454,263. Type-bar-maldng machines. MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE CO., 29, Ryerson Street, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.- (Assignees of Stouges, A. J. ; 222, Davenport Avenue, Queen's Village, New York, U.S.A.) March 28, 1935, No. 9682. Convention date, June 22, 1934. [Class 100 (iii)] Assembling and clamping matrices.-A holder, such as the transporter or first elevator of the machine, for presenting a hand-stick with a composed line of matrices to the mould is adapted to support hand-sticks of different forms for sustaining different kinds of matrices. (1) The matrices which can be handled are, in addition to the regular matrices, which have projecting ears, special matrices X, X<1>, Figs. 9, 21, and 22, which are of the kind described in Specification 438,135, and are without projecting ears, and also " Ludlow " matrices Z<1>, Fig. 10, which have upwardly and downwardly projecting ears z<2>, z<5>. A reversible blank matrix or spacer X<3>, Fig. 12, may be used with the smaller special matrices X<1>. A hand-stick F, Figs. 13 and 21, for the matrices X<1> comprises top and bottom rails F<1>, F<2>, a rear closing-plate, fixed end-walls F4, F5, and a movable end-wall F<6>, which is adjustably held in the stick by a headed pin F<7> passing through a bushing F<8> screwed into the fixed end-wall. Initial pressure is applied to the composed line by screwing in the bushing F<1> by hand. Final pressure is supplied by the action of the right-hand vice-jaw on the pin F<7>. After the transporter has descended to present the line to the mould, the stick is clamped between the vice-jaws and is positioned thereby endwise in register with the mould by a vertically movable wedge-bar, which acts on the left-hand jaw, as described in Specification 396,045, the upward movement of the wedge-bar being limited by a stop. The movement of the left-hand jaw is transmitted through the matrix line to the right-hand jaw, which, if the line is of proper length, actuates the pump. stop lever. A vertically movable keeper-plate F<10> engages notches x<4> in the feet of the matrices. The plate is guided by pins and inclined slots, and is operated by a fixed block in the transporter when the stick is inserted. The stick is supported in the transporter upon a removable #-shaped filler-piece E, Fig. 21, which rests upon a ledge B9 on the front wall B4 of the transporter. (2) A stick for the larger special matrices X has a back-plate J<1>, Fig. 22, of substantial thickness, to which is screwed a bottom rail J<2> having a tongue at its upper edge to engage in notches x<7> in the rear edges of the matrices. The upper rail is omitted, and the stick is held in place by the rear wall B5 of the transporter, which engages in notches x<9> in the matrices and in the end-plates of the stick. The filler-piece E is not used. (3) In a stick for " Ludlow " matrices, the matrices Z<1>, Fig. 17, are inserted from the rear and bank against the upper and lower rails G<1>, G<2> of the stick. The filler-piece E is employed to maintain this stick in the transporter. A similar stick, having a narrower lower rail is used for larger " Ludlow matrices. (4) A stick for the regular two-letter matrices Y, Fig. 19, comprises end-walls and a back wall K<2> having rails K<3>, K<4> to support the matrices at either level. A removable auxiliary backplate B12 is attached by means of a tongue-andgroove connection to the rear wall of the transporter, and has a ledge to engage below the upper matrix ears. A similar stick is used for regular head-letter matrices bearing a single character. The filler-piece E is not required with these sticks. (5) To facilitate insertion into the transporter, the sticks are supported on a table M, Figs. 1 and 21, having a vertical aligning-wall M<1> and a sliding plate M3 for supporting the sticks at a higher level when the filler-piece is used. The sticks are transferred endwise by hand into the transporter, in which they are located by a block b<6> to ensure their descent between the vice-jaws. After the casting, the stick is ejected from the transporter by a hand-operated slide B<13>. (6) To enable matrices to be presented to the mould at different levels according to their size and to the position the characters are to occupy relatively to the body of the slug, the transporter is arrested at any desired level by two tapered banking-blocks D<1>, D<2>, Fig. 1, which are carried by a sliding plate and cooperate with the banking-screws B<11> of the transporter. A third tapered block operates the vice-automatic stop-rod. The banking- blocks are adjusted by means of a rack and pinion and a dial co-operating with a fixed pointer. The dial has a scale graduated in type points, and also scales indicating the position of the transporter for different kinds of matrices. The dial may be reversible, some of the scales being placed on each side.