IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING COPIES OF LETTERS AND OTHER WRITINGS OR DOCUMENTS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Bain, of Rahore Street, Goswell Road.
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING COPIES OF LETTERS AND OTHER WRITINGS
OR DOCUMENTS."
Sealed the 17th October 1860, and dated the 2nd May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Bain at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
May 1860.
I ALEXANDER BAIN, of Rahere Street, Goswell Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING COPIES OF LETTERS AND OTHER
WRITINGS OR DOCUMENTS," to be as follows:-
I propose to place or to bind the sheets, or the book containing the sheets
intended to receive the copies, in a cover of wood or other equally hard and
rigid substance, that is to say, in a cover whereof the sides or boards are of
wood or other equally hard, rigid, and substantial material; and I propose to
employ for exerting the requisite pressure for producing the copy a clamp,
cramp, rigid band, or appliance of such shape as to fit over, grip, clip, or
embrace the cover (with its contents) pressing upon its sides, boards, or broad
surfaces tightly either lengthwise or breadthwise as desired, but yet not so

page_text: tightly, but that it may be pushed, drawn, or moved over the cover length-
wise or breadthwise, as the case may be. When the copy is to be effected,
the pressing appliance is fitted upon the cover, and slidden, pushed, or drawn
with the requisite force across, down, or up the same, from top to bottom, or
from bottom to. top, or from back to front, or from front to back once or
oftener, when it will exert the necessary pressure for producing the copy. The
appliance may be furnished with a screw or equivalent contrivance to apply
supplementary pressure upon a part of the surface of the sides of the cover.
The sides of the cover may be somewhat convex or raised at or towards the
centre, if desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Bain in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BAIN, of Rahere Street, Goswell Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Bain, Her special licence, that I, the said Alexander
Bain, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alexander Bain, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF OBTAINING COPIES OF LETTERS AND OTHER
WRITINGS OR DOCUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexander Bain, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 imme-
liately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Bain, 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 accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to the means of obtaining copies of letters and other
writings or documents by pressure. For this purpose, I place or bind the
sheets, or the book containing the sheets intended to receive the impressions
or copies in a cover of wood or other equally hard and rigid substance, that is
to say, in a cover whereof the sides, boards, or broad surfaces are of wood or
other equally hard, rigid, and substantial material; and I employ for exerting
the requisite pressure for producing the copy a clamp, cramp, rigid band, or
appliance of such shape as to fit over, grip, clip, or embrace the cover with its
contents, pressing upon its sides, boards, or broad surfaces tightly either
lengthwise or breadthwise as desired, but yet not so tightly but that it may
be pushed, drawn, or moved over the cover lengthwise or breadthwise as
the case may be. When the copy is to be effected, this pressing appliance is
fitted upon the cover, and slidden, pushed, or drawn with the requisite force
across, down, or up the same from top to bottom, or from bottom to top, or
from back to front, or from front to back, once or oftener, when it will exert
the necessary pressure for producing the copy. The exterior surfaces of the
sides or boards of the cover may be slightly convex, or raised at or towards
the centre, if desirable.
I now proceed to describe more particularly the best means of carrying the
Invention into effect, with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
The sheets of thin paper intended to receive the impressions or copies, and
which may be of the ordinary description used for letter-copying books, are
bound in a wood cover or binding, as at A, Figure 1, instead of the ordinary
binding boards, or they may be bound in a paper cover, and then placed loose
in a separate cover such as shewn at A, Figure 2. These covers A are shaped
like ordinary book covers, but their sides, "boards," or broad surfaces a, a, are
composed of wood or other equally hard, rigid, and substantial material,.but
preferably of wood, and they are connected by a leather back, or back of the
description usual for book covers; but the sides or boards a, a, instead of
being quite flat, may be slightly convex or raised towards the centre, as shewu.
in the transverse section, Figure 3, taken through x, x, of Figure 2.
B, Figure 4, is a plan of my clamp, cramp, or rigid band, which I call the
pressing instrument or appliance, and prefer to manufacture of wrought iron; it

page_text: is of such size and shape that it fits over, and grips or embraces the cover A
with its contents, as shewn in Figure 5, in which A is the copying book and
.cover, and B the pressing instrument or appliance placed on the book, as in the
.operation of copying.
The instrument or appliance may be of such shape that only its longer
sides b, b, come in contact with and press upon the book cover, while the
shorter sides or ends b', 6', need not come against or press the book, but there
may be a space between, as shewn in the Drawing, pressure at that part not
being requisite for effecting the copy. The instrument or appliance B fits so
firmly or tightly upon the wood surfaces a, a, that it exerts considerable
pressure on them, and therefore on the sheets contained between them, never-
theless not fitting so tightly, but that by applying some degree of force by
hand; such amount of force as a youth or person of ordinary strength may
exert without inconvenience, the instrument or appliance may be pushed or
drawn over the cover, with its contents either in the direction of tho length
or the breadth of the cover according as to whether the appliance is con-
structed to fit the book lengthwise or breadthwise.
.
The letters or documents to be copied may be written with copying ink,
and placed between the previously damped or prepared leaves of the copying
book with oiled or other waterproof sheets interposed all in the usual
manner. The cover A is then closed and rested on its edge, the instrument
or appliance B placed over it, as in Figure 5, and pushed down in the
direction of the arrow. The position of the book may then be reversed, and
the instrument or appliance B pushed back again; this may be done once or
oftener. Thus, instead of the modes of copying hitherto pursued, in which
pressure has been exerted on the whole upper surface of a book simultaneously
by a plane or flat surface parallel therewith, the mode pursued by employing
the ineaus described by me, is to exert the pressure by an instrument drawn
over the book cover, so as to apply its pressing action over every part thereof
successively.
Instead of constructing the whole instrument or appliance B in a single
piece, it may be constructed of two pieces, as in Figure 6, that is an upper
bar B und a lower bar B", connected by screws c, c, passing through eyes c¹, c',
in the part B', and through eyes c², c², in the part B³, so that the space com-
prised between B' and B³ may be varied by the screws to adjust or accom-
modate the width of the instrument to suit different thicknesses of books, before
applying it on them in the manuer described.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as
my Invention of "Improved Means for Obtaining Copies of Letters and other
Writings and Documents," is the clamp, grip, or pressing instrument or
appliance exemplified in the Drawings, and constructed and operating as
described, combined with the cover A of wood or other equally hard, rigid,
and substantial material to be employed together therewith, in the manner
and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Bain, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
ALEXANDER BAIN. (L.S.)