^4 Account af a new Alachinefor engraving. 



made ufe of counter-proofs ; but they are little efteemed. Thefe counter-proofs have put me 

 in pofleffionofa method of procuring, with celerity, a number of copies of a manufcript of no 

 great extent ; and I can affirm that this application of the art has not been without confi- 

 dcrable utility. Interefting memoirs, of which the impreffion had been prohibited, were 

 printed in this manner. The fame procefs has alfo been ufed in the publication of flying ga- 

 zettes. Without attaching any particular importance to a procefs of fuch eafy invention after 

 what was previoufly known, I (hall only add, that it may be ufefully applied in all cafes where 

 a printing-prefs cannot be had recourfe to. The procefs here defcribed may be alfo found in 

 a work wliich I publifbed in 1783, on mechanics and natural philofophy. They arc con- 

 -tained in a memoir, entitled, " Defcrtption tTune Afachine ~a graver." 



It was the illuftri'ous Turgot who engaged me, after thefe firft effays, to turn my attention 

 to the mechanical method here defcribed. The reltraint under which the liberty of the prefs 

 then laboured, caufed this great man to wifh that authors (hould be able to compofe and print 

 their works under their own infpeftion. The learned Morellet, who became ftrongly inte- 

 .relted in this project, gave me fome punches, which I ufed in my firfl: attempts. If I have not 

 -entirely accompliflied the wifh of Turgot and JVIorellet, I have, neverthelefs, produced a ma- 

 chine which has contributed to the perforation of paper-money, and will probably be ufeful, 

 hereafter, in the procefs which Ged has pointed out for the compofition of claffical works. It 

 would, no doubt, be difficult, without the affiftance of a great number of drawings, to fliew, 

 in detail, the diiF;rent parts of this machine, which is necciTarily very complicated, though its 

 .aftion is infinitely fimple : for \vhen it is ufed, a detent is held by one hand, and the other, by 

 means of a handle, brings the letter which is required under the preffing tool, which letter, as 

 •well as its place, is precifely indicated by a moveable piece, which j^afTes along till it is pro- 

 perly difpofed with regard to an index : the detent is then let go, and firmly retains a wheel 

 which carries the letters af hardened fleel : a fmall lever is then moved, of which the flop is 

 ne-irer or further off, according io the width of the letter: the lever, while it ftrikes the ftop, 

 <ielivers the preffing- fcrew from a tooth which flopped its aflion ; fo that by thefe three ope- 

 rations, any letter whatever is fpaced and ftruck with equal precifion and facility. 



Franklin was defir-ous of making a comparifon between the time employed with this ma- 

 chine, to engrave a plate of 900 letters, and that required by a flcilful compofitor in performing 

 ^he fame work by moveable characters. He was very much furprizcd to fee, that, without 

 ^iraiSice, the tnachine engraved the plate in nineteen minutes, without any fault, and his com- 

 pofitor employed twenty-three minutes to fet up the fame, which ftill required to be 

 <orrc£led *. 



A report of the commifTaries of the Academy of Sciences, of the 23d December, J781, will 



* Nine hundred char.i£lers are contained in aboot twelve Hnes of tliis journal. It fc-cms probable, that the 

 ^•lachine of the author was worked nearly at the fame rate as the compofitor placed his types in the flick, but 

 tiiat the latter being neccffitated to take up his fpaces, might lofe time on this account. The fpcedieft writer 

 svith a pen, who has come under my obRirvrition, would Itave written the fjme quantity, perfectly legible, in 

 Ai minviccj. — N. 



fer ve 



