US2505274A - Type action system for portable typewriters - Google Patents

Description

A ril 25, 1950 J. L. A. BOREL TYPE ACTION SYSTEM FOR PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS Filed July 25, 1945 Patented Apr. 25, 1950 TYPE ACTION SYSTEM FOR PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS Joseph-'LoulsAdhmar'Borel, Paris, France, as-

signontmsociete Rooy, a- French joint-stock company:

Application July 25; 1945, Serial No. 606,906 In'Fr'ance June 10, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690-, August 8, 1946 Batent expires June-10, 1964:

1.Claim. l

My'invention has for its object atypewriter ofthe socalled portable type.

Obviously, if a typewriter is to be ranked in this class, it must first have the:least p0ssib1e bulk; above all in height, in order to facilitate its handling and carrying.

A rathergreat number of so-called portable typewriters have been put on the market which,

in spite of the substantial difference existing between their h ight and those of the so-called oflice t pewriters, are nevertheless still much too high and cumbersome to allow their practical carrying by the user.

The following description and accompanying drawiws given out by way of a non-limitative example will allow a proper understanding of the mann r of executing my invention. In said drawings;

Fig; 1 is-a vertical cross-section of the typewriten Figs.-- 2, 3 and 4 are fragmentary sectional views allowing a comparison between the type bars according to my invention and the similar arrangement in common use.

Up to the present, for the purpose of decreasin t e height of the known portable typewriters, it -had been deemed suflicient to crowd together the-main elements that exist in every oilice typewriter without incorporating thereto those important modifications which are indispensable for the. production of very low typewriters. According to my invention, the height can be out down to even less than forty millimeters, and for that purpo e the entire device comprises arrangements whereb as will be described later on, two capital obje t ons to usual portable typewriters can be avoided, viz:

(a) the ori inal he ht of the whole typing system: said height will be c t down as a. result of a widening to the utmost of the angle of action of the type bars:

(1)) the height of the t pes above the base of the typewriter, which height generally tends to increase from the central bar towards either end. bar: a considerable reduction in such height will be secured by the provision of two different kinds of type bars.

In the drawings, I and l designate two of the type bars one of which is in operative position with reference to the cylinder or platen it while the oth r is in its position of rest in contact with the cushion 9.

2 designates the sector carrying a curved rod 3 to which the type bars are fulcrumed.

A wire link 4 connects the type bar I with an H 1 is 2. intermediary lever 5 while a furtherywirelink connects the bar I with the intermediarylever 5 These intermediary levers 5-5 are pivotally secured to-a curved rod 6 mounted on a support 6. Links l and I connect the intermediate levers with the key levers 8 and 8 Hand designate typing-keys. and I2 the support for key levers 8:' I3 is the fulcrum rod for'the key levers and I! thetype bar return Since all the type-.barsareactuated similarly itz'will'fheassumed in the following,- inorder-to simplify. the description, that the bar; I provided with'its actuating gear is nothing else than bar L likewise provided with itsactuating gear, transferred from its inoperative position on :gsiion S into its operative position on platen l4 z 1).

If now the key H on key lever 8 occupying then the position shown (in dash-and-dot lin s inzFig. 1) be depressed for the purpose of print ing-a sign, said lever will be caused to rock on rod !3 and to assume the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1.

During'the said movement of'lever 8 the arm 8 oi'said'lever. has pushed towards the left the link i which. being fulcrumed on the intermediate lever 5 pivoted on 6 has thro n aid lever from its position 5 into its po ition 5, this causing through link 4 the actuation of bar I which, being fulcrumed onrod 3, is swung from its inoperative position i into its operative position I on platen [4.

It will be seen on F g. 1 that the point of articulation of link 4 on lever 5 has described the arc i5 and that the point of articulation of link 4 on the type bar I has described the arc l6. Such an arrangement thus enables the point of articulation of link 4 on type bar I to de cribe about the fulcrum rod 3 an arc which is kinematically available on a very wide angle, e. g. 130' and even more, this resulting, as shown in Fig. l in a considerable flattening of the tvpe bar basket, this result being obtained without any gear work.

In addition, as shown in the drawings and as a result of the particular arrangement that will be described later on. the special shapes of the type bars I, intermediate levers 5 and key levers 8 enable the same to be lodged and to move in a very low space (Fig. 1).

In this printing device the fulcrum rods 3 and 6 carried by the sector 2 and the support for the intermediary levers 5 are curved on arcs concentric with the bend point of the type bars.

- 3 and located in parallel planes at an angle with respect to the base of the typewriter; the support for the key levers I2 is straight and arranged at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the typewriter.

With the printing device described a type basket is obtained that is very shallow in its middle portion, i. e. on the central bars I shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereas if the sector 2 were fitted all over with bars similar to I, N, the side bars would come to rest on the circular support 6 of the intermediate levers and could not fall back on the cushion 9 as shown at B in Fig. 3. The whole height-saving would thus be lost unless this difficulty were overcome as follows:

The explanation will be given with reference to the end bar which in the present instance corcharacteristics of this invention as defined in the accompanying claim.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A portable typewriter comprising key levers, a horizontal straight fulcrum rod having the said key levers pivoted thereon, type bars, a fulcrum rod curved in a sloping plane and having the type bars pivoted thereon, an intermediate curved fulcrum rod between the aforesaid ones, intermediate levers pivoted on said intermediate fulcrum rod, fixed supports on which the three fulcrum rods are mounted, wire connections between the intermediate levers and said key levers and type bars, the intermediate fulcrum rod and its support having their ends at a higher level than their middle portions, 9. horizontal curved cushresponds to the furthest position of type I above V cushion 9.

The end type bar in Figs. 3 and 4 is designated When considering Fig. 3 it will be found that the bar I as it swings back towards the keyboard comes into engagement with the support 6 at point 18.

By transferring said point 18 to Figs. 3 and 4 the position is obtained which is shown in Fig. 3 where said bar is supposed to be identical to bar I in Fig. 2; the height of the typewriter as represented by the arrow 20 (Figs. 2 to 4) would thus be increased by the height l9, which would amount to height 2|. Of course, such heights are given only as indications. In order to decrease the overall size the type i must be brought down to the level of cushion 9. For that purpose a special shape shown at I (Fig. 4) is given to the type bar.

It is apparent that bar i is shaped to fit the outline of the support 6 and that the type carried by said bar can rest on cushion 9.

Consequently, the typewriter is provided with two kinds of type bars, viz.: central bars I (Figs. 1 and 2) and end bars I (Fig. 4).

24 in Figs. 2 to 4 locates vertically the fulcrum rod 3 of the central type bar I 25 indicates the height of the side portions of rod 3 with respect to the middle portion 24, and 26 indicates the position of the support 6 with respect to 25.

The above described arrangements are mentioned'by way of example only, since the shapes, sizes and details of construction and application can be modified without departing from the ion serving to support the type bars in their rearmost positions, said type bars being of two different kinds, those in the side portions being offset downwardly at the rear of the intermediate lever support to compensate for the difierence in the levels of their fulcrums and those of the bars in the middle portion in such manner that the horizontal cushion on which the free ends of all bars come to rest can be located at a short vertical distance above the intermediate lever fulcrum rod.

JOSEPH LOUIS ADHEMAR BOREL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 915,662 Daugherty Mar. 16. 1909 1,417,304 Dobson May 23, 1922 1,451,203 Carpenter Apr. 10, 1923 1,468,880 Latta Sept. 25, 1923 1,474,917 Schluns Nov. 20, 1923 1,674,273 Barr June 19, 1928 1,680,135 Dobson Aug. 7. 1928 1,803,125 Norin Apr. 28, 1931 1,834,520 Fray Dec. 1, 1931 2,039,991 Haas May 5, 1936 2,171,688 Dobson Sept. 5, 1939 2,176,628 Helmond Oct. 1'7, 1939 2,343,321 Pascher Mar. 7, 1944

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