A MACHINE FOR CASTING OR FOUNDING TYPES, LETTERS, SPACES, AND QUADRATS, USUALLY MADE USE OF IN PRINTING
Year: 1806

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TO ALL TO WHOM TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
I, ELIHU WHITE, of Threadneedle Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
October, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Elihu White, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence.
that I, the said Elihu White, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR CASTING OR FOUNDING TYPES,
LETTERS, SPACES, AND QUADRATS, USUALLY MADE USE OF IN PRINTING;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Elihu
White, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Elihu White, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say:-

page_text: With four pieces of brass I construct a square frame, described in the
Drawing hereunto annexed. A, A, are two side bits or pieces; B, the head
block; and C, the heel block. On the under side of each of the side bits A
I secure a plate of metal, making it to project within the square frame, a part
of one of which is seen in the Drawing marked I. These I call sliding ways,
and they are made to extend nearly up to the head block. These ways support
a broad plate of metal called the slider plate, the two ends of which rest on
the slider ways, and are fitted to slide back and forward on the same. This
slider plate is not seen in the Drawing, because covered by the other apparatus.
On the upper side of this plate, and along the edge farthest from the head block,
I place a narrow bar of metal rising sufficiently above the plate to form an
exact surface with the two side bits A, A. The back part of this bar is seen
at G; over this bar I place a broad thin bar of metal, marked E, the ends of
which rests on the side bits-A, A... The. slider plate, the bar G, and the
bar E are screwed together. The space between the side bits A, A, I fill
with narrow bits of metal running parallel with the side bits, as described
in the Drawing marked M and F. These I distinguish by the names
of male and female sliders. These sliders rest on the slider plate, and
form an exact surface with the two side bits A, A, as is shewn in the
Drawing. The depth of these sliders is precisely equal to the length of
the body of the letter to be cast in the machine, and the thickness of
the male sliders I make precisely equal to the size of the body of the
letter I wish the machine to cast. No exactness is requisite in the thick-
ness of the female sliders. The ends of the sliders farthest from the head
block B pass under the bar E, and each female slider is held by a screw
or pin passing through the bar E and slider and unto the slider plate below.
The female sliders reach from the bar G to the head block B when the slider
plate is moved forward as far as the machinery will admit, but the male
sliders, although they pass under the bar E, do not reach the bar G by about
one inch. In the upper edge of each male slider is a stud or pin about half
an inch in height, marked N. Across the sliders I place a regulating bar
marked L, L, which is entire at its two ends, but open or perforated with a
long hole or space in the middle, and is secured to the two side bits by screws.
In the anterior.or foremost part of the said regulating bar L, I place a
row of adjusting screws ✗ for the purpose of stopping the studs of the male
sliders, each respectively according to the face of the letter intended to be cast;
or the said regulation may be effected by notches cut in the edge of the bar,
or by pieces of a fit thickness respectively, screwed on or fixed or properly
applied in their places. And I do also in preference (though the same is of

page_text: Jess consequence) make the same kinds of adjustment at the posterior or other
edge of the said opening in order that all the letters may be pushed out at the
same time. The studs of the male sliders. in the Drawing appear through
the opening in this bar. On the bar G is secured or fastened a piece of metal
marked P, P. The large screw D, which passes through the heel block C,
is fastened to the piece P, P, by a key S. And as the slider plate, and the
bar G, and the bar E, and the sliders F, F, are all thus secured together; the
whole will be made to slide back and forward on the sliding ways I, and under
the bar L at pleasure by turning the screw D.
If the screw be turned to the
right the whole will be carried forward until the studs in the male sliders come
in contact with the front or foremost half of the regulating bar or the screws
which pass through it, which will prevent their reaching the head block;
whereas the female sliders, having no studs to obstruct their progress, will be
driven home against the head block, by which means certain spaces T, T, T, T, T,
&c., will be left open along the head block for the body of the latter; and by
turning the screw to the left the whole will be drawn back until the studs meet
the after half of the regulating bar, by which they will be stopped, while the
female sliders will still move back until the letters are quite clear of the sliders
so as to fall or to be taken out. W, W, represent two wedge-formed pieces
fixed in the angles between the side pieces of the frame and the head block,
which; by acting against the outer female sliders at the end of the rim, do
cause the whole set of sliders to apply themselves firmly against each other,
and render the spaces or cavities T, T, &c. more perfect and fit to receive the
metal. Or the effect of the said wedge pieces may be produced by springs or any
other suitable reaction. To the outer and lower edge of the head block, or
nearly at that part, I fix a broad bar of metal moveable on a hinge or joints,
the pins, axis, or pivots of which are parallel to the said edge. I call this bar
the matrix bar. It is something wider than the head block, and about the
same length; and in or upon the face of the matrix bar, opposite to B, is a
wide groove into which is fitted a metallic box or long cell capable of holding
as many matrixes as the machine will cast letters at a single cast. The said
matrixes are secured in the box by wedges or screws, or by any other fit
method. When letters are to be cast, the bar containing the matrix box is
pressed up to the under part or face of the head block and sliders, and will
then bring the matrixes exactly under the spaces T, T, &c. kept open by the
sliders for the body of the letters, and ready to receive the metal when poured
therein. On the upper side of the head block, and on a line with its inner
face or edge T, T, &c., I secure a square bar of metal forming one half
of a kind of trough to receive and conduct the metal to the spaces T, T, &c.

page_text: The other half of the said trough lies across the ends of the sliders, and is
connected at the two extremities to two bars or guides which are fitted
to slide upon the side pieces A, A, of the frame, and are secured to the bar E
so as that the said last-mentioned half shall be moveable back and forward
at the same time and by the same action which moves the sliders, and shall
be applied against the other half when the sliders have moved as far forward
as the construction of the machinery will admit. In the two halves of the
matrix bar are cut apertures through which the metal is poured into the
moulds to make the types. And, lastly, I do hereby declare that the parts
of the said machine are capable of being altered in various particulars, not
only in the respective forms, materials, and dimensions thereof, but in the
means and methods of framing, moving, guiding, and adjusting the same,
and that the said alterations are such as will readily be perceived without
farther explanation by any competent workman; and farther, that the
method of using the said machine for the purposes aforesaid is sufficiently
manifest from the description herein-before given.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elihu White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
T
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.