Improvements in or relating to the Making of Matrices for the Casting of Type Bars.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Dec., 1898-Accepted, 18th Feb., 1899
Improvements in or relating to the Making of Matrices for the
Casting of Type Bars.
A communication from CHARLES SFARS, 1047, E. Madison Avenue, Cleveland,
Cuyahoga County, State of Ohio, United States of America, Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
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; —
Heretofore matices from which type-bars can be cast, have been made by im-
pressing the characters, in the proper order, into the end fibers of wood blocks
Great care has been taken to cause all of these characters to be pressed equal
distances into the wood, upon the supposition that, necessarily, the resulting depres-
sings, would be of equal depth. It has been known, however, that the resulting
depressions varied in depth; but the variations have generally been ascribed to the
imperfections of the mechanism emploved.-that is to say, it has been assumed
that the characters were not forced equal distances into the wood, and that therein
lay the reason why the impressions were of unequal depth It might be here stated
that, in making these character depressions, care has been taken to prevent the
end of the die, that is to say the face of the die from which the characters project
from pressing against the surface of the wood, upon supposition that any pressure
from the end of the die would injure the adjacent character depressions already
made
The
The discovery on which this invention is based is two-fold, viz •
that to impress
the different sized characters equal distances into the wood is not alone enough
to produce depressions of equal depth. This is because the wood is resilient to
some degree, and the wood fibers, which are compressed beneath the faces of the
characters, spring back to some extent when the characters are withdrawn
larger the body of fibers compressed the more they will spring back, and hence it
18 that the depressions of the smaller letters will be deeper than the depressions of
the laiger letters For example, if the characters 1 and m be pressed an equal
distance, say one-sixteenth of an inch, into the wood, and the dies then withdrawn,
it will be found that the depression formed by the character m is not so deep as
that formed by the character 1 The reason for this variation is that a greater
number of fibers are compressed to make the m depression, and they have more
realiency and spring back farther when the die is removed than do the smaller
number of fibers compressed when the i depression is made
The second part of said discovery 18 that the direct pressure from the end of the
die upon the ends of the wood fibers around the character depression not only does
not injure the adjacent character depression already made, but may be made to
practically prevent any springing back of the fibers which are compressed by
forming the character depression In other words, this pressure of the end of the

page_text: die against the ends of the fibers surrounding the character depressions may be
mnade effective in causing depressions which are made equal in depth, to remain 80.
The present invention is based upon this double discovery, and it consists in
pressing the characters on all of the dies equal distances into the end fibers of a
wood block, und in slightly compacting the wood which surrounds said character
depressions by direct pressure against the ends of the wood fibers, whereby the
springing back of the wood fibers compacted by said characters is prevented, and
all of said depressions, when the dies are drawn out, remain of equal depth. The
invention also relates to certain characteristics of the mechanism adapted to cairy
out the described process, viz.. in the employment of a series of dies, all of the same
size at their forward ends, and having characteis projecting equal distances from
said ends, and in the employment with said dies of mechanism whereby all of said
dies are forced for ward such equal distances that the characters are wholly embedded
in the wood, and ends of the dies press against the end fibers of the wood which
surrounds said latter depressions, and slightly compact the same
In the drawing Figure 1 represents a side elevation partly in section, of mechanism
adapted for the practice of this invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of said mechan-
18m, Figure 3 is an end view of several of the dies, Figure 4 is an end view of a
matrix formed in the described manner; and Figure 5 is an end view, partly in
section, to one of said matrices.
Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the transversely movable carriage
of a matrix making machine. This carriage has a seat in its front end adapted to
receive the matrix block B.
A spring clamp C holds the block in fixed position
upon said seat, and the rear end of said block abuts against a shoulder af on the
carriage This carriage may be constructed in any desired form, and any suitable
mechanism may be employed to advance it, step by step, either directly before or
directly after the impressions are made in the front edge of the block The
mechanism emploved for this purpose, as shown in the drawing, consists of a holi-
zontal rack on the carriage, a vertical stud which 18 secured to the machine
frame, a sprocket wheel mounted upon the stud, and a pin which projects
downward from said sprocket wheel and enters between the teeth of the rack.
K represents a spring pawl attached to the frame work of the machine and engaging
with a straight ratchet a³ on the calliage, whereby the backward movement of the
carriage is prevented after it has been moved forward by the described mechanism
On a vertical shaft e near the front of the machine is secured another sprocket
wheel e, and a sprocket chain H connects the two sprocket wheels. Every time
the shaft e 18 rotated once the carriage 19 advanced one space by the action of the
pin g' on the rack a³. The rotation of the shaft e may be affected by the crank e³.
The dies D are carried by a rotating disk F, through which they pass
As many
of these dies may be employed as are desired, each having one of the characters d.
Each 18 movable endwise in the hole of the disk through which it passes, and it is
drawn backward by a spring d. The front ends of all of these dies are of equal
size, as shown in Figure 3. From these front ends, the characters d project equal
distances. This disk F is secured to the shaft f, on the front of which is a crank f¹
by which it may be turned to bring any die to the impression point In the clank fi
is a spring pin which is parallel with the shaft f This pin is adapted to be
pressed backward so that its rear end will enter the proper hole in a fixed disk J
There are as many holes as there are dies, and the function of this spring pin and
these holes is to temporarily hold the proper die at the impression point, and in
proper relation to the matrix block and to a cam E, by means of which the dies
are moved endwise in the direction to make the impressions in the wood block
All of the dies D are exactly of the same length, and the cam E is so formed that
when the shaft e, to which it is attached, revolves once, the die D, which is in line
with this cam, is forced toward the wood block the same distance which every die
will be moved when it is at the impression point, and a distance which not only
causes the character d to be wholly embedded in the wood, but causes the end of
the die to press endwise against the face of the wood and compact the wood fibers

page_text: in line with it, thereby making a slight depression around the deeper character
depressions, as shown in Figures 4 and 5.
The operator turns the shaft f by means of the crank f until the spring pin f
is opposite the proper hole, in disk J, whereupon he presses the pin into said hole:
This movement has brought the proper die to the impression point. The operator
then turns the crank whereby the cam E forces the said die forward to make the
impression, and then permits the spring d to withdraw the die. This happens
during the first part, say three-fourths of the revolution of said shaft e During
the balance of this revolution the pin g¹ engages with the rack a³ and moves the
carriage as described
Although it is believed that the most satisfactory results are obtained by em-
ploving dies whose front ends are all of the same size and have characters which
project equal distances from said fiont ends, and in forcing the dies equal distances
toward the wood until the ends of the dies compress the wood around the character
depressions, it is nevertheless true that good results are obtained by compressing the
wood block slightly in the direction of the length of its fibers, before any character
depressions are made therein. This compression slightly spreads the wood fibers
laterally for a considerable distance in from their ends, wherefore, when the
character depressions are subsequently made, these spread or bent fibers bearing
against the fibers compressed by the characters, prevent the last named fibers from
springing back any appreciable distance
Having now particularly descubed and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim 18
1
1 The herein described process of making a matrix, which consists in impres-
sing the characters equal distances into the end fibers of the wood matrix block, and
slightly compacting the wood which surrounds the character depressions, by direct
pressure against the face of said matrix block, substantially as and for the purpose
specified
2 In a machine for making matrices, the combination of a series of longi-
tudinally movable dies of equal area at the ends of which face the matrix block
which dies have their characters projecting equal distances from said ends, and
mechanism for holding a wood matrix block when the impressions are being made
therein, with mechanism for forcing the several dies equal distances forward and
Such distances as will completely embed the characters thereon into the matrix
block and will cause the ends of the dies to slightly compact the surface of said
wood around the character impressions, substantially as and for the purpose
specified
Dated the 20th dox of December 1898