Improvements in the Metal Pot Mouth Pieces of Linotype Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Metal Pot Mouth Pieces of Linotype Machines.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 188, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Sole Proprietors of, and Sole Manufacturers, Vendors and Licensors
under, the "Linotype" Patents, and PHILIP CHARLES LAWLESS, of the same
address, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:--
The present invention relates to improvements in the metal pot mouth pieces
of linotype machines.
In all machines of this class, a matrix consisting of the aggregation by way
of a composed line, of selected character matrices and space-bars, or of a matrix
duly indented by selected type dies acting at proper distances apart after the
manner of the type of a type-writer, is held with its operative face in a certain
plane. A pot of molten metal and an injecting pump, as well as a mould having
a cavity in it of the same size as the body of the linotype to be cast, are mounted
near the matrix, and each in such a way that the matrix and mould can be
brought into metal-tight contact with each other in their respectively proper
positions, and the pump up to the other side of the mould cavity with its mouth
coincident with and in metal-tight contact with that cavity, by the time that the
casting process must begin. There are combined with the mechanism by which
the above motions are effected, suitable means for working the pump so as to
deliver the metal into the mould above described during the metal-tight contacts
above mentioned.
The first part of the invention relates to the expulsion of the air standing within
the mould cavity when the injection of the fluid metal begins. A moment's
consideration will make it obvious that if any of that air remains in the mould
cavity, the linotype will be imperfect in some way or other.
Hitherto, the fluid metal has been injected into the mould cavity, and the
latter has filled up from that side of it farthest from the metal pot mouth piece,
the process of filling up being left to complete itself. The metal has displaced
the air more or less thoroughly, and as much of the latter as found its way to the
mouth of the mould cavity, would be expelled through air vents formed in
the face of the mouth piece. In short, the motions of both air and metal within
the mould cavity were, within the limits above mentioned, not under control.
According to the present invention, the mould cavity ceases to be the terminus
of the course which the metal takes, and becomes, instead, the turning point in
it by reason of the combination with the ordinary delivery spout, of a return port
or ports from the mould cavity to the metal pot. The mouth of each port onens
out through the mouth of the delivery spout, or as close to it as possible, in
order that both ports and mouth shall communicate with the mould cavity at
one and the same time. The action of this part of the invention is as follows.
The down or working stroke of the metal pump drives the fluid metal up the
delivery spout and into the mould cavity. The air standing in the said spout.
cavity and ports, is driven before the metal in the direction of the metal pot

page_text: through the ports, the metal continuing to flow through the mould cavity until
the pump piston comes to a stand. The excess of metal injected into the mould
cavity beyond the capacity of the latter is driven into the ports whence it flows
back into the metal pot.
The ports above mentioned are led from the lips of the mouth into and through
the delivery spout for a sufficient distance for them to share its temperature so
as to prevent the metal cooling in them. They may be either separate tubes, or
bores formed in the substance of the side of the spout. When they are separate
tubes, it may be desirable to make them pass through the said side. The necessary
junctions with the latter are, or may advantageously be, made as follows. A hole
is drilled through the spout side, leaving a seating at the bottom of it for a plug.
This latter is drilled obliquely for the tube to pass through it. The plug has
an annular recess in the outer portion of its periphery to make room for a screw
threaded locking ring which engages in the hole, screw threaded to receive it
and in the annular recess so as to lock the plug down on its seating.
The second part of the invention relates to means for altering the width of
the mouth of the delivery spout. Hitherto, the mouth piece has been separate
from the delivery spout, being held to it by a double V-groove, in order that
the mouth piece might be changed for each change in the length of the mould
cavity. According to the present invention there are a series of transverse
parallel grooves in the front face of the mouth piece, either above or below the
mouth, and preferably perpendicular to it. These grooves are, preferably, in
a plate made fast to the said face. Over the other portion of that face, say the
one below the mouth, there is a plate having tongues corresponding with the
parallel slots above described and fitting therein. The facing edges of the two
plates are parallel with each other. One of the plates, say the grooved one, is
mounted upon pins passed through short slots in it into the solid metal behind
it, to make the width of the mouth adjustable. These short slots are parallel
with those already described. The mouth is made adjustable as to length, by
the division of the adjustable plate into lengths or measures, any one of which
can be moved close up to the opposite plate so as to close the corresponding
portion of the mouth. The ports above mentioned may open through the tongues
already described.
According to a modification of this part of the invention, the mouth piece has
a series of vertical grooves parallel and extending across its face or only as far
as the mouth.
Each of the grooves on either or both sides of the mouth, is fitted with a slide,
which by being moved up to or over the mouth, is capable of adjusting it for
both length or width. A slide is held to the mouth piece by a slot and pin
device, or by its edges engaging in the undercut sides of its slot.
The air ports described with the first part of the invention open through the
fingers, or through the portions of the mouth piece face intermediate of the vertical
slots, and in line, in both modifications, with the mouth.
Dated the 27th day of January 1898.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: Patents, and PHILIP CHARLES LAWLESS, of the same address, 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 the metal pot mouth pieces of
linotype machines. In all these machines, a matrix duly indented by selected
type dies acting at proper distances apart after the manner of the type bars of a
type-writer, or one consisting of a composed line of matrices and space bars, is
held with its operative face in a certain plane. A pot of molten metal and an
injecting pump, as well as a mould having a cavity in it of the same size as the
body of the linotype, are mounted near the matrix, and each in such a way that
matrix and mould cavity can be brought into metal-tight contact with each
other in their respectively proper positions and the pump up to the other side
of the mould cavity with its mouth coincident with and in metal-tight contact
therewith, by the time that the casting process must begin. There are combined
with the mechanism by which the above motions are effected, suitable means
for working the pump so as to deliver the metal into the mould cavity during the
metal-tight contacts above mentioned, to effect the casting of the linotype.
Referring to the accompanying figures (which are to be taken as part of this
specification and read therewith:-
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation through the pump, metal pot, improved
mouth piece the mouth of which is in the form of a row of slots, and, a portion
of the mould, illustrating one modification of the first part as well as the second
part of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a detailed plan on an enlarged scale and partly in section, of the
mouth piece and return ports illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 3, is a front elevation of the same mouth piece.
Figures 4 and 5 are vertical sections taken respectively on the lines 4-4
and 5 5 of Figures 2 and 3.
Figure 6 is a plan, partly in section, illustrating a further modification of the
first part and also the second part of the same invention as applied to a slotted
mouth piece.
Figure 7 is a front elevation corresponding with Figure 6.
Figures 8 and 9 are vertical sections taken respectively on the lines 8-8
and 9-9 of Figures 6 and 7.
Figure 10 is a front elevation and Figures 11 and 12, vertical sections taken
respectively on the lines 11-11 and 12-12, of Figure 10, all illustrating the same
modification of the first part of the invention applied to a mouth piece, the mouth
of which is in the form of a row of holes.
Figures 13 is a front elevation, and Figures 14 and 15 are vertical sections
taken respectively on the lines 14-14 and 15-15 of Figure 14 illustrating-a
third modification of the first part of the invention.
Vis the metal pot; ¹, the pump rod; 2, the pump piston; 10, the throat
of the metal pot; it, its constricted mouth; the mouth piece; 4, air vents in
the front face thereof; o the mould block; and o the mould cavity therein.
In Figure 1, the metal pot V is shewn as having been moved back from the
mould block o¹¹. It is moved up to that mould block before each linotype is
cast and then back from it immediately after. When the piston made a
down stroke, metal was driven up through the throat 10 into the mould cavity o
and as much of it as did not stay there, fell back down the throat 10 into the
pot as the piston rose. When the latter reached the top of its stroke, the metal
in the pot and the throat 30 stood at the level indicated in Figure 1, leaving
the upper and longer portion of that throat full of air. All the above parts are
as heretofore.
The first part of the invention relates to the expulsion of the air standing within
the throat and the mould cavity o, or within the latter only, when the injection
of the fluid metal begins. A moment's consideration will make it obvious that

page_text: if all the air previously in the mould cavity were not expelled from it, the lino-
type would be imperfect as a casting. Hitherto, the fluid metal has been injected
into the mould cavity, and the latter has filled up from that side of it farthest
from the metal pot mouth piece v12, the process of filling up having been left
to complete itself. During that filling up, the metal displaced the air more or
less completely, expelling it through the air vents 24. Otherwise, the motions of
both the air and the metal within the mould cavity have not been under control.
The object of the first part of the invention is to place them under control, and
to that end there is combined with the throat and the mouth piece 12, or
with the latter only, according as to whether the air is to be expelled from both
throat and mould cavity o or from the latter only, one or more return ports
adapted to allow the respective volumes of air to be expelled therefrom.
fast
Figures 1 to 5 illustrate a modification providing for the expulsion of the air
from both the throat 40 and the mould cavity o. There are four return ports 73
illustrated. They open out through the mouth piece 12 being aligned with the
mouth in order that they may register with the cavity o during the act of
casting, and terminate in a delivery mouth standing over the pot V. For con-
venience in manufacture, that portion of a return port which traverses the mouth
piece, consists of a short tube 27 screwed into a longer tube 275 as detailed in
Figure 4. Each tube 75 is led through a supporting wall 76 beyond which all
the tubes are merged in a single delivery tube which is fitted with a control-
ling cock This latter is worked from the pump rod by means of an
arm fast thereto, having a stud 80 fast on its outer end and engaging in a
loop 81 carried by a rod 82 pivotted on the outer end of a half crank
on the plug of the cock 78. The length of the loop 1 is such that the stud 80
shall engage with the top of it to shut the cock by the time the piston 2 is
at the top of its stroke; and with the bottom of it, to open the cock full by the
time that the piston is at the bottom of its stroke. As the piston makes its
working stroke, it drives the metal in the throat 10 before it into the mould
cavity o. The air then standing in the said throat and mould cavity as well
as that in the ports 73 is driven before the metal out through the delivery tube 77,
the metal continuing to flow along the same course until the pump piston com-
pletes its working stroke, whereupon the cock 78 is shut. If preferred, the
loop may be so adjusted that it shall shut the cock before the piston completes
its working stroke. Such early shutting of the cock will have the effect of con-
densing the metal in the mould cavity o at the time that the flow ceases.
A further modification of the first part of the invention is illustrated in
Figures 7 to 12. It provides only for the expulsion of the air from the mould
cavity o. According to it, the combination of ports 3, cock 8 and the device
for working the latter, are dispensed with, each return port consisting of a more
or less vertical groove having its bottom portion situated in the face of the
mouth piece 12 so as to register with the mould cavity o, a short port 85 from
the top of the groove 284 through the mouth piece 12, and a chamber 86 being
an enlargement of the throat 10 along the top thereof.
A third modification is illustrated in Figures 13, 14 and 15, according to which,
the chamber 86 is set farther back than in Figures 6 to 12, and the slots 194
and ports are replaced by tubes 87 which extend from the front face of the
mouth piece 12 and deliver into the said chamber. The front ends of the tubes 87
are situated so as to register with the mould cavity o.
In both the modifications just described, the chamber 86 may be dispensed with,
the ports opening directly into the throat 10.
The mouth piece 2 has hitherto been made in one piece, but the modifications
illustrated in Figures 1 to 5 and 13 to 15, require that the top side of the
double V-groove, should be separate from the major portion of the mouth piece
and fixed to it by screws after that portion has been placed in position against the
front end of the metal pot throat 10.
It may be explained that the mouth
has heretofore had in some mould blocks,

page_text: the form of a slot, and in others, that of a row of holes, both slot and holes of
the same transverse contour. The occurrence of the return ports above described
has the effect of breaking the continuity of both slot and row of holes and of
dividing the former up into short slots as clearly shewn in Figures 5, 7 and 13,
and the latter into short rows, as in Figure 10.
The second part of the invention relates to means for varying the width of
the mouth where it opens out through the mouth piece v12; and it consists in
the combination with the said mouth and mouth piece, of one or more sluice
gates capable of sliding in or over the mouth piece 12 and to or from the
mouth so as to vary the width of the latter. It is illustrated in Figures 2
to 9. According to it, there are one or more grooves 89 across the mouth piece v¹²,
each standing at an angle with the mouth 4. The number of grooves is pro-
portional to the number of return ports. If there are none at all, there will be
only one groove. When there are return ports, it is preferred that they and
the grooves should be interspaced symmetrically as illustrated. The groove
or grooves are made in the front face of the mouth piece v12, instead of in the back
face of it because the shape of the mouth piece and the means by which it is
held to the metal pot V make the former the more convenient position for them.
For convenience in the manufacture of a mouth piece fitted with the second part
of the present invention, the grooves are continued across the face of it from
the top to the bottom, but as only the portion of a groove on one side of the
mouth piece is necessary to the invention, that on the other side is filled up
with a fixed filling piece. Each open groove is fitted with a sluice gate val
adapted to slide therein and to be held in the desired position by a holding
screw turning in the mouth piece and engaging the sluice gate by its head
and a notch 3 in that gate. The noses of the sluice gates are, shaped to corre-
spond with the opposite portions of the mouth v4.
The sluice gates are shewn as all on one side of the mouth 4 and at right
angles therewith. Their respective positions may be varied in both respects.
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 in a linotype machine; of mouth piece; mould cavity;
and a return port or ports from the latter to the metal pot throat; as and for
the purpose set forth.
2. The combination in a linotype machine; of metal pot throat; mouth piece;
mouth cavity; and a return port or ports from the latter to the metal pot; as
and for the purpose set forth.
3. The combination in a linotype machine; of metal pot throat; mouth piece;
mould cavity; a return port or ports; a cock controlling the same; and a device
for opening and shutting that cock according to the position of the pump piston
in its cylinder; as and for the purpose set forth.
4. The combination in a linotype machine, of metal pot throat; mouth piece;
mould cavity; and a return port or ports from the latter to the metal pot throat,
as and for the purpose set forth.
5. The combination in a linotype machine, of metal pot mouth piece and one
or more sluice gates adapted to vary the width of the mouth, as set forth.
6. The combination in a linotype machine; of metal pot throat; mouth piece,
mould cavity: a return port or ports from the latter to the metal pot; and one
or more sluice gates adapted to vary the width of the mouth; as set forth.
7. The combination in a linotype machine: of metal pot throat; mouth piece;
mould cavity: a return port or ports; a cock controlling the same; a device for
opening and shutting that cock according to the position of the pump piston
in its cylinder; and one or more sluice gates adapted to vary the width of the
mouth; as set forth.
8. The combination in a linotype machine, of metal pot throat; mouth piece;

page_text: mould cavity; a return port or ports from the latter to the metal pot throat;
and one or more sluice gates adapted to vary the width of the mouth; as set
forth.
Dated this 27th day of October 1898
CHAS. S. WOODROFFE,
188, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicants.