Improvements in the Interchangeable Ejector Blades of Linotype and analogous Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 17th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Interchangeable Ejector Blades of Linotype
and analogous Machines.
"
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 6 Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Sole Manufacturers, Licensors and Vendors under the "Linotype'
Patents, and FERDINAND JOHN WICH of No. 11 Hulme Street, Oxford Road,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in the interchangeable ejector blades of
linotype and analogous machines, and the object of it is to facilitate the substitution
of one blade for another from which it differs in respect of either its width or the
thickness of its nose, the two dimensions of it which correspond with the length and
fount, respectively, of the linotype.
The invention includes the combination of dovetailed or mortice and tenon devices
divided between the front end of the ejector slide and the rear end of each of the
series of ejector blades assigned to the said slide; a slope adapted to guide the rear
end of the blade into the interlocking position between it and the slide; a spring
adapted to effect such interlocking as soon as the respective ends of the blade and
slide are in fair juxtaposition therefor, and a series of tabs, or an equivalent, behind
the dovetails or tenons on the blade, which are thinned down to enter a recess in the
slide in which the said series is held by the pressure of the spring.
The following is a satisfactory method of carrying the present invention into effect.
The rear end of the blade and a bar as long as the slide is deep, are dovetailed to
fit each other in the same plane. The bar is made fast to the front end of the slide
with its dovetails standing edge on to the blade and a plain band of it standing clear
of the slide and between it and the said dovetails. There is a gap left between the
bar and the slide, into which the above mentioned series of tabs and the dovetails or
tenons following them, can be inserted. The depth of this gap is such that the
insertion of the slide is stopped at the moment when the mortices in the blade are
vis-à-vis with the tenons on the bar above mentioned. The series of tabs on the
blade will, at the same time, be standing in the gap by the side of the solid portion
of the said bar.
There is provided a sloping surface on that side of the gap opposite to the above
mentioned bar, such surface being capable of a short motion away from the said bar
up to which it is returned by a spring.
When the blade is pushed up to the front end of the slide, the tapered edge
insinuates itself between the blade and the sloping surface, forcing the latter away
from the former. But as soon as the bottom of the gap is reached, the resilience
of the spring causes the tenons on the blade to engage within the mortices in the
bar, thereby locking it to the ejector slide, the above mentioned plain band of the
bar stopping the blade from being pushed through, by standing in front of the tabs
aforesaid.
There is a projection from the top of the front edge of the slide, the function of
which is to guide the blade undergoing insertion, so as to align its edge with that
of the slide.
Dated this 17th day of July 1895
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: "
Improvements in the Interchangeable Ejector Blades of Linotype
and analogous Machines.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, late of No. 6 Serjeants Inn, but now of
No. 188 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Sole Manufacturers, Licensors and
Vendors under the "Linotype" Patents, and FERDINAND JOHN WICH of
No. 11 Hulme Street, Oxford Road, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and the manner in which
it is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
Our invention relates to improvements in the interchangeable ejector blades of
linotype and analogous machines.
It is particularly applicable to the Mergenthaler linotype machine, and for that
reason as well as because the said machine is better known in this country, than
any other linotype machine, the application of it to the machine in question has
been chosen for the purpose of this specification.
The function of the ejector blade is to eject the linotype from the mould cavity.
In the Mergenthaler linotype machine, the width and thichness of the blade
correspond with the length and thickness of the mould cavity. These are the
dimensions which correspond respectively, with the length of the linotype and with
the fount of it. Consequently when the size of the mould cavity is changed for
one larger or smaller in respect of either of the two dimensions in question, it is
obvious that such a change involves a corresponding change in the ejector blade.
This latter part of the machine is a flat plate fixed fast by its rear end to the front
of the ejector slide which in its turn is moved to and fro by a connecting rod
actuated by a suitably shaped and constantly turning cam groove or its equivalent.
Each machine is equipped with a series of ejector blades, there being as many blades
in a series as there are different sizes of mould, each blade corresponding with a
particular size of mould.
The objection to the ejector blade being held to the ejector slide by a fastening
such as a series of screws, is the considerable loss of time necessary to the sub-
stitution of one blade for another so fastened to the slide, for the task of substitu-
tion involved removing as much of the machine as stood between the slide and the
operator, taking one blade off the slide, fixing another to it and refixing as much
of the machine as had been removed.
It has already been proposed to make the ejector blades detachable from the slide
in such a way that the substitution could be effected without taking down any part
of the machine and the object of the present invention is to provide a better means
for such substitution than any hitherto proposed.
The invention consists in the combination of dovetailed or mortice and tenon
devices divided between the front end or head of the ejector slide and the rear end
of each blade of the series; and includes a slope adapted to guide the rear end of
the substitute blade into the interlocking position between it and the slide; a spring
device adapted to effect such interlocking as soon as the respective ends of the blade
and head of the slide are in fair juxtaposition for that purpose; and a series of tabs
or tapers behind the dovetails or the tenons on the blade. The tabs or tapers are
thereby adapted to enter a recess in the head of the slide in which they are held by
the pressure of the spring device above mentioned.
The minor details of the devices described in the previous paragraph may be

page_text: varied to any extent provided that the characteristic function of each one is
preserved.
Referring to the accompanying drawings:-
:-
Figure is a side elevation from the left of the ejector slide of a Mergenthaler
linotype machine, one of the series of interchangeable blades, the front end of the
connecting rod and our improved combination of devices.
Figure 2 is a plan corresponding with Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side elevation from the left of the dovetailed bar detached from the
ejector slide and without its stopping strip.
Figure 4 is a side elevation from the left of a detached interchangeable blade
narrower than the one illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a rear elevation of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a side clevation from the left of a detached interchangeable blade
narrower than the one illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 7 is a plan corresponding with Figures 4 and 6.
Figure 8 is a detail sectional plan on an enlarged scale, taken along the line 8-8
of Figure 1.
Figure 9 is a sectional front elevation on the same enlarged scale, taken along
the line 9-9 of Figure 1.
Figure 10 is an elevation from the left of the locking plate detached.
a is the ejector slide; a' the front or head of it; and b, a part of the connecting
rod. c, e, c are three of the series, of ejector blades, c¹, c¹, c¹ a hole in each blade,
and c², c², c², their respective noses or operative ends, each such end dimensioned
to fill its respective mould as heretofore.
Hitherto, the ejector head a' has been rectangular in plan, but according to the
present invention a rectangular recess d is formed in one side of it. This recess
extends vertically from top to bottom of the head and rearwardly about half way
through it, or as far as may be necessary to provide room for the action of the
said invention. The figures illustrate the recess in question as being in the left side
of the head a¹ but whether it is in the right or the left side is a point to be decided
by considerations of convenience according to the circumstances of the case.
However, the positions of the other parts of the invention are always relative
to it.
C
e is a bar as long as the slide head a¹ is deep and of the same thickness as a
blade c. It is held to the said head by any suitable device such as screws e¹
passed through a rearward extension of it which extension stands on the outside of
the recess with its own outside flush with the respective side of the head a' and its
front edge at a short distance behind the front of the latter. f, ƒ are a series of
equal dovetails or tenons down the bar e and f¹, f¹, the series of intervening mortices
both series in the plane of the bar g, 9, are a series of equal dovetails or tenons down
the rear edge of each blade c and g', g, the series of intervening mortices, both series
in the plane of the bar. The members of both series g and g', throughout the series
of blades c correspond with the respective series f and on the bar e with which
they are therefore adapted to interlock, and as both blade c and bar e are of the
same thickness, they will, when interlocked, stand in the same plane, or to speak
more correctly, within a pair of parallel planes separated by a distance no greater
than the common thickness of the said blade and bar. The invention does not
impose any limit upon the contour of the dovetails or of the mortices and tenons-
this may be varied to any extent provided that the interlocking is thorough enough
to prevent a blade sagging.
The round noses of the tenons fare bevelled away from the inner faces of the
latter.
e2 is a plain band of about half the thickness of the bar e. It is incorporated
in and with the outer face of the latter so as to be flush with it. It stands behind
the maximum widths of the tenons f and over the rear portions, or bottoms, of
the mortices f¹ for the purpose of acting as a stopping strip. The noses, or rear

page_text: portions of the tenons 9 are thinned down on that side of them next the bar e to about
one half their original thickness and the edges bevelled away from the bar e, to permit
of their entering the rear portions, or bottoms, of the mortices f¹, restricted in width
as the latter are by the presence of the stopping strip e². The function of the series
of noses of the tenons g is to steady the blade c in its locked position, and this they
accomplish by being held close up to the inner face of the stopping strip e² by the
locking plate next described.
is the locking plate. It stands in the recess dopposite to the inner face of
the bar e.
It is held opposite to it throughout its length by studs h' engaging
freely in holes 2 in the head a¹. This free engagement is necessary to provide for
the motion of the plate h to and from the bar e when a blade e is taken off or the
slide head a¹ and another one fixed to it. ³, h³ are resilient springs standing in
blind sockets *, * bored transversely in the head a', and adapted to keep the
locking plate pushed up towards the bar e.
The locking plate is continued to the front past the front end of the slide head a¹.
This continuation, instead of remaining aligned with the portion already described,
is bent or sloped away from the bar e, the adjacent nose of the slide head a¹ being
cut away to make room for such bending or sloping.
The action of the invention is as follows. The ejector slide is moved to the front
as far as it will come.
To detach the blade then in the slide head, the operator inserts a hook in the
hole in the said blade and pulls the latter away from the bar e. The pull has
the effect of unlocking the blade from the bar e by pulling the tenons of the
former out of the mortices in the latter, the locking plate yielding before the
lateral motion of the blade c. The above mentioned forward position of the ejector
slide a holds the nose of the blade projecting beyond the mould cavity in the mould
wheel, so that the blade can be drawn through the said cavity, whereupon the
locking plate is pushed by the springs h³ up to the bar e. The mould wheel
and mould cavity of the Mergenthaler linotype machine are well known. They
are fully described and illustrated in the Specifications of Letters Patent 14,582 1890.
To fix a substitute blade c to the slide head a¹, the former is pushed rearwards
through the mould cavity. The latter is always vertical during the act of blade-
substitution so that the then bottom edge of the said cavity is a guide, as hereto-
fore, for the bottom edge of the substitute blade, care being taken that the said
bottom edge of the latter is kept in touch with the said bottom edge of the mould
cavity throughout the push of the former through the latter. Further, it is necessary
that the substitute blade c be presented to the head a' with the reduced sides and
bevelled edges of the noses of the tenons g next to the bar e. The said noses are
guided by the convex or sloped portion of the locking plate h, directly towards a
position between the latter and the bar e, and their easy entrance between the said
locking plate and the series of tenons f, provided by the bevelling of the edges of
two series of tenons and 9, the locking plate h being then pushed back accordingly
against the springs ³. As soon as the series of tenons and mortices stand vis-a-vis
respectively, the tenons g with the mortices f¹ and the mortices g' with the tenons f
the locking plate h under the action of the springs 3 interlocks the tenons and
mortices and holds the noses of the tenons g up to the stopping strip e².
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. In a linotype or analogous machine, the combination of dovetails or tenons and
mortices divided between the ejector slide and each blade of the series, substantially as
shewn and described.
2. In a linetype or analogous machine, the combination of dovetails or tenons and
mortices divided between the ejector slide and each blade of the series, and a stopping
strip, substantially as shewn and described.

page_text: 3. In a linotype or analogous machine, the combination of dovetails or tenons and
mortices divided between the ejector slide and each blade of the series, a stopping.
strip and an automatic locking plate, substantially as shewn and described.
Dated this 17th day of April 1896
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.