Patent GB-923486-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to type-composing machines
Inventor: HIGONNET RENE ALPHONSE EUGENE
IPC: B41B3/04
Filed: 1959-07-23
Abstract: 923,486. Setting and justifying type; typebar-making machines; printing-surfaces. INTERNATIONAL PHOTON CORPORATION. July 18, 1960 [July 23, 1959], No. 25271/59. Classes 100 (2) and 100 (3). Apparatus for composing a line of type or matrices from individual type elements or matrices each representing a character in the composed line includes a set of holders for the retention of type elements or matrices of different identities, a movable conveyer for receiving selected type elements or matrices from the holders and for carrying the elements or matrices from the set of holders in the order in which the corresponding characters appear in the composed line, feed or escapement devices associated with the holders and each operable to transfer or release a type element or matrix from the holder to the conveyer, and control means for operating the feed or escapement devices in an order determined both by the relative positions of the feed or escapement devices with respect to the conveyer and the order in which the characters appear in the line to be composed. Setting and justifying type; galley mechanism.-Strips of type are located in magazine channels a-f and A-F, Fig. 1, on either side of a conveyer belt 88 having ribs 91 defining compartments each to receive a single type element. The strips are formed by means of scotch tape and may be wound in rolls 100, Fig. 8, in magazines each comprising a shaft 110. The strips are each urged by a roller 118 driven through a friction coupling towards and over the conveyer 88, the front type element of each strip pressing against a stop 108, until it is detached and transferred to the conveyer by a lever 124 actuated by a solenoid 62. When a roll is exhausted, contacts 120 give a signal to stop the machine. The magazine may accommodate two rolls 360, 362, Fig. 21, one in use and one in reserve. When one roll is exhausted, the pressure of the front type element in the other strip moves over a switch-plate 370 and abuts the rear element of the first strip. Each element may be transferred into its compartment, or slightly ahead of it resting on the preceding element, in which case the channel wall will push it into the compartment, as shown in Fig. 9. The conveyer feeds the elements to a type race 132, whence a rubber star wheel 154 pushes it against preceding elements in a line 152 pressed against a line follower 150 biased by a clock spring 156. When the line is of the desired length or within justification range, contacts 142 on a slide 144 are closed, and contacts 136 are also closed on detection of an empty race 132, some compartments of the conyeyer being arranged to be empty after a line, a circuit thereby being closed to initiate the end-of-line function. A solenoid 164, Fig. 12, is energized and advances a plate 162, Figs. 11 and 12, by which the composed line is pushed into the galley behind previous lines 160 against a line follower 184. A roller 188 feeds scotch tape to secure the lines together. In the control system shown in Fig. 16, character and justification signals from a tape 255 fed in synchronism with the conveyer 88 under control of a cam 284 are passed to input wires 286 of a magnetic core matrix 260, while signals are also received successively on input wires 290 through brushes 296, 296<SP>1</SP> mounted on the conveyer 88. Magnetic cores are energized where the selected wires 286, 290 intersect. Reading pulses are passed to the matrix through wires 288 by means of similar brushes 298 out of phase with the brushes 296, 296<SP>1</SP>, so that output signals are passed to the wires 292 corresponding to input signals belonging to an earlier line or part of the line. Mechanism including a second cam 285 causes a delay corresponding to one character when two identical characters are signalled in succession. In another form, Figs. 6 and 7, the core matrix is replaced by a wide tape which is passed round a stationary drum 20 and under pairs of brushes on a cylindrical sector 26 of insulating material, which brushes correspond to the character channels and contact terminals 22 of the drum through perforations in the tape. Escapement mechanism comprising a solenoid 44 and differential 54 is arranged to introduce a delay when two identical characters in succession are signalled. Magazines; assembling matrices.-The apparatus can be adapted to composing lines of matrices for line-counting. Matrices 194, Fig. 13, are delivered from vertical magazine channels 192 to a belt 198 having compartments formed by flaps 202 which push the matrices on to an assembler rail 206. Solenoid escapements are actuated by the control systems described above. In another form; Figs. 2 and 3, the matrices 64 are dropped into the threads of screws 70, 72, 74 which pass them to the assembly mechanism. Printing-surfaces.-A strip of type, Fig. 10, is formed by securing pieces of type 102 to a strip 104 of scotch tape received in shallow grooves in the backs of the type pieces. The strips can be wound into rolls 100, Fig. 8. Specifications 691,738, 691,761 and 691,762 are referred to.