IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING LETTERS, POST CARDS, AND POST PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Simon Alfred Rogers, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Dentist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
LETTERS PATENT to Simon Alfred Rogers, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Dentist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING LETTERS, POST CARDS, AND POST
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Simon Alfred Rogers
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd September 1872.
I, SIMON ALFRED ROGERS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING LETTERS, POST CARDS; AND
POST PACKETS," to be as follows :—
My Invention relates to the operation of stamping letters, post cards,
newspaper packets, and other post packets, and has for its principal
object to expedite the said operation. For this purpose in lieu of the
ordinary hand stamp I employ an apparatus in which the stamp is
operated by the foot or feet of the operator, or by steam power, or by
rotatory motion derived otherwise than from steam, the hands of the
operator being at liberty to be used in feeding the letters, cards, or
packets into the said apparatus. The said letters, cards, or packets may
be fed into the said apparatus or be placed in position to be stamped.

page_text: •
by hand, or be placed on or fed on to a travelling apron which will
carry the said letters, cards, or packets forward, and will bring them
successively into position to be stamped. The said letters, cards, or
packets after being stamped are or may be pushed off the table of the
apparatus into a shoot or receptacle. An inking roller or inking rollers,
or an inking surface, is or are brought into contact with the stamp after
each operation of stamping.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Simon Alfred Rogers in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd March 1873.
み
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIMON
ALFRED ROGERS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Dentist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, Her special license
that I, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, 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 APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES, FOR STAMPING LETTERS, POST
CARDS, AND POST PACKETS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I,
the said Simon Alfred Rogers, 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.
:

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:―
My Invention relates to the operation of stamping letters, post cards,
newspaper packets, and other post packets, and has for its principal
object to expedite the said operation. For this purpose, in lieu of the
ordinary hand stamp I employ an apparatus in which the stamp is
operated by the foot or feet of the operator, or by steam power, or by
rotatory motion derived otherwise than from steam, the hands of the
operator being at liberty to be used in feeding the letters, cards, or
packets into the said apparatus. The said letters, cards, or packets may
be fed into the said apparatus, or be placed in position to be stamped
by hand, or be placed in or fed on to a travelling apron which will
carry the said letters, cards, or packets forward, and will bring them
successively into position to be stamped. The said letters, cards, or
packets after being stamped are or may be pushed off the table of the
apparatus into a shoot or receptacle. An inking roller or inking rollers,
or an inking surface, is or are brought into contact with the stamp after
each operation of stamping.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I have
supplied a Sheet of Drawings to accompany this Specification, the said.
Drawings made about the full size representing a form of apparatus
which I consider to be suitable for the purposes of my said Invention.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side
elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan of the said apparatus. In the said Figs.
a is a shaft which is fitted to revolve in bearings formed in the lower
framing b, and is provided with a strap pulley c, by means of which the.
said shaft receives motion from a revolving shaft actuated by steam or
other power, or from a shaft actuated by a treddle or by treddles, as may
be preferred. Upon the said shaft is fixed a cam d which works within
a frame formed on the lower end of the connecting rod e, and acting
alternately upon the upper and lower surfaces of the said frame imparts
an intermittent upward and downward movement to the said connecting
rod. The said connecting rod is jointed by its upper end to one end
of a leverf which is mounted on a pin g which is fixed on the upper.
frame. The other end of the said lever enters a slot formed in a
plunger which is fitted to slide up and down in a socket formed in the
frame h. The upper end of the said plunger is reduced in diameter, and:

page_text: slides in the cap j, and a spiral spring is introduced between the said
cap and the lower part of the said plunger, the said spring tending to
force down the said plunger. A socket to receive the shank of the
stamp or stamp holder k is formed in the lower end of the said plunger.
Two slotted guides 1, 2, are sustained in position by screwed pillars m, m,
which are fitted with nuts in order that the position of the said guides
may be adjusted. Within the said guides is mounted an inking roller n,
the axles or gudgeons of the said roller passing through the slots in the
guides and being connected by the links o, o, to the levers p, p, which
are mounted or fixed on the shaft 4.
On the said shaft is also mounted
or fixed the lever r, the outer end of which carries an antifriction bowl
upon which operates the heart wheel s which is fixed on the main
shaft a, the joint action of the said heart wheel and of a spiral spring t
which is attached to the lever p causing the aforesaid inking roller to
be traversed to and fro in its guides; during the traversing of the said
inking roller it is caused alternately to come in contact with the surface
of a suitable inking table u and with the face of the stamp k, and
thereby to effect the inking of the said stamp, the cam d being so
formed and adjusted as that the said stamp shall remain stationary.
during the operation of inking. A bed v to sustain the letter or other
object during the stamping thereof is fixed below the stamp, the said
bed being preferably formed of an elastic or partly elastic material. I
may so fit or mount the said bed as that it may be capable of being
quickly raised and lowered by a suitable arrangement operated by the
hand or the foot, in order that the said bed may be sufficiently lowered
to prevent contact with the stamp when the apparatus is not being used.
In the example the said bed is fitted to slide up and down in an opening
in the framing.
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate an arrangement which may be employed to
raise the said bed whenever required. In the said Figures the said bed
' is connected by the link w with the treddle lever x, on which is fixed a
weight y which tends to draw down the bed v.
When the apparatus has to be used for stamping letters, post cards,
or other matter of little bulk, the foot is placed upon the said treddle,
and the bed is thereby raised. When bulky packets are being stamped
it may not be necessary to raise the said bed.
The manner of using the apparatus may be described as follows,
namely, supposing the shaft a to be rotated at a suitable speed, the-

page_text: stamp will reciprocate up and down, being inked after each downward
stroke, and will stamp any letters, post cards, or other matter which
may be placed upon the bed v, the said bed being raised or not as may
be required. The cam' d imparts the upward movement, and the spiral
spring acting on the plunger i the downward movement to the said
stamp, and the said spring by yielding permits varying thicknesses of
matter to be stamped. Ordinary or suitable arrangements may be
adopted for quickly and readily stopping and starting the apparatus.
The important feature of my said Invention is that the operator is
able to use both hands in the arranging of the matter to be stamped,
and in the submitting of the same to the action of the apparatus,
whereby the operation of stamping is facilitated, and is also rendered
less laborious. The details of the apparatus may be greatly varied, so
long as the said feature is retained, and arrangements for feeding the
matter to the said apparatus may be employed as herein-before mentioned,
if thought to be desirable.
Having now fully described and indicated the nature of my said
Invention, and means for carrying the same into practical effect, I
would in conclusion have it to be distinctly understood that I claim as
secured to me by the herein-before mentioned Letters Patent, the
method of and the apparatus for stamping letters, post cards, or packets,
substantially as herein-before described and indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
SIMON ALFRED ROGERS. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said.
Simon Alfred Rogers in the
presence of
HUGH GRANT,
Clerk to Edward K. Dutton,
Manchester.