Patent GB-190116740-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Linotype and Type-Setting Machines.
Inventor: GILMAN ARTHUR SCOTT
Filed: 1901-08-20
Granted: 1902-01-09
Abstract: 16,740. Gilman, A. S. Aug. 20. Linotype machines; type, distributing.-Relates to the distribution of the matrices or type in linotype or type-setting machines. Fig. 17 shows a type or matrix in side elevation. It is cut to wedge form at w, and is provided with distinguishing- nicks 85. Fig. 1 shows the distributer in front elevation. It is provided with a glass front which covers the branching channels 22, 23, &c. The channels diverge from a common mouth or inlet 16, into which one matrix at a time is discharged from the line to be distributed. At each fork or branch in the system of channels is a wedge-shaped block or gate 37, carried by a horizontal sliding bar, which is normally urged towards the right by a spring 19. There are six of these sliding bars, numbered from 31 to 36 in Fig. 1, and by shifting a certain combination of them to the left a continuous channel can be formed leading to any one of the magazine channels with which the distributor communicates. Each of the bars 31 &c. is provided at its right hand end with a rearwardlydirected arm on which is mounted an antifriction roller 38. Vertical bars 51 to 56 are formed with wedge or cam surfaces 57, which force the antifriction rollers to the left when the bars are lifted against the tension of their controlling-springs 48. Each bar 51 &c. has its upper portion formed as a rack 61, Fig. 5, which is adapted to engage with a pinion 62 on a continuously-rotating shaft 63 when the upper part of the somewhat flexible bar is pushed rearwardly by a finger 67. When a certain combination of bars is thus engaged with the pinions, they are simultaneously lifted until they are disengaged by the abutment of the surfaces 58 with the smooth peripheral portions 70 of the pinions, the disengagement taking place after the matrix has fallen down the channel determined by the movements of the horizontal slides 31 &c. The proper combination of fingers 67 is brought into action by means of the characteristic nicks 85 of the matrix which is about to pass into the mouth or inlet 16. The fingers 67 extend towards the right from a pile of six plates held in close frictional contact with one another in a carriage movable transversely of the machine. As the carriage moves forward (towards the observer in Fig. 1 arms extending leftward from the aforesaid plates come in contact with the further side of the leading matrix of the line advancing along the feed-trough 66 towards the right. Those arms which do not meet with notches in the matrix are detained by contact with its edge, and certain of the fingers 67 are thus left projecting rearwardly relatively to the other fingers. When the carriage moves back, these fingers operate the bars 51 &c., after which an aligning-slide brings all the six plates and fingers into register again. The discharge of the leading matrix into the passage 16 is effected in the following manner :-A slide 94, Fig. 10. forms the bottom of the trough 66, and is normally tensioned to the right by a spring 96, Fig. 1, so as to close the entrance to the passage 16. An arm m, Figs. 1 and 15, extends upward from the left-hand end of the slide 94, and is connected by a link l to a pawl k secured to a rock-shaft g mounted on a vertically-moving cam-actuated slide e. To the rock-shaft g is also secured a wedgeshaped arm h, Fig. 10. A s the slide e descends, the arm h enters between the wedge-shaped part w of the leading matrix and the face of the one behind it, the angular movement of the arm hand pawl k being thus dependant on the thickness of the matrix concerned. The link l is brought into the horizontal position, and in so doing, the slide 94 partly opens the passage 16. The pawl know engages with the toothed surface of a spring-controlled arm n, and, as this arm is pushed down, it carries the pawl leftwards until the passage 16 is open. The extent of its opening depends on the angular position of the pawl at the moment it engages with the arm n, and is dependent therefore upon the thickness of the matrix. This prevents two adjacent thin matrices from falling together, as might be the case if the passage were always opened to the same extent.