Improved Printing Type.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Aug., 1897-Accepted, 20th Nov., 1897
Engineer, and ABBOTT AUGUSTUS LOW or 1 During
Slip, New York, Merchant, both in the United States of America.]
Improved Printing Type.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 115 Cannon Street, in the City of London, Con-
sulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
A system of type setting is sometimes employed in which the types are arranged
in the type containing or setter channels in. such manner as to form word or other
prescribed combinations, the several types composing each combination being
forwarded simultaneously for removal by the fingers of the compositor. By this
system of composition,-grouping types representing words or other combinations
occurring most frequently in ordinary or special composition, a saving is effected
in time and labor of composition to from one half to four fifths of the time and
labor involved in the composition of the same matter by the aid of extracting the
types individually from their channels or compartments; but the distribution of
the types into the channels in the form of word or other combinations has had to be
performed by hand prior to the present invention, which is designed to render such
selection and grouping of the types to form words or other combinations auto-
matic, and to thereby overcome the only objectionable feature heretofore attendant
upon word or combination setting.
In other words, by the present invention the inventors extend and perfect the
system of word or combination setting, rendering the gain effected in composition
positive and complete and thereby making the system practicable and applicable
upon a larger scale, and to various classes of composition, in all of which it could
not otherwise be used economically.
The invention consists essentially in forming each of the several sets or dupli-
cates of individual characters or types of which a font is composed, with various
combinations of feeler nicks (for effecting their selecting in the distributing appar-
atus) in such a manner that certain of the types of a given face or character will
be selected automatically to contribute to the formation of a prescribed word or
other combination, others of the same given face or character will be selected to
contribute to the formation of other words or combinations, and still others of the
same given face or character will be selected for individual use as in ordinary
composition, the types entering a prescribed word or combination all being
formed with coinciding distributing nicks, and different distributing nick combi-
nations being used for each word or combination of types, as well as for the types
for individual use, so that each and every type and character in the font will be
distributed into a prescribed channel, and into no other, for use in the setter case.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1, is represented the faces of types and spaces forming a series of different
words of frequent occurrence; and in Figure 2, the edges of the same types and
spaces are shown, with the combination nicks formed therein.
027

page_text: Figures 3 and 4, are views of the flat sides of different types illustrating
diagrammatically the difference in the relative positions.
Figures 5 and 6, illustrate upon an enlarged scale, two words combinations, a
character of each combination compared with a like character nicked for another
combination, or for individual use;
Figure 7, illustrates the nicking of the letter i, for four combinations and also
for individual use;
Figures 8 and 9, illustrate the use of prefix and suffix combinations.
In carrying out the invention the types A, .composing a font are formed with the
distributing nicks a, or any combination thereof, in any suitable or well known
manner, with this difference that all the types of a like face or character in the
font are not nicked alike, but on the contrary are formed with various nicks or
combinations thereof, whereby certain of them are adapted for selection to form
words or combinations with other types of different face or character but formed
with coinciding nicks, others in like manner for selection to form other words or
combinations, while still others are formed with individual nicks that exclude
them from automatic selection for use in the word or other combinations
specifically provided for in the font.
In other words, the distributing nick or combination of nicks for each word or
group of type is different in position from that for any other word or combination,
or individual character, the types of a given face or character being variously
nicked to meet the requirements of the various words or combinations, and to
afford single types for use in combination with other types of different face or
character, and with different distributor nicks.
"
Thus in Figures 5 and 6, the word letters and space s, are shown as formed
with one combination of distributor nick a, the letters the and spaces, with
another combination of distributor nick a; while duplicates of the letter" a in
"and," and of the letter "e" in "the" are formed with distributor nicks differing
from each other and from the word-nicks, either for the purpose of adapting them
for individual use as in ordinary composition, or for use in other words or combi-
nations formed with nicks coinciding to their own.
""
99 66 9966
In Figure 7, duplicates of the letter "i" are shown as formed with five different
distributor nicks, the one on the right being provided with an individual nick,
while the others are nicked respectively to correspond with the nicks in the
letters " S, "f," n," "t," and accompanying spaces, to form the word combina-
tions "is," " if," "in," "it." In this figure the word-combination "is" and space
are duplicated to show a plurality of prescribed word-combinations formed with
coinciding distributor nicks.
33 66
"> <<
Figures 8 and 9, show type combinations other than complete words, as the
prefixes "pre," con," sup," and the suffixes, “ing," and "ion" illustrating the
application of the invention to frequently recurring syllables or parts of words
themselves uncommon.
Since in the automatic distribution of type the characters in a word or combina-
tion naturally pass to the feelers successively and in proper order, it will be seen
that by this invention the types of a word or combination will naturally be
deposited seccessively and in order one upon the other in appropriate type-con-
taining channels, and that other types even of a like character will not be
deposited therein owing to their lack of the specific nick or combination, the
presence of which will alone admit a type to its particular channel.
"
The number of words or combinations of types that may thus be formed and
arranged for special selection or setting" into separate containing channels is
practically unlimited, and may be adapted to the technicalities of special classes of
work or composition.
It is to be understood that while the invention is herein described as applicable
specially for use in connection with type cases in which the types, or combination
thereof, are removed to the stick by hand, still, this invention may be adapted to
and used in connection with type setting apparatus operated by keys or otherwise.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
As an article of manufacture, a font of type, adapted to be distributed by auto-
matic mechanism into channels for use in a setter case of the class herein
designated, the bodies of the several sets or duplicates of individual types or
characters, which constitute the font, being formed with various combinations of
distributing nicks, so arranged with relation to each other and to the distributing
nicks in the rest of the types composing the font that certain types of a given
face or character will be selected automatically to contribute to the formation of
a prescribed word or combination of types with coinciding distributing nicks,
while certain others of the same given face or character will be selected to con-
tribute to the formation of other prescribed words or combinations having
coinciding distributing nicks, and still others of the same given face or character
will be selected for individual use in combination with other types of the font of
different face or character and formed with different distributor nicks as in ordinary
composition, substantially as described.
A 1007
W. H. BECK,
115 Cannon Street, London, Applicant.