IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLASSING PRINTERS' TYPES FOR COMPOSING MACHINES."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hattersley, of the City of Manchester,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLASSING
PRINTERS' TYPES FOR COMPOSING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hattersley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1862.
I, ROBERT HATTERSLEY, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the :said. Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR CLASSING PRINTERS" TYPES FOR COMPOSING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
. My present Invention is particularly adapted to be used in combination
with the machinery for composing or setting up type, for which former Letters
Patent were granted to me on the Twenty-sixth June One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, No. 1794, but it may also be used in combination
with other composing machinery.
In performing my Invention, I make use of an inclined and curved table
provided with channels or grooves corresponding to the number of letters,
figures, or other type to be classed; the entrance to these channels or grooves
is widened, to afford facility in placing the type therein, and at the entrance
of some of the channels or grooves rows of shoots are applied to economise
space. The type is deposited by hand into the entrances of the channels or

page_text: shoots; each channel or groove is furnished with springs or weights to guide
the type into receiving sticks made of angle brass or other sheet metal.
When the type has dropped into these receiving sticks it is pushed forward by
a cross bar acted upon by a crank driven by a treadle, or otherwise. When
these receiving sticks are charged they are removed into a tray ready to be
taken to the composing machine. I wish to remark that the apparatus above
described may be applied direct to the composing machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hattersley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
II ATTERSLEY, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Hattersley, Her special license, that I, the said Robert
Hattersley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Robert Hattersley, my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLASSING PRINTERS TYPES FOR COMPOSING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Hattersley, my
executors or administrators, 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 Robert Hattersley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My present Invention is particularly adapted to be used in combination

page_text: with the machinery for composing or setting up type, for which former Letters
Patent were granted to me on the Twenty-sixth of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, Number 1794, but it may also be used in com-
bination with other composing machinery..
In performing my Invention I make use of an inclined and curved table
provided with channels or grooves corresponding to the number of letters,
figures, or other type to be classed; the entrance to these channels or grooves
is widened to afford facility in placing the type therein, and at the entrance of
some of the channels or grooves rows of shoots are applied to economize space.
The type is deposited by hand into the entrances of the channels or shoots.
Each channel or groove is furnished with springs or weights to guide the type
and prevent it from turning during its passage to the receiving sticks, which
are made of angle brass or other sheet metal. When the type has dropped
into these receiving sticks it is pushed forward by a cross bar acted upon by a
crank driven by a treadle or otherwise. When these receiving sticks are
charged they are removed into a tray ready to be taken to the composing
machine. I wish to remark that the apparatus above described may be
applied direct to the composing machine.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus for classing printers'
types, and Figure 2 is a front view of the same.
a is the framing supporting the inclined and curved table b, which is pro-
vided with as many channels or grooves c as there are letters, figures, or other
type to be classed. The entrance of these channels or grooves is widened
or provided with a shoot to facilitate the placing of the type therein, and the
entrances are arranged in three or other convenient number of rows to
economise space; the type is deposited by hand into the mouth of the channel
or shoot, and each channel or groove is furnished with springs, as shewn at d,
to guide the type into the receiving sticks e, the springs d' serving to keep the
type in the upright position; the receiving stick e is shewn in Figures 3 and
4, and in Figure 1, where it is represented as partly filled with type. The
receiving sticks are made of sheet brass or other metal bent into an angle
shape, the lower narrow edge supporting the end of the type. When the type
has dropped into the receiving stick it is pushed forward by the pin f, to which
a regular to-and-fro motion is given by the cranks g on the ends of the shaft h,
to which is fixed the pulley h', to these crank pins the bars i are jointed, and

page_text: to the bars i is attached the upright or cross rail j, to which the pins f are
fixed. The pulley h' is turned round by a band and treadle, or in any other
convenient manner. By this means as soon as a type has dropped into the
receiving stick e it is pushed forward and out of the way to allow another type
to drop in its place in the receiving stick. As soon as a receiving stick is
charged or filled with type it is removed into a tray ready to be taken to the
composing machine.
I wish to remark, that the apparatus above described may be applied direct
to the composing machine, whether it be of the description described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Twenty-sixth of June
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, Number 1794, or of any other
description.
The various kinds and characters of type to be classed are indicated by the
letters Y, Z, X, J, &c. above the entrance to the grooves or channels, as
shewn in Figure 2, and the operator drops the corresponding type with the
letter or figure upwards into the grooves, down which they slide and fall into
the receiving stick by their own gravity. By this means a great saving of
time and labour is effected in classing printers' type.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a convenient
apparatus for performing the same, I declare that I claim the apparatus for
classing printers' type, into which they are distributed by hand, as shewn and
described, or any modification of apparatus for effecting the same object.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hattersley, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ROBERT HATTERSLET. (L.S.)