In addition to their application as cutting tools, pantographs are of course useful simply as aids in the drawing office. In type-making, however, this seems to have been done relatively infrequently.
In 1906, Benton described in general terms ATF's methods for making matrices. [1] One of the methods involved the use of a drawing pantograph to enlarge type from design drawings done about an inch in (capital) height to larger versions for inspection and later use with a wax plate method of working pattern production. He did not illustrate the "delineating machine" used for this.
In a 1909 article in The American Machinist [2] W. J. Kaup also described these same ATF methods and illustrated the machine used for "Delineating the Characters": [3]
This is almost certainly a simplified version of the pantograph patented by Benton in 1899/1905 (US 790,172); see ../ Specific Pantographs in More Detail -> ATF's Design Pantograph for a discussion of it. (I'm calling it his "1899/1905 Optomechanical Pantograph," but neither Benton nor ATF named it that; I just need a name for it which doesn't use the problematic term "delineator.")
We know that a pantograph was present in ATF's "Designing Room" in their Jersey City plant cira 1912, because they show a picture of it in their 1912 specimen book. [4]
(The image above links to a 2048 pixel wide JPEG reduction of the original scan, which is suitable for most viewing. Here is a full-resolution version (6496x4640, 59 Megabytes): atf-1912-american-specimen-book-1200rgb-0000-09-crop-designing-room-6496x4640.png)
However, this machine is clearly not the "1899/1905 Optomechanical Pantograph" noted earlier. Instead, it resembles the one illustrated in Kaup's 1909 American Machinist article as the machine for "Delineating On [a] Wax Plate." See ../ Specific Pantographs in More Detail -> ATF's Wax Plate Pantograph for a discussion of it.
1. In Hitchcock, Frederick H. The Building of a Book. (NY: The Grafton Press, 1906) . Linn Boyd Benton wrote the chapter on "The Making of Type," pp. 31-40.
1. From Kaup, W. J. "Modern Automatic Type Making Methods." American Machinist. Vol. 32 (December 16, 1909): 1042-1046.
3. But see the note on the problems of the term "delineate" in Benton's machines for a discussion of the problems in using the term "delineator" for this machine.
4. From American Specimen Book of Type Styles (NY: American Type Founders Company, 1912). Scanned by DMM from my tattered copy, s/n 38187.
The 1909 volume of The American Machinist and its digitization by Google are in the public domain. The extracts from it reprinted here remain in the public domain.
The 1912 ATF specimen book and my scans from it are in the public domain.
US patent documents are in the public domain by law. The reprint of it here remains in the public domain.
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