Cockpit label fonts ?

Hi Stan

Looking at the 4 “poor” photo’s I have of the cockpit area, 2C seems to be either very close or possibly the one used, the letters look thin & slightly elongated vertically as per the 2C font.

The majority of the lettering on the labels is 1/8 high, the letters & numbers are engraved in reverse on the back of the clear celluloid.

Bob T.

Ref Posts 6 & 9. My Taylor Hobson machine is set up with 2C fonts, as called for in the Smith’s standard. It will produce labels with letters or numbers from 3/32 ( 3mm) up to 9/16 (13.5 mm) in height.

A quick experiment with MS Word seems to show that the font “gulim bold” and “gulimChe bold” are pretty good approximations.Not of course that your average printer can engrave placards!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]228703[/ATTACH]I picked this up at an aeroboot a few years ago. Presumably this was manufactured using a Taylor Hobson machine?

I need to have some made for my Anson Mk.19 project. What Avro label drawings do you have, austernj673, are there any Anson ones amongst them?

Anon.

I see that there is a picture of the “font” 2C on the web site referenced above.

http://www.uphill.org.uk/pictures/scans/medium/th_manual/09.jpg

I’ve actually got one of those “fonts” digitised. I’ll need to do a match to work out which it is.

It was traced by hand from a set of pantograph templates. With three ply laminate it’s fairly simple to get it engraved with modern laser engravers at any size or make it follow curves, etc.

EDIT: Seems like it’s the “C” font.

Just for reference the codes are: A = normal, L = light, C = condensed. I think copy just refers to the physical size of the templates.

I see that there is a picture of the “font” 2C on the web site referenced above.

http://www.uphill.org.uk/pictures/scans/medium/th_manual/09.jpg

Many thanks for your replies on this subject, I’m sure that there are several other people in the same boat as myself regarding needing info etc on fonts, who will be interested in the info provided on this thread.

Bob T.

I have a Taylor Hobson Engraving machine with both upper and lower case stencils. If there are not too many to do and you cannot find someone to do the job in England I could possibly help.

Hi Stan I may well take you up on that offer. Would you also be able to cut the labels to size & radius or chamfer the top edges as needed ?.

Bob T.

What aircraft is it Bob?

Hi Elliott

It’s from around the same era as your Whitley “but not as pretty LOL”.

Any chance of an update on how things are going ?.

Bob T.

Interesting stuff!

I’m just guessing that Taylor Hobson might have their own fonts, but the probability is they would have used an existing font or fonts; but that needs someone more knowledgeable than me to id them – and they’d need samples.

A bit here on the T-H stuff;
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/ww2-taylor-hobson-engraving-machine-still-earning-its-keep-182719/
With this quote: “Have to quibble with Jim, though – for some reason, the machine in that photo is a Gorton 3-U with a Taylor Hobson workhead (the adjusting screws for the swiveling table far left give it away).” Well, obviously. 😀

And the Shorpy link mentioned:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/17487

Regards,

Taylor Hobson make engraving machines and pantographs etc. At a guess Taylor Hobson 2C will refer to a particular plate, a sort of stencil, which is used by these machines. You follow the outline of a letter with a pointer or needle and the machine engraves it exactly but it may be smaller or larger than the stencil.

Edit. Seems I am on the right lines:

http://www.uphill.org.uk/pages/engineering/machinery/taylor/manual/th_02.htm

Put Taylor Hobson in your search engine and you will probably be able to find out a lot more.

I have a Taylor Hobson Engraving machine with both upper and lower case stencils. If there are not too many to do and you cannot find someone to do the job in England I could possibly help.

What aircraft is it Bob?

Taylor Hobson make engraving machines and pantographs etc. At a guess Taylor Hobson 2C will refer to a particular plate, a sort of stencil, which is used by these machines. You follow the outline of a letter with a pointer or needle and the machine engraves it exactly but it may be smaller or larger than the stencil.

Edit. Seems I am on the right lines:

http://www.uphill.org.uk/pages/engineering/machinery/taylor/manual/th_02.htm

Put Taylor Hobson in your search engine and you will probably be able to find out a lot more.

Smiths standard, NUMERALS AND LETTERS FOR AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENT DIAL AND PANEL MARKINGS

From this 1958 standard, the following is given:

8 ENGRAVED CHARACTERS
Where characters are produced by engraving the following shall apply:-

8.1 Square ended cutters shall be used for lines .030″ or greater in width.
8.2 For lines under .030″ wide the cutter angle must not be greater than 60° included.
8.3 Engravings which are to be filled with a colour contrasting with the background shall not be less than .010″ deep.
8.4 Engravings which are to remain the same colour as the background shall be not more than .010″ deep.
8.5 The preferred masters used for engraving the characters are:-

LETTERS Smith Civil and M.O.S. Taylor Hobson 2C.

NUMERALS Smiths Civil 1 to 3, 8 , 0 Taylor Hobson 2C.
Smiths Civil 4 to 7, 9 Special.

NUMERALS M.O.S. 1 to 5, 7, 8, 0 Taylor Hobson 2C.
M.O.S. 6 and 7 Special.

I hope this adds to the collective knowledge as I do not know if the reference to Taylor Hobson is in fact a font?

I know for a bunch of ones I had to get done for Australian aircraft I had to start with Copperplate Gothic and then go in and edit them to remove the serifs. Though it was a bit of an inexact science as the fonts originally being hand done had tiny serifs on them in some cases or not at all…. so in the end I just went without the serifs

DIN 1451?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451
Widely used after the war. Don’t know about during, but it was designed in 1931

Hi auster

I have drawings for most of the labels, it’s just the type of font that isn’t specified on them, I’d guess that the drawings you have, probably don’t have the font type on them either ?.

Cheer’s.

Bob T.

Hi Bob, which aircraft do you need info for? I have a Few Avro drawings of various labels.