Improvements in and connected with the Escapement Mechanism of Linotype Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Escapement Mechanism of
Linotype Machines.
"
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 188, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Sole Proprietors of, and Sole Manufacturers, Vendors, and Licensors
under, the 'Linotype" Patents, and WARWICK JAMES LEWIS, and HERBERT
PEARCE, both of No. 11, Hulme Street, Oxford Street, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The present invention relates to improvements in and connected with the
matrix escapement mechanism of linotype machines. The particular part of the
mechanism affected is that lying between the finger key on the one hand and
the connecting rod between the said key and the escapement, on the other.
In the Mergenthaler Linotype Machine, for instance, the motion of the finger key
under the finger of the operator, is not communicated to the escapement by the con-
necting rod direct. The rod is in two pieces, one, the lower one, being linked to the fin-
ger key, and the top end of the other piece being connected direct to the escapement
controlling the delivery mouth of the respective matrix groove in the magazine.
There is combined with this last mentioned piece of the connecting rod, a lever
having a cam pivotted upon a transverse and horizontal axis. The front end of
the lever is held up in a certain position, that is at a short distance below the
bottom end of the said piece by one end of a pivotted dog or bell crank lever, the
opposite end of which latter is connected to the lever piece of the connecting rod.
There is one of the said cams, levers, and dogs, to each connecting rod. A con-
stantly rotating roller extends across the escapement mechanism, the top of it
standing a little below the bottom of the cams. The depression of a finger key, no
matter how slight that depression may be, rocks the dog from under the lever and
drops the cam upon the roller. The motion of the latter rotates the cam and the
eccentricity of the latter, lifts the free end of the lever for a corresponding and
definite distance, that distance being just as much as is necessary for the said end
to make the connecting rod above it actuate the respective escapement. So that,
the depression of a finger key does not actuate the escapement directly-it only
releases a combination that does. As the cam completes its rotation, the dog is
automatically returned into its normal supporting position and a stop puts an end
to the cam's motion.
Hitherto this stop has generally been a pin engaging in a groove along a certain
portion of the cam's periphery, or against a stop on its side. There are from
forty to fifty cams in a row. This means that number of grooves and pins, the
latter set comb-wise, an arrangement that was not easy to keep in working order
and unnecessarily expensive in view of the present invention.

page_text: •
According to this latter, the stop is produced by the absence of metal from a
portion of the side of the cam so as to leave a radial ridge extending to the edge
thereof. The cams are mounted with their ridged sides adjacent,-two ridged
sides alternating two plain sides. The comb-like arrangement of pins is replaced
by a plate having tabs along one edge. These tabs are of two lengths, a long one
alternating a short one. Each short one is wide enough and long enough to serve
as stop to the ridges of the respective two cams, while each long tab is wide and
long enough to serve as a guide for the cam rotating on each side of it. The
tabbed plate is preferably of stamped metal bent lengthwise across the bases of the
tabs, thereby producing a convenient flange by which the comb as a whole is held
in position by screws passed upwards through the flange into a stationary part
of the machine extending for the full width of the escapement mechanism.
Dated this 16th day of September 1897.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Escapement Mechanism of
Linotype Machines.
"
We, THE LINOTYPE COMPANY, LIMITED, of No. 188, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Sole Proprietors of, and Sole Manufacturers, Vendors, and Licensors
under, the " Linotype Patents, and WARWICK JAMES LEWIS, and HERBERT
PEARCE, both of No. 11, Hulme Street, Oxford Road, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
The present invention relates to improvements in and connected with the escape-
ment mechanism of linotype machines, but only, to those mechanisms in which
the function of each finger key is limited to bringing the respective escapement
within the control of a power driven mechanism.
It consists in an improved construction of the cam and comb described in the
Specification of Letters Patent No. 24603 of 1894, on the escapement mechanism
of the well known Mergenthaler Linotype Machine.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which are in the main, reproduced
from the above mentioned specification,
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the escapement mechanism with the
present invention applied to it:
Figure 2, a sectional plan of the same:
Figure 3, a plan; and
Figure 4, an elevation, of a portion of an improved comb.
According to the mechanism described in the last mentioned specification, the
motion of a finger key D on its pivot d, under the finger of the operator was not
communicated to the escapement by the connecting rod direct,
That rod was in
two parts, the lower one, E, of which, was connected to the respective finger
key D, and the top end of the other part E, to the escapement which controlled
the delivery mouth of the respective matrix groove in the magazine.
escapements are omitted from the accompanying drawings because they are not
affected by the present invention. It suffices for the purpose of this specification,
to say that they are fully described in the Specification of Letters Patent 14582
The

page_text: of 1890. There was combined with each part E of a connecting rod, a lever E¹
that carried a cam E6 pivotted upon a transverse and horizontal axis and that
turned within a slot in the lever, that slot being longer than the cam was wide.
Each lever had its fulcrum in a horizontal rod E passed through one end thereof
and supported by the main frame A of the machine. The opposite end of each
lever was held up in a certain position, vizat a short distance below the bottom
end of the part E, by one arm of a pivotted dog or bell crank lever E³, the opposite
arm of which was engaged with the part E of the connecting rod. There was a
cam E, a lever E, and a dog E3, to each connecting rod E, E and they were
arranged for the sake of convenience in two rows, one on each side of the row of
connecting rods, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. A roller el rotating constantly in
the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, (being the power driven mech-
anism above mentioned,) extended under each row of cams E, a short distance
separating it and the row of cams above so long as they were held up by the res-
pective levers E. The depression of a finger key D, even a slight one, rocked the
bottom arm of the bell crank lever E³ up and the nose of the top one under the
above mentioned slot in the respective lever E¹. The weight of the cam E6 and
lever E¹, dropped the latter over the last mentioned arm of the lever E3 and the
cam E6 on to the roller e¹. The motion of the latter rotated that cam and its
eccentricity lifted the free end of the lever E' for a corresponding and definite
distance, that distance being just as much as was necessary to make the part E
actuate the respective escapement. As a cam E6 was completing its rotation, the
bell crank lever E3 was automatically returned to its normal supporting position
under the respective lever E', by which motion that cam E was once more lifted
off the roller e¹ and held up above it, the rotary motion of the cam being stopped
by a special stop.
That stop was a fixed pin standing in the path either of one end of a groove in
the periphery of the cam, or of a stud added to and projecting from the side of the
can. There were from forty to fifty sets of levers, cams, and stops in a row. The
pins were separate pieces of wire inserted in a metal bar from which they projected
side by side after the manner of the teeth of a comb-hence the name by which
the said bar and row is known. A comb so made frequently got out of working
order.
According to the present invention the groove in the periphery of the cam is
done away with and a portion of one side of the cam omitted or removed, so far as
to leave a radial ridge e extending to the periphery, the said omission or removal
also providing the space eo by the side of the cam for the respective stop or tooth
of the comb. The cams E6 of a row are mounted on their axes, and their levers E¹
on the rod E, with two sides bearing ridges adjacent to each other, a pair of
ridged sides alternating a pair of plain sides, as illustrated in Figure 2.
An improved comb carries two series of teeth. It consists of the back el, the
short teeth and the long teeth e13, both on the same edge of the back, a short
tooth and a long one alternately each other. It is made, preferably, by being
stamped out of sheet metal. Both series of teeth stand downwards at an angle
with the back el, the latter then serving as a suitable and convenient flange by
which the comb as a whole can be fixed to the main frame of the machine. It is
a matter of indifference whether the comb be made in one or several lengths. It
is the short teeth e¹ that serve as cam stops. Each one is long enough and wide
enough to project down into a pair of spaces e¹0, thereby serving as a stop to either
or to both of the adjacent cams E, but narrow enough not to touch the sides of
the cams.
Each tooth e3 is long enough and narrow enough to stand down be
tween the two plain sides of a pair of cams E6 nearly as far as the levers E¹ whereby
it is adapted to act as a guide for those cams on the respective sides.
With reference to the comb back ell and the cam stops es, it must be pointed
out that a wide tooth such as e¹s and one incorporate with the comb back el, is
much better adapted to keep in working order than one consisting of a pin inserted.

page_text: in a separate back; and, further, that the width of a tooth e¹ enables it to serve
two cams.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. The herein before described improvement in cam and comb.
2. The herein before described improvement in cam, comb, and cam guides.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants..