Patent Model of a Type-composing Machine

Fraser, Alexander · ca 1880

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a type composing apparatus which was granted patent number 224166. Patentee Alexander Fraser's composer was designed to work with his type-distributing machine. Type, stored in horizontal trays at the top of the machine, was nudged forward at the touch of a key to fall down assembling channels and into a continuous line. The operator would break off line lengths manually and space out the words as needed. Alexander Fraser was from Edinburgh, Scotland, where his composers were used successfully for several years. Elements of his typesetting and distributing machines were patented in Britain in 1872, 1875, and 1877, before the American patents were taken out.