Improvements in the Matrices and Expanding Spacers of Linotype Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 11th May, 1893-Accepted, 1st July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Matrices and Expanding Spacers of Linotype
Machines.
We, JOHN PLACE, Engineer, and THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED,
Licensors and Vendors under the "Linotype" Patents, both of No. 6, Serjeants Inn,
Fleet Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The present invention relates to improvements in the matrices and expanding
spacers of linotype machines; and the object of it is to reduce the working width
of the spacer after it has been expanded into its operative position. The nature of
it will be clearly understood from a description of it as applied to the well known
Linotype "machine.
65
Up to the present time, the two wedge shaped members, the combination of
which in a specific manner constitutes the "Linotype" spacer, have proved so
thick even when they have been made as thin as is consistent with efficiency, that
their presence has materially diminished the space available for printed matter.
In carrying the invention into effect, two ridges are formed lengthwise upon the
longer member of the spacer and upon either side of it.
The function of these ridges is to strengthen the said member, so that the
remaining surface thereof may be planed down with impunity.
These ridges may be upon either side of the longer member. If they are on
the outer side, the respective sides of the matrices are grouted out to make room
for them. If they are on the inside, that is on the face which slides upon the
shorter member, the latter is thickened across the central portion of it, and this is
grooved to receive the ridges. The respective faces of the matrices are grouted
out to make room for the consequent enlargement upon the outer face of the said
shorter member.
The invention is applied to spacers which are worked in a circular direction in
substantially the same way as described above.
Deted this 3rd day of October 1892.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Matrices and Expanding Spacers of Linotype
Machines.
We, JOHN PLACE, Engineer, and THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED,
Licensors and Vendors under the "Linotype " Patents, both of No. 6, Serjeants Inn,
Fleet Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion 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 the matrices and expanding
spacers of linotype machines.
It is applicable to the matrices and expanding spacers of any machine for the
manufacture of linotypes or printing bars, the spacers of which are adapted for
expansion, i.e., the increase of the distance between the outer and parallel faces
of them, by the motion of one inclined inner face upon the other inner face inclined
n the opposite direction. Consequently, the use of the word "linotype" in this
Specification must not be understood as limiting the applicability of the present

page_text: invention to the machine of Mergenthaler's invention which is commonly known as
the "Linotype "machine. At the same time, the nature and scope of the invention
will be clearly understood from a description of the application of it to the well
known "Linotype" matrix and spacer.
Up to the present time, the two wedge-shaped members, the combination of
which in a specific manner constitutes the "Linotype" spacer, have proved so thick,
even when they have been made as thin as is consistent with efficiency, that their
presence has materially diminished the space available for printed matter. In
carrying the present invention into effect, one or more ridges are formed lengthwise
upon the longer member of the spacer and upon either side of it. The function of
these ridges is to strengthen the said member, so that the remaining surface thereof
may be reduced with impunity. The strengthening ridge or ridges may be upon
either side of the longer member. If they are on the outer side, the respective
sides of the matrices are grouted out to make room for them. If they are on the
inside, that is on the face which slides upon the shorter member, the latter is
thickened across the central portion of it, and this is grooved to receive the ridges.
The respective faces of the matrices are grouted out to make room for the con-
sequent enlargement upon the outer face of the said shorter member.
In order that the invention and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect may be thoroughly understood, we will now describe it and them in
detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as
part of this Specification and read therewith.
دو
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a "Linotype spacer, made according to the
present invention, with a pair of strengthening ridges upon the outer side of the
longer member.
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a "Linotype "matrix made to work with the spacer
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of a "Linotype" spacer made
according to my invention.
Fig. 5 is a sectional plan on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a "Linotype" matrix made to work with the
spacer illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a linotype spacer illustrating the application of
the invention to the inner side of the longer member and the consequent change in
the shorter member.
Figs. 8 to 14 illustrate the application of the present invention to the Rogers and
Bright matrix and compound space as they are described and illustrated in the
Specification of British Patent No. 15060 1890.
Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a compound space with one strengthening ridge.
The relative position of the matrix bar is indicated by the dotted lines.
Fig. 9 is a front elevation corresponding with Figure 10.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the left hand face of as much of the matrix bar
illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 as is affected by the present invention.
Fig. 11 is a front elevation corresponding with Figure 10.
Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a compound space with two strengthening ridges.
The dotted lines indicate the relative position of the matrix bar.
Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the left hand face of as much of the matrix bar
illustrated in Figure 12 as is affected by the present invention.
Fig. 14 is a front elevation corresponding with Figure 13.
Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a is the longer, and 6, the shorter member of
the well known "Linotype" spacer of Mergenthaler's invention and patented to
Boult by Letters Patent 8457 1885.
In the "Linotype" machine the act of expanding the spacers is always
accomplished by pushing their longer members upwards. There has therefore
always been a minimum thickness beyond which it has not been possible to reduce
these members without making them so thin that they would be bent and broken,

page_text: either or both, by the push of the plate G-s
-see Figure 4 of the last mentioned
Patent-instead of being moved upwards by it. So that although the thickness
necessary to prevent crumpling up or fracture has (as already explained) materially
diminished the amount of space in a line which has been available for matrices,
that loss of space has had to be put up with so long as Mergenthaler's said
invention remained unimproved. According to the present improvement, the
longer member a has two longitudinal ridges a', a' formed upon it. They extend
from one end of it to the other, and are equidistant from the respective edges of it
in order that their strengthening influence may be distributed equally throughout
the member. Their maximum distance apart is limited by the width between the
two formative edges of the matrix.
c is the matrix, and c', c' are its two formative edges. It is between these two
edges, and within the side of the matrix, that room must be found, and is by the
present invention provided for the ridges a¹, a' by means of a pair of grooves c², c²
which are cut in that side of the matrix and which will come into contact with the
outer face of the longer member a of the spacer when the two are assembled in
line. These two grooves correspond, in respect both of their cross section and
distance apart, with the two ridges a', a' so that the latter can be fully received
into the former in order that the flat portions of the respective faces of both matrix
and longer member may pack close together.
Referring to Figures 4, 5 and 6, the modification illustrated therein consists in
the substitution of a single central ridge a² for the pair of ridges a', a', and con-
sequently of a single central groove d¹ of a corresponding section for the pair of
grooves c, c.
The respective functions and relationships in respect of size and
position are the same as those which have been already described with reference to
Figures 1, 2 and 3.
It is obvious that the nature of our invention does not confine us to the particular
side of the spacer upon which the strengthening ridge or ridges are formed. It or
they may with equal utility be formed upon the inner side of the longer member.
Its or their presence there necessitates the formation of receiving groove or grooves
in the shorter member. This modification of the invention is illustrated in Figure 7.
a is the longer and the shorter member of the spacer. a¹, a¹ are a pair of ridges
on the inner face of the long member, and, the corresponding grooves on the
shorter member. The convexities of these latter enter and are received by the
grooves in the matrix.
Referring to Figures 8 to 11, it must be explained that a Rogers and Bright
compound space is formed of two sections, the adjacent faces of which are
respectively inclined reversely to each other. These compound spaces are fitted on
a space shaft L which is shewn in section in Figures 8 and 12. M is the disk
section. It has a central square opening corresponding to the square cross section
of the shaft L. This disk section has a free sliding movement longitudinally on
the shaft L, and can be rocked with the latter. M' is the other section of the
compound space and is hereafter spoken of as a wing section. This latter has a
central circular hole which fits loosely on the circular hub m³ of the disk M and
has also a free rocking movement thereon. C is a matrix bar or character bar.
The wing section M' has its inside face adjacent to the disk section M, inclining
upward and away from the latter, while the inside face of the disk section, which is
adjacent to the wing section, is inclined in the reverse direction to the inclination
of the adjacent face of the said wing section, the degree of inclination being the same
for each of the said inside faces. Both sections have their outside faces formed at
right angles with the space shaft L. A compound space is operated in the
following way. After as many spaces as the line requires have been brought into
position between the several words, the sections M' being held against rotation by
the engagement of the projections m³ in a special locking groove provided for that
purpose in the machine, the shaft L is rocked in the necessary direction, with the
result that the disc section M is moved longitudinally away from the wing section M
thereby separating the two respective matrix bars Č.

page_text: According to the present invention, the disk section M is diminished in thickness
by one half or thereabouts, and is reinforced by the formation upon its side of a
concentric ridge. a is a groove cut in the adjacent side of each matrix bar and
having the same radius as the ridge. In respect of position and contour, the
groove is adapted to receive the ridge and to allow it to move within it
smoothly.
Referring to the modification illustrated in Figures 12, 13 and 14, it consists in
the substitution of a pair of concentric ridges y y, as well as of a pair of concentric
grooves yy of corresponding cross section, radius and position, for the single
ridge and groove' of the construction illustrated in Figures 7 to 10.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
1. The combination with a separable matrix, of one or more longitudinal grooves
formed in its side and adapted to receive within them one or more longitudinal
strengthening ridges, as set forth.
2. The combination with the longer member of a two member space bar adapted
to be expanded by the linear motion of one of its members over the other, of one
or more strengthening and enforcing ridges on its outer face adapted to enter and
be received by a corresponding groove or grooves in the adjacent side of a matrix
as set forth.
3. The combination on the assembling rails or on the assembling space of a
linotype or analogous machine, of separable matrices and separable expansible two-
member spacers, each spacer strengthened or reinforced by means of one or more
ridges and each matrix grooved to receive the latter, as set forth.
4. The combination with separable matrix and separable two member spacer or
spacing device or space adapted to be expanded by the motion of one of its
members over the other of them, of strengthening or reinforcing ridge or ridges on
the one and groove or grooves on the other, the ridge or ridges adapted to enter
the groove or grooves and the latter adapted to receive the former, respectively,
when the matrices and spacers or spacing devices or spaces are assembled, as set
forth.
5. The combination with the moveable member of a two member spacer adapted
to be expanded by the rotary motion of one of its members over the other of them,
of one or more strengthening and enforcing ridges on its outer face adapted to enter
and be received by a corresponding groove or grooves in the adjacent side of a
matrix bar or character bar, as set forth.
Dated this 11th 1.
M
1000
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chaucery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.