US2806299A - Lettering guide - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 17, 1957 F. DUBAS LETTERING cums Filed June 4, 1951 ill- IN VEN TOR.

WZM'

2,806,299 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 LETTERING GUIDE Henry F. Dubas, North Judson, Ind.

Application June 4, 1951, Serial No. 229,815

6 Claims. (CI. 3537) My invention relates to a drafting instrument and more particularly to an improved lettering guide for draftsmen and the like.

In making engineering or working drawings a substantial part of the time is consumed in lettering the notes thereon. The usual procedure is to pencil horizontal parallel guide lines on the sheet the desired distance apart and draw the letters thereon and therebetwecn. It also is necessary for most draftsmen to pencil either slanting or vertical direction lines" across the said horizontal lines as an aid in keeping the lettering uniform, but since extra time is consumed in drawing these additional guide lines they are in many cases left out and as a result the lettering becomes poorly executed and many otherwise good drawings are given a careless appearance. Quite a number of instruments have been developed for facilitating the drawing of the aforesaid guide lines, but whether these instruments are used or not, it is obvious that comparatively much time is consumed in drawing the said guide lines and, more or less, erasing them out after they have served their purpose.

Practically all of the working drawings are now made on transparent or semitransparent sheets, and conse quently some draftsmen have abolished to a limited extent the drawing of pencil guide lines by placing a sheet of cross section paper under a drawing, but this practice has decided drawbacks. The said cross section paper must be manipulated so that the horizontal lines thereon are made parallel to the Tsquare or straightedge and this requires patience and consumes time. Also, in many cases it becomes necessary to untape a part of the drawing before the cross section paper can be properly posi tioned thereunder. and then the latter must be removed and the drawing retaped before work on the drawing can be continued without interference.

It is, therefore, the primary object of my invention to provide an improved lettering guide which abolishes the drawing of pencil guide lines and the erasing thereof, and which is quick setting and self parallelizing to a T-square or the like, so that valuable time may be saved when lettering notes on drawings.

Another object lies in providing a lettering guide of the fore going character which will aid in making either sloped, or vertical lettering uniform, so that notes on drawings will he neatly and properly executed.

A further object resides in providing a lettering guide of the foregoing character which will make it possible to letter a substantially long note consisting of many lines with only one quick setting of the lettering guide.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a lettering guide of the foregoing character which is durable, practical and very ease to use, one that is simple and inexpensive, to manufacture, and one which can be made of readily available material.

With these and other objects in view, my invention may be realized by the novel construction. combinations and arrangements as will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of my improved lettering guide illustrating manner of using the same in conjunction with a drawing and a T-square;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, top plan view of the lettering guide;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, longitudinal section, on a magnified scale, looking in the direction of the arrows on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, top plan view of another form of my lettering guide;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section, on a larger scale, looking in the direction of the arrows on line 55 of Fig. 4',

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating the manner of using the same and Fig. 7 is a plan view of still another form of my lettering guide showing the manner of using the same.

Referring more in detail to the drawing and particularly to Fig. 2, it) indicates the blade" of the lettering guide upon which are formed suitable elongated horizontal parallel guide lines ll, sloped guide lines 12, and vertical guide lines 13. The said blade 10 may be formed preferably of a relatively light gauge flat sheet of opaque white plastic, or of metal, or of any suitable material. The said blade I0 is arranged horizontally and its upper and lower edges 8 and 9 are preferably parallel. The said blade 10 is elongated but wide enough to accommodate a sufiicient number of horizontal guide lines 11 which will make it possible to letter a substantially long note consisting of many lines without resetting or shift ing the instrument. The said blade is preferably smoothly finished and preferably white, and the guide lines thereon are preferably jet black so they may be plainly seen through the transparent and semitransparent drawing sheets which are predominately used today. it is preferable that the blade 10 be fabricated of light gauge material, not only for economic reasons, but so that it would be flexible and easily handled even in close quarters.

The head 14 of the lettering guide is substantially a fiat rectangular frame with one of its vertical sides removed. A vertical trunk or stem 16 carries at its upper end a right-angled elongated arm 17. and a similarly formed arm 18 at its lower end which underlies arm 17. The outer edges 19 and 29 of said arms 17 and 18 will henceforth be known as guiding edges," and it is important to note that the effective portions (portions which contact a straightedge) of the said guiding edges 19 and 20 are parallel in relation to each other. Centrally positioned in trunk 16 and between arms 17 and 18 there may be a groove 15 into which is inserted one end of blade 10 which is immovably fixed therein by either cement. rivets, or other suitable means. It is very important to have the horizontal guide lines 11 on blade 10 parallel to guiding edges 19 and 20. it must be noted that arms 17 and 18 are spaced :1 suitable distance apart to form long and narrow gaps or openings 21 and 22 when blade 10 is positioned therebetwen. The said gap; 21 and 22 have been provided so that arms 17 and 18 may he slid over a drawing sheet as shown in Fig. I so that blade 10 may be pushed in further under a drawing. thereby decreasing the overall length of the guide and making it more compact. The head 14 may be formed preferably of a fiat plastic sheet, or it may be formed of metal. or any other suitable material. A complete lettering guide. head and blade, may be formed in one piece from a flat sheet of plastic, or any suitable material. and in this event a little heavier gauge of material is preferable so that arms 17 and 18 will not creep under a T-square or straightedge. This instrument may also be formed, in its entirety, of molded plastic or other suitable material. One of the extending arms on head 14 may be eliminated,

but it is preferable to have an upper and a lower arm, 17 and 18, because it then makes it possible to use the reversed side of the lettering guide for a different size set of guide lines, thereby considerably increasing the usefulness of the instrument.

The simplicity of using my improved lettering guide is illustrated in Fig. i. To letter a note, blade is merely pushed under a drawing to where the note is wanted and simultaneously keeping the guiding edge of head 14 against the T-square, and simply lettering the note on the guide lines which are visible through the drawing sheet. Since horizontal guide lines 11 are parallel to guiding edges 19 and 20, it is obvious that the said guide lines 11 will be parallel to the T-squarc when either edge 10 or 20 is placed against a T-square. The dotted outline of the lettering guide on the right side of Fig. 1 shows that this guide can also be worked from the right side of a drawing, and since this instrument can be worked from either the left or right side of a drawing, it is obvious that it may he used on large size drawings as well as small ones.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a simplified form of my invention, and in this form 34 indicates the head which may be rectangular in form, and from one of the sides, centrally positioned, extends a horizontally elongated blade upon which are formed guide lines 31, 32 and 33. For reasons given hereinbefore the horizontal guide lines 31 must be parallel to guiding edges 35 and 36. It must be noted that blade 30 is narrower than the height of head 34, or the distance between guiding edges 35 and 36, and the purpose of this is to keep the lower edge of blade 30 a suitable distance away from the T-square when the guiding edge of head 34 is placed against the T-square. The said suitable distance or gap just referred to is indicated by 39 in Fig. 6. The said gap 39 is a very important factor because it provides room for the drawing paper to rise from under a T-square to over the blade 30 without interfering with the parallelization of the horizontal guide lines 31 when the guiding edge of head 34 is placed squarely against a T-square. Incident ly, the said factor applies to all forms of this instrument. For instance, it will be noted that when the guiding edge of any form of lettering guide head or frame" is placed against a T-square the lower edge of the blade which carries the guide lines is, in all cases, a suitable distance away from the T-square and if an arm intervenes then the blade in the latter event is kept a suitable distance away from the said arm (see Figs. 2 and 7). The particular form of lettering guide shown in Fig. 4 may be formed of a fiat sheet of plastic, or of any other suitable material and fabricated in one piece as shown. The head 34 may also be made separately and the blade 30 attached thereto in any suitable manner.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated still another form of my in vention having a blade upon which are formed the horizontal guide lines 51, sloped guide lines 52 and vertical guide lines 53. The said blade 50 is vertically disposed and is substantially a rectangle which is inclosed in a frame-like member 54 whose inside edges 55, 56 and 57 are kept a suitable distance from the blade 50 to provide sufficient room for drawing paper to go over the blade 50 and under the frame 54 without binding when the instrument is being set for use. The blade 50 is supported at the top of the frame 54 or suitably attached thereto. The entire instrument may be formed of a relatively thin sheet of plastic or any suitable material in one piece as shown, or the frame 54 may be made separately of metal or other suitable material and the blade 50 fastened at the top thereto in any suitable manner. The outside lower edge 58 of frame 54 is the guiding edge of this particular form of a lettering guide and it is important to note that the said guiding edge 58 is parallel to the horizontal guide lines 51. This particu-- lar form of my lettering guide is used vertically as shown in Fig. 7. The blade 50 which carries the guide lines Ill is simply pushed under the top of a drawing sheet while frame 54 is kept on the drawing and guiding edge 58 is placed against the T-square. This particular form of instrument can also be worked upwardly from the lower edge of a drawing towards the lower edge of a T-square straightedge and may thusly be used on large drawings as well as small ones.

It is to be understood that various elements may be substituted for those herein illustrated and described and the structural design of the presented forms may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention. Hence, while I have described my invention in its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the words which I have used are merely words of illustration and not of limitation, and that changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A lettering guide for lettering notes on transparent and semi-transparent drawing sheets with the aid of a straightedge, said lettering guide comprising, an elongated blade having elongated horizontal parallel guide lines, a head on said blade adjacent one end thereof and extending downwardly in the plane of the blade a distance beyond the lower edge of the blade, said head at its lower edge being formed into a straight guiding edge located a distance transversely below the lower edge of the blade and parallel to said horizontal guide lines, said lettering guide being self-contained and free of any exterior fastening means, whereby it may be placed loosely with its said straight guiding edge against and parallel with the straightedge with a space between the straightedge and the adjacent edge of the blade through which space the drawing sheet is adapted to pass upwardly from below the straightedge and over the upper surface of the blade so that notes may be lettered on the drawing sheet directly over the blade.

2. A lettering guide for lettering notes on transparent and semi-transparent sheets of drawing paper, cloth and the like with the aid of a straightedge, said lettering guide comprising, an elongated blade upon which are formed elongated horizontal parallel guide lines, a head on one end of said blade, said head being fiat and of greater width than the blade in a direction transversely of the blade, said head having a straight guiding edge positioned a substantial distance below the lower edge of the blade and parallel to said horizontal guide lines, said guiding edge being for placement against a straightedge with a space between the straightedge and the adjacent edge of the blade through which space the drawing sheet is adapted to pass upwardly from below the straightedge and over the upper surface of the blade, whereby notes may be lettered on the drawing sheet directly over the blade.

3. A lettering guide for lettering notes on transparent and semi-transparent drawing sheets with the aid of a straightedge, said lettering guide comprising, an elongated fiat horizontally disposed blade having horizontal parallel guide lines a head on said blade and having a horizontally disposed arm underlying the blad and spaced a distance away from the lower edge of the blade, said arm having an elongated bottom guiding edge parallel to said horizontal guide lines, said guiding edge being for placement against a straightedge so that a drawing sheet may be passed upwardly from below the straightedge and over the upper surface of the blade for enabling the lettering of notes on the drawing sheet directly over the blade.

4. A lettering guide as claimed in claim 3, in which the head also has a horizontally disposed arm overlying the blade and spaced a distance upwardly from the upper edge of the blade, said upper arm having on its upper edge an elongated guiding edge parallel to said horizontal guide lines and said bottom guiding edge.

5. A lettering guide for lettering notes on transparent and semi-transparent sheets of drawing paper, cloth and the like with the aid of a straightedge, said lettering guide comprising, an elongated blade upon which are formed elongated horizontal parallel guide lines, a head on one end of said blade, said head being flat and of greater width than the blade in a direction transversely of the blade, said head having a straight guiding edge positioned a distance below the lower edge of the blade and parallel to said horizontal guide lines, said guiding edge being for placement against a straightedge with a space between the straightedge and the adjacent edge of the blade through which space the drawing sheet is adapted to pass upwardly from below the straightedge and over the upper surface of the blade, whereby notes may be lettered on the drawing sheet directly over the blade, said head also extending upwardly and having a straight guiding edge on a higher level in relation to the upper edge of the blade and parallel to said horizontal guide lines, whereby either of said guiding edges may be selectively placed against the straightedge.

6. A lettering guide for lettering notes on transparent and semi-transparent drawing sheets, comprising, a longitudinally elongated fiat blade having parallel guide lines extending longitudinally thereon, and parallel guide lines extending transversely thereon, a head on said blade, said head being of greater width than the width of the blade and extending transversely beyond both of the side edges of the blade, each of said transverse extensions of the head having an arm extending in a direction longitudinally of the blade and therealong, the inner edge of each of said arms being transversely spaced from the adjacent edge of the blade, said arms having outer straight edges parallel to each other and to the longitudinally extending guide lines of the blade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 435,051 Spencer Aug. 26, 1890 1,324,182 Spaull Dec. 9, 1919 1,351,534 Perdue et a1 Aug. 31, 1920 2,016,985 Carlson Oct. 8, 1935

Images