IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STAMPING OR OBLITERATING AND PRINTING, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO POST OFFICE PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO MACHINES IN WHICH CAMS ARE EMPLOYED
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Howell, of Old Kent Road, in the County of
Surrey, Stationer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
STAMPING OR OBLITERATING AND PRINTING, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO POST
OFFICE PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO MACHINES
IN WHICH CAMS ARE EMPLOYED."
Sealed the 11th March 1864, and dated the 15th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Howell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the 15th
September 1863.
I, GEORGE HOWELL, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Stationer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR STAMPING OR OBLITERATING AND PRINTING, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE
TO POST OFFICE PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO
MACHINES IN WHICH CAMS ARE EMPLOYED," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the combination of levers, excentrics, and cams,
which act upon what I term fingers and stamps, which fingers fetch, say,
letters, bring them under an obliterating and a printing stamp, and then
drive or remove them to make place for others. The letters are conveyed
on endless belts, and are brought under the obliterating and printing stamps
by india-rubber fingers attached to metal hands jointed on pendant arms,

page_text: which receive their movement from cams or excentrics and straps com-
municating with a driving shaft.
The metal hands are made to rise and fall by cains pressing on side rods,
to which india-rubber bauds are attached.. The letters are gauged by
fences, and are adjusted by metal fingers made to rise and fall. The stamps
are made to rise and fall by cams, assisted by india-rubber bands. I employ
a swing ink or color box with screw lock and cylinder worked from the
driving shaft. The color is conveyed to the stamps by soft india-rubber
rollers, or in perforated cylindrical metal rollers covered with cloth, carried
in the end of pendant arms, which are moved by what I term concurrent
or union cams capable of being varied.
The concurrent or union cam is applicable to other machines in which
cams are used. It is double, the larger disc is enlarged and diminished to
produce the required movement, and the smaller disc is diminished to make
the can equal in diameter between two parallels or arms of a forked lever
or pendant, which parallels are divided or set out in order to catch the
opposite edge of each disc. Among other machines to which my cam and
forked lever will be applicable I may specially mention sewing machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Howell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HOWELL, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Stationer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Howell, Her special licence that I, the said George Howell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Howell, my executors, administrators, or 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, au Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
MACHINERY FOR STAMPING OR OBLITERATING AND PRINTING, ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE
'TO POST OFFICE PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO

page_text: "
MACHINES IN WHICH CAMS ARE EMPLOYED" upon the condition (amongst others),
that 1, the said George Howell, my executorsor administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my,or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 George Howell, 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 bythe following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed
that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the combination of levers, excentrics, and cams
which act upon what I term fingers and stamps, which fingers fotch, say,
letters, bring them under an obliterating and a printing stamp,and then drive
or remove them to make place for others. The letters are conveyed on endless
belts, and are brought under the obliterating and printing stamps by india-
rubberfingers attached to metal handsjointed on pendant arms, which receive
their movement from cams or excentrics and straps communicating with a
driving shaft.
The metal hands are made to rise and fall by cams pressing on side rods,
to which india-rubber bands are attached; the letters are guaged by fences,
and are adjusted by metal fingers made to rise and fall. The stamps are
made to rise and fall by cams assisted by india-rubber bands; I employ a
swing ink or color box with screw lock and cylinder worked from the driving
shaft. The color is conveyed to the stamps by soft india-rubber rollers or in
perforated cylindrical metal rollers covered with cloth, carried in the end of
pendant arms, which are moved by what I term concurrent or union cams
capable of being varied..
The concurrent or union cam is applicable to other machines in which cams
are used; it is double; the larger disc is enlarged or diminished to produce
the required movement, and the smaller disc is diminished to make the cam
equal in diameter between two parallels or arms of a forked lever or pendant,
which parallels are divided or set out in order to catch the opposite edge of
each disc. Among other machines to which my cam and forked lever will be
applicable I may specially mention sewing machines.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a
front elevation of a machine intended for post office purposes, constructed
according to my Invention, and shewing the fingers thrown forward to fetch

page_text: the letters; Figure 3 is a side elevation, showing the various parts in the
positions they occupy when the fingers have brought the letters under the
obliterating and printing stamp.
A is the frame supported by standards at the side of the machine, and
carrying a shaft B, to which rotary motion is imparted by a treadle or other-
wise; this shaft carries the various cams, levers, and excentrics which produce
the required movements of the different parts of the machine, as hereafter
described. The letters are supplied edgewise to an endless belt a with the
corner bearing the postage stamp or stamps downwards and against a fence
or plate b. The face of each successive letter is made to bear against a metal
guard c, which, when the letters are being supplied too fast, is pressed back-
ward; so that teeth carried by the fore end of a horizontal-continuation c 2
thereof are caused to take into the teeth of a ratchet wheel d on the same
axle as one of the rollers round which the endless belt a passes; the revo-
lution or the rollers, and therefore the travel of the belt are thus interrupted.
The metal plate c causes the letter to assume an inclined position, when it is
drawn by india-rubber fingers e, attached to a metal hand f, jointed to a
pendant arm g, working on a pivot in the frame A, and receiving a forward
and backward motion from an excentric i on the shaft B. The figures e are
moved back into the position represented in Figures 3, and bring the letter
with the stamped corner thereof under on obliterating and printing stampj
carried by a rod k, working in a guide k³, and made to rise by a cam Zon the
shaft B of the shape shewn in Figure 4; the rod k, with its stamp j, is
brought down upon the letter by an india-rubber band m. At the same time
that the fingers e draw the letter under the stem j, another india-rubber
finger n, attached to a metal hand o, jointed to a pendant arm p.
works on a pivot 9 in the frame A, and is jointed to the arm g at the point r,
moves forward into the position represented in Figure 3, presses upon the
letter while the obliterating and printing are being performed, and then
removes it to the back of the machine. In addition to the backward and
forward motion imparted to the fingers e and n by the arms 9 and p, as before
described, they at the same time receive an up-and-down motion by means of
rods s and pivoted to back extensions of the hands fando; the rod s is
forked at its apper end to embrace a grooved roller u; it is actuated by a
cam v of the form represented in Figure 5, and is caused to bear against the
cam by an india-rubber band w extending from a hook on the rod s to a stud
on the arm g, as shewn; the rod t is jointed to another rod a sliding in a
groove in a block y, and actuated by a cam-z of the form represented in
Figure 6.
which

page_text: The stamp is supplied with ink or color by an india-rubber roller a¹,
carried in the lower end of a pendant arm pivoted at c' to the frame 'A ;
the upper end of the arm b' is forked, and is acted on by what I term a
concurrent or union cam, shewn detached in Figure 7. This cam is double;
the arm e' of the fork is acted on by the disc f¹ of the cam and the arm g¹
by the disc ', whereby a backward and forward motion is imparted to the
pendant arm, and therefore to the inking roller a¹, which is thus brought
in contact with and supplics ink to the face of the stampj. To the arm b¹
fingers are pivoted in the backward movement of the arm b', the tail of the
fingers ¹ comes against the under side of a projection on the frame A, and
causes the fingers to rise sufficiently to allow a letter to pass underneath
them. In the forward movement of the arm the fingers i fall again of
their own weight upon the belt a, and should more than one letter have been
drawn at a time by the fingers e, the fingers return the additional letter or
letters to the guard c. The roller a¹, in the backward movement of the arm b¹,
comes in contact with a "doctor" m¹in a box n¹, and receives a supply of
ink therefrom; this doctor receives rotary motion from an endless cord o
passed over pulleys p³, p¹, one of which is on the shaft B, and the other on the
axle of the doctor. The doctor is shewn detached in Figure S; it is composed
of a perforated cylindrical vessel covered with cloth; the ink or color is
supplied thereto by unscrewing one end thereof. The box n¹ in which the
doctor revolves is hinged to the frame A, and is pushed back when the
roller a¹ comes in contact with the doctor. The doctor is held in the box n¹
by a screw lock arranged as follows:-q; Figure 9, is a plate which carries a
projection witha hole through its centre, and with a screw thread thereon,
to screw into the side plate of the box ; a portion of the projection is
removed, as shewn, to receive the axle of the doctor; by then turning the
plate q' partly round, it is screwed further into the side plate of the box n',
and the doctor is securely held. In some cases, instead of employing both the
doctor m² and the inking roller a¹, I fit a doctor in the lower end of the
arm 61, and dispense with the roller a¹, the doctor then supplies ink or color
to the stamp direct. When it is required, for any reason, to prevent the
stampjcoming down, the attendant engages a paul s¹ in a recess in the armk
whereby the arm is held at the top of its stroke. 1 prefer to arrange
machines, constructed as before described, side by side, and work them from
the same shaft B.
several
Figure 10 represents the manner in which my concurrent or union cam and
forked lever may be applied to a sewing machine. A represents the shuttle
bar of a sewing machine in a piece with two vertical bars B, B¹, forming a

page_text: fork. The bar A is caused to move forward by the disc C of the cam bearing
against the bar B, aud backward by the disc D bearing against the bar B;
E is the needle bar of the machine centred at F, and the end of which is
forked, as shewn. An upward movement is imparted to the bar E by the
disc G of the cam bearing against the arm H of the fork, and a downward
movement by the disc I bearing against the arm J.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the exact arrangements herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings,
as they may be variously modified without departing from my Invention, and
that I claim,-
First, constructing machinery for stamping or obliterating and printing, in
which levers, excentrics, and cams act upon what I have herein-beforetermed
fingers and upon stamps, which fingers fetch letters or other desired articles
under an obliterating and printing stamp or stamps, and then drive or remove
them, all arranged and operating substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment in machines for stamping or obliterating and
printing, in sewing machines, and in other machines to which they are
applicable, of what I have herein-before termed concurrent or union cams
in conjunction with forked levers, constructed and acting substantially
in manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Howell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE HOWELL (L.S.)