Improvements in Printing Types with Overhanging Parts of Letters.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1897
Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1897
Improvements in Printing Types with Overhanging Parts of
Letters.
1, NEWNHAM BROWNE, of 73, Cheapside, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of this invention for "IMPROVE-
which invention
MENTS IN PRINTING TYPES WITH OVERHANGING PARTS OF LETTERS
has been communicated to me from abroad by Hermann Butter, of Komstau, in the
Kingdom of Bohemia, Printing Office Proprietor, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Type in which part of the letter projects beyond the shank of the type, such for
example as script type, have been manufactured for from about twenty years ago up
to the present time in the form of undercut type in which the part of the letter that
overhangs or projects beyond the shank is supported by a slight web projecting at an
angle to the shank as represented in the accompanying drawing in plan in Fig. 1 ;
in front elevation in Fig. 2; and in side elevation in Fig. 3, representing a type
with the letter "f." a and b are the two webs which support the overhanging parts
of the letter.
For many years printers have complained with reason of the want of durability of
this type which is owing to the supports of the projecting parts being inclined to the
direction of the strain to which they are exposed in the printing, so that the part of
the letter supported frequently gets bent back out of line with the printing surface.
In consequence of this, such type can be continued in use only for a short time by the
aid of packing or propping up until the bending increases to such an extent as to
render the type useless.
In the case of letters which are supported by very slender webs corresponding with
the shape of the letter a breakage commonly occurs in place of a bending, and
immediately renders the type unfit for use.
It the object of the present invention to render script characters such as English
Latin or round hand letters free from this defect and to impart to them the same
durability as other kinds of type as hereinafter described and represented in Figs. 4
to 9 of the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example two types with
the letters f and I, being formed as follows:
The overhanging parts, two of which are found in the letter "f" but only one in the
letter "," receive supports a and b Figs. 4 to 6, or a Figs. 7 to 9, perpendicular to
the face of the letter terminating at the under part in a flat base parallel to the face of
the letter and all of the same height.
Along with these supports of the overhanging parts of the letters, or when as in the
case of the letters "u, o, n etc." there are no such projections the shank of the type is
cut away above and below the letter as represented at c and d in Figs. 4 to 9. The
height of the part thus cut away is equal to that of the supports a and b.
All the supports a and b must be of exactly the same height as the recesses c and d
so that the straight bottom-surfaces of the recesses c and d stand on the same level as
the bottoms or undersides of the supports a and b.
In setting up words and lines, i.e., in composing, with type thus formed, each
support a orb projects into the corresponding recess c or d of the adjacent type so
that the underside of the support on one type rests upon the bottom of the corre-
sponding recess in the adjacent type, as represented in Figs. 10 and 11, so that the
overhanging part of each letter is supported by the shank of the next letter.
By means of the above described construction of type it is provided that adjoining
type reciprocally support their overhanging parts which are thereby supported in the
direction of the pressure in the printing press and the bending down or breaking off

page_text: of the projecting parts of letters and the resulting spoiling of the type is thereby
prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
Type for printing with projecting parts of letters, such as script for example,
provided on the one hand with supports a or b (Figs. 4 to 9) perpendicular to the face
of the letter for the overhanging part of the character the said supports having a flat
base extending in a direction parallel to the face of the letter and provided on the other
hand with recesses c or d, Fig. 4 to 9, having flat bottoms and formed in the shanks
adjacent to or above and below the letters and in which when the type is set up the
supports a or b, being of the same height, engage in such a manner as to bear upon
the bottom surfaces of the said recesses and thus enable the type to reciprocally
support with their shanks the overhanging parts of the adjacent type in the direction
of the pressure exerted thereon for the purpose of avoiding the bending and breaking
of the overhanging parts of the letters and the consequent destruction of the type.
Dated the 26th day of November 1890.
NEWNHAM DRUWNE.