AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING OR UNITING TYPES AND CONSTRUCTING CASES TO CONTAIN THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSES OF TYPE COMPOSITION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Wilkinson, of Southwick,
Massachusetts, United States of America, now of No. 8, South-
ampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING OR UNITING
TYPES AND CONSTRUCTING CASES TO CONTAIN THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSES OF
TYPE COMPOSITION."
Sealed the 6th November 1868, and dated the 9th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry
Wilkinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th May 1868.
I, WILLIAM HENRY WILKINSON, of Southwick, Massachusetts,
United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING OR
UNITING TYPES AND CONSTRUCTING CASES TO CONTAIN THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSES
OF TYPE COMPOSITION," to be as follows:-
This Invention has especial reference to a system and method of
composition by the use of word types and other combinations, together
with the ordinary letter types. The said system deals mainly with

page_text: the words and roots and other combinations such as constitute a very
large proportion of the matter in ordinary English composition; these
words and combinations being classified and tabulated according to
their grammatical functions, relations, and sequences are arranged in
cases according to their relative importance as measured by their
frequency of recurrence, that is to say, each table of words occupying a
position in the cases made accessible to the right hand of the compositor
and near to a central position in proportion to the number of words
and combinations usually contributed by it to form the matter in
composition.
My Invention consists, first, in the use of india-rubber or other elastic
material to combine or unite the letter types with sufficient firmness for
the ordinary usage of composition and distribution. For this purpose I
prefer to employ a jacket or band or several bands or strips of india-
rubber enclosing and holding together the types arranged side by side
to form words or parts of words, the said types being each nicked upon
their front and back edges and the initial and final letters upon their
outer sides, so as to form when placed together continuous depressions or
grooves to receive the bands. Or the types may be perforated to admit
of a band or core of elastic material running through the combination
of letters. Or, so far as convenient, a solution of india-rubber or other
elastic material may be used, the side of the types to be united being
grooved or notched, or perforated so that the solution when hardened
may form a core of sufficient strength for the purpose in view.
My Invention consists, secondly, in. the mode of constructing and
arranging the boxes or cells in the divisions or compartments of the cases
to contain the tables of word types according to the system described.
These boxes or cells may be either movable or fixed, or they may be
united to form movable trays which may be separately introduced or
removed at pleasure to facilitate replenishing. These cells or boxes in
each table are to be constructed, arranged, coloured, or otherwise marked
so as to present the shape of a letter or other familiar device by which
the said table may be designated and known, whether in the case or out
of it, and by means of which the eye may be greatly assisted in discerning
the relative positions of the words in the table and of the respective
tables in the cases.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Wilkinson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY WILKINSON, of Southwick, Massachusetts, United States of
America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Henry Wilkinson, Her special
licence that I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Wilkinson, 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
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING OR UNITING TYPES AND CONSTRUCTING
CASES TO CONTAIN THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSES OF TYPE COMPOSITION," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Wilkinson,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in. writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, 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 accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention has especial reference to a system and method of
composition by the use of word types and other combinations, together
with the ordinary letter types. The said system deals mainly with the
words and roots and other combinations such as. constitute a very

page_text: large proportion of the matter in ordinary English composition. These
words and combinations being classified and tabulated according to their
grammatical functions, relations, and sequences are arranged in cases
according to their relative importance as measured by their frequency of
recurrence, that is to say, each table of words occupies a relative
position in the cases accessible to the right hand of the compositor and
near to a central position according to the number of words and
combinations usually contributed by said table to form the matter in
composition.
My Invention consists, first, in the use of india-rubber or other elastic
material to combine or unite the letter types with sufficient firmness for
the ordinary usage of composition and distribution. For this purpose I
prefer to employ a jacket or band or several bands or strips of india-
rubber enclosing and holding together the types arranged side by side to
form words or parts of words, the said types being each nicked upon 1
their front and back edges and the initial and final letters upon their
outer sides, so as to form when placed together continuous depressions or
grooves to receive the bands. Or the types may be perforated to admit
of a band or core of elastic material running through the combination of
letters; or so far as convenient a solution of india-rubber (or other
elastic material) may be used, the sides of the types to be united being
grooved, or notched, or perforated, so that the solution when hardened
may form a
core of sufficient strength for the purpose in view;
or to some extent, and especially for the shorter combinations the
ordinary types without being grooved or notched may be united by the
solution.
The chief advantages secured by this method of combining types are,
first, the ease and rapidity with which the word types may be formed
without the care and skill that would be required by any known method
for making them perfectly and permanently even and true in line and
face.
Secondly. The word type thus constituted forms a body sufficiently
pliable and susceptible to the usual appliances for squaring, tightening,
and planing down when standing in the matter in .composition.
And, thirdly. The ease with which any damaged or defective letter
may be removed and the word type made good by the substitution of
perfect letters as required.

page_text: My Invention consists, secondly, in the mode of constructing and
arranging the boxes or cells in the divisions or compartments of the
cases to contain the tables of word types according to the system
described. These boxes or cells may be either movable or fixed, or they
may be united to form movable trays which may be separately introduced
or removed at pleasure to facilitate replenishing. The cells or boxes in
each table are to be constructed, arranged, coloured, or otherwise marked
so as to present the shape of a letter or other familiar device, by which
the table may be designated and known whether in the case or out of it,
and by means of which the eye may be greatly assisted in discerning the
relative positions of the words in the tables and of the respective tables
in the cases. This method of constructing the cases with movable boxes
or trays of boxes combined, and each tray having its cells or boxes so
arranged as to present the form of a letter or other device by which it
may always be designated and known, greatly facilitates the movements
of the compositor in replenishing and exchanging his trays separately as
occasion may require.
In the Drawing Figure 1 illustrates the general arrangement of cases
A, B, C, D, E, F; the tables from 1 to 6 and from 1' to 6', and the
compartments a, b, c, containing the letter types for the system of
composition referred to and the order of the tables in position about the
central point O near which the compositor stands. These cases are
constructed to admit of the separate trays or boxes being introduced or
removed at pleasure.
Figure 2 represents the construction of a single tray or combination
of boxes arranged or coloured to present an appropriate device and made
to contain one of the tables in the said system.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Wilkinson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight
WILLIAM HENRY WILKINSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE HASELTINE.