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

page_text: Date of Application, 17th May, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 17th Feb., 1898-Accepted, 17th May, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION..
Improvements in and connected with the Moulds of Linotype
Machines.
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, and ERNEST GIROD, of No. 36, Trent Road, Brixton Hill,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of our invention
to be as follows:-
The present invention relates to improvements in and connected with the moulds
of linotype machines, and the object of it is to provide for temporary alterations
in the length of the mould cavity of a linotype machine in the direction of
shortening it.
In the Mergenthaler Linotype machine, for instance, the composed line of
matrices and space bare, is clamped between the jaws of a vice, and while it is in
that position, a wheel having a face parallel with that of the aggregated edges of
the said matrices and space bars, is pressed up against it with sufficient force to
hold the two metal-tight together. There is a cavity through the wheel from one
face of it to the other, so positioned therein as to fit over and enclose the line of
character or formative cavities in the edges of the matrices. This cavity serves as
the mould cavity for the body of the linotype. A metal pot and pump are next
advanced to the mould cavity and metal is injected thereinto, thereby casting a
linotype. As a matter of fact, this mould cavity is not in the body of the wheel
proper, but is in a block detachable therefrom and known to linotype operators
as a mould block. This mould block consists of four pieces held together in a
way proper for producing a block having a central or mould cavity through it, of a
definite length and sized in all its dimensions to those of the body of the linotype.
The said four pieces are a top and a bettom piece having their opposite faces truly
parallel and as wide as the depth of the linotype body and two distance pieces of
the same width as the top and bottom pieces and as thick as the linotype body.
These mould blocks are also made adjustable for either length or thickness of
linotype, or for both.
In newspaper work, for instance, in the course of the Money Market article,
several paragraphs of full lines are followed by a pair of columns of closing
prices. The present invention provides for the mould in which are cast the lino-
types for the full lines, being easily shortened to the half column length without
removing it from the machine, or moving any of the four pieces above enumerated.
In carrying it into effect, there is provided a thin bar as long as the mould cavity
is wide, and rather wider than the distance between the top and bottom pieces of
the mould block. There is a slot across the face of each piece into which the bar
fits. Each different length to which the mould cavity is to be shortened requires

page_text: a pair of slots each capable of receiving the bar. Instead of the slot or slots across
the bottom piece, it is preferred to use in the case of each one, a pin turning in a
transverse bore immediately under the face of the bottom piece, having a segmental
cavity in its head, extending through the said face into the mould cavity, and into
which segmental cavity a corresponding enlargement of one end of the said bar 5
is adapted to fit, thereby steadying the latter along the edge of it. After the bar
has been removed, the pin is turned through the necessary arc, whereby the
periphery of the head makes up the surface of the face of the mould cavity. A
like steadying device may be applied to the opposite side of the mould cavity.
There is also provided a suitably shaped and dimensioned stopping piece adapted 1
to fit as an abutment behind the moveable jaw of the vice above mentioned, and
to back it up steadily according to each change of mould cavity which may be
required.
It is obvious that if a linotype is cast on only one side of the shortening bar
above described, a slug―i.c., a linotype without type on its edge-will be cast on 1
the other side of it. This slug may be ejected or left in the mould cavity.
The usual ejector blade may be slotted in the proper directions to clear the
different positions of the shortening bar or bars, as many as there may be in the
mould equipment.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Moulds 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 ERNEST GIROD, of No. 36, Trent Road, Brixton Hill,
in the County of Surrey, 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 moulds
of linotype machines, and the objects of it are to provide for a temporary alteration
in the length of the mould cavity of a linotype machine in the direction of
shortening it and to prevent the ejector blade sticking in the linotype. It has
been developed with special reference to the mould of the well known Mergenthaler
Linotype machine. At the same time it must be understood that it is not re-
stricted to the mould of that machine. In the latter, for instance, the composed
line of matrices and space bars, is clamped between the jaws of a vice; and while
it is in that position, a wheel having a face parallel with that of the aggregated
edges of the said matrices and space bars, is pressed up against it with sufficient
force to hold the two metal-tight together. There is a cavity through the wheel
from one side to the other, so positioned therein as to fit over and enclose the line
of formative cavities in the edges of the matrices. This cavity serves as the mould
cavity for the body of the linotype. The metal pot and pump are next moved up
the cavity in the wheel and metal is injected thereinto, whereby a linotype is
cast. The reader is referred to the Specification of Letters l'atent No. 14582 of
1890, (436532 September 10th 1890) for further information about the above
to

page_text: machine and the mechanisms and methods of It outside the scope of the present
invention. Between the dates of the said patent and of the present one, the con-
struction of the mould had been improved by removing the mould cavity from the
body of the wheel proper, and putting it in a block detachable therefrom and
known to operators of the machine as a muld block.
Referring to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as part of this
specification and read therewith,
Figure 1, is a front elevation of a combination of the present invention with a
detachable mould block:.
Figure 2, a plan of the bottom piece of the same mould block:
Figure 3, a plan of the under face of the cap plate:
Figure 4, a side elevation of the corresponding improved ejector blade:
Figure 5, a side elevation of a stopping bar.
Figure 6, a front elevation of a modification of the present invention.
Figure 7, a vertical section taken along the line 7 of Figure 6:
Figure 8, a plan of the bottom piece of the mould block:
Figure 9, a plan of the under face of the respective cap plate:
Figure 10, a replica of Figure 6, except as to the position of the locking pin:
Figures 11, 12 and 13, respectively side elevation, front elevation, and perspective
view of the modified stopping off bar, while
Figure 14, is a perspective view of a half column linotype and a half column
waster cast in the improved mould block illustrated in Figures 6 to 13.
A detachable mould block consisted of four pieces so held together by two screws
as to have a central or mould cavity o through it, corresponding in all its dimensions
with those of the body of the linotype. The said four pieces were a cap plate o¹
and a bottom piece 8 having their opposite faces truly parallel and as wide as
the depth of the linotype body, two liners o¹³, o, of the same width as the cap plate
and bottom piece and as thick as the linotype body, and two holding screws o 0:39
These mould blocks have been made adjustable for either length or thickness of
linotype, or for both. The adjustment for thickness of linotype need not be
mentioned here. That for length was effected by substituting a liner capable of
adjustment lengthwise from or towards the opposite fixed one o¹, for the fixed left
hand liner o13; or by equipping the mould block with a series of separate and
interchangeable liners, each of a different length instead of with the one fixed
liner 13, such adjustable or interchangeable liners are admirably adapted to alter
the length of the mould cavity o when there is a permanent change in the length
of the linotypes, due to a fresh job; as, for instance, when a job on linotypes
24 inches long, is followed by one requiring linotypes 34 inches long. But the
necessary adjustment will, under the circumstances stated, involve taking the
mould block off the mould wheel, taking the cap plate o17 off the bottom piece o¹8
and replacing them both, and also changing the ejector blade.
It sometimes happens, however, that peculiarities in the nature of the job, call
for a few lines of less than column length, all the preceding and all the subsequent
lines in that job being of column length. Such a peculiarity occurs in nearly every
cricket score. A characteristic of the set-up of one of these is, that several para-
graphs of full length lines, are followed by a pair of columns of half length lines.
But there is no change in the width of the columns of the newspaper-that is uni-
form throughout the job. The only change is in respect of a few lines as compared
with the whole take. It is to meet such a case that the present invention has been
developed; and it meets it by providing for the mould in which are cast the
linotypes for the full lines, being easily shortened to half column or other shorter
length, without it being necessary either to remove it from the mould wheel or to
move any one of the above enumerated pieces of which the mould block consists.
Whether the mould cavity o is in a detachable mould block or in the mould wheel,
does not matter as far as the present invention is concerned. We have illustrated
it as applied to a mould cavity in a detachable mould block, for the reason that

page_text: mould cavities in the mould wheel of a Mergenthaler Linotype machine have been
discontinued for several years. That being the case, the following expressions
cap plate and bottom piece should be read as signifying, respectively, the top and
bottom sides of the mould.
A further advantage conferred by the present invention is the prevention of what
is known as sticking of the ejector blade in the linotypes. The ejector blade is said
to stick in the linotype when its nose wedges itself into the latter in the act of
ejection, instead of only pushing it forward. This sticking is very apt to occur
when the linotype is short, and the ejector blade narrow. In fact, the danger of
sticking may be said to increase with the shortening of the linotype. Such sticking
is prevented by the present invention, because, although it provides for the pro-
duction of a linotype shorter than the full length of the mould cavity o, it also
provides for the said cavity being filled with metal, so that the nose of the ejector
blade (working with a constant force) always has a full surface as compared with a
restricted one, to bear against.
In carrying the invention into effect, there is provided a thin stopping off bar o120
for the purpose of dividing the mould cavity o, so as to make one portion of it as
short as is required. This bar is as long as the mould cavity o is wide and wider
than the distance between the cap plate 17 and the bottom piece 18. There is a
slot o¹ across the face of the cap plate o", and a second one across the face of the
bottom piece 18 exactly opposite it, the two slots being adapted by width and
position to hold the stopping off bar 120 across the mould cavity o, by respectively
receiving its top and bottom side margins, the latter being the excess width of it
over the said distance between cap plate and bottom piece. There is a pair of
slots 0121 for each position which the bar 120 may be required to occupy. Figures 1
to 4 indicate two positions, and Figures 6 to 183, one only. The nose of the bar 0:20
is, preferably, tapered off down the top edge to facilitate its entrance into the
pair of slots into which it is to be introduced.
The ejector blade is slotted along the proper lines to clear the stopping off
bar 20 in any of the positions which it may occupy in the mould block. This
slotting is clearly illustrated in Figure 4. 0122, 0122, are the slots in that ejector
blade which corresponds with the mould block illustrated in Figures 1 to 3.
Ordinarily a side elevation of an ejector blade would be drawn across the sheet.
Figure 4 has been given its special position to emphasize the correspondence
between its slots o¹ and all the positions of the stopping off bar 120.
Instead of the bottom slot of each pair of slots, extending across the face of a
bottom piece o¹ in the way above described with reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3,
we prefer to adopt the modification illustrated in Figures 6 to 13. According to it,
the bar o¹ is only as wide as the distance between the cap plate o and the bottom.
piece o¹8 plus a margin to engage in the top slot 0121 0123 is a short plate fast to
the bottom edge of the bar o120 and projecting symmetrically from each side of it
near its head, the top of that plate being flush with the bottom edge of the bar 0120
and the front ends of it flush with the front end of that bar-see Figures 11
to 13. A corresponding notch is cut in the bottom piece o¹8 to receive the plate o
which fits into that notch with its top surface flush with the top face of the said
bottom piece see Figure 10. 02 is a round pin adapted to turn in a transverse
bore in the bottom piece o18, the axis of the said bore standing vertically and
centrally under the respective slot o21 in the cap plate o. There is a transverse
bore for each position of the stopping-off bar. All the bores and pins are replicas
of each other respectively, so that a description of one is a description of all. The
head of a pin o124 is segmental in shape, reduced from being a cheese head
by the removal of a segment the versed side of which is not more than the projection
of the said head beyond the pin shank. The object of such removal is to make a
way for the segmental piece 126 into the hole 0127 described further on. The
piece 26 is fast to the bottom face of the plate o123, standing symmetrically thereon,
at right angles therewith, parallel with the front ends of the said plate o123 an 1

page_text: the bar o120, and behind the former for a distance not less than the thickness of the
pin head o 0127 is a circular hole in the front face of the bottom piece 018, to
receive the said pin head 15 flush with the said front face. The axis of the
hole 27 is near enough to the top face of the bottom piece o¹8 for the top of that
hole to open into the notch in which fits the plate 123. The head o¹ is notched or
otherwise adapted to be turned screw-wise, while the opposite end of the pin o124
is fitted with some suitable holding device standing flush with the respective surface
of the mould block, such as a saw-screw nut 18.
When the operator is running his machine to cast linotypes of full column length,
there is no stopping bar 120 in the mould cavity o and the hole 0127 is cut off
from that cavity by the pin head 0125 presenting its longest radius against the
notch in which fits the plate o123 Any projection from the side of a full length
linotype which the said notch or a bottom notch 0121 may cause, is removed by the
ordinary trimming mechanism. But when he wants short measure linotypes, he
stops the machine, exposes the mould block, pushes the stopping-off bar o120 nose-
first into the proper slots o¹¹ till its ends are flush with the respective faces of the
mould block, if there are a pair of slots, or if there is a slot o¹21 in the cap piece o
only, into it until the piece o¹26 is at the bottom of the hole 0127 and the plate 0123
in its notch. The head o¹25 is then turned through a part of a circle to stand in
front of the piece 126 so as to lock the bar o120 in its working position, such turning
and locking being rendered practicable by the thinning down of the said head, so
as to clear the piece 0126 Figures 6 and 7 shew that the pin head 0125 is thinned
down round it up to the segment 12. It is the periphery of this segment (hereto-
fore referred to as the longest radius of the head) that cuts off the hole 0127 from
the mould cavity o when a column length linotype is to be cast. Figures 6 and 7
shew the position of the parts ready for the pin head 125 to be turned through a
part of a circle, and Figure 10 shews the pin head turned and the bar o120 locked.
The distance between the jaws of the vice in which the composed line of matrices
is held, must be shortened to a corresponding extent. In the Mergenthaler Lino-
type machine, one of the jaws is capable of sliding to and from its fellow. The
operator slides it towards its fellow accordingly and fixes it in its adjusted position―
i.e. the one corresponding with the position of the stopping off bar 120 by any
suitable device, such for instance, as the well known backing up block in general
use among linotype operators for backing up the said sliding jaw.
The short measure linotype C c is cast in the right hand division of the mould
cavity o. C² is the typeless piece or waster cast on the opposite side of the
stopping off bar o120, to provide full surface for the nose of the ejector blade to bear
against. Figure 14 shews the two-short measure linotype and waster-end to
end, just as they lie in the cavity o.
The invention does not limit us to the number of pairs of slots or of their equi-
valents-top slots and locking pins, which any mould or mould block may be
equipped with.
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 hereinbefore described combination with a linotype mould, of a pair of
transverse slots and a stopping off bar.
2. The herein before described combination with a linotype mould, of pairs of
transverse slots and a stopping off bar.
3. The hereinbefore described combination with a linotype mould, of a trans-
verse slot in the top side of it; a stopping off bar; and a locking device in the
bottom side of it, as set forth.
4. The hereinbefore described combination with a linotype mould, of transverse
slots in the top side of it; a stopping off bar; and a locking device in the bottom
side of the said mould opposite to each slot in the top side of it.

page_text: 5. The hereinbefore described combination in a linotype machine and with the
slotted mould thereof and its stopping off bar, of an ejector blade slotted length-
wise to correspond with the said mould.
Dated the 17th day of February.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.