US249930A - hammond - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. B. HAMMOND.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

No. 249,930. Patented Nov. 22,1881.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. B. HAMMOND.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE. No. 249,930. Patented Nov. 22,1881.

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mamm UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

JAMES B. HAMMOND, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,930, dated November 22, 1881.

Application filed March 1, 1875. "Renewed October 15, 1875. Again renewed September 16, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J AMES B. HAMMOND, of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Type-Writing Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of inventions commonly designated type-writing machines, and has for its object to simplify the construction and produce accuracy in the operation of such machines.

Previous to my invention it has been customary to produce the impressions of the different letters and signs at the center of a circle around which the levers or arms carrying the type were arranged, the said levers or arms being operated by keys arranged at the front of the machine and connected by suitable mechanism to the levers, and proper adjusting devices for automatically causingthe paper to travel properly from one side of the machine to the other, and vertically, for obvious reasons. This arran gementand construction necessarily require great complication of machinery, and the typelevers, being arranged radially around a circle, areliable to become deranged or be in the way of each other when the machine is operated upon with great rapidity; and, moreover, the type levers being arranged radially around a common center, and in order to economize space, only a series of levers printing capital letters are used. My invention is designed to overcome all the objections, and at the same time produce a much cheaper and more practical machine; and to these ends myinvention consists, first, of a type-wheel havin g the letters or characters secured suitably to its periphery or face, and provided with a shaft having during a portion of its extent a quick screw-thread, upon which runs a nut fixed to a vertical moving frame adapted to move a given distance, according to the letter or character to be printed, whereby the type-wheel is rapidly rotated so as to bring the desired letter or character to the proper position to be impressed upon the paper; secondly, in the peculiar construction and operation of the carriage upon which the paper is secured; and, thirdly, in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the several parts of the apparatus with the key-board, all as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

To enable those skilled to more fully understand myinvention, I will describe its construction and arrangement, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a front view of a machine embracing my improvements; Fig. 2, a vertical cross-section in rear of the type-wheel shaft, as seen at the line 00 :r of Fig. 4.; Fig. 3, a rear view; and Fig. 4, a transverse sectional view of that shown in Fig. 2, takenat the line y y, Fig. 3.

Similar letters denote like parts in the several figures.

A is a suitable frame; B, a wheel adapted to carry upon its face such type or characters as may be desirable. This wheel B is mounted upon a vertical shaft, O,having a foot-bearing at the bottom of the machine and a hearing at the top in a horizontal bracket, D, as clearly seen at Fig. 1.

E is a frame adapted to move vertically in guides or ways F F.

To the top edge of the bottom rail of the frame E is firmly secured a projecting plate, G, through which the type-wheel shaft 0 passes. This plate G, having a thread corresponding to the quick-thread on the shaft 0, serves as a nut, and when the frame E is moved it causes the shaft 0 to rotate correspondingly to the vertical motion of the said frame, as will be presently more fully explained. G is a similar plate on the under side of the top rail of the frame E, and. may be provided with a similar thread operating conjointly with the nutGon the shaft at the upper end, and this secondary nut or guide G may be smooth and simply serve to guide the upper end of the frame.

H H, (to, represent any number of keys corresponding to the letters and characters ar ranged around the edge of the type-wheel. These keys or levers are hung or pivoted upon a horizontal bridge, J, so that their top surface shall all be in the same plane, and they all have the same extent of movement, and

the rotation of the type-wheel so as to bring with the bottom edge or surface of the frame E,which is a regular incline, made with mathematical precision and with relation to the keys,

so that the frame is lifted the proper and varying distances by the respective keys or levers, and the helix of the quick screw-thread upon the shaft 0 and in the nut G being also mathematically determined, the wheel B is rotated the proper and varying distances according to the movement of the frame E. Thus when the forward end of any key-lever is depressed to its full limit the letter on the typewheel corresponding to the key is brought into position.

I is a platform-frame pivoted centrally to the sides of the frame of the machine. To the back rail of this frame, and at its center, is hinged an upright arm, K, which is slotted or cut away near the top, so as to straddle a starwheel, L, which is journaled within a hangerframe, M, as more clearly seen at Figs. 3 and 4. The upper end of the arm Kis slightly hookshaped, so as to grasp successively the points 1 2 3, &c., of the wheel L and turn the same, which is accomplished by the rear end of the key-levers lifting up the front rail of platformframe I, which forces down the rear rail, and with it the arm K, the hook end grasping the front of the wheel L and turning it just one tooth. The back of the opposite toothis forced against the inside of a flat strip, N, forcing it back until the point of the tooth reaches a slot, 0, therein. (This movement of the strip Nis seen in dotted lines at Fig. 4.) Thelower end of this strip N, being hinged to the frame A, permits this vibration, and the upper end, being bifurcated, straddles a printing-hammer, P, which, bythe onward movement of the strip caused by the pressure of the tooth of the wheel L, is carried away from the face of the type-wheel or interposed sheet being printed upon,and when the operating-tooth has reached the slot 0 the recoil ofthe strip N drives the hammer forward so as to strike the paper and force it against the type which is in position. The hammer P is sustained and guided by a suitable spring, R, and another one, S, the latter secured obliquely to and between the strip N and arm K, this spring S serving also to lift the platform-frame I to throw the arm K up into position for again grasping the wheel L.

Within the platform-frame I is pivoted a secondary platform, T, having a suitable spring underneath the front side to bring its forward side down to a suitable stop, and the extreme rearends of thekey-levers H, striking the front side of this platform T, tilt it up, causing a ratchet, a, on the top side of this platform to come in contact with the foot of a gravitypawl secured to the sheet-carrying frame, by which contact and movement the sheet-frame is automatically driven along to properly space the letters. The movement of the front side of the platform T, and consequently the distance the sheet-frame is moved laterally, is determined by the bevel or extent of the heel of the key-levers H, so that the required spacing of the letters is predetermined by said bevels.

It will be borne in mind that the levers H and platforms I and T and frame E are so arranged relatively to each other that the movement of the levers H to produce an impression upon the paper shall successively lift the platform I, platform T, and frame E, so that the printing hammer shall be drawn back, the proper spacing produced by the lateral movement of the sheet-frame, the typewheel rotated by the rising of the frame E, so as to bring the proper letterin line with the hammer, and instantly afterward the recoil and blow of the hammer to produce the impression.

U is a bottom and V a top guide or way, in which the horizontal paper-carrying frame W is supported and guided. The lower one, U, is provided on the front side with a ratchetbar, b, into which the point of a pawl, c, pivoted to the sheet-frame, drops, and is held by a suitable spring, (I, which prevents the return of the frame W as it is fed along until the proper time, as will be presently explained.

X is a gravity-pawl pivoted to the lower rail of the frame W. Its toe end, being caught by the ratchet on the front of the platform T, forces the frame W along laterally, asherelnbefore described. The gravity-pawl X and spring-pawl 0 have their ends above their pivoted points and slightly curved, so that a plate, Z, secured to a longitudinally-movable bolt, e, passing over the ends, will lift the toes of the two pawls and permit the retraction or recoil ofthe frame W by any suitable weight or spring mechanism. Thisis accomplished at the proper time and when a line has been completed by the end of the bolt e (which is a little longer than the width of the frame W, and which is guided and supported within the bottom rail of the sheet-frame) coming in contact with the side of the frame A, which forces the bolt to-.

ward the opposite side, driving the plate Z overthcendsofthepawlsandlifting them outof contact with their respective ratchets, and also protruding the bolt at the opposite side of the frame. The retracting spring or weight of the frame W, drawing it backto position to begin again, forces the now protruding end of the bolt against the opposite side of the frame, and, returning the bolt to the position seen at Figs. 1 and 2, releases the pawls and places them againin contact with their respective ratchets. The sheet is secured to still another frame, W, which is adapted to slide vertically within the frame WV by tongue-and-groove or V- shaped joint. ()n the rear of one of the sides of this vertically-sliding frame W are located, at proper distances apart, pegs or pins f, and to the frame W is pivoted a heel-aud-toe spring-pawl, g, having an arm, h, extending outwardly a distance about equal to the protrusion of the bolt 0, so that when the frame W has traveled across the machine and the bolt 0 is forced back so as to lift the pawls and permit the retraction of the frame simultaneously with the bolt e, the arm It. will come in contact with the side of the frame, forcing in the heel of the pawl g and releasing the toe from the pin f it has been holding, so that the lifting-spring, of suitable construction, shall lift the frame W and the sheet attached thereto until another pin f comes under the heel, the spaces between the pins being so adjusted that this movement of the heel-and-toe lever at the end of each trip of the frame W will allow the frame W and sheet to be lifted sufficiently to make the proper spaces between the lines.

Y is a spacing-key which comes in contact with the front end of the platform T, being so shaped or cut away as to avoid contact with the frames I and E, and is designed for no other purpose than producing the lateral move- .ment, of the frame W to produce extra spacing or to finish a line. B is' a suitable spring for contributing to the rapid dropping of the frame E when the key-lever is released. It also serves to hold the frame E in contact with the key-lever, and thus to arrest the wheel and hold it in position as long as the key is depressed.

Of course many changes and modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of my invention. For instance, instead of the top surfaces of the key-levers being all in the same plane and the bottom edge of the frame E being an incline, the bottom edge of frame E may be in a horizontal plane and the top surfaces of the key-levers enlarged or raised to accomplish the result desired. Or the parts may be so shifted that while bearing the same mechanical relation to each other they may lie in different planes to those shown in the drawings.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a series of finger key-levers, each of which operates to impel the type-wheel, of an oscillating type-wheel, mechanism between the finger key-levers and type- .wheel, whereby the motion imparted to the key-levers is transmitted to the type-wheel, and means for retaining the type-wheel in the desired position, all substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with the type-wheel and threaded shaft 0, the'movable frame E and nut G, whereby the vertical movement of the frame E shall cause the proper presentment of the type, as hereinbefore set forth.

3. The frame E, the bottom rail of which is inclined, in combination with a series of keylevers and a type-wheel, arranged as described, whereby the depression of any key will lift the frame to a predetermined distance and cause the type-wheel to be rotated to present the type corresponding to the key in alignment with the impression-hammer, as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

4. The combination of the platform-frame I, hinged arm K, star-wheel L, strip N, provided with a slot, 0, and hammer P, constructed substantially as described, whereby the tilting of the frame I will produce the necessary movement of the hammer at the proper time to impress the type upon the interposed sheet, as hereinbefore set forth.

5. The pivoted tilting platform T, provided with a ratchet, a, in combination with the curved or beveled ends of the levers H, whereby a given and predetermined movement of the platform T is produced, as and for the purpose described.

6. In combination with the platform T and ratchet a, the horizontal-movin g frame W and pawl X, whereby the frame W is moved laterally for spacing, substantially as hereinbefore described.

7. In combination with the guide U and frame W, the ratchet b and spring-pawl 0, whereby the frame is held against retraction from the feed until the proper time, as and for the purpose described.

8. In combination with the frame W and pawls X 0, having their ends curved, the bolt 0 and plate Z, whereby the pawls are alternately lifted and allowed to drop as the frame approaches the opposite sides of the machine, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

9. The frame W, provided with pins f, in combination with the heel-and-toe spring-pawl g, provided with an extension, h, whereby the frame W is permitted to be drawn up a given distance by a suitable spring as the extension comes in contact with the side of the machine, as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

10. The frame E, key-levers H, platform-frame I, platform T, arm K, wheel L, strip N, provided with a slot, 0, and hammer P, combined and arranged substantially as hereiubefore set forth, so that the movement of the several parts shall progress in the order described, substantially as and for the purpose described.

11. The spring S, arranged obliquely and combined with the arm K and strip N, whereby it performs the double function of lifting the arm K and platform to which it is hinged, and also aids in shooting the printing-hammer at the proper time, as hereinbefore described.

JAS. B. HAMMOND. [L'. s] Witnesses WM. A. HAMMOND, A. STEINHEIMER.

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