IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPE-DRESSING MACHINES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of Kensington, Middlesex, for an
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPE-DRESSING MACHINES A communication
to him from abroad by Emil Berger, of Leipzig, in the Kingdom of Saxony,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Haddan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th December 1882.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of Kensington, Middlesex, IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPE-
DRESSING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by Emil Berger, of
Leipzig, in the Kingdom of Saxony,
"
This invention has for its object to replace the ordinary method of dressing type
by one less injurious to the workmen engaged in the operation. The peculiarity of
the machine constructed for this purpose consists in conducting type between two
adjustable stones or grinders, by means of endless bands (preferably of steel)
provided with recesses or grooves adapted to receive the types and running either
continuously or periodically over suitable pulleys, said type being deposited by
means of special hooks or depositors situated over the endless bands, and collected
when dressed, by means of a hook or catch which is connected with a movable
bottom and with a pressing lever. The two stones or grinders may be fixed or
movable, or one may be fixed and the other movable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said Herbert John Haddan in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th June 1883.
"
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of Kensington, Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN TYPE-
DRESSING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by Emil Berger, of
Leipzig, in the kingdom of Saxony
Various arrangements have hitherto been tried with the object of protecting
those engaged in dressing type, from the injurious effects resulting partly from the
exhausting labour partly from the dust produced and owing to which persons thus
engaged die after a short time from lead poisoning. None of the various construc-
tions, however, has given satisfactory results..
The apparatus represented in the accompanying drawings to which reference will
be had in the following description, is intended to.dress type by a rational method
and especially without injury to health.
The operation is carried out in the following way.
The types to be dressed are conducted by means of endless steel bands passing
over pulleys, between two grinding stones or grinders.
If the types are of small size only they are finished by simply passing them
between fixed grinders, while for the purpose of grinding larger sizes of type the
apparatus is arranged in such a manner that one or both of the grinders may be set
in motion.
'
Furthermore the apparatus is not only provided with a mechanism for receiving
the types, but also with devices by means of which the finished types are deposited
in so called angle hooks.
The special arrangement of the machine is substantially the following..
The frame of the machine carries the pulleys A A' mounted on shafts B, B₁.
The shaft B is set in motion by means of suitable gearing from the fly wheel
shaft. C, which receives motion by means of a crank wheel or by a treadle mechanism
or by engine power.
J
Passing over the pulleys A A¹ are the endless steel bands D provided with
recesses c adapted to receive the types to be dressed.
According to the size of the machine the pulleys over which pass the endless steel
bands may be, made sufficiently broad to receive several endless bands.
" If one band only is used, and for dressing type of ordinary size only, it is
sufficient if the two grinders E, E¹ are fixed, but made adjustable, so that the distance
between them may be varied according to the thickness of the type.
The grinders if fixed are so arranged that the upper grinder may be easily
removed for the purpose of cleaning.
To avoid the rapid wear of the steel bands D, the circumference of the pulleys
A A¹ is lined with india-rubber or similar material.
The types to be dressed are placed in considerable quantities and in superposed
layers in the angle-hook F which is placed directly over the centre of the steel
bands.
Before the grinder and below the steel band is placed a support upon which rest
the types.
When a type falls out of the angle hook, it is received in one of the recesses of
the steel band, and conducted by the latter between the grinders and thereby
deprived of the projecting edge, that is to say, dressed.
Each dressed type leaving the grinders on the opposite side is again deposited on
a support, from where it arrives on a collecting hook or catch G.

page_text: The collecting hook G is provided with a spring which forms a platform on
which the type is deposited. The spring is maintained by the walls of the collecting
hook and is depressed by the action of a lever H to the extent of the thickness of
the types only-This arrangement has for its object to pile the types up in super-
posed layers and to prevent them from being tilted up.
The lever H depresses each type only so far as is necessary to place it in one
horizontal plane with the conducting groove.
For dressing types of large size, where it is advisable to use movable grinders,
the latter are actuated by means of excentrics J and J. These excentrics are
mounted on the shaft K driven from b and connected with the grinder by means of
rigid connecting rods L L'.
The grinders are supported by balls situated in the socket plate M and which
greatly reduce the resistance against motion.
In the arrangement with fixed grinders, the latter are adjusted by means of a
hand wheel N and a screw spindle which is connected by means of a cross piece O
with the socket plate M in such a manner, as to enable a uniform lifting of the
grinder, during which the cross piece O is suitably guided by the spindle carrier P,
so as to prevent lateral displacement of the grinder.
In the construction represented in the drawing and which is calculated to work
with four steel bands, the latter instead of being arranged to travel continuously
are actuated periodically by means of a ratchet mechanism provided with ratchet
wheels R R mounted on shafts B B¹. The motion bar S is provided with two
clicks a a¹ and set in motion by a nose h of the fly-wheel T, which nose presses
against the pin of the bar S. The return motion of the bar S is effected by the
spring m.
The pressing-down lever or pusher H is actuated simultaneously with the ratchet
mechanism so that after every forward motion which is generally for the length of
a type, the type arrived in the collecting hook is forced down.
The lever H is subsequently turned back into its original position by the
spring p.
The steel bands are specially guided so that they travel exactly underneath the
type feeder or depositor.