US1657422A - Writing machine - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 24, 1928.

H. J. VAN BEEK WRIT ING' MACHI NE Filed June 16, 1925 2 heets-Sheet 1 Jan. 24, 1928. 111

H. J. VAN BEEK WRITING MACHINE Filed June 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //-J m gma Patented Jan. 24, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE.

HENDRIX JEAN VAN BEEK, OF AMSTERDAM, NETHERS.

WRITING MACHINE.

Application filed June 16, 1925, Serial No. 37,540, and in the Netherlands June 25, 1924.

My present invention, which relates to writing machines and more particularly to typewriters, enables various items, particulars, data etc. which in the machine are written or printed in the usual manner in horizontal lines the one below the other on a sheet of paper or other suitable material, to be arranged without appreciable trouble in any desired order or sequence, each item or the like being written or printed on a tape or strip of uniform width so as to be remarkably appropriate as an element for use in modern bookkeeping, recording or administration.

ln accordance with my invention, the machine is provided with means whereby a strip or tape, which at the writing or printing place is adapted to be displaced in the direction of writing relative to the carriage, can be connected to the carriage to follow the movement thereof in the said direction.

lln order that my said invention may be clearly understood by those skilled in the art ll shall now proceed to describe the same with reference to the annexed drawing, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are diagrammatic plan views of two different embodiments, Figure 3 is a detail sectional view through a part of a typewriter illustrating a turther modification of the invention.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a part 0175 the mechanism illustrated in Figure 2.

1n Fig. 1, the carriage is designated by 1:, the feed roller "for the sheet of paper by 5, the ink ribbon by 6, the spools or reels for the ink ribbon by 7 and 8, the type guide by 9, the sheet of paper carried by the roller by 10. intermediate between the roller 5 and the guide 9 runs in parallel relation with the axis of roller 5, a tape 11 having a width of 1 cm. and wound on reels 12, 13 mounted in stationary brackets on either side of the machine. The shaft of reel 12 is coupled through a suitable clutch member with a spring motor indicated by 14 and the shaft of reel 13 is engaged by a braking member indicated by 15 so that the pull eserted by the spring motor on the tape 11 is insutiicient to draw the tape trom reel 13.

Intermediate between tape 11 and sheet 10 runs a second ink ribbon 16, the reels 1? and 18 of which are likewise mounted on either side I the machine. By means of strings 19, 20; which may be in the form of coiled springs, the ordinary and well-known movements of the reels 7 and 8 are transmitted to the reels 17 and 18.

The carriage 1 is provided with two guides 21 and 22 serving both for the tape 11 and the ink ribbon 16 and also with an eccentric disc 23, by which the tape 11 can be firmly clamped upon the guide 21 so as to be socured to the carriage and to the feed roller 5 mounted therein. The eccentric disc 23 has an arm 24, the end of which is associated with the carriage 4 through a spring 25. It arm 24 assumes the positlon indicated by full lines, the tape is released, but in the position 24' shown by dotted lines said arm effects the gripping 015 the tape. in both cases the eccentric disc 28 is locked by the spring against undue rotation.

When a document is to be written in the ordinary manner on a sheet of paper, arm 24': is set into position 24, so that tape 11 is clamped to the carriage and forced to tollow its movement to the left and the types actuated by the keys depressed make impressions both on the tape 11 and on the sheet 10. The spring motor 14 keeps the tape 11 under slight tension and winds it on reel 12 as it is drawn by the carriage from the reel 13. When on completion of the first line the carriage is to be moved back to the right, the arm 24 should first be swung through about 90,so that the tape 11 is released and remains stationary durin said backward movement of the carriage. %onsequcntly,'-When the second line is being written on the sheet 10 after roller 5 has been turned through the required angular distance, the impressions which are simultaneously made on the tape 11 will lie in alignment with those corresponding to the first line on the sheet 10.

The words, numbers and other symbols typed will obviously lie on the tape 11 in the same order in which they have been written. As this order is to a certain extent arbitrary, the writer can cause the various items, data, particulars etc. on the tape to lie in groups as are most suitable for the lllltl articular work which it is required to perorm.

When the tape 11 has been fully unwound, it may be divided in relatively short lengthseach containing an item, or a group of correlated items, whereupon these pieces may be sorted and, if so desired, pasted on sheets or cards, for which purpose I reconimend to use a tape 11 which is gummed on its back side. After the tape has been taken out of the machine, it may be drawn from reel 12 and wound on an auxiliary reel by means of the spring motor 14, in which case the items are unwound in the same sequence in which they have been written. By using :1 copying ink ribbon 6, I am enabled to co py the sorted pieces of the tape" after these have been pasted on sheets or cards, in an ordinary copying press.

, It is evident that the ribbon 16 could be replaced by a sheet of carbon paper and also that by the use of a two colour ribbon 6 certain items on the tape 11 can be distinguished from others.

I prefer to mount the reels 12, 13, 17 and 18 in such a manner that by depression of a particular key said reels are raised through a sufficient distance to move tape 11 and ribbon 16 out of the way of the printing types and the guides 21, 22 should then be arranged and constructed to allow of such movement. If the machine is of the character having a carriage adapted for vertical movement, the tape 11 and the-- ribbon 16 should be free to follow this movement.

In certain cases I recommend to mount the reels 17 and 18 on the same shafts as reels 7 and 8.

If during writing the back space key is used, the tape 11 must be moved throu 'h an equivalent distance to the right. To this end the brackets carrying the reels 12 and 13 could be displaced relative to the machine, or the reel 12 could be disengaged from the shaft of the spring motor 14 and the tape 11 wound a little on reel 13, or other more or less ordinary means could be used.

The eccentric disc 23 which, in the machine described, is operated by hand, could advantageously be associated with the line spacing lever fitted to the carriage of all known types of'typewriters and which, when swung in one direction,.moves the carriage in a direction opposite to the direction of writing and simultaneously turns the feed roller for the sheet of paper through the required angular distance and, when released, returns to normal position under the influence of a spring. Such an arrangement is illustrated in Figure 3 wherein the arm 24 shown in Figure 1 is replaced by a. bolt 24 slidably mounted in the carriage 4 and loaded by a spring 24, which bears against a collar 24"- of said bolt so as to tend to force said bolt to the left and to clamp the tape 11 against an abutment 50 on the carriage 4. The usual line-spacing lever is designated by 51. This lever is pivoted to the carriage 4 and is provided with an eccentric disc 52 coacting with collar 24 in such a manner that, when lever 51 is operated to move the carriage back and at the same time rotate it through a small angular distance, bolt 24 is forced away from tape 11, which thereby is released. The frame 53 of the writing machine is provided with a rack 54 cooperating with a spring pawl 55 on the carriage 4. Said pawl has an upward extension 55 provided with an inclined face cooperating with collar 24 so that pawl 55 is forced out of mesh with rack 54 when bolt 24 moves to the right.

For certain purposes it is desirable to be enabled to remove from the machine a short length of the tape 11 immediately after certain items have been written. To this end I suggest to construct the machine along the lines indicated in Fig. 2. According to this figure, the tape 11 runs from reel 13 to two rubber feed rollers 26 and 27, between which a slight contact pressure is maintained, whence it passes in front of the feed roller 5 to two rubber rollers 28, 29, which likewise exert a certain amount of pressure on one another. The drawing does not show the further guiding means for the tape. Mounted at different levels on the shaft of roller 26 are a large and a small gear wheel 30, 31 adapted to mesh with a small and a large gear wheel 32, and 33, respectively, on a vertical shaft 34 along which they are adapted to be verticaly adjusted by means of a lever 34" in such a manner, that either the wheels 30 and 32, or the wheels 31 and 33 are in mesh, or all the wheels are out of mesh. Mounted on shaft 34 is another gear wheel 35 working in conjunction with a gear 36 associated through a free-wheel or ratchet device 36 with a shaft 37, secured to which is a pinion 38. The carriage 4 is provided with a ra k 39 in mesh with said pinion. The shafts of the rollers 26 and 28 are operatircly coupled with one another through a chain drive 40.

When carriage 4 is moved to the left, tape 11. is drawn from its reel 13 at the same speed as has the carriage, or with say twice that speed, depending u on whether the gear wheels 31 and 33. or t e gear wheels 32 and 34 mesh with each other. If the gears 32 and 34 are in mesh, the spaces between the segregated impressions on the sheet will be twice those between the impressions on the tape 11. By providing the change speed gear with a greater number of gear wheels I can obtain any desired ratio between the speed of the carriage and that of the tape. As the tape 11 leaves the exit rollers 28. 2!). may tear off or cut from it pieces each bearing a more or less complete item of in formation and use these pieces as required. Assume the following involce to be W111],- ten on the machme:

June 9, 1925. Clark & Co.

Milwaukee, Wis. (ioods bought.

50 bags of Java coffee.

Gross 3148 kos.

Tare 75 kos. Net 3073 kos. 1843,80 Registr. 18,44 5 1862,24 Discount" 27,66 1834,58

account with Clark & Co. at Milwaukee Wis. is kept. 687 is the serial number of said account, 15 is the serial number of the invoice.

The pieces (B) and (G) contain the items for the tabulated sales book, (D) contains the particulars for the envelope.

The pieces (A), (B), (C) and (D) can be severed or out off immediately after leaving the machine, to which end the latter may be provided with a suitable knife. Thereupon said pieces are pasted on the corresponding sheets or cards. It is evident that owing to the use of these pieces it is impossible for the books to be in disagreement with the invoice sent.

The advantages inherent to this method of bookkeeping and recording and the sphere of usefulness of my novel machine are so apparent as not to require further ex planation.

In the machine illustrated in Fig. 2 the tape 11 can always freely be moved to the left with respect to the carriage when the latter is stationary. If, however, it is desired for the tape to be moved in the opposite direction, it is necessary to first free it from the clutch in the gear wheel transmission. By providing the shaft of roller 26 with a graduated dial or drum head I can give the tape any accurate setting that may be required, i. e. move it through any predetermined number of. spaces.

When I wish to write certain symbols or data on the sheet of paper in the machine while leaving the tape blank, I simply insert a small sheet of celluloid or the like between the ink ribbon 6 and the tape 11 so as to protect the latter and keep it out of contact a with the ink ribbon.

It goes without saying that the tape 11 may be made of any suitable flexible material adapted to take up impressions from an ink ribbon, carbon paper or the like and also that the manner of manipulatin the machine will be varied as may be ound most suitable for any specified purpose.

Although I have described my invention as embodied in a typewriter, I wish it to be understood that it could as well be applied to bookkeeping machines, to cash registers and other appliances.

It is not even necessary for the impressions on the sheet and the tape to he made by types. The invention can be used with equal advantage in connection with devices such as simple cash registers, in which the data are recorded by handwriting.

What ll claim is 1. In a writing machine, a carriage, a tape adapted to receive type impressions an also adapted to be fed lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing, and means for connecting the tape to the carriage so as to force the tape to follow movement of the carriage in the direction of writing 2. In a writing machine, a carriage, a lever for moving the carriage in a direction opposite to the direction of writing, a tape adapted to receive type impressions and also adapted to be fed lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing, means for connecting the tape to the carriage so as to force the tape to follow movement of the carriage in the direction of writing, and means for operatively coupling said lever with said connecting means.

3. In a writing machine, a carriage, a tape adapted to receive type impressions and also adapted to be fed lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing, means for connecting the tape to the carriage so as to force the tape to follow movement of the carriage in the direction of writing, and means associated with said connecting means for preventing the carriage from movement in a direction opposite the direction of writing as long as the tape is connected to the carriage.

4. In a writing machine, a carriage, a tape adapted to receive type impressions and also adapted to be fed lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing, a winding reel and an unwinding reel for said tape, means for connecting the tape to the carriage so asto force the tape to follow movement of the carriage in the direction of writing, and a spring motor associated with the winding reel, the pull exerted by the motor on the tape bemg insufficient for drawing the tape from the unwinding reel.

5. In a writing machine, a carriage, a tape adapted to receive type impressions, a member for feeding the tape lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing responsive to the movement of the carriage, and means comprising a rack, a gear wheel transmission and ratchet gear for driving the said member.

6. In a writing machine, a carriage, a tape adapted to receive type impressions, a memher for feeding the tape lengthwise along the carriage in the direction of writing re-. sponsive to the movement of the carriage, and means comprising a rack, a change speed gear and ratchet gear for driving the said member.

7. The combination with a typewriter including a carriage provided with means for feeding paper or like material, adapted to receive type impressions, in one direction,

of means for feeding a tape, also adapted to recelve type impressions, in a direction substantially transverse to the first named direction during the movement of the carriage in the direction of writing, and means for releasing the tape incident to the movement of the carriage in the opposite direction.

8. The combination with a typewriter including a support, and means for feeding a sheet of paper or like material, adapted to receive type impressions, in one direction of said support, and a ribbon feeding mechanism associated with the paper feeding means, of means for feeding a tape, also adapted to receive type impressions, in a direction substantially transverse of the first mentioned direction of said support, and a ribbon mechanism associated with the tape feeding means.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HENDRIK JEAN VAN BEEK.

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