US1356277A - Typewriting-machine for coding and decoding messages - Google Patents

Description

J. C. GRANT. TYPEWRITING MACHINE FOR CODING AND DECODING MESSAGES.

3 APPLICATION F ILED FEB. 4, I919. Elfififififfi Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

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I IID J. C. GRANT. TYPEWRITING MACHINE FOR CODING AND DECODING MESSAGES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, I919. E 856 27? Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

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INWENTNBN IZFSSJKEWURZ AZEIEHWARN EV PATENT OFFICE;

JOHN cAMERON GRANT, OF BARNES, LONDON, ENGLAND.

TYPEWRITING-MAO I-IINE FOR CODING AND DECODING MESSAGES.

Application filed February 4,1919 Serial No. 274,935. I i

To all whom it may, concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CAMERON GRANT, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Holly Lodge, 29, The Terrace, Barnes, in the county of London, England, have invented, certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting-Machines for Coding and Decoding Messages, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to typewriters and has for its object the typewriting of a message in code, produced by consecutively depressing the keys corresponding to the lettering of the message to be coded. I

. The invention relates particularly to that form of code in which a key or code number of one or more figures'is repeated indefinitely in relation to the consecutive letters composing the original message each of which is advanced or retired in alphabetical sequence by the number of letters given by the relative figure of the key or code number. Similarly in decoding the message received, the key or code number is repeated indefinitely in relation to the consecutive letters composing the coded message, each of which is retired or advanced in alphabetical sequence by the number of .letters given by the relative figure of the key or code number. I

It has been proposed ina cryptographic machine to mount on a common shaft two type cylinders, one of which is angularly adjustable on the shaft by means of a special key, and may also be constituted by a number of relatively adjustable disks to vary the code.

It has also been proposed that the typewriting machine should produce simultaneously by the same key-depression a character of the original message and the corresponding character of the coded message.

The present invention consists in means for the simultaneous production of the original and coded message letter by letter for each keyulepression.from a series of disks or shuttles, on a common axis, one set relatively fixed in relation to the axis and the other set relatively adjustable in relation to the Zeroposition and to each other, both sets or the latter set only being shifted axially at each key depression;' also for simultaneously transcribing and decoding the message by the same means the machine them when so set.

being set appropriately to obtain the desired result.

The invention further consists of a method of forming type-wheels or shuttles with a castellated or multiple splined hole or with notches and drilled holes for-affording means. for setting the parts in position relatively to each other and for driving The invention further consists in the provision of a type-wheel shaft or tube having the appropriate number of splines or castel lations or aisingle driving arm or rib capable of engaging with the required notches in the respective type shuttles.

lVhether a splined shaft is used in combination with type cylinders as in the adaptation of the invention tofa machine of the Blickensderfer class or whether the motion ofthe type wheels is one of rotation through mond class theaction is virtually the same and, it is therefore only necessary to describe the "application to the latterclass of typewriting machine.

. The invention also consists in the improved cryptographictypewriting machine hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one method of carrying my invention into effect;

Figure 1 is a central section from front to back of the complete machine;

Fig. 2 is a detail View of the hammer operating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a developed surfaces;

Fig. 4 isa "fragmentary plan view showing the relative positions of certain main parts;

Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the method of fixing the various rows of type in their relative positions;

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing a slightly modified form of construction.

The form of machine shown is of the general type in which the characters from which printing is made are carried on a cylinder which is rotated at each key depression in order to bring any desired letter to the printing'position, printing being then effected by the operation Ota hammer situatcd behind the paper. In such a machine view of the printing Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 0 1 ,19 i92() Mil the letter keys 1 are pivoted at a point 2 located at some distance from each end of the keylever.

It is to be observed that in using the term letter keys in the description and claims, I include keys which are used to print numerals, signs or any other character, the term letter key being used in contradistinction to the ordinary spacing or shiftkeys and to a special key hereinafter referred. to.

Located above the inner ends 'of the keys 1 is a frame 3 through which PlOJGCt a number of pins 4 the lower end of'each of which restson one of the keys- The effect, therefore, of depressing one of the keys'is, as indicated, to raise the corresponding pin 1 against the action of 'a spring 5 surrounding it, thus causing, the upper end of the pin to project through a portion of the framework 6 in which it is free to slide.

Situated in front of the pins 4, which in the machine described are disposed ap proximately in a semi-circle, as -indicated in Fig. 4, is a lever 7 fixed to the spindle 8. A second lever 9, also fixed to this spindle abuts at its upper end against a bearing surface. on the hub 10 which is free to re-' volve around the spindle 11.

It is to be understood that the lever system 7, 8 and 9 is duplicated on the oppositeside of the machine, that is to say the lever 7 shown in Fig. 1 rests on the keys toythe right of the central plane of the machine ;./and a corresponding lover 7 rests on those to. the left of the central plane which, of course, do not appear in Fig. 1. The upper ends of the two levers 9, however, are both shown in Fig. 4.

Attached tothe hub 10 is a stop-lever.

12 of such a length that its end passes over the tops of the pins l but is arrested by any one of these pins which is in the raised position.- It will be seen, therefore, that depression of any letter key 1 will cause motion of the stop-lever 12 the extent of which will depend upon which of the pins 1 is raised, that is to say upon which letter key has been depressed.

. Attached to the stop-lever 12-is a' driving member or rib 13 which projects upward within two cylindrical anvils 1 1, 15, and engages the printing shuttles 16, 17 in the manner hereinafter described.

Printing is effected by means of a ham-.

lever 19 is raised, as indicated, resulting in the rocking of a lever 21 upon which. the inner end of the lever 19 rests and which is pivoted at 22. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) This lever 21. has two other arms 23, 21, the

of the machine, in the well known manner.

Thismotion is prevented by the pawl 25, but it will be seenthat if the arm 23 be rocked as a result of depression of one of the keys 1 the pawl 25 will be withdrawn from engagement with the ratchet wheel 29 and the latter will be free to rotate in a clockwise direction. This motion, however, is still prevented by the engagement of a projection 33 on the arm 24 with one of the ratchet. teeth. The hammer 18 is pivoted at 34 and is provided with an extension to which a tension spring 36 is attached which tends to move the hammer toward the anvils 1st and 15. So long. ho wever, as the pawl 25v engages with the ratchet wheel 29 this motion is prevented on account of the arm 27 being pivoted to the hammer 18 at 37. hen, however. the pawl 25 is disengaged fromthe ratchet wheel 29 the hammer moves forward to effect the printing. operation under the ac tion of a spring 36. On release of the letterkey 1 the lever 21 returns to its original position under the action of the spring 38.

thus bringing the'projection 33 clear of the ratchet wheel 29 which is therefore free to rotate and allow. movement of the is limited to the distance occupied by asingle printed letter on' account of the fact that the pawl 25 is rengaged with the ratchet wheel 29 by the arm 23. i

The two printing shuttles 16 and 17 mounted upon separate anvils 14 and 15 are necessary in order that the message may be printed simultaneously in plain characters and in cipher. For this purpose the type shuttle 16 consists. as indicated in Fig. 3, of four complete rows of type char acters each. row being exactly similar to the others and the positions of the rowsbeing fixed relatively to each other.

The type shuttle 17 also consists of four 'rows in each of which the characters are the same and arranged in the same order as in the case of the shuttlelG. Each row is, however, adjustable in a longitudinal direction relatively to the other row and to the rows of the shuttle 1.6.

Since it is required, as hereafter M? fort-h,

that any of the rows of the shuttle 17 may be moved a definite number of spaces, for

I thatthe paper 53 shall be fed at the same example ten, on either side ofthe normal position, it is necessary thatthis number of letters be repeated at each end of each of the rows, as indicated in Fig. 3, in order that printing may occur in whatever position the rows are set. These shuttles 16 and 17 both engage the driving member or rib 13 and are thereby rotated around their respective cylindrical anvils 14 and 15. To this end the shuttle 16 and each of the rows of the shuttle 17 is formed with an inwardly projecting flange 39 which extends through a corre sponding slot 40 in. the anvil. In the case of thejshuttle 16, this flange is formed with a notch through which the rib 13 passes in .jand worm wheel mechanism to spindles 68 such a manner that the shuttle rotates with. the rib but is capable of moving relatively to it in an axial direction. The flange attached to each row of the shuttle 17 is,

forme with a number of such notches 41 in order lat engagement with the rib 13 may be eff ted in whatever position the rows may be adjusted.- The rib thus serves to.

cbnnect all the rows together so that they will rotate as one whole. They are, however, further secured together by means of a fork 42, Fig. 5, which may be passed througha serie's'of holes 43 drilled in the fixed a ratchet wheel. 46. This ratchet wheel is engaged by a pawl 47 carriedby arkey 48 pivoted at 49 and is also engaged by a spring detent 50 which prevents its rotation in a clockwise direction, The cam 44, ratchet wheel 46, and key 48 are so proportioned that a single depression-of the key avill cause the spindle 11, which is so mounted as to be free to move axially, to rise a distance corresponding to the height between any two rows of type on either of the shuttles 16 or 17. Furthermore, the cam is so shaped that after it has raised the spindle 11 to such an extent that the lowest row of type in each shuttle is opposite the printing positiona further depression of the key '48.causes the spindle to be lowered so as to bring the highest row of type into the printing position, the action of the cam to bring successive rows into the printing posit-ion being then repeated.

In order to print simultaneouslyfr om the shuttles 16 and 17,;the hammer 18 is formed with two striking surfaces 51 and 52, these being arranged to strike the paper 53 with equal pressure through rubber strips 54, 55 in the well known manner The paper 53 which receives the message printed both in plain characters and -in cipher is passed between feed rollers 56, 57, over idle r llers 56, 59 and 60, and between feed rollers 61,62.- The feed rollers. as

61 are geared together, as indicated, by a chain 63 or in any other suitable manner so rate between each pair of rollers and be thus maintained in a taut condition.

The paper is led around the idle roller 59, which is preferably detachable to facilitate insertion of the paper, in order that sufficient spa'ce shall occur between the plain and cipher messages to allow of a reasonable length in the former. I

Separate ink ribbons 64, 65, are provided for printing the plain and cipher messages respectively, four spools 66 being, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 4, necessary for these ribbons. These spools are mounted in pairs on spindles 67 which are geared by worm driven by a ratchet and pawl mechanism 69 from the levers 19.-. The machine isoperated as follows Having selected a code number, such as 1327, the rows of the shuttle 17 are respectively displaced from their central position by the number of spaces-indicated by the digits of the code number. For instance. the developed view of the type surfaces shown in Fig. 3 indicates the setting of. the shuttle17 corresponding to the code number 1327,,and it will be seen that the top row of type is shifted one space to the left, the second row three spaces,- the third row two spaces and the fourth row seven spaces. The character, therefore, which is printed by the shuttle 17 to correspond to a given character on the-shuttle 16, which is of course the same as, that shown on the key lever, is. the one occurring one, three, two

or seven spaces lower down the alphabet according asprinting is taking place from the-first, second,'third or fourth row.

As above described, changefrom one row to another is brought about by depression of the key 48, or if it be desired that this change shall take place after each depression of one of the letter keys 1, the lever 48 in: stead of being made asa separate key is ,formed with an extension bent at riglit angles so' as to extend underneath all the letter keys 1, whereby depression of oneiof these keys involves operation of, the lever 48 and therefore change from one row to the next of the type shuttle 17* The retention of the key 48 permits the message to be broken up into groups of letshuttle so that the typewriter can be used for "100,000 combinations and it is possible to indicate that any figures of the code number are to be taken in the reverse direction by overscoring such figures in the note taken of the key number, thus l285 would mean that the first shuttle was set 4 forward, the second 2 backward and so on.

In the slightly modified construction illustrated' in Fig. 6, the anvil 14 is made stationary, being earned by an arm,70 fixed to the frame 6 instead of by the spindle 11.

Only the anvil 15, therefore,receives axial motion from the cam 44., but a rotational mo--- tion is imparted tp th'e shuttle 16 as before by the driving member 13. In this case it is obviously necessary to have only one row 1 of type, as indicated, on the shuttle 16, the

ea} multaneously printing the, original and c1- sages are printed, and a hammer and operat-.

shuttle 17 having four adjustable rows, as in the construction previously described.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a cryptographic typewriter for sipher messages the combination of two sets of printing'surfaces, one for printing the on 1- nal message and the other for printing to cipher message, the latter surfacebeing composed of a number-of similar rows of type longitudinally adjustable relatively to each other and to the first-mentioned surface,

means for bringing said rows successively and always in vthe'same order intooperative position for printing, a series of letter keys, means under the control of'the letter keys for simultaneously moving the printing surfaces from the normal position in order to bring the desired corresponding letters to the printing osition, a single sheet of paper on which both the original and cipher mesi'ng means therefor adapted to print simultaneously from both surfaces at each letter keydepression. 2.

ing member connecting the shuttles, and

means operated by the letter keys for rotating the driving member through an arc corresponding to the particular key de pressed.

' spending In a cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claim 1, two cylindrical anvils atv forth in claim 2, a spindle upon which at least one of the cylindrical anvils is rigidly fixed, a supporting cam for said spindle mounted upon ashaft, a ratchet wheel upon said shaft, a co-acting pawl carriedby a lever whereby at each depression of the lever the spindle is raised a distance corre to that between the rows of type and is nally brought from its highest to its lowest position, substantially as d'escribed.

1. In a cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claims 2 and 3 providing the same number of rows of type on each shuttle, and fixing both anvils to the spindle in order to impart to them equalaxial motion, substantially as' described.

5. In a cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claim 2, a cipher printing shuttle m which the rows of type are made sepa' rately, flange on each row projecting through a slot in the anvil, a series of apertures in each flange spaced correspondingly to the type characters and adapted to engage means whereby the flanges are rigidly connected together, and also to engage the driving member, substantially as de scribed. I

6. Ina cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claim 1, mounting on the hammer two striking surfaces respectively located 'oppositethe two sets of printing surfaces in order to print simultaneously from both printing surfaces.

7. In a cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claim 1 feed rollers to pass the paper on which the records are made across each printing surface, said feed rollers being geared together in order to produce the same rate of feed over each surface,'and to 'keep the paper between the surfaces in a taut condition. a

8. In a cryptographic typewriter as set forth in claim, 1, the arrangement of a number of idle rollers over which the paper on which the records are made is passed 1n order to provide a space between the impressions made by the'two printing'surfaces.

9. In a cryptographictypewriter as set forth in claim 1, an inking ribbon for each printing surface, a winding-on spool and a winding-off spool foreach ribbon, a spindle to'carry both winding-on spools, a second means operated by each letter key depressionfor imparting a small angular movementto at least one'of the spindles.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s ecification.

J HN CAMERON GRANT.

spindle to carry both winding-off spools, and

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