US646227A - Linotyping-machine. - Google Patents

Description

I No. 646,227. Patentd Mar. 27, I900.

E. G. LEONARD. I

LINUTYPING MACHINE.

(Applicatio'n fi led Dec. 31', 1597. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

TN: New): versus no, whom-Lino. WASHINGYON, D. c.

No. 646,227. Patented Mar. 27, I900. E. G. LEONARD.

LINOTYPING MACHINE.

(Application filed Dec. 31, 1897.) (No Model.) '2 sheets-Sheet 2.

WITNES ES, INVENTOR amw @flg i the art to which it appertains to make and use U ITED STATES PATENT Grimes,

EDlVARD GEORGE LEONARD, OF SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y.

LlNOTYPlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming'part of Letters Patent No. 646,227, dated March 27, 1900.

Application filed December 3], 1897. Serial No. 665,023. (N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD GEORGE LEON- ARD, a subject of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Fox street, Sheffield, in the county of York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Linotype-Machines, (for which I have obtained the following patent: Great Britain and Ireland,No.19,1l8,datedAugust29,1896;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part of this specification and read therewith, and one which will enable others skilled in the same.

The present invention relates to assembling mechanisms of linotype, type-setting, and other composing machines used in the production of printing-surfaces.

A linotype-machine presents a bank of finger-levers to its operator and also other similar levers and analogous parts grouped within his reach and which he may be called upon to operate, the objects of such grouping being (a) the prevention of his having to leave his seat to get at them and (b) the keeping of them within his view. The depression of each finger -lever, acting through suitable mechanism, effects the release of the corresponding character in the form of either a type-matrix orof a type-die from the magazine which contains the whole font of characters. As the characters, togetherwith the necessary spaces, are released from their respective places in the magazine they are assembled in a convenient place preparatory to the next step in the production of the linotype. So long as the copy consists of lines of regular length or of lines no more irregular than are the first lines of paragraphs or quoted lines of verse the operator finds his work of composition straight forward from start to finish; but it is not always that the work is straight forward. It is no unusual thing, especially in connection with sporting news, for the operator to be called upon to compose from such copy as the following seven lines, which have been. reproduced from a newspaper report of a certain cycling event:

Each of the first six lines is broken up into six portions or measures. The first portion consists of the position-number at the head of the 1ine,togethe r with the immediately-following leader the second portion,of the name of the competitor who occupied that position; the third, the name of his club, and so on.

Neatness of work demands that the initials of all the portions relating to the same part of the report shall register columnwise with each other. Now the operator by his compo- 7o sition of the first line has in respect of the distances between the six portions thereof fixed the point in the case of each of five of the lines at which the said portions in it shall respectivelybegin. He mustthereforeeither treat each portion as a single piece or in some way or other attain the capacity for the above-described columnar registering being attained as he composes each of the following lines. By piece is meant as much of a whole line as can be composed straight ahead without'finding oneself balked.

The object of the present invention, stated broadly, is to provide the operator with a combined indicator and stop adapted to be actuated by the machine itself and which shall' automatically indicate to him where throughout the composition of each following line occur the points in the copy at which the fingerkeys corresponding with the initial characters of the portions must respectively be depressed and which shall, further, be capable of stopping the composition at any of the said points. With such automaticindicator and stop each line is composed as a 5 single-piece one, thereby obviating all such contingent alterations of mold, ejector-blade, or other part of the machine as might have become necessary if the operator had been compelled to treat each portion as a single piece.

The invention has been developed with special reference to and for use upon the Merge'nthaler linotype-machine, and partly because of that and partly because that machine is the only linotype-machine in practical use in this country the application of the said invention to it has been selected for illustration and detailed specification.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a part front elevation of the Mergenthaler linotype-machine. Fig. 2 isatransverse section taken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a four-portion detachable automatic indicator on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a three-portion detachable automatic indicator, including part of the clamping device. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of Fig. 4, including the head of the clamping-screw. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a two-portion non-detachable automatic indicator and its clamping device. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a four-portion non-detachable automatic indicator. Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken along the line 8 8 of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a plan of an automatic indicator, its clamping device, and a portion of a moving part which carries it.

The llfergenthaler linotype-machine above mentioned and hereinafter described in part is described in detail in the specification of Letters Patent No. 436,532, of 1890. To facilitate reference thereto, those parts of the 'machine which occur in the accompanying Fig. 1 are marked with the same reference-letters as are used in the said specification.

The Mergenthaler linotype machine as manufactured and used at the present time uses type-matrices, (as distinct from typedies,) assembles them in line together with a complement of space-bars during the process of composition, transfers the composed line to the casting mechanism, and then casts and delivers a linotype. These matrices Y are separable metal plates and are not mechanically connected with each other or with any part of the machine. The font of them is stored in a magazine carried by the top of the main frame A of the machine and from which they can descend by gravity. This they do, one by one, as soon as their respective detents are moved away by the depression of the respective finger keys, falling through a series of channels G. The mouths of these channels are alined obliquely across the front of the machine just behind the bank of finger-keys above mentioned, and therefore in front of the operator. The lowest of the channel-mouths is nearest to the place where the matrices Y and space-bars Z are assembled into a line and the highest farthest from it. Beneath the oblique row of channel-mouths there is a constantly-running belt H, upon which the matrices Y drop and lie. They are carried along by it and delivered, feet first, down a decline h in the direction of the mouth of the assembling-block L. This latter consists, as far as the act of assembling the matrices and space-bars is concerned of a pair of horizontal bars adapted to receive between them the said matrices and space-bars if the latter are presented vertically and side on. The necessary change of position from oblique to vertical is effected by a star-wheel 7L2, mounted upon a horizontal axis standing transversely of the oblique path of the matrices Y, the said wheel revolving in the vertical plane. The axis of this wheel h is below the said path and occupies such a position that at one moment a portion of its peripheryis practically part of the path and at the next moment that portion is turned up into the vertical position and toward the mouth of the said assembling-block L. In the interim a matrix Y has come down upon the wheel periphery, and the above-described change of position suffices to upend that matrix and to deliver it, vertical as to position, but horizontal as to direction of motion, into the assembling-block. The first matrix to enter meets a block J, which has received the name of yielding resistant for a reason which will forthwith appear. The block in question is capable of a horizontal motion between the bars of the said assembling-block L. It is held flush with the mouth of the latter by the pull of a spring or weight; but the strength of such pull is adjusted to be less than that of the push of the line of matrices and space-bars which is gradually increasing in the said assembling-block under the action of the star-wheel 71. The consequence is that although the said block J does in a sense resist the entrance of each matrix into the assembling-block it yields before the increasing length of line. This yielding resistant J is carried by a horizontal bar j, which slides in suitable guides fast on the front of the machine and in front of the operator.

Fig. 1 includes several parts of the machine which are not concerned in the present invention, such as the shifter-arms L L, the independent slides by which they are guided in the main frame A, the horizontal guide M, through which the shifter-arms move with the composed line between them on its way to the casting mechanism,the lever Z ,by which the said shifter-arms L L are moved to the left, the link Z, by which the said lever Z is connected to the slide of the arm L, the piston-rod Z and the cylinder Z of a pneumatic device for controlling the speed-at which the said shifter-arms are moved to the left, a link j, connecting the right end of the barj to the pulling-springj", already referred to, a horibe loosely held to the barj, and the stop is a bar projecting outward from the main frame A, to which it is made fast and over which last-mentioned bar the indicator must move step by step with the bar j as the latter is pulled by the growth of the composed line in the assembling-block I and in the same direction, too. The indicator j is provided with a series of shoulders 7' the number of shoulders in a series being one less than the number of portions or columns in the copy.

The action of the invention is as follows: Referring to the sample of copy quoted above, let it be supposed that the operator has just completed the composition of the last line of the preceding portion of his copy. Before beginning to compose the first of the seven lines in question he counts up the number of portions in his copy and finds it six. He then selects an indicator j having five shoulders-that is, one less than the number of portions. Such an indicator is illustrated in Fig. 3. The right end of it is held to the bar 3' by a clamp, described in detail farther on; but this holding must be of such a kind that the indicator can rise and fall upon it as upon an axis. For the reason that the bar j moves from right to left when it is going through its working stroke, it is the right end of the indicatorj that is clamped to the said bar j and to the right end of the latter as well,the indicator standing parallel with the said bar j and its free end pointing to the left. The said free end of the indicatorj is then placed upon the stop 9' and the operator begins to compose the first portion-via, 1. The first shoulder 7' comes up to the stop 7' as soon as the space which represents the white between the first and the second portions is in the assemblingblock. If the operator now proceeds with the composition of the second portion, the first matrix in it would be jammed between the star-wheel 7L2 and the said space; but as the indicator 7' is immediately before his eyes he sees the engagement of the stop 9' and the first shoulderj whereupon he lifts the nose of the indicator and begins the composition of the second portionviz., L. and J. Franks. The entrance of the first or L matrix into the assembling-block moves the indicator j accordingly, whereupon the operator removes his finger and the next of the incline j -t'. e., the one which extends from the first to the second shoulder j -drops upon the stop j. The remaining portions of the line are treated in the same way.-

The utility of the invention makes itself more apparent in the lines succeeding the first one, for the reason that the occurrence of the before-mentioned points in the copy at which the second and following portions in each respectively begin is given automatic ally and always with the same exactitude as in the case of the first line, Thus the action of the indicatorj is always in full view of the operator, and even if he neglected its indication the automatic stop would prevent him from bungling the piece in hand. In dealing with the seventh line he will compose quad for the first portion and one at the head of the second portion.

With reference to the stop 7' it must be remarked that the operative partof it is only as much as is necessary for the shoulders j to engage with. It is preferred that it should be a loop, as illustrated, because a loop embraces the indicatorj and prevents it'from wandering from its path. The bottom of the said loop is then the stop proper, and the loop has incorporated with it a bracket by which and holding-screws the combination is conveniently held to the main frame A.

lVith reference to the shoulders and the stop 9' it must be pointed out that the presence of the'former on the bottom edge of the indicator and the position of the stop 7' under the said indicator is obviously the most convenient one, because engagementbetween them is maintained by gravity.

Thepreferred clamp consists of a saddlepiecej, adapted to straddle the bar j, having a socket 9' projecting-horizontally from the front of it and screw-threaded internally to receive a screw 7' the nose of which car ries a pivoted flange 3' The latter and the screw are held together in such a way that the screwj turns in the said flange j" without turning it. The indicator is held to the screw in any convenient way. When a machine is equipped with a series of these indicators, it is obviously preferable that they should all be detachable and interchangeable with only one clamp to the series. For that reason the right end of each indicator is enlarged and has a vertical notch in its bot tom edge, whereby it is adapted to straddle the screwj as indicated in Fig. 2, the length of the screw being adjusted so that it shall stop short of pinching the indicator j between its head and the socket 7' when the barj is clamped. A11 indicator may be nondetachable from its clamp, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7. The head of the screwj may be shaped as most convenient.

The motion of the bar j is a horizontal one and in front of the operator. For that reason it is as convenient as might be that the in dicator j should be clamped to it. At the same time the invention does not limit me in respect of the particular moving part of the machine from which is taken the power necessary to move the indicator j in sight of the operator. Neither does it limit me to the direction of the indicators motion, for if the indicator is moved vertically spring-pressure would suffice to keep its operative edge engaged with the stop j properly positioned for its purpose and would thereby provide for the discharge of all the functions described above.

I claim-=- 1. In a composing-machine and in combination with a resistant movable under the influence of the line being composed, a stop arranged to arrest said resistant before the composition of the line is completed.

In a composing mechanism, a resistant, movable under the influence of the line being composed, in combination with a stop to arrest the resistant when the line has reached the predetermined length, and a second stop arranged to arrest the resistant before the composition of the line is completed.

3. The combination in acomposing-inachine of the bar,n1oved step by step by the increasing length of the line being composed, a stepped indicator connected to said bar, and a stop with which the steps of said indicator engage.

4. The combination in a composing-machine of an indicator, provided with steps or shoulders, adapted to be moved step by step with the increasing length of the line being comthis 28th day of May, 1897.

EDWARD GEORGE LEONARD.

iVitnesses:

ALBERT Horns, CHARLES CLEMENT Fiutxswomn HALLAM.

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