US3610121A

US3610121A - Photocomposing machine

Info

Publication number: US3610121A
Application number: US804466A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ellis P Hanson; George J H Sausele
Original assignee: Compugraphic Corp
Current assignee: Compugraphic Corp
Priority date: 1969-03-05
Filing date: 1969-03-05
Publication date: 1971-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-05
Also published as: DE2065529A1; DE2065474A1; DE2010038A1; DE2065530B2; DE2010038C3; DE2010038B2; DE2065530A1; GB1302901A

Abstract

THIS INVENTION RELATES TO PHOTOCOMPOSING AND MORE PARTICULARLY TO A PHOTOTYPESETTING MACHINE WHICH ACCEPTS CODED INPUTS SIGNALS AND AUTOMATICALLY PHOTOGRAPHS TYPE IMAGES FROM A ROTATING MASTER FONT ONTO PHOTOGRTAPHIC MATERIAL IN THE DESIRED FORMAT SUCH AS THE JUSTIFIED LINES OF TYPE USED IN NEWSPAPER TEXT. THE CHARACTER ARE SPACED BY STEPPING A PROJECTION LENS AND THE STEPPING IN CONTROLLED BY MEANS OF CHANGE GEARS TO MATCH THE REQUIREMENTS OF A READILY CHANGEABLE MASTER FRONT STRIP. STROBE CONTROL OF THE MASTER FONT CHARACTERS MOVING IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE BASE LINE PROVIDES FOR ADJUSTABLE CHARACTER ALIGNMENT CONTROL.

Description

0t 5, 1971 E. P. HANsoN ETAI- 3,610,121

PHo'rocoMPosING MACHINE Filed March 5. 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 0ct. 5, 1971 E. P. HANsoN l-:TAL 3,610,121

PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINE Filed March 5, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 TOK/VEYS Oct. .5, 1971 E, RHANSQN ET AL PHQTOCOMPOSING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 5, 1969 Mlm/mes,

Oct. 5, l1971 E, P, HANsQN ET AL PHOTOGOMPOSING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Filed March 5, 1969 E www 0 i V 4 0 M5/.n M M a Ew M 6 u, .M vl

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 E. P. HANSON ETAL rHoTocoMPosING MACHINE Oct. 5, 1971 Filed March 5, 1969 United States Patent O 3,610,121 PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINE Ellis P. Hanson, Rockport, and George J. H. Sansele,

Lynnfield, Mass., assignors to Compugraphic Corporation, Wilmington, Mass.

Filed Mar. 5, 1969, Ser. No. 804,466 Int. Cl. B41b 13/00, 15/00, 17/00 U.S. Cl. 95-4.5 R 18 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE One object of this invention is to provide a reliable, low cost and simplified phototypesetting machine which affords readily changeable set ups for a number of different text typesetting functions. Another object of this invention is to provide a phototypesetting system which is completely compatible with present linotype composing room operations. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a control of the vertical alignment of characters so as to facilitate complex composition such as mathematical equations.

A feature of the invention relates to the manner in which the characters are selected by counting standard TTS character codes in a unique manner for maximum phototypesetting speed and machine simplicity.

Another feature of the photocomposing machine relates to the positioning of the font characters on a master film strip which is accurately mounted on a font wheel by readily detachable mountings to enable a number of different type fonts to be selected as desired.

Another feature relates to the high speed positioning of the characters along a line of type by means of a stepping motor driving a projection lens system through a pair of removable change gears related to the size of type.

And yet another feature of the photocomposing machine resides in the strobing of the font characters which are rotated by a font wheel in a direction perpendicular to the character base line.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent in the following specification and the drawings which disclose an exemplary embodiment of the invention wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective view of an assembled photocomposing machine;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an embodiment illustrating the character presentation section, the projection lens assembly, and the paper advance mechanism;

'ice

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail illustration of the font wheel assembly and the means for mounting the master font strip to the font wheel;

FIG. 5 is a detail illustration of the font tape showing tllie photographic images of the characters and the timing sits;

FIG. 6 is another detail view of the font wheel and the means for securing the font tape to the wheel;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the flash lamp assembly, the font wheel and the font timing generator; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram representation of the computer and control section of the photocomposing machine.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The apparatus of the present invention accepts justified or unjustified text in the form of coded character identification signals from any communication media such as, magnetic or paper tape, wire connected keyboard, telephone line, etc., and provides an output generally of phototype set and justified text material to be used in the printing of newspapers, books, magazines or other similar publications; however, the output can also be used for advertising, records, drawings, etc. However, the structure and operation of the apparatus will be understood by those having skill in the art from the following detailed description with a tape input using standard 'ITS code format.

The present invention employs a well-known method of justification which is based on the principle of assigning units of width to each character of the typographical font and to the desired justified line lengths. The various characters of the font have variable widths; however, each such width is some multiple of a basic unit width, and a line length will be a much larger multiple of the same basic unit. To justify a line of characters, the cumulative width units of all of the characters in a line are subtracted from the number of units in the ldesired line length and the remainder of units are automatically divided among the interword spaces and letter spaces.

The photocomposer shown in FIG. l consists of two housings; lower housing 12 which accommodates the electronic control and computer circuitry, on printed circuit boards 14, and power supplies 16, and upper housing 18 which encloses the photo unit and provides a mounting support for control panel 20 and tape reader 22. Control panel 20 is not illustrated in complete detail as it forms no part of the invention; however, in a marketable photocomposer it would include any desired machine mode controls, start-stop switches, initializing function switches, such as those used to restore or reset the various computer counters and registers to zero, and input control switches such as a line length preset switch and a control to provide the desired leading of the film advance mechanism. Tape reader 22 inputs data from punched paper tape of a standard format under control of the computer and various control panel settings. Tape readers of the type that are used to input data to the computer of this machine are well known to the art and, consequently, no detailed description of the tape reader is necessary to enable the invention to be practiced. Liftable doors 24,

26 provide access to the film advance mechanism and the film supply and take-up compartments.

THE PHOTO UNIT Referring to FIG. 2, the photo unit comprises three main sections, the character presentation system 30, the projection lens assembly 32, and the paper advance mechanism 34. The character presentation system includes a continuously rotating font wheel 36, a xenon flash lamp 38, an optical diffuser 40, a master font strip 42, and a photocell lamp assembly or font timing generator 44. Font strip 42 has negative images or characters 43 of one or more complete type fonts and is attached to the surface of font Wheel 36. Timing slits or marks 37 are accurately positioned alongside the font images so that as font wheel 36 is rotating, photocell assembly 44 senses the slits to provide character alignment information to the computer to activate xenon flash lamp 38 at the proper instant.

Font wheel 36 is fixed to shaft 46 which is rotatably mounted in side frames 47, 48 by

bearings

49, 50. The font wheel is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow by motor 52 through shaft 53,

pulleys

54, 55 respectively mounted to

shaft

53 and 46, and belt 56. Shaft 46 and font wheel 36 preferably rotate at 1500 r.p.m. or at higher speeds. Font Wheel 36 is provided with flanged rim frame 58, and flash lamp 38 and optical diffuser 40 are accommodated on side 59 of the font wheel 36. Outer surface 60 of flanged rim frame 58 provides a flat supporting surface for font strip 42. Flash lamp 38 and optical diffuser 40 are mounted to partition 62 by bracket 63 so as to be aligned with negative characters 43 on font strip 42. Font timing generator 44 is mounted to partition 62 by mounting assembly 64 so as to be aligned with the row of timing slits 37 on font strip 42 (FIG. 8).

With reference to FIGS. 4 and 6, font wheel 36 includes a plurality of font strip guide posts, three of which, 65, 66 and 67, are shown in FIG. 4,. for the purposes of accurately positioning font strip 42 on the outer surface of font wheel 36. Guide posts 65, 66, 67 project through guide apertures y68, 69, 70 which are precisely located on font strip 42. One end of font strip 42 includes metal end plate 72 having holes 73, 74 which respectively engage securing pins 75, 76 mounted to block 78 of font strip tensioning mechanism 80. Block 78 is mounted on the free end of spring rod 82, the other end of which is mounted on font wheel 36 by bracket assembly 84.

The other end of font strip 42 includes hooked end plate 86 which engages tapered hook 88 of font wheel 36. Font strip 42 is placed on the drum by engaging hooked end plate 86 with tapered hook 88, inserting the apertures in the font strip over guide posts 65, 66, 67 and then securing end plate 72 over pins 75, 76. Font strip tensioning mechanism 80 provides the necessary tension to secure the font strip to the font Wheel. Finger hole 89 in flanged rim frame 58 affords a means by which spring rod 82 may be depressed to aid in engaging or disengaging pins 75, 76 from their respective apertures in end plate Font strip 42 is preferably a strip of dimensionally stable photographic film on which have been developed negative timing marks 37 and negative type characters 43 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A typical font strip will have one-hundred-eighty (180) or more characters which is sufficient to provide two different fonts of type on each font strip. Timing marks 37 and type characters 43 are transparent, thereby -enabling light to be projected through them. Timing marks 37 are positioned with respect to the type characters 43 so as to provide the necessary timing signals to the computer to enable a selected type character to be illuminated at the proper time and projected in the proper position on the line being set on the film as font wheel 36 rotates Continuously.

The relationship of the circuitry necessary to provide the timing indications to the computer and for projecting the image from the font strip to the photographic film is best illustrated with reference to FIGS. 2 and 8. Photocell assembly 44 includes lamp 90 mounted in bracket 92 so as to be positioned directly behind the timing marks 37 on font strip 36. Spring contact 94 is mounted to support 92 by means of insulating member 96 and engages contact 97 of lamp 90 to provide an electrical connection thereto. The electrical circuit to lamp is completed through bracket 92. Photoconductive detector 98 is mounted by support member 99 in partition 62, in alignment with the timing marks on the font strip and lamp 90, and is electrically connected to photo unit counters 238 (FIG. 8) to provide the necessary countdown in order to photograph a selected character at the time when it appears in proper position for the xenon flash assembly as will be described more fully hereinafter. Mask 100 is mounted over the front of photoconductive detector 98 and is provided with aperture 101 so that a Well defined and sharp pulse is emitted by the photoconductive detector Whenever a timing mark is illuminated by lamp 90.

As described previously, xenon flash lamp 38 is mounted by bracket 63 and diffuser 40 is mounted in assembly 102 so that the light emanating from the flash lamp is dispersed through the font character on font strip 42 and then through aperture 104 in partition 62. As best illustrated in FIG. 2, the light flashed from xenon lamp 38 is dispersed by diffuser 40 over a Wide angle which is sufficient to be picked up by the projection lens in projection lens assembly 106 at both extreme ends of its transverse travel.

With continuing reference to FIG. 2 and additional reference to FIG. 3, projection lens assembly 32 is mounted in front of character presentation system 30. Projection lens 108 is rigidly fixed to carriage 110 which is slidably mounted on

guide rods

112, 113 held in side frames 47, 48 by bearings 114-117. Carriage 110 is driven along

guide rods

112, 113 by stepping motor 118, gear assembly and rack 122 mounted on the carriage. Drive gear 124 is mounted on shaft 126 of stepping motor 118 by removable knurled nut 128. Stepping motor 118 is preferably Superior Electrics type HS-50-D, which is fluid damped or its equivalent, and is supported by platform 130. Gear 132 is driven by gear 124 and mounted on shaft 134 by removable knurled nut 136 which is interchangeable with nut 128.

Gears

124, 132 comprise a change gear set which provides the required escapement for the particular size of the negative characters on the font strip. Sets of change gears having predetermined different gear ratios may readily be installed to provide the escapements required by variously sized character fonts on different font strips. Shaft 134 is journalled in support frame 138 and includes gear engaging teeth 142 of rack 122. The aforedescribed drive assembly provides the means by which stepping motor 118 causes projection lens 108 to be stepped laterally along

guide rods

112, 113 to provide the proper escapement for composing the justified line of characters. Projection lens 108 is a high quality wide angle lens which receives the light rays from the character illuminated by flash lamp 38 through aperture 104.

Carriage 110 includes bracket 144 having

arms

145, 146 which are mounted to actuate microswitches 149, 149 fixed to partition 150. Microswitches 148, 149 deenergize stepping motor 118 to limit the lateral movement of carriage 110, microswitch 148 providing a safety control to prevent carriage 110 from striking side frame 47 in case of normal control failure. Microsvvitch 149 stops carriage 110 to align the projected character image at the left margin of the line. Light shields 152, 153 prevent stray light from exposing the film.

Continuing with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, paper advance assembly 34 comprises film supply box 160, film take-up box 162 and drive and guide mechanism 164 mounted therebetween. As illustrated in FIG. 2, stepping motor 166 steps shaft 168, rotatably mounted in side frames 47, 48 by bushing 170 and coupling 172, via engaging

gears

174 and 176.

Gears

174, 176 have a gear ratio selected to advance film 178 in one-half point increments.

Knurled rollers

180, 181 are mounted in spaced relationship to shaft 168 and engage flrn 178 as it passes between guide members 182 and 183. Idler roller 190 is rotatably mounted on shaft 192 in line with knurled roller 180 to complete the drive mechanism for film 178. A similar roller, not shown, is also provided opposite knurled roller 181 to provide a positive non-skewed feed of film from film supply box 160 into film take-up box 162 along image plane 194. For film of narrower width than the spacing between

rollers

180, 181, a guide block may be mounted to guide one edge of the film, the other edge being driven by one of the paired rollers.

ELECTRONIC CONTROLS The photo composition is controlled by a computer which includes means for reading or sensing six-level codes in standard 'ITS coding configuration on paper tape and means to process the codes by a pre-wired program to justify the text and control the photo unit to compose the text in justified form on the photographic film. The cornputer consists of three major sections which are the input section, the calculation section and the output section.

With reference to FIG. 8, the input section includes tape reader 22 and control panel 20 (which for convenience are located on the side of the photo unit as described above) plus reader register 200, tape read direction control 202, position indicator counter 204, position indicator counter register 206, and comparison circuit 208. The input section reads the codes for the text from the paper tape input and controls the direction and position of the reader. The control panel also provides a way for the operator to control the system through various switches as described above.

The calculation section includes text decoder 210, char` acter width assignment matrix 212, pulse generator counter 214, spaceband counter 216, space counter 218, Width counter 220, width count register 222, letter space character counter 224, letter space count register 226, letter space counter 228, letter space escapement counter 230, rail control 232, and case control 234. The calculation section counts the number of units of space for each character, scans for a suitable place to end the line, and calculates the "word space and letter space values necessary to justify the line to a length which has been preset into the width counter by the line length preset control mounted on control panel 20 (FIG. 1). The control panel is illustrated in the calculater section of the computer only to simplify FIG. 8.

The output section consists of character identification and width gate 236, photo unit counter 238, character and width control 240, stepping` motor oscillator 242, escape motor circuit 244, font timing generator 44, nominal flash delay 248, and flash circuit 250. The output section controls the operation of projection lens assembly 32 (FIG. 2) to provide the necessary escapement for projecting the font character images onto the film in justified relationship; controls the strobing of the font strip by flash lamp 38 (FIG. 2) to select the required character from the rotating font wheel at the proper instant; and initiates the leading of the film in preparation for a subsequent composition of a justified line. An important advantageous feature of the photocomposing machine is that ash delay 248 may be controlled by signals from vertical alignment control 260 to adjust the strobing of the font strip by fiash circuit 250 to vary the vertical alignment of the characters so that justified lines of special characters and special material such as equations may be composed, as will be more fully described hereinafter. Film advance control 252 enables the operator to select the desired length of automatic film advance and is mounted on control panel 20 (FIG. l) and is illustrated in the output section only tov simplify FIG. 8.

6 COMPUTER CODE AND CHARACTER FONT ARRANGEMENT The detailed operation of the computer will be more easily understood by first describing the character code used within the computer and the preferred arrangement of the negative characters on the font strip. The standard TTS tape uses a six-level binary code and is modified by the computer into an eight-level code by the insertion of two additional binary bits to identify the position of each of the one hundred eighty font characters of the font strip as well as the non-functional codes which are normally interposed between the character codes in the TTS coding system. Thus, as shown in Table I below, the eight-level code is obtained by inserting an additional bit between the 0 and l binary bit positions and an additional bit following the 0 bit position of the sixlevel code. The bit significance is also altered so that the most significant bit of the six-level input code becomes the least significant bit (LSB) of the eight-level code. The most significant bit (MSB) of the eight-level code is the rail bit.

LSB5 4 3 2 1 Case 0 MSB Rail The code modification is accomplished by photo unit counter 238, rail control 232, and case control 234. Rail control 232 determines from text decoder 210 whether the character is in the rst or second font/on the tape (lower rail and upper rail signals, respectively) and this information in the form of a binary 0 or l is gated to photo unit counter 238 through character identification and width gate 236. Similarly, case control 234 provides the necessary case bit to indicate Whether the character is upper case or lower case (shift and unshift signals, respectively). The case and rail bits are gated at the time the character position information is gated to photo unit counter 238 (to be described more fully hereinafter) where the eight-level code is assembled.

The preferred arrangement of characters for one font on the font strip is illustrated in Table II below. The numbers l-l28 represent the address or counting position of each character and the non-functional codes. The significance of the counting positions, PUC 74 Negative and Enable Flash (250), in the first two bit positions will be explained more fully hereinafter. For each font the most commonly used characters are positioned on the font strip before the least used characters, punctuation marks, ligatures, etc. In other words, as shown in Table II the lower case alphabetic characters of the first font are successively positioned at the beginning of the font strip followed by the upper case alphabetic characters. Then follow the numerics, ligatures and the remaining miscellaneous characters of the first font. The aforementioned order is repeated for the characters of the second font.

The sequential order of the font characters matches the arithmetic order of their associated binary codes. This provides for character selection by counting to the binary value of the character being selected. The modified TTS machine coding described herein provides for arrangement of basic character groups in the order of the frequency of usage of the groups. This provides for close to optimum timing and therefore close to optimum machine speed because the escapement mechanism gains additional time in which to position the projection lens for the next character to be photographed. Furthermore, such a font character arrangement decreases the complexity of the computer circuitry. Other arrangements of the font characters will be apparent to those skilled in the art and the above description is only of a preferred embodiment for purposes of description and is not to be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

TABLE II.-CHARACTER FONT ARRANGEMENT 1. PUC74 negative 33. Unshift 65. Thin Space 2. Enable Flash (250) 34. T 66. 3 3. t 35. Return 67. P.F. or L.M. 4. Return 36. 68. 5. o 37. Space Band 69. Add Thin Space 6. Space Band 38. N 70. Em Space 7. n 39. H 71. 8 8. l1 40. M 72. 7 9. in 41. Elevato 73. 10. Elevato 42. I 74. 1l. i 43. R 75. 4 12. 1' 44. O 76. Boll 13. c 45. L 77. Comma 14. l 46. l 78. Quad Left 15. p 47. G 79. En Space 16. g 48. V 80. Q.R. 01' U M 17. V 49. E 8l. 5 18. e 50. A 82. 19. a 51. S 83. V. Rule 20. s 52. U 84. 2 2l. u 53. D 85. Em Leader 22. d 54. .T 86. 6 23. j 55. F 87. 24. f 56. K 88. En Leader 25. k 57. Z 89, 9 26. z 58. W 90. Upper Rail 27. W 59. Y 91. 28. v 60. Q 92. Lower Rail 29. q 61. B 93. Period 30. b 62. Shift 94. l 31. Shift 63. X 95. Quad Center 32. x 64. Unshift 96. Rub Out 97. Thin Space 98. 3s

99. 1.F. or L.M. 100. l

. Add Thin Space Em Space i ll . Bell Comma 10. Quad Leit En Space i tlln Leader i Upper Rail i Lower Rail 1Period Quad Center LINE BREAK DETERMINATION The computer recognizes line break points in the following manner. Line breaks must occur at return codes and they may occur at word spaces or discretionary hyphens. A discretionary hyphen is inserted in the input tape by the keyboard operator (in the form of a tape feed code) and signals the computer that this is a possible break point in the line.

ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS The computer subtracts and divides in the following manner. In order to subtract, the minuend is always placed in width counter 220. Pulse generator counter 214 includes a clock circuit, a counter, and a gate circuit for controlling the feeding of clock pulses from the clock to the counter. The subtrahend is gated into the counter. The counter and width counter 220 are counted down by gated pulses from the clock until the counter in pulse generator counter 214 indicates a zero count. The Value in width counter 220 is thereby reduced by the subtrahend and the difference remains in the width counter. Division is accomplished by a repetitive subtraction process.

COMPUTER OPERATION Initially, the operator inserts the desired line length by setting line length preset control 23. The machine is prepared for operation by depression of a prime switch on the control panel which initially sets all counters to zero, resets the registers, sets the machine in a line count mode and transfers the present line length information into width counter 220.

In the line count mode reader 22 reads the tape while it is advancing in a forward direction and the coded characters are sequentially stored in reader register 200 and decoded by text decoder 210 to generate width values from character width assignment matrix 212. The widths for each character are put into pulse generator counter 214 and count pulses are gated from the aforementioned clock therein to serially subtract the character or space width from width counter 220. Simultaneously, letter space character counter 224 counts the number of letter spaceable characters and spaceband counter 216 counts the number of spaceband codes (justifying word spaces) which occur in the line, Position indicator counter 204 counts each code read from the tape to keep track of the tape position in reader 22. During the line count mode, the computer continuously looks for a suitable place to end the line.

Each time that a possible line break point occurs, the number remaining in width counter 220 is transferred into width counter register 222, the count in position indicator counter 204 is transferred into position indicator counter register 206, and the formation in letter space character counter 244 is transferred to letter space counter register 226. The transfer of the above information from the above mentioned counters into their respective registers is nondestructive in the sense that the count is restored to the counters so that the counters provide an indication of the accumulated count and the registers are reset to zero prior to the subsequent transfer of information.

An indication of a hyphen point, for example by the reading of a tape feed code, or by the output of a hyphenation logic circuit, which could be included as part of text decoder 210, would also cause the aforedescribed transfer of information. However, when width counter 220 goes negative it is an indication that there is no more space left in this particular line. At this point the numer in width count register 222, representing the last possible break point in the line, is transferred back into width counter 220 in order to determine the manner in which the extra space between Words in the line is to be distributed. The negative count in width counter 220 clears the counter and initiates this transfer of information as well as the clearance of letter space counter 224 and the transfer of information from its associated register. However, no information is transferred between position indicator counter 204 and its associated register as the information transferred to the register at the last break point and the total accumulated count in the counter will be used for subsequent computer control functions as will be more fully described hereinafter.

Letter space comparator 239 now compares the information in spaceband counter 216 with the information just transferred to width counter 220 and, if the comparison indicates that an arbitrary difference value is not satisfied, the computer is placed in a letter space calculate mode. A comparison exceeding the arbitrary value indicates that it is undesirable to justify the line using only spaceband expansion and the separation between the characters in the line should also be increased; a lesser comparison value indicates that acceptable justification can be accomplished solely by spaceband expansion and the computer is placed in an interword calculate mode to determine the necessary spaceband expansion. In the letter space calculate mode the information transferred to letter space character counter 224 is subtracted from the information in width counter 220 and each subtraction is recorded by updating letter space counter 22S by one count. The subtraction operation is repeated until the arbitrary difference value is satisfied as determined by letter space comparator 230 and the computer is placed into an interword space calculate mode by a signal from comparator 230.

In the interwood space calculate mode the computer calculates the increment that should be added to the basic word space value and to do this it is necessary to divide the number of increments remaining in the line by the number of spacebands in the line which are contained in spaceband counter 216. If the computer did not enter the letter space calculate mode, then width counter 220 contains the number of increments remaining in the'line because of the transfer of information made from register 222 after the counter indicated a negative count. However, if the computer has completed a letter space calculation, then the remainder in width counter 220 after that calculation represents the line increment information used for the interword calculation. However, the presence of a hyphen in the line ending would require a subtraction of the hyphen width (six units) from width counter 220 before an interword space calculation can be performed. The hyphen width is indicated to pulse generator counter 214 by width assignment matrix 212 and the subtraction of the hyphen width and spaceband division are accomplished as described generally above under Arithmetic Operations. Each subtraction in the division process causes space counter 218 to be advanced by one count from a minimum spaceband value of eight, which is the reset value of this counter and represents the desired minimum spaceband escapement. At the end of the division, indicated by the rst negative count in width counter 220, the count in space counter 218 and the number remaining in the counter of pulse generator counter 214 are used to effect justification as described hereinafter.

The tape direction is reversed by tape read direction control 202 when width lcounter 220 indicates a negative count in the line count mode; position indicator counter 202 is directed, by tape read direction control 202, to count down each code read by reader 22 until a zero count is attained. Reader 22 is then at the beginning of the line, is stopped, and the computer enters a photograph mode. In the photograph mode reader 22 reads the rst character code and then stops. The character is entered into read register 200 and decoded in text decoder 210. The character position on the font strip is entered into photo unit counter 238 via character identification and width gate 236 at the time a sync pulse is generated by font timing generator 44. Font timing generator 44 includes the aforedescribed photoconductive device (FIG. 8) and generates a sync pulse when the opening between thev ends of the font strip (FIG. 4) is detected each revolution of the font wheel. Timing generator 44 outputs pulses to count down photo unit counter 238, by sensing the font strip timing marks, until the first negative count is indicated in the counter. The next timing or strobe pulse indicates that the desired character is positioned to be photographed and ash lamp 38 (FIG. 2) is triggered by flash circuit 250 through nominal flash delay 248.

The aforementioned operation explains the need for the two timing pulses on the font strip before the first timing pulse indicating the position of the rst character on the font strip. These two extra timing pulses are indicated in Table II as PUC 74 negative and Enable flash 25 0 and insure that each font character will be accurately strobed by the ash lamp to be properly aligned in the justified line.

The vertical alignment of the character image at image plane 194 (FIG. 2) may be controlled by varying the time of excitation of flash circuit 250 by means of nominal flash delay 248. When setting ordinary text material the illumination of the desired character is retarded after the particular character base line timing mark is detected by a nominal delay afforded by ash delay 248. The

various character base line timing marks are positioned on the font strip to account for the nominal delay so that the flash lamp is triggered to strobe the character in alignment with the base line at the image plane. In setting special characters such as subscripts, superscripts, accent marks or in photographing equations, the required vertical character alignment may be established by reducing or increasing the nominal delay. The variation of the nominal delay is controlled by varying the time of excitation of flash circuit 250 by means of input codecontrolled ash delay circuit 248. This delay circuit consists of nine pulse generators connected in series, with the output of each generator connected to the flash circuit through diode gating. This provides nine different time delays between the command to photograph a character (from the photo unit counter) to the time when the flash circuit is actually excited.

The nominal or normal delay wherein the characters are photographed on the baseline is taken from the fifth pulse generator and this delay signal is gated to the flash circuit. Since the character image in the image plane moves from below the baseline to above the baseline as the font wheel rotates, the character may be placed in unit increments above or below the baseline by gating the proper pulse generator output to the flash circuit to lengthen or shorten, respectively, the time delay from the nominal time delay. This is accomplished by command from the input device in the following manner.

An add thin code followed by a digit code (one through nine) on the input tape signals vertical alignment control 260y that the next character to be photographed is to be placed in a discrete location with respect to the baseline. For instance, if a character is to be placed four units above the baseline, an add thin code followed by the digit 9 code signals that the output of the ninth pulse generator is gated to the ash circuit for the next character to be photographed thereby adding p four units of delay to the nominal value. If a character is to be placed two units below the baseline, an add thin code followed by a digit 3 code would precede the character to be photographed and the output of the third pulse generator would be gated to the ash circuit giving three units of delay or two units less than the nominal delay.

It sometimes becomes desirable to align characters vertically using either top of body alignment or base line alignment. This can be accomplished by having two rows of timing slits on the font strip along with a separate photosensing device for each row and by selecting the desired row of timing slits according to the type of alignment desired. A switch on the control panel allows either row to be gated to the font timing generator 44- (FIG. 8).

Obviously this multiple timing row technique could also be expanded to several rows under input code control and would then become another embodiment similar to tlhe pulse generator time delay system described previous y.

Continuing with the operation of the photographic mode, the pulse into photo unit counter 238, which caused the flash lamp to be subsequently triggered, also causes reader 22 to read the next character code and activate character and width control 240 to set character identication width gate 236 to gate through the escapement width value of the strobed character which is taken from width assignment matrix 212 and inserted into photo unit counter 238. Simultaneously therewith, character' and width control 240 energizes stepping motor oscillator 242 which feeds pulses to escape motor circuit 244 and to count-down photounit counter 238. Escape motor circuit 244 activates stepping motor 118 to escape projection lens 108 (FIG. 2) to position it for the strobing of the next character. The foregoing procedure represents the manner in which the projection lens is escaped for each character in the line except for the situation where letter spacing is required and the escapement for spacebands.

If letter spacing is required, the value stored in letter space counter 228, as a result of the previously described letter space calculation, must be added to the normal width value escapement of each character in the line. This is done by transferring the value in letter space counter 228 into letter space escapement counter 230 at the same time that the width value for the character is inserted into photo unit counter 238. Stepping motor oscillator 242 is then energized to count down letter space escapement counter 230 to zero, while advancing escapement motor 118i, before the normal width value escapement is accomplished.

The escapement for spacebands is accomplished by taking the number stored in space counter 218, as a result of the previously described calculation performed in the interword space calculate mode, and whenever a spaceband is read from the input tape this number is set into photo unit counter 238 and escapement then continues in the normal manner by counting down this counter by the stepping motor oscillator pulses. When the division performed in the interword calculate mode to determine the increments to be added to the normal spaceband results in an integral quotient, each spaceband in the line is escaped the same increment. However, when that division results in a non-integral quotient, it is necessary to re-distribute the spaceband increments for some of the spacebands in order to satisfactorily justify the line.

The following example illustrates the manner in which the computer distributes the spaceband increments for each of the spacebands in the line in the latter-mentioned situation. Assuming that thirty-one increments are left in width encounter 220 at the end of the line and that tive spacebands have been counted in the line by spaceband counter 216, the aforedescribed division in the interword calculate mode would yield a quotient of six. That is, space counter 218 would have been updated by six counts from its nominal value. The next subtraction in the division process would proceed with two clock pulses gated from pulse generator counter 214 to drive width counter 220 negative, at which time pulse generator counter 214 would cease gating pulses. There would remain three counts in the counter of the pulse generator.

The spaceband escapement is performed as described above for the first four spacebands; the counter of pulse generator counter 214 being counted down by one pulse for each spaceband expansion. Therefore, on the fourth pulse, the counter in pulse generator counter 214 will be driven negative and a clock pulse is gated from the clock in pulse generator counter 214 to space counter 218, thereby increasing the space expansion for the last spaceband by one to account for the single remaining increment in the spaceband division.

The above described escapement operations continue until comparison circuit 208 indicates that the value counted in position indicator counter 204 equals the value in position indicator counter register 206. This indicates that the last character to be photographed has been read by reader 22, the reader stops, and a leading value preset in lm advance switch 252 is gated into photo unit counter 238. Stepping motor oscillator 242 is activated to provide pulses to count down the photo unit counter as escape motor circuits 244 energize stepping motor 166 (FIG. 2) to advance the lm the desired amount and also energize stepping motor 118 to return the lens projection system to the left margin in preparation for photographing the next line.

COMPUTER COMPONENTS The circuitry comprising each of the computer components is known to those skilled in the art and no detailed description of the circuitry is necessary, since from the aforedescribed computer operations, one having familiarity with the photocomposing art would be able to construct the computer components in order to practice the invention and they do not form a novel and unobvious part of the invention. Similarly, the internal timing controls for carrying out the computer operations have not been disclosed since such timing controls would also be apparent to one skilled in the art.

The following additional descriptive material of some of the computer components, however, is provided as a further aid in understanding the invention. Text decoder 210 is simply a diode matrix and width assignment matrix 212 also consists of a diode matrix which is constructed in the form of a look-up table in order to provide width values for the various font characters, hyphens, etc. Pulse generator counter 214 includes a counter which counts down in response to pulses, produced by an internal clock, which are gated by an internal gate circuit which is controlled to insert the necessary pulses into the counter to perform the arithmetic operations described above.

Comparison circuits

208 and 230 may consist of gate circuits, which are well known in the art, assembled to provide the aforedescribed comparison functions. Rail control 232, case control 234 and character and width control 240 are preferably ip-flop circuits which are set or reset in accordance with rail or case input signals to accomplish their above described functions. Line length preset control 23 and film advance control 252 may preferably consist of manually operated counters which are capable of transferring their preset information by electrical pulses on command. Such manual controls are well known to those skilled in the art. Character identication and width gate 236 may merely be an assemblage of AND/OR gates to carry out the described switching function of the character identification position information and the width values into photo unit counter 238. Photo unit counter 238 must have the capacity to store the eight-level bit code used by the computer and must also include the necessary logic to gate the control signals to ash circuit 248, escape motor circuit 244 and character and width control 240 when its various registers have attained the aforedescribed states. The construction of photo unit counter 238 is readily apparent to those having skill in the art from the foregoing description of its operation.

Flash delay 248 may preferably consist of any electronic means which are known to the art to delay an electrical signal and which may be varied in accordance with electrical input signals to provide a desired delay in response thereto. Stepping motor oscillator 242 is a 40() cycle oscillator to provide counting pulses and to energize escape motor circuit 244. Escape motor circuit 244 is merely a drive circuit which amplifies and shapes the stepping motor oscillator pulses to provide the necessary energization of the projection lens escapement step motor and the film advance step motor.

MODIFICATIONS OF THE PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINE A memory could also be included with the tape reader so that the tape need not return to the beginning of the line to read the tape a second time in order to photograph the characters. This memory would have sufficient storage to accommodate at least one line of coded information, the character codes could be stored during the line count mode and retrieved from memory in the photographic mode and utilized in a manner similar to that described above.

Those skilled in the art will also recognize that the aforedescribed photocomposing machine may also compose justified text from coded character identification signals transmitted to the computer over telephone communication channels, wire service lines, or any other means of communication equipment. In such instances, the tape reader would 4be replaced by input equipment compatible with the communication media being used. The input equipment would require storage capabilities for retaining the coded character input signals and the individual character codes retrieved from storage so that the Computex would operate substantially as described above.

13 It is further understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the embodiment of the invention illustrated and described herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A photocomposing machine for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising:

means for receiving the coded character identification signals, v

means for determining justified text from the coded character identification signals,

means for presenting font characters representing th coded signals in a sequence related to the numerical value of the coded character identification signals,

means for strobing saidy means for presenting to select characters therefrom in accordance with said means for determining justified text,

means for projecting said selected font characters to an image plane in aligned and justified relationship, and means for recording the projected font characters.

2. A photocomposing machine -for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising:

means for receiving the coded character identification signals,

means for presenting font characters representing the coded signals,

means for strobing said means for presenting to select characters therefrom in accordance with said means for determining justified text,

means for projecting said selected font characters to an image plane in aligned and justified relationship, means for recording the projected font characters, and means for controlling said means for strobing to vary the vertical alignment of said `font characters at said image plane.

3. A photocomposing machine according to claim 1 further comprising means for modifying the input character identification code Aby interposing bits representing case and rail character groupings in the input code.

4. A photocomposing machine for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising;

means for receiving the coded character identification signals,

means for presenting font characters representing the coded signals,

means for strobing said means for presenting to select characters therfrom in accordance with said means for determining justified text,

means for projecting said selected font characters to an image plane in aligned and justified relationship, means for recording the projected font characters,

said means for presenting font characters includes timing slits positioned to indicate the proper alignment of the individual font characters and non-strobing code markings interposed between said timing slits, and the photocomposing machine further comprises means for inhibiting said means for projecting upon sensing said non-strobing code markings.

5. A photocomposing machine according to claim 1 wherein said means for strobing includes means for storing the address of the font characters to be selected from said means for presenting and means for sensing said timing slits to provide counting signals, said means for storing including means Vfor counting and is responsive to said counting signals to cause said means for projecting to project the selected character at the proper instant to said means for recording.

y6. A photocomposing machine for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising;

means for receiving the coded character identification signals,

means for presenting front characters representing the coded signals,

means for projecting said selected font characters to an image plane in aligned and justified relationship,

means for recording the projected font characters,

said means for projecting includes a projection lens movably mounted between said image plane and said strobing means to traverse parallel to said character base line, means for escaping said projection lens to position the selected characters on said means for recording the font characters in justied relationship, means for stepping said means for esca-ping in accordance with said means for determining justified text, and said means for escaping including a removably mounted change gear set having a gear ratio selected in accordance with the size of the font 4characters presented to said means for projecting.

7. A photocomposing machine for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising;

means for receiving the coded character identification signals,

means for determining justified text from the coded -character identification signals,

means for presenting font characters representing the coded signals,

means for strobing said means for 'presenting to select characters therefrom in accordance with said means for determining justified text,

means for recording the projected font characters,

said means for presenting font characters includes a rotatable frame support, said frame support including guide posts, a font strip including guide apertures for receiving said guide posts to mount said font strip to said frame support, said font strip including negative font characters and timing slits located along respective opposite sides of said font strip so that a selected timing slit indicates the required vertical character alignment relative to the base line of a respective font character, said font strip being mounted to said frame support so that said font characters are aligned with said projecting means and said timing slits are in position to be sensed by said strobing means,

one end of said font strip includes means for engaging said frame support and the other end of said font strip includes apertures, and said frame support further includes resilient means engaging the end apertures to secure said font strip to said frame support.

8. A 'photocomposing machine -for receiving coded character identification signals and forming justified lines of text, comprising;

means for receiving the coded character identification signals,

means for presenting font characters representing the coded characters, said character presentation means continuously rotating in a fixed path perpendicular to a character base line,

means to provide said character base line and for recording the projected fon-t characters,

means for controlling said means for strobing to vary the vertical alignment of said font characters at said image plane,

means for modifying the input character identification signals by interposing bits representing case and rail character groupings in the received identification signals, said means for presenting font characters includes means for retaining said font characters so that the most used font characters are made available to said means for strobing before the least used font characters during each revolution of said character presentation means, timing slits positioned to indicate the proper alignment of the individual font characters with said character base line, and nonstrobing code markings interposed between said timing slits, the photocomposing machine further comprises means for inhibiting said means for projecting upon sensing said non-strobing code markings,

said means for projecting the selected font characters includes a projection lens movably mounted between said image plane and said strobing means to traverse parallel to said character base line, means for escaping said projection lens to position the selected font characters on said means for receiving the font characters in justified relationship, means for stepping said means for escaping in accordance with said means for determining justified text, said means for escaping including a removably mounted change gear set having a gear ratio selected in accordance with the size of the font characters presented to said means for projecting.

9. In a photocomposing machine for forming justified text from coded character identification signals of the type wherein selected font characters are projected onto and received by photographic film positioned at an image plane, the means for projecting the font characters, comprising;

a projection lens movably mounted to traverse parallel to a character base line,

means for escaping said projection lens to position the selected font characters on the photographic film in justified relationship,

means for stepping said means for escaping, and

said means for escaping including a removably mounted change gear set having a gear ratio selected in accordance with the size of the selected font characters.

10. In a photocomposing machine for forming justified text from coded character identification signals of the type wherein selected font characters are projected onto and received by photographic lm positioned to provide a character base line at an image plane, the means for presentingY font characters, comprising;

frame means continuously rotating,

font strip means mounted on said frame means and including negative font characters and timing slits each located along respective opposite sides of the 16 font strip so that a selected timing slit indicates the required vertical character alignment relative to the character base line of a respective font character, and

wherein one end of said font strip includes means for engaging said frame means, the other end of said font strip includes additional apertures, and said frame means further includes resilient means engaging said additional apertures to secure said font strip on said frame means.

11. A photocomposing machine according to claim 2 wherein said control means is responsive to coded signals representing a change in the position of the vertical alignment ofthe characters.

12. A photocomposing machine according to claim 11 wherein said control means is a delay circuit for providing time delays representing different vertical alignments of said font characters at said image plane.

13. A photocomposing machine according to claim 11 wherein said means for presenting font characters includes timing slits positioned with respect to said font characters to provide control signals representing different vertical alignments of said font charac-ters at said image plane.

14. A photocomposing machine as in claim 13 wherein said timing slits are divided into two groups, one of said groups representing top of body alignment and the other group representing base line alignment.

15. A photocomposing machine according to claim 12 wherein said different vertical alignments vary from top of body alignment to base line alignment.

16. A photocomposing machine as in claim 7 wherein said means for engaging is a hooked end clip and said frame support further includes a hooked end plate for receiving and retaining said hooked end clip.

17. A photocomposing machine as in claim 16 wherein said one end of said font strip is folded, said hooked end clip has a bent end portion for retaining said folded end and attaching said font strip end to said hooked end clip.

18. A photocomposing machine as in claim 6 wherein said means for presenting font characters includestiming slits positioned to indicate the proper alignment of the individual font characters with said character base line and non-strobing code markings interposed between said timing slits, and

the photocomposing machine further comprises means for inhibiting said means for projecting upon sensing said non-strobing code markings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,336,849 8/1967 Broglio4 95-4.5 3,485,150 12/1969 Tortoriciet al. 95-4.5

SAMUEL S.`MATTHEWS, Primary Examiner R. A. WINTERCORN, Assistant Examiner Us. c1. XR.