Improvements in the Shifters of Linotype Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Dec., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Sept., 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct.. 1895
Date of Application, ora Dec., 1034
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Sept., 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct.. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Shifters of Linotype Machines.
"
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY LIMITED, of No. 6 Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Manufacturers and Licensors under the " Linotype
Patents, CHARLES LEWIS IRELAND of No. 11 Hulme Street, Oxford Road,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and JOHN PLACE of No. 6 Serjeants'
Inn aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, to be as
ollows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in the shifters of linotype machines. In
the typical linotype machine, riz. :-the one invented and perfected by Ottmar
Mergenthaler, the units operated on by assemblage or composition, by subjection
to the moulding and casting mechanism, and finally by separation and distribution,
are independently movable matrices and space bars, as independently movable as
ordinary type. When enough of these have been assembled to compose a line, i
is necessary to send them to the foundry, i.e., to place them within reach of the
casting mechanism. Referring to the Specification of Letters Patent No. 14582
1890 of the Mergenthaler linotype machine, the shifter therem described and
illustrated comprises a pair of vertical arms between which the composed line is
delivered in a vertical direction and held there, to be thence transferred or
"shifted" in a horizontal direction for a certain distance on its way to the casting
mechanism when the shifter leaves it, and a returning lever operated by a cam fast
on one of the shafts of the machine. The tops of the linotype space bars in the
composed line stand up above the tops of the matrices in the said line. This
projection does not interfere with the introduction of the composed line into the
shifter because the direction of such introduction is vertical from below, the arins
of the shifter receiving the line between and gripping it in the direction of its
length. But it frequently happens that the outside arm finds the tops of the
space bars in the way of its return travel, and that their obstruction is strong
enough to snap the returning lever or some other relatively weaker member of the
returning mechanism. The object of the present invention is to prevent the
obstruction above mentioned either straining or injuring any member of the
returning mechanism and this object is obtained by making the shifter arm in
question capable of yielding to the obstruction. This is done by hingeing the arm
to its head, the axis of the hinge being transverse of the direction of the travel
of the shifter. Proper provision, automatic or otherwise, may be made for
returning it to its vertical position after it has passed the row of space bar tops;
and a suitable device such as an automatic latch or spring bolt is fitted in or to
the said arm to keep it rigid enough to grip the respective end of the composed
line.
Dated this 3rd day of December 1894.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: 12
We, THE LINOType Company, LIMITED, of No. 6 Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Sole Manufacturers, Vendors and Licensors, of and under
the "Linotype Patents, CHARLES LEWIS IRELAND of No. 11 Hulme Street,
Oxford Road, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and JOHN PLACE of
No. 6 Serjeants' Inn, aforesaid, Engineers, 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 :—
Our invention relates to improvements in the shifters of linotype machines.
In the typical linotype machine, viz. :-the one invented and perfected by
Ottmar Mergenthaler and now known universally as the "Linotype" machine;
the units operated on by assemblage or composition, by subjection to the moulding
and casting mechanism, and, finally, by separation and distribution, are independently
moveable matrices and space bars, as independently moveable with respect to each
other, as ordinary type. When enough of these independently moveable units
have been assembled to represent a linotype, it becomes necessary to send them
to the foundry, i.e., to place them within reach of the casting mechanism.
Referring to the Specification of Letters Patent 14582 1890, it will be seen
that the shifter described therein, consists of two depending arms and the mechanism
for traversing them. The assembled row of units is delivered between the said
arms by an ascending motion of the assembling block into which they are delivered
one by one, and which arms shift the assembled row from the elevated assembling
block across a fixed guide to a vertically moveable yoke or transferrer. The
transferrer consists of a pair of horizontal bars between which the shifter delivers
the units in question with a horizontal motion, the units being held in the trans-
ferrer by the engagement, in horizontal slots therein, of certain lateral projections
or shoulders on the edges of the said units. As soon as the shifter has placed
the units in the transferrer, it is returned by a suitable lever actuated by a
suitable cam surface on one of the revolving shafts of the machine.
It
The transferrer then moves vertically downwards carrying the assembled row of
units now in it with the intention of leaving them in front of the mould.
sometimes happens that this downward motion of the transferrer is interfered
with. In that case the units will be left in the return path of one of the depending
arms of the shifter. Or if the shortening of the downward motion of the trans-
ferrer has meen enough to leave the units in the return path of the shifter armı
in question, it may be that some of the spacelar tops are left projecting or projected
into the said path. The presence of either the top of the row of units or the
presence of any of the space lar tops constitutes an obstruction to the return of
the shifter arm sufficiently strong to snap the returning lever or some other
relatively weaker member of the mechanism for returning the shitter.
The object of the present invention is to prevent the obstruction above
mentioned, either straining or injuring any member of the returning mechanism ;
and this object is attained by making the said shifter arm capable of yielding to
the obstruction. This is done by bingeing the arm to its head, the axis of the
hinge being at right angles with the direction of the travel of the shifter.
l'roper provision, automatic or otherwise is made for returning it to its vertical
position after it has passed the row of units on its return travel. Further, a
suitable device, such as an automatic latch or spring bolt, is fitted in or to the said
arm to keep it rigid enough, so long as it is out of contact with the obstruction
above n entioned, to grip the respective end of the assembled row of units.

page_text: Referring to the accompanying figures:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of as much of a linotype machine as is affected by
the present invention.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the hinged shifter arm.
Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 4.
Figure 4 is a side elevation from the right hand of the hinged shifter arm.
Figure 5 is a side elevation from the right hand of the head of the hinged
shifter arm.
Figure 6 is a plan of the said head.
G is a portion of the series of upright slots, through which the matrices Y
descend. His the endless belt passing round the pulley h and a fellow pulley not
shewn, upon which belt the matrices are received as they drop from the slots G, and
by which they are carried to the left hand and shot down the inclined fixed
plate into the assembling block I as heretofore. The latter has also the same
reciprocating vertical motion and for the same purpose, as heretofore. The
mechanism for imparting this motion is omitted from the figures for the reason that
it forms no part of the present invention.
L, L' are the depending arms of the shifter. The latter of these is fast on the
end of a slide which is adapted by means of antifriction rollers, t, r, to travel
smoothly to and fro in a suitable guide in the frame of the machine. The
head L2 of the arm L is likewise fast on the end of a slide / adapted, like its
fellow 6, to travel smoothly to and fro in the guide above mentioned. The
connection between the arms L, L' is by means of the spring the ends of which
are made fast to the slides 16, 1 respectively. is the lever above referred to as
the returning lever actuated by a suitable cam surface on one of the revolving
shafts of the macbine. Its outer end is connected to the slide 1 by a link 13.
O is the well known linotype mould wheel in the front of which there is shewn
the row of units-matrices Y and space bars Y'-just transferred into that position
from the grip of the arms L, L'.
The position which the row of units is shewn as occupying, is an abnormal one.
The proper position for the casting operation is obviously one placing the row of
formative cavities in the assembled matrices in front of the mould cavity o. But
it has been assumed that the downward motion of the transferrer has been
shortened sufficiently to leave the top of the row in the return path of the shifter
arm L; also, that a few of the space bars Y' have been individually stopped by
⚫omething or other in their respective paths, leaving their tops projecting in the
said return path.
Jis the sliding resistant which is forced outwards, and the arm L moved away
from its fellow L', by the gathering units, (as indicated by the dotted line
representation in Figure 1), until the row of units is completed in the assembling
block which is then moved vertically upwards placing its row of assembled units
between the two arms L, L' and in their grip. The lever 12 is then swung in the
direction of the foundry where the shifter parts with its row of units, they being seized
by the transferrer. The latter not being affected by the present invention, is not
included in the figures. The above described construction and action of the shifter
are both as heretofore. After the removal of the row of units Y, Y', from the
shifter, to before the mould wheel, the shifter is subjected to the same return
motion as heretofore. It is at this point that the present invention comes into play.
According to it, a hinge is introduced into the shifter arm L between the head of
it Lthe part made last direct to the slide-and to the arm proper. The
position (already specified) of the pivot of this hinge, allows of the arm swinging
The arm L
on it, as the said arm is pulled up to and over the obstruction.
terminates in a fork m at its top end and the bottom end of the head L² is cut
away on both sides to fit it to enter this fork. Through this latter and the cut
away end, the pivot m-shewn as an ordinary screw-is passed. One corner of
the fork is rounded off to allow of the arm L being swung backwards by the
obstruction. n is a bolt adapted to work within a hole bored down into arm L

page_text: from the top. n' is a spiral spring adapted to protrude the bolt. The nose of the
latter is coned. 2 is the bolt socket in the head L². It is bored to one side of a
prolongation of the axis of the bolt n-to that side in fact from which the arm is
swung by the obstruction, and as the coned nose of the bolt n never leaves the
socket, the taper of the cone acts, under the resilience of the spring n', as a
wedge to return the arm L to its vertical position and to lock it there by forcing
its way up into the socket n for as far as the spring is capable of pushing it.
Further, as the spring n' is adapted to push not only the coned end but also the
following parallel portion of the protruded bolt end, up into the correspondingly
coned and parallel sided socket n², the engagement between the said parallel
portions holds the arm L to its head L² firmly enough to enable it to grip the row
of units Y, Y. At the same time the parallel portion of the socket is not deep
enough for the bolt eud to bind in it when the arm L meets the aforesaid
obstruction.
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 :-
1. The combination in the shifter of a linotype machine, of a hinged with a
rigid depending arm, as set forth.
2. The combination in the shifter of a linotype machine, of a hinged arm, a
rigid depending arm, a suitable device adapted to return the hinged arm to its
normal position after engagement with the obstruction specified and also to keep
the said hinged arm rigid enough to grip the respective end of the row of units;
as set forth.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1895.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.