1823.—JOHN HENFREY AND AUGUSTUS APPLEGARTH. Certain machinery for casting types. The type is cast in a space between two flanges, set at right angles on a spindle, and pressed to and drawn from one another alternately by a spring and a peculiarly arranged eccentric piece. A piece of steel, called the “body,” adjustable to the thickness of the particular type, is screwed to one of the flanges. The matrix is on a carriage, and is run through holes in the flanges for the casting, and kept in its place by a spring. The metal is {122} injected by the descent of a plunger, which recovers itself by a spring. After the casting the spindle begins to revolve, immediately upon which the matrix is disengaged from the type and withdrawn clear of the flanges. The flanges are then opened, and the cast type pushed from the mould by the action of spring pins. A type is thus cast for each revolution of the spindle. The “break” is disengaged from the letter by two small pins, one of which protrudes from each jaw after the casting.[202] 1828.—THOMAS ASPINWALL. An improved method of casting types, by means of a “Mechanical Type Caster.” The working parts of this machine are mounted on a table suspended so as to move to and from the melting-pot. The mould is in two parts, mounted on two sliding “carrier pieces” on the table, inclined to each other at a slight angle. The matrix is held during the casting by a spring. On the revolution of the crank shaft (by hand) a sliding rod on the table is made to move towards the melting-pot, and the carrier pieces being acted upon by a cross-bar attached to it by springs, are drawn forward so as to unite the two parts of the mould for the casting. By a further revolution of the crank shaft, a projecting piece on the end of the sliding rod, coming in contact with an adjusting screw on one end of a bent lever, causes it to turn on its centre, and by a friction roller at the other end forces down the plunger of a cylinder communicating with the metal pot, so as to inject the metal into a chamber, whence it ejects a portion previously there through a nozzle into the mould as it is moved forward by the forward motion of the table. The handle of the crank is then turned the reverse way, the table swings back from the metal pot, the plunger rises by a spring, the parts of the mould separate, the matrix is withdrawn from the cast type by a lever (which overcomes the force of the spring by which it is held during the casting), and the type itself loosened from the mould by coming in contact with an inclined plane. We conclude these extracts with a proposal suggestive more of the primitive experiments of the first printers than of nineteenth century letter-founding.