252 



8CIEJSrCJE. 



[Vol. VIII. , No. 189 



ends, sufiEicient to admit a short tube or ferrule of 

 the same inside diameter as the hole. As each 

 block is lowered into the trench, and placed in 

 position, a lax-ge plate of iron, previously heated, 

 is held between one end of it and the end of the 

 block it is to join. The heat softens the pitch, 

 and removes any oil which may have been left 

 by the mould. The iron is then removed, the 

 block drawn back a few inches, and the ferrules 

 are put in place. These ferrules are of such 

 length, that, when pushed firmly into place 

 against the shoulders of the enlargement, the 

 blocks remain about an inch apart. The block, 

 with ferrules inserted, being in position, a round 

 wooden bar, split lengthwise into two long 

 wedges, is inserted into each hole or duct, running 

 back through the ferrules into the other block. 

 One part of each bar is then slid upon the other, 

 until they fill the hole snugly, the result being 

 that the blocks are brought into practically exact 

 alignment. Next, iron plates, embracing the 

 joined ends of the blocks, are clamped in position, 

 and the space between the blocks and surrounding 

 the ferrules is filled with hot pitch concrete solid- 

 ly rammed. Then the aligning bars are removed, 

 and the operation is repeated with each subse- 

 quent block. The space between the conduits is 

 filled with hydraulic cement, and the double con- 

 duit enclosed in brick-work, the completed subway 

 presenting the appearance shown in section in the 

 accompanying diagram. 



THE STANDARD TYPOGRAPH. 



There is now being perfected in this city a 

 machine intended to dispense with type and type- 

 setters in certain kinds of printing. The ' standard 

 typograph ' is the name selected for it by its inven- 

 tors, though the term ' matrix puncher ' would be 

 a more fitting title. A good idea of its general 

 apj)earance may be gathered from the accompany- 

 ing illustration. At first glance, it seems to be a 

 combination of an enlarged type-writer and a sew- 

 ing-machine, possessing the key-board of the former 

 and the stand and operating mechanism of the lat- 

 ter. The typograph is in reality a kind of type- 

 writer, but, instead of printing upon paper, it pro- 

 duces indented or depressed characters upon a sheet 

 of soft metal, from which an electrotype may be 

 made, as from the wax matrix taken from type, 

 in the usual electrotyping process. 



The principal parts of the machine are, the key- 

 board, resembling that of the Remington type- 

 writer ; the type-wheel, which revolves in a hori- 

 zontal plane ; and the matrix carriage, immedi- 

 ately above the type-wheel. Part of the last is 

 shown in the engraving, above the key-board, 



about the middle of the machine. Fitted in verti- 

 cal grooves in the periphery of the type-wheel are 

 a number of steel types, one for each character 

 used in ordinary printing, the face of the type 

 being upward, toward the matrix carriage. Two 

 small lugs or stops project from the wheel at dia- 

 metrically opposite points. Arranged in a semi- 

 ckcle at the rear of the wheel are two rows of 

 detent levers, the outer end of each lever being 

 connected by a link with a finger-bar of the key- 

 board, much as the type-bar of a type- writer is con- 

 nected with its key. The detent levers are pivoted 

 ^lear the inner end, so that the depression of a 

 finger-bar, or key, as it may be called, raises the 

 inner end of its connected lever into the plane of 

 revolution of one of the stops of the type-wheel, 

 each stop being located on the wheel slightly 

 above its corresponding semicircle of levers. 



The matrix carriage, one end of which is shown 

 in the engraving, above and to the left of the type- 

 wheel, has movement in two directions in a hori- 

 zontal plane. The side movement, from left to 

 right or vice versa, is communicated to the car- 

 riage by the return of a key to its normal position 

 after being depressed to form a character in the 

 matrix. This side movement, or letter-spacing, is 

 variable, and is governed by the key depressed, so 

 that the carriage is moved each time a space equal 

 to the exact width of face of the type impressed in 

 the matrix. Thus, for the letter h or g, the car- 

 riage would move twice as far as for i or I. By a 

 simple adjusting device, this movement may be 

 changed so as to leave a space between the letters, 

 as shown in the concluding line of the sample 

 paragraph given farther along. The other move- 

 ment of the carriage, that required to bring the 

 matrix into position for a new line, is produced by 

 depressing a key provided for that purpose. This 

 movement also may be varied so as to leave greater 

 or less space between the lines. 



The manner of operating the machine is as fol- 

 lows : the matrix, which, as at present used, is a 

 sheet of lead about one thirty-second of an inch 

 thick, is secured firmly to the carriage, and ad- 

 justed, face downward, in its place above the type- 

 wheel. The operator, having his ' copy ' within 

 easy reading distance, puts the type-wheel in 

 motion by means of the treadle, and depresses the 

 keys one after another, according to the word or 

 space desired, as in the ordinary type-writing 

 machine. As each key is struck, the end of its 

 detent lever, by contact with the projection on the 

 wheel, stops the revolution of the latter, holding it 

 in such a position that the type desired is in place 

 for striking the matrix at the proper point. At 

 the same instant the type is forced upward by a 

 revolving cam, producing an impression of its face 



