US2681616A - Type magazine device for business machines - Google Patents

Description

June 22, 1954 J. SOBISCH 2,581,616

TYPE MAGAZINE DEVICE FOR BUSINESS MACHINES Filed Aug. 15, 1950 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 22, 1954 1 2,681,616

TYPE MAGAZINE DEVICE FOR BUSINESS MACHINES Filed Aug. 15, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEKi Patented June 22, 1954 TYPE MAGAZINE DEVICE FOR BUSINESS MACHINES Johannes Sobisch, Bielefeld, Germany, assignor to Anker-Werke, A. G., Bielefeld, Germany, a

corporation of Germany Application August 15, 1950, Serial No. 179,445

Claims priority, application Germany September 26, 1949 Claims.

This invention relates to business machines such as cash registers, calculating or accounting machines, and particularly to the type magazine means for the printing apparatus of such machinery.

It is usually desirable to accommodate the type carrying elements within a minimum of space. This is already important for type carriers with only ten number types but is even more significant if additional letter or symbol types are accommodated, because the displacement of the type carrier needed for the selection of the last type of a row increases with the length of the row, and an increased carrier displacement involves correspondingly larger structural demands and requires more time for each printing. There is a limit to increasing the speed of carrier because the proper stopping of the type carrier becomes increasingly difficult with larger speeds. There is also a limit to reducing the size of the types because, for readability of the printed text and sufficient mechanical strength against bending, the types must have certain minimum dimensions.

It is an object of the invention to devise a type carrying device for business machines in which the type selecting movement and the space occupied by the type members inthe direction of that movement are greatly reduced without requiring a reduction in the size and strength of the individual type members as compared with those of comparable known devices.

Another object of the invention is to design the type magazine devices of business machines in such a manner that, even with smallest types of dimensions close to the readability limit, the types can be arranged so closely together that the interstices are not larger than needed for mechanical tolerance.

An object of the invention is also to improve the means which guide the displaceable type carriers relative to the stationary frame or support structure of such devices. In particular, while it has been infeasible in the known devices to guidingly support the type carriers in the immediate vicinity of the printing place, it is an aim of the invention to provide a secure guidance in that vicinity, thus affording a better strength and printing accuracy of the whole printing unit.

According to one of the features of the invention, the guide means for movably securing the type members to their common type carrier are arranged in two or more rows so that the guide means of each type member are displaced relative to those of each adjacent member.

According to another feature of the invention, the guide means for slidably securing the type carrier to the appertaining stationary machine structure are disposed and in engagement with the carrier at locations within the dimensional range of the group of type members.

According to still another feature of the invention, a reset bar for returning the type members to their normal rest position and securing them in that position is joined with a parallel motion mechanism to safeguard an accurate resetting dispite the narrow-spaced arrangement of the type group.

These and other features, set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be apparent from the following description of the embodiments exemplified by the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a type magazine device for number and letter printing,

Fig. 2 shows a similar device whose type carrier accommodates fewer types, for instance, only for the printing of numbers,

Fig. 3 shows part of a type carrier structure according to Fig. 1 or 2 on a larger scale and seen from the rear of the carrier,

Fig. 4 is a part-sectional side view of the carrier structure shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows a top view of a fastening disc appertaining to the same structure, and

Fig. 6 is a side view of the same disc as it appears before the disc is joined with the carrier structure.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a group of type members I is disposed on a plate-shaped type carrier 4. The type members consist of elongated slide bars which extend parallel to each other. Each bar is slidably secured to the carrier 4 by two guides 2 and has a somewhat enlarged head 3 to carry the type proper. Each guide 2 consists of a frame which surrounds the appertaining type bar I and is fastened to the carrier ,4.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the type carrier in its lowermost, normally occupied, position. In that position, the uppermost type member 5, carrying, for instance, the number type 0 is in operative position, 1. e. its (right) actuating end then lies in front of a printing hammer (not shown). When, during the operation of the business machine, this particular type is to be printed, the carrier remains in its illustrated bottom position, and, after the type members are released by the mechanism described below, the printing hammer is actuated and drives the uppermost type member against the inking ribbon and paper (not shown) to the position shown for the uppermost type member 9 in Fig. 2. If another type is to be printed, the carrier 4 is displaced upwardly a corresponding extent so that the printing hammer will hit the one other type member 5 thus selected. The displacement of the type carrier is effected by a rack 4a which is engageable with corresponding control means of the machine. It will be recognized that, for placing the lowermost type member into printing position, the type carrier must travel a distance corresponding to the overall width of the type member group. This width and maximum travel distance are kept very small by virtue of the features described presently.

As will be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, the guide ames 2 for the type members I are disposed in two pairs of rows extending parallel to the carrier displacement direction. That is, the arrangement of the guide frames of each pair of rows is staggered or zig-zag shaped, the frames for each type member being displaced from those of each adjacent member. As a result, and as shown, the type heads 3 can be so closely aligned that the interstices are not larger than just re quired by the necessary mechanical tolerance. The bar-shaped type members in the illustrated example are somewhat narrower than the type heads or types proper, but the mutual distances between the rs are still smaller than the width of the individual bar. How considerable the resulting space reduction is will bestbe recognized from the larger scale showing of Figs. 3 and In Figs. 3 and 4, three guide frames appertaining to three successive type members i are more specifically denoted by 2a, 2b and 2c. The frames 2a and 2b lie in the same vertical frame row, while frame 20 belongs to another row. Each frame is saddle-shaped and has two legs passing through a hole ib in the carrier plate i. This hole is stepped to form a ledge 5 for engagement by a fastening disc 6. The disc 6 has two diametrically opposite recesses l traversed by the legs of the guide frame. Before being assembled, the fastening disc 6 is bent along a center line 8 to an approximately right-angular shape (Fig. 6). When assembling the device and after inserting the disc 6 with its recesses I over the frame legs, the disc iiis straightened, for instance, by a rivet .ing machine, to the flat shape shown in Figs. 4

and 5, and then secures the guide frame to the carrier. The space required by each individual guideframe assembly is determined by its widest part, i. e. by the fastening disc. For sufficient mechanicalstrength, a certain minimum portion 9 of carrier material must remain between adjacent openings db (Fig. 4). For that reason, ina single-row arrangement of the guide frames, two

, adjacent frames cannot be placed closer together than the frames 2a and 2b in Fig. 4. The staggered plural-row arrangement according to the invention, however, permits placing another type member between each two adjacent type memers of a single-row guide means arrangement.

Indeed, as shown in Fig. l, the spaces occupied shown in Fig. 1. This rest position is secured by a reset bar It which extends parallel to the carrier displacement direction across all type members of the group and is biased by a spring II to the position shown in Fig. 1. In that position, the right-hand edge of bar iii, passing through respective recesses of the type members, engages each type member, for instance, at la. After the selected type member is placed in printing position and before the printing hammer is actuated, the reset bar Hi is moved from the rest position (Fig. 1) to the release position (Fig. 2) near the type heads of the members, thus releasing the selected type member for printing. After the printing, the printing hammer returns to its inactive position, and spring ll returns the bar It! to the rest position, thus resetting the type memher.

To accurately reset all type members to the desired rest position, especially in View of the narrower arrangement of the type group according to the invention, an exact parallel motion of the reset bar iii is desirable. To this end, and in accordance with another feature of the invention, the reset bar is joined with a parallelogram guide mechanism. Pivot pins i2 and 23 form the fixed journals of the parallelogram. The pins are rigidly secured to the carrier plate t and carry two bell crank levers hi and i5 respectively. Linked to these'levers are: two rods 56 and I! which can be displaced only in parallel motion. The reset bar [ii is rigidly joined withv rod ll and hence is also constrained to parallel .motion.

A complete type magazine, of course, has. a

number of the above-described type carriers, one for each digit or place of the line to be printed. The type carrier plates are aligned close. to one another in face-to-face relation and are guided between stationary cross bars iii with attached guide combs is (Figs. 1, 2). The cross bars secure a proper vertical displacement of the carriers while the guide combs, straddling each carrier plate of the stack, provide a proper lateral spacing between the carriers.

shown, the. width of each carrier 5 is larger than the length of the type members i so that the edge portions of each carrier project on both sides over the group of type members when the members are in the rest position. The cross bars 58 and guide combs i9 engage these projecting edge portions. Thus, a very stable carrier guidance free from edging tendency is secured, and it is readily possible to place a carrier guide in the immediate vicinity of the printing place as is the case with the upper bars 58 and combs E9 in Figs. 1 and 2.

it will be obvious to those slzilled in the art upon a study of this disclosure that type magazine devices according to the invention can be varied and modified as regards design details and arrangement without foregoing the objects and advantages of the invention and without departing from its essential features set forth in the claims annexed hereto.

' I claim:

7.. A type magazine device for business machines, comprising a type carrier linearly dislaceable for type selection, a group or mutually arallel type members individually movable transversely to the carrier displacement direction and having respective slide bars and respective type heads, said type heads being noraligned at oneside of said carrier and said slide cars having respective actuating endsnormaliy aligned at the opposite side of said carrier, said slide bars having in said carrier displacement direction a mutual spacing smaller than the width of each slide bar, and a plurality of guide means slidably engageable with said respective bars and secured to said carrier in a plurality of rows parallel to said carrier displacement direction, the width of said slide bars plus the width of said guide means in said direction being greater than the width of said type heads in said direction, said guide means of each bar being displaced relative to said guide means of each adjacent bar.

2. In a type magazine device according to claim 1, said guide means comprising two frame members for each of said slide bars, said two frame members being spaced from each other along the appertaining bar and surrounding said bar, the frame members of adjacent bars being disposed in overlapping relation to each other relative to said carrier displacement direction.

3. A type magazine device according to claim 1, comprising a parallelogram mechanism having a reset bar extending parallel to said carrier displacement direction across said slide bars and having constrained parallel motion of said reset bar along said slide bars, said mechanism and reset bar having a given rest position and having biasing means normally holding said mechanism and reset bar in said position, said reset bar being in retaining engagement with said slide bars when in said rest position and disengageable from said bars to release them prior to a printing operation.

4. A type magazine device for cash registers, calculating and accounting machines and the like, comprising a type carrier displaceable in a first direction for type selection, a group of elongated type members extending parallel to each other in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction and being individually movable relative to said carrier in said second direction, each of said type members having a type head and a slide bar of smaller width in said first direction than said type head, a plurality of guide means firmly secured to said carrier and straddling said respective type members for slidably securing said respective type members to said carrier, the width of said slide bars plus the width of said guide means in said first direction being greater than the width of said type heads in said first direction, said guide means of alternate type members being arranged in respectively different rows parallel to said first direction, each of said guide means having in said first direction an outer width overlapping that of each adjacent guide means.

5. A type magazine device for business machines, comprising stationary structure, a fiat type carrier plate capable of translatory movement in a first direction relative to said structure, a group of mutually parallel and juxtaposed type members of elongated shape each comprising slide bars and having respective normally aligned type heads, said individual members being longitudinally movable in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction, guide means movably securing said respective slide bars to said carrier plate, said guide means of mutually adjacent slide bars being displaced relative to each other and arranged in a plurality of rows parallel to said first direction, the width of said slide bars plus the width of said guide means in said first direction being greater than the width of said type heads in said first direction, and carrier guide means slidably securing said carrier to said structure and arranged within the dimensional range of said group in said first direction, said carrier having in said second direction a width larger than the length of said type members and having respective edge portions projecting beyond the longitudinal ends of each member when said members are in normal position, and said carrier guide means being engageable with said projecting edge portions of said carrier.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,121,721 Dysart Dec. 22, 1914 1,334,758 Horton Mar. 23, 1920 1,978,898 Ford Oct.. 30, 1934 2,494,014 Thomas Jan.. 10, 1950 2,508,593 Braun May 23, 1950

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