IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS GIVEN TO DOCUMENTS OR OTHER ARTICLES BY HAND STAMPS AND STAMPING OR PRINTING PRESSES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to O'Donnell Grimshaw, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of
Ireland, Postmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS GIVEN TO DOCUMENTS OR OTHER
ARTICLES BY HAND STAMPS AND STAMPING OR PRINTING PRESSES."
Sealed the 6th July 1860, and dated the 11th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said O'Donnell Grimshaw
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th January 1860.
I, O'DONNELL GRIMSHAW, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Post-
master, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS GIVEN TO DOCUMENTS OR
OTHER ARTICLES BY HAND STAMPS AND STAMPING OR PRINTING PRESSES," to bo
as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to provide a means for determining
(approximately) the number of letters passed through the post office during
any given period. To effect this object I mount the inking pad for inking
the hand stamp used by the person whose duty it is either to obliterate the
postage stamps or to date the letters, upon a hinged plate or table, and connect
the same with a counting apparatus by means of an arm fitted with a driving
click. When therefore the dating or obliterating stamp is pressed down

page_text: upon the inking pad to receive ink on its surface it will depress the pad (a
spring which bears it up giving way to the pressure) but when this pressure
is withdrawn the pad will rise to its normal position. This movement of the
pad I avail myself of to work the driving click, and thereby set the counting
apparatus in motion; or I connect the table on which the letters are stamped
to the counting apparatus and obtain the required indication.
When mounted stamps or plungers (worked by a lever or otherwise) are
used for obliterating the postage stamps or dating the letters I connect the
counting apparatus with the plunger so that the descent or rise of the
plunger shall impart the required movement to the counting wheels through
a rock lever fitted with a driving click or its equivalent.
The Invention is applicable also to fly presses and other inking or stamping
presses for indicating the number of documents or other articles brought
under the action of such press, the motion for working the counting apparatus
being in this case taken either from the plunger or from a moving pad
or bed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said O'Donnell Grimshaw in the Great Seal Patent. Office on the
11th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, O'DONNELL
GRIMSHAW, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Postmaster, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight-hundred-and-sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her-beirs and successors, give and grant-unto-me,
the said-O'Donnell Grimshaw, Her special license that I, the said O'Donnell
Grimshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said O'Donnell Grimshaw, 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 venil, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS GIVEN TO DOCUMENTS OR
OTHER ARTICLES BY HAND STAMPS AND STAMPING OR PRINTING PRESSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said O'Donnell Grimshaw, by an
instrument in writing under my hand, and seal, should particularly describe.

page_text: 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 O'Donnell Grimshaw, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
In the internal economy of the post office, it has long been considered
desirable to secure reliable returns from the different branches of the letters
that have been received within given periods, but the methods at present in use-
are found to give returns of very doubtful accuracy, and therefore to be of
comparatively little use. Now the chief object of this Invention is to provide
a simple mechanical contrivance for determining (approximately) the number.
of letters passed through the several local offices during any given period. To
effect this object I avail myself of the pressure put on the stamp used by the
person whose duty it is either to obliterate the postage stamps, or to date the.
letters, for working a counting apparatus which will indicate approximately the
number of letters operated upon by the stamp.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in plan view, and Fig. 2 in
longitudinal vertical section, the mode of carrying out this Invention in con-
nection with an inking pad which is used for inking the operating surface of
hand stamps. In these Figures a is a bed plate, to which is hinged a plate 6,
carrying an inking pad c, constructed in the usual manner; d is a spring
attached to the under side of the plate b, and bearing upon the bed plate for
the purpose of throwing up the pad to the elevated position of Fig. 2.
Attached to and projecting from the plate is a lever arm e, fitted with a
spring driving click, which is intended to operate the driving wheel f. of a
counting apparatus g, of any ordinary construction. The driving wheelf is
made with skew teeth, so that the click lever when operated will act on an
inclined plane and so drive round the wheel tooth by tooth. It will now be
understood that as the dating or obliterating stamp is pressed down upon the
inking pad c, to receive ink on its surface, it will force down the pad to a
horizontal position (a spring which bears it up giving way to the pressure) but
when this pressure is withdrawn the pad will rise to its normal position by the
force of the spring d, and cause the driving click to set the counting apparatus
in motion. Instead of this arrangement, which I prefer for post office use,
the table on which the letters are stamped may be connected to the counting

page_text: apparatus; the required indication will then be obtained by the pressure put
upon the letters.
When mounted stamps or plungers (worked by a lever or otherwise) are
used for obliterating the postage stamps or dating the letters, I connect the
counting apparatus with the plunger, so that the descent or rise of the plunger
shall impart the required movement to the counting wheels through a rock
lever fitted with a driving click or its equivalent. This arrangement is illus-
trated by the diagram, Fig. 3, wherein h is the stamp or plunger fitted with a
pin, which, as the plunger descends, rocks the lever i, which carries the
driving click k, in connection with the counting apparatus. A spring in this
case restores the rock lever to its quiescent position. In this arrangement it
is assumed that there is a travelling inker constructed in any well known
manner for inking the face of the stamp.
The Invention is applicable also to fly presses and other inking or stamping
presses for indicating the number of documents or other articles brought under.
the action of such press, the motion for working the counting apparatus being
in this case taken either from the plunger or from a moving pad or bed as
thought most convenient.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improved apparatus for
registering the number of impressions given to documents or other articles by
hand stamps, and stamping or printing presses, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the abovo
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim operating counting apparatus of any
suitable construction, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said O'Donnell Grinishaw, have hereunto set
_ my hand and seal, the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord