US2888865A - Type composing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

June 2, 1959 w. w. GARTH, JR 2,888,865

' 'TYPE COMPOSING APPARATUS Filed March 16, 1956 Fig. 2

I I Fig.4- 5 2 H2 Flg. l --24 INVENTOR.

WILLIAM w. GARTH, JR.

BY 1/ M ATTORNEYS TYPE COMPOSING APPARATUS William W. Garth, Jr., Concord, Mass., assignor to Graphic Arts Research Foundation, Inc., Cambridge, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application March 16, 1956, Serial No. 572,028

2 Claims. (Cl. 95-45) The present invention relates generally to photographic type composing apparatus, and more specifically to apparatus for projecting a given character to any one of a plurality of positions displaced vertically with respect to the normal base line of the type.

One may find numerous instances in the field of type composition, whether by photographic or metal type techniques, wherein it is desired to print a particular character or symbol in a position either raised or lowered in relation to the base line upon which the characters are normally aligned. Mathematics composition is perhaps the most obvious by reason of its common use of numbers, letters and other symbols as superscripts and subscripts or the inferiors or superiors thereof. Even in text composition one commonly finds the use of footnote symbols that are raised above the line of text.

The operational problems raised by these usages in printing are to be distinguished from the relatively simple vertical spacing of successive lines as in ordinary text copy. In the present case, by reason of the fact that the elevated or depressed symbol is usually not spaced from the base line by the full width of the leading employed, it is advantageous and in fact in many cases necessary to provide for the elevation or depression of the character or symbol without resorting to the operation of that mechanism employed in line spacing. When viewed in this light the problems are indeed comprehensive, and they encompass other common forms of type composition such as organic chemistry notation, music and certain other writing forms, particularly in foreign languages such as those of the Middle East.

An object of this invention is to provide means in photographic type composing apparatus for projecting a given character upon the normal base line of type composition, or above or below it by a predetermined distance, according to the desired function of the character, without disturbing the normal sequence of successive character projections in the line of type, and specifically without the use of the line spacing apparatus.

A further object, closely related to the foregoing, is to provide means for controlling the size of the projected character image, as well as its vertical alignment, in accordance with accepted usages in the printing art. Thus it is common to employ a somewhat smaller point size, for a character used as a subscript or superscript, than would be employed if the character were projected upon the base line and not as a modifying symbol.

At present, the methods most commonly used for setting mathematics composition involve the use of metal types composed either manually or by machine. Most mathematics composition is done in either 10-point or 8-point sizes, the former for the body text and the latter for tables or footnotes, with 5-point and 6-point sizes for the various modifying symbols. As a result, it is found that an adequate type case involves in excess of 2300 separate characters. The operational complexities resulting from the need for such a large selection are commensurate with the difiiculties encountered in composing the more complex foreign languages which have alphabets far.

greater in numbers than those of English and the other principal Western European languages. It is accordingly another object of this invention to provide apparatus of a simplified form, yet which is adapted to accomplish all of the ends normally required in mathematics composition.

With the above and other objects in view the features of the invention reside in the provision of photographic type composing apparatus including a number of lenses disposed on a suitable support for alternative selection in projecting the characters according to their normal or symbolic function on to a sheet of sensitized film.

Another feature resides in providing projection lenses of variable point size, the point size of a given lens and the position to which its image is projected being mutually arranged and'adapted according to a specific predetermined function of the projected image, as for example as a superscript or subscript or a superior or inferior thereof.

Other features of the invention reside in certain details of construction and modes of operation that will become clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, and from the appended drawing illustrating the same.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a view showing the essential parts of a photographic composing apparatus according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view developed into a straight lineshowing a number of characters as they appear on the matrix support, with the spacing somewhat reduced.

Fig. 3 is a view showing a number of characters as composed in the body of a mathematics text;

Fig. 4 is a view showing a portion of a footnote in a mathematics text, the said footnote being appropriate in size and relative location of the modifying symbols for use under the text as shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the lens support taken on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown. an edgewise view of a continuously rotatable character matrix support 12, which may be substantially the same as the disc member D in Fig. 11 of Patent 2,682,814 to Higonnet et al. The disc 12 has an opaque coating with each character formed therein as a transparency,the characters being arranged in a circle about the axis of a shaft 14. Thus the characters are brought successively through a projection position opposite a very fast intermittent flash device 16, in which position they may be projected upon a roll of sensitized film 18. Mechanism is also provided for spacing the successive character projections in each line, either by moving the film or by utilizing the sliding optical system described in Patent 2,670,665 to Caldwell. Since the spacing mechanism forms no part of the present invention it is not further described herein. As described in said Patent 2,682,814, the timing of the flash device 16 is such that the selected characters in eachline are suc-' cessively projected on to the film 18. The characters on the matrix support 12 have a common point size as illustrated in Fig. 2. While only seven characters are shown for illustration, this number of characters provides the equivalent of a considerably greater number of characters for mathematics composition. This results from the fact that each character replaces many types in a conventional metal typesetting machine. To this end there is provided a lens support 20 having a number of selectable lenses disposed thereon. The support 20 is pivotally supported on a shaft 22, and has on its periphery a number of locating holes 24 adapted to cooperate with a springpressed detent pin 26 whereby the support 20 may be pivoted to any of a number of positions. For each of these positions there is a projection lens such as 51. Each of the lenses on the support is adapted, when thus located in a fixed position opposite the projection position of the characters, to form its image of the projected character in the same image plane as would each of the other lenses if brought to this same fixed position. In other words, regardless of which lens is selected, it forms its image of the character in the projection position in focus upon the film 18. 1

The lenses are designated by reference characters in Fig. 5 according to the point size and function for which they are intended. The first number represents the point size in which the image formed by the lens is projected on to the film 18. The number following the dash represents the position of the base line of the character image with respect to the position, that is, the normal base lineof composition. The normal base line is the line through the lowest extremity of the character H in Fig. 3. Thus with the lens -1 the image is projected in 5-point, in the position of the character 1 in Fig. 3. The number 1" is a superior to a superscript with its base line approximately 90 percent above the standard base line.-

The number 2 in Fig. 3 is projected by a lens 6-2 in 6-point size, and is a superscript, the base line of which is approximately 65 percent above the standard base line.

The number 3 is projected by a lens 5-3 in S-point, being an inferior to a superscript, the base line of which isapproximately 50 percent above the standard base line.

The number "4 is a superior to a subscript, being projected by a lens 5-4 in 5-point, with its base line approximately 5 percent abovethe standard base line.

The character TS. is a subscript, and is projected by a lens '6-5 in 6-point size, with its base line approximately 20 percent below the standard base line.

The. number 6 is an inferior to a subscript and is projected in S-point size by a lens 5-6, with its base line approximately 35 percent below the standard base line. In Fig. 5 a dot-and-dash line 25 has been drawn to represent the locus containing the optical axes of all lenses that project their images in the "0 position, that is, directly on the standard base line of composition. It will be observed that six additional lenses on the support 20 are adapted to project their characters in the "0 position. By means of these lenses it is possible to project characters the lens -0, the character H of Fig. 4 is projected by the lens 8-0; and the superscript "3 of Fig. 4 is projected by the same lens 5-3 which projects the character "3 as an inferior to the superscript "2 in Fig. 3. Similarly, the number "6 has the function of a subscript, although the same number in the body of the text, projected by the same lens 5-6, serves as an inferior to the subscript 5 It will be obvious that the foregoing methods and apparatus providing multiple uses for each of the charac ters on the matrix disc necessitate the employment of suitable type faces that can be enlarged or reduced as described, and positioned for use as modifying symbols,

- in the art may readily devise various other forms of type I respect to the base line of type.

composing apparatus similar to that described for the composition of music, chemical formulas, or certain foreign languages based upon the same or similar problems of positioning the characters, notes or symbols with Therefore such other forms and modifications of the described apparatus and the relationships of the parts that would adapt the composing machine to these uses are within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

' 1. In photographic type composing apparatus, the combination of a support for a number of characters of text to be projected including means to present a selected character in a fixed projection position, means to illuminate the selected character, means to support a sensitized in point sizes 6, 8, 10, 14, 24 and 36, as designated by the symbols 6-0, 8-0, 10-0, 14-0, 24-0 and 36-0. .In this discussion the term point is used in its commonly accepted sense as referring to a distance of 0.013837 inch, or approximately of an inch.

Normal mathematics composition requires only" 10- point characters in the body of the text with S-point superiors and inferiors and 6-point superscripts and subscripts. In such text, the point size of footnotes and tables is ordinarily 8-point for the text and S-point for the superscripts and subscripts. (Superiors and inferiors are ordinarily avoided in footnotes wherever possible, due to the difiiculty of reading them with case.)

Fig. 4 illustrates how the same lenses used for projecting the characters of Fig. 3 can be used for composing a footnote. Thus, while the H of Fig. 3 is projected by sheet, a movable support bearing a plurality of projection lenses, and registering means associated with each lens on the support to hold it in a predetermined position for projecting the illuminated character on to said sheet, the lenses providing differing magnifications and being adapted to project the image on to positions of difiering vertical displacement on the sheet, said magnifications and positions having a predetermined, fixed correlation.

2. In type composing apparatus, the combination of a rotatable lens support adapted to be pivoted about a fixed axis therein, a number of projection lenses supported by the support about said axis, means to support a selected character in position for projection, and registering means for each lens associated with the lens support and operable to hold the lens in a predetermined operative position, said lenses having their optical axes at diiferent distances from said fixed axis and being adapted when in operative position to form difierent magnifications of the projected image in a common plane.

Spooner Dec. 31, 1901 Walton June 20, 1933

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