ES380511A1 - Photographic type-composing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A high-speed photographic type-composing machine is disclosed. Light is projected from a source of illumination such as a cathode-ray tube, laser, or multiplicity of flashlamps through a plurality of light-directing means such as light channels to an arcuate projection zone which is formed by a portion of the curved surface of a rotatable character-carrier. The light channels may be movable in unison among a plurality of discrete positions relative to the arcuate projection zone. The characters are carried on filmstrips which are mounted on a rotatable drum by rigid holding means in the form of arcuate segments, and the characters continually pass through the projection zone, which is large enough to include a plurality of characters at any given time. Selected characters are projected from the zone to an image-receiving surface (such as a film) by an optical projection system which may include a field-flattening lens. Control circuitry is provided for storing and sorting selected characters such that these characters may be illuminated in a sequence which is dissimilar to their respective positions in the composed line. The control circuitry is adapted to achieve this result by varying the time at which any selected character is illuminated as it passes through the projection zone, and is further adapted to center lines on the film by delaying the projection of the first character of the line by a time interval which is dependent upon the selected point size. Also, the film may be incrementally moved by stepping motors in order to compensate for relative displacement between the film and characters if the character-type style and/or point size is changed.