direction contrary to the grain of the wood forms the upper plate
of the press, the iron across it answering the double purpose of preventing the
warping of the wood, and also as a hard bearing for the lever to act upon when
the press is in use. The lever consists of a piece of oval or flat iron rod of
proper dimensions, say a quarter of an inch thick and and an inch wide, with a
handle at one end, and at the other end having about an inch of its own
substance bent at a right angle, as a piece of card might be bent, that is to
say, in such a manner that the narrow edges shall still be in their original
planes respectively. When the press is in use, the copying book being placed
upon the bed plate within the iron frame, and the upper plate being placed
upon the book the lever is to be held in a vertical position, and its bent end
placed between the middle of the bridge and the iron upon the upper plate,
and then by depressing the handle the broader diameter of the bent extremity
is brought into action, and so the required pressure is produced.
Although I have described (above) the bridge of the press as consisting of
an oblong frame and the other parts of wood, I do not confine myself to these
particulars, the frame or bridge need not be continuous throughout, but may;
if preferred, be made to pass only a short distance under the bed plate at each
side of it, provided the bed plate be strengthened by other means so as to

page_text: resist the needful pressure, and those parts which I have described as of wood
may be of papier maché or of any other suitable material. What I claim
as the essential feature of my Invention is a press of the foregoing and
inexpensive general character in which the force is applied by a simple
detached lever, such as is above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Owen, have hereunto set, my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.