A NEW TYPE DISTRIBUTING AND COMPOSING MACHINE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Pierre Coulon, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 4, South. Street, Finsbury,
London, for the Invention of A NEW TYPE DISTRIBUTING AND COMPOSING
MACHINE," A communication.
Sealed the 7th October 1856, and dated the 14th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Pierre Coulon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1856.
I, LOUIS PIERRE COULON, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire
of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of A NEW TYPE DISTRIBUTING AND COMPOSING
MACHINE, to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an improved apparatus, so that the distribution
and composition of the type are performed at one operation.
The apparatus consists of a table or frame supported by legs or any other
suitable means. On one side of this table is the composing key-board, and on
the opposite side are drawers for various purposes. In the centre and on the
top is placed vertically two cylinders, the upper one revolves upon an iron rod
which passes through the lower cylinder and rests on a 'pointed stud. The
upper cylinder is the distributing cylinder, containing mixed type, the bottom
plate of which is pierced with a number of oblong holes. These holes admit
Price 1

page_text: the type to pass through to the upper plate of the lower cylinder, which is
pierced with holes, formed with different notches, which only admit those type
to pass through having corresponding projections. The type then falls upon
the rod of the composition cylinder which belongs to it, and is thus conveyed
to the distributing mechanism, consisting of a funnel, having grooves made in
it, down which the type runs to the trough, which brings it to the foot of the
workman. In composing, the workman has simply to place the keys of the
key-board in the order in which letters or type are required. This action of
the workman causes the type to pass through the oblong holes in the bottom
of the composition cylinder, where by suitable mechanism they are tilted into
a trough which conveys them to the grooved funnel, and where they meet at
the point where the letters are arranged in their proper order. While the
workman is composing, he has only to move the pedal with his foot to
perform "distribution." This pedal puts in motion a cam, and the
distribution supplies the amount of types for the composition.
Another of my improvements consists of a small instrument by means of
which the upper cylinder is filled, and which also permits of placing an entire
line of type on each rod at a single movement of the hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Pierre Coulon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
PIERRE COULON, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Louis Pierre Coulon, Her special license that I, the said Louis Pierre
Coulon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Louis Pierre Coulon, 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 "A NEW
TYPE DISTRIBUTING AND COMPOSING MACHINE," communicated to me from a

page_text: foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Louis Pierre Coulon, 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 Louis Pierre Coulon, 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 by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in an improved machine or apparatus for
distributing and composing type simultaneously.
To compose, it suffices for the workman to strike with the finger the
keys of the key-board, following the order in which the letters are required.
While composing, the workınan has only to move the pedal with his foot
to perform the distribution. This pedal puts in motion the wheels of the
machine, and the distributing apparatus supplies the number of letters
necessary for the composition.
And in order that my said Invention may be clearly understood, I refer
to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, in which the same letters of reference
in each of the Figures represent similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
a and a', the keys.
Figure 1 represents the composing key-board.
Figure 2, the special letters necessary for the employment of the machine.
band b, the notches required for the distribution.
Figure 3, guide rods for the reception of the mixed letters and for dis-
tributing them; they are secured at their extremities by screws on two brass
plates, set on an axis at distances of about ten inches from each other.
A, Figure 4, shews the form and actual size of these plates. holes b¹ are
pierced at equal distances in the plates, of a size exactly sufficient to allow
the passage of one letter at a time. C shews the rod fixed by screws between
each of these apertures.
The two plates A, A, with their one hundred and twenty (more or less)
guide rods, form an upper open cylinder, of which the rods are the circum-
ference, and of which the extremities are the plates, before described. I call
this apparatus the distributing cylinder. It turns with precision on its axis,
and slides upon a lower cylinder, which is fixed, but in other respects similar

page_text: to it. This is called the composing cylinder. This lower cylinder is formed as
shewn at B, Figure 4. The holes in this plate are provided with small steel
teeth of different thicknesses, varying in number and position for each hole;
these teeth correspond to the notches in the letters composing the alphabet.
Let us now suppose the upper (distributing) cylinder filled with mixed
letters as they leave the press after having been used. The first letter on
each of the guide rods slides in the hole of the plate, Figure 4, B, until it has
found the teeth corresponding to its notches, it then falls upon the guide rod
of the lower (composing) cylinder belonging to it, and is thus distributed.
The guide rods of the composing cylinder are secured at their lower extremities
to the platet, Figure 7. bshews the last letter placed beside a small hammers,
and a small piece of mechanism which turns on an axis; S' is an arm of this
mechanism, to which is attached a small hook, provided with a cord 1, which
passes over the two rollers r, 1, and is fixed to the hook p, which passes
through the eye of the key rod n, and is pierced at its other extremity;
n turns on an axis o. At its other extremity is seen the key a', which when
struck moves the extremity of the hammer S, placed against b, and gives it a
forward movement, which throws the letter into a kind of reversed cone or
funnel c, through which are obliged to pass all the letters detached from the
composing cylinder to meet at the point where the letters are ranged in
order.
Figure 6 represents a small instrument by means of which the upper
cylinder is filled, and which permits of placing an entire line on cach guide
rod at one movement of the hand. This instrument is composed of a copper
galley, supported steel arms fixed to the distributing cylinder turned over.
By means of a piston put in action by the workmen, each movement of the
hand pushes a line on one of the sticks of the distributing cylinder, and by
bringing back the piston to its starting point gives to this cylinder a slight
rotatory movement, which presents successively each empty rod to the
succeeding line of the distribution packet. Two small brushes are adapted to
this arrangement to clean the notches of the letters, which may be left adhering
in consequence of an imperfect washing. Another mechanical arrangement
effects at the same time the separation of the lines.
Figure 5 represents a section of a complete machine on a scale of two and
a half inches to a foot. A, A, are the plates, shewn in detail in Figure 4,
which with the rods d, d, turn on an axis e; B and are the plates of the
composition cylinder, with their rods K. The whole is supported on an iron
stud or pivot, which rests in front on the guide Z, and which is secured behind
to a transverse axis f, Figure S, and which permits of turning over the part g

page_text: upon the rest gl to send the type through. Under the composing cylinder is
placed the funnel C, Figure 7. It is terminated below by a tube D, which is
provided with a spiral plate x, by which the letters are compelled to pass into
the guide frame E, where the lines of type are successively formed, and are
pushed into m by a piston 1, which is put in rapid movement by the grooved
wheel y, Figure 9. is the pedal, worked by the foot, which gives the neces-
sary movement to l, and at the same moment to u, thus causing the dis-
tribution cylinder to revolve. If necessary, a separate key-board, similar in
all respects to Figure 1, may be employed, corresponding by means of iron
branches with the key-boards of two machines, which it works, and thus
enables one man to effect a double composition, the value of which will be
appreciated in works requiring a large number of copies, such as newspapers.
An important modification in one of the parts of the apparatus is as
follows: The lower piston (1, Figure 5), which pushes the letter into the
compositor m as it is presented, receives by means of a small cog wheel a
uniform movement, which regulates, as in music, the fingering of the work-
man, so that the letters are presented in regular succession, thus avoiding
all confusion.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but
what I claim is, the construction and arrangement of apparatus for com-
posing and distributing type simultaneously, as herein-before described and
referred to in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Coulon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
L. P. COULON. (L.S.)