A CERTAIN MACHINE, WHEREBY VALUABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF PRINTING WILL BE OBTAINED
Year: 1806

page_text: BRAMAH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BRAMAH, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Fifteenth day of October, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Joseph Bramah, His special licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I the said Joseph Bramah, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "A CERTAIN MACHINE, WHEREBY VALUABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ART OF PRINTING WILL BE OBTAINED;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Bramah, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to particularly describe and ascertain the
5 nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, reference being there-
unto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, and in pur-
suance of the said recited Letters Patent, I, the said Joseph Bramah, do
hereby declare that my said Invention consists as follows, and is to be per-
formed in manner hereunder delineated or described. But before I proceed
to give such description or delineation of the apparatus and methods I. mean

page_text: to use, I think it
proper first to show what ideas the Invention comprehends,
and what are the essential particulars on which I mean to rest the peculiar
merits of my Invention, and which are briefly as follows (that is to say):
First, I propose by the use of one single compound and transposable type,
very simple in its nature and construction, to enable any person, but little or
not at all acquainted with the ordinary methods of printing, to take correct
copies or to print off any work that ever has appeared in any language, and
also such as may hereafter appear; and this novel and bold effect I mean to
produce or provide for by a machine or type which will not, in performing to
the amount of all I state, either require a single letter to be taken out or
alded. I also propose, by the same single apparatus, to be enabled to print
either in whole lines or at intervals, in arithmetical figures, any number or
numbers which are comprehended between an unit and a row of the ninth
digit number, arranged in a line to the amount of twenty-six or more, as may
be required. I propose also to perform all that I have hitherto described by
the use of engraved letters and figures, as well as typo letters, as already
mentioned, so that the work performed shall have the precise appearance of
the finest copper plate engravings that art can produce, and in both the foregoing
instances the characters necessary in every respective language can be intro-
duced, as well as the roman or italic.
Secondly, I mean also, by the help of an apparatus precisely on the same
principle as that already mentioned, and hereunder to be described, to print.
either in colours or by impression only, all kind of piece goods, paper, &c., or
any other article or thing, such as leather, metals, or any other article on
which impressions or ornaments have been usually made. What I mean by
piece goods is such as linen, callico, muslin, cambric, silk, sattin, woollen
cloth, or any other article of manufacture produced by weaving, felting, or
otherwise. I also mean to stain, or lay on, or print ornaments, lines, or
figures, by this process on wood, metals, or any other substance time and
experience may suggest as eligible for this purpose. I mean also in some
instances to use my machine or printing apparatus in the case of printing
goods sometimes with prints or figures cut or raised on the usual plan, and to
take the impression by a force periodically used, and sometimes on the rolling
or circulating plan, and with engraved figures or lines on the copper-plate
principle; and in the latter instance I mean to introduce perpetual and self-
acting inking or colour boxes and wipers, so that the colour or ink may be
constantly introduced and the ground effectually wiped clean by the machine's
own action as the process of printing is carried on. These particulars, as
above described, comprehend the particular merits and effects which I had in

page_text: view when I commenced my study and labours to obtain the valuable improve-
ments stated. And I now come to lay before the public as faithful and unre-
served a delineation and detail of the nature and construction of the machinery,
and the methods of using them, as the infant state of so important an under-
taking will enable me to give, and which is as follows (that is to say):-
In accomplishing the objects stated in my first proposition, I construct
machinery in the following way: First, I take an axletree or cylindrical roller
made of iron, brass, or other metal, or wood; and whatever may be its required
length according to the scale of printing, or it's diameter, it must be turned
perfectly true, smooth, and parralel from end to end, with pivots or other
preparations for mounting it on a stationed frame of wood or other materials;
this done, I then take twenty-six wheels, or rings of metal, wood, or other
materials suitable to the intended work, and which wheels or rings must
be turned or otherwise fitted on their sides so as to closely fit side by
side as true and close as possible, so that when a hole is turned in the centre
of each to exactly fit the axis or cylindrical roller above described; the whole
twenty-six wheels must be put thereon, and confined by a flaunch at each end
so as to then represent a largo roller composed of rings or wheels, and which
rings or wheels may (when the apparatus is to be used for plate printing) be
turned on the periphery or external surface perfectly cylindrical, smooth, and
true, from one end to the other, as directed for the axis; the whole will then
appear one solid roller or cylinder, without distinguishing the wheels or rings of
which the roller is composed. The diameter of this compound roller must be such
as will receive the size (with proper intervals between) of all the six and twenty
letters of an alphabet, and also the nine arithmetical numbers and a cypher
with proper intervals also as above: These letters and figures must in the present
instance be engraved in succession, and at equal distances from each other,
nround the periphery of each wheel, each letter and figure standing so as to
read the reverse way across the wheels and the longitudinal way on the surface
of the roller or from end to end. This done, all the wheels must be again
mounted on the axis or inner cylinder as before, and each wheel left so as it
will easily move or turn in any direction thereon, but with as little shake as
possible; the cylinder must then be mounted on a proper frame, and its axis or
inner cylinder stationed at each end so as it will not turn,, but so as to readily
almit all the wheels to turn in either direction, as before mentioned. When
this is accomplished, the apparatus is compleat and ready to be used. But
before I proceed, I must observe that when letter-press printing is the object,
these wheels must have, as it were, points of spokes or parts projecting at propor
intervals truly divided round each wheel, on which spokes or prominent parts

page_text: the intended letters and figures as aforesaid must be cut, so as to represent
those letters or figures exactly which are used in a common printing type.
These, and likewise all the stops or marks used in printing, may be introduced
when necessary. In this instance the wheels need only be made of a proper
diameter to admit any of these stops or marks (in addition to the letters and
figures which the nature of the work may require. When the whole is thus
compleated, the apparatus is ready to go to work, and the most ordinary capa-
city will easily discover that by turning these wheels on the general axis till the
respective letters or figures (which are demanded to compose as many words
or monysyllables in one line as the twenty-six will reach) are brought into
unison in a straight line from one end of the roller to the other, that the
machine will be then ready to receive the ink, which, being put on in the
common way or otherwise, and an impression taken by a squeeze, that then so
much of the intended work is executed, and a line is completely printed, and
after which the wheels may again be turned so as to produce another linc, and
thus this simple process may be carried on through all the changes that can bo
nade with the number of wheels stated; and by the addition of more wheels
on the same axis extended in its length, it may be continued ad infinitum.
Secondly, in printing piece goods and other articles, as stated in my second
proposition, I mean to compose the apparatus or printing machinery just in
the way described, only that I shall generally adopt the engraved plan for this
purpose, and not the plan with raised figures used by the callico printers and
paper stainers, except in some instances where I shall then have sprigs, flowers,
and other ornaments cut on the points of spokes, or prominent parts, with
intervals between, as already described for the accomplishment of the objects
of the first section, and where it will be obvious that I can vary patterns end-
lessly, and print them by the same machine, and so that no two pieces shall
ever be alike in pattern, notwithstanding the machine may be kept at
work night and day for numberless ages, and without stopping a
single instant.
However prodigious this assertion may appear to some,
yet a very little consideration will evince the truth of it, because it must
be recollected that I shall have, in this application of the principle, not only
in my power those changes which will result from turning each wheel upon
the axis of the printing roller, as in the instance of letter and figure printing,
which will always produce a variety equal to the arithmetical combination of as
many progressional numbers as equal the number of different figures compre-
hended on each wheel, but I can also produce new patterns in the same
proportion by transposing or differently arranging each wheel in its relative
station on the axis of the printing roller. I mean by shifting and changing

page_text: these wheels on the axis, the same as a number of penny pieces may be piled
with relative variation according to their number, may be correctly ascertained
by arithmetical calculation, and therefore will admit of no dispute. In com-
posing these rollers for printing, as mentioned Section Second, the principle is
just the same as for the purposes of Section First, with the difference only of
having the means by a screw nut or otherwise of fastening the rings or wheels
upon the axis permanently after they are changed or reset for a new pattern,
and that the roller for this purpose will have to turn upon its own axis like a
roller in a common calendar, and not the wheels turn upon the stationed axis
as described in letter and figure printing. When a roller for this purpose is
completed, it must be mounted on a frame in contact with another roller like
a common calendar, so that the piece or article to be printed may be passed
between, just as in a calendar, the two rollers having a necessary pressure on
each other to cause a good impression, the same as is performed by the rolling
press used by those who print from copper plates:
This apparatus being thus far completed, next comes my method of perpetual
inking or putting on the colours, and which is as follows, i. a. :-When the
printing roller is thus hung and ready to be used, I take a wooden or metal
box or trough of suitable dimensions, which I call an ink or colour box; this
box is made without a bottom, and consists of a rim only, as capacious in its
largest dimensions as will reach from one end of the printing roller to the
other. The under part of this box or rim of a box is first cut exactly to form
a segment to the printing roller's surface, and is then fitted by grinding or
otherwise so nicely to the roller's periphery as to be water, oil, or colour tight,
and is also pressed by some elastic or gravitating means so much as to always
keep it close when the printing roller is turned about and while the box is
stationarily held from turning with it by proper attachment to the frame. On
the leaving side of this inking or colour box is fixed what I terin a wiper, made
of wood covered with leather or other materials proper for the purpose, and
which is kept by proper means very severely pressed against the surface of the
printing roller from end to end, in order that if any ink or colour should
escape the box and remain upon the roller's surface as it turns when the piece
is in, this wiper may take it off, and thereby prevent goods from being smeared
with the ink or colour. When the piece goods or object to be printed is to
be all of the same colour, the inking box may be all its length in one cavity;
but when stripes of various colours are intended, a corresponding number of
partitions must be introduced at stationed distances, agreeable to the pattern to
be printed, these partitions being always put so as to fall with their thickness
(which must be as inconsiderable as possible) exactly equally divided across

page_text: the joints between one wheel and its neighbour, so that the partition may not
interfere with any part of the device engraved upon the periphery of the wheel.
These partitions must also, like the main rim of the inking box, formi segments
to the printing roller, and be made fluid tight, in the way above described for
the. latter. When this machine is thus equipped and the piece adjusted for
the operation, the inking box may then be charged with colour as the pattern
may require, and then the periphery of the printing roller, forming as it were
the botton of the box, as the roller is turned about, the engraved figures or
lines, or whatever else may be engraved thereon, will naturally and unavoid-
ably be filled with ink or colour as the roller turns, and the box being
on the most elevated part of the roller and the piece to receive the im-
pression on the under side, it will of course carry the ink or colour down on
the leaving sido and come up empty on the driving side, till it again passes its
surface with the pattern under the inking box, which will as constantly and
without a possibility of failing, both ink or colour the mould or plate with
certainty and a degree of equality that never can be attained by hand, and at
the same time with great expedition and accuracy of effect. I have now to
mention that when I print pieces with patterns requiring different colours
otherwise than in stripes, such as flowers and other figures, I have a plurality
of these printing rollers under which the piece successively passes, and on which
rollers each has that part engraved which is to convey the colours respectively
to the piece, just the same as is at present done by shifting moulds in the
common way.
Having now given as clear a description of this Invention as I am able in
this stage of such an undertaking, I declare it to be sufficient to demonstrate
the principle to any scientific mind to as great an extent as can be reached by
contemplation, but doubtless time and practice will (and perhaps before a
second apparatus is completed) suggest improvement upon improvement, and
not even here, but to the end of time; but I hereby pledge myself to bring
forward for the benefit of the public during the period of this Patent every
improvement my abilities (with all the aid derivable from new light) can
suggest and introduce. I have now nothing more to add but to observe that
I can perform or produce all the effects stated in the above Specification by
means of flat types, moulds, or prints, made in this compound way, and I may
doubtless in some instances apply them; but as I prefer the rotary principle,
and intend to confine myself chiefly to the use of this plan, and from the little
necessity I see of minutely describing a thing so extremely obvious, and to
shew also that this idea or mode of applying the principle forms a part of the
Invention which I claim, I shall just observe that when I construct this

page_text: apparatus on the flat principle, the type, mould, or print will be composed of an
equal number of sliders, placed by the side of each other with close joints, just
similar to what would be produced by sliceing off the periphery of those wheels
I have already described, and stretching them out like thin slips or ribbands,
which slips being placed side by side as above mentioned on a flat or level plain,
with all the letters, figures, ornaments, &c., uppermost so as to form a type,
mould, or print, as aforesaid, it is evident that by sliding each of these in
either direction, so as to bring the required letter, figures, or other marks
necessary to produce the effect into unison or in a straight line, as before directed
with the wheels, the same effect may be produced, and printing may be carried
on with this machine to the like extent, and perhaps practice may evince
eventually that this method of applying the principle may in many instances be
preferable to the former. I here allude to every species of printing compre-
hended in my description for the rotary application, and I also claim the
exclusive use of the flat apparatus, as far as it may be possibly applied.
And in witness hereof, I have hereunder or hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Twelfth day of November, in the year One thousand eight hun-
dred and six.-N.B. I also mean to construct conversing machines or
universal telegraphs on this principle, and by which not only informa-
tion may be conveyed, but likewise ordinary conversation in any
langunge may be carried on between persons stationed at hundreds or
even thousands of miles distant, and that with incredible facility.