Patent GB-199011-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for casting and setting movable type
IPC: B41B7/04
Filed: 1923-05-22
Abstract: 199,011. Soc. la Rototype. June 6, 1922, [Convention date]. Single-type composing and casting machines; keyboards ; justifying type.-In single-type composing and casting machines, a device is provided which enables the line composed on the keyboard to be recorded, and to be cast during the composition of the following lines, and which comprises a recording-drum having a series of pawls capable of being placed, by operation of the keyboard, in position to act on the members controlling the stoppage of the matrices in front of the mould and the starting of the members of the casting mechanism. The drum is rotated to bring a fresh series of pawls opposite the keyboard mechanism at each operation thereof through the medium of a device for adding the width of the letters of the line, this device also acting on a system for measuring the shortage to be filled out, dividing this shortage equally between the spaces contained in the line, and adjusting the mould accordingly. Line-recording mechanism. Depression of a key in the keyboard 19 results in the movement upward and forward of one of a number of bars 11, Figs. 5 and 6. which acts through projections to lift two bars 12. The bar 11 also acts on a shutter 13 to release a pawl 14 and allow a lever 15 to be moved by a spring 16, Fig. 1. A shutter 17 secured to the lever 15 is thus rotated and, acting in notches 12a of the bars 12 which have been raised slightly by the bar 11, projects them further, and so reduces the pressure which would otherwise be necessary on the keys. The projected bars 12 lift pawls 5 which are mounted on axes secured between the side walls of a drum 4. The number of pawls on each axis is determined by the combinations necessary for obtaining the various positions of the matrices in front of the mould, and the axes, exceeding in number the number of letters in the longest line to be composed, are regularly spaced around the circumference of the drum. The pawls have a restricted movement and are held in their operative or inoperative positions by small spring-pressed plungers engaging in grooves in the axes. The drum is mounted on rollers 3 in a frame 2 carried on the machine, and is rotated a step to bring a fresh row of pawls 5 into setting position by worm-gearing 52, 57 controlled by a one-revolution clutch which is put into action by the unitscounting mechanism. The clutch may be put into action by a lever to enable the drum to be rotated without operation of the keyboard, or the drum may be rotated in either direction by hand. A lever 153 is provided for re-setting the pawls in rest position in case of an error of composition. As the drum rotates, the operative pawls 5 come opposite a series of levers 62, 63, Fig. 6, acting through the medium of levers 65, 66 on devices which control the presentation of the correct letter to the opening of the mould as described in Specification 10174/12. Units-counting and line-measuring mechanism. The pawl-setting levers 12, which are operated at the depression of each key, release one of a series of spring-pressed levers 22, Fig. 9, which are adapted to engage regularly displaced notches in a rotating cylinder 24. The axis of the cylinder carries a disc 26, Fig. 6, formed with projections, the height of which bear a relation to the width of the letters on the thirteen matrices described in Specification 1811/11. The cylinder is rotated by gear-wheels 27, 28 from a continuously rotating pulley 31, and the shaft of the wheel 28 is carried in a tube pivotally mounted in the frame 33. The rear end of the lever 22 rotates a shutter 34, Fig. 9, and moves a clutch-pawl 35 to permit a spring- pressed pin 36 to couple a cam 39 to the shaft of the pulley 31. The cam first acts on a lever 40 to move the gear-wheel 28 out of engagement with the wheel 27, and then on a lever 41, Fig. 8, which returns the shutter 34 and lever 22 to their original positions. At the end of one revolution, the pawl disengages the cam from the shaft of the pulley 31. The cam 39 also operates the clutch which causes the drum to be rotated. Four cylinders 24, corresponding to different founts of type, are provided, any of which can be brought into operative position. Each revolution of the cam 39 imparts a to-and-fro motion to a lever 75 connected to a rod 76 which acts on two clamping-screws 77, 78 through the medium of levers 82, 83. The screw 77 is fixed in a small frame 33e attached to a frame 33d and provided with a hole through which slides a rod 81 which receives a step-by-step movement to the left to record the length of the assembling line. The screw 78, which is of left-hand pitch, is fitted in a member 79 secured to a socket 80 slidable on the rod 81. The socket 80 is pressed to the left by a spring, but is normally prevented from moving by the end of a lever 86 which is retracted by the cam 39 through the medium of the lever 40. The socket 80 carries a nut which, as it moves, comes into contact with one of the projections on the disc 26 so that the socket moves a distance equal to the width of the letter depressed on the keyboard and carries the rod 81 with it. When the rod 76 commences its movement to the right, a spring 94 tightens the screw 77 on the rod 81 to hold it in position. The screw 78, previously held tightened by a spring 93, is next loosened by the movement of the rod 76 which then carries the socket 80 back to initial position. Word spaces are recorded by a space projection on the disc 26 which is equivalent to the thinnest space used in the composition. Shortage-dividing and mould adjusting-mechanism. At the end of the composition of each line, the operator releases a hand-lever 123, Fig. 5, which operates, through the medium of a sliding wedge 128 and rod 131, to cause a dividing-lever 116, Fig. 6, which is pivoted at its upper end, to move a piston 117 into contact with the line-measuring rod 81. The movement of the lever 116, reduced in proportion to the number of spaces in the line, is transmitted to a slide 102 through an adjustable rule 105, which is set in accordance with the number of spaces, and cooperates with teeth on the lever so arranged that the rule moves one-half, one-third, &c. of the total shortage. The rule 105 is adjusted by a rack and a pinion 106 connected to a toothed disc 109 which is advanced one tooth by a pawl at each depression of the space-key 115. The adjustment of the slide 102 is transmitted to the mould by a wedge-disc 119, which rests between the end. of the slide and a set-screw 118, and is rotated so as to fill out the interval by a rack 120 and pinion 121 operated through a lever 125 by a spring 132 which is released by the hand-lever 123. Mechanism is provided for recording the justification setting for several successive lines, and for changing the space-casting adjustment of the mould after the casting of each line is completed. This mechanism comprises a series of rotatable arms 136, Figs. 2 and 11, each provided with a spring-pressed piston 138, which is forced inwards through a distance corresponding to the width to be given to the mould opening by a wedge 142 connected to the rack 120, the piston being then held in adjusted position by a brake 143. Each arm is held in horizontal position opposite to the dividing-mechanism for the setting of the piston, and is then allowed to fall to a vertical position where it acts on the mould. After the casting of a line is completed, the corresponding arm 136 is moved out of position by a lever 147 operated by the composing-stick that transfers the line to the galley 151, and is replaced by the succeeding arm.