Patent GB-190717864-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to Type Casting and Composing Machines
Inventor: NEWTON PHILIP ARTHUR
Filed: 1907-08-06
Granted: 1908-04-16
Abstract: 17,864. Newton, P. A., [Monoman Typesetter Co.]. Aug. 6. Monotype machines. - Relates to machines in which the matter to be composed is preliminarily represented by means of a keyboard on a record strip or controller which actuates the casting-mechanism. The keyboard and the casting- mechanism are combined in a single machine, and the controller, which is in the form of an endless belt having movable actuating-pins, passes from one to the other. The operator can thus compose several lines ahead of the casting- machine, which may then be left for a time unattended. A place finder, actuated by the keys, shows the operator where he left off. The spaces cast by the machine are automatically shortened after casting. The presence of a clogged matrix, which causes the casting of blank types, is indicated by an alarm. The mould, shown in plan in Fig. 26, consists of side pieces 16, 17, a sliding body piece 18 which determines the width of the mould, and a cover slide having upper and lower parts 19, 20, Fig. 23, the upper lower parts 19, 20, Fig. 23, the jet chamber being formed in the parts 20. The body piece 18 is drawn to the rear by a spring 25, and is adjusted by means of a stepped stop 26 which is drawn to the left by a spring 27. A lever 30 and cam advance the body piece to eject the type which is carried to the left by the end of the slide 19, against which it is held by a guide 50, Fig. 23. A pivoted arm 41 ejects the jet when the cover slide moves to the right. Matrix case.-The matrices are formed on bars 58, Fig. 23, mounted in a frame composed of side bars 61 and end pieces 62. The frame is supported on curved pieces 65 secured to racks 64 which are traversed to bring any matrix in a bar over the mould. The frame is rotated to bring any matrix-bar into position by arms 74 on a shaft 73. The matrix-bars can move radially in the frame, and are held down on the mould by a wedge - shaped plunger carried by a verticallysliding bar 80. Alining-pieces 46, 47 engage the matrix-bar along the whole of its length. The matrix-positioning mechanism comprises two vertically-sliding frames having cross-bars 99, 102, Fig. 7, respectively. Behind the cross-bars are mountei sliding bars 108, which are connected by pins and slots so as to be movable from a position in which their upper ends are in alinement to the stepped position shown in Fig. 9. The outside bars 108 are connected by racks and a pinion 116, and one of them is connected to a rack-bar 37 which is reciprocated by a cam 40. on the driving- shaft. The cross-bars 99, 102 carry sliding pins 120, Fig. 8, which are adapted to enter holes 119 in the bars 108. The travel of the cross-bars thus varies according to the pins that are actuated. The cross-bar 99 is connected by racks 98 to pinions 100 on a shaft 71 having pinions 70 which gear with the racks 64, Fig. 23. The cross-bar 102 is connected by racks 103, 107, 92 to the shaft 73, Fig. 23. The pins 120 are projected by plungers 149, Fig. 6, which are actuated by vertical cam-slides 150. Slides 151 mounted in a vertically-reciprocating block 152 are projected by the pins of the controller beneath shoulders on the cam-slides 150, which are thereby raised. The controller is in the form of an endless belt or chain composed of tubes 131, Fig. 15, in which actuating-pins 132, Fig. 16, are frictionally held by springs 133. The tubes are connected by links 134 and are fastened together in pairs by pins 136. The controller is fed to the setting-mechanism by sprocket-wheels 137, Fig. 6, which are actuated by the keys, and to the matrixselecting mechanism by sprocket-wheels 139 on a shaft 140 which is rotated by pawls actuated by a cam on the driving-shaft. In case two of the controller pins corresponding to two cam.slides 150 in the same series are accidentally set, an alarm is sounded and the rise of the member 152 is prevented. The controller, when set, forms a loop between the sprockets 137, 139 which is taken up by the sprockets 139 until the controller strikes a pin 177 when the feed of the shaft 140 is arrested. The adjustment of the body piece 18 of the mould is determined by a set-size index 183, Fig. 33, comptisiug a cylinder having pins the length of which corresponds to the set-way dimensions of the matrices in the matrix-case. The cylinder is rotated and is moved longitudinally by the shaft 71 and rack-bar 92 respectively, which adjust the - matrix-case. A rod 186, Fig. 33, is thrust yieldingly against the pins of the index, and its motion is transmitted by a lever i and link f to the stepped stop 26, Fig. 26. Keyboard mechanism.-The pins of the controller are projected by vertical slides 206, Fig. 6, which are actuated by arms on rock-shafts 210. The keys 212, Fig. 11, are mounted on sliding rods 213, which rock levers 214 and lift vertical hammerslides 216. Lugs on the slides 216 engage arms 222 on the shafts 210 which, in turning, raise the slides 206. The shafts 210 are positively returned by a cam-actuated slide 234. A bar 223, which is raised by all the levers 214, releases a one-revolution clutch and causes a shaft 227 to feed the controller one step. Place-finder.-A cylinder 267, Fig. 11, carrying frictionally-held pins 272 rotates beneath a characterindex 273. Pins corresponding to the characters set are depressed by levers 277 connected to the levers 214. By rotation of the index 273 and cylinder 267, the operator is enabled to read the last fow words composed. Justifying-mechanism.-As each key is depressed, the width of the corresponding character is recorded on a unit-register. In the machine described, the justifying-unit is one-seventh of the maximum width of the type, the smallest type being three units in width. Spaces of five different sizes can thus be cast, two sizes being used if necessary to justify the line. The unit used in casting the types may be smaller, for example one-half, one-third, or one-quarter of the justifying- unit, in which case the smaller units are not added to the register until they amount to a whole justifying-unit. The unit-register comprises a ratchet-wheel 303, Fig. 13, which is fed by a pawl 304 and detained against the action of a weight by a pawl 306. The pawl 304 is connected to a slide 305 which is reciprocated by a slotted rod 310 and a cam. The travel of the slide is varied by means of four stops 314, which are projected by spring- pressed levers 315 and are held out of operation by spring-pressed pins 317. The pins 317 are connected to rock-shafts 319, Fig. 11, which are actuated by the appropriate keys. Fractional units are recorded by a pawl 324 which raises a notched lever 323. When the fractions amount to a whole unit, the lever 323 lifts a stop 322.and permits the slide 305 to move one unit further. The size of the word-spaces in a line is determined by regulators 346, Fig. 35, consisting of blocks carrying frictionally-held pins arranged in seven horizontal rows of four pins and corresponding to a maximum of seven word-spaces in the line. The pins in the horizontal rows enable the size of the spaces to be varied from three to seven units. At the beginning of each line, a regulator is released by a pawl 350 and falls until arrested by a toe on a rack 426, which gears with a sector 425 on the unit-register shaft 301. The regulator is thus raised to an extent depending on the amount of space recorded on the unit-register. The pins are set by four frames 407, which are moved downwards to different extents at. each depression of the spacekey, and, upon the depression of a starting-lever 437, Fig. 6, are moved against the pins. The regulator is then released and falls to the bottom of a channel where a plunger 351 is thrust yieldingly against each horizontal row of pins in succession, its travel being arrested by the projected pin. The motion .of the plunger is transmitted to a bar 361, Fig. 33, which co-operates with a stepped stop 369 on the bar 186 which positions the body piece of the mould. The fractional units, if any, which have not been recorded on the unitregister are deducted from the first word-space by means of a special pin 396 which, when projected, closes the circuit of an electro-magnet 403, Fig. 33, and lifts the link f into engagement with a shoulder h on the stop 26, whereby the mould-cavity is shortened by a half unit. The pin 396 is projected by an arm controlled by the lever 323, Fig. 13. Metal-injecting mechanism.-The melting-pot has a reservoir compartment from which metal is supplied by a pump to a delivery compartment having an overflow passage. A second pump delivers the metal to the nozzle which is moved to and from the mould by a cam. Space-shortening device.-The types and spaces pass beneath a reciprocating depressor which acts through a pivoted spring blade. The spaces are thereby depressed, but the heads of the types push aside the spring blade and escape the action of the depresser. The projecting lower ends of the spaces are cut off by a rotating saw. Clogged matrix alarm.-A blank type due to a clogged matrix is depressed similarly to a space. The spring blade, in its descent, closes the circuit of an alarm which is prevented by the space pin of the controller from being sounded by the spaces. Type-assembling and galley mechanism.-The types are carried by the cover slide of the mould into a channel in which they are advanced against a yielding resistant by a reciprocating packer. The line is drawn by pawls on a reciprocating slide opposite to a galley into which it is pushed. A leading-device may be mounted beneath the galley. Specification No. 2344, A.D. 1891, is referred to.