AN IMPROVED HAND STAMP OR SEAL FOR MARKING OR IMPRESSING CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS OR FIGURES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Johnson Aspinall, of Tue Brook, near
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED HAND STAMP OR SEAL FOR MARKING OR IMPRESSING CONSECUTIVE
NUMBERS OR FIGURES."
Sealed the 3rd June 1864, and dated the 7th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th December 1868.
I, ALFRED JOHNSON ASPINALL, of Tue Brook, near Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED HAND STAMP OR SEAL FOR MARKING OR IMPRESSING CONSECUTIVE
NUMBERS OR FIGURES," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object a compact and portable mechanical
arrangement for marking consecutive numbers or other figures by hand on
invoices, labels, tickets, and other articles that may be required to be so
marked. A detached hand stamp or seal to impress consecutive numbers to
the extent of (say) six numerals, may consist of six wheels of equal circum..
férence revolving on the same axis. Each wheel carries or is formed with ten
projections on its periphery at equal distances from each other. These pro-

page_text: jections may consist of engraved or cast type, or of letters, figures, or other
symbols as (say) 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, engraved, embossed, or otherwise
formed on the external face of such projections. The three first wheels are
free to revolve on their axis when not held in position by a transverse locking
pin, and each of the three first wheels is laterally perforated with eleven holes
to receive the locking pin, and the holes on each wheel correspond and
coincide with the holes on the other two wheels. The locking pin is passed
through a hole in the side of a frame or case enclosing the wheels, and these
three wheels are regulated by withdrawing the locking pin and adjusting them
by the finger at the front of an opening in the bottom of the enclosing case.
When thus adjusted the locking pin is used to hold them in the required
position, the locking pin being formed on its outer edge with a small thumb-
piece and shoulder, under which is cut a short thread which screws into the
side of the frame or outer casing for preventing the pin falling out. These
wheels do not require to be altered, except the inner one at every thousand,
the middle one at every ten thousand, and the outer one at every hundred
thousand. The other three wheels are actuated by means of a thumb-piece or
its mechanical equivalent on the outside of the shank of the stamp or seal.
This is done in the following manner:-The fourth wheel is formed with a
hollow axle or sleeve which encompasses the axle; the second wheel is also
formed with a sleeve piece or hollow axle, which is slipped and works upon
the sleeve or hollow axle of the third wheel. The sixth wheel is formed with
a ratchet or notched wheel on its side. The hole drilled in the centre is suffi-
ciently enlarged to admit of its being slipped on to the sleeve piece of the fifth
wheel. The sleeve of the fifth wheel is sufficiently elongated to admit of a
ratchet wheel being fitted thereto, which works parallel to the other wheels,
and the sleeve of the fourth wheel is sufficiently elongated to allow a ratchet
wheel to be attached thereto on the outside of and parallel to the ratchet
wheel of the fifth wheel. The ratchet on the side of the sixth or unit wheel
has its ratchet divided into ten parts, nine of which ratchet teeth are of equal
depth, but the tenth is cut considerably deeper, so that the pall tooth being
made sufficiently wide on falling into this recess is allowed to fall sufficiently
down at every complete revolution of the unit wheel into a notch of the
ratchet wheel on the hollow axle of the fifth wheel, which ratchet wheel is of
smaller diameter, so as to be beyond reach of the pall when within any of the
nine shallow teeth of the unit wheel. The tenth tooth on the ratchet wheel
of the fifth wheel is cut sufficiently deep to allow the pall to fall into one of
the ten equal ratchets of the ratchet wheel of the fourth wheel.. The tenth
ratchet on the unit wheel is cut sufficiently deep to allow it to take into the

page_text: whole of the three wheels when the deep cut ratchet on the ratchet wheel of
the fifth wheel is in line therewith. The broad pall which works into the
ratchet teeth is actuated by a rod at right angles to the axis of the wheels to
which it is connected by a small link rod attached thereto by a pin working in
a slotted hole formed in the rod or the link rod, so as to give it the requisite
amount of play to relieve the lower end of the rod, which forms a locking bolt
or holding claw for keeping the wheels steady. The outer end of the pin of
the actuating ratchet pall is supported by a crank arm, which works loose on
the common axis. By this arrangement on first drawing up the rod the bolt
on the lower end thereof is withdrawn, so as to relieve the wheels and allow
them to act by being pushed or drawn round by the pall tooth acting on the
ratchet wheels. The pall tooth of the ratchet wheel is kept in position by
means of a back spring, and to ensure accuracy of action each of the ratchet
wheels are fitted with an independent pall tooth, which at the under side of
the outer ends or nose of the pall are formed with a small projection, which
take into small notches formed in the bottoms of the ratchet teeth, which has
the effect of locking the wheel until relieved by a stud piece which projects
from the side of the wheel next in position. This stud piece passing round
underneath the pall lifts it out of its noteb, and thus allows the wheel to be
passed round to the extent of one tooth. These locking palls are pressed
against their several ratchet wheels by springs, and the actuating rod is also
surrounded by a helical spring or its mechanical equivalent for keeping the
rod towards the wheels.
The action of this machine is as follows:-By drawing up the vertical rod.
by means of the thumb-piece on the side of the shauk of the instrument, the
bolt formed on the bottom of the rod is withdrawn from the wheels, after which
the pin of the connecting link, which actuates the driving pall tooth, is drawn
up by the rod, and the acting pall tooth forces round the unit wheel one-tenth
of a revolution. When the actuating rod is relieved from pressure it falls
down and bolts the wheels into their correct position, and so on, as the work
proceeds. This stamp may be used with ink or other suitable colouring or
marking fluid or matter; or it may be used to mark by indentation. This
improved stamp may be fitted within vertical guides to ensure its being
brought vertically down upon the paper or other material it is intended to
impress, and may be actuated through a lever or its mechanical equivalent,.
and may be so arranged as to be self-inking by extending the lower end of
the lever or beam sufficiently to enable an inking roller to be attached thereto,
the lower end of the lever being so fitted with springs or their mechanical
equivalents as. to bring the lower end of the lever, carrying the inking roller

page_text: across the impressing surface of the stamp, as the upper end of the lever is
allowed to go back and take a vertical position, which inking roller will be
withdrawn from the surface of the stamp as the upper end of the lever is
drawn forward, and the stamp descends to impart the desired impression on
the paper or other material; or the stamp may be fitted so as to work in
guides formed in a curved arm or its mechanical equivalent, which is capable
of being turned to one side, so as to be brought over an inking pad.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
JOHNSON ASPINALL, of Tue Brook, near Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, 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 Alfred Johnson Aspinall, Her special licence that I, the said
Alfred Johnson Aspinall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 for "AN IMPROVED HAND STAMP OR SEAL FOR MARKING OR
IMPRESSING CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS OR FIGURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object a compact and portable mechanical
arrangement for marking consecutive numbers or other figures by hand
on envoices, labels, tickets, and other articles that may require to be so
marked.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made about full size,
similar letters of reference being marked upon corresponding parts of the
apparatus.
Fig. 1 is an end view of the stamp, part of the case being removed to shew
the interior; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional side
view, and Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional end view of the detached hand stamp
detached hand stamp or seal to impress consecutive numbers, which may consist
of six wheels a, a, a, of equal circumference revolving on the same axis b. Each
wheel carries or is formed with ten projections on its periphery at equal distances
from each other. These projections may consist of engraved or cast types or of
letters, figures, or other symbols, as (say) 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, engraved,
embossed, or otherwise formed on the external face of such projections. The
three first wheels are free to revolve on their axis when not held in position by
a transverse locking pin c, and each 0, 1, three first wheels is laterally perforated
with 11 holes to receive the locking pin, and the holes on each wheel corre
spond and coincide with the holes on the other two wheels. The locking pin
is passed through a hole in the side of a frame or case d enclosing the wheels,
and these three wheels are regulated by withdrawing the locking pin and
adjusting them by the finger at the front of an opening in the bottom of the
enclosing case. When thus adjusted the locking pin is used to hold them in
the required positions, the locking pin being formed on its outer edge with a
small thumb-piece and shoulder, under which is cut a short thread which
screws into the side of the frame or outer casing for preventing the pin falling
out. These wheels a, a, do not require to be altered, except the inner one at
the completion of every thousand, the middle one at every ten thousand, and
the outer one at every hundred thousand. The other three wheels are actuated
by means of a thumb-piece e or its mechanical equivalent on the outside of the
shank of the stamp or seal. This is done in the following manner :-The
fourth wheel is formed with a hollow bush or sleeve which encompasses the axle;
the second wheel is also formed with a sleeve piece or hollow bush, which
is slipped and works upon the sleeve or hollow axle of the third wheel. The
sixth wheel is formed with a ratchet or ratchet wheel on its side.. The hole

page_text: drilled in the centre is sufficiently enlarged to admit of its being slipped on to
the sleeve piece of the fifth wheel. The sleeve of the fifth wheel is sufficiently
elongated to admit of a ratchet wheelf being fitted thereto which works
parallel to the other wheels, and the sleeve of the fourth wheel is sufficiently
elongated to allow a ratchet wheel to be attached thereto on the outside of
and parallel to the ratchet wheel of the fifth wheel. The ratchet on the side
of the sixth or unit wheel has its periphery divided into ten parts or ratchet
teeth, nine of which ratchet teeth are of equal depth, but the tenth is cut
considerably deeper, so that the pawl g being made sufficiently wide, on fall-
ing into this recess is allowed to fall sufficiently down at every complete
revolution of the unit wheel into a notch of the ratchet wheel on the hollow
axle of the fifth wheel, which ratchet wheel is of smaller diameter, so as to
be beyond reach of the pall when within any of the nine shallow teeth of the
unit wheel. The tenth tooth on the ratchet wheel of the fifth wheel is cut
sufficiently deep to allow the pawl to fall into one of the ten equal ratchets
of the ratchet wheel of the fourth wheel. The tenth ratchet on the unit
wheel is cut sufficiently deep to allow it to take into the whole of the three
wheels when the deep cut ratchet on the ratchet wheel of the fifth wheel is in
line therewith. The broad pawl which works into the ratchet teeth is actuated
by a rod h at right angles to the axis of the wheels to which it is connected
by a small link rod i attached thereto by a pin working in a slotted hole
formed in the rod on the link rod, so as to give it the requsite amount of play
to relieve the lower end of the rod which forms a locking bolt or holding claw
for keeping the wheels steady. The outer end of the pin of the actuating
ratchet pawl is supported by a crank arm k which works lose on the common
axis. By this arrangement on first drawing up the rod the bolt on the lower
end thereof is withdrawn, so as to leave the wheels and allow them to act by
being pushed or drawn round by the pawl acting on the ratchet wheels. The
pawl of the ratchet wheel is kept in position by a back spring i, and to ensure
accuracy of action each of the ratchet wheels is fitted with an independent
pawl, which at the under side of the outer ends or nose of the pawl are formed
with a small projection m, which take into small notches n formed in the
bottoms of the ratchet teeth, which has the effect of locking the wheel until
relieved by a stud piece which projects from the side of the wheel next in
position. This stud piece passing round underneath the pawl lifts it out of its
notch and thus allows the wheel to be passed round to the extent of one tooth.
These locking pawls are pressed against their several ratchet wheels by springs,
and the actuating rod is also surrounded by a helical spring p or its mecha-
nical equivalent for keeping the rod towards the wheels. The action of this

page_text: machine is as follows:-By drawing up. the vertical rod by means of the
thumb-piece on the side of the shank of the instrument the bolt formed on the
bottom of the rod is withdrawn from the wheels, after which the pin of the
connecting link which actuates the driving pawl tooth is drawn up by the
rod and the actuating pawl tooth forces round the unit wheel one-tenth of a
revolution, when the actuating rod is relieved from pressure it falls down and
bolts the wheels into their correct position, and so on as the work proceeds.
This stamp may be used with ink, or other suitable coloring or marking fluid
or matter, or it may be used to mark by indentation.
This improved stamp may be fitted within vertical guides to ensure its
being brought vertically down upon the paper or other material it is intended
to impress, and may be actuated through a lever or its mechanical equivalent,
and may be so arranged as to be self-inking by extending the lower end of
the lever or beam sufficiently to enable an inking roller to be attached thereto,
the lower end of the lever being so fitted with springs or their mechanical
equivalents as to bring the lower end of the lever carrying the inking roller
across the impressing surface of the stamp as the upper end of the lever is
allowed to go back and take a vertical position, which inking roller will be with-
drawn from the surface of the stamp as the upper end of the lever is drawn
forward and the stamp descends to impart the desired impression on the paper
or other material. Or the stamp may be fitted so as to work in guides formed
in a curved arm or its mechanical equivalent which is capable of being turned
to one side so as to be brought over an inking pad.
Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent respectively an end and front view and end
and front vertical sectional views of a modification of the aforesaid apparatus,
wherein the thumb-piece or "trigger" e is dispensed with; the action of
pressing down the handle a so as to bring the numerals level with the mouth
of the bell w effects the movement of the ratchets and the rotation of the
numeral discs by means of the crank and rod, as hitherto explained, thereto
motion being transmitted by the rack and quadrant v, seen in Fig. 5. In Fig.
8 self-acting inking pads u, u, are also shewn, which are mounted on spring
hinges t, t, and against which the numerals press in their descent, and which
are opened or displaced, as indicated by dotted lines, by the arms and
bowls 8, 8.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the novel combination, construction, and arrangement
of the apparatus for marking consecutive numbers or figures by hand, as

page_text: herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings
attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Johnson Aspinall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ALFRED JOHNSON ASPINALL. (L.s.)