1. IMPROVED MACHINE POR STAMPING LETTERS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth & Co.,
Patent Agents, of Frankfort-o-Maine, Germany, for the Invention of "AN
1. IMPROVED MACHINE POR STAMPING LETTERS."-A Communication from
Johann Carl Wilhelm Naas and Carl Fischer, both of Hamburg,
Germany.
Sealed the 8th February 1868, and dated the 8th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Wirth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
August 1867.
I, FRANCIS WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth & Co., Patent Agents, of Frank-
fort-o-Maine, Germany, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR STAMPING LETTERS," a communication, to be
as follows:
The said machine is provided with a roller for the letters to rest on, this
roller is furnished with pins or claws arranged to project through its surface
and take hold of each of the letters lying thereon; these claws bring the
letters into the proper position for another roller with gutta percha, guide
wheels-to-seize-and-press-them against the first roller while the stamps which
are carried by the second roller are printed distinctly on the said letters; this
is done however without stopping, the downward movement of the said letters
which are guided by conducting bands continually along in a box, where they.

page_text: arrange themselves in the order in which they enter the machine. In proportion
as this box is filled with the letters it is moved on rails by means of an eccentric
pusher and a rack and pinion, so that the box is emptied as fast as it is filled.
To prevent the claws or pins from injuring the letters when the same are
pushed along, the said claws are constructed in such a manner as to disappear
in the roller after each letter has been seized by the gutta percha guiding
wheels of the second roller. To this end each claw or pin is fixed on a steel
stamp surrounded by a spiral spring which slides over a fixed eccentric in the
inner part of the first roller at every rotation of the same, and is thereby
caused to project beyond its surface. When this pressure subsides the said pin
is brought to its former place by a spiral spring. The said eccentric is held
fast by a holder, but can be adjusted by the same. The machine is provided
with a fly wheel which the workman turns with his left hand, the letters
being placed with his right hand on the first roller. To prevent the turning
over of the letters the workman has simply to press them hard on a smooth
plate over which three are moving constantly from the top to the bottom to
prevent the stopping of the letters by their sticking to each other. This plate
extends lengthwise towards the bottom of the machine, and is provided with
four steel springs which fit close to the first roller; if a letter is then put in
motion by the pins or claws it must press on these springs; by this pressure
the said springs retire so much as to let the letters pass one at a time, and if
the next letter should be moved at the same time by the friction these springs
will retain it. To prevent exposing thick letters or sheets of paper to too
great a pressure the second roller is arranged to move backward with its
bearings, but is constantly regulated to produce the right pressure by means of
a spring. The stamps are supplied with the printing ink or color by a suitable
roller made of gutta percha. The color machinery is provided with an eccentric
to separate the color rollers when the machine is not in use.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Wirth, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Wirth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Francis Wirth, 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 MACHINE
FOR STAMPING LETTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Francis Wirth, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Wirth, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 Sheet of Drawings
forming a part of this Specification:-
. The said nachine is provided with a roller for the letters to rest on, this
roller is furnished with pins or claws arranged to project through its surface and
take hold of each of the letters lying thereon; these claws bring the letters into the
proper position for another roller with gutta percha guide wheels to seize and
press them against the first roller while the stamps which are carried by the
second roller are printed distinctly on the said letters; this is done however
without stopping the downward movement of the said letters which are
guided by conducting bands into a box, where they arrange themselves
in the order in which they enter the machine. In proportion as this
box is filled with the letters it is moved on rails by means of an eccentric
pusher and a rack so that the box is emptied as fast as it is filled.
To keep the claws or pins from injuring the letters when the same are
pushed along, the said claws are constructed in such a manner_as_to_be_with-
drawn in the roller after each letter has been seized by the gutta. perchá
guiding wheels of the second roller. To this end each claw or pin is fixed on

page_text: a steel stamp surrounded by a spiral spring which slides over a fixed eccentric
in the inner part of the first roller at every rotation of the same, and is thereby
caused to project beyond its surface. When this pressure subsides the said pin
is brought to its former place by a spiral spring. The said eccentric is held fast
by a holder, but can be adjusted by the sanie. The machine is provided with
a fly wheel which the workman turns with his left hand, the letters being
placed with his right hand on the first roller. To prevent the turning over
of the letters the workman has simply to press them hard on a smooth plate,
over which they move constantly from the top to the bottom to prevent the
stopping of the letters by their sticking to each other. This plate extends
lengthwise towards the bottom of the machine, and 'is provided with four steel
springs which fit close to the first roller; if a letter "is then put in motion by
the pins or claws it must press on these springs; by this: pressure the said
springs retire so much as to let the letters pass one at antime, and if the next
letter should be moved at the same time by the; friction these springs will
retain it. To prevent exposing thick letters or sheets of paper to: too: great a
pressure, the second roller is arranged to, move backward with its bearings,
but is constantly regulated to produce the right pressure by means of a spring.
The stamps are supplied with the printing ink, or color by a suitable roller
made of gutta percha

page_text: lever K, the centre of motion of the said lever being at t; this lever brings
forward by the piece K¹ the rack n and the box F. The construction'
of the roller B is clearly shown in the Drawings. The roller B has three
stamps e and two discs of gutta percha E; these two discs conduct the
letters between the roller A and the stamps e by which they are stamped.
are the bearings of the axle of the roller B, which bearings are acted
upon by the spring g. By this arrangement letters of unequal thickness are
allowed to pass the stamps. The springs g regulates in this manner the
motion of the roller B. M is the frame on the side of which the letters are
piled up; this frame serves also for holding the apparatus, consisting of the
four springs 16. These springs slide upon the roller A, and are so arranged
that only one letter can be brought forward under the stamps e. To render
these springs more elastic the long springs is fastened, and the short spring
keeps the weight of the letters from acting upon the spring w.
The part G of the machine is. the apparatus which dyes or colours the
stamps e; this apparatus consists of two rollers of steel and two of gutta
percha. The roller with the knife m is the colour roller; upon the axle of
this roller is a double eccentric i which works upon the lever y.
By this
movement the roller is raised, takes a little colour from ', and brings it
to h3; from the steel roller h³ the colour is conducted by the gutta percha h
to the stamps c. The apparatus receives its motion from a small wheel q,
which is arranged in connection with the wheel o. At the back of the
colouring apparatus and at the end of the axle of the roller is an endless
screw which moves the axle of the roller h¹. F is a box in which the letters
fall after being stamped.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The fly wheel C is turned,
and by means of the toothed pinion upon its axle drives the pinion r' with
the large wheel o; the latter gears into the wheel c³ upon the roller A, and
the roller A by means of the friction wheels a drives the roller B. The letters
being piled up rectangularly to the frame M, and the machine being put in
motion, the arrangement of the spring causes these letters one by one to be
taken up by the needle points of the stamps b¹ and brought forward between
the roller A and the stamps e through the gutta percha discs E; the letter is
here stamped and falls in the box F. The workman may turn the fly wheel
with one hand while he is supplying the machine with letters by his other
hand.

page_text: acting, machine with the needle-pointed stamps b¹, the discs of gutta percha E,
and the springs w; v, and s, combined and operating substantially as and for
the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Wirth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FRANCIS WIRTH. (L.S.)