CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF PRINTING
Year: 1847

page_text: BENIO
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BARTHOLOMEW
BENIOWSKI, of Bow Street, Covent Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Major in the late Polish Army, send greeting.
1D-.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of October, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Bartholomew, Beniowski, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege.
and authority, that I, the said Bartholomew, Beniowski, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Bartholomew Beniowski,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
years therein-men-
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,.
Sark; and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS FOR
AND PROCESS OF PRINTING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Bartholomew Beniowski, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
-

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Bartholomew Beniowski, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention which forms the subject of the present Patent consists,―
Firstly, in various improvements upon an Invention for which I obtained
Letters Patent on the Seventeenth November, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-six, and also in the means of carrying the same into more effective
operation and rendering the various improvements more generally useful.
The Specification of this Patent was duly enrolled in the High Court of
Chancery, and some of the improvements therein described will be referred to
in the course of the present Specification, in order to point out and explain
more clearly my subsequent improvements which are hereafter described.
The present Invention consists,-
Secondly, in a new or improved machine for letter-press printing, which is
constructed upon the continuous rotary principle, the type being secured to
the internal or concave surface of a large cylinder and made to pass in alter-
native succession, in contact first with suitable inking rollers, and then with
conveniently-arranged impression cylinders.
The first head of the present Invention, or that which relates to various
improvements upon my former Invention, patented Seventeenth November,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, as aforesaid, consists,—
Firstly, in an improved mode of marking the types on their sides with
letters or signs, whereby they may be known without examining the face, and
the distribution of the letters thereby much facilitated. Upon referring to
the Specification of my former Patent it will be seen that I therein proposed.
to mark by stamping; engraving, or writing on the sides of the type the letter
which the type is intended to print, but instead of such letters on the sides
being reversed, as is the case with the letter which forms the face of the
type, I proposed to write, mark, or engrave the same letter in the way in which
it is ordinarily seen in print on paper, so that if a large number of letters or
types were thrown promiscuously together it would be extremely easy to
separate them and distribute them in proper receptacles. Now, it will be
evident that the operation of marking the types in either of the proposed ways
would be a work of some time; and would consequently be expensive, and the
object of my present improvements is to do this in a more effectual and
durable and at the same time more economical manner; and this is effected

page_text: in either of the following ways:-First, by casting the requisite letters or
marks not only on the sides or body of the type but on the lower end thereof,
in intaglio, at the same time that the type is made, so that when the type is
removed from the mould it will be found to present not only the proper letter
in relief on its face, but also the same letter in intaglio at its lower end and
on its sides, but not reversed. In order to do this I have made some trifling
alterations in, and additions to, the ordinary type founders mould, as will be
seen by referring to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figures 1, 2, and 3
represent three different sectional views of a type mould with my improve-
ments adapted thereto, and certain alterations made therein to render it more
suitable for the intended purpose. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section
taken through the mould in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2, which represents a
horizontal section of the same taken in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is
a transverse vertical section taken in the line 5, 6, of Fig. 1. Instead of the
mouth of the mould being as usual above the foot of the type, it is on the
upper side of what is technically called the body of the mould. In Figures
1 and 2 a, a, is the mouth, which through the groove or chamber b commu-
nicates with the space c, in which the shank of the type is cast as usual; d, d,
are registers on the upper end of the mould, their construction being exactly
The
like that of the usual registers d*, d, on the lower end of the mould.
office of these upper registers is to receive a metal picce e, having a matrix
in relief made thereon. This upper or additional matrix in relief is shewn
detached and on an enlarged scale in Figures 4, and is intended to produce by
casting a sunk letter at the lower end of the type, the letter not being inverted,
but exactly like that we read in printed books. Square holes are made
through the carriage of each half of the mould, and similar square holes are
made through the body of each half of the mould. Into each of these four
holes fits tightly a rod of brass or
shewn only by dots in
Figures 1 and 2; on the inner end of each of these rods is a letter very
slightly in relief, and similar to that on the face of the type; the other end of
this rod is screwed, and carries a female thumb screw g. By means of this
thumb screw I adjust the rod in such a manner that the letter on its other
end shall not protrude beyond the hole more than about one hundredth of an
inch, and this protruding letter will naturally produce in casting an intaglio
letter on the corresponding side of the shank of the type. The operation of
casting and dressing the type is conducted in the usual way, except that, first,
after having poured the metal into the mould I remove the upper matrix as
well as the lower one before I proceed to separate the two halves. of the
mould for the purpose of taking out the type. The "jet" or superfluous metal
iron f, f. f, f,

page_text: not being as usual on the foot of the type, the mode of planing off the break
must consequently be conducted in a somewhat different manner, viz, I
arrange the types horizontally with the breaks upwards, and then plane them
off with a plane, the stock of which is suitably shaped for this purpose. It
might at first be supposed that there would be a difficulty.in.the delivery of
the cast type on account of its being hemined' in by the four lateral pro-
truding rods ff; this, however, is not the case, as the. type métal expands
while solidifying, and immediately after shrinks, sufficiently to allow of an easy
delivery; care must only be taken to suitably adjust the above rods, and the
proper amount of adjustment must be ascertained by a few experimental
castings of each individual sort; and also according to the particular com-
position of the type metal employed.
Another means of marking the types. on: 'their sides with the proper letters
for the purpose already explained, is by the employment of the electrotype
process, whereby the signs or letters may be rendered more visible on the
shank of the type, the said letters having been first made thereon in intaglio;
either by casting, stamping, engraving, or in any other suitable manner. ' The
process of depositing metals will be so well understood that it will not be
necessary to give any detailed description thereof, as it does not differ in any
way from the processes already known and in use.
the
In the Specification of my former Patent I proposed to coat the types with
varnish, in order to prevent them from soiling the fingers or acting injuriously
on the health of the compositor, but as I find that varnish does not answer
purposes effectually, it being liable to be rubbed off, I now propose to cover
the types with a coating of any suitable metal by means of the electrotype
process.
My second improvement under the present head consists in employing for
letter-press printing (besides the usual sorts) types which are cast together,
with a space at their side, as shewn in Fig. 5. These types are used at the
end of words, or in other places where they-may be required, such as at the
end of a series of figures, my object being to save a portion of the usual
labour of composing and distributing, and also to be able to put the types into
the composing stick vertically, with the faces downwards and the sunk-letters
upwards, and set up or compose from left to right, just in the manner as
letter-press printing is read. It will be evident to any practical printer that
the types could not be composed or set up with their faces downwards if the
spaces were not united to the final letters, as the spaces would slip down to
the bottom of the composing stick, and, in printing; a blotch' instead of a white
interval at the end of each word would be produced: It will, however, be

page_text: necessary to make use of a few spaces of the ordinary kind at the end of each
line, for the purpose of "justifying," and also of the usual leads, which would
of course produce: in. printing the. above-mentioned blotches. This incon-
venience, however, can be easily remedied by pushing these few spaces and
the leads down before the "form". is: submitted to the printing operation::
This extra labour istamply counterbalanced by the economy just mentioned;'
butimore particularly so. by the facility that the improvement of casting intaglio:
letters at the lower-end of type gives to obtaining stereotype castings; some-i
times termed polytyping." In reference to:" polytyping," I think it advisable,"
in order to be as intelligible as possible, to make the following extract from the
seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, article "Type 'founding,"
head
Polytypage," written and also: published separately by Hansard, in
One thousand eight: hundred and forty-one: "Mr. Heran (in France) hit
upon a novel and ingenious mode of polytyping. This was the formation of
"a set of types the very reverse of the common, viz, instead of the letter
being in relief from the shank it was in intaglio; therefore every. separate:
"letter would be a die, and instead of the letter being reversed it would stand
"as read on the paper; the spaces, quadrats, leads, &c.; were of the exact height
"of the type. These were to be composed like types, so that the entire page
would present the appearance of a plate of copper into which words; &c. had
"been punched. The matter was to be read in the metal without a proof,
which, as the words read from left to right, was a matter of no difficulty.
"Upon the matrix thus composed fused metal was to be pressed, which would
"obviously form a compléte plate fit to be printed from, and the operation
could be repeated until as many plates were struck off as were required:"
This mode succeeded, and has been employed in France; but has lately been
entirely neglected, as the composition thus formed by Heran could only serve.
the purpose of polytyping or producing stereotype plates, but evidently not for:
printing; whereas, I make my types as above described, having on one end
the usual letter for the purpose of being printed from, and on the other end.
a'sunk letter for the purpose of polytyping by pressing into it gutta percha; or
any other suitable material, or, what I should prefer, by pouring upon it fused
Newton's or any other fusible metal, in the manner of the stereotype process.
One difficulty remains, viz, for printing; the spaces must be of less height
than the types; therefore, when, for the purpose of facilitating' composition
and polytyping, I put the types with the sunk letters upwards; these spaces
would slip down and consequently spoil the object of polytyping. By casting
the spaces with the final letters, all this is evidently remedied. These final
letters I may put in one and the same compartments with the usual letters ;

page_text: the compositor will easily distinguish them by their size and shape from the
corresponding usual letters of which the words, &c., are composed, and there-
fore the "case" will be no more complicated than it at present is.
"
Another improvement upon the Invention described in the Specification of
my above-mentioned Patent relates to what I have therein denominated the
"Authoriton." Instead of making the front ends of the tubes of this
authoriton open I close them up, as shewn at Fig. 5*, an aperture being
however left in the top side so as to allow of the types being taken out as
required. By this means I am enabled not only to dispense with the pusher
shewn at Fig. 11 in the Specification of my said former Patent, but a more
ready supply of type can be obtained, as the authoriton may be set at any
convenient inclination without any danger of the types falling out, and they
will slide down the tubes by their own gravity, and thus come opposite the
opening, from which they may be taken as long as any remain in the tubes.
In the Specification of my former Patent I made use of the "authoriton'
in the process which I therein denominated "poly-composing," but I now
propose to employ the usual "cases," instead of the "authoriton," from which
ase I
compose in the manner described in the Specification of my former
Patent. In the Specification of my former Patent I described a method of dis-
tributing type and arranging the letters in a series of tubes, which I denominated
the store; the types were to be placed on a table, and a boy was to pick out
the letters and place them in their proper tubes, an operation that was
considerably facilitated by the shank of all the types being all marked with the
letters they are intended to print. I have now invented a little apparatus
which still more facilitates this sorting or distributing operation, and is shewn
in perspective in Fig. 6. The series of tubes A, A, A, composing the store,
are precisely similar to those described in my former Specification, but they
are placed in a box attached to a small table B, upon which a small heap of
the types intended to be sorted or distributed are placed. This table is also
furnished with a small dish or shallow saucer C, mounted at the upper end of
a tube or rod D, which passes through a hole in the table B; and when the
types are to be sorted, the boy places a few in the dish or saucer C, and by
taking only a few at a time he can quickly sort them and place them in their
proper tubes. When sorting he holds the tube or rod D in his left hand, and
can thereby turn the dish or saucer C round, as may be necessary, in order to
recognize more quickly the different letters.
The second part of my Invention consists in the construction of a novel
arrangement or construction of machinery for letter-press printing. The
difficulties that were hitherto in the way of those who attempted by cylindrical

page_text: printing to substitute a continuous circular motion of printing surfaces for their
evidently disadvantageous usual alternate rectilinear motion, were mainly the
following:-First, the difficulty of fixing types in general, and the usual types
in particular, upon a cylindrical surface; a difficulty increasing in the ratio of
the increase of the diameter of the cylinder, on account of the centrifugal force
which becomes developed when the machine is in motion, and which tends to
throw off the types from the surface of the cylinder, destroy the composition,
and derange the other parts of the machine, and also endanger the safety of the
workmen and bystanders. Various remedies, from the time of Nicholson.up to
this day, have been devised to obviate these evils. Some of these plans may
have been partially successful; but to form a really cylindrical printing surface
by means of conical types is very difficult, and cannot, I believe, ever be
practically and generally useful, on account of the unavoidable expenses of
having types of a peculiar form and dimensions for each particular kind of
type, and each particular diameter of the cylinder upon which such conical
types are to be used, especially as such types could not also be employed for
the purpose of ordinary printing. In order to use the ordinary type upon a
cylinder, the diameter of such cylinder must be increased; but with this
increase, besides the inconvenience already mentioned of the difficulty of
securing the types thereon, another inconvenience arises, viz, that the increased
diameter of the chief cylinder with the printing cylinders, inking rollers,
distributing rollers, fountain rollers, and other parts which must be mounted
on the outside of the large cylinder, the whole machine would occupy a greater
space in width and height than would be profitably practicable. To remedy
these inconveniences, I have devised the following plan, which will be sufficiently
explained by the accompanying Drawings and the description thereof :-
The principal feature of novelty consists in securing the type or blocks to
the inner or concave surface of a cylinder, in place of the outer circumference,
as has hitherto always been done. By this arrangement the centrifugal force
developed during the rapid rotation of the large cylinder has the effect of
retaining my types in their proper places rather than of deranging them, as
was formerly the case.
Fig. 7 represents a longitudinal vertical section taken through my im-
proved cylinder printing machine, near the middle.
Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical section of the same. The machine consists
principally of a large working cylinder a, a, a, a, a, a, shewn detached in plan
and elevation in Fig. 7 and 7b. On the inner or concave surface of this cylinder
the form of types is secured by screw bolts, or in any other convenient manner.
This large cylinder is furnished on its outer periphery and nearly equidistant

page_text: from the sides, with a toothed rack b, b, b, b, which extends all round the
same, and is seen, best. in Fig. 9,.which represents the cylinder, mounted in its
frame c, c, cc, cc, in: the manner hereafter described. The; rack bb, of
the large cylinder gears into a toothed wheel dd, on the main driving shaft.e
which is mounted in bearings. attached to the framing. Any convenient
number of printing or impression cylinders fffffffdependent of course
upon the internal capacity of the large. cylinder; are placed therein; but run-in
bearings attached to the framing c, cc; these impression cylinders if, f; carry.
at one of their ends toothed "wheels. g, g, g, which gear into a circular
rack h; h; h, h, made on the inner or 'concave side of the large cylinder, and
extending all round the same, as seen in Fig. 17, as the printing or impression
cylinders ff. are placed inside the large cylinder a, a, a, but have their
bearing outside the same. And as the inking rollers i, i, i, i, i, i, and the
delivering and receiving or feed tables jj, j, r, r, and other parts of the
machinery, are situated within the large cylinder, it will be obvious that the
lätter must be driven from the outside, and must not be permanently attached
to anything inside; it is therefore supported by two pairs of rings k, k, k, k, fur-
nished with suitable antifriction rollers ;, kk, which run a pair of wide
circular rails 1, 1, 1, 1, cast on or attached to, or forming part of, the framing.
The large cylinder is prevented; from. moving laterally out of its place when
rotating by two ribs m; m, m, m, which are cast on its outer surface, and bear
against the inner edges of the antifriction rollers k, k, as..the cylinder rotates,
as seen best in Fig. 8. The form of type, is; as before inentioned, secured
any suitable and convenient manner to the inner surface of the cylinder, as
shewn, and the remaining portion of the concave, surface of the cylinder is
employed as a table for distributing the ink and supplying the inking rollers i, i,
therewith; these latter are mounted in suitable bearings attached to the fram-
ing, as shewn, and are kept in contact with the distributing table by means of
coiled springs which bear on their taxes, and always press them outwards.
The inking apparatus is seen; atin, n, and consists, as usual, of a fountain or
trough p, containing a quantity of ink, which is gradually; supplied to the
machine by a ductor roller n", which is constantly in contact with the ink of
the fountain n, as is well known, and is made, to rotatet slowly by means of
bands, and pullies p, p, p, connected, therewith, and communicating with the
inain shaft of the machine, as seen best in. Fig. 7. From the ductor. roller n*,
the 'ink is communicated to a second.or vibrating roller on mounted at one end:
of an arm or lever, and is: workedr by.cam pieces q, q, secured to the large.
cylinder near the place where the form of type is secured...The cam pieces q; q
also serve to raise up the inking rollers i, i, i, i, and. the distributing rollers 2,2;
in

page_text: as the form of type comės round, and thereby ink the surface of the types; as
will be hereafter more fully explained. r, r, r, r, r, r, are boards or tables
containing piles of paper, which is fed into the machine sheet by sheet by
boys, andj, j, j,j, j, are other boards for delivering the printed sheets as
they issue from the. machine. "Near each impression cylinder a bell-crank
vibrating lever t, t, t, t, t, t, furnished with "a "drop-down bar" t, or small
rollers at each end, and is mounted for the purpose of laying hold of the blank
sheet of paper, and carrying it into the machine. These levers t, t, t, are also
worked by the cam pieces q, q, as will be hereafter explained.
It will be understood by every practical printer that in order to distribute
the ink in a proper manner on the cylindrical distributing table, it will be
necessary to give the distributing rollers *, *, an alternate horizontal motion
in the direction of their axes, as well as a rotary motion, and this is effected
in the following: manner: Upon referring to the detached view, Fig. 10,
which represents a portion of the internal surface of the large cylinder a; laid
out flat with the form of type, and some other parts of the machine, it will
be seen that the axles of the distributing rollers, are furnished at each
end with friction pulleys u, u, having conical faces, and that the edges of the
large cylinder, instead of being straight or even, are waved or made.with
curves in the form of a cam all round, except that part where the form of
type is placed; and as the faces of the friction pullies u, u, bear against
these curved or cam-shaped edges, they will be moved laterally backwards
and forwards; and so communicate the required motion to the distributing
rollers.
17
The operation of the machine is as follows: Supposing the form of type
to have received a supply of ink from the inking roller ¹, the form will
advance in the direction of the arrow,. and by the front part of the cam
piece q, q, coming against the small roller at the lower end of the first bell
crank levert, the "drop-down-bar" at the end of the upper arm of this lever will
catch hold of the sheet of paper, that the boy has placed there for the
purpose,
and the impression cylinder will by its rotation carry the same into the
machine, when it will receive an impression from the form of type as this
latter proceeds, and will afterwards be delivered from the upper side of the
inipression cylinder on to the delivering table above, as shewn by the arrows.
The form, then passes on; and comes in contact first with the second inking
roller, then with the second printing cylinder, and so on until it has passed
all the inipression cylinders, which, with their accessories, such as inking
rollers and drop-down bar, are all actuated in precisely the same manner, and
each impression cylinder will therefore print one impression for each revolu

page_text: tion of the large cylinder. The axle o' of the vibrating roller o of the inking
apparatus carries two small rollers, one at each end, against which the cam
piece q comes in contact, and lifts up the vibrating roller o to the ductor
roller n* at every revolution of the large cylinder, and keeps it in contact
therewith until it has received a supply of ink, and when the cam piece q
passes onward it lets the vibrating roller o down on to the distributing table,
which is thereby furnished with a fresh supply of ink. I would here observe
that the axles of the distributing rollers *, *, and the inking rollers i, i, are
furnished with small rollers, against which the cam piece q comes in contact
as it moves round, and will thereby lift up the same when required; but as it
is
necessary that the form should pass under the distributing rollers without
being touched
them, the rollers on their axles are made of greater diameter
than those on the axles of the inking rollers.
In Figures 7, 8, and 9 I have represented the large cylinder a, a, as con-
structed entirely of iron or metal; but it is obvious that other materials may
be used for part thereof without injuriously affecting the strength or stability
of the machine; for instance, in Figures 11 and 12 I have shewn two sec-
tional views of a plan of constructing the large cylinder partly of wood and
partly of iron. In this instance the cylinder is composed of a framing con-
sisting of three strong metal rings w, w, and v, firmly bolted together by cross
ties, as shewn in the Drawing; the body of the cylinder is formed of strong
planking, the ends of which abut against the flanges of the outside rings w, w,
and are secured in their places by the strong tie-bolts before mentioned.
It will be evident that when my improved machine is used for printing, the
type must be secured on a curved surface, and, therefore, the ordinary "chase"
in which type is usually imposed cannot be employed. I therefore construct
chases with the proper curve, and impose upon an imposing table whose surface
is made of the required concave curve also; and when imposing newspaper work
employ wedge-formed column rules and furniture, whose bases or lower
ends are larger than their upper ends. I also propose in some cases to employ
wedge-formed spaces and leads in lieu of the ordinary ones, their lower ends
being wider than the upper ends.
In Figure 13 I have shewn an enlarged view in section of a chase constructed
in the manner just described, shewing the wedge-formed column rules therein;
and at Fig. 14 I have shewn a quantity of types set up with wedge-formed
spaces and furniture. I would also observe, that, if thought desirable, more
than one form of type may be secured to the inner or concave surface of the
large cylinder, but in such case it may be necessary to have an additional
inking apparatus.

page_text: Having now described my various improvements, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that in order
that my present improvements may be perfectly understood I have found it
necessary to represent and describe various things that are already known. I
do not, however, intend to claim any of such well-known parts as constituting
any part of my present improvements; nor do I intend to confine myself
rigidly to the precise arrangement or construction of parts, or the means of
actuating the same, as herein shewn and described, as they may doubtless be
varied in some particulars without departing from the nature and object of
my Invention. But that which I consider to be new in the above-described
improvements, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured to me
under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, marking types on the shank and foot by means of casting and electro-
typing, as herein shewn and described, and also electrotyping with various
metals the surface of types for the purpose of preventing them from soiling
the hands or injuring the health.
Second, making types having, besides the usually letters in relief, intaglio
letters on the foot thereof, for the purpose of serving as matrixes from
which to obtain a polytype plate.
Third, I claim casting spaces on the sides of ordinary type for the p
above mentioned.
purposes
Fourth, I claim the peculiar mode herein shewn and described of poly-
composing from the ordinary cases.
Fifth, I claim the apparatus herein shewn and described, or any modification
thereof, for facilitating the sorting and distribution of types.
Sixth, I claim closing up the ends of the apparatus, which I denominate
the "authoriton," as above described.
Seventh, in reference to cylinder printing machines, I claim the exclusive
right to place a form or forms of type, or plates or blocks, answering the
same or like purposes, within a cylinder, and securing such forms of types,
plates, or blocks, on the inner or concave surface thereof, and printing
therefrom, as above shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bartholomew Beniowski, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
BARTHOLOMEW (L.S.) BENIOWSKI.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourteenth day of April,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Bartholomew Beniowski came
before our Lady the Queen in, Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation 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 made and provided.
T
1