Improvements in the Manufacture of Types, Printing Surfaces, and other Printing Requisites, and in Alloys or Materials for use therein.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Jan., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Sept., 1898-Accepted, 12th Nov., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Types, Printing Surfaces, and
other Printing Requisites, and in Alloys or Materials for use
therein.
I, ALBERT ROEBELEN, a subject of the German Emperor, of 80, Seefeldstrasse,
Zürich V, Switzerland, Printer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
-
As type-metal for the manufacture of type for printing or of other type matériel
(such as rules, sticks, justifiers, etc.), disregarding small exceptions, an alloy is
employed, the main constituent of which is lead.
The employment of this alloy, however involves very weighty objections which
appear to make an alteration in the manufacture of type, etc, very much to be
desired. Through the lead type, there results to the compositors, etc. who are
engaged therewith, a number of trade illnesses (such as consumption, lead colic,
lead poisoning, etc.) from which, according to statistics, 90 per cent. of compositors
die.
All means heretofore employed to combat this have proved fruitless since
once the skin of oxide formed by reason of the cleansing of the type-matériel with
lye, and which is scarcely visible to the eye, is loosened from the type by the
unavoidable rubbing, it becomes suspended in the air as a fine dust and is there-
fore inhaled. Many compositors are also accustomed to put the type, etc. in
their mouths during work or to take their meals with their hands soiled with lead.
As has been found by experience, such habits, in the long run, cannot be
successfully combated notwithstanding all prohibitions, and consequently an
improvement cannot be hoped for with respect to trade illnesses until the use of
lead as a type-metal is discontinued.
A further disadvantage of type-metal consisting mainly of lead, is the great
weight thereof, which likewise is solely due to the use of lead.
By reason of the great weight, all arrangements for the storage or reception
of type matériel have to be made especially strong and therefore heavy whereby
the carriage and use thereof is made unusually difficult.
The great weight of the type matériel also very considerably loads the printing-
machines, so that the friction of the moving parts is increased and a large amount
of power is required for driving them.
The small resisting power of lead type also renders it necessary to make them
fairly massive so that their weight is again increased.
The object of my invention is to make a type-metal or material which exerts
no deleterious action on the human organism, and consequently does not permit
the occurrence of the above-mentioned trade-illnesses, which, moreover, has a less
weight than the material heretofore employed and accordingly less heavily loads
the machines, etc. and thus economises driving power, and which, by reason of
its smaller mass is lighter than the material heretofore employed.
The object is attained by making the type-matériel from an aluminium alloy
containing a high percentage of aluminium.

page_text: letters, etc. are lifted out by means of an awl or "bodkin," stuck into them, is
difficult or impossible with the aluminium letters, by reason of the hardness of
the material, the letters, etc. can be provided with so-called correcting pins which
are formed simply by making rectangular or dovetailed grooves, recesses or holes
in the said type. By means of these pins, the letter, character or other part to
be changed, can be conveniently seized and withdrawn in such a manner that any
damage to the letters or characters is prevented.
In order to protect the type-matériel against oxidation, the letters or characters,
etc. can, if desired, be coated with a galvanic deposit or bronzed, for which pur-
pose silver, copper or nickel are particularly suitable.
1000
Improvements in the Manufacture of Types, Printing Surfaces, and
other Printing Requisites, and in Alloys or Materials for use
therein.
I, ALBERT ROEBELEN, a subject of the German Emperor, of 80, Seefeldstrasse,
Zürich V, Switzerland, Printer, 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:-
As type-metal for the manufacture of type for printing or of other type matériel
(such as rules, sticks, justifiers, etc.), disregarding small exceptions, an alloy is
employed, the main constituent of which is lead.
The employment of this alloy, however involves very weighty objections which
appear to make an alteration in the manufacture of type, etc. very much to be
desired. Through the lead type, there results to the compositors, etc. who are
engaged therewith, a number of trade illnesses (such as consumption, lead colic,
lead poisoning, etc.) from which, according to statistics, 90 per cent. of compositors
die.
All means heretofore employed to combat this have proved fruitless since
once the skin of oxide formed by reason of the cleansing of the type-matériel with
lye, and which is scarcely visible to the eye, is loosened, from the type by the
unavoidable rubbing, it becomes suspended in the air as a fine dust and is there-
fore inhaled. Many compositors are also accustomed to put the type, etc. in
their mouths during work or to take their meals with their hands soiled with lead.
As has been found, by experience, such habits, in the long run, cannot be
successfully combated notwithstanding all prohibitions, and consequently an
improvement cannot be hoped for with respect to trade illnesses until the use of
lead as a type-metal is discontinued.
A further disadvantage of type-metal consisting mainly of lead, is the great
weight thereof, which likewise is solely due to the use of lead.
By reason of the great weight, all arrangements for the storage or reception
of type matériel have to be made especially strong and therefore heavy whereby
the carriage and use thereof is made unusually difficult.
The great weight of the type matériel also considerably loads the printing-
machines, so that the friction of the moving parts is increased and a large amount
of power is required for driving them.

page_text: The small resisting power of lead type also renders it necessary to make them
fairly massive so that their weight is again increased.
The object of my invention is to make a type-metal or material which exerts
no deleterious action on the human organism, and consequently does not permit
the occurrence of the above-mentioned trade-illnesses, which, moreover, has a less
weight than the material heretofore employed, and accordingly less heavily loads
the machines, etc. and thus economises driving power, and which, by reason of
its smaller mass, is lighter than the material heretofore employed.
This object is attained by making the type-matériel from an aluminium alloy
containing a high percentage of aluminium.
As experience has shown, aluminium is perfectly harmless to the human organ-
ism, so that eating vessels, bridle-bits, etc. are made thereof and are used without
danger. Moreover aluminium as a constituent of clay, is daily taken into the
organisin with drinking water, unknown and without detriment thereto.
The one
and certainly the main fault of the type-matériel heretofore
employed, is consequently obviated by the employment of aluminium.
The great weight of the type-matériel heretofore employed is likewise
obviated by the use of aluminium by reason of the relatively small
specific gravity of the material forming the base thereof, the reduction in weight,
for similar volumes, being in the proportion of 113 to 26.
A further advantage of the aluminium type is the greater hardness thereof,
whereby wear is reduced and a sharper impression, even with the finest lines and
pictures (figures) is permanently obtained. Also the aluminium-type take the
ink or colour better than the lead-type
The lead-type are, moreover, much more subject to oxidation than aluminium-
type. Since the oxidation never takes place uniformly and moreover parts of the
skin of oxide scale off, the polish of the printing surface and thus the beauty of
the print is impaired. The oxidised and clean metallic surfaces also take the
ink or colour differently and these give likewise different ink-impressions as soon
as the printing surface is partly oxidised and partly of clean metal, which, from
what is hereinabove mentioned, is almost always the case.
In the manufacture of type-matériel from lead alloy, all the objects such as
rules, leads, reglets, justifiers, quadrats, etc. must be cast; in the aluminium type-
matériel, on the other hand, many parts can be made by rolling, stamping or press-
ing, and therefore only a little finishing is required on special machines. The
manufacture of the type-matériel can therefore be effected considerably more
rapidly, more accurately and less expensively than with lead type-metal.
Aluminium alone cannot however be employed, as type-metal or material,
since it is too brittle.
In order to remove the brittleness from type-metal or material consisting
essentially of aluminium and to obtain greater hardness and tenacity, according
to the present invention, a certain quantity of copper is added to the aluminium.
Since however an alloy of this kind is too thick for casting, in order to make it
thin and easily fluid, a little tin is added.
The two additions must however be in a perfectly definite proportion to the
amount of aluminium, if the alloy is to fulfil the requirements stated,
It has been found that alloys which contain 75 to 90 per cent. of aluminium,
2 to 10 per cent. of copper and 2 to 23 per cent. of tin, possess great hardness
and tenacity and sharply fill up the finest moulds.
An especially advantageous aluminium alloy for the present purpose, is the
following which consists of

page_text: A further important reduction of weight in the type, etc. results from the
circumstance that the aluminium-type can be made less massive than the lead-
type, since the former, by reason of the material of which they are made, are con-
siderably more resistant than lead-type. In this way it is possible, according
to the form of the letter or character, justifier, or the like, to produce type having
four to eight times less weight.
By reason of the high resisting capacity of the material, the foot or shank of
the letter or character can be made proportionately thin and especially with
larger characters, sticks, etc. the foot or shank can be made in the form of a box
with thin walls. With letters or characters, sticks, etc. of lead alloy, when
employing hollows or recesses in the foot or shank, the remaining parts must be
made considerably stouter, and with longer sticks a number of transverse ribs or
webs are employed so that no change of shape shall take place under pressure.
On the drawing, in Figures 1 and 2, is shown in longitudinal and transverse
section, a hollow stick made of aluminium alloy, whilst Figures 1 and 2 show
a lead stick of the same size in longitudinal and transverse section, and Figures 3
and 4 are perspective views of details of the type.
The saving in material and weight can be seen directly from the drawing. The
stick made of the aluminium alloy shown in Figures 1 and 2 weighs about 45 grams,
whilst the stick of the same size made from the usual lead alloy weighs 205 grammes.
This one example shows clearly the advantages of type-matériel made of aluminium
alloy.
Since the method of correction or revising, usual with lead letters, in which the
letters, etc. are lifted out by means of an awl or "bodkin," stuck into them, is
difficult or impossible with the aluminium letters, by reason of the hardness of
the material, the letters, etc, can be provided with so-called correcting pins a as shown
in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawing, which pins are formed simply by making
rectangular or dove-tailed grooves, recesses or holes in the said type. By means
of these pins, the letter, character or other part to be changed, can be conveniently
seized and withdrawn in such a manner that any damage to the letters or characters
is prevented.
The added copper and tin can also be partly replaced by nickel, bismuth,
cadmium or antimony, however the best results are obtained when copper and tin
only are added.
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 manufacture of types for printing and type-matériel of all kinds, from
an aluminium alloy consisting essentially of aluminium, copper and tin, in or
about in the above-named proportions.
(2). The employment, in types for printing or in type-matériel, of correcting-pins
of rectangular or dove-tailed form in transverse section, for permitting the easy
grasping thereof in correction or revision.
(3). The modification of my invention in which the copper and tin are partly
replaced by nickel, bismuth, cadmium or antimony, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
3000