CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'SETTING AND DISTRI BUTING TYPE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CERTAIN MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREWITH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Mackie, of Warrington, in the County
of Lancaster, Newspaper Proprietor, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'SETTING AND DISTRI
BUTING TYPE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CERTAIN MATERIALS TO
BE EMPLOYED THEREWITH."
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Sealed the 17th October 1868, and dated the 19th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Mackie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th June 1868.
I, ALEXANDER MACKIE, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Newspaper Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SETTING AND
DISTRIBUTING TYPE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CERTAIN MATERIALS TO
BE EMPLOYED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of transferring type from
numbers of cases or receptacles into one receptacle called a composing
stick," and the improvements consists in effecting this by self-acting
mechanical means and combinations of mechanism and materials which
may be thus described.
The cases or type receptacles are arranged

page_text: in a vertical position around. the periphery of a horizontal wheel which
is caused to rotate by ordinary means, the type being supplied to the
cases one above another on their sides, all the "heads" being in one
direction and projecting slightly from the sides of the cases.
Each case
contains one description of letter only, and the bottom type in each case
bears or rests upon a small ledge or shoulder at the lower termination
of the groove of such case, which partly closes the lower opening,
leaving only sufficient space for the passage of the type therefrom,
and consequently all the type above the lower one are likewise retained.
In theso ledges transverse channels or grooves are formed, and beneath
the lower surface thereof an arrangement of spring fingers. or levers
is supported on a framework, one of which levers or fingers is so actuated
as to enter the grooves as the cases move round and draw out the
lowest type, and the other finger rises up to form a stop towards and
against which the type is drawn, and as the case continues its course
an inclined surface on the opposite lower edge of the case passes over
the spring stop finger, depresses it, and forces the type down a channel
leading to the "composing stick," each inclined surface being pro-
portioned to the thickness of its own case and letter. The selection
or regulation as to which type is to be withdrawn is determined by
the adaptation of a bell-crank lever (or similar appliance) one end or
portion of which is supplied with a small peg or finger mounted on a
centre but retained in a certain position by a spring, and is constantly
moving in and out of contact with a surface of paper or other material
which has been previously perforated in accordance with the letters
required to compose the words and sentences, so that when the pin
at one end of the bell crank enters a perforation in the paper the other
end which is attached to the type withdrawing finger causes such finger
to enter the transverse groove and to act upon the bottom type, which
becomes thereby withdrawn as the rotation of the wheel and cases con-
tinues. and when the peg does not enter a perforation the finger does
not enter the grooves and no type is withdrawn; this lever also actuates
the type stop finger simultaneously. The perforated paper or material
inay either be secured upon a rotating cylinder or may be issued in a
continuous length from a reel by means of delivery rollers, which are
provided with pins to enter special perforations for guiding the paper,
and which rollers may be thrown in or out of gear by self-acting means
so as to stop delivering the paper during the rotation of the wheel and
cases, in order to save the length of paper when the distance between the

page_text: cases containing two letters which have to be set next to each other
is considerable, a lever or arm provided with a pin which enters other
special perforations being employed to stop the paper at required
intervals; or instead of the use of one pin only a series of pins may
be applied to the lever to enter special perforations according to
the width of paper used, and the rollers and pins may be thrown in or
out of gear by means of apparatus connected with the wheel and cases,
and also the stoppage of the paper is also applicable in distributing. In
adapting the apparatus for distributing type, the type for distribution
is placed in a receptacle, which is then placed above the type cases
attached to the wheel, and the sories of empty cases pass as they move
round beneath the receptacle which contains the mass of type to be
distributed into the several and corresponding cases; a small withdrawing
or liberating apparatus similar and analogous to the withdrawing
apparatus previously described for composing and acting upon the
bottom type in the larger receptacle releases it from the receptacle,
and the type is passed into the upper end of its proper case on the
wheel which is beneath, and is passed theuce by pressure to the bottom
of such case, the selection of the letters for the particular cases being
decided or governed by the use of the same perforated paper as was
employed to "set" or "compose" the same matter.
The apparatus for perforating the paper in quantities or multiplied
numbers consists of a series of perforators or punches acted upon by a
lever so as to pass through several thicknesses of paper simultaneously,
the position of the perforations (representing letters) being decided by the
presence or absence of small plates, wires, or keys, which by throwing
the punches in or out of gear cause either each separate punch to act
or only certain ones as required according to the position of the said
plates which are drawn out or pushed in, in order to make or avoid
contact with the lever pressure.
I would remark that by applying the paper feeding regulating type-
withdrawing apparatus and "composing stick" at two or more points
of the circumference of the wheel and cases; the production of the
mechanism either for "composing" or "distributing" will be increased,
such multiplied form being a special feature of the Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Mackie in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MACKIE, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, Newspaper
Proprietor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for IIerself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Mackie, Her special license that
I, the said Alexander Mackie, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Mackie, my executors, adminis
trators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SETTING AND DISTRIBUTING TYPE, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR PREPARING CERTAIN MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREWITH,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Alexander Mackie,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Mackie, 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
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say--
My Invention relates to "composing" machinery or apparatus
employed to select type from various cases or receptacles, and to
arrange the same in any desired order in one receptacle, and consists
more particularly in rendering the apparatus to a great extent "self-
acting" in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and also capable of
"setting up" or "composing" two or more lines of type simultaneously.

page_text: In the improved apparatus the type reservoirs, cases, or receptacles,
herein-after styled pockets, are arranged in vertical or other suitable
positions around the periphery of a horizontal wheel capable of being
rotated, and each pocket is filled with type bearing a letter or sign,
the type being placed side to side, and uniformly arranged as is usual.
The row or column of type in each pocket is sustained by a ledge or
shoulder or by ledges or shoulders which partly close the lower end
of the pocket, the spaces between the said ledges or shoulders forming
slots or grooves, which expose the lowest type in the pocket at one
or more portions of its length, a space being left between the said
ledges or shoulders and one side of the pocket, the said space being
sufficient only for the passage at one time of the single type, which
is at the time the lowest in the column or is in contact with the
aforesaid ledges, the said type being thus capable of being withdrawn
sideways from the pocket, that is to say, in a direction at right
angles with the row or column of type. The withdrawal of the type
is effected by an arrangement of stationery or non-revolving fingers
or levers, one of which said levers or fingers, for convenience of
description herein-after called the pickpocket, is suitably formed to
enter the above-mentioned slots or grooves as the pockets are moved
over it by the rotation of the wheel, and by coming into contact with
the exposed portion or portions of the lowest type in each pocket
causes the said type to be discharged from the said pocket into a
space between the pickpocket and a stop finger or guide lever, the
said space coinciding with the entrance to the delivery channel, which
when the machine is in operation is filled with a row or column of
type previously "set up.' Each pocket is provided with an inclined
surface, the inclination of which is proportionate to the thickness of
each type in the said pocket, the said inclined surface pressing down
the guide lever and the pick pocket together with the type, after which
the pickpocket will be in readiness to withdraw a type from the next
succeeding pocket, or to allow the said pocket or any number of the
pockets to pass over the pickpocket without discharging type, this
regulation of the operation of the pickpocket being effected by the
perforations in a strip of paper or other suitable material acting in
concert with other portions of the apparatus in manner as follows:-
The perforations in the strip of paper are formed in various positions
and combinations, so as that each differently situated perforation or
each row or different combination of perforations may represent one of

page_text: the letters, signs, or spaces contained in the type pockets. The said
perforated strip is passed over a perforated roller or plate, and an inter-
mittent motion is communicated to the said roller or to the strip so
that the said strip may be fed through the apparatus by a series of
step movements, each equal to the distance between the rows or sets
of perforations. a row or set of perforations being by each movement
brought opposite to a set of pegs or pins formed on or attached to a
corresponding set of fingers or levers, when one or more of the said
pins will pass through the perforation or perforations in the paper
and will lock the aforesaid roller, the roller at the same time locking
the pickpocket so as to keep it out of action until such time as the
pocket containing the letter or sign represented by the position of
the perforations or the combination of the perforations approaches the
pickpocket, when a projecting piece or key fixed to the said pocket or
to the revolving wheel and suitably formed to act upon the lever or
the set of levers locking the roller comes into contact with the said
lever or levers, and the pin or pins is or are withdrawn from the
perforation or perforations, and the roller is permitted to make a
movement, thus unlocking the pickpocket, which then rises and causes
the discharge of a typo from the said pocket in manner as before.
described. Two or more pickpockets together with the perforations,
rollers, levers, type channels, and other apparatus employed to govern
the action of the said pickpocket may be employed in connection with
one set of type pockets, the work done by the machine being thus greatly
increased.
In order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I have
annexed to this Specification two Sheets of Drawings having letters of
reference marked thereupon,similar letters indicating corresponding parts in
the various Figures.
Referring to Sheet 1 of the said Drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the
composing machine representing the revolving wheel and one of the type
pockets in section, and Fig. 2, is a plan thereof, the two Figures being
drawn about one-quarter of the full size.
In the said Figures A is the pocket wheel revolving in the direction
indicated by the arrow; a, a, are the type pockets; b, b, are the keys
for unlocking the rollers c, c; d is one of the pickpockets; and e, e, are
the delivery channels. In this example four sets of composing apparatus
are employed, each of which may be occupied in the setting up of the

page_text: same matter, or any one set may be setting up matter different to the others,
as may be desired, each set being supplied with a strip of paper perforated
in accordance with the matter required to be set up. The shaft of the
wheel A revolves in a bearing formed in the framing B, and is shewn as
being actuated by hand by means of the hand wheel C acting through the
gearing D and the worm E on the worm wheel F, but the said wheel may
be otherwise actuated, and be driven by steam or other power if required.
By turning the screw G the wheel together with the pockets are raised
clear of the composing apparatus.
In Sheet 2, Fig. 3 is a front elevation, Fig. 4 a side elevation, and Fig. 5
a plan of a composing apparatus, shewing also a portion of the pockets;
Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the said apparatus illustrating
the action of the pickpocket; Figures 7 to 14 inclusive are detail views of
portions of the apparatus; and Fig. 15 represents a portion of a strip
of perforated paper. The code or system of perforations illustrated is one
which I have found very suitable, and consists in representing each letter,
space, or sign contained in the various rockets by a combination of two
perforations formed on two out of a number of lines or imaginery lines;
as, for example, supposing the strip of paper to be ruled with fourteen
longitudinal lines, as in the Drawing, and with ninety-one cross lines, two
perforations may be formed ou each cross line, but so variously placed on
the longitudinal lines that throughout the whole of the ninety-one com-
binations no two shall be exactly alike, thus furnishing a code sufficiently
extensive for ordinary purposes. A row of perforations is formed in
the centre of the strip of paper to enable the same to be fed through the
apparatus, as will be herein-after explained, but these are not shewn in the
Drawing.
In Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, A is a portion of the pocket wheel; a, a, arc
a portion of the pockets shewn curtailod in Figs. 3 and 4; b, b, are the
keys attached thereto; c is the roller or barrel mounted in bearings in
the bracket H, and perforated around its entire circumference in the
manner shewn on a portion only in the Drawings, and fitted at each end
with a ratchet wheel having in this example 60 teeth, corresponding in
number to the rows of perforations on the circumference of the roller
and in pitch to the distance apart of the cross rows of perforations on the
paper or thereabouts, the ratchet wheel g being loose on the said roller,
and causing the rotation of the same by the frictional contact of springs,
as shewn at Figs. 13 and 14. The ratchet g' is fast to the roller, and

page_text: moves the pawl 2 at each movement of the roller in order to throw the
catch off the ledge 3, which said catch is connected through the
lever h¹ and rod to the pickpocket d. In Figs. 6 to d is the pick-
pocket formed in two parts, the one part d. hinged to a bracket, and the
other part d' hinged to d, and kept in a vertical position by the pressure
of the spring 4, the said pressure being sufficient to resist the ordinary
strain upon d¹, but allowing it to fall over and thus to clear the pockets
under an extraordinary strain. 5 is a second spring which raises the
pickpocket. when not locked; fis the guide lever raised by the spring 6;
i, i, are the ledges on which the type rest; and 7, 7, are the slots or
spaces between the same, shewn most clearly in Fig. 4, also in Fig. 7,
which represents a side view of a pocket adapted to thick type, and
Fig. 8, which represents a pocket adapted to thin type.
The type
pockets a, a, are in this example formed of brass, and are fixed to blocks
of metal a² and fitted into slots in the wheel A, being retained therein
by screws a³ screwed into the blocks a². The lower end of each of the
said blocks is formed with an inclined surface, the inclination of which
is equal to the thickness of each type in the adjoining pocket, so that
each incline will press down the column of type K a distance equal to
the thickness of the type last discharged or dropped. Fig. 9 is a plan
of the pickpocket and the guide lever, in which 1, 1, are the continuations
of a portion of each side of the delivery channel, which enter openings
in the faces of the said guide lever and pickpocket in order that the
type may be guided into the channel, the said faces also forming as it were'
continuations of the sides of the said channel,as will be seen on au inspection
of Fig. 6.
The action of the apparatus is as follows, namely:-A strip of paper
which has been perforated in a suitable machine in accordance with the
code illustrated at Fig. 15 is passed partly around the roller c, in
manner as shewn in Fig. 12, the pegs around the centre of the roller
entering the centre row of perforations herein-before referred to, and
the wheel A is caused to revolve in the direction of the arrow. As each
key passes over the hinged incline m it depresses the same, and the
pawl n acting on the ratchet wheel g causes the roller c to rotate to the
extent of one tooth of the said wheel, this step movement being repeated
as often as a key passes over the incline m until the first two perforations
are brought under the pins formed on the ends of the levers o, v, when
two of the said pins, as, for example numbers 1 and 13, in Fig. 5, will

page_text: g
pass through the said perforations and will enter the corresponding
perforations in the roller, as shewn at Fig. 12, and will thus stop the
rotation of the said roller, the springs attached to the ratchet wheel,
slipping as the said wheel continues to revolve. The roller c will
continue thus locked until a key passes over the inclined or shorter
ends of the levers, having two collars or projections so situated as to
come into contact with the inclines on levers numbers 1 and 13, when
the said levers will be raised, as shewn, by the dotted lines in Fig. 12,
and the roller will be permitted to make a further movement, and thus
to bring a second set of perforations opposite to the pins on the levers.
During this said movement the pawl 2 by being forced outwards pushes
the catch off the ledge 3, and the pickpocket thus unlocked is raised
by the spring into the position as shewn in Fig. 6, and the two fingers
on d¹ enter the slots or grooves 7, 7, and as the wheel revolves come into
contact with the lowest type in the pocket, and offering a resistance to
the motion of the said type consequent on the motion of the pocket in
which it rests cause the said type to pass out of the space between the
ledges i, i, and the side of the pocket which is to the left-hand in Fig. 6,
and the type is thus left between the faces of the pickpocket and the guide
lever and resting on the column of type in the delivery channel. The
inclined surface of the block a³ next passes over the guide lever, the type
just discharged, and the pickpocket, and presses them down a distance
about equal to the thickness of the said type, the type being by these means
gradually delivered in the order in which they have been taken from the
pockets on to a level continuation of the delivery channel, from which
they may be removed at intervals; or the said channel may be arranged
to deliver the type into a "composing stick," or into a justifying apparatus,
or an apparatus designed to facilitate the "justifying," as desired. Each
time that the pickpocket is depressed, after causing the discharge of a
type in manner as above described, the catch h by bearing on the ledge 3
locks the pickpocket until the next movement of the roller c, when the
above-described operations are repeated, it being understood that the said
pick pocket may operate upon two or more contiguous pockets con-
secutively, or may allow a number of pockets to pass without operating
upon them, being entirely governed by the perforated paper in manner as
aforesaid.
If preferred the guide lever f may be held down when not required to
similes mennox no in the case of the nicknocket. A cord is

page_text: passed partly around the roller c and rests in the groove v, shewn in
Fig. 13, the two ends of the said cord being attached to the springs r, r,
the object of this arrangement being that after the roller c has been
rotated by the pawl the reaction of the springs r, r, shall impart a
slight backward or to-and-fro motion to the said roller in order to ensure
the proper entrance into two of the perforations in the said roller of the
two pins, which at the time coincide with the two perforations in the strip
of paper.
Figs. 10 and 1 are two views drawn about half size, and illustrating
an arrangement of apparatus the use of which I have found to be
benificial, in which s is a friction wheel driven by contact with the rim
of the wheel A, and communicating a rotatory motion to the wheel t
through the band wheels u, u. The wheel t is furnished with two rings
of caoutchouc which enter the grooves. 7, 7, as the pockets pass over the
said wheel, and by slightly raising the type and moving the same
towards the right hand in Fig. 7 counteract to a certain extent the
locking or displacement of the lower type consequent upon the action of
the pickpocket. In my Provisional Specification I described an arrange-
ment by the employment of which I expected to be able to carry on both
the composing and the distributing of type in the same apparatus at the same
time; and also in my said Specification I described an arrangement for
perforating paper to be used with the herein-described apparatus; but
since the filing of my said Specification I have found these portions of my
Invention to be not so practical nor of so much value as I expected, and I
therefore have not herein described the above arrangements, and hereby
disclaim the same.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and methods for
carrying the same into practical effect, I will proceed to define the extent
of novelty in my said Invention to the best of my belief, and therefore wish
it to be understood that I claim,-
First. Attaching the type resevoirs, cases, or pockets to the periphery
of a wheel or of a circular frame capable of being revolved or otherwise,
causing the said resevoirs, cases, or pockets to travel or revolve in a
circular orbit.
Secondly. Causing each required type to be dropped by or discharged
from the resevoir, case, or pocket directly on to the type next previously
dropped or discharged, or into the channel containing the row or column
of type previously "set up."

page_text: Thirdly. The method of extracting or withdrawing the type from the
said resevoirs, cases, or pockets, or of causing the type to be dropped or
discharged therefrom, as herein described and illustrated in the attached
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
Fourthly. The employment of "self-acting" apparatus to regulate the
withdrawal of type from type resevoirs, cases, or pockets in manner as
herein described and illustrated in the attached Drawings, or in any
other suitable manner that shall be a mere modification thereof, such
apparatus being controlled in its action by paper or other suitable
material previously perforated, the speed of "setting up" or composing
being entirely independant of the speed at which the material may be
perforated.
Fifthly. Applying two or more sets of type withdrawing apparatus to
one set of type resevoirs, cases, or pockets, and governing the action of
each seperately, so that each set may be employed in the composing or
setting up of similar or of different matter to the others, or to one or more
of the others.
Sixthly. The method of forming a code or formula of perforations, as
herein described and illustrated by Fig. 15 in the accompanying Drawings,
or any mere modification or extension thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Mackie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
ALEXANDER MACKIE. (L.s.)
5 Signed and sealed by the said Alexander
0
Mackie, in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
Manchester, & at
6, Windsor Terrace, City Road,
London, N.

page_text: FIG. 19.