IMPROVEMENTS IN COPYING PRESSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stettinius Clark, of the Atlas Works, Dorset
Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COPYING PRESSES."-A communication from William M. Smith and
Peter Hannay, of Washington City, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Stettinius Clark
at the Office of the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 10th February 1858, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STETTINIUS CLARK, of the Atlas Works, Dorset Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COPYING PRESSES," a communication from William M. Smith and Peter
Hannay, of Washington City, United States of America, and have petitioned
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that I
verily believe myself to be the first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Stettinius Clark, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification under
Specification under my hand and seal

page_text: fully describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, that is to say:-
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of said press; Figure 2, an end eleva-
tion of the same in position to receive the book; Figure 3, a detached view of
the side links; and Figure 4, a like view of the side lever and adjustable boxes.
The same letters of reference occurring in the several Figures indicate the
same parts. The object of this Invention is to produce a simple, cheap, and
portable press for copying purposes, that will supply the wants. of all who may
find it advantageous to preserve copies of their correspondence, &c., and who
would not think it worth the expenditure of the cost of the ordinary press,
and such a one as might conveniently be carried in a trunk or portmanteau for
travelling merchants and others, who could not think of carrying such a weighty
and cumbersome machine as is now used for that purpose. And it consists in a
novel arrangement of links and levers at the opposite sides or ends of the press,
by which the platen and bed plate are thrown apart, or drawn together, to
produce the required pressure, and are so arranged and operated that when the
book is placed in and the pressure applied it forms a clamp thereto, occupying
little more space than the book alone, and whereby a uniform degree of
pressure is produced at all times and in each successive application.
To enable others to make and use my Invention I will proceed to describe
it in detail. The bed plate A may be composed of a skeleton frame of cast
iron with rib braces to give it the necessary strength, and has four short legs
to support it and make it lie level on the table; on the face of this casting is
rivetted a thin board of wood, or a thick binder's board, a trifle larger than the
ordinary sized copying book, or that intended to be used; at each end of this
casting is a short journal or wrist B, on each of which a link C of hooked form
is firmly keyed with a wrist (n) projecting laterally, from the upper end of each.
The platen D may be similarly constructed, but without any legs; it also has a
wrist E at each end, on which are fitted links F of the same booked form as
the links C; those on the bed plate are set vertically on one side, and are keyed
in that position, whilst those on the platen are suspended on the wrists E, and
turn towards the opposite side so as to interlock with them; these also have a
wrist (n) projecting laterally from the lower end of each. G are two side levers,
which are connected together by a rod H extending from end to end across the
top of the platen. The lower end of these levers are fitted with wedge shaped
boxes I, which are adjustable to or from each other and are held at any distance
apart by a tapering clamp K being tightened against them by the screw and
uut L; these boxes I are bored and fit on the wrists (n, n,) which project from
the hooked end of the links C and F; the bed plate is further provided with

page_text: one or more uprights M, which have slots (o) in them, through which the arms
(s) of the platen pass with a shoulder on the inside, and a small pin through
them on the outside of the upright, to prevent the platen from moving laterally,
whilst the slots being longer than the depth of the arms admit of its rising
or falling to suit books of different thicknesses, also of its assuming a slanting
position, as shewn in Figure 2. In order to insert or take out the book, the
wrists (n) of the links C at each end of the bed plate being stationary form a
centre on which the side levers G vibrate, so that when they are turned from
left to right the links E being capable of vibrating on the wrist E, and con-
nected by the wrists (n¹) to the side levers, they cause the platen to rise in a
slanting direction, and when moved from right to left they lower it, and when
the side levers are in a vertical position, or thereabouts, the platen takes a
bearing on the book, and in passing the remainder of the distance to the left
the wrist (n¹) describing the are of a circle downwards gradually, and with
great ease and power, compresses the book, and when the lever is quite down
the wrists (n, n',) are each slightly beyond the straight line from centre to
centre of the wrists B, E, so that it has no tendency to return until started by
hand. It will then be seen that in clamping the book the pressure is to draw
the boxes I together. I therefore make them of tapering form and clamp
them between two surfaces, which narrow towards the centre, so that there is
no possibility of their slipping, and by loosening the nut L the boxes may
readily be placed at any desired distance apart to suit the thickness of the
book to be used and again secured by tightening the nut L; when once
adjusted they will not require altering until the book is filled up, and not
even then unless one of different size is adopted. A variety of other modes of
adjustment might be used, for instance, the stationary link might be made
adjustable on the trunnion of the bed plate or plates by means of a moveable
box fitted in a slot and secured by a wedge or screw, or the boxes I may be
fitted in a parallel slot in the lever, and move to and from each other by a
right and left screw passing through them, or the lever might be split with a
wedge inserted to regulate the distance between the points (n) and (n¹).

page_text: or arms S of the platen for the purpose of preventing lateral motion as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stettinius Clark, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLIAM STETTINIUS CLARK (L.S.).