AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CASTING PRINTING TYPES, BY, MEANS OF A MECHANICAL PROCESS, WHICH INVENTION I PROPOSE TO CALL THE MECHANICAL TYPE CASTER
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ASPINWALL, of Bishopsgate Churchyard, in the City of London, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of May,
in the ninth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Aspinwall; my executors, adminis;
trators, and assigns, His especial: licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Aspinwall, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Aspinwall, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF CASTING PRINTING TYPES, BY, MEANS OF A MECHANICAL PROCESS,
WHICH INVENTION I PROPOSE TO CALL THE MECHANICAL TYPE CASTER;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Thomas Aspinwall, particularly to 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 to cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Thomas Aspinwall, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and the following description thereof, that is to say:-
Fig. 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the machine or apparatus when
the parts of the mould have been withdrawn from the melting pot, and are
separated, after having cast and delivered a type.
Fig. 2 is another plan view of the machine when the parts of the mould are
brough together and closed previous to receiving a jet of hot metal from the
melting pot to cast another type.
Fig. 3 is a side view of the same (the melting pot and furnace being shewn
in section), all three Figures being drawn on a scale of one-third the full size.
Fig. 4 is a front view of the mould when put together with the parts by
which it is connected to the machinery.
Fig. 5 is a top view, and Fig. 6 a side view of the same; these three
Figures last mentioned being drawn the full size. The same letters and
Figures of reference refer to similar parts in all these Figures.
a, a, a, a, is the metal bed or swinging table upon which the working parts
are mounted and which is suspended by the wires and swivel adjusting screws
b, b, b, b, as shewn in Figure 3; c is the crank shaft, through which motion is
communicated by the winch handle d to the whole of the working parts of the
apparatus; e, e, are the parts of the mould in which the type is cast; f is the
melting pot, with the furnace g under it. On motion being communicated to the
handle d, in the direction of the arrows, the crank h moves the connecting rod i,
sliding bar j, j, and cross bar k, k, forwards towards the melting pot. On each
side of the cross bar k, k, are attached one end of each of the barrel springs 1, 1,
their other ends being connected to the sliding carrier pieces m, m, m, on
which the parts of the mould e, e, are mounted. As the cross bar k, k, is
moved, the springs l, l, draw the carrier pieces m, m, and the parts of the
mould e, e, forward until they meet, the pieces m, m, being guided by the
ribs y, y, and keep them in close contact during the further operation of tho
machine; the screws n, n, which keep the carrier pieces m, m, down upon
their bearings on the table working in grooves or slits, the continued movement
of the crank projects the sliding bar j further forwards, the cylindrical part of
the bar, sliding through the guide collar O, which is kept central to the machine
by the pieces p, p, each connected by joints at one end to the collar, and at the

page_text: other end to the carrier pieces m, m.
On the end of the sliding bar jis the
upright piece q (see Fig. 3), carrying the projecting piece r, which, as it is
moved forward, coming in contact with the adjusting screws on one end of the
bent lever t, causes it to turn on its centre, and by the friction roller on its
other end forces down the piston or plunger u, thus pressing the hot metal out
of the cylinder into the chamber w, and forcing out that prevously in it
through the small pipe or nozzle x into the mould as it is moved forward to
receive it, by the friction roller 1 of the cam on the crank shaft cacting against
the upright piece 2, fixed in the frame or lable 3, 3, 3, the swinging table
a, a, being thus projected forward until the end of the nozzle a enters, the
mouth of the mould, which receives the jet of metal as it is projected out of the
chamber, and the type is cast. The handle d is then moved the reverse way,
and the friction roller 1 ceasing to act against the upright piece 2, the table is
allowed to swing back into its former position from the manner in which it is
suspended out of the perpendicular and horizontal position. The piston or
plunger is then raised by a spring, from which it is suspended by the wire 4,
but which is not shewn in the Drawings, and it is prevented from rising too
far by the stud 5 coming against the guide collar 6 (see Fig. 3), and as it rises
the hot metal in the melting pot is allowed to enter the cylinder through the
holes formed around its top, which are closed by 'the piston as it descends,
thus preventing the metal from getting out of the cylinder v in any way but
into the chamber w. The movement of the handle being continued, the sliding
bar j,j, and all the parts fixed thereon move backwards into their former
position, as shewn in Fig. 1, and the parts of the moulds separate. On
the upright picce q is affixed another projecting piece 7, which carries the
hanging tooth 8, and which tooth, as they retreat, slides in the groové 9, acting
upon the bent lever 10, depresses it; the other end of this lever acts upon and
raises another lever 11 (see Figs. 5 and 6); this lever has an adjusting screw
12 pressing upon one end of the matrix 13, which is thus disengaged from the
type, the spring 14, which keeps it in its place during the operation of casting,
giving way to the pressure. On the mould opening, the cast type is loosened
from that part of the mould to which it adheres by the inclined plane piece 15,
fixed in the swinging table, acting upon the end of the rod 16 (its head being
countersunk in the side of the mould plate), and projecting it forward, loosens
the type, and its cast jet Z, which falls away below the spring 17, attached to
the one end of the rod 16, draws the rod back again, when the parts of the
mould are made to close it, having again passed by the inclined plane piece
15. In order that the parts of the mould attached to the carrier pieces m, m,
may move forward toward the melting pot with the same speed, and meet

page_text: together without striking the regulating angular picce 18, is attached to the
sliding bar j, j, upon the angular sides of this piece, the adjustible studs 19, 19;
affixed on the carrier pieces mi, m, act and-govern the force of the springs.l, l
When different sizes of type are-to-be-cast-the-mould is altered in the usual
way, and in order to accomodate the machinery to such adjustment, the pieces
20, 21, which connect the parts of the mould to the machinery, can also be
moved. On the under side of the piece 20 is a groove (shewn by dots in
Fig. 5), fitting on to a projecting rib on the carrying piece m, m, and this pioco
and the parts of the mould connected to it by the bolt and nut 22 can be
moved nearer to or farther from the centre of the machine, as the size of the
type may require, by loosening the screws 23, 23, which work in slits, and
allow it to slide along the rib. The other half of the mould is connected to
the piece 21 by a bolt and nut 22*, in the same way as the former, but as it
must be adjusted to the other half there is no groove or rib; but on the carry-
ing piece m is the fixed piece 24, and its adjusting screws 25, 25, which, when
this half of the mould is properly adjusted to the other, are to be screwed up
tight to prevent the piece 21 from getting out of its proper position, it being
fixed down upon the carrying piece by the screws 26, 26, in the same way as
the piece 20. In order to regulate the height of the mould and swinging
table, the suspending wires b, b, aro furnished with adjusting screws and
swivels, by which the inclination or height of the mould and table may be made
to suit the type to be cast. The distance which the swinging table is to move
backwards and forwards is regulated by the upright piece 2, which can be
moved further from or nearer to the crank shaft by turning the screw 27,
which works in the female screw 28, and sliding piece 29, on which the
upright piece 2 is fixed. The swinging table is made to move centrally to, and
from the nozzle of the melting pot by the ribs on its under sides working
between the adjusting screws 30, 30, mounted upon the stationary table 3.
Round three sides of the nozzle a of the melting pot there is a guard piece
31 (see Fig. 3), which prevents the hot metal from flying about on the jet
being thrown into the mould, and also causes the extra metal to fall into the
dish 32. To prevent the handle d from being moved too far either way, the
bridge piece 33 is fixed upon the table, which prevents the connecting piece
i from rising too high, and consequently from the handle being turned too far
either way; when it wished to move the swinging table and parts connected to
it from the melting pot, the upright piece 2 is to be removed, and the table will
swing back into the perpendicular position..
.. I do not hereby intend to claim as my Invention any of the parts separately,
or which are already known or in use; but the improved method of casting

page_text: printing types by means of the mechanical process and arrangement of
machinery herein described I particularly claim; and more particularly the
manner of suspending the swinging table out of the horizontal and perpen-
dicular position, the mode of moving the table with the parts of the mould
towards the melting pot; the manner of bringing the parts of the mould
together and keeping them closed during the operation of casting the type;
the mode of putting the working parts in operation through the crank shaft,
assisted by the other parts described; the manner of adjusting the parts of the
mould and apparatus; and also in using the chamber w, through which the
hot metal passes from the cylinder v into the mould; all of which form part of
my improved method of casting printing types.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Aspinwall, have hereunto set my
hand and soal, the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
LAD (L.8.)
WALL
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-second day of
November, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Aspinwall came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
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 mado and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-second day of November, in the year above
written.