The Polygraph by Edwin T. Ponting

Hello everybody.

This is a polygraph, a machine for multiple writing by Edwin T. Ponting from 1875. A polygraph is a duplicating device that produces one, or many copies of a piece of writing at the same time with the creation of the original.

It was invented by Edwin T. Ponting, born in 1857, son of a pastry cook. He lived in South Woodford, near London, in England, and when he was 18 years old invented this device, in 1875.
He was a pawnbroker assistant, so probably he invented this device to resolve one of his working problems: he had to write three identical tickets - one for the pawned object, a receipt for the depositor, and a record for the books.
It was a long work and probably he got tired of doing this.
He was probably inspired by an invention of John Isaac Hawkins from the beginning of 1800s, that used the same system.
But this one from Ponting it's more specific for using in pawnbrokers.

It used three nibs to write at the same time, and there was this pen to move all the three nibs at the same time. The pens are provided with a spring and are each mounted upon two short parallel arms to give a perpendicular movement to the pen. The mechanism is very beautiful, with all these levers and mechanisms.

Of course now it seems strange, but you should imagine an era where there isn't copiers and printers, but despite this you need copies.

I think it's a very beautiful device. It talk to us about a world where didn't existed copiers, digital printers, and to resolve the problems of the people, inventors had to use brass and wood, often without having any school qualification.

If you want to see in detail how it works, there is this video.

And here you can download the manual, and the complete translation, since there are many missing parts due to the ink that ended up on the manual due to continuous use for many years