US1545578A - Automatic tabulating or quadding-out attachment for linotype machines - Google Patents

Description

July 14, 1925, 1,545,578

H. E. BENEDICT AUTOMATIC TABULATING OR QUADDING OUT ATTACHMENT FOR LINOTYPE MACHINES Filed Dec. 30, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l Ewe/adv! s s Q firwaommm July 14, 1925.

H. E. BENEDICT AUTOMATIC TABULATING OR QUADDING OUT ATTACHMENT FOR LINOTYPE MACHINES 7 Filed Dec. 1922 a Sheets-Sheet 2 V @Q MJ July 14, 192i. H. E. BENEDICT AUTOMATIC TABULATING OR QUADDING QUT ATTACHMENT FOR LINOTYPB IACHINES Filed Decv30. 1922 3 Sheets-Shoot 5 I F R mulm Q g Patented July 14, 1925.

* UNITED STATES 1,545,578: PATENT; OFFICE;

HARRISON E. BENEDICT, or CHICAGO, ILLIivoIS, ASSIGNOR '10 IRA J. wI soN, or" p CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. i

AUTOMATIC TABULATING OR QUADDING-OUT ATTACHMENT FO'B LINOTY'PE MACHINES. 1

Application filedlbeceniber 30, 1922. SerialNo. 609,822. I i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRISON E. BENE- DICT, acitizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, in the county of Attachments for Linotype Machines, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to type-composing and type-casting machines of the class adapted to cast lines of type from a mold, to the face ofwhich is presented and aligned a series of matrices bearing the letters, figures, or other characters, which are to be used in printing. While there are on the market a number of difierent makes of machines for performing this work,one make of which is commercially known as the linotype machine, theword linotype is used herein in its generic Sense as designating machinesof this general class, and is not used in its commercial sense as indicating any particular make of machine, since the principles of my invention are applicable to, and may be used in connection with, any make of machine adapted to perform the functions above indicated.

Machines of this character are used extensively in composing tabulated data, such as price lists, indexes, etc., each line of which comprises printed data in the form of letters or figures at each end of the line,,the intervening space betweenthe printed ends being either filled in with leaders or left blank, as the character of thecomposition requires.

In composing or setting up a line of this kind on a linotype machine, the operator sets up the printed matter at the beginning of the line by striking the proper keys on the keyboard of the machine, then fills in the space between this setup matterand the figures and numerals, which are to appear at the other end of the line, by repeatedly depressing the leader of blank quad keys on the keyboard, as the case may be, until a sufficient number of leaderzor blank quad matrices have been composed in the assembler, whereupon the line is finished out by operating. the requisite keys to compose the desired dataat the end of the line. The repeated actuation of the leader or blank quad keys not only involves considerable vnicety.

manual labor, but is 'alsoia sl ei 'n' fi ous operation, for the reason thatthe operator 1s unable to accurately judge with his eye the number of leaders or :blank quads-re,-

fore obligedin composing nearly every line,

I quiredv in the line in order to-bring the. printed data at the end of the line I to the. proper justification. The operator is thereto stop and inspect the composed lineinf 51:

the assembler and eithermanually add one or more additional leaders or ;quads,;-or re-. move one or more of the same from,th e; composed line in order to prevent. over-sets ting or under-setting the line, and-to secure the proper justification of the data atgthe I end of the line. i 3 One of the primary purposes of my-present invent on is to provide an automatic attachment for linotype machineswhich will a automatically compose in the assembler exactlythe proper number of leaders or blank quads, thereby relieving the operator otthe labor of manually operating these keys,,and

also insuringthe proper justification of line,

with the result that thecomposing of tabu lated subject matter is very materially en pedited and cheapened, while atthesame time the operator is relievedof the tedious ness and of a large proportion of the man; ual labor customarily involved in compose ing matter of this kind. I 5

Another-object of the invention isto-provide an attachment which is capablejotbeinglshitted so as to compose in the line leadersor blank quads, the printed'matter requires, when the set-up is shiftedttroml light face to bold faceor italics, and vice versa. This shifting capability of the. attachment renders possible the automatic composing of the requisite. leaders orblankquadsjrre spective of whether the matrices are assem; bled in whatis known as the auxiliary .position; that is, to raise the matrices so that the lower punching will be presented to the mold for casting, or whether the matrices are assembled in the normal position. 4

Another feature of the invention resides in the factthatthe automatic operationof at any predetermined point in the line, and provision is also made whereby the point at which the stopping will be efi'ectedmay be regulated and adjusted to a fine fdegreej of the attachment may be automaticallyastopped en quads la-st, withthe result that as the,

point in the line where the leaders or blank quads stop is approached, the last few quads delivered will be ens, thus insuring a complete and snug filling of the line with out over-setting.

A furtherobject of the invention is toprovide an attachmentwhich will be simple in construction, economical to manufacture,

one which canbe readily attached to a ma-' chine of'the character indicated, and one which will be reliable, eflicient, and durablein operation. V

Other objectsand advantages of this in vention should be. readily appreciated by those skilled in the art as the same becomes better understood by reference to the fol-- lowing "description, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings! 1F i'g.-'1 is a fragmentaryfront elevation of a linotype machine with my invention at tached thereto; Fig 2 isa plan view ofmy improved. at-

tachment showing its relation to the ma and chine, the keyboard rods of which are shown in section; p

' Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my attachment, shown on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of 2; i

Fig. 5 is an end elevation, partially in section, looking at the left-hand end of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary viewfshowing the shifting. mechanism and its relation to the actuating levers.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, and particularly to Fig. 1, reference character 7 indicates generally the assembler chute cover above which is the matrix'magazine of a linotype machine, from whichthe matrices are delivered in a well known'manner to the assembling elevator8, equipped, as is customary, with'a duplex rail 9 adapted to be actuated by the hand levers 11.. The assembler slide 12 is mounted to travel trans versely of the .machine frame, the front member 13 v of which is shown in Fig. 1, the

' slide being restored to the right by the-usual restoring lever 14 actuated by the spring 15, and being fed ina step-by-step movement to the left by the usual escapement mechanism. (not shown) which is :actuated from the keys'i16 arranged on a keyboard in the usual manner. The brake 17 engagesthe slide 12 under the influence of the spring 18 and is adapted to be released at the end of the li'ne bythe lever 10 whenthe assembling elevator Sis raised to allow the line of matrices to be carried to the casting position. The adjustable abutment 19,. carried upon the assembler slide clamp 21, engages the meshes with and is' actuated by the'usual' gear train, maybe of standar'dlinotype machine construction, orof any other preferred structure, since my invention is applicable to machines generallyfor casting type in l1nes, and, as PIQVIOLlSlY mentioned, is not restricted to use n connection with a linotype machine of standard construction, portions of whiclrare shown herein for illustratlve purposes only;

'An attachiji'lent embodying my invention comprises a frame structure including end members 25 adapted to be secured 'bybolts. 26 to thefront member 13 of the linotype machine. "In this frame there is'mounted a shaft'27 provided at the right-hand end with a pulley28 adapted to be driven by'a belt 29 from a pulley 31 mounted on the shaft 23'.

A series of cams, eightinthe present instance, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and designated, by reference characters 32, 33, 34, 35, 3,6, 37, 38, and 39,a're fixed upon this shaft. The shape o-ft hese cams is best shown in Fig, 4, fro n which it will be observed that the cam 321$" substantially circular in contour except for a depression 41 at one point on its circumference. The other cams are all similarly shaped and 'are keyed to the shaft with the depression in each cam disposed substantially at an angle of ninety degreesto theprecedin'g and following cams of the set. Itmay be stated at this point that the cams are divided into two sets of foureach, cams 89, 35, 84, and 32 constituting one set,"an(.l cams 38, 37, 36, and '33 con stituting the other set. e

Actuating levers 42, corresponding in function tothe usual keyboard cam yokes,

the action "of which is initiated by the keys It should I is' operated by its keyboard cam yoke. 'These rods are normally retained in depressed positionpby springsf46, and an upward'pull is exerted upon each lever 42 by'a tractlle spring 47 of greater strength thanthe spring 46. 1 Each. lever 42 is provided immediately beneath its cam with a cam follower or roller 48, which is normally urged into engage- .ment with its cam by the spring 47, so that when,'upon rotation of the shaft 27, the cam depression 41is' disposed immediately over thefollower 48, an upward impulse will be imparted to the rod 45 by the spring 47 to release a'matrix inthe magazine and permitthe delivery of the same to the assembler in the usual manner. Guides 49 project rear wardly from theframe of the attachment and straddle therespective rods 45. to insure the maintenance of alignment between these rods and their respective actuatinglevers 42.

.. fBearwardly of the shaft 27 there is mountedin the frame of the attachment a, longitudinally movable rod or shaft 51, upon which, in proximity to the respective levers 42, there are fixedly mounted eight holdout collars indicated by reference characters 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,-57, 58, and 59. The rod is normally urged toward the right, viewing Fig. 2, by. an expansion spring 61 interposed between the end of the attachment frame and a block 62 fixed on the collar. Nor mally, therod is held against the action of this spring in the position shown in Fig. 2 with all of the holdout collars disposed above and in alignment with their respective a ctuating levers 42 by a latch member 63 pivoted at 64 upon the frame and shaped at one end to dropbehind a head 65 secured to the projecting end of the rod 51. When the rod is thus locked with the holdout collars holding all of thelevers 42 indepressed position against the force of their respective springs 47.,the cams on the shaft 27 ivill revolve idly since their followers 48 are held from contact with'these cams. The rods 45 will therefore remain inactive unless actuated by depression'of the keys on the keyboard to which these rods are connected. The movement of the rods'fresulting from actuation of the keys, however, will have no influence upon the attachment, since, as will be apparent from Figs. 4 and, 5, the notches in the rods are of suflicient length to afford lost motion between the rods and the actuating levers 42. The latch 63 is actuated to release the rod 51 by means of a key 66 mounted in any convenient position, preferably in proximity to the keyboard, and connected to the latch byja wire or rod 67 A spring (Figs. 3 and 5) normally urges the latch into locking position.

The matrix: channels in the magazine, which are controlled by the keyboard rods 45 with which the actuating levers of my attachment are connected, are supplied with two-letter matrices. The matrices in four of these channels of the magazine. are supiary position, will cast leaders. The other four channels are supplied with the regulationleader's, which, when composed in the normal position, cast leaders, and in the auxiliary position cast blank spaces. The usual equipment of the linotype machinesis two channels of leaders and two channels of quads; but owing to the large number of these characters required when using my at tachment, it is necessary to double this'numher. In orderto do this, it becomes necessary toremove from the magazine: several rarely used characters and to replace them with extra channels of leaders and quads, thedistributing combinations of which have been previously cut to run in the desired channels."- Qne set of matrices is used for light face composition and the otherset for bold face or italic composition. It will be apparent, therefore, that the two sets are used only in' alternation, and when one set is required the mechanism which releases matrices from the other set will be thrown out'of operation. It is for this reason that the cams on the shaft 27'are arranged in two sets of fours, as previously. mentioned, and it will be manifest, therefore, that one set ofthe levers 42, should be held out of operation while the other set is being operated. "To accomplish anism compr sing a shaft 68 disposed rear- 7 wardly of the rod 51 and a-bove the levers 42, which shaft is equipped [with two series of holdout-teeth 69and 71 adapted to be alternately disposed inoperative position tohold a set of levers42 in depressed "position irrespective of the position'of the holdout collars on the rod51. When the shift shaft 68 is positioned as shown in Figs. 4 and '6, those actuating levers 42 which are adapted to-be actuated by the cams 39, 35, 34, and 32, will be held indepressed inoperative position; The remaining set of actuating leverscontrolled by cams 38, 37, 86, and 33, will be rendered operative or inoperative by their respective holdout collars, depending upon the position of 'the" rod' 5-1. Assuming that this last mentioned setj'of levers controls the quads required for light facetype, should the character of the set up change to bold tion and the teeth 71 into upper position,

thereby rendering the previously operative set inoperative, and the previously inoperat ive set operative. This rotation of the shift shaft may be'effected by any suitable mechanism, but I have shown herein, for1llustrative purposes, an actuatlng knob 73, mounted in position accessible to theoperator upon a shaft 74, which is 'connectedthrough bevel pinions 7 5 with the shaft 68. It will be m'anifest,therefore, that when a line is to be filled in with either leaders or blanks, as the character of theset-up may require, depression of the key 66 will release the rod 51, permitting it to be moved to the right by the spring 61 so as to clear the holdout'collars from the path of their re spective actuating levers, thereby permitting the levers of the set which is not held in inoperative depressed position by the shifting mechanism to be actuated in succession by the respective cams on the shaft 27 to thereby cause the delivery from the magazine into the assembler of the desired matrices. lVhen the line has been filled to the desired point, the mechanism is automatically, shut olfby shifting the rod 51 to the-left,-

viewing Fig. 2, until the head65 clears the latch 63, which will thereupon drop into locking position to restrain further opera tion of the attachment until the key 66 is again depressed.

The mechanism by which the operation of the attachment is automatically stopped at the'desired point will nowbe described. In the frame of the attachment there is mounted a pair of rock shafts-7 6 and .77, the latter ofwhich is equipped with an upwardly projecting fork 78, straddling the rod 51 and contacting with a collar 79, loosely disposed upon the rod and urged toward the fork by an expansion spring 81 interposed between this collar and the fixed collar 52, as will be apparent from Fig. 2. A pair of links or rods 83 are fixed to the outer ends of the rock shafts 76 and 77, and these links are pivotally connected at their upper ends to abar 84, which is supported thereby beneath and substantially in;parallelism with the assembler slide 12. A smaller bar-85,

notched along its upper edge, is carried 1n.

spaced relation above the bar 84 by a stand ard 86 at one end of the bar 84 and a head 87 at the other end. This latter bar has a pin and slot sliding connection 88 with the standard 86 and a slidingconnection at its other end with the head 87. An adjusting knob 89 is rotatably mounted on the head 87, and the shaft thereof is provided with worm or screw threads 91 meshing with the notches 29- in the opposed end of bar 85. By manipulation of this knob the position of bar 85 may be adjusted longitudinally with respect to bar 84.

Aislide 93 is disposed between and carried by the bars 84 and 85, and is provided with a latch 94 adapted to engage in one of the notches on the upper face of bar 85, whereby the slide is locked against movement. A finger:95 projects upwardly from this slide into the path of movement of the assembler slide clamp 21 so that movement of this clamp to the left with the assembler slide will, when it contacts the finger 95, move the bar 84 bodily tothe left, thereby,

through the intermediary of the links'83,

rocking theshaft 77 in a counter-clockwise direction, viewing Fig. 3, to force the collar 79 ,to the left through the intermediary of the fork 78. The face of the bar 84 is divided by indication marks into picas,

justment to compensate for the additional id number of points required, is taken care of by manipulating' the adjustment knob 89. A pointer orindicator 98 is disposed in proximity to this knob,-; the periphery of which is divided by division marks99 into point distances commensuratewith the pitch of the screw 91. The adjusting mechanism controlled by the knob 89 affords, therefore, a micrometer adj ustment by which I the finger 95 may be accurately set to anyrequired points between the pica adjustment which is provided by the notches in, the bar85. j The operation of my improvedattachment is substantially as follows. Assuming that an index or a price listtisto be composed, the operator,.manipulates the key board to set up the required data atthe beginning of the 11118. vWhenthe point is reached where a succession of leaders or blank quads is'required, theoperator, after first having setxthe shift mechanism to de liver either leaders or blank; quads, as required, depresses the key 66 to release the rod 51, which is thenshifted to the right by-the spring 61 to clear the holdout collars from their respectiveactuating levers 42. The cam followers 48 are thereupon brought into engagement with their respective cams .by the springs 47, and the levers 42 of the operative setare actuated .in sequence to manipulate their respective rods 45., causing the delivery of the leader or blank quad matrices, as the case may be, to the assembler. The operator havingin the manner previouslydescribed set;the stop finger-.95 to the previously determinedpica and point adjustment, the attachment continues to operate, delivering therequired matrices to the assembler until the assembler slideclamp engages the stop {finger 95, whereuponthe rock "shaft :77 begins to-turn to compress the spring. 81 through the instrumentality of the fork 78. 1 1 I V It will be observed fromv Fig.1 2 that the holdou't collars are set onjthe shaft. 51in slightly different relation to their respective actuating levers42, and as soon as the spring 81, under compression, urges the rod 51 toward the left, the-collar 58 whichtis farthes't to the left (with respectto its; lever, will upon depressionof this lever move-over the same into: its path of movement, thereby holding the lever in depressed position and throwing it out of operation. -Asthe next leverof the set determined by the position ofits holdout collar is depressed, the rod 51 willmovestill farther to the left! pro-- jecting this holdout collanabove its lever andthrowingit out of operation in turn.

The other two -levers will be similarly thrown out of 'operationzin succession until finally all four leverslof the set are thrown out of operation-at'w-h-ich timethe head 68 will have passed; to; theleft of the latch 63, which will-drop= into operative position,:-thus locking all-of the levers against further actuation until a subsequent depression ofthe key 66.-

As has been previously stated, two lmatrix channels of eachrset controlled by, my attachment contain einquads while the other two 'contain enquads, and the lioldout collarsare so arranged on the rod 51 that-the em quads will be shut ofi first,and thethinner en quadslast, with the result that any danger of over-setting the. desired stop ping pointin the line by the insertion of a wideem quad is obviated and theiline will be filled .uputo the-required point by the thinner engquads, thus producinga tight 7 line without danger of over-setting.

My invention,-therefore, is adapted to automatically deliver to the assembler the req-. .uisite number of leader or blank quads ,to

fill in the leader orlblank space inthe line, and the mechanism automticallystops exaotlyxat the predetermined point in the line for whichthe mechanism has been set, thereby insuring la tiglijt line and obviating oversetting. When this muchof the line, has

been composed, thew remainder is finished out by manipulationiof the propergkeys on the keyboard to compose the required, data, at :theendofthe-linei; I

i Y It-should' be apparent. thatmy invention J relieves thejoperator. of l-the manual -labor of composingthe leaders or blanks in the lines of tabulated matter, and alsomaterially expedites the Acompositionby obviating the possibility of under-setting or over-setting the leaders or blanks which in ordinary practice requires considerable time of the operator to complete the leaders or the quadding out at exactly the proper point in the line.

' WVhile I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it

should be manifest that the principles thereof should be capable of embodiment in structures dillering materially from that illus trated and described, and withoutdeparting from the essence of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

stopping said operation at a pointin the line.

1. The combinationwith a linotype machme of means for automatically composing a predetermined series of matrices in the assembler, and means for automatically stopping such composition at a predetermined point in the lines said last ,means ,bemg manually ad ustable.

2. The combination with clilne of means for automatlcallyreleasing a predetermined series of matrices from the U machine magazine, and manually ad usta linotype i V able means forautomatioally stopping the operation of said releasing means at a predetermined adjustable point in the line.

1 3. The combination with a linotype machliie, includimg a ser es of keyboard'rods,

and adjustable" means for automatically The combination with a linotype machine, including a series of keyboard rods, *ot means for automatically actuating certain of saidrods, manually operable means;

for initiating'the operation of said auto matic' means, and manually adjustable ,means forautomatically stopping'the operav.tion of said automatic means at apredetermined point in the line. I

5. An attachment for linotype machines .comprising means for causing'a line being set up in a linotype machineto be automatically filled to a predetermined point by predetermined matrices, .and manually top- .erab-le .mechanism for initiat ng the operation of said automatic, means.

:An attachment for linotypewmachines comprising means for automatically operating the assembling mechanism of a linotype machine to cause the assembly in the line of predetermined matrices, manually operable mechanism for starting said a tomatic operation, and means for automatically stopping said automatic.operation at a predetermined point in the line. j

. 7 An attachment for linotype machines predetermined ofmeans for automatically actuating ce ,ta1n-ofsa1d rods inpredetermined sequence,

comprising means for operating in successiona plurality ofkeyboard rods,and means the assembler slide for stopping the 'actua tion of said rods when said assembler slide reaches a predetermined position.

8. An attachment for linotype machines 7 adapted to be actuatediby manipulation of levers, holdout collars mounted 'on said rod.

in position to engage their respective levers and hold the same in inoperative position, a

' spring for normally urging said rod into inoperative position, means controlled by movement of the assembler slide o-f'the machine-for moving said rod into operative position against the force of said spring to thereby render said leversinoperative, and

a manually controlled'latch for locking said holdout mechanism inoperative position. 11. In an attachment for linotype machines the combination of a plurality of 'keyboard rod actuating levers, cams for actuating said levers, and means controlled by the position of the assembler slide for automatically throwing said levers out of operation in predetermined succession.

12. In an attachment for linotype machines the combination of a plurality of keyboard rod actuating levers, cams for actuat ing the same, automatic means controlled by movementof the assembler slide for throwing said levers out of operation in predeterminedsequence, and manually controlled means for rendering said levers operative.

13. In an attachment for linotype machines the combination of a' series of keyboardrod actuating levers arranged in sets,

-means whereby one or anotherof said set-s may be rendered inoperative, lever actuating'means, manually controlled means for initiating the operation of the operative set,

and automatic meanscontrolled by movement of the'assemblerslide for rendering iprovided witl notches the levers of said operative set inoperative in predetermined succession when a predeterminedpoint in theline is reached.

- let. In an attachment for linotype Inachines the combination of a series of keyboard rod actuating levers arranged in sets, manually controlled means for rendering any set. inoperative at Will, automatic means, including a stop finger adjustably disposed in the path of an element carried .by-the assembler slide, for rendering the levers of the operative set inoperative in predetermined sequence, and manually operable means for renderingthe levers of the op-' -erative set operative.

' 15'; In an attachment for linotype, machines the'combinat'ionof a series of keyboard rod actuating levers arranged in sets, shift mechanism for holding. the levers of a predetermined set out of operation, auto- 'matic means, including an adjustable stop finger adapted toibe actuated by movement of the assembler slide,for throwing the levers-of the operative set out of operation in predetermined sequence, and manually controlledmeans for throwing the levers. of the inoperative'set into operation.

16. In an attachment 'for linotype machines the combination of a plurality of keyboard rod actuating levers, means for auto matically actuating the same, and means for automatically throwingsaid levers out of operation, said last mentionedmeans comprising a stop finger adapted to be engaged by an element of the'asseinbl'er Slide of the machine, an adjustable slide upon which said finger is carried, a pair of relatively adjustable bars between which said slide is mounted,--o'ne of said bars being provided with a plea scale and the other bar being correspondingly spaced,'ineansfor effecting a point adjustment of said last mentioned bar, a rock shaft adapted to be actuated upon movement of said bars through the intermediary of said finger-and mean'srcontrolled by said rock shaft for throwing saidyfingers out of operation in predetermined sequence.

" 4 HARRISON E. BENEDICT,

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