US2784667A - Settable typesetting means in data printing mechanisms - Google Patents

Description

March 12, 1957 D. BROlDO 2,784,567

SETTABLE TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISM? Filed March 25, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR paw/4 Bko/p ATTORNEY D. BROIDO March 12, 1957 SETTABLE TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISMS Filed March 25, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Zia/var; 5190/00 ATTORNEY March 12, 1957 0. BROIDO 2,734,667

S ETTABLE TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISMS Fiied March 25. 1955 Y 5 Shee ts-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY March 12, 1957 D. BROIDO SETTA-BLE TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISMS Filed. March 25, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTQR paw/4 B/Po/po ATTORNEY D. BROIDO March 12,, 1957 SETTABLEI TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISMS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR I Dfi/V/E 3)? 0/0 0 Filed March 25, 1955 Y I ATTORNEY SETTABLE TYPESETTING MEANS IN DATA PRINTING MECHANISMS Daniel Broido, Cockfosters, England, assignor to The British Tabulating Machine Company Limited, London, England Application March25, 1955, Serial No. 496,872

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 13, 1955 12 Claims. (Cl. 101--93) This invention relates to printing apparatus, of the kind in which a type bearing member is selectively positioned under control of elements set in accordance with a combinational character representing code.

An object of the invention is to provide a printing a plurality of latch pawls, means for operating the latch pawls in accordance with an additive combinational code, a latch releasable by each latch pawl, an operating pawl settable by each latch, a plurality of setting bars, a type bearing member, links connecting the setting bars together and to the type bearing member, means for moving all the operating pawls a fixed distance, each set operating pawl moving a setting bar a fixed distance, the links transmitting the additive movement of the setting bars to the type bearing member to bring the type character corresponding to the combination of operated latch pawls opposite a platen, and means for printing the selected character. In a multi-column printing mechanism, the corresponding latch pawls in two or more columns have a common operating means, and means are provided for making the operating means etfective sequentially for the different columns.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 taken together constitute a sectional side elevation of the printing mechanism;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the printing mechanism;

Figure 4 is a sectional plan view showing the sequence bars;

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of part of the resetting frame;

Figure 6 is a detail View showing the hammer operating mechanism.

The invention will be described as applied to a multi- The positioning of a type bar to print a selected character is controlled by four electromagnets. Four of the Stte Patent type bars are controlled by magnets 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D er- 2,784,667 .1 Cg Patented Mar. 12, 1957 Digit 01234567891011 Magnets A B AB C CA CB CAB D DA DB DAB The coding is additive, in that the components, A, B, C and D have the fixed values 1, 2, 4 and 3 respectively, and the value of each combination is the sum of the component values.

The type bar may be moved either up or down from the reset position, depending upon which character is selected. This arrangement simplifies the setting mechanism and also reduces the maximum travel ofthe bar from the reset position. From the coding and the arrangement of the type slugs, it will be appreciated that the movements of the type bar eifected under control of the magnets A, B, C and D will be 1, 2, 4 and 4 units respectively, the negative sign indicating downward movement of the type bar.

The movement of each type bar is determined by three setting bars 5, 6 and 7. The setting bars are limited to vertical movement by four guide plates 8, which are fixed between side plates 9 of the printing mechanism. The bars 6 and 7 are pulled upward against adjustable stops 11 by springs 10. The bar 5 is positioned by two arms 12, which engage pins 14 on the bar 5. The two arms are drawn together by a spring 13, but their movement is limited by their engagement with adjustable stops 15. This allows the bar 5 to be moved either up or down from the normal position.

The forked ends of a link 23 engage rotatable studs 16 and 17, which are carried by the bars 6 and 7 respectively. A link 18 is pivotally connected to the link 23 at a point which is distance from the stud 16 by an amount equal to one third of the separation of the studs 16and 17. The link 18 is guided for vertical movement by one of the plates 8, and by a further plate 19.

This link 18 and the type bar I carry studs 20 and 22 respectively. These are engaged by the forked ends of a link 21. The link 21 is pivotally attached to the setting bar 5. This pivot point is one quarter of the way along the link and is nearer to the link 18. t

The links 18, 21 and 23 transmit any movement of the setting bars 5, 6 and 7 to the type bar 1. Suppose that the bar 7 alone is moved downwards one unit, that is, a distance equal to that between adjacent slugs 2. The spring 10 will hold the bar 6 stationary, so that the link 23 will act as a lever fulcrummed on the bar 6. The slide 18 will be moved one third of a unit. The bar 5 is held by the arms 12, so that the link 21 acts as a lever with a ratio of 3: 1, and the type bar will therefore be moved one unit.

When the setting bar 6 alone is moved one unit, the slide 18 will move two thirds of a unit, so that the type bar is moved two units.

When the bar 5 is moved alone, the slide 18 is held by the bars 6 and 7 and the link 23, so that the link 21 acts as a lever with a ratio of 4:1, and the type bar is moved four units. If more than one setting bar is moved, then the movement of the type bar is the sum of the movements due to the individual bars.

The selected character is accurately aligned by an aligning bail 24 (Figure 1), the nose of which is held lightly against a toothed plate 25, which is attached to the type bar, by a spring 26.

The three setting bars 5, 6 and 7, for any particular type bar, are selected and moved in essentially the same way. The magnet 4A (Figure 2) is shown with the armature attracted, which rocks upwards the end of a latch pawl 27, against the pull of a spring 35. This movement disengages the pawl 27 from a three-armed latch 28. The latch 28 is urged clockwise by a spring 30, but is normally retained both by the latch pawl 27, and by a lug 29 on a sequence bar 36, which engages the second arm of the latch. If the sequence bar is moved to the left, the lug 29 is positioned so that the latch 28 is free to move if the latch pawl 27 is operated.

The third arm of the latch normally engages an operating pawl 31. If'the latch rotates clockwise, the operating pawl is released and also moves clockwise under the action of a spring 32. This movement of the operating pawl brings a notch 33 thereon into engagementwith a lug 34 which is fixed to the setting bar 7, as shown in Figure 2.

The magnet 4A can be tie-energised and the sequence bar 36 returned to the right. This willre-engage the latch 28 with the latch pawl 27, leaving the operating pawl'31 in the operated position. If the magnets 4A and 4D, for example, are now operated, the latch pawls 27 will release the latches, but the latches will stillbe held by the lugs 29, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The operating pawl 31 is pivoted on a spindle 37, which is carried in a box frame formed by two side plates 38 (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and two end plates 39. The twoside plates 38 have upper and lower extensions which are engaged by rollers 49, to guide the frame vertically. The lower extensions of the plates 38 are connected by a shaft carrying rollers 43, which are engaged by the forked end of arms 44. The arms 44 are secured to 'a shaft .45 which is journalled in the side plates 9.

An arm 50 is secured to one end of the shaft 45. The other end of the arm carries a roller 46, which runs in an internal cam track on a cam 47. The, cam 47 is mounted on a shaft 48, which is continuously driven through chains and sprockets 51 (Figure 4). When the printing mechanism is used for printing data from record cards, the shaft 45. is driven in synchronism with the card feeding mechanism, so that it revolves once for each card fed.

At a time after the operating pawls have been set, the cam 47 drives the arm 50 (Figure 1) clockwise through such an angle that the frame 38 and 39 is moved downward one unit. This carries the operating pawls 31 down, and consequently the setting bar 7 is also forced down. As already explained, this will. move the type bar 1 up one character from the reset position; When the selected character has been positioned, a hammer 52 is rocked forward to impel the slug against the platen.

The. end plates 39-of the box frame have extension brackets which carry adjustable stop screws 41. At the extreme positions of the frame, these stops engage bars 40 which are supported by rubber shock absorbing members .142, so that the movement of the frame is cushioned- The arrangement of pawls and latches for the magnets 4B and 4D is similar to that for the magnet 4A. In the case of, the magnet 4C, the operating pawl engages one end-of a lever 53. The lever 53 is pivoted on a spindle 54 which is journalled in brackets attached to the side plates '9; The other end of the lever 53 is forked to engage a pin 55 on the setting bar 5. The ratio of the lever 53 is 1:1, so that if the magnet 4C is energised,'the bar 5 will be moved up one unit by the downward movement of the box frame.

As the box frame rises, the operated setting bar or bars are returned to their reset position, but they are stilllengaged by the operating pawls. Re-engage ment of the operating pawls with their latches is effected by a resetting frame comprising side plates 56 joined by four rods 57 (Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5).

The resetting frame is supported by two short links 58 andtwolong links 59, which are pivotally attached to the side plates 38'of the box frame by studs 60 and'to the plates 56 by studs 70. The upper ends of the long links 59 are forked to engage pins 61 on a resetting bar 62 (Figure 4). The resetting frame is normally urged towards the left, as seen in Figure 1, by a spring 69 (Figure 4), which pulls the bar 62 in the same direction.

The bar 62 also carries a pin 63 which is engaged by the forked end of an arm 64, which is freeto rotate-on a shaft 65. A further arm is attached to the arm 64. This further arm carries a cam'roller 67, which rides on the periphery of a cam 68. The cam 68 is secured to the shaft 48, and therefore makes one revolution for each printing operation. The arm 64 is urged in a clockwise direction by a spring (not shown). After'the box frame has been returned, a low point on the cam 68 causes the arm 66 and 64 to move further in a clockwise direction, thus shifting the bar 62 and the resetting frame to "the right. The four rods 57 engage any set operating pawls and rotate them a small amount so that they are reengaged by the latches. then move the rod 62 back to the left.

So far the construction and operation of the mechanism for one type bar has been described. It was-noted that each group of four magnets for the'compenentsm B, C and D control the'character selection for four type bars. This is effected through the use of four pairs of sequence bars. When considering the release of the latch- 28 by the latch pawl 27 (Figure 2), it was pointed out that this could not occur unless the sequence bar .42 had been shifted to the left. The latch pawls for four adjacent columns are all operated simultaneously by the energisation of the magnet, for example, magnet 4A, but only one latch is released, that for which the sequence bar has been moved to the right.

All the sequence bars are urged towards the right by The other sequence bar 42' of the pair is joined to the bar 42 by a rod 78, so that the two bars move together. Each bar has four lugs 29, so that the laltches for the first and fifth'colurnns will be freed for control by the latch pawls when the bars move to the left. The latch pawls for the first column are controlled by the magnets 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D,'whilst those for the fifth column are-con.- trolled by the magnets 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D, so .thatthe operating pawls for the first and fifth columns may be set simultaneously, but independently, in accordance with any desired characters. The magnets are now de-eners. gised and the cam 77 allows the bars 42 and 42' to move back to the right.

The sequence bars for the second and sixth columns are joined by a rod 79 and are controlled by a cam '80. This cam is timed to allow this pair of bars to move to the left just after the bar 42 returned to the right. Thus the two groups of magnets may be energised again to set the operating pawls for two more columns.

The next pair of sequence bars to operate are joined by a rod 81 and are controlled by a cam 82 The last pair of bars are joined by a rod 83 and are controlled by a cam 84.

After the last pair of sequence bars has operated, the

operating pawls in all the eight columns will have been set as necessary. In fact, they are not only the means for operating'the setting bars, but they also provide the ting frame resets the operating pawls and the mechanism is then ready for a new cycle.

The details of the hammer operating mechanism have been omitted from the main drawings of the printing The cam 68 and the'spring6 9- grease? A sprocket 85 is secured to the shaft 48 and drives a t sprocket 86 through a chain. The sprocket 86 is secured to a shaft 87, which also carries a cam 88. As the cam rotates in a clockwise direction, it engages a block 89 on a pivoted plate 90 and turns the plate anti-clockwise.

When the block 89 drops oil the high point of the cam 88, the plate 90 is returned by a spring 91. During the return movement a hammer bail 92 which is carried by the plate 90 engages all the hammers 52 and impels them forward, against spring tension, to strike the slugs 2 which are aligned with the printing line.

The cam 88is also engaged by a roller 93 which is mounted on an arm 94. This arm is secured to a shaft 95 to which are also secured the arms which support the aligning bail 24. The cam timing is such that the bail 24 is lifted out of contact with the plates 25 on the type bars during the time when the type bars are being set. The bail 24 is re-engaged with the plates 25 before the hammen; are operated.

In order to check that the setting bars have been correctly operated, four contacts sets 96, 97, 98 and 99 (Figures 1 and 2) are provided for each column. The contacts 96 are closed by a lug on the bar 7 when it moves. The contacts 97 are closed by a lug on the bar 18 when it moves more than one third of a unit, that is, when the bar 6 has moved. The contacts 98 and 99 are closed when the bar moves down and up respectively.

If the data which is to be printed is held in a storage device of some kind, then the settings of the contacts are compared with the settings of the storage device. If the data is entered on a pair of channels sequentially, then two additional groups of four magnets are connected in parallel with the magnets 4. These additional magnets control pawls and latches in the same way as the magnets 4, but each operating pawl is released to close a pair of contacts instead of to engage a setting bar. These latter contacts are then compared with the check contacts for identity of setting. The release of the latches is sequenced by extensions of the existing sequence bars. The occurrence of an error causes the circuit of a motor driving the shaft 48 to be broken.

The checking for correct operation does not take place until after the setting bars have been moved. In the case of the bar 5 it is also necessary to ensure that both of the magnets 40 and 4D are not energised at the same time, as they control positive movement of the bar in opposite directions.

One end of a link 100 (Figure 1) is pivotally attached to the latch pawl 27 of the magnet 4D. The other end of the link 100 is attached to a link 101, which is pivoted on the same spindle as the latch pawl of the magnet 4C. When the magnet 4D is energised, a depending portion 102 of the link 100 is shifted so that it prevents movement (it the latch pawl of the magnet 4C as shown in Figure 1. A similar arrangement, which has been omitted for the sake of clarity, is operated by the magnet 4C to lock the latch pawl of the magnet 4D.

Although the setting bars have been shown as controlling a type bar, they could equally well set a print wheel. For this purpose, the type bar 1 is replaced by a rack bar which engages either with teeth cut in the periphery of the print wheel, or with a pinion secured to the print wheel.

What I claim is:

1. A printing mechanism comprising a plurality of latch pawls, means for operating said latch pawls in accordance with an additive combinational code, a plurality of latches each releasable by a different one of said latch pawls, a plurality of operating pawls each settable by a different one of said latches in its released condition, a plurality of setting bars each movable over a fixed distance by a diiferent one of said operating pawls in its set condition, a type-bearing member, links connecting said settings bars together and to said type-bearing member so as to transmit movement of said setting bars additively to said typebearing member, means for moving all said operating pawls a fixed distance so as to move those setting bars associated with operating pawls which are in their se't condition and thus to bring the type character corresponding to the combination of operated latch pawls into print ing position, and means for printing the type character so selected. 7

2. A multi-column printing mechanism having for each column a plurality of latch pawls, a latch releasable by each latch pawl when operated, an operating pawl settable by each latch, a plurality of setting bars, a type bearing member, links connecting the setting bars together and to the type bearing member to form an additive differential linkage, means common to two or more columns for operating the latch pawls in accordance with an additive combinational code, sequencing means for normally preventing the operation of the latch pawls by said common means, means for operating the sequencing means to allow operation of the latch pawls column by column, means for moving all the operating pawls a fixed distance, each set operating pawl moving a setting bar a fixed distance, the links transmitting the movement of the setting bars to the type bearing member to bring the type character corresponding to the combination of operated latch pawls opposite a platen, and means for printing the selected character.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 having means for resetting all the latches of a column, and further means for resetting all the operating pawls of a column.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 having a driving frame carrying the operating pawls, means for moving the driving frame said fixed distance, a resetting frame carried by said driving frame and movable relative to it, resetting means mounted on the resetting frame, and means for moving the resetting frame to bring the resetting means into engagement with the operating pawls.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the type bearing member is adapted to be moved in either of two directions from a normal reset position, depending upon which character has been selected.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 having three setting bars and four operating pawls for a column, and means for controlling the movement of a first one of said setting bars by either one of two operating pawls, one of said two pawls moving the first bar said fixed distance in one direction and the other of said two pawls moving the first bar said fixed distance in the opposite direction.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the ratios of the links connecting the setting bars and the type hearing member are such that movement of the first setting bar causes the type bearing member to be displaced four character positions on either side of the reset position, and that movement of the other two setting bars causes displacements of two character positions and one character position respectively.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the movement of the first setting bar in one or the other direction causes the type bearing member to be displaced so as to bring the character associated with value 4 or 8, respectively, into the printing position, and wherein the movement of the other two setting bars in said one direction causes the type bearing member to bring the character associated with value 1 or 2, respectively, into the printing position, whereby the combined movements of more than one setting bar cause the type bearing member to bring into the printing position the character associated with the value equal to the arithmetic sum of the above values, respectively.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 having a group of electromagnets, each electromagnet operating the corresponding latch pawls in two or more columns, a sequence bar for each column which normally holds all the latch pawls of the column against operation, means for retractlatch: pawls foroper'ation, and means for returningeach" sequence bar to the normal position before the next sequence bar is retracted.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 having two' or more groups of electromagnets and meansfor simultaneously retracting two or more sequence bars, to allow each group of electromagnets to control the latch pawls for one column at a time.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 having a con- 10 stantly rotating shaft and'a plurality of cams mounted thereon for controlling the retraction and return of the sequence bars.

8. 12.- Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 having further cams mounted on said shaft for controlling the movement and resetting of the operating paw-ls.

References Cited in the file'of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,077,962 Smith Apr. 20, 1937 2,077,963 Smith Apr. 20, 1937 2,077,964 Smith Apr. 20, 1937 2,077,965 Smith Apr. 20, 1937 2,293,713 Connor Aug. 25, 1942 2,297,803 Scheerer Oct. 6, 1942 2,709,959 Beattie June 7, 1955

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