CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN NUMBERING MACHINES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEWTHWAITE, of Halifax, in the County of York, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Lewthwaite, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John
Lewthwaite, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Lewthwaite, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in
all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN NUMBERING MACHINES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Lewthwaite, should
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Lewthwaite, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention consists
in certain improved modes of constructing, placing, adjusting, and gearing
the numbering and driving wheels of the machines used for numbering
railway and pawnbroker's tickets, paging books, and other like purposes,
and in certain improved modes or means of regulating the action of the same,
whereby such machines are enabled to imprint numbers in any consecutive or
alternating, or other serial order which may be desired, in a more ready and
effectual manner than has been ever, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
heretofore accomplished. And I declare, that the manner in which the said
Invention is carried into effect is exemplified in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, reference being thereunto had, and in the following description and
explanation thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of what I call a "figure wheel," detached from
the other parts of the numbering machine. It has ten cogs, on the ends or
faces of which are ten figures from 0 to 9, either punched out or let in in
relief. The number of these wheels employed in one machine may vary
according to the extent to which the consecutive or alternating or other serial
numbering is required to be carried.
Figure 2 is an edge view of four such wheels attached to one shaft A,
which, supposing the numbers to be imprinted in their natural sequence,
would together number from 1 to 9,999. Each wheel is made to turn freely
on the axis A, independent of all the others.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of what I call a "driving wheel," there being
one such wheel for every figure wheel employed in the machine. It carries
ten cogs, the same as the figure wheel, but these cogs, instead of being flat at
their ends or faces like the others, are made of a concave form, as shewn. A
circular portion a¹ is cut out of the body of the wheel, so as to leave a round
rim a² all round, except at b, where the rim is cut through for a space equal to
the width of the space between two of the cogs. Figure 4 shews four such
wheels mounted on one axis B, to correspond with the set of four figure wheels
represented in Figure 2. Each of these driving wheels turns freely on the
axis B independently of the others, in the same way as the figure wheels.
When these figure and driving wheels are fixed in the machine they are so
placed in respect to one another that the cogs of each driving wheel shall take
into the spaces between the cogs of the corresponding figure wheel, so that
motion being given to any one of a set of driving wheels it shall transmit that
motion to its corresponding figure wheel, and the motion of these two wheels
be independent of all the other wheels excepting only in the special case or
cases herein-after provided for.

page_text: Figure 5 is a side view of a key stop which is employed to regulate the
movements of each driving wheel, there being one such key stop for every
wheel, and all the key stops required for any set of wheels being attached to
one bar C, on which they vibrate or rise and fall freely independently of one
another, except as is herein-after shewn. Figure 6 is an edge view, and
Figure 7 a plan, of five such key stops applied to one axis. When fixed in
the machine these key stops are so placed in respect to the driving wheels
that whether any one of the driving wheels is by some rotary or other move-
ment brought into contact with its corresponding key stop, or that the key
stop is by some similar movement brought into contact with its driving wheel,
the effect shall be to cause the driving wheel to move a distance of one cog
and no more round its axis. These key stops are all of the form shewn in
Figure 5, that is, of a pointed and somewhat conical form at the wheel end m,
with a bracket piece e, except only the key stop for the unit wheel of each set
of driving wheels, which, as shewn in Figures 6 and 7, has the pointed end
cut short off, and has no bracket piece e.
Supposing a machine to have four figure wheels, four driving wheels, and
four key stops, as represented in Figures 2, 4, and 6, then c¹ would be the unit
key stop, the unit driving wheel, and c' the unit figure wheel. The next set in
succession, marked d', d2, d³, would be the ten key stop, the ten driving wheel,
and the ten figure wheel; the next adjoining set, marked e', e², e³, would be the
hundred key stop, the hundred driving wheel, and the hundred figure wheel,
and so on with any number of wheels and key stops, which may be mounted in
one machine. The bar which carries the key stops is firmly attached to the bed
of the machine in such a position that as the driving wheels revolve the key
stops shall take into and out upon them at certain fixed intervals in the manner
to be next explained. Thus supposing the cypher cog of the unit figure wheel
c' is brought into any position required for pointing them, the driving
wheel will, by successive actions of the flat-faced key stop c¹ upon it, cause
the figure wheel to exhibit and print the numbers 1 to 9 in regular sequence.
By continuing the revolution of the driving wheel c², the cypher cog is brought
round again into its primary position, but simultaneously therewith the notch
or open space b in the raised rim as of the driving wheel comes opposite
the pointed key stop a' of the ten series, when the conical end m of that stop
enters the notch and brings its flat shoulder part n into such a position in
respect of the ten driving wheel as to move it round one cog, when the
combination of the unit and ten figure wheels will exhibit the number 10.
The ten figure wheel d³ now remains stationary, till the unit figure wheel c
has made a second revolution, and exhibited a second series of the numbers

page_text: 1 to 9, when the notch b once more presents itself, and the conical end of the
key stop dropping into it, causes the ten wheel d³ to be once more acted
upon as aforesaid, and to exhibit the number 2. And so the operation goes
on till the combination of the two sets of wheels and key stops c¹, c², and
d', de exhibit the number 99. The notch 6 in the ten driving wheel is then
presented to the conical end of the key stop e' of the hundred set, which
brings that set next into operation to play the same part in relation to
the ten set which the ten set did in relation to the unit set. When
by the combination of the three sets of key stops and wheels, the number
999 has been reached, the conical end of the thousand key stop fl
drops into the notch 6 of the hundred driving wheel e, and brings the
thousand driving wheel fe into play in the same manner as the others. The
operation then goes on as before, until the number 9,999 is attained. From
what has been stated it will be readily understood that in all positions of each
of the driving wheels, except that only when the notch 6 presents itself, the
continuous part of the projecting rim a2 presses against the end of the key
stop of the next adjoining driving wheel, and pushes it down out of the way
so as to prevent its interfering with the action of the wheel, which is
immediately in work. Each key stop has a springs attached to it, which
imparts to it the requisite degree of reaction the moment the pressure on it is
removed. As the numbers on the ten figure wheel are only required to be
brought into use once in each successive revolution of the unit wheel, and the
same is the case with the hundred wheel in relation to the ten wheel, and
with the thousand wheel in relation to the hundred wheel, each wheel is
held fast during its period of inaction by means of a catch, a side view of
which is given in Figure 8, the outer end of which takes into the concave
faces of the cogs of the wheel. When these catches are out of action their
outer ends fall into or coincide with the vacant spaces between the cogs.
Thus when the unit wheel only is at work, the catch belonging to it will
always take into or coincide with one of the vacant spaces between the cogs of
that wheel, while the catches belonging to the three other wheels will each
rest in the concave face of one or other of the cogs of its particular wheel.
The ten, the hundred, and the thousand wheels are each released in succession
in manner before explained. The brace piece e of the ten key stop projects
over the hundred key stop, and that of the hundred key stop over the thousand
key stop, all as represented in the Plan Figure 7, so that when any one of
these key stops is pushed out of action in the manner already described, the
brace piece attached to it causes it to carry along with it all the following key
stops. The catches (Figure 8) serve also not only to bind the wheels firmly

page_text: and to prevent any striking of them during the act of printing, but to prevent
them from being moved more than one cog at each action of the key stop.
The manner in which any number of figure wheels and key stops, such as
have been thus individually described, may be made to act in unison, is exem-
plified in Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. Figure 9 is a side elevation of a
numbering machine of five sets in its complete state, including the printing
appendages (as to which last, however, I claim nothing new); H is a chase or
frame, which carries the whole of the numbering parts, with the exception of
the stops, and slides in V grooves on to a bed L, on which it is made to move
to and fro by means of a rack p and wheel q. A top plan of the chase H, as
resting on the bed L, is given in Figure 10, and a sectional elevation of it, and
of the bed L, in Figure 11. The top of the chase has openings K, K, in it,
up through which the number cogs of the figure wheels slightly project. The
wheel q, which works the rack p, which moves the frame H to and fro, is
worked by a crank handle R. Figure 12 is a plan of the driving wheels, figure
wheels, and key stops, detached from the other parts of the apparatus. The
wheels are carried by the frame H, as shewn in the sectional elevation,
Figure 11, but the key stops are permanently attached to one end of the bed L.
Figures 12 and 13 are side views of the driving and figure wheels, shewing
how they gear into one another, those marked W' being the driving wheels,
and those marked W2 the figure wheels. From these Figures it will be seen
that the wheels are so geared as to produce a simultaneous action on all the
sets. G, G (Figure 9), are feeding tubes by which the paper or other
material on which the figures are to be printed is supplied to the machine,
and conveyed between the printing roller R and the top of the figure frame H.
As soon as printed it is discharged from the opposite sides of the roller R in
the direction T. The inking of the projecting figures of the wheels W* is
effected by means of suitable rollers mounted in the frames V, V, one of which
is shewn in section in Figure 9, and these wheels are put in motion by the
series of toothed wheels X, Y, Z, the first of which is attached to the same
axis as that which carries the rack wheel 9.
In the machine just described only five sets of figure wheels and driving
wheels, with one set of key stops, are employed, but I find it preferable in
practice to use ten sets, and to arrange the unit wheels in a sequence from
0 to 9. With the figure 1 on each of the ten wheels I get numbers from 10
to 19; with the next change, the numbers from 20 to 29, and so on, the figure
wheel always remaining stationary. But in order to effect this (supposing the
numbers are to be printed in their natural consecutive order), it is necessary
that the key stops should be moved laterally till the unit key stop is withdrawn

page_text: from acting on the unit driving wheel, and made to act on the ten driving
wheel, which then becomes the unit driving wheel in respect of all the
consequent changes. But should it be required that each figure wheel shall
commence with a different number from the others, or that separate portions
of the series of natural numbers shall be exhibited simultaneously, then the ten
stops must preserve their original position, and this rule will hold, whether the
number of wheels in the machine is ten, fifteen, twenty, or any greater number.
When a machine of this description is employed to page account books, and
others in which case it is requisite to exhibit first all the odd numbers of
the unit wheel, for the purpose of figuring all the right-hand pages, and
next all the even numbers for the left-hand pages, or vice versa, I accom-
plish this by adding to the unit key stop (c¹) a supplementary prong o, as
represented in dotted lines in Figure 5, placed at a distance before the
principal conical end m, equal to the breadth of one of the cogs. Every
time this double key stop acts on the unit driving wheel it moves two cogs
instead of one as before, so that, according as the wheel may be adjusted
at starting, the key stop will cause it to exhibit only odd or even numbers.
All the other key stops will of course act as usual. Instead also of each
figure wheel exhibiting on its cogs the numbers in their natural sequence,
they may be exhibited in any order which may be desired; and further,
instead of the usual Arabic numbers being used, letters may be substituted for
them according to the Roman method of notation, or any other signs or
symbols substituted expressive of numbers.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I lay no claim to the use
of figure wheels for numbering, acted on by means of driving wheels and stops,
but that the improvements which I claim as constituting my said Invention
are as follows:-
First, I claim the employment in numbering machines of driving wheels of
the peculiar construction before described.
Second, I claim the employment in such machines of stops formed and
placed, in regard to the driving wheels, as before described. And,
Third, I claim the improved mode of placing, adjusting, and gearing, driving
and figure wheels, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lewthwaite, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
JOHN (L.S.) LEWTHWAITE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid John Lewthwaite came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.