US838063A - Linotype-machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 838,063. PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.;

P. w. SUTGLIFPE. LINOTYPE MAUHINE. APPLICATION FILED 001 6 1905 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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No. 838,063. PATE-NTED DEC. 11, 1906. F, W. SUTGLIFFE. LINOTYPE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 1995.

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P. W. SUTGLIFFB.

LINOTYPE MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 0015, 1905.

PA'TENTBD DEC. 11, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO LINOTYPE AND MACHINERY LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

LINOTYPE-IVIACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 11, 1906.

Application filed October 5. 1905. Serial No. 281,45 9.

To all whom, it may concern;-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WILLIAM SUTOLIFFE, of Battledene road, Highbury, London, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Linotype-Machines and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

v This invention relates to improvements in linotype-machines; and the object of it is to enable the operator to cast linotypes of difierent lengths from the same composed lineof matrices and spaces.

It consists in alternative means for carrying out the process described and claimed in a pending application filed by myself and Charles Holliwell on October 5, 1905, Serial No. 281,458.

It is particularly adapted for use in the Mergenthaler linotype-machine, described in thespecification ofLettersPatent No.436,532, of September 16, 1890.

The particular users of linotype-machine who have already and will in the future find this invention useful are those who supply stereotypes to the printing trade, and some of whose customers require their stereotypes to have lines of one length, while other customers require their stereotypes to have lines of a different length. For instance, let it be supposed that one such customer is the proprietor of a newspaper having lines thirty ens long, while the lines of another customers newspaper are only twenty-eight ens long. It is obvious that a thirty-ens stereo cannot be cast from a flong mad e 011 twentyeight-ens linotypes, and even if the user were to set the job in movable type instead of in linotype it would. still be necessary to run over the lines after thefirst flong had been taken from them to shorten them from thirty ens to twenty-eight ens or to lengthen them from twenty-eight ens to thirty ens, according to which. of the two had been their original length, before the second flong could be taken.

- The present invention makes the linotypemachine practically run over each twentyeight-en line of matrices and space-bars after the twenty-eight-en linotype has been cast from it and lengthen it to thirty ens, so that the machine can cast a thirty-ens linotype from the said line before it is distributed, thereby obviating the necessity of a separate composition for each length of linotype.

It consists in combining a filling-piece with the vise that holds the composed line during the acts of justification and casting, the said filling-piece having an operative thickness equal to the desired difference in the two lengths of linotypes. The vise is adjusted for the longer length and this length reduced to the shorter one by the insertion of the filling-piece. The line is then composed as for the shorter length, but more tightly than usual for the following reason, which will be more readily understood if it is explained in connection with a Mergenthaler space-bar. Each space-bar of a Mergenthaler linotypemachine is a double wedge capable of being thickened by having one of its wedges slid along over the other, the thickening increasing so long as the sliding continues. In the commercial machine of to-day this thickening continues until the line is justified. Consequently the more matrices there are in a line the less need there is for each space-bar to be thickened to its maximum to justify the line. It is quite possible for anoperator to compose so few matrices into the line that the justification of it will absorb all the justifying capacity of its space-bars. v of composition, known as loose, will not satisfy the present invention, because there must be a reserve of justifying capacity equal to the difference between the two lengths of linotypes. This is why the present invention requires that the line should be composed more tightly than usual, for a line so composed will be justified before the spacebars are thickened to the maximum, thereby providing the required reserve of justifying capacity.

After the shorter linotype has been cast the filling-piece is withdrawn from the vise, thereby leaving it adjusted for the longer length. The composed line is againplaced in the vise by means of a special repeating mechanism, and after it has been justified to the longer length the longer linotypeis cast and the composed line distributed, this distribution being permitted by the repeating mechanism just mentioned.

The filling-piece may be alternated (01. e. inserted and withdrawn) by hand but ,to do This sortthis with the necessary regularity would ,tax

the attention of the operator, so that such 1 manual operation is practically impossible. That being so, the invention includes automatic alternating mechanism of special construction for inserting and withdrawing the filling-piece. The mold-carrier is fitted with a single mold, which is of the longer length and in which both lengths of linotypes are cast. Preparatory to casting a shorter linotype this mold is closed at one end by an amount equal to the difference between the two desired lengths of linotype, and this closing the mold makes an-indent ation at one end of the shorterlength linotype. The presence of this indentation is obvious when it is borne'in mind that the length of the mold determines the length of the body of the linotype, while the length of the printing edge of the linotype is determined by the length of the composed line of matrices. Any of the molds adjustable for length, such as those of Patents N 0. 562,751, June 23, 1896, or No. 539,993, May 28, 1895, may be used; but their adjustability is not to'meet the change from the'longer to the shorter length-say from'twenty-eight to thirty ensbut to meet the change from one range of lengths to another, as when the lengths are, say, forty-eight and fifty ens instead of twenty-eight and thirty ens. It is always the filling-piece that provides for the diiferencebetween the two lengths.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the application of the invention to the commercial' Mergenthaler linotype-machine.

Figure 1' is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan corresponding therewith; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail of thefillin'g-piece'; Fig. 4, an enlarged plan showing the cooperation of the fillingpiece with the movable vise-j aw, and Fig. 5 an enlarged front elevation showing how the filling-piece is mounted on the vise-frame. Fig. 6 is a detail showing a variant form of thefilling-pie'ce. Fig. 7 is a side elevation, and Fig. 8 is a plan, of an automatic repeating mechanism. automatic'means for justifying the composed line to the respective lengths after'each presentation of the said line to the mold.

1 is the single mold, mounted as heretofore in the mold-carrier 3. A mold is in the casting position when it is stationary behind the vise and close up to it, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

4 is the fixed, and 5 the movable, vise-jaw; 6, the abutment for the jaw 5, operated by the screw 7 to hold the jaw 5 at the proper distance from the jaw 4, and 8 the vise-frame supporting the parts 4, 5, 6, and 7. The dis tance between the jaws 4 and 5 is the usual vise-opening to receive the composed lines of matrices and space-bars. This line is omitted from the figures, so as not to obscure the cooperation between the vise 4 5 and the mold 1.

is part of the machine-frame; 31, the cam-shaft 32, a mutilated gear having nine- Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the teen teeth fast on the shaft 31; 33, a gear of the same diameter as the gear 32, but having forty teeth; 34, a stud-axle carried by the frame 30 and on which the gear 33 turns, and 35 a spring-actuated detent likewise carried by the frame 30 and adapted to lock the gear 33 by engaging in either of two cavities 36 in its right-hand face (looking at it from the front of the machine) as soon as the gear 32 disengages from the said gear 33.

37 is the filling-piece. The width of this filling-piece, looking at it from the front, is equal to the desired difference in the two lengths of linotypes say two ens. Thenose of the filling-piece 37 is wedge-shaped and the cooperating corner of the jaw 5 rounded. off to facilitate the entrance of the said piece 37 between theabutment 6 and the vise-j aw 5, as shown in Fig. 6. This filling-piece is vertical and pivoted by its bottom end to the outer end of an arm 38, fast on a shaft 39, turning in' brackets'40 .40, carried by the viseframe 8, and kept in contact with the rear face of the vise-frame 8' by a helical spring 41 on the shaft 39, one end of thesprmg being fast to the said shaft and the other to the fillingpiece'. 42 is a second arm likewise fast on the shaft 39, but at an angle with the arm 38, the'two forming a bell-crank lever.

43 is a connecting-rod. having its rear end pivoted eccentrically to the face of the gear 33 and its front end pivotally connected to the outer end'of the arm 42; but as thelinotype-machine may be'required to work sometimes in the ordinary wayi. e., without the present inventionprovision is made for throwing the latter out of gear,such provision consisting of a fork 44 in the front endof the connecting-rod, engagingwith a stud 45', projecting laterally from the arm 42, ahook 46 pivoted on the machine-frame at 4-7, and a stud 48 on the rod 43,so'that the latter can be disengaged from the arm 42 when the invention is to be put out of action and hung up by passing the hook 46 under the stud 48. The gears 32 33 will continue, however, to rotate and the rod 43 to work, the hook 46 swinging with its forked end.

49 is a stud on the frame 30 to support the hook 46 when it is not in use.

50 is a guard for the gears 32 33.

The automatic means for justifying the line first to the shorter length and afterward to the longer length is the justifying mechanism in general use to-day in the com mercial linotype-machine, and is illustrated in Fig; 9'.

150 151. are two cams fast on the cam shaft 31 of the machine and therefore turning with it in the direction indicated by the arrow.

150 151 are the two justifying-levers. They are both fulcrumed on a common fulcrum' 152 in the machine-frame 30. Each carries an antifriction-roller 150 151", and

site the two lever-rollers 150 both rollers are kept in contact with the respective peripheries of the cams 150 151 by springs 150 151 and push-rods 150 151, having collars 150 15]. fast on them and between which collars and the base of the machine-frame the said springs are constantly in compression, and therefore always holding the front ends of the levers 150 151 as high as the respective contacts between the peripheries of the cams 150 151 and the rollers 150 15] b allow them to do. The front ends of the cam-levers 150 151 are loosely connected to the bottom ends of vertical rods 150 151 ,respectively. These rods are capable of sliding in suitable fixed guides as the respective levers rise and drop under the joint action of the cams 150 151 and springs 150 151 These two rods 1.50 151 show in the figure as one behind the other. Their top ends are pivotally connected to a justifying-plate 153, which stands under the opening between the vise-jaws 4 5. It is into this opening that the first elevator 22 puts the composed line of matrices Y and spacebars. All the matrices and space-bars hang in the head of the said elevator 22 by lugs, which engage in grooves 154 in the said head, as shown in the figure.- Only the lugs y of one matrix show in the figure, those of the other matrices, as well as those of the space-bars, being behind. A space-bar has been already described as being a double wedge capable of being thickened by having one of its wedges slid along over the other. These two wedges are of d 'lferent lengths, one of them being shorter than a matrix and the other being much longer. It is the shorter wedge that carries the lugs 2, bywhich the spacebar is suspended from the grooves 154, and that is why the shorter wedges do not show in the figure. One longer wedge Z shows project ing downward below the composed line of matrices and space-bars, (and also above it, because the figure illustrates a justified posi tion,) the other long wedges being behind it. At the moment that the elevator 22 puts the composed line in the vise-opening the rises of the two cams 150 151 hold the front ends of the levers 150 151 and consequently the justifying-plate 153,in their lowest respective positions; but by the time the said line is to be justified the rotation of the cams has placed their dropssay the two a a -oppo- 151", so that the springs 150 151 at once push the said justifying-plate 153 up, making each longer wedge slide over its shorter fellow wedge, thereby thickening each spacebar as much as the then distance between the jaws 4 and 5 permits of. This is the condition shown in the figure. There are two drops a b (and consequently two rises.) shown in each cam, be cause there are two in each cam in the commercial linotype-machine; but this duplication is a detail that does not concern the length between present invention, for so far as it is concerned each cam may beconsidered as having only one rise and one drop, the rise and drop in one substantially registering with the rise and drop in the other and both rises and both drops acting once only during each rotation of the cam-shaft 31.

The invention, made as above described, works as follows: The mold 1, set to the longest length, is mounted on the moldcar rier, the abutment 6 adjusted by the screw 7 at a distance from its fellow jaw 4 equal to the length of the longer linotype, a filling piece 37 of a width equal to the difference in the shorter and longer linotypes fixed to the arm 38, (or to the shaft 39,) the gears 32 33 being in the position illustrated in Fig. 1. The operator having composed the line to the shorter length and tight, starts the machine, which proceeds to insert the filling-piece 37 between the abutment 6 and the movable jaw 5 and leaves it there. This insertion pushes the jaw 5 up toward its fellow jaw 4 and holds it at the shorter distance therefrom. The machine then inserts the composed line in the vise, the mold-carrier 3 is moved up to the composed line, and the latter justified to the shorter length; but as it was composed tight not more than about half of the justifying capacity in its space-bars is used up. The shorter linotype is then cast and the moldcarrier 3 moved to the rear and then into the ejecting position, when the linotype is ejected into the galley of the machine in the wellknown way. The distribution of the com posed line, which would have been commenced by the machine by this time, is prevented by the repeating mechanism, (illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8,) the line itself being practically left in the vise, (as a matter of fact, it is taken out of the vise as if it were going to be distributed and then returned to it.) The gear 32 again enga es the gear 33 and makes it withdraw the 'llingpiece 37 and, disengaging from the gear 33, leaves the filling-piece withdrawn. The composed line is replaced in the vise, the mold-carrier 3 moved up to it, and the line justified to the longer length, the aw 5 being thereby pushed back up to the abutment 6. The longer linotype is then cast and ejected and the line distributed in the ordinary way. While the pair of linotypes was being cast the operator was composing the next line, and this is placed in the vise in time to cooperate with the mold 1 each time that it comes opposite to the vise. Thus the machine keeps on delivering first a shorter lino type and next a longer one, both cast from the same composed line. The shorter-length linotypes have each the indentation already referred to. This is caused by the jaw 5 closing over the left-hand end of the mold 1 (compare dotted and full lines of Fig. 5) as &

the filling-piece 37 pushes it toward its fellow jaw 4, so that only the printing edge of the linotype is of the shorter length, the body of it being of the longer length.

In the variant form of filling-piece shown in Fig. 6 the filling-piece 51 is bent at a right angle and has an arcual motion instead of a vertical one between the two positions shown by the full and dotted lines. Its front end is fast on the shaft 39, so that the arm 38 and spring 41 are dispensed with.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate an improved form of the repeating mechanism that prevents the removal of the composed line by the well known distributor after the shorter linotype has been cast, effects the return of the line to the casting position, and permits the distribution of it after the longer linotype has been cast. This mechanism is practically identical with the invention described in the specification of Letters Patent No. 645,472 of March 13, 1900, and therefore per forms no part of the present invention. is a cam fast on the cam-shaft 31, already mentioned, but not included in Figs. 7 and 8; 61, a portion of the lever mechanism that normally takes the composed line out of the well-known "first elevator preparatory to the distribution of it, and which mechanism is actuated by the cam 60 in one direction and by a spring (not shown) in the other; 62, a lever fulcrumed on the machine-frame at 63 and adapted to stop the eamshaft 31 after a linotype has been cast; 64, a wedge-shaped projection fast on the said lever 62; 65, a radial projection on the periphery of the cam 60; 66, a shaft turning in stationary brackets 67 67; 68, a lever loose on the shaft 66 and made by the pull of a spring 69 to hold its nose just within the path of the projection as the latter turns down toward the adja cent nose of the said lever 68; 70, a pawl pivoted on the link 68 2 71, a ratchet-wheel fast on the shaft 66 and with which the pawl 70 engages to turn the shaft 66 intermittently; 72 72 72 72, four stops, and 73 73 73 73 four intermediate notches arranged symmetrically about a boss 74 on the said shaft 66 under a stud 75 on the rock-shaft 76 of the portion 61; 77, a cam likewise fast on the shaft 66 and having four depressions and four points symmetrically arranged at fortyfive degrees from each other, the depressions being at an angle of forty-five degrees with the respective notches 73 and with which cam the projection 64 cooperates. The sh aft 66 is set by hand, so that when a filling-piece is between the abutment 6 and the jaw 5 a notch 73 is opposite the sti: d 75, the projection 64 being at the same time in a depression of the cam 77 and the pawl 70 put in gear with the ratchet-wheel 71. a spring combined with the pawl keeping it in gear. As the shorter composed line is being conveyed to the vise the projection 65 comes up to the lever 68 and turns it downward about the shaft 66 through forty-five degrees, thereby makin the pawl 70 turn the shaft 66 till a stop 72 is opposite the stud 75 and a point of the cam 77 in engagement with the projection 64 on the lever 62, thereby rocking the latter out of action, the consequence being that the lever mechanism represented by the portion 61 and 76 fails to take the composed line out of the first elevator, so that the latter returns it to the vise, and the cam-shaft 31 makes a second revolution, thereby effecting the casting of the longer linotype and also moving the particular stop 72 out of the path of'the stud 75 and a notch 73 into the path of it, so that the mechanism 61 works normally after the longer linotype has been cast, and the composed line is then distributed in the usual way. When the machine is to work normally-i. 6., without the present inventlonthe pawl 70' is rocked on its pivot out of engagement with the ratchet-wheel 71.

Referring to what has been said as to a single mold causing an indentation at the end of a shorter linotype, this indentation would not be caused if the mold had the left-hand end lineri. 6., the piece that makes the lefthand end of the mold-movable instead of being fixed, so as tomove to and fro with the jaw 5, their right-hand faces being in the same vertical plane. Such a combination of liner and vise-jaw is described in the speci fication of Letters Patent No. 576,414, February 2, 1897, and the single mold of the present invention may be fitted with it; but it is not recommended, because the movable liner would not be as metal-tight as a fixed one.

It has already been stated that the invention is particularly applicable to the Mergenthaler linotypemachine.of Letters Patent No. 436,532, September 16, 1890, and so it is; but its applicability is not limited to that machine. For instance, with reference to the justifying devices which the invention relies on, the essential feature is the reserve of justifying capacity. The Mergenthaler justifying devices are doublewedge space-bars acting in the direction of their length, while the justifying devices of the Typograph machine are double wedges acting circularly, but the present invention is, so far, applicable to both machines, for the reason that the justifying devices of each possess the above-mentioned reserve of justification. Compressible elastic justifying devices would possess such reserve of justifying capacity. So it must be clearly understood that the present invention is applicable to any machine whose justifying devices possess the required reserve of justifying capacity. Further, the moldearrier of the Mergenthaler machine is a rotating one adapted to present its mold regularly in the casting position; but it is this presentation that is the essential function of the carrier (the rotation as such is immaterial) because the same presentation would be accomplished by a mold-carrier having a to-and-fro motion either arcual or linear.

I claim- 1. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; and rod connecting the filling-piece to the al ternatively-driven gear.

2. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise hav ing a movable jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; and detachable rod connecting the fillingpiece to the alternately-driven gear.

3. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having' a movable jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear; automatic means for presenting the composed line to the mold twice in succession; and automatic means for justifying it to the respective length after each presentation.

4. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; filling-piece adapted to be put alternately into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear; automatic means for presenting the composed line to the mold twice in succession; automatic means for justifying it to the respective length after each presentation; and an automatic repeating mechanism to provide for such second presentation.

5. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; the respective end liner of l the mold fast to the said jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; and rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear.

6. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; the respective end liner of the mold fast to the said jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; and detachable rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear.

7. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; the respective end liner of the mold fast to the said jaw; filling-piece adapted to be alternately put into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear; automatic means for presenting the composed line to the mold twice in succession; and automatic means for justifying it to the respective length after each. presentation.

8. The combination of mold-carrier having a single mold of the longer length; vise having a movable jaw; the respective end liner of the mold fast to the said jaw; filling-piece adapted to be put alternately into and out of its operative position; mutilated gear; gear alternately driven and left by the mutilated gear; rod connecting the filling-piece to the alternately-driven gear; automatic means for presenting the composed line to the mold twice in succession; automatic means for j ustifying it to the respective length after each presentation; and an automatic repeating mechanism to provide for such second presentation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE. Witnesses:

H. D. JAMESON, A. NUTTING.

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