Patent GB-759822-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in control mechanism for composing machines or the like
IPC: B41B17/00
Filed: 1951-10-02
Abstract: 759,822. Photographic type - composing. WALDEN, L. M. Oct. 2, 1951 [Oct. 9, 1950], No. 14866/55. Divided out of 759,752. Class 98 (1). Control mechanism for photographic typecomposing machines or the like comprises, in combination, a plurality of intelligence carriers each adapted to have impressed therein a sequence of character signals, a reading-in unit for impressing selected signals upon the intelligence carriers, a reading-out unit adapted to engage the intelligence carriers and to interpret the signals contained therein, and means supporting the intelligence carriers for movement separately into operative relationship successively with the reading-in and reading-out units. The reading-in unit may impress signals representative of printing characters in each intelligence carrier step-by-step to form composite signals representative of lines of printed composition, and the reading-out unit may interpret the composite signals step-by-step and relay a designation thereof to a camera, means being provided to transport each carrier in sequence to neutral and operative positions with respect to the reading-in and reading-out units and to control the movement of two of the carriers in response to the movement of the third carrier. As shown in Fig. 4, the cradle 30 consists of end brackets 72, 72<SP>1</SP> joined by a rectangular tube 73 and having projections 75, 751 joined by an L-section member 76 which guides the wedge portions 51 of patterns 30P (see Specification 759,824). The tube 73 passes through rectangular apertures in the patterns 30P and the right-hand pattern abuts against bracket 721, while the left-hand pattern is engaged by the jaw-block 77 slidable on the tube 73 and engaged by the short end of an L-shaped blade 78 slidable in slots in the tube 73 and biased to the right by springs 79. The cradle 30 rolls on four pairs of rollers 81, each pair of rollers being at right angles and engaging supporting surfaces. The cradle 30 is provided with a transmitter having wheels running on tracks which, at the same time, confine the pin carrier portions 50, Fig. 4, so that their top edges, cut as rack teeth, form continuous racks supplemented by an auxiliary fixed rack to control the movement of the transmitter. The central portion of the transmitter is always located to the right of its setting or reading-out portion, and it moves from left to right in setting and in the opposite direction during reading-out, so that it always engages the simulated rack at a completely contracted portion. During reading-in, pattern expansion moves the blade 78 and the line guide bar 92 to the left and thus moves the stop 90 leftwards to control the spacing of the characters at the " B " unit. Selective transfer of the three cradles 30 to and from the four operating and neutral positions (viz. the " A " unit position where pattern-setting is performed, the " B " neutral position where a cradle transferred from the " A " unit position awaits entry to the " B " unit position, the " B " unit position where reading-out is performed, and the " A " neutral position where a cradle rests between the " B " and " A " unit positions) is effected longitudinally by front and rear feed screws 716, 7161, Fig. 12, engaging the cradle traverse rollers 96, 961, Fig. 4, and the cradles are guided during such travel when the turntables 717, 7171 are not operating by rollers 718 carried by the turntables and by rollers 7181 on the baseplate. Transverse travel of the cradles is effected by the engagement of guide shoes spaced along the bottom of each cradle, with the rollers 718, each turntable revolving 180 degrees to effect a shift of cradle position and the inoperative opposite rollers 718 passing between gaps in the guide shoes. The feed screws 716, 716<SP>1</SP> are driven from the main drive shaft through bevel and other gearing arranged to drive spur gears 720<SP>1</SP>, 720<SP>111</SP> which are freely rotatable on feed screws 716, 7161 and which can be coupled therewith by clutches 721<SP>1</SP>, 721. The main drive shaft also drives through gearing a gear 726 on a shaft 727 driving through bevel gears 728,729 a'shaft 730 driving through gears 731, 732 (not shown) a shaft 733 driving shaft 737 through bevel gears 734, 735 and a clutch 736. The shaft 737 carries opposite worms 738, 7381 engaging helical gears on the turntables 717 to rotate them in opposite directions. A similar drive is provided fbr the turntables 7171. When the justification handle 39 (see also Specification 759,752) is fully depressed upon actuation of an under-pivoted catch lever, the wedge pusher plate 285, Fig. 20, moves rearwardly beyond the short dash line position reached at maximum justification to a dot-and-dash position in which the roller 739 on block 2851 engages the end 740 of the latch 741 to pivot the latch and disengage the portion 7401 from the slot 742 in the cradle banking plate, thus freeing the cradle for transposition from the " A " unit to the " B neutral position. The latch 741 is normally spring- biased clockwise to locate the cradle during " A " unit operation. Operation of the latch rocks, by means of the link 745, the lever 746 on the control rod 747 which, as shown in Fig. 12, carries fingers 748, 748<SP>1</SP>. The finger 748 when moved by the rocking of rod 747 is engaged and held by the latch 750, and the finger 748<SP>1</SP>, as shown in Fig. 21, rocks a lever 751. If there is a cradle in the " B " neutral position, it abuts against the beam 752, Fig. 12, to move, through the bell-cranks 753, the bar 754 towards the front of the machine (i.e. downwards in Fig. 12) and thus permits the lever 751 to rock freely. If there is no cradle in the " B " neutral position, the bar 754 holds the end of lever 751 to cause it to slide the plunger 755, Fig. 21, to the right to rock the clutch lever 756 to free the lug 757<SP>1</SP> on the toothed clutch member 757 to permit the latter to engage with the toothed hub of spur gear 7201 to operate the feed screw cradle drive. The drive is discontinued when a trip bracket on the cradle depresses the latch 750 to permit the rod 747 to return to its normal position. Since the trip bracket passes beyond the latching position before stopping, the latch can be set for the next cradle before the previous cradle has moved on, but the next cradle will not move, due to the action of the beam 752 and the bar 754, until the previous cradle has cleared. Similar devices are provided at the left-hand end of the machine, but in this case the tripping is automatic and not manual. Normally, one cradle 30 is in the A " unit being composed, a second is in the B " unit position awaiting transposition to the " A " neutral position when this is cleared, and a third is in the lastmentioned position awaiting clearance of the " A " unit position. When a cradle passes longitudinally from the " A " unit position (the left-hand bottom position in Fig. 12) to the " B " neutral position (the right-hand bottom position), it releases the spring-biased trip 800 operable on the clutch 736 controlling the drive to the left-hand turntables. A similar trip 800 is provided at the back of the machine operable on the clutch for controlling the drive to the right-hand turntables. Movement of the trip 800 on complete longitudinal movement of a cradle from the " A " unit position permits engagement of a pawl on a disc attached to the shaft 737 with a ratchet-wheel on the bevel gear drive and the left-hand turntables rotate to transport the cradle in the " A " neutral position (the left-hand top position) to the A " unit position, the movement being stopped when the cradle strikes the trip 800 to effect declutching. Means are provided so that the film is moved to zero position ready for composing as each cradle moves out of the " B " unit position, and then to a secondary position for line length as the next cradle reaches the " B " unit, further movement taking place under the influence of pattern narrowing as wedge - withdrawal proceeds during B " unit operations. Specification 759,823 also is referred to.