IMPROVEMENTS TV DISTRIBUTING PRINTERS TYDE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Poole, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
TV DISTRIBUTING PRINTERS TYDE" A communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th September 1853.
I, MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTRIBUTING PRINTERS' TYPE " to be as follows:-
There have been several arrangements of machinery previously
proposed for distributing type, and amongst others it has before been
proposed to prepare the type with peculiar arrangements of notches or
grooves corresponding with projections in the passages through which
the type is to pass, the type not being able to pass into a passage where
the projections do not correspond with the notches. And although this
Invention involves the use of similar arrangements of grooves or
notches in the type and projections in the passages, the construction

page_text: and position of the parts of the apparatus differ from those heretofore
employed. The type in this Invention is placed on end between
holders, out from which they are pressed by means of springs; these
holders are applied on to a plate around a circular opening in the plate.
The type are not allowed to be forced out of the holders, except when
suitable apparatus for receiving the type from the holders come opposite
thereto. Such receiving apparatus consists of passages with projections
therein, the several receiving apparatus being each arranged to receive
different notched or grooved type, so that when one of the receivers is
brought opposite a holder, or a holder opposite the receiver, if the type
nearest to the receiver corresponds with the passage, it will be forced
out of the holder into the receiver, but if the type and the passage of
the receiver do not agree, the type will not be pressed out of the
holder till another and the correct receiver is in position. The several
receivers are applied to a disc which is excentric to the plate which
carriers the holders, and the disc receives motion by a crank on a shaft
which is concentric with the opening in the plate, by which arrange-
ment the receivers carried by the disc are in succession brought opposite
each of the holders, but it might be arranged to move the holders to
the receivers in place of the receivers to the holders. By these
arrangements the type to be distributed are packed together in holders,
and are liable to little friction in being removed between the parts of
the holders into the receivers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three; in. the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses Poole, Her special
licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses Poole, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS
TRIBUTING PRINTERS' TYPE," communicated to me from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Moses Poole, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moses Poolc, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):
There have been several arrangements of machinery previously
proposed for distributing type, and amongst others it has before been
proposed to prepare the type with peculiar arrangements of notches or
grooves corresponding with projections in the passages through which
the type is to pass, the type not being able to pass into a passage where
the projections do not correspond with the notches. And although this
Invention involves the use of similar arrangements of grooves or
notches in the type and projections in the passages, the construction
and position of the parts of the apparatus differ from those heretofore
employed.
The type in this Invention is placed on end between holders, out
from which they are pressed by means of springs. These holders are
applied on to a plate around a circular opening in the plate. The type
are not allowed to be forced out of the holders except when suitable.
apparatus for receiving the type from the holders come opposite thereto.
Such receiving apparatus consists of passages with projections therein,

page_text: the several receiving apparatus being each arranged to receive differently
notched or grooved type, so that when one of the receivers is brought
opposite a holder, or a holder opposite a receiver, if the type nearest
to the receiver corresponds with the passage, it will be forced out of the
holder into the receiver; but if the type and the passage of the receiver
do not agree, the type will not be pressed out of the holder till another
and the correct receiver is in position. The several receivers are
applied to a disc which is excentric to the plate which carries the
holders, and the disc receives motion by a crank on a shaft which is
concentric with the opening in the plate, by which arrangement the
receivers carried by the disc are in succession brought opposite each of
the holders, but it might be arranged to move the holders to the
receivers, in place of the receivers to the holders. By these arrange-
ments the type to be distributed are packed together in holders, and
are liable to little friction in being moved between the parts of the
holders into the receivers.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will, before
describing the manner of performing the same, give a brief descrip-
tion of the known processes, that it may be fully understood in what
respects this Invention differs from other methods of distributing
type.
By Goubert's distributing machine the types are thrown in a heap
on an inclined grooved table, and by constant shaking, combined with
diverse apparatus, are brought properly disposed to slide successively
over a number of openings. Each kind of type is notched differently;
each opening is the counterpart of a kind of type, so that each type
must pass over the openings corresponding to other letters, and fall
through its own corresponding one. The principle objections to this
machine are its wearing the types, on account of the shaking motion,
and its high price and complication.
In Clay and Rosenberg's machine the page of types is carried on a
carriage going backward and forward across a number of parallel
grooves, each groove corresponding to a letter type. A distributor has
to read the last letter of the last line, and to press upon its corre
sponding key, by which the carriage is made to stop in front of the

page_text: proper groove, and the type is made to fall therein. This machine was
accessory to one for setting up types.
In Sorensen's machine, exhibited at the Great Exhibition in One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, openings corresponding in form
to the shape of the various notched types are cut through the disc,
all converging towards the centre, and equally distant from it. Over
the disc is a vertical spout so placed that when the disc revolves each
of the openings in it is, in its turn, and for an instant, the prolongation
of the spout itself. In that spout the lines of type to be distributed
are placed, the face of the character in front. The operator reads the
first letter which presents itself, and he presses on the corresponding
key; this stops the disc when the proper opening is under the spout, and
the letter falls through. Each type has a particular notch, and each
opening is as if modelled on the type which it is intended to receive.
In the present machine there are notched types and corresponding
openings, (as is done in two of the preceding machines,) and the machine
is self-acting, as in the first-mentioned one; but the difference is that
in the former the types arrive to the openings sideway, by sliding on
the surface into which the openings are cut, whilst in this machine
they come to the openings, or the openings come to them endways,
following a curve whose last element is perpendicular to the face of the
opening.
To enable others to make use of this Invention I will proceed to
describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings forming part of this Specification, in which
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a front view partly cut; Figure 2, is a top view
of the machine; Figure 8, details of a distributing channel; Figure 4.
a view of a receiving channel entrance; Figure 5, a specimen of
notched type; Figure 6, another arrangement of the pushing spring;
Figure 7, another form of the finger; Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12,
various forms of the machine.
In the machines represented in Figures 1, and 2, the two square
boards A, A, and B, B, the feet C, C, C, C, and the flat ring D, D,
form the frame. In the centre is a vertical shaft F; on its lower end is
a pulley E, and a handle G, by which it is made to revolve. At the
upper end is fixed the excentric H, with its pin I. Around that pin

page_text: as on its axis the circular disc J, J, may revolve freely; and around this
disc, and in the same plane, a flat circular ring K, K, concentric with
the shaft, is fastened to the frame. This disc is internally tangent to the
ring, so that when the shaft F is made to revolve the disc J, J, rolls
on the inside of the disc K, K. To prevent its sliding there are
fastened to the ring and to the dise the two cog wheels L, and M, which
act on each other; and to keep the upper surfaces on exactly the same
level there is the groove N, around the ring, and a corresponding
tongue, P, projecting around the disc. Upon the rolling disc are
fastened the receiving channels. A receiving channel entrance is
represented in front view, Figure 4. It is made the exact counterpart
of one kind of type, with protuberances w, iv, corresponding to the
notches of the type, so that when one of the special kind of type
standing vertically is forced against it that type will pass in, but any
other in which the notches are not similarly situated will be prevented
from entering by the protuberances or projecting parts. Behind the
entrance the receiving channel may be prolongated, as in Figures
1, and 2, or stop short, as represented in Figure 8, and Figure 9.
The first arrangement is adopted when it is found desirable to keep
the type in lines after distributing; in such case a light spring Q, may
be advantageously inserted in one of the sides of the channel to
create a pressure against the sides of the type, and prevent them
from falling down, or of being projected when they are pushed in.
At the end of the channel are the receiving boxes R, R, in which
the type will fall. Upon the immovable ring are fastened the dis-
tributing channels. One of them is represented in Figure 3. It is
formed by two parallel blocks screwed on the ring forming a channel
between them equal in width to the guage of the types. One of the
blocks S, is a solid piece, the other T, is of two pieces; and the cover V,
being taken off discloses a lever a, b, which I call the finger, a spring c
pressing constantly against the finger, and an elbow lever d, f, acting
on the finger by means of the rod g, the relative position of the two
levers being regulated by the nut h. Forming a part of the dis-
tributing channel, there is the sliding piece j, pushed constantly forward
by the springs 1, 1.
When types are inserted into a distributing channel, the spring 1, 1.

page_text: acting upon the slide i, j, presses the line forward; but the end a, of
the finger pressing on the sides of the foremost type prevents any
motion from taking place; but when any receiving channel comes in
contact with a distributing channel so as to be for a moment a con-
tinuation of it as represented at X, Figure 2, the block m, presses
against the arm d, of the elbow lever d, f; the other arm draws back
the finger, which ceases to press on the type; the line of type released is
pushed forward by the spring 1, 1, and one or more of the foremost type,
as many as have notches corresponding to the opening of the receiving
channel, will pass through; but if the foremost does not correspond
there will be no passage of any type.
The relative proportion between the circumferences of the disc and
ring are such that each distributing channel will come successively in
contact with all the receiving channels. All that is requisite to obtain
this result is, first, that the distance between the receiving channels
measured on the circumference of the disc must be exactly equal to
that of the distributing channels measured on the circumference of the
ring; secondly, that the number of the distributing and the number
of the receiving channels must have no common factors.
To illustrate the way in which the machine works I will add that
cach distributing channel does exactly what a man would do if, having
notched types and corresponding openings, he was taking successively
each type between his thumb and forefinger, and trying to push it in
at each successive opening; the difference is that the machine has as
many hands as is wished for.
The machine, as represented, Figures 1, and 2, is made to divide the
types into six different portions. For example, if there are sixty kinds
of types mixed the machine may be made to send ten kinds into.cach.
receiving channel, which will have to be brought to another machine
having ten receiving channels to be separated completely. The machine
may also be made to take out of the type five particular kinds, sending
all the rest into the sixth receiving cliannel. But in fact it may be
constructed with any number of receiving and distributing channels.
Although the arrangement represented, Figures 1, and 2, is the one
I prefer, it will nevertheless be obvious that this Invention may be

page_text: carried into effect by various modifications of it.
For example,
Figure 6, is a second arrangement of the springs used to push the
sliding piece; the lever n, hinged at p, is connected with the sliding
piece by the rod q; a spring r, is attached to the frame of the machine,
and its tractive power on the lever is regulated by the nuts.
Figure 7, represents a receiving channel in which the finger is
hooked at the extremity so as to keep the types from moving more
assuredly than is done by the sido pressure only; a corresponding
notch is cut in the receiving channels to leave room for the hook.
Figure 8; in this the disc has been diminished so as to contain
only two receiving channels F', and F', but six discs are used instead
of one.
Figure 9, ring K", K", is immovable, and supports distributing
channels; a number of small receiving discs J", J", J", are caused to
move as rollers against it by the large revolving disc H", H", on which
are also a number of distributing channels.
Figure 10, and Figure 11, represent conical dises revolving against
cach other or on a plane whercon the receiving and distributing
channels could be fixed, though not so advantageously as on cylindrical
dises and rings.
Figure 12. Here the distributing channels are on a straight board
L', L'. The receiving channels are on another straight board, moving
in front of the first by means of two cog wheels acting on a rack,
cach wheel bearing an excentric pin to connect it with the board; a
reciprocating motion is communicated from a crank by rod R'. Each
point. of this moving board has the same form of motion as the eccentric
points of the rolling discs in other Figures, that is to say, cach of them
describes an epicycloidal curve, whose general property is to have its
last element perpendicular to the circle or straight line on which the
epicycloid is described. The curve is shewn in M, Figure 12, and in
W, Figure 2. This last arrangement, Figure 12, admits of the machine
being vertically inclined or horizontal.
In any of the preceding Figures the receiving and distributing
channels may exchange places without interference with the good
working of the machine.

page_text: The machines which are about to be constructed according to this
invention will have thirty receiving channels; these thirty receiving
channels will distribute the twenty-five characters most frequently in
use, which form of themselves seventy-five per cent. of the total quan-
tity; the remaining twenty-five per cent. will have to pass through the
machine a second time, in order to their being separated from each
other. This will be effected by means of additional notches cut in the
back of such characters.
In calculating what such a machine will effect according to the
results obtained from a trial machine it was found capable of distribut-
ing 200,000 characters per hour, one apprentice being sufficient to
feed it; so that if a good workman composes at the most 2,500 letters
per hour, this machine will distribute the composition of 80 workmen;
and if a good workman distributes at the most 10,000 letters per hour
this machine will replace twenty experienced workmen by a single
apprentice.
Quick compositors often employ a workman of inferior capacity to
distribute their characters, and all if they could would willingly do the
same, because this wearisome labour demands a mere automaton em-
ployment of the mind, and stupifies more or less him who pursues it.
This instrument will be of a moderate price, and its principle permitting
it to be constructed of different capacities, the smallest printing offices
will obtain a great pecuniary advantage to make use of it.
This reason, and this alone, will ensure its adoption, though in the
Inventor's opinion the moral benefit resulting from its use will be even
greater than the material benefit.
In Plate II. is represented in Figures 1 and 2, a machine in course of
construction; it will have thirty-nine receiving channels, and forty dis-
tributing channels. It will distribute the twenty-three characters most
frequently in use, which form of themselves seventy-five per cent. of
the total quantity. The remaining twenty-five per cent. will have to
pass through the machine a second time, in order to their being sepa-
rated from each other. This will be effected by means of additional
notches cut in the back of such characters. The slides j, are drawn

page_text: against the types by a cord v, wound round the spring box 7. The
pressing finger a, b, is in the form of a bell crank; it is opened by
the pressure of the inside ring against the end of rod t, and closed
by that of the spiral spring c. Each receiving channel is divided into
two different parts situated on different levels, so that when the types
have entered it at m, they are arrested by the partition », and fall
down by their own weight at p, whence they are pushed further on
into the second part of the channel g, which may be taken out of the
machine to be emptied. In this second channel is a light piece of
wood moveable within it with a slight friction, and used as an abut-
ment for the foremost type. These channels being made of plate
yields a little. The arrangement to push the types forward, and make
room for others, consists in the slides d, which receive their motion
backward and forward from the excentric wheel f, keyed to the shaft.
The little studs w, corresponding to the notches of the types, are made
to extend a little outside the receiving channels.
Figure 3, represents another method of arranging a distributing
channel. The axle of the finger a, b, extends downwards; and a cam h,
is fastened to it, the end of which is pressed against the excentricf, by
means of a spring e, acting on the finger a, b, which in this case is
fastened to its axle. The excentric bas to be shaped so as to open the
distributing channels when they are in contact with the receiving ones,
and to let the springs c, close them when they are separated.
Figure 4, represents a top view and a section of the feeding appa-
ratus. The two column rules A, and B, being taken out will be used
to take up forty lines of the matter to be distributed, which will
be placed with them in the feeding box P, P. The instrument being
then taken in the left hand, as shewn, is placed upon a distributing
channel, so that the projecting parts c, and e, enter into it, and the
opening M, be above it; the key D, being then pressed upon it pushes
forward the matter to be distributed by means of the lever D, F, hook
G, rack H, and even rule K, and the first line pushed from I, to M,
where it gets loose, falls down into the distributing channel. During
these operations the right hand is occupied in holding out of the

page_text: channel the slide j, by pinching it between the fingers, or by means of
a hook, according to its shape. The feeder could be made adjustable
to various lengths of lines.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what is
claimed is,―
First, the combination called distributing channel of the channel
sides S, and T, finger a, b, and slide j, with two springs c, and 7, lever
f, d, and rod g, or their equivalents, substantially as described.
Second, the combination of distributing and receiving channels with
discs J, J, ring K, K, and excentric shaft H, or their equivalents, the
result of which is to bring the receiving and distributing channels into
contact along a curve the last element of which is perpendicular to
their faces of contact, substantially as described.
Third, the combination called feeder of the open box P, P, with the
cross rule K, the opening M, and side rules A, and B, or their equi-
valents, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
B. GOBBY,
4, Old Square,
Lincoln's Inn.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)