Rul′ing-ma-chine′.
An arrangement for ruling sheets of paper for blanks or for writing.
The simplest ruling-machine, perhaps, is a pen and straight-edge.
A cylindrical ruler with a guide for the ruling-pen is a common device.
In ruling paper with
faint lines for writing, the sheets are passed singly under a series of ruling-pens, arranged at proper distances apart to give the lines.
The pen is a bent strip of thin sheet-metal, forming a trough, down which the ink or dye runs from a bit of cloth or sponge, which is saturated with the fluid.
Two or more colors may be ruled in parallel lines by employing a set of pens for each color.
Blank-books and blanks with printed headings are preferably ruled of late years by the ruling-machine, instead of on the letter-press, the rules in the latter case making an impression in the paper which is liable to catch the pen.
Perpendicular rules are sometimes drawn from different points at the top of the page, when heads and sub-heads are printed on the paper.
This is accomplished in a ruling-machine by raising some of the pens until the sheet has passed to the point from which the lines are drawn, when the pens are lowered to the paper.
This is accomplished by hand, or by a cam movement operating a
striker.
All the pens are lifted at once at the foot of the sheet, generally by a cam mechanism.
Blanks and blank-books are generally printed before ruling.
The ruling of note and
letter paper on three pages is accomplished by a cam movement which raises the pens when halfway across the outside of the sheet.
The expense of ruling on three pages is therefore greater than where the paper is ruled entirely across.
Compound lines, as the heavy lines in account-books, when of two colors, are ruled by pens of different length, one pen extending forward on the machine beyond its neighbors.
The lines are thus brought close together without crowding the pens, and the dye first run upon the paper has an instant of time to
set before the second color is reached.
Zigzag, wavy, and cross lines are ruled on bank-notes, checks, etc., by giving the paper a double motion while under the pens.
Very neat designs and tints are sometimes secured in this way.
In
Hickock's machine, the sheets from the feed-table are received by the roller
a and carried, by an endless belt and cords, beneath the row of pens
b, from which they are conveyed by the cords
c to the other end of the machine, and after passing
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around the roller
c′, travel upon the cords
d to
e, where they are transferred to the cords
f, by which they are conducted to the delivery-board
g, having thrice traversed the whole length of the machine.
This is done in order to dry the ink.
The pen-holder for ruling-machines (
Fig. 4500) consists of an arm
a secured to the ruler-bar in such a way that the distance between the holders composing the set may be varied.
The other end has a pair of jaws, between which a double pen
b is secured by a set-screw.
Above, and hinged to the arm
a, is a second sliding-holder
c, which may be held fast by the set-screw
d. This receives a single pen
e. The distance between the pens
b e is varied by means of a set-screw
f.
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Ruling-machine pen. |
2. (
Engraving.) The invention of
Wilson Lowry.
This consists of a carriage traveling in a groove or on a bar, and carrying a diamond-pointed stylus, which makes a line through the
ground covering the plate.
The line being drawn, a thumb-piece lifts the stylus, and the carriage is retracted.
Then, by a lever arrangement, the carriage track is shifted laterally the distance between two lines.
This distance is regulated according to requirements for wide or narrow ruling, and when set, the distance is preserved until the job is finished, unless by a gradual increase or decrease in the sweep of the
distance-lever, the ruling is gradually made more or less open.
In line engraving, the sky and still water are usually ruled in by the machine.
In the commoner class of line engravings it is also much used for throwing an even tint, either light or dark, over an object.
It is considered by the profession to be unworthy of the artist, as cheapening the process and degrading the purity of the art. The effect of ruling in these latter cases gives a smooth mezzotint effect, is easily accomplished, and is pleasing to those who do not care for the conventionalities of the art.
