Patent GB-409020-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to type setting type casting and like machines
IPC: B41B27/10
Filed: 1932-07-26
Abstract: 409,020. Printers' composing-machines. ARMSTRONG, J. J. V., 12, Church Street, Liverpool.-(Johnson Corporation, C. B.; Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.) July 26, 1932, No. 21003. [Class 100 (iii).] An automatic operating-mechanism for typebar-making and like machines, which is adapted to be operated by a control-sheet having thereon code signs or characters to be scanned by a photo-electric cell, comprises relatively movable primary and secondary selectors, which carry differentially arranged displaceable members and are located between an actuating member and the key-rods of the operated machine. The selectors may be in the form of rotatable shafts, which carry sliding pins and are turned by the action of the control-sheet, so as to bring a single pair of pins, one in each shaft, into alignment with each other and with the actuating-member. Control - sheet. The code signs are of the form shown in Fig. 65, and may be accompanied by the characters which they represent. The signs may be opaque on a translucent ground or vice versa. The sheets may be prepared by means of a typewriter or by printing, duplicating, &c. apparatus, or they may be transmitted from a distance by means of an electric typewriter, television, &c. The space for each code sign preferably comprises six divisions, Fig. 66, one or more of which is opaque, and the divisions are scanned in succession by the light-sensitive cell in the course of a forward and backward movement of the carriage that supports the control-sheet, combined with a letter-spacing movement of the carriage. Control-sheet carriage. The control-sheet is supported on a carriage 108, Figs. 1, 7, and 11, which travels on track-bars 102, and is advanced for letter-spacing by a spring drum under the control of escapement-mechanism comprising sliding dogs, which engage a ratchet-wheel 259, Fig. 1, and are operated by a cam. The ratchet-wheel is connected to a pinion engaging a rack 111 on the carriage. The control-sheet 158, Fig. 11, rests on a slotted plate 119, on which it is held by a hinged member 153 Marginal holes 159 in the sheet are engaged by pins 121, 122, which are drawn down to permit of the line-spacing movement of the sheet. The plate 119 is carried by arms 117, which are pivoted to the carriage and are rocked by a lever 169 and a cam 40, so as to give a forward and backward movement to the control-sheet. A half letter-space movement is imparted to the carriage between the forward and backward movements, to enable each of the six sections of a code sign to be scanned in turn. At the end of a line, the rocking movement is interrupted by a cam 175, which moves the lever 169 away from its cam 40. For line-spacing, the control-sheet is engaged between, and drawn forwards by, a reciprocating bar 294, Fig. 7, and a hinged gripper bar 290, operated by cams. At the end of a line, the carriage is returned by a lever 312, Fig. 1, and a cam 315. Scanning - mechanism. The light-sensitive cell 333, Figs. 1 and 7, is carried in a housing 332 located below the control-sheet. Light from a lamp 97 is directed on to the sheet by a lens 91 carried by an adjustable bracket 87. Wires 336, 337, Fig. 68, lead from the cell 333 to an amplifier 338, which is connected to a relay 380 adapted to make and break the circuit of an electromagnet 374, which operates the selecting-mechanism. Selecting-mechanism. A rotating shaft 352, Fig. 18, carries discs 357, 358, in which are slidably mounted six selector-rods A .. F. Arms of different length, secured to the rods, extend to a common rod G, beyond which they are provided with projecting lugs A<1> .... F<1>. During the rotation of the shaft 352, the rods A .... F are either moved endwise, or are left unmoved, by a lever 364 controlled by the electromagnet 374, according as the code sign presents an opaque or a translucent section. One or more of the lugs A<1> ... F<1> are thereby aligned with corresponding latch-levers 466, which are tripped during the further rotation of the shaft. One or more vertical slides are thereby permitted to rise and to transmit a variable movement to two horizontal slides, which rotate two pin-shafts 600, 601, Fig. 7, in one or the other direction to a variable extent. The pin-shafts are divided into sections, each section of the shaft 600, Fig. 39, containing eight pins, and each section of the shaft 601, Fig. 40, containing one pin. The rotation of the shaft 601 effects the selection of a particular section of the shaft 600, and the rotation of the shaft 600 effects the selection of a particular pin in that section. Two pins, one in each shaft, are thus brought into the same horizontal plane, and the movement of a striker-bar 772 is transmitted through the pins, and through a T-shaped member located between them, to one of a series of levers 669, which rocks the lower end of one of a series of lifters 678 into the path of an actuating-member 700. The lifters are supported by slots on a rod 683, so as to be movable vertically, and are situated below the key-rods 30 of the machine, one of which is actuated by the selected lifter. The pin-shafts have separate sets of pins and separate striker-bars for effecting the release of upper and lower case characters, the strikerbar not in use being locked by the action of a special code sign. At the end of each line, a blank portion of the control-sheet, containing no opaque sections, effects the movement of a special lifter, which does not operate a key-rod, but causes a clutch to close and to rotate an intermittently driven shaft, which returns the control-sheet carriage to initial position, effects the line-spacing, and raises the assemblerelevator. These actions are conditional upon the engagement of a set-screw 862, Fig. 1, by the line delivery-carriage lever 35 on its return. Extra-space mechanism. Additional spaces n ay be placed between words by means of a device which couples the lifter that operates the spaceband-releasing key-rod to the lifter that releases the extra spaces. The device is brought into action by a special code sign, which is placed at the beginning of a line of characters after the line has been written.