Re: Panagraphed serials
Many jewelers use a pantograph (or pantagraph) to engrave everything from jewelry to nameplates. It uses a master number or letter, and the machine follows the master plate on one end and engraves the letter to any size desired on the other end using a tiny rotating cutter. It uses a cutter much like a tiny dentists drill to cut the new letter or number.
After I had a few minutes I went back to Still's books, and some 3's are indeed round topped, but I believe that in each case the beginning and end of the 3 had a tiny dot instead of being plain.
I don't know if you got anything out of my above explaination, but imagine the pantograph machine as a set of crossed sticks. If you fasten them in the middle, each end will be the same size as you spread the sticks. Now if you move the attachment point 3/4's down the sticks, one end will be much smaller if the other end was left the same distance as originally set. In this way the operator can control exactly the size of the letter or number desired. He merely follows the original pattern with one end, and the machine reproduces it at any desired size with the other end.
|