US290201A - Printing-type - Google Patents

Description

BurienA STATES.'

PATENTV Ormes.

LINN BOYD BENTON, OF MILVAUKEE, VISCONSIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofkLetters Patent No. 290,201, dated December 18, 1883. amputation nied'May s, 18H3. (No model.)

.To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LINN BOYD BENTON, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Types, and I do hereby declare'that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to do away with many difficulties heretofore encountered in typesetting, and, in particular, in justifying 7 the type after they are set up.

My invention relates to the scheme or plan for proportioning the width of the bodies of the type and spaces runningwise relatively to each other; and it consists in making each type-body of a character of a Width runningwise which shall be an exact multiple of acertain fixed or standard unit of measure, and each space either'equal to or a multiple of the same measure, which, for convenience, I de nominate the unit of measure.

n It is well known that the runningwise widths of the bodies of the characters as heretofore constructed have borne no exact proportions to each other, and that they either have been assumed arbitrarily, or have been fixed upon with a View directedonly to the size and artistic effect of the letters themselves, while the quads and'spaces employed, though proportioned relatively to each other, have that proportion based on the bodywise dimension or height of the letter alone.

As it is necessary that the type, when set up, shall exactly fill the space allotted for the length of line employed, many different-sized spaces have been heretofore used to exactly space and ll out the line, and this process of justifying is both tedious and troublesome. Again,when a type is removed for the correction of proof, and another substituted, the line in which the change is made must often be rejustifled by a substitution of new spaces.

By my invention, the widths of all the characters, spaces, and quads having a iixed and,

absolute proportion to each other, the compositor can place and justify his work with ease, regularity, and certainty.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of my specification, I show a face view of wise width to theunit of measure. r Thetype? bodies of all the other spaces, quads,and char acters are inrunningwise width multiples of this unit.

I prefer to make the lower-case or small letters of the following runningwise widths, viz: a, four units; b, four units, c, three units;v d, four units;v e, three units; f, two units; g,three units; h, four units; i, two units; j, two units; k, four units, l, two units; m, six units; n, four units; o, four units; r, three units; s, three units; v, four units; w, five units; z, three units;` q, four units; u, four units; y, four units; p, four units; x, four units 5 t, three units, and the `punctuation-marks two units, except the interrogatioirmark, which is three units. The capital letters I place on bodies which are mul= tiples of the same unit.

It is not necessary in order to justify my improved type to have any space of a less runningwise width than the unit, and the other spaces and quads are multiples' of thisv unitspace in width. j It will thus be seen that a width of page or column can be first fixed upon which is a multiple of the unit of measure, and that the compositor can set up the type and see exactly as he reaches the end of the l'ine what and how many spaces are needed to justify it, and can place these unerringly without being obliged to make a second trial.

Instead of forming the letter o on afour-unit y body, it may be formed on a three-unit body. The former is shown at 4 and the latter at 3 in the drawing. The letter t may be formed on a three-unit body, as at 5, or on a two-unit body, as at 6. The letter f maybe formed with its upper portion overhanging, as at 7, or not, as at 8. Two similarlysdistinguished forms of the letter j are shown at 9 and 10.

Although my invention involves a radical departure from the old method or system, it will be observed that the form and proportions of the letters as they meet the eye are not greatly changed from their old appear ance. In the drawing, a, b, p, and q have been slightly enlarged. c, d, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, s,

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u, v, w, X, andzhave not been changed. e is condensed a trifle. o is slightly extended. rllhe letter t is the only one in which the change would be noticed by a non-expert observer.

One incidental advantage of my improvement is that damaged types may be shortened and used-for spaces. The space 2 in the drawing shows one of the old or ordinary spaces, and it will be observed that its use leaves the line short a small and irregular` space, which a compositor may be obliged to make several successive attempts in order to lill. This delays the operation of type-setting. Several fonts of ty 3e may be based upon a common unit of measure, so that they will justify with each other runningwise indiscriminately. The different sizes bodywise of the type may also be based on different units of measure, which are so proportioned to eaeh other that there shall be a common iiliiltiple of all the unitsas, for instance, all the units may be aliquot parts of thirteen ems pica, or any other measure which may be adoptedwithout having any necessary proportion between the several units and the bodywise dimension of the type. This is desirable in order to create a similarity of appearance in aseries consisting of type of different sizes bodywise.

Type made according to my plan are also more easily iinished by machinery,as the fewer widths of type-bodies necessitate less changes and the spaces oi' which are similarly equal to l said unit and multiples thereof.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my ownlafx my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

LINN BOYD BENTON.

lWitnesses:

E. G. DoNiiLDsoN, E. H. BoT'rUn.

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