IL30578A

IL30578A - Apparatus particularly useful for converting standard typewriter to record in braille

Info

Publication number: IL30578A
Application number: IL30578A
Authority: IL
Original assignee: Israel State
Priority date: 1968-08-20
Filing date: 1968-08-20
Publication date: 1972-07-26
Also published as: US3640368A; IL30578A0; NL6912343A; CH511718A; DE1941858A1; GB1268854A; FR2016978A1

Description

APPARATUS PARTICULARLY USEFUL POR STANDARD TYPEWRITER TO RECORD IN BRAILLE The present invention relates to apparatus particularly useful for converting a standard typewriter to record in Features of the may be used in other A of Braille recorders have heretofore been some of the known machines are complicated mechanical and are therefore Others cumbersome to The present invention provides apparatus to enable a standard typewriter to record in said apparatus including a plurality of electrical one for each of the standard typewriter one for the shift key and one interconnecting said switches and said recording and record sheet advancing means arranged to be actuated upon each actuation of said actuators to advance a record sheet by one character said network arranged to respond to actuation of the space bar switch to cause actuation of said record to respond to actuation of any one of the character key switches alone to selectively ooff tthhee sshhiifftt kkeeyy sswwiittcchh aanndd aatt lleeaasstt oonnee ooff ssaaiidd actuators to record Braille character different from that recorded upon actuation of such key switch said network including at least one gate arranged to receive one input in response to actuation of said switch and a second input to actuation o said one of said key switches and to respond to the joint reception of said first and second inputs to cause selective energisation of said actuators to record different Braille Such an apparatus has a number of important there is the financial advantage in permitting the user to use own standard adding only an There is also an important psychological advantage in permitting the blind person to his own familiar that does not have to learn how to use a unfamiliar In by producing both a Braille output and a standard typewriter blind person able to carry out correspondence in a convenient manner with a seeing and vice it enables him to check what he has by means of the Braille which can be to a blind computer Further features and advantages of the be apparent from the description The is herein somewhat and by way of example with reference to the accompanying 1 schematically illustrates the main units of one form of apparatus constructed in accordance with the present 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating the operation of apparatus of and 3 is a logic diagram illustrating a further feature of the there is illustrated a standard typewriter T havin the conventional character keys 2 and a According to the an attachment 10 is provided for the which attachment includes a plurality of electrical switches 12 one for each character key 2 of the These hereinafter referred to as the are disposed within the attachment so output om switchin 18 includes a electrical conductor 24 which t e shee advancin in advancing the record sheet the depression of each character key or With reference to the Braille recording 22 includes recording pins arranged in two vertical columns of three each pin including actuator for actuating the Braille unit includes the 26 for advancing the character increment upon The as show in includes a diode havin ah input line each character key and an output line 20 for each matrix and each 20 is connected to a horizontal conductors 0 to of the er diodes are applied vertical horizontal conductors to an output oh 20 according to to character key switch 12 actuated o a characte Fo as shown the diode m trix arrangement in depression of the character key will produce a pulse on conductor key conductors and key on conductors and and key on conductors and A generator is connected to each o the conductors at the output side of the diode The pulse generators are in turn connected to the recording pin actuators The pulse generators produce a standard pulse closure of the switches therefore he actuation of the Braille recording pins becomes independent of the quality of the The pulse generators also produce an output pulse applied through a single 30 to line 24 for controlling the advancin means 26 in order to advance the record sheet the Braille recorder one character increment each depression of a key on the The paper advance of course e the operation of the recording pins is A delay may be in line 24 fo providing this switch actuated by depression of the space bar through conductor 3 to of the advancing so that the paper tape is also advanced one character incremen following the depression of the space The operation the apparatus will be apparent from above When the depresses a character key on the typewriter the characte is printed by the in the switch 12 corresponding to the character key depressed is Diode matrix 19 produces a pulse on those of lines to corresponding in Braille code to the character key and these pulses are transmitted to respective generators which actuate the respective solenoids of the Braille recording the character will also be in In actuation of one or more the pulse generators produces a on conductor which pulse is transmitted through delay 3 and conductor 24 to the advance mechanism whereby the paper tape is advanced one increment the recording pins have completed their depression typewriter space ba which close switch 14 to transmit a through conductor 32 to line 24 of the advance mechanism as the user operates the in conventional produce the normal typewriter outputs a correspondin Braille output is by the Braille recording device Standard there are man keys each effective to print one of two elements symbol or a one the depending upon whether or not the typewriter is also Many of keys selectively print the lower case of the keys are effective to print characters or symbols important to one key may be effective to print a lower the key is not a upper when the shift key is the present in orde to identify element to be printed a switch is included so to be operated by depression of the and a preliminary circuit is which determines if the shift key has been or If has been depressed passed the switching corresponding elements and shift has been signal from ke to inpu of the switching network correspondin to the element the upper a logic circui accomplishin The shift key of the standard typewriter is Indicated at and the effective print a or is indicated at The switches actuated by each are respectivel at and The circuit whether the shift key 40 has been depressed or no includes two gates 44 and gate 44 includes two input line 48 connected to switch and line 50 connected to switch it includes one output line connected to the input line of the switchin matrix 19 corresponding to one of elements to be the higher element case a the key The second 46 also includes two line 54 connected to switch connected to switch Line 54 however connected to ate 46 throuh an inverter ate included a single output line this one to the input line of the switching matrix the other the lower element of the this case the key The operation of the circuit of as When only key 42 is depressed not shif key a positive pulse applied to input line 50 gat ground is applied to input line 48 of gate since both inputs not no output pulse is produced on line connected to the element line of the diode matrix Upon depression key 42 a positive is also on line 56 of AND gate and a ground pulse on inpu line 54 of that pulse is inverted by before to gate and therefor the gate receives two positive positive thus produced o line 60 connected to the lower element line the diode matri the lower element wiH by the Braille if both the key 40 and the prin key 42 are two positive pulses are received in gate producing a positive output o 52 to the upper element line of the switching Two positive are also on lines 56 but the former is line of switching higherelement will be printed b the Braille Many variations and applications of the can be For the invention could be in the form of attachment to a standard aotually built into the typewriter features o the invention could be used for recording or in codes othe than the signals to the switching and the pape punch could be derived from a character recognition or a or tape reader used in conjunction wit Other and applications of the illustrated embodiment will be insufficientOCRQuality

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED ISI

1. Apparatus to enable a standard typewriter to additionally record in Braille, said apparatus including a plurality of electrical switches* one foi- each character-key of the standard typewriter keyboard, one for the shift key and one for the space bar, a Braille recording device including a plurality of electrical actuators for selectively actuating a plurality of recording pins to record Braille characters, a coding network interconnecting said vwitches and said recording device, and record sheet advancing means arranged to be actuated upon each actuation of said actuators to advance a record sheet by one character space, said network being arranged to respond to actuation of the space bar witch to cause actuation of said record advancing advan-ta-ging. means, to respond to actuation of any one o the character key switches along to selectively energise said actuators to record a corresponding Braille character and to respond to the joint actuation of the shift key switch and at least one of said character-key switches to selectively energise said actuators to record a Braille character different from that recorded upon actuation of said character-key switch alone, said network including at least one AND gate arranged to receive one input in response to actuation of said shift-key switch and a second input in response to actuation of said one of said character key switches and to respond to the joint reception of said first and second inputs to cause selective energisation P.A.30578/2

2., Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of said actuators is arranged to be energised by an individual pulse generator, connected to the output side of said coding network*

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2 wherein said record advancing means is arranged to be energised from said pulse generators. . Apparatus to enable a standard typewriter to additionally record in Braille substantially as herein described with reference to the, accompanying drawings. 5· Braille recording apparatus comprising a standard typewriter having apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to. ¾, arranged with said plurality of electrical switches individually disposed to be actuated by the corresponding keys of the typewriter keyboard. COHEN ZEDEK & SPISBACH P.O.B0X 33116 TEL AVIV ATTORNEYS FOR APPLICANT