Improvements in and in connection with Linotype Machines.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Dec.. 189
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in connection with Linotype Machines.
THOMAS HENRY CATHERALL of 8 Saint John's Terrace, Old Youghall Road,
Cork, Ireland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention consists firstly, of an improved mould capable of attachment to
the carrying or mould wheel of linotype machines, for adjusting the vertical
diameter of the slot through which the molten metal is forced to the edges of
the assembled matrices, in which is formed in intaglio the letters of which the
line of type is to be cast, the object of such vertical adjustment being, that the
said slot may be quickly and easily altered so as to adapt it for the casting of thin
or thick bars of type hearing any sized letters (within reasonable limits) thus
saving the time and trouble hitherto expended by the insertion of extra plates
when such change of thickness or size is necessary, secondly, of an adjustable
alignment strip adapted to be placed upon the face of my said improved mould, or
upon the faces of the moulds in present use, for adjusting the depth to which the
assembled matrices (having two intaglio impressions) are to be lowered, and as an
abuttment for the lower projections of the matrices when so lowered, when a
casting is to be taken of the upper row of letters in the said matrices, which may
be after a casting has been taken of the lower row.
The first portion of my invention relates to my improved mould which consists
of two parts, cast or otherwise produced from suitable metal, these, when bolted or
otherwise connected together, being adapted for fixation upon the mould wheel.
The said upper portion is so constructed than an aperture of suitable height and
length is formed therein in such a position as to coincide with the casting slot in
the said wheel when fixed thereto, the said aperture being adapted to receive a
metallic plate of equal length and depth, the depending ends of which occupy
recesses in the said lower part or base of the mould. The said metallic plate in
conjunction with the upper surface of the said base of the mould is adapted to
form the space constituting the casting slot through which the molten metal is
forced to the assembled matrices, and in order that such space may be adjustable
in height, so as to cast thin or thick lines of type or printing bars carrying letters
of varying heights, I form upon the ends of the said metallic plate horizontal
projections or lugs, in which internally threaded holes are formed, and with these
engage the lower ends of finely threaded screws passing upwardly therefrom
through the substance of the upper portion of the mould, whereat recesses are
formed for the reception of the heads of same, the said heads being so formed as
to receive a suitable tool by the means of which the said screws may be rotated in
either direction from outside the mould, and such rotation of these would operate
to raise and lower the said metallic plate, and so increase or decrease the vertical
distance between this and the upper surface of the lower portion of the mould, and
so increase or decrease vertically the height of the casting slot.
In the under surface of the said metallic plate two or more transverse grooves
are formed, preferably but not imperatively of V shape in cross section, by the
means of which corresponding ridges are formed upon one side of the line of type
cast, which are intended to serve in lieu of leads for spacing one line of type from
the next when set up for printing, and the said ridges can easily be trimmed true

page_text: and reduced in depth, if necessary, during the trimming of the line of type, for
which purpose the improved adjustable knife constituting the subject matter of my
Application for a Patent No. 23590" is particularly adapted.
For the purposes of the second portion of my invention, I form in the face of
the lower portion or base of the said mould a horizontal recess or groove, in which
I place a metallic plate of lesser width than the said groove, and which I choose
to term an "alignment strip," suitable angular slots being formed in the said strip
adapted to receive screws, which serve to attach the strip to the mould and fix
the same in any position thereon, and by the means of the said angular slots and
screws the said strip bas a certain travel both horizontally and vertically. The
upper surface of the said strip is preferably tapered to correspond with a like taper
upon the mould, a ridge being formed upon the said strip which is always in perfect
alignment, with the lower surface of the casting slot in the mould, whichever way
the said strip may be moved, and, against this ridge the lower projections of the
assembled matrices would abut, and according to such movement of the strip, and
the fixation of same, the distance between this and the casting slot may be
increased or decreased at will, which serve to permit the matrices to be raised or
lowered that either of the two rows of letters therein, may be placed in line with
the casting slot. The said alignment strip may be adapted for use with any of the
moulds in present use.
Dated this 11th der of December 1896
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1 Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
меню шани
WICH
I, THOMAS HENRY CATHERALL of 50 Novells Street, Poole Park, Fulham
London S. W., late of 8 St. John's Terrace, Old Youghall Road, Cork, Ireland,
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 improvements constituting my inventions consists of an improved adjustable
mould for casting such lines of type or printing surfaces of varying heights or
letters of different sizes and means by which two such lines or surfaces each
consisting of different sized letters may be successively cast from the same mould
without having to change the mould or remove the assembled matrices therefrom
as hitherto.
In order that my said improvements and the manner in which I prefer to carry
. the same into effect, may be fully understood, I have hereunto appended a sheet of
drawings of which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved mould while Fig. 2 is an end elevation
of the same as viewed from right to left of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a view of the right band half of Fig. 1 partly in section and shewing
the second lowest position of the alignment strip contradistinction to that shewn
on Fig. 1, and hereinafter explained.
Fig. 4 is a section of Fig. 1 taken upon the line A B Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the said printing bars or strips.
In linotype machines as at present made and used a slot is formed in the mould-
wheel for receiving the mould to be used each of which said moulds are provided

page_text: with a easting slot adapted for casting type bars with letters of a given size, and
when a bar has to be cast having letters of a larger or smaller size than the one
previously cast, the said mould has to be changed which means loss of time to
obviate which it has hitherto been proposed to construct moald wheels adapted to
carry two moulds, each having a casting slot of a different size, but when a type-
bar has to be cast having letters of a size, between, or larger, or smaller letters
than that which may be cast by the said moulds one or the other of the said moulds
must be removed to give place to the mould having a casting slot of the required!
dimensions. Again it has been proposed to construct matrices for linotype.
machines each having two letters formed intaglio therein, so that a type bar may
be cast from the upper or lower of these when the matrices are assembled in front
of the mould, but the said moulds are not adapted to cast a type bar from each set.
of letters one after the other. My improved mould is adapted to overcome both
these difficulties and capable of adjustment so as to cast type hars or printing
surfaces having any size letters (within reasonable limits) and by a simple and easy
means to shift the position of the assembled matrices so that a casting may be
taken from both sets of letters therein if desired.
My improved mould consists of two parts or blocks A and B, east or otherwise
produced from any suitable metal, which may be connected together at a in any
convenient way by the means of bolts or screws such as 6, or otherwise. The
shape size, contour, and configuation of A and B collectively, may vary to suit the
surrounding conditions of the machine, or such as may render them adaptable for
easy fixation by the means of screws C, to the slot or opening provided in the
mould wheel D for their reception, and for the purposes of explaining my invention.
I have assumed that the general formation of A and B are substantially that shewn-
by Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. The said upper part or block A is so constructed that an
aperture E, of suitable height and length is formed therein, in such a position as
to coincide with the casting slot in the mouth of the melting pot of the machine,.
and within the said aperture is placed a metallic plate e of the same length, the
ends of which d d' are bent downward at right angles, and occupy recesses in the
block B, while the hack of same g, is bent upwardly at right angles and occupies
a recess h in the back face of the block A. The space between the under horizontal
surface of the said plate e, and the upper surface of the block B, constitutes the
height of the casting slot through which the molten metal from the melting pot is
forced to the assembled matrices G as at Fig. 4, and in order that the height of
the said space may be adjustable, so as to cast thin or thick lines of type or
printing bars H (Fig. 5) carrying letters of varying heights, I form upon the
ends d and d of the plate e, horizontal projections or luge having threaded
holes with which engage the lower ends of finely threaded screws m m the upper
ends, of which are provided with heads ppl seated within recesses rr in the front
face of the block A, and so formed as to be easily rotated in either direction from.
outside the mould by the means of a spike or bradawl engaging with the holes
therein and such rotation of the said screws would operate to raise and lower the
plate e (according to which way these are rotated) and so increase or decrease the
distance between this and the upper surface of the block B, and so increase or
decrease the height of the casting slot of the mould, and permit the casting of thin
or thick printing bars H, carrying small or large type as may be desirable, and as
provided by the intaglio letters in the matrices G.
In the under surface of the metallic plate e I provide two or more grooves S
preferably of V shape in cross section, so that the casting may easily leave the
mould, and by the means of these, corresponding ridges t are formed upon the
uppermost side of the line of type or printing bar II, as shewn in Fig. 5, and these
I intend to serve in lieu of leads for spacing one line of type from the next when
set up for printing and the said ridges can be easily trimmed true and reduced in
depth if desired during the process of trimming the line or bar of type in the
usual way.
As an alternative means for operating the movements of the screws m m¹ I may

page_text: dispense with their heads p p and in lieu thereof mount upon each a small pinion
or worm wheel with which may gear a toothed rack or worm mounted in suitable
guides or bearings upon the block A, which provides that by a longitudinal movement
of such rack, or the rotation of the said worm, both the said screws m-m' may be
rotated simultaneously.
I have previously stated that one of the salient features of my said improved
mould is to provide means by which assembled matrices, having each two intaglio
letters, may have a casting taken first from one row of letters and then from the
other, if desired, without taking the said matrices from the mould. To attain this
I form in the front face of the block B a recess or groove J, perfectly horizontal
upon its lower surface K but tapered upon its upper surface L, the latter being
preferably of the same length or thereabouts as that of the plate c, and within
this groove I place a metallic plate M of lesser width than the said groove, and
which i choose to term an alignment strip or plate, the upper surface of which is
tapered to correspond with L, and in the said plate I provide angular slots w and w
through which pass screws N, N' which serve to attach the plate M to the block B,
and permit the same to have a travel horizontally, equal to the length of the said
slots, and vertically equal to the distance between K and L, as shewn by Fig. 3,
the lower surface of the said plate being always in perfect alignment with the
casting slot of the mould or the upper surface of the block B, aud against the said
lower surface of M the usual lower projections y of the matrices G would be caused
to abut as at Fig. 4, and be fixed thereto by the usual means, and by thus raising
and lowering the plate M, the said matrices may be raised or lowered so that either
row of intaglio letters P therein may be brought facing the casting slot of the
mould, as shewn at Fig. 4. The said alignment strip may be adapte 1 for use with
any of the moulds in present usc by forming in such moulds a groove such as J.
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 I
claim is :-
1st. In a linotype machine the combination of a mould having an adjustable
casting slot, with means for effecting such adjustment, and an alignment strip for
effecting the raising and lowering of the assembled matrices substantially as anl
for the purposes herein described and shewn.
C
2nd. In a linotype machine the combination of a mould A B, having a recess E
for receiving a plate having depending ends d d engaging with recesses f
in B, and upturned back g moving in a recess in A the said plate having grooves
such as s and projecting lugs m m¹ with the latter of which engage screws ppl with
means for rotating the said screws to effect the raising and lowering of the said
plate c for increasing and decreasing the height of the casting slot for casting type
bars of varying heights substantially as herein described and shewn by Figs. 1 to 4
of the accompanying drawings.
3rd. In combination with a casting mould of a linotype machine, the employ-
ment of a plate or strip M connected to the face of the mould by the means
of screws N N' passing through angular slots w wol in the said plate, and adapted
to move horizontally and vertically simultaneously within a slot or groove J formed
in the said mould, the said groove and plate being formed and operating substantially
as herein described and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of February 1897
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1 Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.