IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTERS' METAL FURNITURE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Middleton Justice, of 14, Southampton Buildings,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRINTERS' METAL FURNITURE." A communication from abroad by Josiah
Lewis Chapin, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States of
America, Merchant.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Middleton Justice at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1880.
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE, of 14, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTERS' METAL FURNITURE."
A communication from abroad by Josiah Lewis Chapin, of the City, County, and
State of New York, United States of America, Merchant.
This
This Invention relates to that class of printers' materials designated metal
furniture, which is used for filling blank spaces and adjusting the type in perfectly
square forms or blocks previous to locking up in the chase with quoin.
furniture consists of metal bars of different sizes, varying in dimensions of length
and width by units of the standard em pica, of which large numbers are used, out
of which pieces may be readily selected to fill any blank in the form or space in
or between the pages of type, and between them and the frame of the chase
preparatory to locking up.
It requires to be very exact in length and breadth, with perfectly true and well
defined angles to ensure proper justification of the type and to hold it securely.
While the large quantity of furniture required in the printer's outfit makes it
important that it be produced as cheaply as possible, the great wear to which
it is subject by frequent handling and contact with hard metals demands durability
of material.
Up to this time this furniture has been made of type metal, cast in metal moulds
prepared with great care to produce smooth surfaces and straight lines, the object
being to employ such soft and ductile metal and perfect moulds that the castings
may come out of the moulds sufficiently perfect to be ready for use without
finishing them by planing or otherwise smoothing and trueing them.

page_text: But although such furniture has been long and almost universally used, it is
too expensive and not satisfactory in respect of being straight and true, and it is
greatly lacking in durability.
However perfect the moulds may be made, they will expand and spring more or
less when the molten metal is poured in, varying with the temperature of the
same, and also atmospheric temperature, and the soft and ductile material
springs and bends readily, and it is especially subject to damage by wear of the
corners by careless use in handling, and it frequently changes form by the pressure
to which it is subject in the form, and for lack of elasticity it becomes set readily
when bent or sprung, and fails to restore itself when freed from pressure.
I therefore propose to make printers' metal furniture of cast iron, which has
such great strength, elasticity, and durability that it may be made much lighter
and yet possess greater strength, retains its form, and lasts very much longer.
By its greater cheapness in cost of stock, and the smaller quantity required for
strength, and by saving the expensive moulds, and also by the facility with which
it can be dressed to size, shape, and smoothness by the milling process, it can be
produced by casting in the ordinary rough form and dressing to size, and finish for
the same or less cost than the composition furniture, while in point of reliability of
power and durability of wear it is superior to the other many times over.
In the manufacture of it, machines may be made with gangs of cutters set for
special sizes, and capable of dressing many pieces at the same time, the cutters
being also capable of turning out great numbers of pieces without resetting, thus
reducing the cost much below that of plaining or filing, so that the superior
qualities of this material are available at less cost than the greatly inferior type
metal furniture.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Philip Middleton Justice in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th March
1881.
"
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE, of 14, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTERS' METAL FURNITURE"
A communication from abroad by Josiah Lewis Chapin, of the City, County, and
State of New York, United States of America, Merchant.
This
This Invention relates to that class of printers' materials designated metal
furniture, which is used for filling blank spaces, and adjusting the type in perfectly
square forms or blocks previous to locking up in the chase with quoin.
furniture consists of metal bars of different sizes, varying in dimensions of length
and width by units of the standard em pica, of which large numbers are used, out
of which pieces may be readily selected to fill any blank in the form or space,
in or between the pages of type, and between them and the frame of the chase
preparatory to locking up. It requires to be very exact in length and breadth,
with perfectly true and well defined angles to ensure proper justification of the
type, and to hold it securely. While the large quantity of furniture required in
the printer's outfit makes it important that it be produced as cheaply as possible,
the great wear to which it is subject by frequent handling and contact with hard
metals demands durability of material. Up to this time this furniture has been
made of type metal, cast in metal moulds prepared with great care to produce
smooth surfaces and straight lines, the object being to employ such soft and ductile
metal and perfect moulds that the castings may come out of the moulds sufficiently
perfect to be ready for use without finishing them by planing or otherwise
smoothing and trueing them. But although such furniture has been long and
almost universally used, it is too expensive and not satisfactory in respect of being
straight and true, and it is greatly lacking in durability. However perfect the moulds
may be made, they will expand and spring more or less when the molten metal is
poured in, varying with the temperature of the same, and also atmospheric
temperature, and the soft and ductile material springs and bends readily, and it
is especially subject to damage by wear of the corners by careless use in handling,
and it frequently changes form by the pressure to which it is subject in the form,
and for lack of elasticity it becomes set readily when bent or sprung, and fails to
restore itself when freed from pressure. I therefore propose to make printers'
metal furniture of cast iron, which has such great strength, elasticity, and durability,
that it may be made much lighter and yet possess greater strength, retain its form,
and last very much longer. By its greater cheapness in cost of stock, and the
smaller quantity required for strength, and by saving the expensive moulds, and
also by the facility with which it can be dressed to size, shape, and smoothness, by
the milling process, it can be produced by casting in the ordinary rough form and
dressing to size, and finish for the same or less cost than the composition furniture,
while in point of reliability of power and durability of wear it is superior to the
other many times over. In the manufacture of it, machines may be made with
gangs of cutters set for special sizes, and capable of dressing many pieces at the
same time, the cutters being also capable of turning out great numbers of pieces
without resetting, thus reducing the cost much below that of planing or filing, so
that the superior qualities of this material are available at less cost than the greatly
inferior type metal furniture. The accompanying Drawing illustrates the general
form of the furniture and the manner in which it is applied. Fig. 1 represents a
side elevation of the furniture; Fig. 2 represents a sectional end view of the same;
Fig. 3 represents a plan of Figure 1; Figure 4 represents the general arrangement
of parts when prepared for printing, A being the chase, B the cross bars, C the

page_text: quoins, D the side stick, E the type, F engravings, G the metal furniture, the top,
bottom, sides, and ends of which should be finished and gauged to size, while the
connecting web may be rough and of any form.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,―
The improvements in printers' metal furniture hereinbefore described, consisting
of printers' metal furniture made of cast iron, substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Middleton Justice, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
ALLEN P. JONES,
14, Southampton Bldgs.,
London,
W.C.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE. (L.S.)