2, horizontal teeth to
engage the teeth in the upper end of the matrices and hold them in
suspension. The teeth of the matrix for each letter differ in number or
arrangement, or both, from the teeth of matrices bearing other letters,
and the teeth on the lower edge of the distributor bar are
correspondingly varied in arrangement at different points in the length
of the bar. (See Fig. 2.)
The matrices are moved forward into engagement with the distributor bar
and also into engagement with the threads of horizontal screws _U_,
which are extended parallel with the distributor bar and constantly
rotated so that they cause the matrices to travel one after another
along the distributor and over the mouths of the channels in the
magazines. Each matrix is held in suspension until it arrives over its
proper channel, where for the first time its teeth bear such relation to
those of the bar that it is released and permitted to fall into the
magazine.
The speed of the machine, which is commonly from four to five thousand
ems per hour, but which has reached ten thousand and upward in
competitive trials, is due to the fact that the matrices pursue a
circulatory course, leaving the magazine at the lower end, passing
thence to the line and to the casting mechanism, and finally returning
to the top of the magazine.
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