An Improvement in Compositor's Sticks.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Compositor's Sticks.
I, FREDERICK WICKS, of Halfway Lodge, Esher, in the County of Surrey,
Newspaper Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
My invention relates to the construction of a compositor's stick in such a
manner that when the compositor has set in it a line of types with compressible
spaces, the line being longer than the justified line, he can by means of suitable
handles mounted on the stick compress the line to the required length and then
pass the line into a short piece of galley forming the back part of the stick and
capable of holding several lines of types which can be transferred from it to the
forme. The several parts of the stick and the compressor, as well as the front
and back plates or bars between which the types are held while the line is com-
pressed, are all made adjustable to suit various lengths of line.
Datod this 10th day of November 1808
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
An Improvement in Compositor's Sticks,
I, FREDERICK WICKS, of Halfway Lodge, Esher, in the County of Surrey,
Newspaper Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:.
-
My invention relates to the construction of a compositor's stick in such a
manner that when the compositor has set in it a line of types with compressible
spaces, the line being longer than the justified line, he can by means of suitable
handles mounted on the stick compress the line to the required length and then
pass the line into a short piece of galley forming the back part of the stick and
capable of holding several lines of types which can be transferred from it to the
forme. The several parts of the stick and the compressor, as well as the front
and back plates or bars between which the types are held while the line is com-
pressed, are all made adjustable to suit various lengths of line.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing is a plan and Fig. 2 is an end view of a
compositor's stick according to this invention.
a is a small galley fitted with a sliding block b held somewhat tightly by spring
friction. c is a hinged shelf which is held either down or up as indicated by
the dotted lines d in Fig. 2 by a spring e acting on a bracket projecting from
Prine 71

page_text: the under side of the shelf. f is a slide which is pressed to the left by a spring g,
but can be moved to the right by the compositor who, holding in his left hand
the fixed handle h and the movable handle k can by a grasp advance the slide.
A line of types with compressible spaces being placed upright on the shelf c
against the block b, the shelf c is raised to the position d then the slide f is
advanced as far as the stop 1, compressing the line to the width of a whereupon
the compositor placing a rule behind the line pushes it into the galley a push-
ing back the block b.
After having lodged the first line in the galley succeeding lines are treated in
the same way, and then a number of lines is transferred from the galley to the
forme.
In order to allow for different lengths of line, the screws which hold the
piece m pass through slotted holes and the block b is made in two pieces so
that it may be contracted or extended.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
A compositor's stick provided with a spring slide for justifying lines of type
provided with compressible spaces, substantially as described with reference to
the drawing.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.