Perhaps the most conclusive evidence though, is the manner in which the Simplex
machines operate. On the more common Roovers machines, letters are selected by
turning a large dial and pressing down a lever, (located centrally at the front of the
machine) to punch each letter. The final cropping operation is performed by the
same lever. However, on the Simplex machine, the user turns a pointer to select
each letter and is then required to press down a lever on the right-hand side of the
machine. The finished label is then cropped by pulling forward a second lever
mounted on the same side of the machine, toward the back. The same pointer and
two levers are clearly evident on the BAC machine at York.
So that's it - problem solved! Well no, not entirely. Miraculously, Greg
managed to tum up the Simplex patent, from the archive of the International
Arcade Museum. The patent application, No. 750432, was filed in Oct. 1901 and
finally approved in Jan. 1904. I'd already learnt from Bob that the Simplex
company was set up by Herman Casler, so it came as no surprise to find that the
patent cites Casler, jointly with John Pross, as inventors and was assigned to
Simplex Manufacturing Co. However, the patent appears to describe a completely
different machine; it's operation being more like the Roovers machines, and seems
to imply that the design was changed at some time.
Now, I've already stated the way in which the Simplex machine operates. How
do I know how it works? It's clearly stated in the instructions on the BAC machine at
York. However, the patent not only describes a dial to select the letters as opposed
to a pointer (which I suppose would be a relatively minor change), but also clearly
One of the drawings from the Simplex patent specification,
which clearly describes a dial and just one operating lever.