Improvements in and relating to a Method of Securing Letters, Numbers, and Ornaments to Placards, Signs, and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th June, 1896-Accepted, 11th July, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to a Method of Securing Letters,
Numbers, and Ornaments to Placards, Signs, and the like.
I, GEORG OTTO FRITZ HOFFMANN of No. 5 Kaiser-Franz Grenadier Platz, of
Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, Manufacturer, 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:-
This invention refers to placards, signs, and the like, in which the words are
formed by fixing single or separate letters to a soft ground plate or base consisting
of paste-board, leather, or a similar stuff. Said letters, as well as numbers and
ornaments, have up to now been fixed to said base-stuff by glue, gum arabic, or the
like; and my improvements in placards and signs of said sort relate to means for
entirely doing away with such or other cementing-media. I attain that object by
causing the rims or edges of the letters, numbers, and the like, to take into corre
sponding recesses, grooves, or slits, of the base-stuff, and the parts so fixed are, in
fact, produced only in that very moment in which they are thus fixed. Placards
or signs may thus be manufactured in far shorter a time, and for far lower a price,
than was hitherto possible, and the product is notwithstanding a better one, in that
the hold of the letters etc. is far more fast than if the latter are fixed by glue or
the like.
In order to make my invention more clear, I refer to the accompanying drawing,
in which similar letters denote similar parts throughout the different views, and
in which:
Figure 1 shows a piece of a base-stuff having secured to it the letter N, the
number 1, and two signs of punctuation, said parts being fixed to said piece of
stuff according to my novel method;
Figure 2 shows a section through a piece of base-stuff (B) covered with a piece
of paper (C), and the lower portion of a punch situated above said parts B and C
in proper working position;
Figure 3 shows the punch pressed down upon, and into, the parts B and C afore
mentioned;
Figure 4 shows the punch again removed from the parts B and C; and
Figure 5 shows the finished letter raised above the surface of the base, all the
parts being in section, just so as the parts shown in Figs. 3 & 4.
In carrying my method into effect, I make use of punches the lower portion of
each of which is formed into a letter, or a number, or a piece of ornaments; in
other words, said punches represent each a sort of type, and these type-like
punches are arranged side by side, and are connected with each other in a similar
manner as is done with printing types proper.
The lines of border of the lower end or working portion proper of each punch,
for instance of the punch A shown in Figs. 2-5, are formed into cutting-edges
having in their whole exactly the shape of the letter, number, or other sign to be
produced. If, therefore, the piece of paper (C), from which the letters etc. are to
be produced, is placed upon the piece of paste-board or leather (B) that is to be
provided with said letters etc., and if then the punch A is pressed down upon the
paper C, and into the paste-board B, the letter, number, or ornament represented
by that punch will be cut out from the paper C by the edges a, and will with its
rims be pressed into the grooves formed within the paste-board B by said edges a.
דנטימו

page_text: This is clearly represented in Figure 3, and it is to be seen from this figure that
the rim portions of the letter C¹ are inclined (according to the wedge-like section
of the cutting edges of the punch), whereas the opposite sides of the groove or slit
containing said rim-portions as well as said cutting-edges are vertical. When,
now, the punch A is raised into its former position, the material forming, or lying
at, said vertical sides expands slightly (Figure 4), and takes over the said rim-
portions, thus fixing the letter in position. A similar expansion of the material
occurs also below the letter, or more precisely below the rim-portions of the letter,
and said portions are, in fact, clamped in at their edges so that the hold of the
letter is a very secure one.
This automatic clamping action of the material may be compulsorily increased
by pressing the letter slightly outwards, as shown in Figure 5. If the word to be
produced is produced as a whole, i.e. if the several types have been put together,
the counterpart, or the support D for the paste-board B respectively, may also
form a whole, and may thus be furnished with projections corresponding to the
shapes of the types or punches. But if the letters etc. are produced singly, the
projections just mentioned may be replaced by special movable parts D' inserted
into the supporting plate for the paste-board.
Although I am enabled by my improved method to do entirely away with the
use of glue, gum arabic, or any other cementing medium, I wish it to be under-
stood, that I do not confine myself to securing the letters, numbers, ornaments and
the like solely in the manner herein before described, but I may for the production
of said parts employ a gummed paper, or I may heat the punches so as thereby to
cause the said parts to paste on, too.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
claim is :-
1
The method of securing letters, numbers, ornaments and the like to placards,
signs, and the like, consisting in placing upon the material intended to form the
base a sheet of the material intended to form the letters and the like, cutting the
latter out of said upper material, and simultaneously therewith pressing the rim-
portions of said letters and the like down into said lower material, so as to cause
them to assume an inclined position, and letting the opposite sides of the said
lower material expand, so as to take over said inclined rims, for the purpose as
.described.
Dated this 10th day of June 1896.
F. BOSSHARDT & Co.,
4 Corporation Street, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.