Patent GB-190125868-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Type Casting and Composing Machines.
Inventor: RETAUX MAURICE
Filed: 1901-12-18
Granted: 1902-12-11
Abstract: 25,868. Retaux, M. Dec. 18. Monotype and Like machines. - Relates to machines for casting composed and justified lines of separate types, the types and spaces of a line being cast simultaneously. The casting-moulds are contained in a series of magazines 20, Figs. 12 and 13, mounted to slide side by side, by means of their ribs 22 engaging between fixed bars 23, Fig. 21, on the machine framing. Each magazine is divided by partitions 21 into compartments, and contains a series of type - mould bars 1, a space-casting mould, and a justifying-bar 10. Each type-mould bar consists of two plates 1, 2, Figs. 2 and 12, having fixed between them a series of blocks 5 forming mould cavities 8 for the bodies of the types. The matrices 4 are fixed at the ends of the cavities 8 by screws 9, and are adjusted in position by other screws. The space mould is formed of a bent strip 12, Fig. 9, enclosing a tapering bar 14 having a mould slot or cavity 19, into which projects a bent-over part 12* on one side of the strip 12. A movable wedge 13 operates, when pushed up, to spread the sides apart and increase the width of the mould cavity 19. The justifying-bars 10 are of the section shown in Fig. 7, and are of the same thickness as the two side-plates 1, 2 of a type mould, taken together, and are placed in the line from such of the magazines 20 from which type or space moulds are not required. The bars are retained in the magazines by spring hooks 30. The magazines are simultaneously moved along horizontally, and are arrested with the required moulds or bars over a set of guidechannels in which they are composed for casting the types and spaces. The magazines have notched projections 26 by which they are stopped in the proper positions, by mechanism controlled from a perforated record strip. The moulds &c. over the channels are then released, by disengaging the hooks 30, and fall down until they are arrested with the proper moulds at the height of the casting position. The complete line of types and spaces is cast simultaneously, and the types are preferably cast together with a bar or web which connects them together along their feet, and by which they may be carried to the galley &c. They are detached from the bar by any suitable means. The guide-channels are formed by parallel flexible steel strips 33, fixed at their upper ends to a verticallymovable bar 67, and passing down into fixed sheaths 34 attached to cross-bars 35, 36. Hooks 37 on the strips 33 project out of the sheaths 34, and are utilized to draw the strips down and return them to normal position, after they have been deflected laterally to bring the composed line together in front of the metal pot. The moulds are arrested as they fall, by a series of stepped stops, set in the proper position by mechanism controlled by the perforated strip. The means for arresting the movements of the magazines 20, and for setting the stepped stops, are identical, and each comprises a series of pistons operated by compressed air under the control of the perforated strip, the pistons engaging the notches in the projections 26 &c. The strip contains, for each line, as many rows of holes as there are magazines, and as many holes for each row as there are compartments in the magazine and positions of the stepped stops. The strip is fed forward intermittently, line by line, between upper and lower boxes or plates having rows of holes which are opened by the perforations of the strip. In the upper box the controlling-holes for each row of perforations of the strip communicate with a flat pipe, and these flat pipes are successively placed in communication with a chamber containing compressed air. In the lower box the first holes of each row are connected by pipes to the cylinder of a piston, the second holes of each row to another piston, and so on. The magazines and stepped stops are moved, by a succession of movements, into different positions, and each is stopped at the required position by the operation of the corresponding piston. When the moulds and bars are all in position, they are held by a bar 61, opposite the melting-pot, engaging in the notches 3. The line of moulds &c. is enclosed between a pair of jaws 62 which limit the justification, and clamp the bars together during the cast. Justification is effected by pushing up the wedges 13. Two machines may be supplied from one metal pot, which is arranged to oscillate between them.