US336646A - johnson - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

L. K. JOHNSON.

OOMPOSITORS TYPE CASE.

No. 336,646. Patented Feb. 23, 1886.

her Washi UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

LOUIS K. JOHNSON, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALDEX TYPE MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEWV YORK, X. Y.

COMPOSITORS TYPE-CASE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 336,646, dated February 23, 1886.

Application filed July 2%, 1884. Serial No. $538,920. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Louis K. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compositors Type-Cases, of which the following is a specification.

My present improvements relate to that class of oompositors type-cases which consist of a suitable number ofelongated type-holding compartments or reservoirs open at both extremities and inclined in such manner that type distributed into their upper ends will descend through them automatically to their other extremities, from which they may be re moved during the operations of setting, the openings at either extremity being adapted to allow the insertion or removal of a type at any angle, as in the application (No. 101,851) for patent heretofore made by me, and I do not seek to cover such construction, broadly. I have found by experience that there are serious objeotions to the use of such compartmentcases as heretofore made, and my present invention is the result of experiments made to obviatethese difficulties. Forinstance, owing to the straight unobstructed channel formed by each compartment, and to the steepness of the angle at which it is necessary to arrange them in order to insure the prompt automatic descent of the types,there is danger of thelatter overflowing the supportingshoulders at their lower extremities when the compart ments are heavily charged with type. Again,

, for a similar reason when the compartments are Wholly or partially empty, there is danger that the earlier types distrlbuted into their upper ends will descend too rapidly, and,striking the supporting-shoulder at the bottom,rebound therefrom out of the case. Whether this happens or not, the type is under such circumstances liable to be more or less battered and damaged by its too rapid descent.

Another objection is that in rapid and careless distribution the types are apt to be thrown into a compartment at such an angle that they will descend therein a considerable distance before encountering the floor, from which, under such circumstances, they are liable to rebound against the upper side of'the compartment, and so on continuously downward.

If the types are dropped gently through the openings at the upper ends of the compartments, so that they fall upon the floors imme diately, they descend upon the latter steadily and safely, and it is the object of one portion of my invention to secure this result.

My invention consists in providing the compartments at their upper ends with receivingchannels or bottomless boxes which coincide with and form continuations of the type-channels, but which occupy with relation thereto an obtuse angle, being vertical, or nearlyso, in

position, so that types dropped therein must necessarily encounter the floors of the compartments underneath at points near the upper extremities of the latter and within and corresponding to the area of such receivers above.

Another feature of my invention consists in providing the lower front extremities of the compartments above the type supporting shoulders with either permanent or movable guards or gates,which enter into and contract the type-channels at this point, so as to partially support and retard the type and regulate its descent to the typesupporting shoul ders. By this construction I am enabled to successfully use compartments of comparatively larger area and capacity without dangeroloverfiowing,t-hesize oft-heaperturebeing ncccssaril y limited by and bearing certain definite proportions to the standard size of the type. These guards also perform anotherimportant function, owing to the partial support they afford the columns of type above, in that they relieve the forward or more exposed types on the supporting-shoulders entirely from, pressure, so that they maybemorc easily and quickly picked up and removed in set ting.

1n the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a front elevation of a portionof acompositors typecase embodying my improved construction; and Fig. 2, avertical section of the same upon plane of line a: 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is atop view of the same.

Any suitable number of the compartments A A are combined together, according to the too number and denominations of the types to be accommodated in a single case. They may be mounted adjustably upon a standard, so that their inclination may be varied in the same manner as my improved type-cases heretofore patented; or, the appropriate angle having been ascertained, they may be supported upon a permanent frame or standard,in the manner of the old form of compositors type-case. These compartments A A are formed with the type-supporting shoulders a a at their lower extremities. The shall ow cups or type-presenters a, thus formed by the supporting-shoulders a and the continuations a a of the side walls of the compartments,are designed to expose a sufficient quantity of type loosely before the compositor. For this reason thelower ends of the compartments may all end substantially in the same plane, which plane may be either vertical or inclined with relation to the position of the compositor, as indicated in the drawings. hen thus inclined, each cup practically projects slightly in advance of and beyond the extremity of the compartment next immediately above, bringing all within a uniform distance from the shoulder of the compositor. In like manner, for the purpose of rendering the upper end ofthe case convenient for distribution,the upper extremities of the compartments are all made to end upon a plane which is horizontal, or nearly so. By thus cutting off the compartments at an angle to their length the area of their openings is increased as compared with their area in cross-section, thereby facilitating the operations of distribution. By this construction it will be observed that the lengths of the compartments are gradually and uniformly increased from the top to the bottom of the case. This, far from being objectionable, is convenient and economical of space, since the higher compartments may be devoted to the reception of the upper-case type and denominations that are least frequently required, while the lower compartments afford ample room for the accommodation of the comparatively large quantities of lowercase types that are re; quired in ordinary composition.

The extreme upper ends of the compartments A A are formed at an obtuse angle to their lengths, the channels turning upward in a vertical or nearly vertical direction. Although this change in the direction of the channels may be eti'ected by making offsets in the compartments themselves, I prefer to accomplish it by the use of an independent top or receiver, B, formed with a series of openings, b b, which coincide with and form the months or entrances to the inclined type-chair nels when placed in position upon the top of the compartments. This construction not only has the advantage of cheapness of construc tion, but it also provides a means of direct access to the inclined channels for the purpose or" cleaning, &c. The office of these vertical receiving-channels, as before stated, is to insure the contact of the types dropped therein with the extreme upper portions of the tons of the inclined channels, and for this reason their height is preferably only sufficient to prevent the introduction of a type through them upon a line parallel with the longitude of the inclined channels beneath.

The guards 0, attached to the lower front ends of the compartments, are preferably made so that their lower edges may be adjusted to penetrate more or-less into the type channels; but this adjustment is not indispensable, since they may be permanently secured (as indicated upon the upper tier of compartments in the drawings) in an ascertained position'as, for instance, in cases which are designed to be used only for a certain size of type.

The adj ust-ment may be accomplished in a variety of ways, that shown in the drawings consisting in hinging the upper edges of the guards or gates G to the front of the compartments and regulating the penetration of their lower edges into the channels by means of setscrews 00, which limit the'outward movement of the guards, the latter being free to fall back toward the floors of the channels to the zeropoint or lowest position when the latter are empty, or nearly so.

In the construction shown in the drawings the set-screws c 0 pass through slots or recesses c 0 formed in the guard-plate O, and screw into the division-pieces a a more or less, according to the limit to be set upon the forward position of the guards.

I am aware that elongated type-storing channels formed with parallel sides and of uniform area throughout have heretofore been described, as in the Patent No. 7,738, of October 29, 1850. I am also aware that type-receptacles the upper front walls of which are inclined to form enlarged receiving-hoppers are old, as in the Patent No. 301,909, of July 15, 1884. I do not claim either of these features, broadly; nor are the inclined front walls of the hoppers referred to above the equivalent of my independently-inclined typeguards arranged at the lower extremities of the elongated parallel-sided type storing channels herein described, which channels are adapted to rest one upon another in a series or case, as shown, without loss of space-an arrangement which would not be practicable in the construction shown in the last-named patent.

My independently-inclined guards are speciallyadapted to,and of importance when used in connection with,the comparativelylong parallel channels with which they are herein con1- bined. \Vithout them the channels would be practically useless, owing to the tendency of the types to overflow under the weight of the columns above, the type-supporting shoulders being necessarily reduced to the smallest possible size, in order to conform to and permit of the arrangement of the channels in a compact case or series one above the other.

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with an elongated type storing channel formed with parallel walls and of uniform area in cross section throughout the greater portion of its length,and provided with a type-supporting shoulder at its lower extremity, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described, a type-guard situated at the lower termination of the front wall of the channel and inclined inward at an obtuse angle thereto above the said type-supporting shoulder, for the purpose and substantially in the manner described.

2. In combination with an elongated inclined type-storing channel formed with a type-supporting shoulder at its lower extremity, substantially as described, an adjustable guard, substantially such as set forth, arranged at the lower extremity of the channel for the purpose of regulating the descent of the type to the said typesupporting shoulder, substantially 20 in the manner described.

3. An inclined type-containing compartment open at both extremities for the purpose described, formed with a type-supporting shoulder at its lower extremity, and with its extreme upper portion formed at an obtuse angle with relation to the body of the compartment, for the purpose described.

4. The combination, with aseries of inclined type-containing compartments combined to gether for the purpose and substantially in the manner designated, of a removable section containing a series of vertical or nearly Vertical type-receiving channels arranged above and coinciding with the upper entrances to the inclined type-channels in the compartments below, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

LOUIS K, JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

PAUL H. BATE, GEO. W. MIATT.

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