cturer
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Feb., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 19th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb., 1898
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 188, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Sole Proprietors of, and Manufacturers, Vendors, and Licensors under,
the "Linotype" Patents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the trimming mechanism of linotype
machines.
A linotype without any 2 or more line (otherwise enlarged) letters, is trimmed by
being pushed edge on, between a pair of parallel knives. When there is an enlarged
letter at either end of it, as the W at the head of a Wanted advertisement, the
base (sometimes called apron or projection) of the enlargement projects beyond the
respective side of the body of the linotype and the knife for trimming that side
must be shortened, or moved out of the way of the said apron or projection, to
prevent the latter being shorn off. The object of the present invention is to make
one portion of the knife on the projection side of the linotype, moveable away from
its fellow portion in the direction of its cutting edge, in order that a gap may be
established through which the projection can safely pass.
In carrying the invention into effect, the knife on the projection side of the
linotype is divided transversely into two portions, one of the latter being adapted
to slide endwise, so that when required, its end may be carried beyond the path of
the projection or the linotype. The moveable portion is mounted on guides or
supports of any suitable character, so that it may be moved freely in an endwise
direction. There are combined with it, operating devices of any appropriate
character to effect this movement.
The guides or supports for the moveable knife portion are, preferably, vertical
slots in the latter through which headed screws are passed into the knife block,
the latter being the stationary base to which the two trimming knives are fixed.
Instead of these screws entering the knife block, they may be entered into an
elongation of the above mentioned fellow portion of the knife, brought down behind
the moveable portion for the double purpose of acting as a base for its motion and
also to receive the said screws.
Thus it will be seen that by adjusting the moveable portion above described
endwise, the trimming mechanism may be caused to trim the linotype throughout
its length, or to permit the passage of one having an enlarged letter either at, the
upper or at the lower end.
The moveable portion may be fixed in any required position, but in practice it
is convenient to use and in connection with it, means by which it may be quickly

page_text: adjusted to the different positions required. These means consist of a finger lever
pivotted within the knife block made hollow for that purpose and having one end
connected by a link to a stud on the moveable portion, while the opposite end is
projected through a slot to the outside of the block, and presented there in a position
to be readily manipulated by the operator. Springs are connected to opposite
sides of this lever and tend to hold it normally in an intermediate position.
Adjacent to the outer end of the lever, there is a plate graduated to be read in con-
nection with the end of the lever in order that the latter may be quickly adjusted
to place the moveable portion in any one of the various positions required according
to the width of the apron or its location on the linotype.
The invention includes the combination of an adjusting mechanism such as is
described above with the above mentioned fellow portion of the same knife and in
a generally corresponding way thereby making it equally adjustable in respect of
its position.
Dated this 19th day of February 1897.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in the Trimming 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, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, as the
same has been communicated to us by The National Typographic Company, (a
company organized under the laws of the State of West Virginia), having its
principal places of business at Washington, D.C., and New York City, United States
of America, 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 trimming mechanism of
linotype machines and it consists in improved devices for establishing in the cutting
edge of one of the knives, the well known gap which is necessary to enable that
knife to trim a linotype having an enlarged letter at either end of it without
shearing off the overhanging projection. By the expression enlarged letter, we
mean the capital at the head of the first line of a 66°
WANTED" advertisement, and
by projection, that portion of it which overhangs the side of the linotype. Such
a projection escapes being shorn off because the above mentioned gap in the knife
opposite to it, lets it pass through.
Our invention has been developed for use on the well known Mergenthaler
Linotype machine, and for that reason the accompanying figures shew it in the
form best adapted for use thereon. For further information about the latter and
its trimming mechanism outside the scope of the present invention, the reader is
referred to the Specifications of Letters Patent 14582 of 1890, 8258 of 1894, and
9334 of 1896.
Referring to the said figures which are to be taken as part of this specification
and read therewith,
Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the combination of the present invention with the
ordinary trimming mechanism of a Mergenthaler Linotype machine :
Figure 2, a side elevation of the present invention looking at Figure 1 in the
direction of the large arrow:

page_text: Figures 3, 4 and 5; horizontal sections taken along the line 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5,
respectively of Figures 1 and 2 looking in the direction of the arrows:
Figure 6, a side elevation of the adjusting lever and graduated plate:
Figure 7, a perspective view of a linotype having an initial enlarged capital; and
Figure 8, a perspective view of the two sections of the gap knife separated from
each other.
No is the ordinary fixed knife. N67 is the top, and No, the bottom, section of
the improved gap knife. When the two sections are brought together end to end
their cutting edges are aligned and form a single edge parallel with and in the
same plane as that of the knife N5. The body of one section is half as thick as
that of the other, the excess thickness of the latter being prolonged upwards or
downwards as the case may be to form a base upon the rear face of which (looking
from the front of the machine) the thinner section may slide to establish the gap.
This gap establishing motion is always in the direction of the joint cutting edge,
as distinguished from a transverse one on the part of a piece of the same size as the
projection. In the figures, it is the top section N" which is the thicker and has
the prolongation N69 incorporated with it. This prolongation is as long as the
sliding section N and the gap together. The section N8 is held to the section №67
so as to be vertically adjustable thereon by the engagement of a ridge N70 on its
back in a groove N in the prolongation N and by headed screws N72 passed
through vertical slots N73 in the said section N69 into the section N67.
The section which carries the prolongation N68, is fixed directly to a block P
known as the knife block, by screws whose shanks n', n' pass through horizontal
slots in the said block to permit of the knife being moved up to or away from its
fellow knife Ns for thickness of linotype. N7, N¼ are the setting up screws.
This setting up device is not per se a part of the present invention.
If it is desired that the top section N67 be capable of vertical adjustment, it may be
fitted with headed screws and vertical slots such as those N72 and N73 described in
connection with the bottom section, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1.
We combine with the sliding section, a special device for setting and holding it
continuous with the other section or for sliding it away therefrom to establish
the gap above mentioned at either end of the sliding section and of the desired
width. This device consists of a finger lever N75 having its fulcrum at N6 in the
block P through a slot N" in the front of which it projects within convenient reach
of the operator. The inner end of the lever is pivotally connected to the top end of a
link N8 the lower end of which is pivotally connected to a stud N fast to the
sliding section N68 from which it projects through suitable slots N80, N81, respec-
tively in the prolongation N and the rear side of the knife box l'", into the interior
of the latter, as shewn in Figure 2. Adjacent to the outer end of the finger
lever N, there is fixed an index plate N82. The latter is graduated to be read in
connection with the said lever end in order that the latter may be quickly adjusted
to place the sliding section N68 in the position which it is desired to occupy, either
close up to the top section N67 to make a continuous cutting edge, or at a longer
or shorter distance from it to establish a gap of a width according to the width
of the particular enlargement y18 in the linotype to be trimmed next; or high
enough to establish a gap so to speak of proper size, for a projection on the opposite
end of the said linotype. NS, N8, are a pair of springs, preferably of equal
strength, pulling on opposite sides of the inner arm of the finger lever N75 from fixed
points inside the block. P Their function is to hold the sliding section NG8 in a
definite or normal position. If they are of equal strength, the said section will
obviously be held in a position intermediate of the two extreme ones of which it is
capable. Each working position of the said sliding section has a corresponding
reading on the index plate N. These readings may have combined with them, a
holding device such as one or more notches into which a spring tooth on the
lever N is adapted to engage, whereby the sliding section may be automatically.
locked in the desired position, that position being indicated at the same time.
The present invention includes providing the top knife section No7 with the same

page_text: sliding, adjusting, indicating and holding devices as have just been described in
connection with the bottom knife section.
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. In the trimming mechanism of a linotype machine, the combination of a fixed
knife section; a knife section adapted by sliding in the direction of the cutting
edges of both, to establish a gap at either end of itself; a lever device adapted to
slide the said knife section more or less from or to the fixed knife section according
to the desired width of the gap; and spring connections adapted to hold the said
lever and sliding knife section in an intermediate position; as set forth.
2. In the trimming mechanism of a linotype machine, the combination of a
fixed knife section; a knife section adapted, by sliding in the direction of the
cutting edges of both, to establish a gap at either end of itself; a lever device:
adapted to slide the said knife section more or less from or to the fixed knife section
according to the desired width of the gap; spring connections adapted to hold
the said lever and sliding knife section in an intermediate position; and an index
plate or holding device adapted to hold the said knife section in the desired position
and to indicate the position and size of the gap; as set forth.
3. In the trimming mechanism of a linotype machine, a trimming knife con-
sisting of two sections both mounted for independent adjustment in the direction
of their cutting edges; as set forth.
4. In the trimming mechanism of a linotype machine, a trimming knife con-
sisting of two sections both mounted for independent adjustment in the direction
of their cutting edges and lever mechanism for adjusting their respective positions
with relation to each other; as set forth.
5. In the trimming mechanism of a linotype machine, a trimming knife con-
sisting of two sections both mounted for independent adjustment in the direction
of their cutting edges; lever mechanism for adjusting their respective positions
with relation to each other; and index plates or holding devices for holding the
sliding sections and indicating the positions and sizes of the respective gaps; as
set forth.
6. The combination with the fixed knife of the trimming mechanism of a lino-
type machine, of a vertically adjustable knife section; a base upon which it is
adjustable in the direction of its own cutting edge; screw and slot device holding
the sliding section adjustably to the said base; a finger lever for establishing a gap
in the cutting edge of the knife; an index plate or holding device for indicating
according to the position of the lever with relation thereto, the position of the
adjustable section with reference to the path of the linotype to be trimmed; and
screw and slot device in the said base holding it to a base common to all the parts
mentioned and providing for it to be adjusted laterally according to the desired
distance at whch the knife edge which the said base carries is to stand from the
fixed knife, as set forth.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.