US1203168A

US1203168A - Method of making type-writer blanks.

Info

Publication number: US1203168A
Application number: US6105815A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walter Armstrong
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1915-11-12
Filing date: 1915-11-12
Publication date: 1916-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 1933-10-31

Description

' w. ARMSTRONG.

ME,THbD OF MAKING TYPE WRITER BLANKS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. I2, 1915.

1,203,168. Patented 0ct. 31,1916.

J5 1 I z 11 J I H19 IN VEN TOR.

WM B Y W A TTORNE YS.

WALTER ARMSTRONG, OF CHICOPEE. MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD 0? MAKING- TYPE-WRITER BLANKSQ Specification of Letters Patent.

" Patented eat. an rare.

Application filed November 12, 1915. Serial No. 61,058.

To all whom may concern;

Be it known that l, WALTER ARMSTRONG, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Chicopee, county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Making Type Writer Blanks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the method of forming the type blanks which are attached by soldering or otherwise, to the end of the type bar of a typewriting machine.

Heretofore, it has been the common practice to cut the slot in the type blank itself by milling or otherwise, but this process is necessarily slow and expensive and not always accurate unless great care is exercised by the workman.

Broadly, the invention consists, first, in forming the slot in a type blank by punching or press-work, the material from which the blank is formed being provided with oppositely extending wing portions and a centrally disposed thickened portion, the thickened portion being forced through a die by means of a suitable plunger; the plunger during the punching operation serving to fold the wing portions of the blank toward each other to form the groove therebetween, The second step in the operation consists in placing the blank between two blocks which are suitably clamped in a rolling machine for rolling the letter in the thickened portion, whereby when the roll of the type forming machine is moved over the thickened portion of the blank, the character is rolled into the thickened part of the blank, and, finally removing the thin rolled edges from the type blank, either by grinding or breaking them ofi after the blanks are hardened.

Heretofore it has been the common practice in making type-blanks, on which type characters are formed, to form the same from a solid piece or bar, by first rolling or otherwise forming the type characters in one curing the type blank on the type bars of the machine.

lhis method is found to be objectionable for the reason-that very often the type characters on the blanks, after they are formed, are very liable to be injured during the process of clamping the blanks in the eration is substantially reversed. That is to i say, the blank or bar from which the type blank is formed consists of a piece of metal hav ng a thickened central portion and oppositely extending wing portions with a do pression between the wings. This bar is first operated upon to produce the groove therein by folding the wings toward each other into contact with a plunger that serves as a gage (see Fig. 2). This provides an accurate means for forming the grooves and for suitably supporting the blank during the operation of rolling the type characters into the edge of the blank or bar, then removing by grinding, or otherwise, the surplus material from the sides of the blank produced by the operation of forming the characters and finally hardening'the same prior to its attachment to the typcwritter bar.

By reversing the usual operations above referred to there is no danger of injuring the type characters,'for the reason that the operation of forming the characters in the blank is last instead of first. The material composing the type blanks, is of course, soft during the time of the o erations of rolling the characters and of orming the groove therein. Therefore, the characters'arc Very easily injured in the heretofore known process of cutting the grooves after the characters are formed. in my invention the characters being formed last are, therefore,

less liable to beinjured. The usual hard-' ening process takes place after the other op-' erations are completed.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is an end elevational view, on an enlarged scale showing theshape or form of the blank from which thefinished blank ,is'made, having laterally extending tapered wing-portions and the thickened center portion; Fig. 2 illustrates the method of punching; the blanks by forcing the same through a die. by means of a suitable plunger; Fig. 3 illustrates the method of clamping-the ianks in a rolling machine after the wings have been folded by the press, as referred to in Fig.

llli

1 blank being been rolled or formed therein in its upper surface; and Fig. 5 illustrates the finished blank ready for soldering or otherwise securing the same to the type-bar of the machine; Fig. 6 is a detail side view of the supporting tongue or plate; Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 77 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of one of the clamping blocks.

Referring to the drawings in detaili The blank of soft steel from which the type blank is formed, shown in Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale, comprises a thickened portion 1 having oppositely extending wings 2 which taper from the center toward their extremities. This blank is formed with a depression 3 between the wings, the length of which is substantially equal to the width of the finished groove. It is to be understood that the plunger 4: is slightly tapered, as

illustrated in Fig. 2. This plunger engages the depression 3 of the blank, the thickened portion 1 of the blank having previously been inserted in the opening 5 in the die late 6, with the thickened portion 1 remainmg undisturbed by the punching operation,

The next step in the process of forming the type-blank is to take the blank, after it leaves the punch press shown in Fig. 2, with the wings 2 folded toward each other, and

place the same on the upper end of a plate or tongue 8, as shown in Fig. 3 which has a very slight ta red surface 8'. This late is now clampe between blocks 9 an 10, the thickened portion 1 of the blank extending above the upper surface 11 of the blocks 9 and 10. The characterwhich the type blank is to hear when finished is formed in the thickened portion 1 by means of the presser roller 12 which is passed back and forth over the thickened portion 1, as indicated by the

arrows

13 and 14, the direction of the pressure of the roller being indicated by the arrow 15. The type-blank is now removed from the plate 8 by simply forcing the plate upward from below by applying an upward force on the lower end 8 This causes the blank to be placed in a position abovethe blocks for ready removal from the plate. At the termination of the 5 rolling operation the blank has assumed the form shown in Fig. 4 in which the character of the blank indicated at 15. has'been rolled or formed in the thickened portion 1 of the blank and the wings 16 and 17 have been moved toward each other so that the inner sides of the recess 7 are very nearly parallel with each.other,'the upper outer sides of the the purpose of" preventing the blocks from slightly tapered, clearly, shown in Flg. .5, the taper portion being for catching on each other during the operation of the typewriting machine. The blank is finally secured to the type-bar by soldering or otherwise. It will be noticed that the operations for formin the type are very rapid and accurate, oing away entirely with the grinding process of making the block. The thin wing portions 18 are readily removed after the blank is tempered by grinding or breaking the same on the line 18'. -'The slightly tapered portion of the wings 16 and 17 are formed by the inclined surfaces 19 in the adjacent edges of the blocks 9 and 10. I

It should be particularly observed that the length and depth of the depression 3 is 'wings to be folded properly, or, in other words the wings fold from the point 3.

An important feature of my invention is the formation of the groove 7' between the wings 16 and 17 of the finished blank, by means of the punch and die operation shown in Fig. 2. nether important feature of my invention is the placing of the blank, as it leaves the punch press, on the upper end of theplate or tongue 8 and clampmg the same between the blocks 9 and 10 during the process of rolling the character in the thickened portion of the blank, and, at the same time, by means of the inclined surfaces 19,

form the outer sides of the finished wings with inclined surfaces, as clearly shown in .Fig. 5. As the blank leaves the punch press the inner walls of the groove 7 are slightly tapered. .Asthe blank leaves the plate or tongue 8 after the type character has been formed in the thickened portion 1 the inner surface of the walls of the groove 7 between the wings are very nearly parallel and the outer surface of the wing extensions are slightly inclined, this inclination being produced by means of the inclined surfaces 19 of thBblOCkS 9 and 10. It should be stated clamped together, and, the plate or tongue 8 is free to'slide between these blocks for elevating the blank above the iblockswhen the starting. point. of successfully making or forming. the finished blank type lies the shape or configuration, in cross section, of thepiece of metal shown in Fig.- 1. Unless that the blocks 9 and 10, are permanently y a depression, as 3, of suitable depth is formed therein between the wings 2 they cannot be properly folded in the manner herein described to produce the groove 7 5 therebetween without breaking the material at the point where the wings are connected to the thickened portion 1.

What I claim is:

1., The method of forming a type blank for use in a typewriting machine from a two oppositely extending wing portions, which consists in first forcingthe blank. by means of a plunger through an opening, the wing portions of the blank being .forced or folded toward each other by such operation, then clamping the blank between two blocks with the thickened portion extending above the blocks, the blank resting upon a suitable support for spacing the wings, then, rolling the letter or character in the thickened portion of the blank by means of a roller bearting the letter or-character to be formed in "the blank, the rolling operation resulting in 2 forming wing portions containing surplus material, then, hardening the blank, and finally removing the surplus wing portions of the same.

2. The method of forming atype blank.

from a blank having oppositely extended wing-shaped portions,and a thickened cen-" ter portion, which consists first in placing the thickened portion in the 'opening of 'a die and forcing the blank through the diev b pbrtions tobe folded toward each other, to form a groove between the said wings, second, clamping the blank between two blocks on a supporting piece therebetween, next, forming the character in the thickened portion of the blank by means of a roller, and simultaneously forming the outer and inner sides of the wing portion of the blank,-andlastly finishing y removing surplus material that is formed by the rolling process. 3. Themiethod of forming a type blank which consists, first, 'in forcing a blank having oppositely extending, wing-shaped portions and a thickened portion, through a die, the punching element being slightly tapered, then, placing the blank on a supporting piece having nearly parallel sides and clamping the blank and supporting piece.

\ between two blocks, the adjacent sides of 5 the block that engages the outer sides of the wings of the blankbeing slightly tapered, next rolling the character to be formed in the thickened portion of the block by means of a roller bearing the character.

4. The method of forming a type blank with a groove or recess in one edge thereof,

which consists in forcing a blank having oppositely extending laterally disposed wing .-portions with a depression or recess and a depending thickened portion or part beblank havinga thickened center portion and means of a plunger for causing the wing tween said wing portions, through an open- I ing in a die plate by means of a plunger enblank by means of a tongue engaging the groove, second, clamping the blank between :two blocks with the stock of the material composing the blank that is above the groove extending above the upper surface of the clamping blocks, and finally forming the type character in said part above the upper end of the supporting plate by means of-a pressure roller engaging the thickened portion.

6. The method of forming a type blank to produce a groove therein, from a blank consisting of a piece having a depending thickened center poi-tion and oppositely extending wing portions and a depression between the said wing portions and above'the depending thickened portion by forcing said blank through an opening by means of a plunger engaging the depression whereby the wing portions are folded inward toward the plunger, the depression serving the purpose of allowing the wing-portions to readily fold.

7. The method of forming type characters in a type thereo which consists in supporting the blank by means of a plate engaging the groove, second, clamping the blank between two blocks with the stock of the material blank, having a groove in one edgecomposing the blank that is above the groove extending above the upper surface of the .bearing characters are to be formed comprising a piece of metal having a thickened portion in the edge of which the characters are to be formed, and wing portions on the opposite sides of the thickened portion, the thickened portion having a depression between the'wings' and below the upper plane of the wings.

10. A blank from which typewriter blanks bearing characters are to be formed, com-' prising incross section a centrally located thickened part having oppositely extending wings'with a depression between the wings A and below the "upper plane of the same. I 11. A blank or bar from which typewriter blanks bearing characters are to be formed, said blank comprising a thickened central portion in the edge of which the characters are to be formed and having wings formed on the opposite sides of said portion for the purpose of forming a supporting groove when said Wings are bent toward each other,

13 The method of forming a groove in a type blank from a blank or bar having a epending thickened central portion with a wing on its opposite sides which consists in bending the wings toward each other against a plunger which serves as a gage plate 14. The method of forming a type-blank from a blank, or bar, having a centrally located thickened portion in the edge of which the type characters art to be formed and oppositely arranged wihg portions, which consists, first, in bending the wing portion toward each other against a plunger which serves as a gage to form a groove between the wings, second, supporting the blank, or bar, by means of a plate engaging the groove,

then clamping the blank and its supporting plate between blocks, then rolling or forming the characters in the edge of the thickened portion 15. The method of forming a type blank which consists, first, in forcing a blank having oppositely extending wing-shaped portions and a thickened portion, through a die, then, placing the blank on a supporting piece and clamping the blank and supporting piece between two blocks and finally rolling the character to be formed in the thickened portion of the blank by means of a roller hearing the character.

16. The method of forming type characters in a type blank having a groove in one edge thereof, which consists in supporting the blank by means of a tongue engaging the groove, second, clamping the blank between two blocks with the stock of the material composing the blank that is above the groove extending above the upper surface of the clamping blocks, and finally forming the type character in said part above the upper end of the supporting plate by means of a device bearing the type character which exerts lpressure on the thickened portion of the blan WAL'IER ARMSTRONG.