IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS- TRIBUTING TYPE, and in ApparatUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Winder, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Solicitor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS-
TRIBUTING TYPE, and in ApparatUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR.”
Scaled the 5th March 1875, and dated the 8th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Winder at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th January 1875.
I, ROBERT WINDER, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Solicitor
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DISTRIBUTING Type, and in AppaRATUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR," to be as
follows:-
:-
The main object of the said Invention is to distribute type auto-
matically when such type is in irregular order, as from a form, that is to
say, the said type shall be so operated upon that such type shall be
divided into any desired number of parcels, cach of such parcels
containing all the types of any required character or characters.
•
The apparatus or appliances employed for the above purpose embody

page_text: The general action of the said apparatus or appliances combined as a
whole is as follows:-Types (I use them notched or indented on the
edges) taken from a form or otherwise obtained in promiscuous order aro
so placed on their flat, one above another in a reservoir, that the notched
or indented edges shall be all on the same side. The said reservoir is
secured above a rotating table, and near to the periphery thereof. The
said rotating table, which forms the bottom of the reservoir, is provided
with a piece or pieces to withdraw or extract type one by one from such
reservoir, and carries them forward with the notches in the same
direction.
The types are removed from the revolving table by means of hooks or
catches controlled in their action by feelers: The feelers are provided
with projections which fit into notches or indentations in the type, or
the projections may be affixed to and form part of the hooks. The
notches and projections are arranged, as is well known, in such manner
that each class of type has its own peculiar notches or indentations.
The projections on each feeler correspond with the notches or indenta-
tions of some one class of type. The types are withdrawn from the
revolving table on their flat, and are delivered on edge to a stationary
platform. The types when thus distributed are disposed of as required.
The novelties of operation of the above described apparatus or appli-
ances are as follows:-
In
First. Extracting or withdrawing types by direct action from their
containing reservoir. This is effected by means of pins or projections on
the rotating table. The diameter of the table and the number of pins
and reservoirs may be varied. A stud may be secured to the piece,
which gives motion to the table to effect the removal of the types.
the above, as in the hereafter described mechanism for distributing
type, I prefer that the movement of the parts should where intermittent
motion is required be gradual from quick to slow, and vice versa, instead
of stopping and starting suddenly, as heretofore.
Second. Preventing more than one type at a time being extracted or
withdrawn from the reservoir by making the pins or stud stand out or
project above the table a less distance than the thickness of the thinnest
type, and by employing one or more springs to press on the edges of the a
types near the bottom of the reservoir. By the above arrangement,
when two types at the bottom of the reservoir are thin enough to pass

page_text: through the end opening together, one only is pushed out, because the
friction between the spring or springs and the edge of the upper type
would be greater than the friction between the lower and upper type.
Third. As means for retaining cach type on the revolving table whilst
it is being carried round I provide a retaining spring or catch, which
rests on the flat of the type whilst being carried round. The said spring
or catch is withdrawn by means of a cam or equivalent mechanism
whilst passing the reservoir or reservoirs.
Fourth. With drawing any desired type or types from the rotating
table by means of a vibrating feeler and hook or catch. The said feeler
or the catch is provided with projections, which enter the notches of a
correspondingly indented type, and allow the said vibrating hook or
catch to withdraw the type from the rotating wheel on to the stationary
platform.
Fifth. As means for setting type on edge in combination with the
above withdrawing catch I employ an inclined plane or precipice over*
which the type slide or fall as they are being withdrawn from the table,
and are set on edge by the action of the above-mentioned hook or a push
piece acting separately.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Winder in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WINDER, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Solicitor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cig'it hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suo-
>cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Winder, Her special
licence that I, tho said Robert Winder, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Winder, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to timo and at all times thereafter during the term

page_text: 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
DISTRIBUTING TYPE AND IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOB," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Winder, 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 Scal
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 Winder, 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, reference being had to the accompanying two
Sheets of illustrative Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :—
The main object of the said Invention is to distribute type auto-
matically when such type is in irregular order, as from a form, that is to
say, the said type shall be so operated upon that such typo shall bo
divided into any desired number of parcels, each of such parcels con-
taining all the types of any required character or characters.
The apparatus or appliances employed for the above purpose embody
the novel modes or methods of operation hereafter described. The
general action of the said apparatus or appliances combined as a whole
is as follows:-Types (I use them notched or indented on the edges)
taken from a form or otherwise obtained in promiscuous order are so
placed on their flat, one above another in a reservoir, that the notched
or indented edges shall be all ou the same side. The said reservoir is
secured above a rotating table, and near to the periphery thereof. The ;
said rotating table, which forms the bottom of the reservoir, is provided
with a piece or pieces to withdraw or extract type one by one from such
reservoir, and carries them forward with the notches in the samo
direction.
The types are removed from the revolving table by means of hooks or a
catches controlled in their action by feelers. The feelers are provided
with projections, which fit into notches or indentations in the type, or
the projections may be affixed to and form part of the hooks. Tho

page_text: notches and projections are arranged, as is well known, in such manner
that-cach class of typo has its own peculiar notches or indentations.
The projections on each fceler correspond with the notches or inden-
*tations of some one class of type. The types are withdrawn from the
6 revolving table on their flat, and are delivered on edgo to a stationary
platform. The types when thus distributed aro disposed of as required.
The novelties of operation of the above described apparatus or appli-
ances are as follows:-
First. Extracting or withdrawing types by direct action from their
containing reservoir. This is effected by means of pins or projections on
the rotating table. The diameter of the table and the number of pins
and reservoirs may be varied. A stud may be secured to the piece,
which gives motion to the table to effect the removal of the types. In
the above, as in the hereafter described mechanism for distributing type,
5 I prefer that the movement of the parts should where intermittent
motion is required be gradual from quick to slow, and vice versa, instead
of stopping and starting suddenly, as heretofore.
Second. Preventing more than one type at a time being extracted or
withdrawn from the reservoir by making the pins or stud stand out or
project from the table a less distance than the thickness of the thinnest
type, and by employing one or more springs to press on the edges of the
types near the bottom of the reservoir. By the above arrangement,
when two types at the bottom of the reservoir are thin enough to pass
through the end opening together one only is pushed out, because the
5 friction between the spring or springs and the edge of the upper type
would be greater than the friction between the lower and upper type.
Third. As means for retaining cach type on the revolving table whilst
it is being carried round I provide a retaining spring or catch, which
rests on the flat of the type whilst being carried round. The said spring
) or catch is withdrawn by means of a cam or equivalent mechanism whilst
passing the reservoir or reservoirs.
Fourth. Withdrawing any desired typo or types from the rotating
table by means of a vibrating fecler and hook or catch. The said feoler
or the catch is provided with projections, which enter the notches of a
› correspondingly indented type, and allow the said vibrating hook or
catch to withdraw the type from the rotating wheel on to the stationary
platform.

page_text: Fifth. As means for setting type on edge in combination with the
above withdrawing catch I employ an inclined plane or precipice, over
which the typo slide or fall as they are being withdrawn from the table,
and are set on edge by the action of the above-mentioned hook or a push
nieco acting separately.
Fig. 1 is an elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view of apparatus or appli-
ances constructed under my Invention, and illustrative of the five heads
thercof.
Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detail views on an enlarged scale. a is tho 1
rotating table; b, reservoirs; b', inclined plane, down which types slide
to reservoir; c, pin or plate for removing the types from the reservoirs ;
d, piece to which c is attached; e, cam; f, pulley; g, lever; h, con-
nections. The arm connects the slide with the elevating and
depressing plate k; l, connecting rod from crank m to the plate k; n, 1
pillar which supports the machine; r, stationary platform; a, cam
groove for operating the retaining springs ; u, slide carrying feeler
plate and hook; v, small lever for opening spring; to, inclined plane;
x, lower hook.
Under the first head a is the rotating table, which is moved by a catch 2
connected with arm d; b, reservoirs; c, pin or plate for removing the
types from the reservoirs. The plate c, as shown bere, is attached to
the piece d, by which motion is communicated from the came through
bowlf, lever g, and connections h. The pin or plate c rises a less distance
from the table a than the thickness of the thinnest type, and thereby, in 2
combination with the springs p, prevents more than one type being
extracted at a time.
Under the second head the springs p press upon the edges of the
lowest and next upper types. There are several springs 1, 2, 3, and 4.
I prefer that the said springs should be withdrawn from the type during a
the return stroke of d. v, lever for withdrawing said springs. If the
lowest type is a thin one only the lowest or No. 1 spring presses upon it,
and 2, 3, and 4 press upon the next lowest type, according to its
thickness. Another way of removing type from the typo box is by affixing
the pin or plate to the rotating table, and having small recesses, into 8
which type drops as each recess successively comes underneath the typo
reservoir.

page_text: Under the third head the spring or catch & rests on the flat of the
type on the rotating table; such spring or catch is withdrawn by
means of the inclined cam grooves whilst passing the reservoir b. As
soon as the said spring has passed the reservoir it is caused to fall upon
and secure the last extracted type by means of the said inclined cam
groove. There is a spring or retainer thus ready for cach type as it
comes from the reservoir.
Under the fourth head u are the vibrating feelers provided with hooks
or catches . Each feeler has projections thereon, such projections
› varying for each feeler, and fitting into corresponding notches in the
proper type, thereby allowing the hook to pass over the type, and fall
behind such type, and withdraw or push it into the stationary platform.
The feelers u are caused to move by means of the connecting rods /
operated by the crank m; a spring is interposed between the feeler and
the slide i, so that if the notches in the type in front of any feeler aro
not suited to the projections in the said feeler the spring allows the
feeler to give way, and neither injure the type feeler plate or machine.
Under the fifth head w is the inclined plane and precipice over which
the type slide or fall as they are being withdrawn or pushed from the
table a by the hooks u', the setting on edge being completed by means
of the lower hook & following behind it in slots cut in the stationary
platform. When in operation type are extracted one by one from the
reservoirs by the pins or plates c on to the rotating table, being removed
thence by the feelers and hooks, and set on edge on the stationary
¡ platform r.
It will be obvious that the types could be set on end in position as if
for printing, instead of on their edge, if desired.
To commenco only one or two type extractors and mechanism have
been shown, but it will be understood that the feelers, retaining hooks,
and mechanism are repeated all round the table, there being one for
each character.
Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation also illustrative of my Invention. In
this modification the rotating table (1) is formed annular, and the feeler
(2) and catches (3) are operated from the interior of the said annular
3 table instead of from the exterior of the table, and push instead of pull
the type into the stationary platform (5). Motion is given to the
annular table in the same manner as in the machine described under the