Im- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPOSING TYPES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Fraser, of Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Printer, for the Invention of “Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPOSING TYPES."
Sealed the 18th May 1873, and dated the 20th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Fraser at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th November 1872.
I, ALEXANDER FRASER, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, Printer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMPOSING TYPES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to various improvements in apparatus for
composing types.
The types to be used in the operation are contained in one or more
grooved trays, being distributed or arranged therein by means of
apparatus such as is described in the Specification of Letters Patent

page_text: obtained by the present applicant, and dated 10th April 1872 (No. 1060)..
Or the types may be arranged in the tray grooves by hand or otherwise;
or they may be transferred thereinto from the grooved receiving trays of
the distributing apparatus. The types are pressed towards the front
ends of their grooves by pushers, which are metal slips lying in the 5
grooves at the rear of the types, and which are drawn forward by
stretched cords of rubber. At the front end of each groove there is a
separator, carried by the tray, which partly extends down in front of the
foremost type, and which is formed with an inverted shoulder extending
sufficiently backwards over the type to act on one type only when moved 1
downwards. The depression of any separator causes it to carry one
type down through an opening at the front end of the tray bottom, the
described construction of the separator avoiding considerable friction on
the type, and thus rendering it less liable to injury.
The parts so far described are quite detachable from the rest of the 1
apparatus, and grooved trays having quite different sizes of types and
corresponding separators may be substituted for each other, it being
merely necessary that the centres of the grooves be pitched at the same
distance apart in all the trays, so that the partitions between the
grooves will be thicker and the separators smaller in proportion as the 2
types are smaller.
.
The permanent part of the apparatus comprises a series of depressors
arranged in vertical guides so as to face the several separators of the
changeable trays, and a projection on each depressor enters a groove in
each separator (or vice versa) whenever the type tray is moved forward 2
into position on the table or frame provided for its support. Rubber or
other springs are applied to both the separators and the depressors to
raise them after depression. The depressors are drawn down by wires
or rods connected to bell-crank levers, and these levers are connected by
a second series of wires to a second series of bell-crank levers acted on :
by vertical key rods, which are depressed as required by the compositor.
These key rods may be mounted and guided as described in the earlier
Specification herein-before referred to.
For receiving the types as they are separated and depressed from the
front ends of the tray grooves there is provided a grooved guide plate a
formed with a series of grooves which run into each other by degrees
and gradually converge into a single outlet groove at the lower end,
from which the types drop one by one as selected into a composing

page_text: stick or galley. This grooved guide plate or the larger part of it is by
preference inclined slightly inwards from the vertical, and the guide
grooves are covered by a plate or plates of glass or of metal to prevent
the types from turning over or round whilst descending.
The grooves are made of different depths to suit the different
thicknesses of the types, and the cover plate or plates are made
adjustable by screws to suit different "founts" or sets of founts. The
cover plate or plates are also hinged or otherwise made to open easily for
the removal of any accidentally arrested type.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS' SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
FRASER, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain,
Printer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Fraser, Her special licence that
I, the said Alexander Fraser, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Fraser, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 Ohannel Islands
and Isle of Man, an Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
COMPOSING TYPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexander Fraser, 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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Fraser, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to various improvements in apparatus for
composing types.
The types to be used in the operation are contained in one or more
grooved trays, being distributed or arranged therein by means of
apparatus such as is described in the Specification of Letters Patent
obtained by me, and dated 10th April 1872 (No. 1060). Or the types
may be arranged in the tray grooves by hand or otherwise; or they
may be transferred thereinto from the grooved receiving trays of the
distributing apparatus.
And in order that my present Invention and the manner of performing.
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append three Sheets
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
type composing apparatus as made with my improvements. In these
Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or
like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings are a front view and a
part plan of the apparatus; Figure 3 on Sheet 2 is a side elevation;
Figures 4 to 7 on Sheet 3 represent the parts for receiving the selected
types. In the machine shown there are two grooved trays, 1, 2, one of
them being for the more frequently used types, and the other for those
not requiring to be often replenished. One of these grooved trays is
shown in the plan, Figure 2, and consists of a plate with a number of
thin metal strips fixed on it to form the partitions between the grooves.
The trays 1, 2, are placed horizontally in the upper part of the framing 3
of the composing machine, being accurately adjusted therein by screws 4.
The types are pressed towards the front ends of their grooves by
pushers 5, which are metal slips lying in the grooves at the rears of the
types, and which are drawn forward by stretched cords 6 of rubber, the
requisite length of such cords being provided for by passing them round
pulleys and up to a transverse horizontal bar 7, which is adjustable in
height upon
side pieces 8 fixed to the tray. At the front end of each
groove there is a separator 9 carried by the tray, which is indicated by

page_text: dotted lines in Figure 3, and is also shown detached, and which partly
extends down in front of the foremost type, and is formed with an
inverted shoulder extending sufficiently backwards above the type to
act on one type only when moved downwards. Only a few of the
separators 9 are shown in Figures 1.and 2, the rack or notched bar 10
in which they are guided being shown partly without them. The.
depression of any separator 9 causes it to move one type down through
an opening in the tray bottom at the front end of the groove, and the
form of the separator avoids considerable friction to which the type.
would otherwise be subjected, thus rendering it less liable to injury.
The parts so far described are quite detachable from the rest of the
apparatus, and grooved trays having quite different sizes of types and
corresponding separators may be substituted for each other, it being.
merely necessary that the centres of the grooves be pitched at the same
distance apart in all the trays to be used with the same composing
machine, so that the partitions between the grooves will be thicker and
the separators smaller in proportion as the types are smaller.
The permanent part of the apparatus comprises a series of depressors 11
arranged in vertical guide grooves in an open frame piece 12, so as to
face the several separators 9 of the changeable trays, and a projection on
the inner face of each depressor 11 enters a notch in the front of each
separator 9 (or vice versa) whenever the type tray is moved forward into
position on the frame 3. Rubber or other springs are applied to both
the depressors and separators to raise them up to fixed stops after each
depression, the springs 13 for the depressors 11 being fixed to an
adjustable bar 14 on the main frame, whilst those for the separators 9
are attached to an adjustable bar 15 carried by the grooved tray. The
depressors 11 are at their bottom ends formed with horizontal limbs 16
extending inwards through apertures to be herein-after referred to, and
are drawn downwards by wires 17 attached to such bottom limbs 16 and
connected at the other ends to bell-crank levers 18. These levers 18 are
connected by a second set of wires 19 to a second series of bell-crank
levers 20, which last are acted on by vertical key rods 21 to be depressed
as required by the compositor. These key rods 21 have buttons on their
upper ends marked to correspond to the types they respectively act on,
and are guided by passing through holes in two horizontal plates 22, 23,
whilst they are formed with slotted enlargements for the insertion of the

page_text: ends of the levers 20. These levers 20 are centred on pins screwed
into blique bars 24, one of which is shown uncovered in Figure 2.
For receiving the types as they are separated and depressed from the
front ends of the tray grooves there is provided a grooved guide plate 25
formed with a series of grooves, which run into each other by degrees t
and gradually converge into a single outlet groove 26, at the lower end
from which the types drop one by one as they are selected. At the top
there are of course as many grooves 27 on the plate 25 as there are
grooves on the type trays 1, 2; 'but these grooves are immediately
reduced to half the number 28 by the convergence of each pair into a 1
single one. This allows of apertures or slots being formed through the
plate between the grooves 28, and it is through these apertures that the
bottom limbs 16 of the depressors pass a pair of depressors through
each. The grooved guide plate 25 is by preference inclined slightly
inwards from the vertical, as shown; and the guide grooves are covered ]
by a plate or plates of glass or of metal to prevent the types from turning
over or round whilst descending.
The grooves are made of different depths to suit the different
thicknesses of the types, and the cover plate or plates are made
adjustable by screws to suit different founts or sets of founts. The glass
or other cover plate is fixed upon a frame 29 which is hinged at 30,
so that it can be opened easily for the removal of any accidentally
arrested type.
The back of the outlet groove 26 at the bottom of the guide plate is
formed by three thin spring blades 31, the bottom, narrow, or pointed
end of one of which enters the inner end of the space in which the
types are first arranged in the galley, and whenever any depressor 11
is moved down these blades 31 are pushed back by. the descending type
to an extent corresponding to its thickness, and the type is then moved
forward by a horizontally moving lever 32 to make room for the next a
type. The lever 32 is acted on by a wedge 33 guided by a slot in a
plate on which the end of the lever rests, and the wedge is connected
by a rod 34 to one of a series of arms 35 hinged to the frame 3, and
carrying a light bar 36 under the series of lower limbs 16 of the
depressors so as to be acted on by whichever depressor is moved. The
arms 35 are raised again after depression by a spring 37.
The galley which I use for arranging the selected types in columns is
shown full size in end view and plan in Figures 4 and 5 on Sheet 3 of

page_text: the Drawings, and is not shown in position in Figures 1 and 3. When
it is in position in the machine the galley is set upon a frame-shaped
bracket 38, being formed with dovetail ribs 39 on its under side, which
enter dovetail grooves in the bracket 38, and being held in position by a
spring latch 40. The galley consists of a plate having a flange 41 fixed
along one edge for one side of the column, whilst an adjustable flanged
piece 42 is attached to it by screws for the other side of the column..
Between the flanges 41, 42, there is a sliding stop 48 to support the
first line of types, and which is made adjustable to suit different widths
of column, whilst a spring 44 is carried by it to bear on the flange 42
and retain the stop in its place, except when its frictional pressure is
overcome in moving up the types. On their outer sides the flanges 41, 42,
have bars 45, 46, connected to them by slots, and screw pins 47, with
springs applied to prevent them moving too easily, and at the entering
end of the column these bars 45, 46, carry a cross bar 48, which forms
the bottom or outer guide for the types that are being entered one by
one into a line. This bar 48 is hinged so that it can be turned up out
of the way when access to the types is required, and notches are made
in the ends of the flanges 41, 42, to allow it to move inwards when the
bars 45, 46, are drawn by means of a rod 49 at the other end to move
the completed lines forward and make space for a fresh line. When
forming the line the types are supported in the direction of the line by
a slide 50, whilst each type drops into a space 51, the lever 32 pushing
them forward thence and the slide 50 before them. The space for a line
is gauged, when the bar 48 is moved out again by stops 52, 53, on the
flanges 41, 42, and bars 45, 46, respectively, those on the latter being
adjustable. When the types are to be arranged in a single line a long
slip shown in end view and plan in Figures 6 and 7 is used, having a
fixed flange 54 for one side of the line and an adjustable one 55 for the
other side. The first type is prevented from falling by a small block
or friction appliance placed in the groove, and which is pushed forward
by the types.

page_text: Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
bclieve to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
5
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of apparatus
for composing types in the improved manner, substantially as herein-
before described.
2. The making of the separators (9) with portions extending down
the sides of the types, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before 1
described.
3. The arranging of the separators
trays, as herein-before described.
so as to be carried by the type
4. The combining of the separators (9) with depressors (11), which
latter are permanently connected with the finger keys so as to be 1
casily detachable, and so that different sets of separators for different
sizes of types can be substituted for each other, substantially as herein-
before described.
5. The combining of the parts of the galley, substantially in the
improved manner herein-before described with reference to Figures 42
and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Fraser, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.