US1824099A - Typewriting machine - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1931. H. L. PITMAN TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed Feb. 11, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l y fw Sept. 22, 1931. H. L. PITMAN TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1l, 1926 3 SheetS-SheefI 2I Sept. 22, 1931. H. L. P1TMAN TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed Feb. ll, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 LIN Patented l Sept. 22, 1931 lUNITED s'm-'rlzs PATENT ori-lcs HENRY L. PI'rImN, or wEs'rrIELn, NEW Jansma AssIeNoR., BY MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS,

'.lO ELLIOTT-FISHER COMPANY, O F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE 'riz-.enwarrINe MACHINE I Application led February 11, 1926.' Serial No. 87,533.

This invention relates to tabulatingand carriage-return mechanisms for typewriting machines of the Underwood type, where power-driven means operate to line-space the platen and return the platen-carriage to a new line-starting position and from 'which position tabulatingkeys and associated means quickly reposition the carriage denominationally within determined column-fields.

One object of this invention is to provide means whereby an operative may interrupt the powerdriven return movement of the carriage by operating a tabulating key and cause the immediate positioning of the carriage for writing inan intermediate place on the work-'sheet without fully returning the car-riage to the initial line-startingposition.

i This is of great advantage in cases where en- Y and a tabulating movement of the carriage carriage-feed rack from its pinion isalso used towardr the left immediately occurs, under the power of its lown driving-'spring, andv is arrested when a column-stop on the carriage strikes the decimal-stop raised in its path by the tabulating key. y

vBy means of suitable connections themovement of the usualuniversal bar coacting with thedecimal tabulating stops to disengage the.

to simultaneously disengage the carriage-return driving mechanism. f This is'referabl accomplished by extending the sha on whic the tabulating` universal bar is mounted and fastening `ah arm thereon to reach and en\ gage the usual linkage by means oi which the y carriage-return mechanism is engaged, but

which, according to the present invention,

may be also used to disengage the carriagereturn mechanism.

Another object of this invention 1ste pro- I vide means Vwhereby startin and stopping of the-motor may be controlle by means of the same circuit-closing device or switch regularly provided for the carriage-return mechanism. This device is actuated upon releasing a train of spring-pressed linkage, by means of which the carriage-return mechanism is engaged. f A bary pivoted to this linkage eX-' tends toward and interlocks with the circuitclosing device, so as to normally keep it open. When the linkage is released to engagethe carriage-return mechanism this bar is withdrawn, and the circuit-closing device which includesa spring-pressed arm is closed.

In the present invention, the switch-bar is connected to the carriage-return linkage in such a way that it may be operated independently of said linkage,making it possible to disengag'e the carriage-return mechanism without stopping the motor when a tabulating key is' operated, or,to operate the circuitclosing device independently of thecarriagereturn mechanism linkage, or to operate the circuit-closing device in the usual way when the carriage-return mechanism is engaged or disengaged. The actuating element for the circuit-closing device or switch is preferably connected to the carriage-return mechanism rlinkage by means of a pin and inclined slot device, which disengages the carriage-return mechanism when a tabulating key is operated.

The carriage-return mechanism is engaged by pressingthe usual carriage-return key, or the engagement is eiiected ,automatically by the usual means associated with the left-hand marginal carriage stop.

Other featuresand advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the 'accompanying drawings, VFigure Il is a sectional elevation of an Underwood-Hanson combined typewriting and computing machine, and shows only such part of the typewriter mechanism and computing mechanism as is nece/ssaryato i1- lustrate the invention.y

Figure 2 is a detail view of the principal letter-feeding elements'.

Figure 3 is aview of the switch for start-- ing and stopping the motor which operates the carriage-return mechanism and other devices of this invention. Y,

Figure 4 is a skeleton perspective view of the tabulating mechanism and the means by which the tappet-supporting member is withdrawn.

Figure 5-is a rear view of some ofthe parts shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective view of the pin-and-slot connection for the switchactuating element.

Figure 7 is a detail view showing the relation of the parts when a tabulating key is operated and the tappet-supportingvmember is about to be withdrawn.

Figure 8 is a detail view showing the tappet-supporting member withdrawn, and also showing the means by which it is latched in its withdrawn position.

. Figure 9 is a detail view showing the operation of the flexible connection as it yields, if-the operating pin is projected against the arm that withdraws the tappet-supporting member.

Figure 10 is a detail view showing the relation of the parts when the carriage-return mechanism` alone is engaged.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing-the electrical connections.

The Underwood typewriter to which this invention is applied, is provided with a decimal tabulating mechanism, which includes keys 11 upon levers 12 fulcrumed at 13. The rear ends 14 of said levers,` when operated, raise deci aal-stops 15, sothat the upper ends 15aL thereof are in the path of column-stops 16 on the typewriter-carriage 17. The decimal-stops and tabulating keys are retracted against a stop 17 a by springs 18 applied to said decimal-stops. Each decimal-stop 15 has a notch 19'to engage a universal bar 20 mounted upon a shaft 21. Said 'universal'ban when operated by any of the decimal-stops when atabulating key is depressed, disengages a carriage-feed rack 22 from its pinion 23 by means which include an arm 24, a link. 25 *and a lever 26. Said lever is pivoted at 27 and connected to said link at 28 and carries a roll 29, which lifts 'the feed rack upward and holds it disengagedfrom its pinion during the tabulati`n movement of the carriage. 1

umeral-keys 30 and alphabet-keys 31`by means of the usual key-levers, not shown, and

bell-cranks 32, partly shown, swinging type-y bars 33 upwardly and rearwardly about a fulcrum 34 to print against a platen 35 around which a work-sheet, not shown,may

be fed. Heels 36 upon the type-bars actuf ate a universal bar 37 connected to a dogrocker 38, which includes a xed dog 39 and a stepping dog=40. Said dogs co-operate with an escapeinent-wleel 41 to which is con- Vnected the pinion 23. The carriage is propelled in a letter-feeding ortabulating direction by a spring-motor 42.

When the carriage moves in letter-spacing and reaches aline-end marginal carriage-stop, not shown, a lugv 43 on the car- Ias to retain the end of the the head 75 and the shoulder 74; the stud 73 riage-return trip-link 52 and lifts said trip? link, which is pulled rearwardly by a spring 53. SaidI trip-link is normally held by a plate 54 which engages a notch 52a in said link 52. The rear end of the link is pivotally connected to an arm 55 fast to a shaft 56. .As 'the carriage in its letter-feeding movement or otherwise reaches the line-end marginal-stop, the carriage-return trip-link 52 is released from its holding plate and its movement by the spring 53 causes the rotation of the shaft 56. The carriage-return trip-link may also be released by means of a4 manuallyk operated lever 55a pivoted on the typewriter-frame at 56a. Said lever when operated raises the forward end of the triplink 52 to release it from the plate 54 through the camming of a by-pass pawl 57 by the tip 57a of said lever as it is operated. The lever 55fL is returned to its normal position against a stud 58a by a spring 59a and is ineffective to release the link on account of said by-pass pawl. F astened to said shaft 56 is another arm 58 which is connected by means of a link 59 to an arm 60 fastened to a shaft 61 upon which is fastened an arm 62, which engages a slidable clutch-member 63. As the shaft 61 is rotat-- ed by means of the aforesaid connections through the movement of the link 52, the clutch-member 63 actuated thereby slides into engagement with a clutch-member 65 keyed to a shaft 66. Said shaft 66 has its bearing in a bracket 67 attached to the typewriterframe 49 in the usual manner. A pulley 68 is keyed to said shaft 66, and by means of a belt 122 is connected to a driving motor 70. Said driving motor 70 is controlled by a switch indicated at 71, Figures 3` and 11, actuated by a connection from the link 52v to an arm 72, fastened to the shaft 56 to operate a switch-bar 77. In the end of said arm 72 is a stud 73, which includes a shoulder 74 and a head 75, to be assembled through a cam-slot 76 in the end of the switch-bar 77, see Figure 6. After the camslot 76 has been placed over saidbhead 75, the stud 73 may be given a uarter turn, so arl 77 between then being secured to the arm 72 by an suitable means, as by a lock-nut 73. Tie bar 77 is slidably supported upon an arm 78 and between pins 79 projecting from said arm. The pur ose of said arm 78 will presently be descri ed. It will be seen that, as said shaft 56 is rotated, as when the clutch-` members 63 and 65 are engaged, Figure 10, the bar 77 will move longitudinally to close the switch contained within a'casing 77a. The bar 77v has slidablymounted thereon a member 69 resilently connected by a spring 69a, and operative to cushion said member when engaging the switch to close it, so that after closing said switch the bar 77 may have an excess movement during Which the spring 69a yields.

lVhen the typewriter is used with a computing mechanism, there is mounted on its carriage tappets 80 supported by rods 81 and 82, the rod 81 serving as a fulcrum for the tappets 80, which are raised by the usual tappet-supporting member 83. Said tappetsupporting member 83 is coextensive with a series of jacks 84 pivoted at 85 and engageable by a one-way pawl 87 mounted upon each tappet 80, and each tappet is upheld as it rides over the tappet-supporting member 83 by means of a roll 87 a fastened to said tappet.

In this manner, the carriage, moving step by step through a computing zone, operates atr each step one of the jacks 84 and causes a downward thrust of a rod88, to select in the usual manner one of the computing machine pin-bars which are not shown. The computing mechanism is of the type shown in the patent to O. Minton, No. 1,280,065, dated September 24, 1918. The tappet-supporting member 83 is supported between varms 89 fastened to a rock-shaft 90, which is pivoted` between brackets, not shown, upon the typewriter-frame 49. The usual spring-device 91,

described in the patent to W. L. Gumpretcht, No. 1,268,565, dated June 4, 1918, operates to keep the tappet-'supporting member 83 in elfective position to raise each tappet 80, so that it may engage the jacks 84.

When tabulating the carriage it is desirable to withdraw the tappet-supporting member 83, so that the pawl 87 on the tappet will not operate the jacks 84 during the comparatively rapid movement ofthe carriageas it is tabulated. The withdrawal of the tappet-mem ber 83 is `eectiveagainst the reaction of the spring-device 91, an to avoid putting the burden of overcoming this reaction'upon the tabulating key, means are provided to withdraw the tappet-supporting member 83 byv powerwvhen a tabulating key is operated. To

this end, Athere is mountedupon the rock shaft 90 an arm 92, which has a cam-formation 93, see Figure 5. When a tabulating key is operated, there is projected into the plane of this cam-formation 93a pin 94, said pin Y being projected through a hole 95 in the web of the pulley 68. This pin may be mounted upon a disk 96 which slides upon a bearing 97 formed upon the bracket 67. To slide the pin 94 forward and backward a groove 98r is formed in a hub of said disk 96, to .be engaged by a pair of arms 99 mounted on a shaft tion where its projection would be obstructed by the arm 92, the spring 118 will yield until the pin has passed said armf. Said shaft 100 is pivotally supported in a hole 101 in the tab ulator stop fraine and in a hole 102 in a lug 121 fastened to the bracket 67 To rotate said shaftlOO and roject the pin 94 into the plane of the cam-v ormation 93 whenever a tabulatingpkey is operated, said shaft is further provded with an arm 103 fastened thereto and connected by means of a link 104 to the link 25, which is used to disengage the carriage-feedrack. lt will be remembered that this link 25, connectedtothe universal to drive the belt 122, to cause the pulley 68 and pin 94 to revolve, to rock the shaft 90.

To start the motor, the depression of any tabulating key vibrates the arm 78 provided with the pin 79, carrying the. forward -slotted end of the bar 77,1 and, as the arm 72 and its stud 73 are at this time stationary, the bar 77 is shifted rearwardly, due to the inclination of cam-slot 76, to close the switch 71, start the motor, rotate the pulley 68 lcause the projected pin 94 as it revolves to displace the arm'92, to rock the shaft 90, and effect the withdrawal of the tappet-supporting member 83.

It will be seen that after the revolving pin 94 passes the cam-formation 93, the tappetsupporting member 83 will return to its tapprojecting from said latch. As the tappet supporting member 83 is withdrawn, the latch is` pulled rearwardly and the lug lfalls behind a holding edge 111 on the arm 109.

It will be seen that when the tabulating key is released the arm 109 will be Withdrawn from said lug 110, and the tappet-supporting member resumes its normal position.

Heretofore, in an -automatic carriage return, there was no way of stopping the carriage-return movement until the carriage had reached the right-hand marginal carriagestop and rotated a'shaft 112 by the usual llO means, which included a dog 113 keyed to p said shaft 112 and actuated by the lug 43.

As said shaft 112 is rotated it disengages the clutch-elements 63 and 65 by means which include an arm 114, fastened to said shaft 112, a link 115, a sliding member 116 and an arm 117 fastened to the shaft 61. Details of the means associated with the left and right hand marginal carriage-stops to engage and disengage the carriage-return mechanism, are set forth in the patent to R. F. Hoyt, No. 1,238,919, dated September 4, 1917.

Previously, whenever it was desired to make an entry in an intermediate column on,

the work-sheet or a correction in a computing zone, it was necessary to always return the carriage to its line-starting position as determined by the right-hand marginal carriage-stop, and vthen to tabulate anew to the place where the entry was to. be made. I several columns intervened between the starting point and the .place the entry was to be made, such columns could only be -skipped by successive operations of the tabulating keys. To avoid this, means are provided so that, as soon as the carriage has returned and the column in which it is desired to make the next entry is past the printing point, the return movement of the carriage may be stopped by pressing the proper denominational tabulating key. The carriage as soon as its return movement is stopped for lack of driving power will be immediately tabulated under the power of its own drum to the denominational column position according to the key depressed, and said key is held depressed until the carriage is thus tabulated. To accomplish this the previously-mentioned arm 78 has a camming edge 123 co-operative with the surface 124 of the stud 7 3, and eiiective whenever a tabulating key is depressed to cam the 'arm 72 aside, thereby causing the restoration of the linkage 58-62 which has effected the engagement of the carriage-return clutch-members 63 and 65. The circuit to the motor, however, is not broken as long as the tabulating key is depressed, so that the tappet-support83 is withdrawn in the manner described, and the bar 77 held in its circuit-closing position until the tabulating key is released.

It will be noted that the depression of the y carriage-return key starts the motor 70 .and

closes a clutch 63-65, whereby the motor will'drive the carriage in a carriage-return direction to a marginal-stop position, which determines the line-starting position for the carriage automatically and independently of the carriage-return key and disables the motor-clutch to arrest the carriage; that the carriage-springis always effective to drive the carriage in letter-spacing or columnspacing direction when a tabulating key is depressed; that the carriage-return motor overcomes the opposition of the'carriagespring in returning the carriage; that, when the tabulating key is depressed after a carriage-return movement is initiated, the carriage is disconnected fromthe rotating return motor and is brought to a stop from lack of motor-drivingpower, the carriage responding to the tension of its own spring until the carriage-stop strikes the tabulatorstop raised in its pat by the depression of the tabulating key; that the depression of any denominational tabulating key vibrates a universal bar having camming connections that eect the separation of the carriagefeed rack from its feeding and holding pmion to release the carria e to its driving spring, and restores the {ey-released triplink 52 to its normal position, but does not withdraw the switch-bar 77 to break the circuit to the return motor, which continues to rotate to prevent the accidental restoration of the tappet-roller 83 until the carriage has fully advanced to the tabulating posltion within a column-area; that, when the tabulating advance of the carriage is completed and the tabulating key is released, the restoration of the parts from the Figure 8 positions to the positions of Figures 7 and 9 1s effected by the return of the universal bar 20 where the lifting of the-link 25 rocks the shaft 100 to withdraw the pin 94, vibrates the arm 109 to release the latch 105 to restore the roller 83 to lift the tappet 80, and'vibrates a jack 84 corresponding to-the declmalvalue of the key depressed; that the restoration of the universal bar also vibrates the arm 78 t0 eiect the withdrawal of the switch-bar 77 to open the switch 71 and stop the motor 70; that an operator can,readilyl;fand expertly manipulate the tabulating keys to cut into the carriage-returning movement very close to the right-hand margin of a column-area or even between adjoining column-fields, and then immediately arrest the carriage at a denominational positiontherein, thus avoiding the uselessI operation o'f fully restoring the carriage rightward and then advancing the carriage, column by column,` as heretofore practiced, except where complicated columngskipping mechanism is emplo ed which does not tabulate denominationa ly; and that an operator can limit the returning movement of the carriage to a column-width, if desired, and tabulate directly to the denominational positiontherein, thus providing an important time and labor saving mode of operation and giving the operator a complete carriage-direction control without removing the hands from the keyboard. Variations may be reorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claimt 1. In a typewritin machine, the combination with av springriven carriage, a tabuf lating mechanism including tabulating keys operable to arrest the spring-driven carnage at column-positions, and a carriage-returning mechanism including a motor and a clutch Aboth rendered operable, by the depression of a key, to veffect a carriage-return to a line-starting position determined by a margin-stop, of means actuated by the depression of any tabulating key and operatively connected to open the clutch to the rotatingmotor and effect the arrest of the returning carriagevin advance of said margin-stop position and restore the driving control of the carriage to its spring to advance the carriage toa tabular position determined by the tabulating key, said means including a universal bar vibrated by the tabulating keys and having connections operative to open the clutch previously closed by the carriage-return key,

said universall bar connections including a cam-face operable to prevent the restoration of the switch-bar, previously set by the carriage-return key to start the motor, until the universal bar is restored by the released tabulating key.

2. In a tabulator-mechanism for a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, an electric motor having a normally open circuit and a normally open carriage-clutch, a carriage-return mechanism operative to close the motor-circuit and close the clutch between the carriage and motor,

and a tabulator, of means whereby an operation of said tabulator will break the clutch to release the carriage, without breaking the motor-circuit until the tabulator is released.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a spring-driven letter-feeding and carriage-holding mechanism, means including ta ulator-keys operatively connected for releasing and tabulating the carriage in a predetermined column, and key-controlled carriage-return mechanism, whereby said carriage is power driven for a full line length return movement and the power-driving means is silenced, of mechanismoperable by any tabulator-key, whereby the full powerdriven returning movement of said carriage is disabled without disabling the driving power untilthe action ofthe carriage-feeding spring` has tabulated `the carriage andl the tabulator-key is released.

HENRY L. PITMAN.

Images