Show I 1 from the new york geraldl Heral narel dl 1 THE WONDERFUL typesetting TYPE SETTING AND distributing MACHINE nachine E and we can safely say that we hive never examined exl exi mined any other invention withro with so much gratification and astonishment as the alden aleen T pe setting and machine nachine Mi chine not only ourselves but investors and machinists ot the bib big highest lest rier aler erder in this country and irom from europe ahre h vi inspected and witnessed its operation tion and without a single exception 1 all ail I look upon pon it with wondering admiration our reporter was present yes erday when hen one of these machines was taken wholly apart and arid having a thorough scientific knowledge of all kinds of machinery he be enables us to give a clearer and fuller idea of all ail allias its parts and mode of construction than has ever yet teen leen laid bea re the public this machine is the work and invention of a young man named alden aiden who spent h his ii ilfe fife iio ifo e as well as wes lifes means in working out the di covery we need not say that it supersedes the uses of the compositor and asks of I 1 him no fingers to detect and se seize ne the several types set them in order and array them in words in the stick the ile machine does all this like a living be ng ing and ets fets them afterwards Vv ards in gall y then in page etc and again asks DO no human fingers to separate the mass and ind restore each type to its own sort in case the the ma hine can make no mistake for its task is reduced to perfect law an invention like this must assuredly berthe beethe bl the most remarkable of the age and world you bee see before you a table of brass almost circular the part nearest the operator only being flattened and at a slight elevation ou see radiating from the center numerous deep alleys of brass also within winch the types are made to stand and these a ieya leya numbering one hundred and eighty are the substitutes utes for the usual boxes or divisions in case into thise alleys are placed one hundred and fifty four different diffie rent characters and they are so arranged as to hold exactly the same proportionate number of types that thai the divisions in case contain tor instance there are three alleys for the lower case a while there is but one for the letter b two for c five for e and so on throughout these aile alle s 0 are divided into six different sections with handles attached allowing them to bo be raised up instantly in order to change chancre 0 their font of ty e to any other sze directly before the ope ator is the keyboard 1 eight inches wide and fourteen in length and upon which are one hundred and fifty four keys with bliver silver plated heads re dembling bem sem bling ina lna ing those of the concertina these keys are all plainly lettered and the entire alphabet of each class of iett lett ietter letter er is arranged within spanning distance of the hand hande they embrace the roman upper and lower cases small caps italics double letter numerals bins oens signs and spaces in in the center of the table is the main wheel thirty inches in diameter revolving t upon friction rollers ro ilera llera and upon its Us circumference are thirty six conveyors or handal hand every other one of which attends to setting up type while every other alternate one is required to distribute old matter into the same all ali alleys ebely from which the setting conveyor convey ons or hands bands take their type within the main wie wheel eil ell is another three inches wide aid twelve inches in diameter revolving also upon friction rollers encircling which there are nine rows of movable steel pins the size of a shingle nail perforating it encompassing this wheel is a wide stationary rim twenty eight inches in diameter and on the outside of which there are eighteen grooves of polished steel filled nearly full with excavate excava tl ti ns upon the inside of this excavated rim there are nin nine steel rods connect im ing with the inner or register wheel contal containing ining nine rows rowa of disteel pins at one end oe of these rods nearest the inner wheel there are levers attached tile tee I 1 main wheel revolves around the outside of the excavated rim carrying with it the conveyors 32 upon one end ena of these conveyors there are nine movable polished steel I 1 fingers gin fin ers 21 which are protected outside by sheet grass brass grass and capable of being formed into different combinations yet it is only necessary to make a combination of to cluse c luse tuse every type to be set up the fingers glide along in the ehe grooves upon the excavated rim there bein being of f course two grooves for each linger finger to work or L in and when nhen they reach the aart part of the table nearest the operator all the fingers f e raj rali I are thrown flush into their lower groove from the Il keyboard to the clr r gis gi a ter wheel 11 having the steel pins u pon upon it there are nine other rods attached when the composer touches a key signifying the character he wants the signal is passed out to the register wheel through the rods which act as a medium and there registers regi stera the character by pushing out a certain combination of pins and as the register wheel revolves rev rei olves the ping pim thrown out pass under and tilt the little levers attached to the nine seel rods communicating with the excavated rim thus changing the combination id in the grooves upon the excavated e t the he combination of pins upon the register t wheel heel and aud when the first conveyor passes by it tabea its signal by certain of the fingers fin gers pera upon it being thrown into the upper grooves equivalent to the combination of pins pina which are thrown out upon the register wheel 11 when the conveyor reaches the aliey ailey alley 1 ey containing the character desired it is ansta instantly antly stopped and irid the fingers drop into the tha excavations upon the stationary rim comparing with the manner in which the fingers are thrown then the conveyor slides on its center while taking out its type which is finnly held it hen then ben tilts land passes on with the maln main wheel and passes the type antka a deep long ll ailey aliey alley directly in front of the operator at as nicely and delicately aa air it ia is possible for the th natural fingers to execute one char charac charache acte tei tel follows another in the bame game way and inthe ii in lith the th same order in which thel the keys touched by the th composers fingers may require require and when the th matter set pet up reaches the further end of this alley every everything hing is broken into page and there Just justified fita ready to be carried off te to the press to be printed froin from the juadis ju Iu ads thin spaces and arid 11 hyphens are distributed close I 1 at hand the operator has only to read his bis manuscript and touch his keys from practice his fingers involuntarily pass bass to the key as they now do to the divisions in case ile he can acquire a facility of touching these keys much more rapidly than the carrying wheel revolve volver and by so doing he accumulates signals 1 a s upon the gre ire register wister gister wheel in advance of the delivery even lo 10 0 o the extent of sixty letters at which instant a bell inside gives the alarm that the register vie ili wheel heel beel is full fall the compositor then s ops cps cs to read his copy before him and justifies that which he has already set up in page all the while the letters previously bent sent for are working in and he is ready to proceed with fresh composition if it the operator makes a mistake by touching the wrong keihe key he can easily conert it by turning off all the signals upon the be register wheel or a portion of them as may be necessary the most remarkable part of this machine is the distributing department which Is purely both operations may be carried on together or separately the operator pays no attention whatever ahat eyer to the distribution except to place a page of dead matter malter even felpi pilot pi lot loty upon the table and the ma machinery h ery 0 of itself then takes charge of it one line at a time becomes separated from the mass or page by a powerful lifter ly and other appliances of machinery carry the line along to the end of a deep alley and then the 41 distributing conveyor stop and each taking a letter carries it home to its proper alley ner nor can it be possible to make a mistake by misplacing a letter for the governing power is I law tw itself and that control ing power is is the different combinations of nicks in the tyre tyle the type by the way may be cast at one half cent less per pound than that made in the usual way which is readi y accounted for by the saving of metal old type of any Ie le can be nicked by the thousand with a simple plan piano to any form and adapt iselt to this machine the principle princia e of distribution is much the same aa as that of 0 setting the only ony difference diff ernce being in be betting setting ati in g the leading power is is the touch of the keys while in distributing nine little steel fingers ing ers era feel out from the toe ting box into the nicks of the type forming a particular combination which is ill signalized signalizes to the conveyor stopping for the cha character r acter and the ginger finger fingers sl upon it being changed from lower to upper grooves upon the excavated rim comparing with the combination of fingers wb wh cb ch have dropped into the nicks upon the tyre tyle the other end of the fingers having dropped against a graduated stop allows a passage way to open just the width of the type which is passed out through c to the conveyor which receives it nat naturally lj rally tally and follows on with the main wheel the conveyors vey orall go through the same revolution that the setting conveyors do in composing asa As matter of necessity the machinery is wonderfully nice the agen agencies ules and dependencies very numerous and the whole fabric seemingly a very complicated one while in truth its adjustment as finally reached by the discoverer is the simplest thing in the world one alley one conveyor and one key con constitute itule almost the entire rna machine chine all the at r rest I 1 la d duplication i cation catlon all the keys are alike ail all the el c conveyors 0 are alike and the alleys halding d in t the h e type are also all alike if the eora bora or ts in setting and dis eis distributing type do not lot run ran equally or nearly so here there is abw always ays a surplus kept ahead when there are letters fetters in the alphabet occupying more than one ail ali ailey all alley eyll the conveyors invariably set from and distribute into the first line first if that ailey aliey alley becomes either full or empty the conveyor convey ory orl passes on to the next line if the machine is distributing 11 and not kettin gettin betting setting 9 the types and the alleys become full the conveyers nv eyers stop no longer at the alley but glide along to G the pi bag bal 1 and drop the surplus therein when the pi bag is full the type is again set upon the table and is sent bent to its allotted place coald could any anything thine be more like brain turned into brass we will my any one to find the least fault with any portion of this novel affair there being a provision made for any and every emer emergency emergence genc throughout the entire machine no wear whatever is made upon the type there are numerous points of equal beauty and utility in its ada adaptation pation of means to ends and in its gene al working nothing can be more admix able than the delicacy and fitness of all its parts parte and the exquisite nicely with which the severalty several types not omitting the slen derest deregt spaces are kept ept in pla place ce and nd made each to pass to and from its alley and made also to rise and lift itself into proper position it if any anyo 0 e thing more than another astounds us it is that so little and such simple machinery can effect such miraculous i resu results te the he ir iachine machine is almost wholly dependent upon positive instead of spring movements the main wheel has only to make six revolutions per minute to set up and distribute characters in ten hours which is equivalent to ems solid matter if the operator cLo cho chooses oses obes he can run the abe wheel to eight revolutions tlona tiona which abich is still a slow movement thereby setting and distributing ema ems solid in tie same number of hours there abere is no possibility of the machine wearing out with constant use in twenty years and it is scarcely liable in any way to get out of repair as it is composed entirely of iron steel and brass the orly only oly delicate parts of the works are covered up and well protected from any accident likely to rise from carelessness on the part of tha the operator very little oil is u used sed in working it not over ever a thimble thimbleful fuli full in a months time it is besig ed to be worked by steam horse or treadle power it ia is perfectly original throng 0 0 t in its construction I 1 no do portion of its movements move ments menta being copied from any other kind of machinery the inventor being a practical printer as well weil as a fine inventive and patiently media live tive genius has introduced into his system for so his bia invention ventin in may be called a all ali 11 the thousand little coave lences fences and agencies for tor expedit expedita i n of which the art of type setting is susceptible ile he was certainly a most extraordinary person and this invention must be a most enduring monument of his equal patience a ead fastness devotion and large grasp of mechanical genius but except the fame he will reap none of the fruits of his bis discovery timothy alden aiden was a native of massachusetts for twenty years of his life he devoted himself to the perfection of his invention and in a firm concentration of will and brain and money he be exhausted all the resources of life and wore out life itself prematurely in the labor the incessant strain for so long a period upon his active intellect proved too exhaustive for a physique naturally feeble and he tie sank under his task of deniu but he succeeded ile he ti triumphed even before death be he lived just tong long ong enough to cry eureka to put the finishing to ills llis labors to see his machine in successful and wondrous operation twenty years of his bis life and life itself and above forty thousand dol arg are in money were expended in bringing into successful use a single one of his bis machines and then his eyes closed upon the work forever one man feeds the distributor composes justifies and reads his bis OMS 0 in matter thus do doing away in a great measure with proof readell readers and ia is less liable to mistakes than by the usual way of composition for instance there are a great many more typographical errors made in distributing than in setting type ype and it is impossible for the fingers ot this machine to place a type into ita its wrong alpy hence its ua correctness riu during i n the last twenty years of the inventors to life ilfe 1 t he depended mainly cousin henry IV alden aiden for funds to enable him to continue on experimenting ile he conceived the plan of sett ng and distributing type by machinery at the age of nineteen years while an apprentice boy standing at his case picking up type ile he was then heard to siy that if elf lis his life fife should be spared to him be would in vent a machine that would relieve compositors of that offensive profession they were led to follow he frequently remarked too that he should never live to reap the fruits of his discovery 1 l ile he died at theace the age of thirty nine just lust as be he had bad gotten out bib bis patents in this coti country and europe upon his death bed bra he directed his bis n how be he should proceed |