US742180A - Cipher-type for engraving-machines. - Google Patents

Description

No. 742,180. PATENTED. 001. 27, 19.03.

A. E. FRANCIS;

GIPHER TYPE FOR ENGRAVING MACHINES.

APPLICATION 11pm) JAN. 29, 1903.

11d MODEL. 2 311331 5411332 1.

No. 742,180. PATENTED- OCT. 27, 1903. F A. E. FRANCIS. I

' GIPHER TYPE FOB. ENGRAVING MAGHINES.

' u'rmouron rmzn JAN. 29, 1903.

no Human Q 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2i few/17 z? UNITED STATES Patented October 27, 1902.

PATENT OFFICE.

ALLAN E. FRANCIS, OF OLEVELANROHIQ.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 742,180, dated October 27, 1903.

Application filed January 29, 1903. Serial No. 141,079. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALLAN E. FRANCIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahogaand State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Cipher- Type for Engraving-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the manner of forming ciphers or characterscomposed by entwining single-line letters of the alphabet with engraving-machines in which type or grooved pattern-letters are used to govern the movements of a tracer attached to a system of levers that reproduce thepatterns on a reduced scale; and the object of my invention is to afford a practical way to so engrave composite characters from designs that have to be superimposed one upon another in their arrangement and where each.

component design when traced has to occupy the space or a part of the space occupied by another at the time of tracing. At the present time three ways are known by which this is imperfectly accomplished, the most'satisfactory of which is to use the single-line regular engraving-machine metallic type by first tracing a pattern-letter and then by layinga type of the next letter to be traced over or partly While the grooves in the type make this the best way to get fair results, metallic type is ill adapted to such work, and the results are seldom satisfactory. It is easier to imagine how the lines in one metallic type will interweave with those of another than it is to move an unguided tracer smoothly along the arbitrary course of the lines of a printed design when the tracer is carrying the load of a cutting-graver. Another way is to use transparent plates having letters printed upon them. Two or more ofthese are arranged one above the other. The design showing through the transparent medium gives to the eye the only means of guiding the tracer as it is pushed along over the smooth surface of the upper plate, while the graver is registering in its out every deviation that a nervous hand makes in tracing the visible lines as seen through the plates. The result of this is so uncertain and the process so dangerous that of machine cipher-engraving.

' no cautious person would attempt it on anything of value. Still another way is that alluded to in my application for Letters Patent for improvement in monogram type for engraving-machines, filed February 4, 1902, Serial No. 92,595, in which the body of grooved type is cut away to givea necessary view of the arrangement of the letters; but this to be useful in single-line work attenuates the pattern-letters to a point where they lose their form by bending, making it as incomplete as the others. All of these plans are old and incomplete. None fully meet the requirements Those having one essential lack another. The ones with grooves to direct. the tracer cannot be accurately laid or do not hold their form, and the one that furnishes aid to the eye cannot b accurately traced.

The value of machine-cut ciphers depends on their symmetry. Proper intermingling of the lines must be reached by a knowledge of how the designs are laid, which can only be gained by seeing the composite figure before it is cut. When it is known to be correctly composed, a means must be afforded to carry thetracer over the design with evenness and precision to have the results satisfactory. I attain these objects by producing channeled or grooved designs on transparent plates, which I illustrate and show the mannor of using in the accompanying drawings. s

In the" drawings I show representatives of trated here to show the completeness of the advantages attained by the plan set forth. The only thing that is new is the channeled transparent plates. d

In the drawings, Figure l is a largetransparent plate upon which a letter of the largest font in this series is channeled. Fig.2 is a medium-size transparent plate upon which a letter of another design and smaller has been channeled. Fig. 3 is a small transparent plate on which a smaller letter of the same design of that on Fig. 2 has been channeled. Fig. ashows two of the plates shown by Fig. 2 placed in position to show the first step in the use of these grooved transparent plates.

Fig. 5 is the same as Fig. 4, having another grooved transparent plate containing a letter from the same font superimposed upon the other to show the second step. Fig. 6 shows a cipher cut by this process enlarged several diameters. Fig. 7 shows about the average size of circle Within which ciphers cut from patterns shown would be contained when out with the ordinary machine.

By this system of grooved transparent pattern-letters machine ci pher-en gravin g has for the first time arrived ata practical stage. In use these plates are attached to a soft-Wood board by thumb-tacks, the board being socured to the type-table of the machine.

To produce a cipherlike that shown in Fig. 6, the plates for P and S are tacked down, as shown in Fig. 4. Next the C is placed over these and adjusted so that the lines intermingle to suit. Then it is secured in place by tacks, as shown in Fig. 5. Then the F (shown in Fig. 1) is laid and secured as the fancy dictates. Now with a pencil the position of F is noted by marks on the board showing Where the margin comes. Then it is removed. The same is observed in regard to the O, and it is removed. Then the P and S are cut and removed, and the C is placed in its proper place, as shown by the marks made for it, and it is cut and removed. The F is now laid by its marks and cut, when the cipher will be found to be complete.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Asanew article of manufacture the designpatterns for machine cipher-engraving, consisting of transparent celluloid or zylonite sheets, each sheet having a letter, a figure or a character grooved or channeled on its surface; the grooves or channels being adapted to receive the point of an engraving-machine tracer, by means of which the designs on different sheets are worked into a composite cipher.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALLAN E. FRANCIS.

Witnesses:

M. C. FRANCIS, JENNY L. FRANCIS.

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