Improvements in Moulds for Casting Lines of Type.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1899
1000
5th Ma
4000
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Moulds for Casting Lines of Type.
I, ISAIAH HALL, of 3, Thorn Grove, Sale, in the County of Cheshire, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
3 *
This invention relates to improvements in the method of and means employed
for casting type in linotype and like machines, the object being to so construct
raby non-
the type mould that types of different thickness or depth such as
pareil " "brevier" "long primer" "pica" and the like can be cast in one mould
instead of having to change the mould for each class of type cast as was hereto-
fore necessary. The improvements also provide against the necessity of employing
a slightly tapered mould in order to prevent the cast type being drawn out of
the mould when being detached or broken from the " run metal.
"
According to this invention I employ a mould having parallel sides and in
the upper or lower one of these sides are two, three, or more recesses or grooves
so that the lines of types cast therein have ridges or projections formed on one
or other of their sides. The knife or scraper which cuts or scrapes the cast type
before discharging it is adjusted and set so as to cut or scrape away more or less
of the ridges or projections so as to reduce them to the required size. On or
near the face of the type is left a slight shoulder which engaging with the
mould prevents the casting being drawn therefrom when the run metal is being
detached or broken from the casting. By this device a larger face of type can
be produced on a smaller body than hitherto and a considerable saving in the
quantity of type metal used is the result.
1000
BRIERLEY & HOWARD,
Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax,
Agents for the Applicant.
prove
I, ISAIAH HALL, formerly of 3, Thorn Grove, Sale, in the County of Chester,
but at present residing at 17/18, Chaussee Strasse, Berlin, in the German Empire,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement;-
The present invention relates to improvements in moulds for casting lines
of type or linotypes as they are generally called, and which term is hereinafter

page_text: used as including printing bars for borders and the like. It also includes the
improved linotypes made by the above mentioned improvements and the object
of it is to do away with the necessity which at present exists in the case of any
linotype machine, of changing the mould or of altering the thickness of the
mould cavity in the mould, for each change of fount. Thus, up to the present
time, the thickness of a body of a linotype has always been in proportion to the
height of the type, a nonpareil' linotype being thicker than a ruby one, a brevier
linotype thicker than a nonpareil, and so on. Further, a machine that has been
working on brevier has a mould for a brevier body, and if the same machine
is to be put on pica, the brevier mould must be taken off and a pica mould
substituted for it, or if the mould is in itself capable of adjustment for changes
of fount, that dimension of it that corresponds with thickness of linotype, must
be set larger. Each change of fount, resulting as just explained, in a thicker or
a thinner linotype, has hitherto necessitated the substitution of a correspondingly
thicker or thinner ejector blade. A linotype mould stands in a horizontal position
at the moment that a linotype is cast, with the matrices that constitute the mould
for its printing edge, fitting up to the front of it, and the metal pot and pump
that supply the necessary molten metal fitting up to the back of it, they having
been moved up to it for that purpose. After a linotype has been cast, the pot
and pump are moved back again and to prevent this rearward motion tending
to draw the newly cast linotype out of the mould, the latter has hitherto been
tapered in the direction of its width being narrower behind than in front.
According to the present invention, no change of mould is necessitated by any
change of fount, the improved mould being capable of having linotypes of any
fount cast in it; no change of ejector blade is necessary, because all the bodies
are of the same thickness across their feet; and there is a special provision for
preventing the linotypes being drawn backwards, that will allow of the sides of
the mould being exactly parallel with each other.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as part of this
specification and read therewith,
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the invention applied to the mould of a
Mergenthaler linotype machine:
Figure 2, an inverted plan of the cap plate:
Figure 3, a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1:
Figure 4, a vertical section on the line 44 of Figure 1; and
Figure 5, a perspective view of an improved linotype.
o is the cap plate; 18, the bottom plate; o, the left hand liner and o¹, the
right hand liner, these four pieces being held together by the two screws 1, 1,
as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, thereby forming the mould cavity o for the body of
the linotype, all as heretofore.
According to the present invention, the distance between the cap plate o
and the bottom plate o18that being the above mentioned dimension that corre-
sponds with thickness of linotype, or in other words the depth of the mould
cavity o, is that of the thickness of the linotype body proper for the smallest
fount. 2-Figure 5-is the part herein referred to as linotype body. 3 is a
shallow groove in the face of the cap plate o17, of the same length as the mould
cavity o, and opening into the latter as shewn in Figures 1 to 4. The joint widths
of the groove 3 and cavity o measured in the direction of the line 3-3, is
preferably equal to the thickness of the linotype body 2 that is proper for the
largest fount. A linotype is cast in the mould of the Mergenthaler linotype
machine, with the several types 4 standing respectively upside down, they being
aligned from the then bottom edge of the linotype as shown in Figure 5. 5 is
a shelf which the groove 3 produces upon the then front of the linotype body 2.
6, 6, 6, are a series of grooves in the casting face of the cap plate o17, the common
depth of them being equal to the above mentioned width of the groove 3 as
shewn. These grooves produce the ridges 7, 7, 7, upon the side of the linotype
body 2 that the shelf 5 overhangs. The practice of casting the linotype upside

page_text: down in the Mergenthaler linotype machine, is the reason why the groove 3 and
the series of grooves 6, are in the cap plate 7.
The groove 3 and shelf 5 may be dispensed with, because the metal will always
flow through the cavity o into the formative cavities of the large fount matrices
to form the types 4 therein, but they are preferably retained because the shelf 5
serves to support the said types. The shelf 5 also serves as the special provision
above mentioned to prevent the linotype being drawn backwards.
The grooves 6 and ridges 7 are indispensable because the latter provide what
is practically one side of the linotype-the side that fits up to the next linotype
in the chase. It is a matter of indifference how many grooves 6 there are in
the series the number varies according to the length of the linotype. Care
should be taken that none of them will overlap the nose of an end liner when the
latter is adjustable for length of linotype; otherwise there would be a projection
from the respective corner of the linotype which the machine might be incapable
of trimming off. The direction of the grooves 6 is the same as that of the motion
of the ejector blade. They may extend across the mould or stop short as they
are shewn in Figures 3 and 4 to do. In the latter case the rear ends of them
will serve also as a special provision to prevent the linotype being drawn back-
wards.
The invention acts as follows. The ejector carries a blade of the thickness
proper to deal with a body 2. The adjustable knife of the two whose function
it is to trim the sides of the linotype, is set at a distance from its fellow equal
to the thickness of linotype or width across the printing face proper for the fount
being worked. The ejector blade engages the foot 8 of the newly cast linotype
fair and square at the proper moment and pushes it forward between the two
trimming knives above mentioned, one of them trimming off as much of the
shelf 5 and the ridges 7 as exceeds the desired thickness of linotype.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. The hereinbefore described combination of mould cavity and series of
grooves.
2. The herein before described combination of mould cavity; single groove
communicating with the said cavity; and series of grooves.
3. The hereinbefore described combination of mould cavity; series of grooves;
and ejector blade.
4. The herein before described combination of mould cavity; single groove
communicating with the said cavity; series of grooves; and ejector blade.
5. The hereinbefore described combination of mould cavity; series of grooves;
ejector blade; and adjustable trimming knife.
6. The herein before described combination of mould cavity; single groove
communicating with the said cavity; series of grooves; ejector blade; and adjust-
able trimming knife.
7. The hereinbefore described improved linotype capable of being trimmed
down to the desired thickness.
Th: 5th
of Tun 1000
CHAS. S. WOODROFFE,
Chartered Patent Agent.