US2703171A - Typographical composing machine - Google Patents

Description

Marph l, 1955 P. HILPMAN 2,703,171

' TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING MACHINE Filed July 9, 1952 I INVENTOR:

-Ml BY WM Km ai 84 MB,

United States Patent 2,703,171 I TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING MACHINE Paul Hilpman, Garden City, N. Y., assignor to- Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application July 9, 1952, Serial No. 297,886

3 Claims. (Cl. 199-.45)

This invention relates to typographical composing machines, such as Linotype machines of the general organization represented in Letters Patent of the United States No. 436,532 to O. Mergenthaler, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in print and then composed in line, the composed line transferred to the face of a mold, the mold filled with molten metal to form a slug or type bar against the matrices which produce the characters thereon, and the matrices thereafter elevated and returned through distributing mechanism to the magazine from which they started.

The magazines serve as storage cases for different matrix fonts and, to this end, are independently removable and replaceable in such machines. Generally, machines are equipped with a plurality of magazines, one above the other, the magazines being supported on separate base frames that can be spread apart to permit access to the magazine to be removed. Each base frame is equipped with a pivoted magazine lifting and supporting plate which is adapted to be swung upwardly to raise the lower end of the magazine above the assembler throat into position for removal.

On all typographical machines of this general organization, it is essential that the magazine hug the base frame, especially at the upward end, to retain the proper relationship between the upper end of the magazine and the lower end of the channel entrance, which latter connects the distributor with the operative magazine. This proper relationship is essential to insure smooth passage for the matrices into their respective storage channels in the magazine. At present, it is the current design on all commercial machines to rely on gravity to hold the magazines against the frames, but the upper section of the magazine is usually void of matrices and, consequently, lacks sutficient weight to insure proper seating. This condition often results in additional factory cost to overcome the deficiency. In addition, in typographical machines of the high speed class, described in a pending application of L. Rossetto et al., Serial No. 184,072, filed September 9, 1950, the inclination of the magazine is seventy degrees (70) from the horizontal, much steeper than the normal angle of inclination of about thirty-seven degrees (37) in standard machines, wherefore it is apparent that the gravity design is even less effective in maintaining the desired relationship between the magazine and the channel entrance in machines of this latter class.

One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome the above defects at a minimum cost and without requiring any additional manual manipulation or attention on the part of the operator, who is burdened enough by the weight of the magazines in removing and replacing them. Toward this end, pressure exerting means, of a self-locking and self-releasing character, are provided to hold the upper end of the magazine firmly down upon the base frame when the magazine is in its operative position.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the upper portion of a magazine base frame equipped with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a right side elevation, partly in cross section, of a magazine and its supporting frame, illustrating the normal and locked position of the magazine; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating the raised and unlocked position of the magazine.

The matrices are delivered to their proper storage channels in a magazine 1 after passing through a channel entrance 2 leading from the distributor. In composition, the matrices are released fromjth lower or discharge end of the magazine by the usual escapements (not shown).

The magazine is mounted on a base frame 3 which is provided with a long pivoted longitudinal member or center board 4 having a lippo'r'tion 5 at its extreme lower end. At its upper end, the center board is pivotally connected to the base frame-" 3 by means of lateral pins 6, and the center board is forrned with a longitudinal groove 7 (Fig. 1) to receive andgiride the usual longitudinal center bar 8 of the magazine. The center bar 8 is attached to the back or underside of the magazine by means of several parallel cross-ribs '9, and it is not quite as long as the magazine, so that the magazine slightly overhangs the center bar. The magazine rests against banking surfaces on the base frame 3 at the extreme upper and lower ends thereof, the upper banking surface being designated by the reference character 3, and the magazine is both located and supported by the engagement of the lower end of the center bar 8 against the lip 5. In commercial machines, safety provision (not shown) is made to prevent the magazine from sliding off the lower end of the center bar.

When the machine is equipped with a plurality of magazines, the magazines and their respective base frames are nested together in very close parallel relation, and in order to facilitate the removal and replacement of magazines, the nesting arrangement is first fanned out and the magazine to be removed is then raised from the base frame by pivotally lifting the lower end off the center board 4. Such lifting of' the center board is effected by depressing a hand lever 10 mounted at the left side of the base frame 3. The hand lever (see Fig. 3) is connected to a centrally located plate or cam 11 by a horizontal rockshaft 12 in the baseframe 3, and at one side the plate is provided with an; upstanding latch 11 which is adapted to engage a laterally projecting pin of the center board 4 in its raised position. The upper surface of the plate 11 underlies a downwardly depending arm or flap 13 loosely pivoted in thelframe 3 above the rockshaft 12, and the arrangement is such that as the plate 11 is rotated by the rockshaft in a counterclockwise direction from the position indicated in Fig. 2 to the position indicated in Fig. 3, the upper surface of the plate cams the arm 13 upwardly in a clockwise direction against the underside of the center'board 4, thereby raising both the center board and the magazine thereon. The latch 11 maintains the center board in its raised position while the magazine is removed and replaced. The reversal of the process is accomplished by raising the lever 10.

The above parts and their mode of operation are standard in the machine described in the aforementioned patent application, and are generally similar to the arrangement shown and described in the McNamara Patent No. 1,586,316.

As explained above, the matrices stored in the magazine fall by gravity to the lower end thereof and, consequently, the magazine does not always have sufiicient weight at the top to insure proper seating against the upper banking surface 3, especially in cases where the lower plate or bottom surface of the magazine is slightly bent or warped. This condition causes the upper receiving end of the magazine to be out of line with the discharge end of the channel entrance, depriving the matrices of a smooth passage therebetween.

In order to maintain the proper relation between the magazine and the channel entrance, the present invention provides a hold down catch in the form of a hook end spring 15 to exert pressure on the magazine to force it against the seat 3. The spring 15 is fastened at its lower end to the base frame 3 directly underneath the center board 4, while the upper hook end extends through and above the center board, the upper end of the grooved portion of the center board being slotted or cut away at 4 for this purpose. The location and the forward bend in the spring cause it to bear against the lower edge 4 of the slot 4; consequently, the spring follows the center board as it is swung toward and from the base frame 3. The hook is arranged to engage the upper end of the magazine center bar 8- and, as the center board is lowered against the base frame 3, the spring 15 is cammed back against the frame in the position shown in Fig. 2, the spring being designed to exert a force of the order of 20 to 25 lbs. on the upper end of the magazine. It has been found that this pressure is sufiicient to afford proper seating. When the center boardv 4 is raised (see Fig. 3), the hook end of the spring. travels forwardly, following the slot edge 4 of the center board and releasing the pressure exerted on the center bar 8, so that the magazine can be readily removed and replaced.

The raising and lowering of the center board is always necessary when changing magazines, and since the locking and releasing operations of the spring catch 15 are automatically controlled by the movement of the center board, it is evident that no additional manual effort is imposed on the operator.

The present invention has been shown and described in preferred form and as applied to a machine of the high speed class merely by way of example; obviously it is equally applicable to standard machines, wherein the angle of inclination of the magazines is thirty-seven degrees (37) from the horizontal. In other words, many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it should be understood, therefore, that the invention is not to be limited to any specific form or arrangement except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of a matrix storage magazine, a base frame upon which the magazine is supported, said base frame having a seating surface at its upper end against which the upper end of the magazine is adapted to bank by gravity, a

magazine supporting and lifting member pivoted at its upper end in the-base. frame at a point near but below saidmagazine seating surface, and a spring catch which holds the magazine under pressure down upon the seating surface of the base frame when said pivoted member occupies its normal or lower position, said catch being located below said pivoted member with its lower end anchored to the base frame at a point remote from the pivot and with its upper hook shaped end in engagement with an underpart of the magazine below the upper end thereof, and said pivoted member when in its normal or lower position engaging and holding the spring catch under the desired stress and when in its raised position releasing said catch and permitting its hook shaped upper end to be disengaged from the magazine.

2. A combination according to claim 1, wherein the magazine is provided with a longitudinal center bar which fits into a corresponding groove formed in the pivoted member and which terminates short of the upper end of the magazine, and wherein the hook shaped upper end of the spring catch engages from above the upper end of said center bar.

3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein the pivoted member is slotted at its upper end and wherein the spring catch enters said slot in the raised position of said member in becoming disengaged from the magazine.

References. Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 848,310 Kennedy Mar. 26, 1907 1,586,3l6 McNamara May 25, 1926 2,157,795 Mead May 9, I939

Images