A NEW CHARACTER FOR LANGUAGE, NUMBERS, AND MUSIC, AND THE METHODS OF APPLYING THE SAME
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
WEDGWOOD, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day
of July, in the fiftieth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Ralph Wedgwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Ralph
Wedgwood, my. executors, administrators, and assigns, 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, and the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonics and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "A NEW CHARACTER FOR LANGUAGE, NUMBERS, AND MUSIC, AND THE
METHODS OF APPLYING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, that if I, the said Ralph Wedgwood, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument. in writing under my hand.
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine,
and become void, anything therein-before contained to the contrary thereof
in anywise notwithstanding, as by. the said Letters Patent will more fully
appear.
:

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of and in compliance with the said
proviso, I, the said Ralph Wedgwood, do hereby declare that the nature of
my said Invention, and the methods of applying, and in what manner the same
is performed, is as follows:-
The architype of the character may be any regular figure, as a square,
round, oval, triangle, or parallelogram, or it may be a combination of two or
more such figures; but as the various parts of one figure only are in this mode
of applying them more than adequate to the requirements of language,
numbers, and music, and present a superior consistency besides many other
advantages, so I prefer one figure to a mixture of figures, I also prefer a
square to other figures. The different parts of this square figure are made to
signify all the various letters of the alphabet, figures, notes, and points. This
I perform in printing by making three types, one of which will make a line
equal to the whole side of the square figure, another making a line equal to
one-half of the side of the square, and which type I distinguish by adding a point
thus and another which makes a line equal to half the length of the side
of the said square; for the particular shape of these three types, see the
Drawing hereunto annexed marked number 1. To multiply the power of
cach type, I cause both ends of them to make a similar figure, distinguishing
the one end by causing it to make a double line thus, by which it may
signify a capital letter of the same kind as that described at the other end, or
they may have any other mark to distinguish the different ends. I likewise
distinguish one end of each type by adding a beard or hair line thereto, or any
other mark, or by making it a little broader at one end. The shank of the
type, which is more particularly described by the said Drawing hereto annexed
marked number 1, forms one half part of a square, so that two of them united,
as by Drawing number 5, e, e, gives a compound square type capable of being
used at both ends. From a combination of any two of these three types by
turning them in four directions at each end, result eight distinct marks or
letters, from which I select such as are best calculated to signify letters, notes,
figures, or points; the effect produced by the various combinations of these
three types is more fully elucidated by the Drawing hereunto annexed marked
number 2. If I wish to increase characters upon the basis of the square, it is
done simply by adding other such types as before described, to form different
kinds of lines to those already chosen, which must be on similar shanks to
those already described, defining the ends thereof in the same manner as
directed for the three before-described types. The great encrease of character
by the addition of types so constructed may be seen by the specimens in the
Drawing hereunto annexed marked number 3, which are made simply by tho

page_text: addition of two other types, by which it will appear that from these five types
there may be produced a great variety of distinct characters; the ends of the
types being wedge-like in every direction admit of being so locked into the
line frame, as described in the Drawing hereunto annexed marked number 4,
that no letter can be drawn out of its place by the ball, as is the case in
common types. The lines being thus independant can be taken out of the page
frame, and moved about without danger of discomposure of the letters; this is
more fully seen by two sections of a line frame with types in them in the
Drawing marked number 5; when the types are to be used in the composition
of any work, they may be taken from the lines of a former work by a pair of
pliars. In the act of composing, the labour of distribution being in this mode
of printing entirely saved, and for this purpose I take two line frames, an
empty one and one full of the letters composing any old work; I place them on
the composing stick described by Drawing number 6, and in composing the
new line I pick out all such characters out of the old composition as will suit
for the new one, and after having exhausted all the characters this first line of
an old composition will give me, I then put another line of such old com-
position upon the composing stick, and proceed to compose from that, taking
care as occasion offers, first, to exhaust the remains of the letters in the first
line of old composition; as soon as a line is thus composed, it is to be trans-
ferred to the page frame, as described by Drawing number 7. The lines are
made first in the page frame by the pressure of two or more screws at the
bottom of the page frame, the points of which act against the steel slide bar
number 8, which interposing between the screws and the line frames prevents
any partial pressure from injuring the line frames. Being thus screwed into
the page frame, the page is ready to be printed from.
bearing the same letter, the one a small letter, and the
any work is to be printed, those parts which are to be small letters must appear
with the capitals upwards in the act of composing, and the contrary for those
parts of the work which are to be in capitals. A composition in this mode is
the same same as a writing made from the left to the right hand, and presents
the same appearance on the composing stick as the print to be made from it,
except that it appears in capitals, and small letters where the print is intended
to be the contrary, hence the facility in composing and reading any com-
position; when the work is to be printed the page frame must be laid on the
bed of the press with that side downwards which has been upwards whilst the
composition was forming. The page frames may be fastened on the bed of the
press in the usual way. A greater or less space may be made between each letter
by blank types, as described in Drawing number 9. When any letter is made
Each end of the types
other a capital, when

page_text: by any single line in an horizontal position, the deficiency in the line frame
above or below such letter may be made up by a demi-blank type, as described
in Drawing marked number 10. The distance of the lines is regulated by
metal or wood lines, as described at number 11.
To instruct in writing this character, or to enable a person to write it with
mechanical precision, I use a frame of metal, as marked number 12. By
following the sides of the square holes cut therein with a pencil or style, the
babit of making square characters is soon attained, and any writing performed
by means of this rule has nearly the exactness of printing, and by its use all
hand writings are uniformly alike. The difference between these characters
written and printed will be observed by the Drawing number 2.
For musical notes I make choice of the single horizontal character
which I print or write upon a stave of twelve coloured lines, as represented
by Figure 13; each coloured line represents a tone or semi-tone, and is
sufficiently wide to receive the treble, tenor, and bass parts on each line.
The treble I put on the upper part of the line, the tenor in the middle,
and the bass at the lowest part thereof. The keys or strings of such instru-
ments, as will admit of it, I make of a colour to correspond with the lines on
the music paper. If in composing, the letters do not exactly fill the line
frame, I fill up the space left by a small wood or metal wedge; after the letters
are properly levelled on the stand of the page frame, I make the said hori-
zontal lines which I choose for musical notes of proportionate lengths; the
semi-breve one inch long, the minim balf an inch long, the crotchet one quarter
of an inch long, the quaver one-eighth of an inch, the semi-quaver one-
sixteenth of an inch long, the demi semi-quaver one-thirty-second of an inch
long. These by their respective lengths shew to the eye of the learner the
proportionate duration of each note, but the precise duration of the tone
intended to be expressed by any of these characters I ascertain more exactly
by the time which the finger of the tonometer is in passing over such character.
The tonometer is described at Figure marked N° 14.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Wedgwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thoucand night huurdund and bon
Sealed and delivered, being first duly stamped,
in the presence of
K. WEDGWOOD. (L.S.)
W. HALL, N° 10, King's Arms Yard,
Coleman Street, London.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twentieth day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Ralph Wedgwood came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of August, in the year above written..