Improvements in and connected with the Moulding Mechanism of Linotype Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Moulding Mechanism of
Linotype Machines.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, Sole Manufacturers, Licensors, and
Vendors under the "Linotype" Patents, WILLIAM HENRY LOCK, Secretary, and
JOHN PLACE, Engineer, all of No. 188 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 and connected with the mould-
ing mechanism of linotype machines. It is applicable to all linotype machines,
but as it has been conceived and developed with special reference to the Mergen-
thaler Linotype machine, and as the latter is the only linotype machine in opera-
tion in this country, a description of the combination of it with that machine, will
clearly set forth the nature of it.
In the Linotype machine above mentioned, the matrices are practically rect-
angular plates of hard brass and the space bars, double wedges, each bar having
one wedge much longer than the other. Matrices and space bars are of the same
width the result being that a composed line of them has a rear and front face
parallel with each other and both unbroken save for the presence of the row of
formative cavities in the rear face. It is in this row of formative cavities that
the letters of the linotype, are formed. The two surfaces are likewise parallel
with each other and at right angles with the other two. This composed line finds
itself at a certain point in the cycle of the operations of the machine, within the
grasp of an organ known as a shifter, which latter holds it by nipping its two ends
together. The shifter transfers the line into an organ known as a transporter.
The transporter consists of a pair of parallel bars between which the line is
received. Its function is to carry it down into the casting position, to hold it
there during the act of justification and the process of casting and to then carry it
away to the distributor.
During the time that the line is in the casting position, each end of it is within
a short distance of a fixed abutment, while the line is behind an abutment cover-
ing the front face of it. The distance between the two fixed abutments is equal
to the length of the line to be printed, and settles the length of the linotype.
The mould for the body of the linotype is a cavity in a so-called mould wheel
through which it extends from front to rear, standing therein parallel with a
diameter of the wheel. This wheel stands in a vertical plane and the front face
of the metal immediately surrounding the said cavity-being, in fact, the front
face of the so-called mould block-is shaped to fit metal tight up to the rear face
of the line its cavity and registering with the above mentioned row of formative
cavities when the said wheel is moved up to it from the rear. When the wheel
has been so brought up from the rear to the line, the several members of the latter
are held, by the engagement of certain projecting shoulders on them under cor-
responding fixed shoulders. The metal pot and pump are next brought up to the rear
face of the mould wheel and hot metal is injected into the linotype mould which
:

page_text: actually consists of the mould cavity in the wheel and the row of formative
cavities then in conjunction. It is obvious that the resultant linotype is straight.
It has been proposed to modify the machine in the following way when it has
been called upon to make curved linotypes such as are required to stand on a
cylinder with their lengths at right angles thereof.
The rear face of the front bar of the transporter has an arcual cavity formed
in it and lengthwise of it. The radius of this cavity is that of the smallest
cylinder on which linotypes are likely to be used. Across this cavity there stretches
an elastic plate which, resting upon the straight portions of the plate, bridges the
cavity, and presents, until it is bent, the usual straight face to the composed line.
The elastic plate is held to the front plate by screws or any other suitable device.
A portion of this device is of a yielding character, for instance, fixed screws
standing in slots in the elastic plate, so as to allow of a slight motion on the part
of the plate. There is provided in the fixed plate in front of the cavity, and
preferably immediately opposite its centre, an adjustable device adapted to limit
the distance to which the elastic plate can be forced into the cavity by pressure
from the rear exerted upon its rear face. A line of backing up screws may be
used for the purpose.
Both front and rear faces of the block in which the mould cavity is formed, aro
bent to the required arc. This block is preferably, detachable, so as to be sub-
stituted by another of another radius or by a straight one.
'
The lips of the mouth of the delivery spout of the metal pot are also curved to
the required arc.
The necessary modification in the mounting of the knife for trimming the con-
cave foot of the curved linotype is as follows. The knife is adapted to slide to
and from the said foot. In the Mergenthaler Linotype machine the mould block
is carried by a vertical wheel revolving about a horizontal axis. A spring behind
the knife keeps its cutting edge up to the rear face of the wheel, that is to say, in
the plane of the trimmed foot. As the concave face of the mould block comes
along, the spring makes the cutting edge follow it whereby the foot is trimmed
truly to the required arc. The knife is provided with a suitable surface outside
its cutting edge proper to engage with the rear face of the mould block.
The adjustable device above mentioned is set to limit the motion of the elastic
plate, according to the desired shape of the linotype, and a mould block and pot
mouth of the desired shape mounted to correspond.
The object of the present invention is to provide for a quick conversion of the
moulding mechanism of any given machino set for curved linotypes to one for
straight linotypes.
The moulding mechanism for curved linotypes described above is characterised
by a serious obstacle to a quick conversion. This obstacle is due to the position
and temperature of the metal pot. It has already been explained that the lips
of the mouth of the delivery spout of this pot, are curved to match the block. It
is of course practicable to make this part of the pot removeable and to fit it with
a straight part, but the pot itself is so crowded in by adjacent and intervening
organs of the machine, and it is, besides, so hot, that making any alteration in it,
is a particularly nasty and correspondingly tedious job.
According to the present invention, the convex mouth of the metal pot is not
interfered with. A mould block concave behind to receive the convex mouth of
the metal pot and straight in front is substituted for the concave-convex mould
block above described; and the elastic plate in the transporter is screwed up into
a straight plane parallel with the face of the substituted mould block.
The cord of the arc of the mouth piece of the metal pot, is shorter than the lino-
type in order that it may have a straight foot at each end.
Dated this 7th day of January 1897
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with the Moulding Mechanism of
Linotype Machines.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 188 Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Sole Proprietors of, and Sole Manufacturers, Licensors, and Vendors
under, the "Linotype" Patents, WILLIAM HENRY LOCK, Manager and Secretary
of the said Company, and of the same address, and JOHN PLACE, late of 188 Fleet
Street, in the City of London, but now of No. 11 Hulme Street, Oxford Road,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, 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:-
The present invention relates to improvements in and connected with the mould-
ing mechanism of linotype machines. A linotype machine is a combined com-
posing and casting machine. The units upon which it operates are (ignoring
spaces for the moment) type matrices in some cases, and type dies in others. In
either class of cases, the thing which it cast-its product in fact--is a printing
bar having along one edge of it and incorporated with it, a line of printing type
duly spaced and justified into words.
The said invention is applicable to all linotype machines in which the com-
pored line of matrices and spaces (or their equivalent) is held up to a mould
having a metal injecting pump on the other side of it. The accompanying figure
illustrates the application of it to the well known Mergenthaler Linotype machine,
partly because it has been conceived and developed with special reference to that
machine, and partly because the latter is the only linotype machine in operation in
this country.
The Mergenthaler Linotype machine is fully described in the specification of
Letters Patent 14582 1890 to which the reader is referred for further particulars
of its mechanism outside the scope of the present invention. The units on which
it operates are matrices and spaces. The former are practically rectangular
plates of hard brass of uniform shape and size excepting that they differ in thick-
ness according to the width of the respective character. The spaces, or space bars
as they are commonly called, are double wedges, each bar having one wedge much
longer than the other. Matrices and space bars are of the same width, the result
being that a composed line of them has a rear and front face parallel with each
other and both unbroken save for the presence of the row of formative cavities
in the rear face. It is in this row of formative cavities that the printing types
of the linotype, are formed. The composed line of matrices and space bars finds
itself at a certain point in the cycle of the operations of the machine, within the
grasp of an organ known as a shifter, which latter holds it by nipping its two ends
together. These ends are parallel with each other and at right angles with the
rear and front faces. The shifter transfers the line into an organ known as a
transporter. The transporter consists of a pair of parallel bars between which
the line is received. Its function is to carry it down into the casting position,
to hold it there during the act of justification and the process of casting and to
then carry it away to the distributor.
During the time that the line is in the casting position, each end of it is within
short distance of a fixed abutment, while the line is behind an abutment cover-
ing the front face of it. The distance between the two fixed abutments is equal
to the length of the line to be printed, and settles the length of the linotype.
The mould for the body of the linotype is a cavity in a so-called mould wheel
through which it extends from front to rear, standing therein parallel with a

page_text: diameter of the wheel. This wheel stands in a vertical plane, and the front face
of the metal immediately surrounding the said cavity-being, in fact, the front
face of the so-called mould block-is shaped to fit metal tight up to the rear face
of the line, its cavity registering with the above mentioned row of formative
When the wheel has
cavities when the said wheel is moved up from the rear.
been brought up from the rear to the line, the several members of the latter are
held, by the engagement of certain projecting shoulders on them under corre-
sponding fixed shoulders. This is the casting position.
The metal pot and pump are next brought up to the rear face of the mould
wheel and hot metal is injected into the mould. The latter actually consists of
the mould cavity in the mould wheel and the row of formative cavities then in
conjunction with it. The front face of the metal pot and the rear face of the
mould block are both parallel with the row of formative cavities, so that the
resultant linotype is a straight one.
When a demand arose for curved linotypes adapted to stand upon a printing
machine cylinder with their lengths at right angles to the axis thereof, it was
proposed to meet that demand by modifying the machine in the way described in
the specification of Letters Patent 13591 1896. According to that, the rear face
of the front bar of the transporter has an arcual cavity formed in it and length-
wise of it. The radius of this cavity is that of the smallest cylinder on which
linotypes are likely to be used. Across this cavity there stretches an elastic plate
which, resting upon the straight portions of the plate, bridges the cavity, and
The
presents, until it is bent, the usual straight face to the composed line.
elastic plate is held to the front plate by screws or any other suitable device. A
portion of this device is of a yielding character, for instance, fixed screws stand-
ing in slots in the elastic plate, so as to allow of a slight motion on the part of the
plate. There is provided in the fixed plate in front of the cavity, and preferably
immediately opposite its centre, an adjustable device adapted to limit the distance
to which the elastic plate can be forced into the cavity by pressure from the rear
exerted upon its rear face. A line of backing up screws is used for the purpose.
Both front and rear faces of the mould block in which the mould cavity is formed,
are bent to the required arc, thereby making it concave along its rear face and
convex along its front face. This block is preferably, detachable, so as to be
substituted by another of a different radius, or by a straight one. The lips of
the mouth of the delivery spout of the metal pot are also curved to the required
arc.
The adjustable device above mentioned is set to limit the motion of the elastic
plate, according to the desired shape of the linotype, and a mould block and pot
mouth of the desired shape to correspond with the device so adjusted, are mounted
upon the mould wheel and metal pot, respectively. The mould wheel is then
moved to the front as far as it will go. The composed line and the elastic plate
in front of it, yield to the push of the front face of the mould block until they
are stopped by the backing up screws. The two faces of the composed line then
stand parallel with the two faces of the mould block. The convex mouth of the
metal pot is then moved up to the rear face of the mould block and the mould for
a curved linotype is complete, and ready to receive the hot metal.
The necessary modification in the mounting of the knife for trimming the con-
cave foot of the curved linotype is as follows. The knife is adapted to slide to
and from the said foot. In the Mergenthaler Linotyne machine, the mould block
is carried by a vertical wheel revolving about a horizontal axis. A spring behind
the knife keeps its cutting edge up to the rear face of the wheel, that is to say,
in the plane of the trimmed foot. As the concave face of the mould block comes
around, the spring makes the cutting edge follow it, whereby the foot is trimmed
truly to the required arc. The knife is provided with a suitable surface outside
its cutting edge proper to engage with the rear face of the mould block.
The moulding mechanism for curved linotypes described above is characterised
by a serious obstacle to a quick conversion from one for curved linotypes to one

page_text: for straight ones, and vice versa. This obstacle is due to the position and tem-
perature of the metal pot. It has already been explained that the lips of the
mouth of the delivery spout of this pot, are curved to match the block. It is of
course practicable to make this part of the pot removeable and to fit it with a
straight part, but the pot itself is so crowded in by adjacent and intervening
organs of the machine, and it is, besides, so hot, that making any alteration in
it, is a particularly nasty and correspondingly tedious job.
The object of the present invention is to provide for a quick conversion of the
moulding mechanism of any given machine set for curved linotypes to one for
straight linotypes and vice versa by mere substitution of mould block and re-
adjustment of the elastic plate.
According to the present invention, the convexity of the metal pot mouth is
retained in a form that makes interference with it, unnecessary. A mould block
concave behind to receive the convex mouth of the metal pot and straight in front,
is substituted for the concave-convex mould block above described.
Referring to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as part of this
specification and read therewith,
Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section from the left hand of the machine, of
the mechanism concerned:
Figure 2 is a rear elevation, and figure 3, a plan, of the improved mould block.
Figure 4 is a sectional plan of the mechanism concerned, omitting the cap
plate of the mould block and the rear horizontal bar of the transporter.
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a linotype having a combined concave and
flat foot.
A is a part of the machine frame; Y, Y, the matrices; y', y¹, their projecting
shoulders; y, y, the formative cavities; z¹, z¹, the longer, and 211, 211, the shorter
wedges of the space bars; 22, 22, their suspending shoulders; N, the transporter;
N1, N2, the pair of parallel bars between which the composed line of matrices and
space bars is transferred from the shifter (not shewn); N³, N³, the guides on the
abutment P, between which the transporter moves vertically; N63, an arcual
cavity in the rear face of the front bar N¹; N', an elastic plate held to the bar N¹
and stretching across the cavity N63; N34, N34, backing up screws; p¹, p³, the
abutments, being a pair of vice jaws, between which the composed line stands;
P, the abutment then covering the front face of the line; P¹, the vice frame which
carries the three abutments; 25, 225, the screws by which the vice frame is held
fast to the machine frame A; 2, a rack bar and P7 a pinion engaging therewith
to control the vice jaw p²; p6, 26, the justifying plates, the lower one pushing the
upper one against the longer wedges 2¹, under the action of two lifting rods p8
(only one shewn); o, the mould cavity; o, the mould block; o¹3, 014, the end liners
and o, o8, the cap and bottom plates thereof; O, the mould wheel to which the
mould block is made fast; o³, the bearing in which the mould wheel is carried and
can turn; 06, its driving pinion; o, the shaft of the latter; No, No, the knives for
trimming the sides of the linotype; N29, the knife for trimming the linotype foot;
N30, the bracket which carries the said knife; N³, its sliding block; N, a finger
projecting from the latter and always in contact with the rear edge N33 of the rim
of the mould wheel O; N37, a spring holding the finger N and the knife N29 up
to their work; V, the pot which supplies the molten type metal to the mould
cavity o; 2, a sliding piece in the throat 5 of the metal pot and 4 a convexity in
the piece in which the actual delivery mouth is formed; and ³, one of the
legs upon which the pot is supported and swung up to and away from the mould
block o. All the foregoing parts are as heretofore, with the exception of the
convexity Heretofore the chord of this was identical with the length of the
linotype; the present invention requires that it should not be identical.
The concavity in the rear face of the mould block o" and the concavity №54 have
a common radius, which is that of the cylinder of the printing machine supplied
by the linotype machine to which the present invention is applied. That relation-
ship provides for curved linotypes being made when they are required.

page_text: The production of straight linotypes in the same linotype machine without
changing the sliding piece 52 and by substitution of mould block and re-adjust-
ment of the device in front of the composed line, is provided for as follows. The
plate N is set straight and backed up in that position. The concave-convex
mould block used for making curved linotypes is taken off the mould wheel O
and one made according to the present invention is substituted for it. Or instead
of such taking off and substitution, the mould wheel may be fitted with two mould
blocks, one made according to the present invention and the other concave-convex.
The fitting a mould block with two mould blocks does not form per se any part of the
present invention-it is described in detail in the specification of Letters Patent
No. 2549 1895.
The mould block o has, according to the present invention, a straight front
face and a concave rear face, as distinguished from the parallel straight front and
rear faces of a mould block for straight linotypes, on the other hand; and from the
parallel arcual front and rear faces of the curved linotype mould block described
in the specification of Letters Patent 13591 1896, on the other. Further, the
chord of the cavity in its rear face is less than that of its full length. The chords
of the convexity and of the concavity in the rear face of the mould block. o¹l
are of the same length, but that length is less than the length of the mould
cavity by twice the length of a practicable straight foot c7 at each end of the
linotype. It is these two straight feet that are relied on to make the linotype
produced by the present invention, capable of standing upon a flat platen or
lengthwise on a cylinder, and for that reason, one is placed at each end of the
linotype as shewn in figure 5. For the same reason, the concavity in the rear
face of the mould block is midway of the two liners o¹³, 14, and the convexity
occupies a corresponding position upon the sliding piece v5.
Figure 4 shews the invention as applied to a machine for casting straight lino-
types. The front face of the mould block o¹ is straight, and the plate N' is 'set
parallel with it. The convexity and the concavity in the rear face of the
mould block, are both of the same radius as the cylinder of the printing machine
supplied by the linotype machine. The linotypes cast in the mould block illus-
trated are as shewn by figure 5,-having a straight printing edge along the top
and a straight foot cat each end. These feet together suffice to support the
printing edge when the linotype is used on a platen machine. When curved
linotypes are wanted from the same machine, the mould block illustrated is replaced
by one having a concave rear face adapted to receive the metal pot mouth metal
tight against it, and a convex front face. The backing up screws N34 are also set
so as to allow of the elastic plate N4 retreating before the convex front face of the
mould block into the cavity No. A curved linotype produced under this invention
will have the two flat feet c, but it will bed to the cylinder of the printing
machine, by virtue of the intermediate concave foot 18, and the bedding of that
intermediate foot c18 will suffice. The two flat feet 17 may simply stand idly off
the cylinder, neither bedding to anything nor interfering with the proper bedding
of the linotype to the said cylinder; or the surface of the machine cylinder may
be fitted with special devices to engage the ends of the improved linotype and hold
them steady.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The combination with the apparatus of a linotype machine which holds the
composed line in the casting position, of a convex metal pot mouth piece the chord
of its arc shorter than the mould cavity, and a detachable mould block having
its rear face correspondingly concave for less than the length of its cavity, the
difference in length being distributed between the ends of the latter, and its front
face straight.
2. The combination with the apparatus of a linotype machine which holds the

page_text: composed line in the casting position, of a convex metal pot mouth piece, the chord
of its arc shorter than the mould cavity; a detachable mould block having its
rear face correspondingly concave for less than the length of its cavity, the
difference in length being distributed between the ends of the latter and its
front face straight; and an adjustable device on the opposite or front side of the
composed line, capable of being set rigidly either straight, or parallel with the
concave portion of the rear face of the mould block along the entire length of
the composed line.
3. The combination in a linotype, of a straight or a convex printing edge; two
straight feet parallel with the straight printing edge to stand upon the platen of a
printing machine; and an intermediate concave foot to bed upon the cylinder of a
printing machine; as set forth with reference to the accompanying figures.
Dated thin 7th
1007
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.