US2071458A - Laying-out and printing device - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 23, 1937. J. B. ENNIS- OUT AND PRINTING DEVICE LAYING- Filed March 27, 1935 INVENTOR guflflnnds' w WL/ ATT 1 J'osp ORNEY I;

WITNESSES Patented Feb. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 10 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in drawing boards in the class of furniture, and its objects are as follows:

First, to provide a device especially arranged to facilitate the laying-out of inscriptions, epitaphs and designs to be carved in stone, but generally adaptable to any industry requiring accurate and rapid lettering.

Second, to couple the foregoing device with such a system or method of use as will enable the operator to lay out an inscription in any foreign language of which he may be totally ignorant, and do it with the same accuracy and dispatch as though he were perfectly familiar with it.

Third, to use in conjunction with the device an especially constructed form of indicia which, using an alphabetical letter as an example, consists of a raised outline on an indicia block, said outline being in the form of raised beads which are appropriately spaced from each other to give shape to the various parts of the letter, a particular consideration being to employ blunted serifs (wherever serifs occur) so as to insure a distinct impression on the stone after sandblasting as fully brought out below.

Fourth, to provide a drafting appliance which will enable even a person of little skill to lay out an epitaph or inscription for a tomb stone and 30 the like more perfectly and much faster than could a highly skilled draftsman, thereby increasing the efficiency of the shop.

Fifth, to provide a drafting appliance for producing a delineated lay-out, which appliance differs in character from the use of known drawing boards in this respect that the composition board, as it is herein known, is provided with means to hold one or more indicia blocks the indicia of which may consist of the letters of the type described in any language, numbers, pictorial designs, etc., also that it is provided with means to guide a slidably movable straight-edge along one side of the board, said straight-edge carrying a sheet of paper which is movable back and forth across the indicia blocks by virtue of moving the straight-edge, the indicia being rubbed or marked through in reversed form on the top side of the paper by simply bearing down on the paper with a crayon and following the raised line of the indicia until the entire lay-out is perfected.

Sixth, to provide a method of producing a copy for direct transfer to any commercially-used prepared coating on stone or other material preliminarily to cutting said stone or material by a sand-blast or chisel, said method consisting of shifting a properly guided sheet of paper or the like in various directions over stationary type of the particular style herein disclosed, and then rubbing or marking the type edges through the paper until a line of text is finished.

Seventh, to provide a printing device which uses stationary type and movable paper in a newly discovered manner according to which a single font of type is sufficient for any legend that one may desire to produce.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the improved laying-out and printing device, showing it in readiness for producing the inscription JOS ENNIS.

Figure 2 is a detail view of a portion of the finished paper, showing it as directly lifted from the device, the inscription JOS ENNIS being in reverse.

Figure 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, illustrating all of the parts in their proper relationship but showing the clamp bar raised preparatory to gripping the paper.

Figure 4 is a plan view of one of the indicia blocks, especially illustrating the raised beads which outline the contour of the letter.

Figure 5 is a cross section taken on the line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective view of a modification which involves a change in construction in the clamping arrangement of the straightedge as well as a difference in construction in the composition board.

Figure '7 is a detail perspective view of a further modification according to which the paper is attached to a simple straight-edge by means of thumb tacks.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are detail views which illustrate the system of laying out an inscription in a foreign language.

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the form of indicia block which will be used in this system.

The invention is particularly intended for use in the monument making industry, although it is not confined to such use as has been indicated already. This industry especially is coming to almost exclusive use of the sand-blast method of carving inscriptions and designs on memorials.

In practice, the face of the stone is covered with a gelatinous sheet called glue which is impervious to the sand-blast. The inscription may either be marked on the glue or may be transferred to the glue by drawing a negative on a sheet of paper which is then put face down on the moist glue for the purpose of transferring the markings. The latter method is customarily used. The inscription is stenciled out of the glue with a special knife which leaves bare the stone to be cut away. Methods hitherto devised for laying-out the negative ready for transfer have proved too costly and inefficient, and for these reasons the instant appliance has been devised to the ends of speed, accuracy, artistry and cheapness.

The composition board I, constituting base means, is usually made of wood, and it can be manufactured in any size or shape. For the purpose of the present illustration the board is shown rectangular, the work being done lengthwise of the board. However, the work can be done on a curve, for which purpose the board and its accessories will be constructed to serve that purpose. Guide means consist of a rabbet 2 running the entire long dimension of the board across one edge of its top, the shoulder 3 of the rabbet being reinforced by a sheet metal strip 4 which has bends 5, 6 from the main body of the strip in opposite directions, so that the bend 5 faces the shoulder 3 and the bend 6 stands erect from the working surface 1 of the board on which it forms a locking rib.

In order to have the top of the strip 4 flush with the surface 1 the board is grooved out at 8 (Fig. 3) for a distance equal to the thickness of the strip. This enables laying the indicia block perfectly fiat on the surface I. At this point it should be understood that the locking means for the indicia blocks does not necessarily consist of a rib integral with a facing strip such as 4. The locking rib or its equivalent can be set in the board I as presently shown, in parallelism to the guide means which the rabbet 2 affords.

Each of the indicia blocks, now designated 9 (Fig. 4), is identical in principle, and this is true regardless of what the indicia on it may consist of, whether a letter in the home or a foreign languageby double raised beads (Fig. 5). These provide marking edges, and their purpose is to produce a line on the superimposed paper when borne down upon by the crayon C as in Fig. 1.

In some instances the indicia I0 is supplemented by a match line or lines I I, or some suitable substitute for the line, for instance one or more points. The line or match points aid in lining up the characters for producing a straight line of text, and their chief value lies in making a straight negative on the paper, because the indicia blocks themselves are assured of being lined up straight because of their being interlocked with the composition board. For this purpose the underside of each block has a transverse groove l2 which, in most instances, is used in conjunction with the locking means 6; in short, the indicia blocks are hooked onto the composition board straight across, or on a curve if the device is adapted to making curved inscriptions.

The form of the indicia, now considering this as an alphabetical letter of the English language, is considered as of prime importance. It is absolutely essential that when the letter is sandblasted on stone it must be perfectly clear in all of its parts when viewed from a reasonable distance. The letter A (Fig. 4) is what is known as of the Cloister style alphabet, but it has been modified in the following way: The serifs 21 are made blunt as is also the peak 28 of the slanting stems of the letter for the purpose of providing an adequate internal area at these points which will insure a distinct impression in the stone under the sand-blast.

The meaning here will be plain enough: In the conventional type of letter of this style the serifs (equivalents to 27) are made pointed, and merge into the stems of the letter with rounded fillets. This configuration, if subjected to the sandblast shallows out to nothing and gives an indis- The indicia 10 has its contour outlined.

tinct impression at a moderate distance. This is true of other letters wherein acute angles occur such as M, N, W and Z. On the other hand, the blunted serifs 21, and the small-diameter fillets joining the serifs with the slanting stems of the letter provide enough internal room to enable the sand to get in and cut out a distinct impression.

Another example occurs in the instance of the letter N (Fig. 1). Notice the right foot 29. To avoid a pointed foot, the bottom is broadened to the width of the right vertical stem, the slanting bar is directed as though to intersect said stem at a place up from the bottom, but then is connected with the bottom by a curved fillet as shown at 29. This produces a blunted stem which provides ample interior room for the purposes of the sand-blast. In general, acute corners are eliminated by using blunt serifs, blunted corners and fillets where appropriate.

The straight-edge I3 is slidably movable in the rabbet 2 which guides it across the top of the board. This is made in two main parts, the guide bar i l and the clamp bar IS. The latter has 2. depending rib IE (or it may be a series of teeth) which is adapted to enter a matching groove 11 in the bar [4 and grip a sheet of paper l8 (preferably tracing paper) in place when the bar I5 is forced down in a clamping position on the bar l4.

Means for forcing the clamp bar l5 down consists of two upstanding screw studs l9 which are fixed in the bar [4 so that they will not turn. These studs go through openings 20 in the bar l5 (Fig. 3). These openings are counterbored at 2| on the underside of the bar to make room to provide shoulders 22 for the upper ends of springs 23 to rest against. The lower ends of the springs rest on the bar I4. The screw studs are in threaded engagement with screw bushings 2 3 fixed in knobs 25 which have openings 26 extending upwards beyond the bushings. Turning of the knobs in one direction screws them downward upon the screw studs so that the clamp bar 15 is forced down into the gripping position against the tension of the springs.

It is to be understood that the construction of the device in Fig. 1 is not necessarily adhered to. Fig. 6 illustrates a modification. Here the straight-edge ifi consists of a guide bar M which is notched (although not necessarily so) at each end as at 3!! to contain the base 3! of any ordinary kind of spring catch 32 or its equivalent. The bar M is longitudinally grooved at I! as before.

Stout wood screws 33 (only one is shown) are driven into the bar M near the ends. These screws stand well up beyond the top surface of the bar, and their heads form limiting means for the clamp bar I'E This bar has a slightly oversized hole near the end for the head of the respective wood screw. Each hole is closed by a button 34 which, incidentally, provides a handy point of reference in the use of the device. A spring 35 (one at each end) has its ends seated in recesses 36, 3? in the lower and upper bars. Its tendency is to push the bars apart. The screws 33 guide the sliding movements of the clamp bar and, obviously, they keep the bars in line. The clamp bar has a rib le as before, and when this is brought down on the paper the two bars are held in the clamped position by means of the catches 32. By merely tripping the hooks of these catches the clamp bar will spring to the released position.

The board l now has a perfectly plain rabbet 2 the former sheet metal strip 4 being omitted.

As previously suggested, the locking means 6 merely comprises a metal strip set in a groove in the board. This groove is necessarily parallel to the rabbet. A further modification and simplification is illustrated in Fig. 7, Here the straightedge 23 is a plain, cross-sectionally non-circular bar. This can be fitted out either with upstanding pins onto which the paper can be impaled, or the latter can be fastened down onto the straight-edge by thumb tacks 38. The thumb tacks eventually will bore out the wood in the manner commonly experienced by draftsmen with drawing boards. But the straight-edge being a simple bar wood is readily replaced. If upstanding pins are used in lieu of thumb tacks damage to the bar will not occur. These variations are disclosed to show how simple the straight-edge can be made.

Fig. 6 is again. referred to in order to describe the use of the particular indicia blocks 9 illustrated therein. One of these is larger than the other, the letters A, themselves, being of different sizes, although each is a capital. Each block has a transverse groove l2 on the nether side, although only the groove of the large block is shown. In all indicia blocks the transverse groove occurs a definite distance below the top edge, say for example,

Now by hooking, so to speak, the groove li of the large indicia block on the locking means 6, and pushing the top edge of the small indicia block up against the locking means (not hooking its groove onto the locking means) the bottoms of the two letters will be brought into alinement. This efiects what one might call an upper and lower case arrangement, and this particular manner of use enables fancy lettering and ornamentation which is often demanded.

Another important characteristic of the inven tion is that it enables an operator to lay out any kind of an inscription in a language of which he is totally ignorant. The Hebrew language is taken as an example, although it might be Hungarian,

hinese, etc. This particular use of the device involves a system or method which comprises the following essentials: First, the rabbi, or other person sufficiently intelligent for insuring the accuracy required, is asked to rough-out the desired text on a. trial sheet of tracing paper. In Fig. 8 the tracing paper is denoted 39, and the characters are only part of one or more lines of text which it is desired to reproduce on the stone. These characters are positive, that is to say, they appear on the paper 39 as they will eventually read on the stone.

Second, the operator of the laying-out device turns the tracing paper over. The paper must be thin so that the operator can see through it conveniently. He then numbers each of the characters as at 2!. These numbers are solely for the purpose of identification, and they become the key between the unknown characters of the foreign language and the operators knowledge of what is required in order to produce the inscription.

on the paper (Fig. 9) and on the chart (Fig. 10). The first character of the inscription is ALEF in the Hebrew language, and since the two characters match, the first number on the paper (Fig. 9) will be 1. The next character will be 3 and so on through the entire inscription.

Fourth, the operator goes entirely by the numbers which he understands. Looking at these on the back of the paper 39 (Fig. 9) he will select from the box, or wherever the indicia blocks are kept, blocks of corresponding numbers. One of the foreign language blocks is shown in Fig. 11. The block is designated 5*. It is the same in all respects as the other blocks excepting that it is supplemented with the number 1 and the name ALEF of the first character of the Hebrew alphabet. The next block would be numbered 2 and supplemented with the name BETH, the second character of the language. The third block would be numbered 3 and entitled VETH and so on.

The selected indicia blocks are assembled on the composition board. The order in which they occur is not essential. A sheet of paper is inserted in the straight-edge, and rubbing begins. Inthis performance the operator goes by the numbers, watching the reverse side of the sheet (Fig. 9). He must be careful in going from one character to the next, so that the margins of the numbers in Fig. 9 are preserved. Should the inscription be so long as to require the laying out of several strips the latter should be labeled 1, 2, etc. in order to avoid errors.

Fifth, the resulting negative (similar to Fig. 2) is now transferred to the glue on the stone in the customary manner. With a little care an operator of even little experience will be able to layout an inscription in any language in a perfectly expert and correct manner.

The operation has already been described to some degree in the description of the system or use of the device as relates to a foreign language. This is briefly supplemented as follows: As many styles of letters as one may desire can be kept on hand, but of each style there will be only twentysix letters together with a set of numbers from 1 to 0, and auxiliary characters such as bars, periods and commas. Only those letters necessary for a desired inscription are set up on the board i it is immaterial how many times a given letter is duplicated in the inscription, the one indicia block bearing that letter is all that is required on the board.

Assume that it is desired to produce the letters JOS ENNIS. The following indicia blocks or plates are selected from the box: I, J, O, S, E, N.

This series of blocks is hooked upon the rib 5 by means of the grooves !2 which line up the series. About 20 of tracing paper I8 is attached to the straight-edge it, whether clamped in place as in Figs. 1, 6 or pinned on as in 7. It is to be observed that the knobs (Fig. 1) and screws 33 (Fig. 6) come near the extremities of the straigh edge. This leaves plenty of intervening room to slip the paper through and clamp it in a new place in case the operator is making a lay-out consisting of a number of lines of text and perhaps an intermediate design.

Fig. 1 illustrates the foregoing set-up. The operator works from right to left. The straightedge i3 is shifted back and forth as many times as may be necessary to reach given letter. He rubs the outlines of the letters through on top of the tracing paper by means of the crayon C. A clear outline (Fig. 2) is the result. The proper Cir spacing will be observed, and before the operator rubs the next letter through, having already rubbed one through, he is able to study the efiect of the combination so that the finished product will achieve a stage of perfection which is dinicult to be equaled even by a skilled draftsman.

It is to be noticed that the length of an inscription is flexible in its final dimension by the simple expedient of stealing in the space between let ters. The eye is the critic of the proper spacing, just as the eye is the severest critic of the finished product. Such combinations as LT, WA, HIL and others are made to appear artistic and correct, something which is impossible in mechanical spacing.

When the paper is removed it will have somewhat of the appearance of Fig. 2. He should turn it over and look at it to see how the inscription will appear. If the operator has exercised even the minimum of care the letters will all be in perfeet form, every duplication being identical with the other. The line is now ready to be transferred to the glue, later to be stenciled out and sand-blasted as described at the beginning.

I claim:-

1. A device to facilitate laying out an inscription, said device comprising a composition board, means to hold a series of indicia blocks on the board, a straight-edge and means by which to secure a sheet of material large enough to extend over the blocks to the straight-edge so that the material will move with the straight-edge, and means by which to guide the straight-edge on the composition board in its sliding movements during which the sheet is selectively adjusted back and forth across the indicia blocks.

In furniture, a device to facilitate laying out an inscription comprising a composition board, means to hold a series of indicia blocks on the board, a, straight-edge and means included therein to grip a sheet of material large enough to extend over the blocks, and means by which to guide the straight-edge on the composition board in its sliding movements during which the r sheet is selectively adjusted across the indicia locks.

3. A device to facilitate laying out an inscription, said device comprising a composition board, means to hold a series of indicia blocks on the board, the indicia on each block consisting of fine, upstanding beads outlining the contour of the indicia, a straight-edge and means by which a sheet of material is attached to the straightedge, said sheet being large enough to extend over the blocks, and means by which to guide the straight-edge on the composition board in its sliding movements during which the sheet is selectively moved back and forth across the indicia blocks as the ribs of selected indicia are rubbed through.

i. In furniture, base means on which to fixedly attach a series of indicia blocks, movable means to grip a sheet of material to be worked upon by reproducing the outlines of the indicia on said material, and means to guide the movable means on the base means with the sheet of material over the indicia blocks, said movable means being adjustable in order to select the indicia for reproduction.

5. A device for laying out inscriptions and the like comprising a composition board, locking means on the board, a series of indicia blocks held in place on the board by the locking means, movable means which has an arrangement for gripping a sheet of material to be moved back and forth over the series of blocks, and means by which to guide the movable means on the board in its movements during which the sheet of material is variously adjusted to selected. blocks for the production of the inscription by tracing the outlines of the indicia through.

6. A device for laying out inscriptions comprising a composition board, indicia blocks of different sizes having upstanding letter outlines of different sizes, each block having a transverse groove on the nether side an identical distance from the top edge of the respective block, a rib on the board onto which the large-sized blocks can be hooked at their grooves, the smaller blocks with the small-sized letters being pushed up against the rib for upper and lower case composition, movable means which has an arrangement for holding a sheet of material to be moved back and forth over the series of blocks, and means by which to guide the movable means on the board in its movements during which the sheet of material is variously adjusted to selected blocks for the production of the inscription by tracing the outlines of the letters therethrough.

7. A device for laying out inscriptions and the like comprising a composition board which is rabbeted along one side, locking means in the form of an upstanding rib on the board, a series of indicia blocks which are grooved to set down on the rib and so hold the series in place on the board, and a straight-edge which is movably guided on the board by being seated in the rabbet, said straight-edge including means to grip a sheet of material which is movable back and forth over the indicia blocks upon the movement of the straight-edge.

8. A device for laying out inscriptions and the like consisting of a composition board which is rabbeted along one edge to form a shoulder, a metal strip attached to the board, said strip having a down bend to reinforce the shoulder and an up bend to form a locking rib, a series of indicia blocks which have grooves set down on the rib so as to hold the series in place on the board, and a straight-edge which is movable across the board, said straight-edge including a guide bar which is seated in the rabbet, a clamp bar, and means by which to fix the two bars together and to clamp a sheet of material therebetween in position to extend over the indicia blocks.

9. A device for laying out inscriptions consisting of a composition board which is rabbeted along one edge to form a shoulder, a metal strip set in the board in spaced relationship to the shoulder, said strip being used in lining up a series of indicia blocks on the board, and a straight-edge to hold a sheet of material, said straight-edge including a guide bar which is slidably seated in the rabbet, a clamp bar and resilient means for separating the two bars, fixed means upstanding from the guide bar and fitting in the clamp bar to guide the clamp bar, and means by which to temporarily hold the two bars together in a clamping position.

10. A device of the character described comprising stationary type, and means which is movable with respect to the type and which has provision for gripping a sheet of paper so that the paper is movable with respect to the type, the outlines of the type being adapted to be rubbed through the paper as the paper is selectively adjusted across the type.

JOSEPH B. ENNIS.

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