  From a group $H$ and a non-trivial element $h$ of $H$, we define a
representation $\rho: B_n \to \Aut(G)$, where $B_n$ denotes the braid group on
$n$ strands, and $G$ denotes the free product of $n$ copies of $H$. Such a
representation shall be called the Artin type representation associated to the
pair $(H,h)$. The goal of the present paper is to study different aspects of
these representations.
  Firstly, we associate to each braid $\beta$ a group $\Gamma_{(H,h)} (\beta)$
and prove that the operator $\Gamma_{(H,h)}$ determines a group invariant of
oriented links. We then give a topological construction of the Artin type
representations and of the link invariant $\Gamma_{(H,h)}$, and we prove that
the Artin type representations are faithful. The last part of the paper is
dedicated to the study of some semidirect products $G \rtimes_\rho B_n$, where
$\rho: B_n \to \Aut(G)$ is an Artin type representation. In particular, we show
that $G \rtimes_\rho B_n$ is a Garside group if $H$ is a Garside group and $h$
is a Garside element of $H$.
