AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PRINTING DATES ON RAILWAY TICKETS AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Adams at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th September
1866.
I, GEORGE ADAMS, of No. 34, Felton Street, New North Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PRINTING DATES ON RAILWAY
TICKETS AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the better inking of the type used in.
printing dates on railway tickets and for other like purposes, and the
production of a clear impression at each stroke of the machine.
My improved machine is constructed and acts as follows:-The box con-
taining the type is affixed to a vertical rod carried by pins on the outer ends
of two parallel arms, which pins pass through holes in the said rod; these
arms (which work one above the other) are keyed to axes turning in the
frame of the machine, which is mounted on a hollow base. The axis or shaft
to which the lower arm is keyed (which I will term the "working shaft ")
carries a short arm or lever which receives an oscillating motion from a
curved connecting bar, one end of which is jointed to the said short arm or
lever, the other end being affixed to the mouth-piece into which the tickets to
be dated or otherwise imprinted are fed, which mouth-piece is supported by a

page_text: pin or spindle carried by the upper ends of two short arms, the lower ends of
which turn on an axis fixed in the frame of the machine; the said mouth-
piece is thus capable of an oscillating motion on the said axis, by which
motion it can be brought under the type. Ink is supplied to the type at each
stroke of the machine by means of, an inking pad situated under it, and con-
sisting of a disc, the upper surface of which is covered with cloth saturated with
ink; this disc turns on a pin carried by a plate supported by two bent arms
turning loosely on the working shaft, and receives an intermittent rotatory
motion from a spring pawl which is affixed to the mouth-piece, and which
engages at each stroke of the machine with ratchet teeth formed on the peri-
phery of the said disc. A stop or heel is fixed on the under side of the plate
supporting the said disc, which stop abuts against the short arm or lever
herein-before described, and thereby keeps the said disc in a horizontal or
nearly horizontal position while the machine is out of action. When, how-
ever, the mouth-piece is pressed under the type the inking disc is allowed to
fall by gravity into an inclined position so far as to be clear of the type, the
descent of the said disc being limited. by the curved connecting bar herein-
before referred to, which is so formed as to constitute a stop. The machine
is enclosed in a suitably formed case having an opening for the introduction of
the tickets to be dated or otherwise imprinted.
Instead of mounting the mouth-piece on oscillating arms, as herein-before
described, the said arms and the axis and pin or spindle in connection there-
with may be dispensed with, and the said mouth-piece may be made to slide
in grooves or between guides in the frame of the machine. The action of the
machine is as follows:-A ticket being inserted in the mouth-piece, the latter
is pressed inwards by hand and is thereby brought under the inking type
which descends and prints the said ticket; at the same time the inking pad
falls clear of the descending type until the further motion of the said pad in a
downward direction is prevented by the curved connecting bar, when the
spring pawl carried by the mouth-piece is caused to act on the ratchet teeth
on the periphery of the said pad, and communicate a motion of partial
'rotation thereto. On the printed ticket being withdrawn, the helical spring
being released from the pressure of the hand forces the mouth-piece outwards,
and the several parts resume their original positions; the impetus imparted to
the working shaft by the recoil of the said spring causing the inking pad
(which is now acted upon by the arm or lever and stop herein-before referred
to) to strike against and ink the type, having done which the said pad drops
through a small space so as to be out of contact with the said type. By

page_text: giving the inking pad an intermittent rotatory motion in the manner described
a fresh portion of the pad is brought under the type at each stroke of the
machine, and the said type is thereby supplied with ink as required. When
the ink on the pad is exhausted fresh ink may be spread thereon, or the pad
may be removed and its place supplied by another pad charged with ink.;