Improvements in the Mould Slide Actuating Mechanism of a Linotype or an analogous Machine.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 26th May, 1896-Accepted, 11th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY,
of Tribune Building, New York, U.S.A.]
Improvements in the Mould Slide Actuating Mechanism of a
Linotype or an analogous Machine.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 6 Serjeant's Inn, 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:-
The present invention relates to improvements in the mould slide actuating
mechanism of a linotype or an analogous machine.
It is intended to facilitate the disconnection of the mould carrying slide from its
actuating lever so that the slide may be readily thrown forward to give access to
the mouth of the pot and other parts. It consists in mounting the upper end of
the actuating lever on a movable fulcrum, preferably the end of a hand lever
located above the cams and other actuating parts, so that by operating this hand
lever the slide actuating lever may be raised bodily and thus lift the stud or roller
on its lower end out of the notch or slot in the mould slide, thus releasing the
Jatter. The slide actuating lever is made in substantially the usual form, and
receives motion through a stud on the lower end entering a cam groove in the gear
wheel, as usual.
The invention consists, broadly, in mounting the slide actuating lever on a
movable support, so that it can be quickly drawn out of engagement with the slide.
It is preferred to use a locking device to hold the end lever or other movable
support which carries the slide actuating lever.
Dated this 94th day of August 1895.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Mould Slide Actuating Mechanism of a
Linotype or an analogous Machine.
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, late of No. 6 Serjeant's Inn, but
now of No. 188 Fleet Street, both 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 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 mechanism by which the
mould of a linotype or analogous machine for the production of linotypes, is
moved up to and back from the composed line of matrices and space-bars; and the
object of it is to facilitate the disconnection of the mould from the said mechanism
and their subsequent reconnection. This disconnection and reconnection are
frequently necessary in order that the opposite and contacting faces of the mould
and the melting pot, may be moved away from each other far enough to expose
both freely to examination by the operator.

page_text: In the Mergenthaler linotype machine as heretofore manufactured and operated
in respect of the mould and its actuating mechanism, there is no provision for a
ready disconnection of the former from the latter and for the ready reconnection
of them afterwards. A perusal of the Specification of Letters Patent 14582 1890
will make this point clear. In the machine in question, the mould is carried by a
vertical mould wheel which is mounted on the front end of a slide. The latter
(known as the mould-wheel-slide) is adapted to move to and from the composed
line of matrices and space-bars. The slide receives this reciprocating motion from
a gear wheel through a link, one end of the latter being held in a cam groove in
the said wheel while the opposite end is pivotted to the rear end of the slide. The
slide and link occupy a position close to the melting pot-partly behind and partly
to one side of it, in fact-where they are crowded in by other organs of the
machine. The presence of these other organs makes it difficult to get at the slide
and its link, and even if access to them were easy, their temperature (due to their
closeness to the melting pot) would make either the disconnection or the
reconnection of them, almost impossible without the operator's hands being burnt.
The essence of the present invention consists in the combination with the link
and the mould, of a disconnecting and reconnecting device situated and working in
a position sufficiently above or away from the one described above, to keep the
grip of such device cool enough to be handled safely. Provided that the facility
for disconnection and reconnection, as well as the above mentioned position of the
grip, are both provided for, the details of the device by which such facility and
position are secured, may be varied to any extent without going outside the
present invention.
The accompanying figures illustrate, in connection with the machine described
in the specification above mentioned, one device constructed so as to realise the
objects of the present invention. The desired facility of disconnection and
reconnection is secured by an organ which is adapted to act either as a link or as a
lever and to both drop its free end into an open notch in the slide and to lift it out
of the same; while the desired position of the grip is secured by placing it above
and to the rear of the melting pot.
To facilitate identification of those organs of the above mentioned machine
which are present in the accompanying figures, they are denoted in the latter and
in the present specification, by the same references, respectively, as are used in the
previous one.
Figure 1 is a perspective view.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
O is the vertical mould-wheel; o, its mould; o2, the stud axle on which the
former is mounted; o, the mould-wheel-slide to which the axle o' is made fast;
and 1, 1, fixed horizontal guides in which the slide o is capable of being moved
to and fro. These guides are carried by the main frame A. a is a gear wheel
having a cam groove 2 in its side. This groove is adapted to receive the stud 3
and to give it the properly timed motion of reciprocation. All the foregoing
organs and parts are of the same construction and operation as heretofore.
4 is the improved or substituted link or lever. It is adapted to act in either
capacity according to some minor details of construction which will be found fully
explained further on.
The connection between the front end of the link in the above mentioned
machine and the mould-wheel-slide o has always been of the ordinary pivotal
type, e.g., a bolt passed through both link and slide. According to the present
invention, it must be an open one as distinguished from a combination of bolt-hole,
bolt, and nut. This requisition is met by the combination of a stud 5 fast to the
front end of the organ 4, and a notch 6 in the top edge of a rearward extension
of the slide of. This notch is properly positioned and dimensioned for the stud 5
to drop into it as soon as it is free to do so. The stud may further be disengaged
from the notch 6 by a simple lift of it only as distinguished from the unscrewing
of a nut and the withdrawal of a bolt from its holes. To facilitate the motion of

page_text: the stud over the respective surface of the slide o*, it is provided with an anti-
friction roller 5 a.
From the stud 5, the link 4 extends backwards as far as the stud 3 which is
made fast to it as heretofore. But instead of stopping at the said stud, as
heretofore, the link extends upwards to a level above the melting pot, as far as a
horizontal pivot 7, to which it is connected by having it passed through it. The
pivot 7 is carried by the forwardly extending and forked armı 8 of a lever whose
opposite arm has the form of, and is adapted to act as, the grip 9 already referred
to under that name. This lever 8, 9, is fulcrumed upon a pin 10 which projects
laterally from the main frame A. The position of this pin 10 is such that that of
the grip 9 is always beyond the heating influence of the melting pot, and, at the
same time, safe and handy for the operator.
When the above mentioned organ 4 is to act as a link, the disconnection of it
from the slide o' is effected as follows. The wheel as is stopped. The grip 9 is
then moved backwards, thereby raising the pivot 7 and lifting the roller 5 a out
and clear of the notch 6. This lift does not interfere with the engagement of the
stud 3 in the cam groove 2, neither does such engagement interfere with the lift,
because the stud 3 is free to follow the groove 2, thanks to the pivot 7. Any
obstacle to the lift in question, which may be caused by the presence of a shoulder
of the cam groove 2 just over the stud 3, may be obviated by turning the cam
wheel a through a few degrees.
The stud 5 having been lifted in the manner described, the mould-wheel O and
mould-wheel-slide o are free to be pulled forward. Such a movement of them is
sufficient to expose the opposite, and up to then contacting faces, of the mould and
melting pot. The link 4 and slide o are reconnected by first pushing the mould-
wheel-slide of back into its original position and pulling the grip 9 forward, thereby
dropping the roller 5 a into the notch 6 then immediately under it.
Suitable provision is made for holding the roller 5 a in the notch 6. The one
illustrated consists of a sliding pin 11 adapted to be pulled under the grip 9 by a
spiral spring 12, when the said grip is in its forward position, and to be drawn
from under it by the operator's hand when the roller 5 a is to be disconnected from
the slide o*.
When the organ 4 is to act as a lever, the stud 3 is its fulcrum. The functions
of the backward and forward motions of the grip 9 are reversed, for in the case
now under description, it is a forward motion of the grip (such being duly provided
for in that part of the frame A which carries the pin 10) that disconnects the
roller 5 a, and a backward one that reconnects it. The provision for holding the
roller 5 a in the notch 6 will also need modifying to correspond.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
In a linotype or other type casting machine in which the connection and
disconnection of the melting pot and mould is effected by horizontal sliding motion
of the mould with or without independent motion of the melting pot:
1. The combination of a link operated at one end by a cam wheel or similar
device for communicating the required motion to the mould, and a device for
connecting and disconnecting it therefrom by the operation of a conveniently
situated lever or other device for the purposes described.
2. The apparatus substantially as described and shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
Dated this 26th day of May 1896
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.