Report concerning a Machine for engraving. 65 



ferve to give a firfl: notion of this machine. " The chara6lers intended to be engraved are dif- 

 pofed in a circle, on a moveable wheel, fuccefllvely brought under a preffing-fcrew, which 

 engraves them upon a pkte of pevi'ter. The inventor has imagined different means, as well 

 for fpeedily bringing the defired character beneath the fcrew, as to regulate the preffure in 

 proportion to the extent of the letter itfelf, in order that all the different impreffions may be 

 made to the fame depth. The plate itfelf has a double motion, one of which ferves to fpace 

 the letters and the words, and the other to regulate the diftance between the lines. Thefe mo- 

 tions are performed in fuch a manner, that any diftance, at pleafure, may be allowed between 

 the letters, the words, and the lines, and thefe diftances poffcfs the moft perfeft equality. 

 The different widths of the letters prcfent an obftach here: in faft, it may eafiiy be under- 

 ftood, that in order to render thefe fpaces equal, it is neceflary, not that the letters themfelveS 

 fhould occupy equal portions of the line, but that a conftant interval fhould be allowed be- 

 tween them. • The beauty of printing, likewife, demands that thefe fpaces fliould be, in fome 

 inftances, varied in a fmall degree, in order that the juftification fliould be perfedt, that is to 

 fay, that the ends of the lines fliould prefcnt to the eye a regular and ftraight termination. 

 The machine of our author affords the means of doing this. 



" This machine appears to us to unite feveral advantages: i. Engraved editions of books 

 may be executed, by this means, fuperior to thofe which can be made by the hand of the en- 

 graver, however fkilful ; and thefe engraved originals will be made with much more fpeed, 

 and much lefs ex-pence. 2. As this machine is portable, and of no confiderable bulk, it may 

 become very ufeful in armies, fleets, and public-offices, for the impreflion of orders, inftruc- 

 tions, &c. 3. It poffeffes the advantage which, in a variety of circumflances, is highly 

 valuable, of being capable of being ufed by any man of intelligence and Ikill, without requir- 

 ing the afllflance of any profeflional workman. And, laftly, it affords the facility of waiting 

 for the entire compofition and engravings of a work before any of the copies are pulled off; the 

 expence of plates, even for a work of confiderable magnitude, being an objedl of little charge; 

 and this liberty it affords to authors, may prove highly beneficial in works of which the chief 

 merit confifts in the order, method, and connection of ideas. 



" So that even if It fliould prove, as experience only can rtiew, that ir could not acquire the 

 fame fpeed as the common method of printing, nor an equal degree of facility for alterations 

 and correftions, it would, neverthelefs, be of very great utility. 



" We think, therefore, that the idea of this machine being new, and the means adopted by 

 the inventor, to give it the degree of perfe(ftion to which it is brought, being fimple and inge- 

 nious, and its application being of great utility, the fame is worthy of the approbation of the 

 Academy ; and that the defcription of the machine, executed with the machine itfelf, and 

 f refented by the author, is worthy of being publiflied under the privilege of that Academy; 



(Signed) « CoNDORCET and Bossut. 



" Given at the Louvre, aznd December, 1781." 



Vol. Ill — Mav 1799, K Defcription 



