IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTROTYPE SHELLS AND BASES
Year: 1885

page_text: We GEORGE WASHINGTON CUMMINGS and JOHN RAYMOND CUMMINGS of Chicago,
County of Cook, State of Illinois, United States of America Publishers do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTROTYPE SHELLS
AND BASES, 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 the means for securing electrotype shells to bases or
blocks; and it is especially adapted for use in the publishing of newspapers which
heretofore have had their printing matter sent them from a distance in the form of
stereotype plates. The character of the plate or shell to which our improvement
is particularly applicable, is an electro-shell having its edges extending out beyond
the boundary of the printing surface to form flanges adapted to be turned downward
over the edges of the base or block.
Our improvement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which--
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the shell.
Fig. 2 an end view.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the shell and block.
Fig. 4 is an end view of the same, and
Figs. 5, 6 & 7 show modified forms of the flanged portion of the shell and of the
grooves in the base blocks adapted to receive the same.
Reference being had to the drawings, A represents a thin electrotype shell
without backing, say of a column of newspaper matter, with smooth edges a¹
extended out beyond the side of the type a suitable distance, as shown in Figure 1.
In adapting the shell to a block its edges are bent downward and inward to
form flanges B, B, as shown in Figs. 3 to 7. The shell A rests on the base block C,
whose upper surface is even and plain its entire length and breadth. In the sides
of this block C parallel and contiguous to the upper edges c, c, are formed mortises
or grooves D, D, into which the flanges B, B, of the plate A are adapted to enter
to secure the same in position.
In one form of our invention the top of the block C is made narrower than the
portion of the block below the mortises D.
The object of this construction is to prevent the column rules which press against
the block below the groove or mortise from pressing against the edge of the shell,
when the shell and block are locked in a form, and thus avoid the bucking or
bending of the shell between the sides thereof,

page_text: The shells being thin and elastic they would bend upward in the middle and
cause bad printing if made subject to the pressure of the column rules.
There may be made various modifications of the grooves D in the sides of the
base block, and correspondingly modified forms of the flanges of the shell, substan-
tially as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. For example, the grooves may be cut so as to
form a bead which will describe a quadrant, a semi-circle, or be square cornered in
cross section.
In operation taking a prepared plate we put the flanged parts into a tinners
crimper or folder, and bend them under at the proper angle, or they may be sent
to the publisher flat and he can bend them on a cheap clamp already made before
he puts them on the base. In this case or in any case, where the clasps are bent
before they are placed on the base, the plates may be slid on the block from the
end. If it is found preferable, the clasp, or at least one side can be bent under
after the plate is placed on the base. This enables the publisher to place it in
the form at any point without sliding it on from the end of the base.
The base is made either with an angled groove on both sides, or with any form
of mortise or groove which will give the necessary clasp for the flanges on the
plate. The top and bottom edges of the electro shell may be flanged and the ends
of the blocks grooved to receive said flanges, which may be desirable in certain
cases.
The shell may be slightly thickened or backed to a degree not inconsistent with
its perfect pliability, and by reason of its thinness and pliability may be used
with all forms of printing surfaces in which, of course, the relative arrangement
of the edges of the block and the grooves can be maintained as herein claimed.
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
The block having the upper outer edges, or beads formed by grooves adjacent to
the said upper edges, in combination with an electrotype shell having its edges
turned downward and inward past the edges or beads on the block to fit into said
grooves, substantially as set forth.