1790.—WILLIAM NICHOLSON proposed to cast type in the usual manner, except that instead of leaving a space in the mould for the stem of the letter only, several letters are cast at once in ordinary moulds, communicating by a common groove at the top. The types are also to be scraped in dressing, so as to render the tail of the letter gradually smaller the more remote it is from the face; thus enabling them to be set imposed upon a cylindrical surface. 1790.—ROBERT BARCLAY. A method of making punches on broken steel, the irregular figures in the grain of which will effectually obviate counterfeit. Punches may be formed of steel broken as above, by cutting, drilling, punching, bending parts of the letters, and leaving the grain of the steel to form the lines or strokes; and in this way complex founts of type might be cast, every letter of which would vary in its lines from every other. 1802.—PHILIP RUSHER.[195] Improvements in the form of printing types. Each capital letter, with few exceptions, should be comprised in the compass of an oval. Each small letter is to be without tail-piece or descender, and the metal (both in small letters and capitals) is to extend no lower than the body of the letter. The letters above the line have their heads shortened or lowered about one-third. 1806.—ANTHONY FRANCIS BERTE. A machine for casting type. The casting is performed by applying the mould to one of several apertures in the side of the metal pot, through which, by the removal of a lock or valve, the metal is made suddenly to flow into the mould with a force proportionate to the height of the surface of the type-metal in the vessel.[196] {120} 1806.—ELIHU WHITE. A machine for casting types; consisting of a matrix-box containing a certain number of matrices, which is applied to a complex mould having a similar number of apertures, through which the metal is poured, thus forming several types at one operation. 1807.—ANTHONY FRANCIS BERTE. Improvements on his former patent. The metal is forced through the aperture by means of a plug or piston, and the machine is so contrived as to regulate the quantity of metal ejected at each application of the mould. Another improvement consists of making the body of the mould in four adjustable pieces instead of two, which will admit of changes in the body, as well as the thickness of the types. The moulds are without nicks,[197] and the type, when cast, is expelled by a punch or other tool, without opening the mould.