US665212A - Linotype-mold. - Google Patents

Description

Patented lan. I, |90I.

(Na'ModeL) THE NOR l! ERS CO PHOT ITHO WASHINGYCN D C UNITED STATES YATENT OFFICE.

ISAIAH HALL, F BERLIN, GERMANY, A S-SIGNOR TO THE MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK.

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SPEGIFICATION'fOrming part f Letters Patent N0. 665,212, dated January 1,1901. Original application filed July 1'7! 1.900, Serial No. 23,899, Divided and this application filed October 16j 1900. Serial No.

(No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAIAH HALL, ot Berlin, Germany, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Linotype-Molds, of which 5 the following is a speciiication.

The present invention relates to improvements in molds for casting my linotypes, which term is used herein as including printing-bars forborders and the like.

Io The objects of the invention are to produce linotypes which are lighter in proportion to the size of the type-face carried by them than those heretofore in use, to avoid the necessity of changing the mold for each change in the font or size of type-face, and to avoid the necessity of changing the ej enter-blades when the size of the type-face is changed.

Heretofore linotypes have been cast in the form of solid slugs, the thickness of the body zo being equal to or in excess of the width of the face on which the type characters appeared.

My invention contemplates a reduction in the thickness of the body of the slug, the z5 printing-face being made of suitable width to carry the characters and the body portion of a thickness less than such width, the upper face, which overhangs the side of the body, being supported by a series of ribs 3o formed on the body and cast or trimmed parallel with the opposite face of the body, so that when a series of slugs are assembled side by side the ribs will 'hold them in exact parallelism and also support the overhanging portion of the printing edge or surface.

The mold constituting the subject of the present invention is adapted to form slugsin this manner. The mold is commonly made of such size as to cast slugs adapted to re- 4o ceive the largest faces required in practice. If a small face of type is to be produced, suitable matrices are employed to produce the characters on the edge of the slug over the body portion. As the slug will be thicker than is necessary and appropriate for the small faces, it may be'trimmed down by the usual trimming-knives, which willcut away the ribs and a portion of the thin upper edge, so that the total thickness of the slug will be reduced to an extent appropriate to the face 5o carried thereby. v

In the drawingsI have shown a mold adapt'- ed for use iu the Mergenthaler linotypes, such as are now in general use.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the mold; 55 Fig. 2, a face View of the under side of the mold-cap; Fig. 3, a'vertical cross-section on the line 3 3 of the preceding figure; Fig. 4, a vertical cross-section on the line 4 4 of the preceding iigures, and Fig. 5 a perspective 6o View of the improved li notype prod uced in my mold. i The mold is made, as usual, in the form of a solid metal body having a slot or cavity therein of the exact form of the required linotype, the slot being open at the front, so that a composed line of matrices may be, assembled against it to produce the type characters on the slug formed therein, and also open at the rear in order to receive molten metal 7o from the melting-pot, as in the ordinary Mergen thaler inachine-such,for exam ple,as that represented in Letters Patent of the United States No. 436,532 and No. 557,000.

The mold may beconstructed in one piece or built up in any suitable number of pieces, as found most convenient, provided only they are properly assembled and sec'ured together so as to leave. in the interior a cavity having the characteristics hereinafter named. 8o

As shown in the drawings, 17 is the cap- Y plate or top of the mold; 1S, the bottom plate; 13 and 14, respectively, liners or v spacingv pieces inserted between the cap and body to hold them at the proper distance apart and to determine the length of the intervening slot or mold-cavity o, in which the linotype is cast.

According to the present invention the distance between the cap-plate and bottom plate 9o corresponds with the thickness ofthe body of the linotype or, in other words, the .thickness of a linotype-body proper for the smallest font or face of type to be produced. 3 is a shallow groove in the face of the cap-plate 17 of a length equal to that of the mold-cavity and opening into the latter, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The joint width of the groove 3 and the mold-cavity o, measured in the direction of the line 3 3, is preferably equal to the thickness of the linotype-body, suitable for the largest font or face of type to be produced.

6 6 are a series of grooves in the lower or casting face of the cap-plate, extending from front to rear and having, preferably, a depth equal to that of the groove 3, with which they communicate at the front.

lVhen a linotype is cast in the mold containing grooves 3 and 6, it will present the appearance shown in Fig. 5, having a relatively thin body portion 2, a series of vertical ribs 7 on the side of the body, and aWide upper face carrying the type characters, this upper face overhanging one side of the body in the form of a lip, ledge, or shelf 5, which receives support from the ribs 7. The ridge 7 and the edge of the shelf 5 are castor shaved to a common level, their surfaces being para-llel with the opposite side of the body 2, so that when the linotypes are assembled in the form the ribs '7 and the edge of the shelf 5 on each linotype will rest against the dat unbroken surface of the adjacent linotype.

The essence of the invention lies in the mold having the cavity adapted to form on the relatively thin body a Wider overhanging upper edge to carry the type-faces and ribs or portions on the body under this shelf to give it support and to maintain the proper parallelism ofthe slugs or linotypes when they are locked together for use.'

It is manifest that the precise form of the grooves 3 and 6, the number of the latter, and the relative proportions may be modified provided the characteristics named in the preceding paragraph are retained.

Then the mold is used in a Mergenthaler linotype. the type characters are cast in an inverted position, being alined from the bottom edge of the linotype, as shown in Fig. 5, the same-that is to say, a constantline-being maintained for the alinement of the char acters, whether large or small. If the mold as herein shown is adapted to produce a linotype with a face Wide enough to receive a type of large size, the same mold Will also answer for linotypes of all smaller sizes, because owing to the method of alining the inverted letters from the bottom of the slug the matrices for type of the small face will produce them on the lower edge of the slug Wholly or mainly over the body portion 2. The slug will have a face Wider than necessary for these small type, but the usual trimming-knives of the machine being properly adjusted Will serve to shave or cut away the superfluous portions of the rib 7 and shelf 5, thus reducing the total thickness of the linotype to an extentappropriate to the particular face which it carries. In other Words, it is possible by using my mold to cast linotypes of one and the same size, Whether the type-faces thereon are large or small, these linotypes being adapted to be trimmed or cut away an d their thickness reduced more or less according to the size of the type-faces carried thereon.

v Nhen the machine is provided with my improved mold, it is unnecessary to substitute one mold for another or to effect any adjust ment of the mold When the matrices are changed to effect the change of face. It is also unnecessary to make any change in the thickness of the ejector-blade, as heretofore required when the change of face was effected, for the reason that all slugs produced in my mold have their body portion of equal thickness, so that they may be ejected by one and the same blade.

What I claim as my invention is l. A linotype-mold having a cavity adapted to produce the body portion 2, an overhanging type-carrying surface 5, and supportingribs 7.

2. Alinotype-mold,haviugthesloto,groove 3, and groove 6, substantially as described and shown.

A liuotype-mold, having a slot or cell adapted to form a body port-ion 2, a series of ribs or projections 7 on one side thereof, and an upper type-carrying surface overlying the body and the ri bs, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof l hereunto set my hand this 24th day of September, 1900, in the presence of two attesting Witnesses.

ISAIAH HALL.

Witnesses:

HENRY HASPER, WOLDEMAR HAUPT.

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