US1347580A - Printing-telegraph - Google Patents

Description

e. s. HILTZ.

PRINTING TELEGRAPH. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24, 191B.

. 347,580. Patented July 27, 1920.

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G S HILTZ PRINTING' TELEGRAPH. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24', 1918- 1,347,580. Patented July 27,- 1920.

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9% 5? wwtltmneqs UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE S. HILTZ, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STOCK QUOTATION TELEGRAPH COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PRIN TIN G-TELEGRAPH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 24, 1918. Serial No. 259,507.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. HILTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New'York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Telegraphs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention for which application for Letters Patent is hereby made, is an improvement in the page printing telegraph system of J. Burry, a system now well known and in extensive use and more particularly set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 680,693, dated August 20, 1901.

In setting forth in the accompanying specification the nature and purpose of my present improvement I shall not show in any detail the original Burry apparatus, but illustrate it diagrammatically only, but to aid in a more ready understanding of this invention I may give the following general description of that apparatus.

In the Burry system a sun-flower circuit controller is employed in conjunction with a key-board and a clutch magnet which, operated through the segments of the sunflower by the depression of keys corresponding to said segments, arrests contacts which send positive or negative current impulses over one line wire which operate to position the type wheel through the instrumentality of an escapement. The keys which, when depressed thus determine the position of the type wheel also control through suitable instrumentalities current impulses over a second line wire which operate to shift the type wheel from its established position to bring an adjacent type character or one or another of two adjacent letters thereon into the true printing position and to effect other operations in the receiver the nature of which, so far as the present case is con-' cerned, are largely immaterial.

The characteristic feature of the original Burry system, so far as may be of moment in the present case, is, however, that it required and involvedthe use of two line wires or circuits, which, for some reasons, is an objection, and-the invention set forth herein is an improvement on that system broadly in that it involves but a single line wire between the transmitter and one or a plurality of page printing receivers. This improvement is effected by he u e and cooperation of certain circuits and known electrical devices, and no more clear comprehension of its nature would be gained by a general statement than will result from a consideration of the details of mechanism and circuits which will be described by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In general illustration of the nature of the present invention it may, however, be further pointed out that in the Burry system where two line wires were employed, each line had its own current strength and these were assumed to be equal, as no difference in current strength was required for its operation. In the present case, however, where one of these line wires is dispensed with, I employ three different current strengths, the weakest, of say 50 mill ramperes operates the escapement magnet of the receiver which controls the rotation of the type wheel, and the final impulse of this current, which is prolonged, also operates the relay in the receiver which controls the local source of current for the printing.

The second strength of current which may be assumed to be 100 inilli-amperes operates to energize the magnet which shifts the type wheel one step to bring either of two adj acent characters thereon into the printing position. This current also operates the printing mechanism.

The third current strength which we may assume to be 250 milli-amperes operates the relay that effects the return of the paper carrier back to its initial position at the end of a line and this current has no other function in the operation of the system.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram of the complete system, and Fig. 2 a more readily understandable diagram of a timing relay and circuit connections forming a part thereof.

In the diagram, A represents the keyboard which in practice comprises two sets or banks of keys, thirty-six in number, but two only are shown, one in each of two concentric sets of eighteen. B is a portion of the sun-flower rotating in unison with a motor and circuit controller C. D is a clutch magnet, the functions of which will be more fully hereinafter described. E is the escapement controlling magnet of the receiver, and F indicates the group of magnets and other mechanism of said, receiver or pr n er Patented July 27, 1920,

As no mechanism of any new or unusual character is employed and the system depends solely upon the arrangement of such mechanism in the circuits, a detailed description of operation will suflice to show the precise nature of the invention as a whole. For this purpose we may assume that 1 is a switch in a circuit 2, 2, which when closed directs current through brushes 3, 3 on the commutator of a direct current motor that normally revolves the clutch armature 4.

The conducting shaft of the motor or clutch armature has an insulating segment 5 on one side and three brushes 6, 7 and 8 bearing on the shaft. The brush 6 is always in contact with the metal shaft, and'the insulating se ment comes alternately under brushes 7' ant 8, so that by the revolution of the motor shaft the brush 6 is connected electrically first with brush 7 and then with brush 8.

The armature 4 rotates between the poles of a clutch magnet 9, and whenever current is directed through the coils of said magnet the said armature is arrested in the position shown in the drawing, with the insulating segment 5 under either brush 7 or brush 8. The parts thus far described are well known and belong to the prior art.

Normally, the motor is supplied with current by the closure of switch 1, and the armature 4 is rotated with the result that impulses of alternately positive and negative current are sent by the proper relays over the line to the receiver, but these, as will be seen from what follows, are so weakened as to be capable ofno opera-' tion in the system beyond the usual buzazing and movement of the escapement controlling the position of the type wheel. Let it be assumed, however, that the system is to be operated and letters orcharacters transmitted and printed. The switch 10 is closed to connect two batteries 11 and 12'to ground at 13. 11 includes a relay 14, while thatof batter 12 includes a relay 15 and a normally closed key 16. hen relay 14 is energized it attracts its'armature 17 and closes the circuit between two posts 18 and 19. In like manner when relay 15 is active it closes by its armature 20 the circuit between two posts 21 and 22. V

The conditions being estai'ilished as thus described, let any given key as 23 be depressed. This connects a battery 24 through that key andits circuitwire 25 to the seg ment of the sunflower 26 that corresponds to that particular key and thence to ground I at 27 One result of this is to close relay 28 and ground one terminal of a battery 29, the other terminal of which is permanently grounded through the clutch magnet 9 and stops the armature which is rotating in uni- The circuit of battery wire 36 to the post 37 of a relay magnet 38,

which, as will be described, is at this moment active, so that the current passes across its armature 47 to post 39, and thence to the post 40 of relay 41, which, at the mo-' ment, is also closed. So that the current flows across its armature 42 to post 48, and thence by wire 44 to a'regulated resistance 45, and then by wire 46 to the post 48 of r elay'49.

It has been assumed that the two relays 38 and 41 are active at the instant of the passage of the current through these armatures, and this fact may best be explained by reference to Fig. 2. The clutch magnet is grounded through wire 81 which includes the coils of a relay 82, which is thereby energized and attracts its armature 83, which bridges the two posts 84 and 85. 4

At all times except as hereinafter noted, during the operation of the apparatus a battery 78 sends current to ground at 87 through one or both back contacts of two relays 88 and S9 and wire 90, which includes the coils of a relay 79 and the coils of relay 41. Hence the armature 91 of relay 7 9 normally bridges the posts 92 and 93, so that the current from a-battery 95, when relay 8?. is energized, is carried across'the armature 91 to the coils of a second relay 94 and to ground. The energization of relay 94 necessarily follows the operation of relay 31, or, in other words, the two magnets 82 and 94 constitute a timing relay which prevents chattering of any of the receiver magnets following the closing of the line circuit.

Relay 94 attracts its armature 96 and this bridges the posts 97 and 9S and grounds a attery 99 at the point 109, through the relay 38. in this way when anykey 23 is depressed, both relays 38 and. 41 are energized, while at other times the current through relay 79 renders the relay 41 alone active.

Normally the magnet of the relay 49 is inactive and the current path instead of being through the armature 50 to post 51 is through aresistance 52to said post which is capable of regulation in amount, but the current which is supposed to be sent over the line by the electrical union of brushes 6 and 8 is a relatively strong current, and hence the resistance at this point should be cut out of the circuit, for which purpose the relay magnet 49 should at this moment be energized. v

To go back for a moment, therefore, to explain how this is done. hen any key 23 is depressed it grounds the battery 24 not only through a sunflower segment, but also through a relay magnet 53, and the armature of this relay 5 1 grounds a battery 55 through the relay magnet 19. Hence when a current, such as we are now considering, comes from brush 8, the path for the circuit from post 48 to post 51 is through the armature 50 and around the resistance 52.

' The star wheel controlling the type wheel, neither of which is shown, is advanced step by step by the armature of the polarized. magnet E, which therefore draws its armature 58 over to the left, since the current impulse is positive, and stops the type wheelin a position corresponding to that of the sunflower segment through which current was received from the key 23.

In the Burry system a character which is to be printed may or may not be brought by the transmitted current impulses to the exact printing position. For example, it may be displaced one letter space short of the correct position, in which case a magnet is used in second circuit to shift the type wheel one letter space to bring the desired character to position. In my system, however, the strong current impulse resulting from the depression of a key 23 brings the desired character one letter space from the printin position, but associated with the polarized relay is a magnet 59, which responds only to a strong current and its armature 60 acts to shift the type Wheel when set by such strong impulse to bring the proper letter to position.

The same impulse effects the printing,

the feed and other operations as in the- Burry system, which operations need not, for the present, be gone into in any detail. It is suflicient to say that when the key 23 is released the conditions established by its depression come to an end, and the parts go on with their normal movement, that is to say, the sunflower and type wheel continue their synchronous movement'until another key is depressed.

Let us now assume that one of the other keys as 61 be depressed. This grounds abattery 62 through the sunflower as before and when the segment that corresponds to said key 61 comes under the contact 63 the relay 28 is energized and the clutch 9 stops the armature 4. At this instant, however, the armature may be assumed to be in a position 180 from that shown, that is to say, the insulating segment 5 will now be under the brush 8, and brushes 6 and 7v will be in electrical union. We may therefore consider the current as flowing from brush 7 through wire 64; to the right hand magnets 65 of the double relay, which will draw the armature 33 over to the right and connect the negative pole of a battery 66 to wire 36.

Following the path of the current, it flows through wire 36 to post 37, over armature 17 to post 39, thence topost 40 across armature 42 to post -13, both relays 38 2111Cl-t1 being at the moment energized by the timing relay, and thence by wire 414: through the controllable resistance 45 through wire 16 to post 18.

The relay 4L9 at this instant is inactive as it is closed only by the depression of one of the keys 23, hence the current from post 48 must pass through the resistance 52 and thence to post 21 across armature 20 to post 22 by wire 56 to post 19 across armature 17 to post 18, and thence by wire 57 to line. This is a weak current and it operates to attract the armature of the polarized escapement magnet E to one side to bring the proper character on the type wheel to printing position, and to perform the other necessary operations in the receiver.

hen no key is depressed, the brushes 7 and 8 are brought alternately into electrical union with brush 6, and impulses of current are sent to the double relay with the result that alternate impulses are sent over the line, but these accomplish nothing beyond the advance of the type wheel by the operation of the polarized magnet E. That this will be so may be seen by following the path of the current from either battery 35 or 66 through the armature 33. This current passes by wire 36 through the resistance 81, since relay 38 is inactive, through the resistance 67, 15 and 52 to line, as relay 49 is also inactive.

It will be understood that in the practical use of the system the operatorat the keyboard has a local printer at hand, and as all printers on the line are always in exactly the same condition he can tell when to shift the paper for lines and return the type wheel carriage to begin a new line. He does this by depressing the key 16, which operates to send over the line a current of extra or third strength which, received by the transmitter, operates the other magnets and also the special magnet or magnets that control this operation. By depressing this key 16, the circuit of relay 15 is broken and its armature is retracted. While this relay is active its armature 20 engages a contact 68 and depresses the same out of contact with a stop 69, hence the circ uit between post 22 and post'21 is closed only when relay 15 is energized, but when this circuit is interrupted, as it will be by the depression of key 16, the circuit from the positive or negative poles of batteries 7 0 and 71 is made by the armature 72 of the double relay to wire 73 to post 69, and thence through contact 68, post 22, wire 56, across armature l7 and direct to line around all resistances. This results in a heavy current impulse that effects on the receiver the desired operation.

It is frequently necessary to repeat a given letter or character, and'this is done by the following means. Assuming a key which corresponds to the character to be printed is depressed, then to repeat that character a key 74: is depressed, which grounds both batteries 24k and 62 through the sunflower and the depressed key. In addition to relay 53, thus operated, two other relays 8S and 89 in the circuits of the two batteries E l-and 62 are also energized, and the armatures of both these relays are simultaneously attracted and open the circuit from battery 78, normally including magnet 79 of tl e timing relay and also the relay 41. This, however, does not break the circuit of relay 38, which, however, at the moment has no effect upon the operation, but at the same time it forces the current to flow through the high resistance 67, so that when it reaches the receiver it has only strength su'liicient to cause the armature 58 of the escapement magnet to stick after the desired character has been printed the first time, so that by the second depression of the key 74 the same character will be againprinted, or repeated.

It is desirable that a shunt or bridge con taining a high resistance 81 be maintained around the relay 38 to permit sufficient current to leak over the line while the keys are being operated to prevent chattering of the receiver magnets. Otherwise its function may be disregarded.

In illustration of the invention I have not shown in all respects the means which are used practically in carrying it out for obvious reasons of convenience. For example, where it is necessary to show a source of current, I have represented this by an independent battery, but to those skilled in the art this will be understood to bemerely a convenient means of illustrating a tap from any suitable source of electrical energy. In this and other respects of like nature, it will be understood therefore that the illustration is purely diagrammatic,

To summarize now the features which have been'set forth as comprised in the in vention, the main object, it will be seen, is to operate the Burry system by a single wire instead of two wires. To accomplish this I use currents over the line of different strengths. Such currents are obtained by the use of relays which are operated by the keys and other-transmitting devices which throw in or throw out resistances with re spect to the transmission line, whereby, by means of a source of current of given volt age all the required current strengths are automatically obtained. Practically, the

system works as well with one line in connection with my improvements as it does with two lines under the plans originally devised.

What I claim is: V

1. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, the combination with a keyboard, a sunflower, a rotary circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by currents through the sunflower segments to arrest the circuit controller, of relays operated by the keys, according to the characters which they represent and resistances adapted to be thrown into or out of the line circuit by said relays to cause currents of such different strengths to flow over the single line circuit as will produce the operations necessary in the receiver for printing, feeding and other control of the parts thereof.

2. Ina page printing telegraph system of the kind described, a transmitter for sending impulses of current over a single line, comprising in combination the following elementsa keyboard, a sunflower, a rotary circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by currents directed by the keys through appropriate segments of the sunflower, current paths some with and some without resistances therein and relays operated both directly and indirectly bythe keys for directing a current to the receiver through such of said paths as will contain that amount of resistance which will result in a current of the desired strength according to the key or keys depressed and the nature of the operation to be performed in.

the receiver.

. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, a transmitter, for sending impulses of current over a single line, comprising in combination the following elements-a keyboard, a sunflower, a rotary circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by currents directed by the keys through appropriate segments of the sunflower, current paths, some with and some without resistances therein, and relays some of which are permanently closed but 'key controlled and others adapted to be con trolled by the depressionof the character keys whereby when a given character key is depressed it establishes for the current to line a path of predetermined resistance whereby the current strength of the impulse to line will correspond to the said key and effect the proper operation in the receiver.

4. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, a transmitter for sending current impulses of varying strength over the line, comprising in combination the following elementsa keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by currents directed by the keys through the sunflower segments to arrest the circuit controller, a timing relay in circuit with the clutch magnet and relays for establishing difi'erent paths for the current to line, all of said relays being under the control directly or indirectly of the keys, and relays which energized by the first named relays throw in or throw out resistances from the line whereby each key will establish for the impulse which it sends a path of proper resistance to determine the necessary current strength corresponding to such key.

5. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, a transmitter for sending current impulses of varying strength over the line comprising in combination the following elements-a keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by current sent by a key through the appropriate sunflower segment to arrest the circuit controller, a path of high resistance through the transmitter over which the circuit controller normally sends impulses to line, a key controlled relay for shunting said path around all resistances to send a verystrong current, and other key controlled relays for shunting said path around more or less of such resistance in order to send currents or varying strengths to line.

6. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, a transmitter comprising a combination the following elements, a keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit controller and a clutch magnet for arresting the circult controller when operated by current sent by a key through the appropriate segment of the sunflower, a path for current through the transmitter to line, two relays normally and permanently closed, means for controlling the circuits of said relays, and other relays the circuits of which are controlled either directly or indirectly by the character keys for throwing in or throwing out resistances into the current path for determining the strength of current impulses sent to line by the character keys.

7. In a page printing telegraph system of the kind described, the combination with a transmitter for sending impulses to line and comprising a keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit of the kind described, the combination with a transmitter comprising a keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit controller and a clutch magnet, of means for repeating in the printer any given character consisting in a repeat key which interposes in the line a resistance so high as to permit only such current to flow as will cause the type wheelescapement magnet to stick so that the next impulse transmitted will print the same character.

9. The combination with a keyboard, a sunflower, a circuit controller and a clutch magnet operated by current sent by a key through a segment of the sunflower to arrest the circuit controller in one of two positions, a relay operated by the current impulse sent by the arrest of the circuit controller adapted to send positive and nega- 'tive current impulses to line, and means controlled by the keys for determining the strength or" such impulses by the amount of resistance in the line dependent upon the depression of such key.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature. I

GEORGE S. HILTZ.

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