line-shifter _S_. A vertically reciprocating lifting finger _V_ has its
upper end shouldered to engage beneath the foremost matrix, so as to
push it upward until its upper ears are lifted above the detaining
shoulder _u2_, so that they may ride forward on the upwardly inclined
inner ends of the rails, as shown in Fig. 14. The matrices thus lifted
are engaged by the screws and carried forward, and, as they move
forward, they are gradually raised by the rails until the teeth finally
engage themselves on the distributor bar _T_, from which they are
suspended as they are carried forward, over the mouth of the magazine,
until they fall into their respective channels, as shown in Fig. 15.

The distributor box also contains on opposite sides shorter rails,
_u4_, adapted to engage the lower ends of the matrices, to hold them
in position as they are lifted. The lifting finger _V_ is mounted on a
horizontal pivot in one end of an elbow lever mounted on pivot _v2_
and actuated by a cam on the end of one of the carrier-screws, as shown
in Figs. 2 and 15.


TRIMMING-KNIVES

In practice there is occasionally found a slight irregularity in the
thickness of slugs, and thin fins are sometimes cast around the forward
edges. For the purpose of reducing them to a uniform thickness, they are
driven on their way to the galley between two vertical knives, as shown
in Figs. 4 and 16. The inner knife is stationary, but the outer knife is
adjustable in order that it may accommodate slugs of different
thicknesses. This adjustment is made by the knife being seated at its
outer edge against a supporting bar or wedge, having at opposite ends
two inclined surfaces seated against supporting screws in the