“‘I have the honour to be, Sir,
“‘Your most obedient servant,
“‘Robert Torrens, Chairman of the Commission.
“‘Rowland Hill, Esq. &c. &c. &c.’
“The former of my two interludes—if I may so style a piece of downright hard work—was an improvement of the printing machine, which I took in hand when it yet seemed doubtful whether the South Australian enterprise would yield me an income. My attention to the subject of printing, I may here observe, arose from my connection with the Useful Knowledge Society, then so actively engaged in promoting and cheapening popular literature.
“Every one knows that about twenty years before this period the process of printing, at least in the largest offices, had been almost revolutionized by the admirable machine invented in great part by the late Mr. Edward Cowper, afterwards Professor Cowper of King’s College, London; with whom, I may add, I became acquainted about this time, and whom to know was to regard and esteem. At the time when I turned my thoughts earnestly to the subject, the machines then in use (for by this time great improvements had been made in the original invention, partly by Mr. Cowper himself, partly by others, particularly by Mr. Applegarth), could throw off in the hour, instead of the two hundred and fifty single impressions, to which the Stanhope press, the best in previous use, was limited, eight hundred sheets thoroughly well printed on both sides, or four thousand of such quality as was admissible in newspapers, printed on one side.
“Meantime, however, an important improvement had been made in the manufacture of paper, viz., that of Fourdrinier; and it occurred to me that advantage might be taken of this to construct a printing machine capable of working at much higher speed. By Fourdrinier’s machine, as is well known, paper is produced, not in single sheets, as by the former mode, but in long scrolls, capable, I believe, of almost indefinite extension; and I perceived that by their use, one, and probably the only insuperable obstacle to a rotatory machine, was removed. I perceived also that such machine would have a double advantage; its greater speed being produced by a far smaller expenditure of power.
“The difficulties to be surmounted, however, were neither small nor few. The plan implied the necessity of attaching the types to a roller; which, again, involved a change in their form, and also devices to keep them firmly in place against the combined power of gravity and what is called, or rather miscalled, centrifugal force. Another difficulty regarded the supply and proper distribution of the ink, for which no interval could be left, as the process of printing off was to be absolutely continuous. As my invention was not practically adopted, and has been in a great measure superseded by later improvements, I forbear details, referring the curious either to my specification, which is dated August 12th, 1835, and numbered 6762; a printed copy of which may be procured at the Patent Office, or to the ‘Repertory of Patent Inventions,’ No. 35, where the machine is accurately and lucidly described.
“It is but just to record, that in giving my invention a practical shape, I was constantly and ably assisted by my brother Edwin, who, I may here add, afterwards became known as the originator of the machine for folding envelopes, which attracted so much attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Many of the minor parts, essential, however, to the efficient working of our printing machine, were of his device and construction, and in my necessary absence the work proceeded under his superintendence.
“At length, as is already implied, the machine was completed, and the patent secured. Its operation was repeatedly shown to members of the trade and others interested in the matter; the work produced, though at high speed, being pronounced beautiful, and that which is technically called the register accurate perhaps beyond parallel, while its action was so rapid that even when worked by hand it threw off double impressions of the size of the Globe newspaper at the rate of eight thousand per hour, or nearly ten-fold the number produced at the same time by the reciprocating machine; nay, more, during this very process it could concurrently throw off eight thousand single impressions from each of its two rollers; thus making up thirty-two thousand single impressions in all.