The Turner Apparatus

This is a combination of a pump for metal and an adjustable mold, intended "to provide a comparatively inexpensive and efficient means for casting type and more particularly special type for display purposes, head lines and the like, either in accordance with an original or especially prepared design or in duplication of type already in hand and especially designed for use in relatively small and unpretentious print shops, jobbing establisments [sic], rural newspaper printing offices and the like where, for example, only one or a few type may be required in conection with a particular job or for a special purpose..."

I do not know if this machine device was ever produced commercially. While the patent admits of matrices made of typemetal, there is no provision in this device for making such a matrix from an existing type. It looks more likely that the inventor intended on supplying matrices in the form of sterotype mats.

It is interesting, especially when compared to the later Brimulta Sortsmaster that the pump on this device does not constitute a "force pump" for delivering typemetal under pressure to the mold. The pump raises the metal above the mold, but at that point the path is open to the atmosphere and the entry of the typemetal into the mold can be at no greater pressure than that obtainable by pouring it in with a ladle.

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