Improved Devices for Facilitating the Alteration of Portions of Printing Surfaces.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1892-Accepted, 14th May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Devices for Facilitating the Alteration of Portions of
Printing Surfaces.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 6, Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street,
in the County of London, Licensors of and under the "Linotype" Patents, and
MATTHEW HENRY WHITTAKER, of "The Nottingham Guardian" Office, Sher-
wood Street, Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improved devices for quickly substituting for a portion
of a page of stereo or other type or printing surface forming the, or part of the,
forme in the machine, an equivalent area of typographic or other printing surface.
It is therefore specially adapted for the purpose of keeping the operating typo-
graphic or printing surfaces as closely in touch with the course of events as the
time necessary for the act of substitution will permit.
In carrying this invention into effect, we provide a cavity of suitable area in any
convenient portion of the forme; which cavity may be temporarily, i.e., in the
interim between making up for press and the moment for the substitution aforesaid,
occupied by any matter.
We provide a frame, adapted by being hinged or jointed at convenient points,
to be readily opened and closed round the above mentioned equivalent area. The
sides of the said surface may be, and preferably are, if it is made up of separable
elements such as typo or linotypes, cut away to receive the said frame which will
then hold the elements of the said surface in their relatively operative position
within it. The particular devices by which the frame is held to, or in the principal
portion of the forme, may be of any kind adapted to readily and automatically
engage therewith, and in this respect the present invention may be modified.
according to circumstances, but the following arrangement is one which realises the
object of the invention.
Two studs project from the bottom side of the frame and two holes are formed
in the corresponding face of the cavity. The opposite side of the frame is provided
with two elongations or projections each of which is furnished with a spring bolt or
catch whose socket is in the respective face of the cavity.
Dated this 8th day of July 1891.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
improved Devices for Facilitating the Alteration of Portions of
Printing Surfaces.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 6, Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street,
in the County of London, Licensors of and under the "Linotype" Patents, and
MATTHEW HENRY WHITTAKER, of "The Nottingham Guardian" Office, Sher-
wood Street, Nottingham, Engineer, in the County of Nottingham, 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 :-
'
This invention relates to improved devices for quickly substituting for a page or
a portion of a page of stereo or other type or printing surface forming the, or part
of the, forme in the machine, an equivalent area of typographic or other printing
surface. It is therefore specially adapted for the purpose of keeping the operating
Dol

page_text: typographic or printing surfaces as closely in touch with the course of events as
the time necessary for the act of substitution will permit.
In carrying this invention into effect, we provide a cavity of suitable area in
any convenient portion of the forme which cavity may be temporarily, i.e., in the
interim between making up for press and the moment for the substitution aforesaid,
occupied by any matter.
In order that our invention and the means by which the same is to be carried
into practical effect may be thoroughly understood, we will now describe them in
detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings which are to be taken
as part of this Specification and read therewith.
Fig. 1 is a plan of the frame. The dotted lines indicate the open position of the
hinged side.
to
Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation illustrating the application of the invention
providing for the removal or substitution of an entire column in book-work. It
is taken along a line parallel with the axis of the cylinder.
Fig. 3 is a plan corresponding with the previous figure.
Fig. 4 is a section taken on the lines 4-4 of Figs. 2 and 4.
Fig. 5 is a transverse section illustrating the application of the invention to
newspaper work.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an arc-shaped linotype adapted for use on a
cylinder in a line transverse to the axis of the latter as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3
and 4.
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a parallel linotype adapted for use on a cylinder
in a line parallel with the axis of the latter as illustrated in Fig. 5.
The figures illustrate the application of the invention to a rotary printing
machine but we wish it to be distinctly understood that it is not limited to cylinder
machines but may be used on a platen machine.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, the frame consists of a side bar a, an end
bar fast to it and a second side bar a'. The two side bars are of the same.
length. The extreme length of the end bar or the width over the frame is equal
to the length of a linotype, and the inside length of the side bars is equal to the
length of a column plus that of the extension which carries the locking device.
One side bar a¹ is hinged to the end bar 6 so that the frame may be the more
readily passed round the collected linotypes e constituting the substitute forme.
These are cast to the same radius as the cylinder d. e is part of the stereo forme.
It has a cavity in it of the same size as the frame above described, the cavity
extending through the stereo clear to the cylinder. Each linotype has a notch c¹
in each of its ends. All the notches are at the same height so that they aligu truly
in the forme. Their function is to receive the side bars a, a'. These are let into
the linotypes to obviate their projecting along the sides of the substitute forme and
also to prevent the elements of it, ciz.:-the linotypes, being thrown out during
the process of printing.
The frame with its included forme is held in the cavity by means of suitable
devices of any kind adapted to readily and automatically engage with the stereo.
The one which we propose to use and which we regard as meeting all the require-
ments of our invention consists of the following elements:-
6, 6 are two dowels projecting outwards in the plane of the frame from the
end bar b. They are preferably equi-distant from the ends of tho bar. Holes
are formed in the stereo adapted in respect of both size, position and direction, to
receive the said pins as the frame is being placed in the cavity and after it has
been locked therein. This locking is effected by means of a bolt in the extension
of the opposite or outer end of each side-bar already referred to. a is the bolt.
It works in a hole a bored longitudinally into the extension. a is its expelling
spring and a is its thunb-bit. a is a slot in the extension along which works the
connection between the thumb-bit and bolt. a' are the bolt-sockets. The cavity f
has two extensions to receive those of the side-bars.
As stereo metal is not sufficiently hard to resist the wear to which the holes

page_text: and sockets a will be subjected by the repeated insertion and withdrawal of the
dowels b' and bolts a', thev-the holes and sockets-are made in bars g of hard
metal, e.g., brass, which are cast in the stereo. 9, g' arè dovetails on the bars
and are provided for the purpose of strengthening the junction between bars and
stereo.
The depth of the holes 6 from top to bottom is necessarily more than the thick-
ness of the dowels 6 to allow of the latter entering them diagonally. This diagonal
entrance is illustrated by the dotted lines of Fig. 2. A device is therefore, required
to pack the substitute forme outwards. To meet this requisition we provide a
spring which has its bearings upon the cylinder from which it stands far enough
normally to be compressed by all or nearly all the linotypes when the substitute
forme is in the cavity.
It is clear from what has been already explained as to the function of the side
bars a, a' that the frame and linotypes may be modified to the extent of (a) making
both side bars fast to the end bar b, or (b) setting them closer together and
perforating the linotypes so that the said bars could be passed through the forme.
The cavities and the sockets a' would also be approximated accordingly.
Referring to Figs. 5 and 7, the features of the invention as applied to a rotary
newspaper machine are identical with those already described with reference to
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, the modifications being only such as are necessarily caused by
the relative positions of the side bars and linotypes on the one hand and the
cylinder-surface on the other.
The side bars a are curved to the same radius as the cylinder. The pins 6'
are replaced by hooks 6 and the tops of the holes 6 are cut away to provide for
the proper engagement between the hooks and them. The bolts a' are likewise
hooked and the tops of their sockets cut away accordingly. The spring / is omitted
from the figure.
In the foregoing description the invention has been described with linotypes as
the separable clements or units of the forme. Type or logotypes are adapted for
use with it by having tenons and mortices cast upon their respective sides. The
notches care formed in quads tenoned or morticed on their outer sides according
as to which side of the forme they are for.
Moreover our invention does not confine us to the area of the forme to be
replaced as compared with that of the whole forme. This is a matter of circum-
stance. In newspaper work, that area may be confined to a space just large enough
to contain the word "result" and the names and order of the first three horses in
a race or the words "Oxford or "Cambridge" (as the case might be) with the
winning distance or may extend to two or more columns ready to be replaced by
(say) a long obituary notice.
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 separate elements or units of a substitute forme of
a frame adapted to hold them together as a forme and devices by which the said
frame and forme can be held in operative position, as set forth.
2. The combination of a side and end bar at a right angle, a side bar hinged to
the outer extremity of the end bar, elements or units of a forme adapted by being
notched along their ends to receive the said side bars, cylinder or stereo or its
equivalent, devices on either of the latter whichever may be used and devices
complementary to the former together forming devices for holding the frame and
forme in operative position, as set forth.
Dated this 8th day of & il 1000
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.