US3738236A

US3738236A - Photocomposing machines

Info

Publication number: US3738236A
Application number: US00146873A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Grube; J Harris; U Escoli
Original assignee: Eltra Corp
Current assignee: Linotype Co Ltd
Priority date: 1971-05-26
Filing date: 1971-05-26
Publication date: 1973-06-12
Anticipated expiration: 1990-06-12

Abstract

A photocomposing machine having a character drum that is stepped backwards and forwards to bring a group of character images to a photographic position; an optical system images all characters of the group at a common position and a shutter (or equivalent) mechanism selects one character of the group for imaging on a sensitized sheet. A flexible font element having characters arranged thereon in columns and rows is replaceably mounted on the character drum.

Description

United States Patent [191 Grube et a1.

[ June 12, 1973 PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINES [75] Inventors: Wolfgang Otto Grube, Leonia, N.J.; Joel S. Harris, Valley Stream; Uri Z. Escoli, Forest Hills, both of N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Eltra Corporation, New York, N.Y.

[22] Filed: May 26, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 146,873

[52] US. Cl. 95/4.5 [51] Int. Cl .1 B4lb 17/12 [58] Field of Search 95/4.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,725,803 12/1955 Tansel 95/4 5 2,780,151 2/1957 Borisof 3,074,328 1/1963 Rossetto 3 ,044,374 7/1962 Friedman 2,298,666 10/1942 Whitelaw 95/4 5 2,579,287 12/1951 Albert 95/100 3,552,285 1/1971 McCall 95/45 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 679,930 9/1952 Great Britain 95/45 398,469 12/1931 Great Britain 95/4.5

Primary Examiner-John M. Horan Attorney-William P. Keegan [5 7] ABSTRACT A photocomposing machine having a character drum that is stepped backwards and forwards to bring a group of character images to a photographic position; an optical system images all characters of the group at a common position and a shutter (or equivalent) mechanism selects one character of the group for imaging on a sensitized sheet. A flexible font element having characters arranged thereon in columns and rows is replaceably mounted on the character drum.

8 Claims, 4 Dravving Figures PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINES The invention relates to photocomposing machines and to the character fonts used thereon.

The prior art is replete with photocomposing machines of various configurations. For example, there are photocomposing machines which utilize a font plate in the form of a flat disk with character images arranged thereon seriatum in a circle. Additional characters may be provided in the same fashion other circles, concentric with the first. The disk rotates continuously to bring the characters in a circle to a projection position one after another, and if cahracters from a dfferent circle of characters are to be photographed the axis of rotation of the disk is shifted so that the characters in the different circle pass through the projection position seriatum. The characters selected for composition are projected through an optical system to a sensitized sheet by means of an intermittently operated flash lamp that is actuated at the instant a selected character is at the projection position. The sensitized sheet, or preferably some element of the optical system, is moved interrnittently btween flash lamp actuations to cause successive character images to be projected to unexposed portions of the sensitized sheet. Another prior art photocomposing machine is similar to the foregoing except that the character front plate is in the form of a square plate on which the characters are arranged in columns and rows. The font plate is stepped in two directions to bring a selected character to the photographic or projection position. In another prior art photocomposing machine the character font plate is again a square plate on which the characters are arranged in columns and rows, but in this machine, the font plate is stationary during composition of the text material. Thus instead of moving the font plate to bring a selected character to the projection position, resort is had to an optical system that brings an image of each character on the font plate to a common position where it can be recorded on a sensitized sheet. A shutter system is included in the latter apparatus so that only one character image is projected at a time.

The present invention is intended to provide a simple inexpensive machine that has the advantages of all the photocomposing machines referred to above. Thus the present photocomposing machine will embody a font element on which the characters are arranged in columns and rows and in which the element will be moved to bring a slected column of characters into a photographic position and an optical scheme will be used to select one of the characters in a column for projection to a sensitized sheet. Thus the object of the present invention is to provide an improved photocomposing machine.

In carrying out the invention, a character font element in the form of a flexible strip is provided as is a character drum on the circumference of which can be mounted a plurality of individually interchangeable font elements. The drum will be driven by a stepping motor than can bring a selected column of a font element to a photographic position. A series of collimating lenslets, one for each character in a column, will be positioned in front of the character drum, and a shutter mechanism will be provided so that the light projected through a column of characters on the font element will pass only through the lenslet associated with the character to be imaged on a sensitized sheet. An optical system will form an image of the selected character on the sheet in a manner later to be described.

Features and advantages of the invention may be gained from the foregoing and from the dscription of a preferred embodiment thereof which follows:

FIG. 1 is a prospective view schematically showing the character presentation scheme for the present photocomposing machine;

FIG. 2 is a prospective view of the character font drum;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a character font element; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the same.

Referring now to the drawing, the present invention will be disclosed in sufficient detail to enable its practice by those skilled in the art. The character font drum 10 comprises a transparent ring which is mounted on a disk which in turn is mounted for rotary mounted for rotary movement in a horizontal plane. The ring is preferably colorless Plexiglass that is optically clear and free of air bubbles, striae, and inclusions. The disk also is preferably formed of Plexiglass, but it is opaque black. Around the periphery of the drum are located mounting means for the character font element. These will later be described in detail with reference to FIG.

2 of the drawing. Internally of the ring is a source of illumination l1 and a condenser lens assembly 12 that evenly distributes the light from source 11 through the transparent ring and a character font element mounted thereon. Immediately in front of character drum 10 is an adjustable slit mechanism 13 which controls the width of the light beam emitted from the drum and through a font element. This mechanism 13 is provided since character font elements having character images of different point sizes are provided for use in the machine, and consequently means are needed to limit the width of the band of light transmitted to the width of an em square of the point size of the characters on the font element in use. A solenid 14 is provided to actuated slit mechanism 13 and widen the spacing between its members when a larger point size font element is in use. Perhaps it will be well to state now that the character images are arranged on the font element in columns and rows with a column of characters being brought into position behind the shutter mechanism by rotation of the drum. In the commercial embodiment of the invention, drum 10 is rotated in steps by a stepping motor but others might prefer to have it rotate continuously. In either case, the rotating mechanism and its control is generally known and need not be described in detail.

Elements now to be described will permit one of the character images in a column to be projected through the remainder of the character presentation arrangement. A shutter 16 comprising a plurality of individually operated blades, one for each character in a column on the font element, is provided. The shutter blades are each operated by a separate rotary solenoid and if its associated solenoid is energized a blade will be rotated out-of the path of the light passing through one of the character images on the font element. Of course, only a single blade will be operated at a time. The position of the light which is transmitted when a single shutter blade is actuated forms a single character and will next pass through a lenslet 15. Again the lenslet is one of a plurality of lenslets provided, one for each character image in a column on the font element. The lenslets are separated from the font element by a distant equal to the focal length of the lenslets, hence the light passing through any lenslet will be collimated or self parallel light. Consequently when it passes through an imaging lens it will be refracted to the optical axis of the system. It this way light passing through any one of the columnly arranged lenslets will be projected to a common imaging position on the axis of the imaging lens. Lenslets 15, along with lenses 20, 21, and 22 form a zoom lens assembly 17 with lenses 20 and 21 being axially movable to change the effective focal length of zoom lens assembly 17. By changing the effective focal length of the zoom lens assembly the point size of the character images at the film plane 'can be controlled and the character size of the phototypeset characters thus determined. As the light passes through the zoom assembly, it remains collimated or rather it energes from the assembly as collimated light having been imaged in space within the zoom system. The collimated light from the zoom system than enters a decollimator or image forming lens 23. This lens is a multielement lens and it acts to form a real image of the projected character in its focal plane. The light from the lens however is reflected by a mirror 24 to a curved film holder 25 which is located in the focal plane of lens 23. The mirror pivots about a vertical axis and in this manner successive images can be placed alongside one another in text composition on film positioned in holder 25. The movement of the mirror is controled by a stepping motor that steps mirror 24 in variable increments depending on the widths of the characters being imaged on the film. Mirror 24 is stationary during the interval of flash of light source 11.

The mirror in addition to being positioned to direct the projected light to the curved film holder 25 as shown, may also be rotated 90 to the position shown in dotted line in which case the projected light will be directed to an auxiliary lens 26 and through a pentaprism 27 to a second film plane shown at 30. When the mirror is positioned as shown in the dotted lines and the light from a character on the font element is projected through lens 26 and prism 27, the mirror will remain stationary during projection of successive character images and the sensitized sheet or film located in the auxiliary film plane will be stepped during the interval between character projections. This latter arrangement is provided to permit setting of large points size type as in headlines and display ads and that is why an additional lens, i.e., lens 26, is provided to enable the enlargement of the projected image beyond the size possible with the basic optical elements of the system.

Attention is now directed to the character drum shown in FIG. 2. A transparent plastic ring 31 is provided as heretofore explained, and it is secured by an adhesive to a plane disk 32. The disk is formed at its central position with a hub, not shown, by which it is connected to a drive mechanism which in the preferred arrangement is a stepping motor. The periphery of the drum is provided with a pair of hook elements 33 and 34 respectively located near its upper and lower edges. A further pair of pins 35 and 36 are provided in the same segment of the drum as are a pair of sphericallyshaped members 37 and 40. This set of elements, that is, hooks 33 and 34, pins 35 and 36, and members 37 and 40, are provided for the mounting of a font element on the periphery of the drum. Similar sets of elements are provided around the circumference of the drum; and consequently, a number of font elements can be mounted on the drum. The function of the various mounting will become clear after the font element itself is described. A plurality of indicia 41 are marked on ring 31 to indicate various font positions on the character drum. A slot 42 is provided in the bottom disk 32 of the character drum and it together with a stationary light source and photo-diode device (not shown) enable the drum to be returned to the home position whenever it is desired to do so.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 3 and 4 for a description of the font element. The font element 43 is a photographic negative in which the character images are transparent against an opaque background. For convenience, the drawing appears to show the reverse, namely, an opaque character and a transparent background. In the drawing the characters are represented by rectangles 63 which define the area in which the chracters can be located. In the upper left hand square a particular character, namely, the letter capital F, is shown. Moreover, the character is shown upside down and reversed as it actually would appear on the font element. The optical system reverses the image as it is transmitted through the various optical elements schematically shown in FIG. 1 so that when a projected character is finally imaged on the sensitized sheet or film, it will be correctly oriented. The font element itself is provided with a number of apertures. Specifically, apertures 45 and 49 near the leading edge of the element and apertures 50 and 51 near its trailing edge. Moreover, an alignment aperture 46 precisely located on the font element is provided as is an elongated slot 47. The aperture 46 and slot 47 are the reference points on the font element and all character images and timing marks will photograph onto the font element with accurate reference thereto. Timing marks, e.g. and 66, are provided for each column of characters formed on font element 43 with the right hand edge 67 of each timing slot aligned with the leading or left hand edge of each rectangle in which a character image is positioned. The crosses shown on the character rectangles (which are not really provided on the font elements) of the two left columns in FIG. 2 represent the optical axis of the optical system with respect to the particular character rectangle and the character images are located with respect to this reference point. The font element 43 has a plastic reenforcing bar 52 rivetted to it at its leading edge by a pair of rivets 53 and 54. A second plastic reenforcng bar 55 is rivetted to the trailing edge of the font element by a pair of rivets 56 and 57. This second bar supports a spring element or a wire spring 60 that traverses aperture 50 and wire spring 61 which traverses aperture 51. In mounting a font element 43 on character drum 10, the element is placed over the hooks 33 and 34 such that they pass through apertures 49 and 45 and bear against plastic bar 52. The position of the font element is then adjusted until pin 35 presses through the reference aperture 46 which thus locates the font element at a precise position along the periphery of the character drum. Pin 36 projects through the elongated slot 47 and thus serves to prevent skewing of the element on the drum 10. In other words, the horizontal alignment of font element 43 on the drum is thereby controlled. The trailing edge of the font element is then pressed against the surface of drum 10 until the members 37 and 40 project through apertures 50 and 51. The springs 60 and 61 snap over the widest portion of the spherically-shaped ing marks 65, 66 extends below the lowest surface of 5 the drum and between a light source and photo-diode type element (not shown) which are mounted below the rotatable character drum. A segment 62 of font element 43 is made transparent so that when the font element is mounted on drum an indic'ia 41 provided on the drum to indicate the font position will be readable without the need to remove the font element. Thus in FIG. 2, font element 43 is shown as positioned in font position 5.

The operation of a photocomposing machine embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. It is not believed necessary to describe the control circuitry of the apparatus since the necessary circuit design is well within the capabilities of those skilled in the art. The photocomposing machine will be described as though it were operated under control of a coded tape, although it is understood that a keyboard which is an integral part of the photocomposing machine could also be used. Both arrangements have' been used many times in the photocomposing machine arts and their interchangeability is well understood within this art. The character drum will initially be present at a start-of-line or home position as determined by the home position slot 42. The mirror 24 will also be positioned at a startof-line position is determined, for example, by a mechanical stop. The coded control tape will be placed in a tape reader, and the firct character code will be coded. The electrical circuitry of the system will respond to the code and cause the character drum to step to a position such that the timing mark for the column of characters from which the character selected is to be photographed and the timing mark next adjacent to its right will straddle the light path between the timing mark light source and its associated photo-diode. Shutter 16 will be actuated, and assuming the character to be photographed is the top most in the column of characters, a clear path will exist from the character drum through the collimating lenslet 15, the zoom lens assembly 17, the decollimator or imaging lens 23 to mirror 24 and the film plane at which the sensitized sheet is placed. Upon decoding the character signal, the width information for the character will be retrieved from the electrical circuitry of the system, and mirror 24 will be stepped to a position thereby determined from the character width information and the point size of the image to be recorded on the sensitized sheet. Now the character drum is stepped one position to cause the timing mark associated with the character to be photographed to cross the light path between the timing mark light source and photo-diode. At the instant the edge 67 of the transparent timing mark, e.g. 65, crosses the light path, the photodiode is energized and this triggers the main source of illumination 11 which thereupon flashes and projects the selected character image to the film plane where it is recorded as a latent image on the sensitized sheet. The next character code is decoded and mirror 24 will thereupon be stepped a distance dependent on the width of the character to be photographed so that the new character will be projected to an unexposed portion of the film or the sensitized sheet. The drum 10 will be stepped such that the timing mark for the new character to be photographed and the timing mark adjacent thereto straddle the light path from the light source to photo-diode. The shutter 16 will be actuated so that the blade thereof associated with the selected character or more specifically with its position in the already selected column of characters, is actuated to establish a clear path through the optical system whereupon character drum 10 is then given a one position step with the selected character being photographed as the right hand edge 67 of the timing slit crosses the light path to the timing make photo-diode. It is to be noted that although the character drum is initially stepped to bring the selected character near the photographic position, the stepping mechanism need not be of the accuracy normally associated with photocomposing machines since the position at which the drum stops is not the position at which photography takes place. The photographing of the character occurs when the drum is in motion, but precisely located in relationship to the instant at which the light source 11 is flashed, the result being that the accuracy in placing the character image on the sensitized sheet or film is very high. It might also be noted that the drum need not be fully stopped when it is stepped to its initial position just prior to photographing of the selected character but rather may still be hunting or vibrating to find the rest position. During photographing of a line of characters, the rotation of the drum from one character selection to the next is measured from its previous position so that there is no need for the drum to return to its home position between the photographing of successive characters. in other words, if the first character selection requires the drum to step 10 positions, from its home position the next character is eight positions from the home position, after the first character is photographed the drum is stepped two positions back towards the home position. It may even be the case that the next selected character is in the same column as the first selected character so that the drum movement would not be required other than to cause the timing mark for that character and the next adjacent timing mark to straddle the light path from the timing light source to the photodiode after which the drum is given a one step movement to cause photographing of the selected character while the drum is moving as previously explained.

At the completion of a line of characters the drum will he stepped to its home position prior to the photographing of a next line. This is done so that if any error inadvertently occurs in the stepping of the drum during one line of composition, the error will not be carried over through successive lines but rather will be limited to the one line in which it occurs. If the point size is to be altered, lens 20 and lens 21 will automatically be repositioned in accordance with a code entry on the control tape so that the photographed characters will be recorded on the sensitized sheet in a point size determined by the new rrangement of the optical elements in the zoom lens assembly. Control of the movement of mirror 24 to accord with the new point size will be determined by the electrical circuitry. In the event that large point sizes are to be photographed in the film plane 30 rather than in film plane 25; mirror 24 will be repositioned to the position shown in dotted line in FIG. 1. In this case the optical path will be traced through zoom lens assembly 17, the decollimator lens 23, mirror 24, auxiliary lens 26, and pentaprism 27 to the film plane 30. Since this optical path is used only when setting display or headline characters, the film will be tranported after each character is imaged thereon. This can be done automatically by a film transport mechanism that responds to the width of the photographed character which will in this case be stored in the electrical circuitry of the photocomposing machine or the film can be transported manually by a machine operator who can advance the film by means of a simple crank mechanism.

Having thus described my invention it should be obvious that many apparently widely different embodiments of the inventions can be made without departing from its spirit and scope. For example, instead of shutter 16 an individual flash lamp could be located behind each character image location in the photographic position, so that when a column of characters is brought to the photographic position, the selected character is exposed by flashing the appropriate lamp. Therefore, it is intended that the foregoing specification and the drawing be interpreted as illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A photocomposing machine comprising: a character carrier having a font of typographical characters thereon suitable for imaging onto a sensitized medium; means, including a bi-directional stepping motor, for rotating said character carrier to bring a group of characters including the one selected for imaging onto the sensitized medium to a first position adjacent the imaging position; means, including controls for causing said stepping motor to move one step in one predetermined direction, for moving the group of characters through the imaging position; and means for projecting an image of the selected character from said group of characters to the sensitized medium as the group of characters is moved through the imaging position.

2. A photocomposing machine according to claim 1 wherein said character carrier is in the form of a drum and wherein the character images on said character drum are arranged in column and rows, and wherein a group of characters brought into position to be photographed are those characters in a column of characters.

3. A photocomposing machine according to claim 2 wherein said character drum comprises a transparent drum and a flexible font element mounted thereon, and

including means for mounting said font element on said drum.

4. A photocomposing machine according to claim 3 wherein said mounting means include a pair of hooklike members for grasing one end of said font element, and a pair of retaining members for securing the other end of said font element on the periphery of said drum.

5. A photocomposing machine according to claim 4 including a pair of alignment pins on the periphery of said drum.

6. A photocomposing machine according to claim 7 including means for transporting the second sensitized film after each character is imaged thereon so that successively imaged characters are located in side by side relationship.

7. A photocomposing machine according to claim 1 wherein said image projecting means includes a mirror means that is pivotted in step wise fashion to put successive character images in side by side relationship on the sensitized medium, and including means for moving said mirror means to a predetermined fixed position from which images of selected characters are directed towards a senitized film strip, and auxiliary optical means located between said mirror means and the sensitized film strip.

8. A font element for use in a photocomposing machine having a rotatable character drum, said font comprising a flexible photographic negative on which character images are arranged in rows and columns, a plurality of timing marks arranged along one edge of said negative, one timing mark for each column of character images, a plurality of apertures in said negative whereby said negative is attached to the character drum, a reenforcing member secured to one end of said photogrphic negative, a second reenforcing member secured to the other end of said negative, wherein the plurality of apertures in said negative include two apertures adjacent to said other end of said negative and spaced apart from each other, and wherein said second reenforcing member is secured to said negative between said two apertures, and two spring means each projecting from an end of said second reenforcing member, each spring means traversing one of said two apertures.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3 73 23 DATED 2 June 12, 1973 INVENTOR(S) 3 Wolfgang Otto Grube, Joel S. rHarris, Uri Z. Escoli It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1 line 10, after "fashion" insert in--; line 13, for "cahracters" read -characters--, and for "dfferent" read -different--; line 23, for "btween" read --between; line 27, for "front" read --font--; and line 49, for "slected" read -selected-. Column 2, line 4, for "dscription" read description; line 18, delete "rotary mounted for"; and line 39, for "solenid" read -soleniod-. Column 3 line 17,

for "energes" read-emerges-; and line 28, for "controled" read --controlled-. Column 4, line 18, for "chracters" read characters; and line 48, for "reenforcng read --reenforcing--. Column 5, line 31, after "position" insert --that; line 33, for "firct" read --first. Column 6, line 58, for "rrangement" read -arrangement-.

Column 8, line 5 for "grasing" read grasping; line 27, after "font" insert --element--; and line 35, for "photogrphic" read -photographic-.

Signed and Scaled this .tSEAL] ninth D3) of December 1975 Attest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MAR H Arrestin 0m 3 ALL DAN Commissioner uj'Parenrs and Trademarks PATENT 3, 738, 236

DATED June 12, 1973 INV ENTOR(S) Wolfgang Otto Grube, Joel S. :Harris, Uri Z. Escoli It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 10, after "fashion" insert in-; line 13, for "cahracters" read --characters, and for 'dfferent" read different-; line 23, for "btween" read --between; line 27, for "front" read -font-; and line 49, for "elected" read -selected--=. Column 2, line 4, for "dscription" read -description-=-; line 18, delete "rotary mounted for" 7 and line 39, for "solenid" read -soleniod-. Column 3, line 17, for "energes" read--emerges-; and line 28, for "controled" read ---controlled--. Column 4, line 18, for "chracters" read characters--; and line 48, for "reenforcng read -reenforcing-., Column 5, line 31, after "position" insert -that---; line 33, for "firct read -first-. Column 6, line 58, for "rrangement" read -arrangement-.

Column 8, line 5, for "grasing" read -grasping; line 27, after "font" insert element-; and line 35, for "photogrphic" read --photographic-.

Signed and Scaled this A ttest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSH lesring Officer mnmissioner uj'Patenrs and Trademarks

Claims

1. A photocomposing machine comprising: a character carrier having a font of typographical characters thereon suitable for imaging onto a sensitized medium; means, including a bidirectional stepping motor, for rotating said character carrier to bring a group of characters including the one selected for imaging onto the sensitized medium to a first position adjacent the imaging position; means, including controls for causing said stepping motor to move one step in one predetermined direction, for moving the group of characters through the imaging position; and means for projecting an image of the selected character from said group of characters to the sensitized medium as the group of characters is moved through the imaging position.

3. A photocomposing machine according to claim 2 wherein said character drum comprises a transparent drum and a flexible font element mounted thereon, and including means for mounting said font element on said drum.

4. A photocomposing machine according to claim 3 wherein said mounting means include a pair of hook-like members for grasing one end of said font element, and a pair of retaining members for securing the other end of said font element on the periphery of said drum.