“J. F.
“The Editor, The Scotsman.”
[Two years later Sir Rowland Hill wrote the following letter to the Journal of the Society of Arts:]—
“TYPE-PRINTING MACHINERY
“Sir,—In the interesting paper ‘On Type-printing Machinery,’ by the Rev. Arthur Rigg, which appeared in your Journal of the 13th inst., there are certain errors affecting myself which I request permission to correct.
“It is stated that rotating cylinders and continuous rolls of paper were principles first introduced into type-printing machinery by Mr. Nicholson in 1790, and further on it is asserted, in reference no doubt to the printing machine which I invented in 1835, that I ‘revived a proposal of Nicholson’s.’
“Now, so far from Mr. Nicholson proposing to print from types on continuous rolls of paper, a reference to the specification of his invention (A.D. 1790, No. 1,748) will show that, excluding his proposals for calico and wall-paper printing, which have nothing to do with type-printing machinery, he invariably speaks of printing on sheets of paper; indeed, the means of producing continuous rolls of paper were not invented till several years later. Again, it will be seen that the means he proposes for attaching the types to his cylinder, the real difficulty to be overcome, are clearly insufficient for the purpose; indeed, as stated in the specification of my patent (A.D. 1835, No. 6,762), which was drawn by the late Mr. Farey—a man thoroughly conversant with the subject—‘on account of deficiencies and imperfections in the machinery described in that specification [Mr. Nicholson’s] the same has never been practised or brought into use.’
“Towards the close of his paper, Mr. Rigg seems to imply that hitherto all schemes for fixing moveable types on a cylinder have failed. I can only say that in my machine this difficulty was entirely overcome. Indeed, in a letter which appeared in the Mechanics’ Magazine of November 12th, 1836 (when the subject was before the public), I was enabled to state that ‘in the opinion of many eminent printers who have seen my machine the end in view has been fully accomplished, for while any portion of type may be detached from the cylinder with a facility even greater than that with which a similar change can be made in an ordinary form, each letter can be so firmly locked in its place that there is no danger whatever of its being loosened by centrifugal force or by any other cause.’