US2974194A - Printing telegraph selector apparatus - Google Patents

Description

March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS l7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 W 6 w m Inventor J. HA NDL E Y A Home y March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 2 l n venlor J. HANDLEY A ttorn e y March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan 21; 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet s it; lmAentor J.. 'HANDLEY Hg /0 v By A Horn 2 y March 7, 1961 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 17 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor J. HA NDLEY Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet-5 Inventor J. HAN D L EY y Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Inventor J. H ANDL EY Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 17 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Inventor J. HA N L EY Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 17 Sheets- Sheet 8 Filed Jan. 21,. 1955 Inventor J. HAN D L EY Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS l7 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Inventor J. HA N D L EY Attorney PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 10 Inventor J. HAN LEY A ttorne y March 7, 1961 .1. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 17 Sheets-Sheet 11 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 In ventor J HA A Home March 7, 196] J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS l7 Sheets-Sheet 12 Filed J an. 21, 1955 oooooo ooV mi k Inventor J. HAN LEY Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS l7 Sheets-Sheet 13 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Inventor J. HAN D LEY y Attorney March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 14 l n ventor A ttom e y March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS l7 Sheets-Sheet 15 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Fla. I5

Y m r w u m A I N March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY I 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS 17 Sheets-Sheet 16 Filed Jan. 21, 1955 Fla. l2

Inventor J. HANDLE Y A ttorne y March 7, 1961 J. HANDLEY 2,974,194

PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 17 QLHANDLEY %4-WT4 ',L

ttorney 2,74,194 PRINTING TELEGRAPH SELECTOR APPARATUS John Handley, Briar Hill, Purley, England, assignor to Creed & Company Limited, Croydon, England, a British company Filed Jan. 21, 1955, Ser. No. 483,313 Claims priority, application Great Britain Jan. 25, 1954 6 Claims. (Cl. 178--27) This invention relates to printing telegraph apparatus comprising a printing telegraph receiver and a keyboard transmitter.

The object of the present invention is to provide such apparatus in which the number of parts is reduced to a minimum and which is accordingly oflight weight, without sacrificing speed of operation.

It has previously been proposed to cause a printed record of a transmitted signal combination to be made under mechanical control of the keyboard and thus to enable a character of a local record to be printed with United States Patent-O 2,974,194 Patented Mar. 7, 1961 2 Fig. 2 consisting of Figs. 2A and 2B is a section taken along the line II-II in Fig. 1; Fig. 2B being placed to th right of Fig. 2A, f

Fig. 3 consisting of Figs. 3A and 3B is ase'ction taken along the line III-III in Fig. 1; Fig. 3B being placed to the right of Fig. 3A,

Fig. 4 a section taken along the line lV--IV in Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a part section taken along the line V-V in Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 shows diagrammatically the operation of the printing frame of Fig. 1,

-Fig. 7 is a section taken alongthe line VIIV1I of Fig. 1, 7

Fig. 8 is a part section of a teleprinter accordingto the invention but incorporating a modified form of keyboard, the section being taken along a line similar to the minimum of delay after actuation of a key. The

mechanism over and above that usually required in a keyboard controlled transmitter was required to achieve the object.

According to the present invention control members are provided which may be set either under control of the response of an electromagnet to received signals or by mechanical means under control of a keyboard and these control members determine in conjunction with a rotating cam sleeve, the selective positioning of a type carrier.

The main purpose of such an arrangement is the reduction in the number of parts that results therefrom.

The above mentioned control members may be divided into two sets, these sets being actuated alternately by successive signal combinations and one set being used to determine the position of the type carrier whilst the other set is being positioned by a signal combination.

A set of control members is actuated simultaneously by a key of the keyboard but the members are set successively by the elements of a received combination under control of a cam sleeve released for rotation by the response of the receiving magnet to the start element of .a received co de combination and under control of the response of that magnet to the successive elements of said combination.

Preferably an aggregate motion mechanism is used to position the type carrier. Many different forms of aggregate motion mechanism have previously been proposed for positioning a type wheel or other type carrier but the problem of backlash, which causes difliculties in accurate positioning of the type carrier, appears to have stood in the way of commercial production of such machines.

According to the present invention backlash has been :reduced to negligible proportions by an aggregate motion mechanism the members of which are linked to respective cam followers, coacting with cams on a cam sleeve, and to a type carrier; spring means being provided constantly urging said cam followers into operative relation with their respective cams.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 consisting of 1A, 1B and 1C is a'plan view of a teleprinter according to the invention with certain parts thereof removed to show the operation of the mechanism; Fig. 1B being placed to the right of Fig. 1A

and Fig. 1C being placed to the right of Fig. 1B,

that of Fig. 4, I a

Fig. 9 is a part section of the modified keyboard taken along the line IX-IX of Fig. 8, and

Fig. 10 shows in detail the underside of ditierent keybars in the keyboard of Fig. 9. 4

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic isometric view of the pecker traversing apparatus,

Fig. 12 is a detail of the apparatus used for the settin of the control members from the keyboard,

Fig. 13 is an end View partly in section of the clutch mechanism,

Fig. 14 is a detail of the apparatus which serves to transfer the position of the control plates from the position in which they are set up to the position in which they are sensed for printing, and Y Fig. 15 is a detail of the aggregate motion mechanism.

In outline the operation of the machine is as follows:

Control plates 34 to 43, Figs; 10 and 2A, are set either by received signals or by the keyboard. There are ten such control plates, five being allotted to one signal combination and the other five to a succeeding signal combination, the two sets of five being interleaved. For setting control plates according to a received signal combination, a receiving cam unit 29, set into rotation by the start element of a signal combination, causes a pecker 33 (Figs. 10 and 4) to be traversed along the line of control plates and the pecker strikes a control plate or is prevented from striking it according to the nature (space or mark) of a signal element. The pecker carries that during one traverse of the pecker 33 projection 50 is alone operative on the control plates, projection 60 passing below the corresponding projections on the control plates.

The first set of control plates may also be set by members 84 to 83 directly linked with code bars or code vanes actuated by a key of the keyboard. 7 I

A motor driven cam sleeve 14, Fig. 2, is released for rotation either when a key of the keyboard is actuated or towards the close of rotation of the receiving cam unit 29 and the set of control plates is then moved along the array so that those plates positioned in accordance with a signal combination are able to exercise control of the operations of the machine such as positioning the type carrier or selection and operation of a function. The alternate series of control plates is now positioned Y to be acted upon by projection 69 of pecker 33 or by the 103 or are clear of them. The cam sleeve allows such cam followers as are unobstructed to fall under spring pressure.

Each cam follower is linked to a lever of an aggregate motion mechanism for positioning the type carrier and springs operate through the pivoted levers of this mechanism on the cam followers. These springs act to take up any backlash in the aggregate motion mechanism.

The control plates, in addition to controlling cam followers to operate the aggregate motion mechanism, operate slotted change-over plates to select function bars for such functions as letters and figures, shift, carriage return and line feed etc.

These change-over plates also position contacts to control the transmission of a signal combination set up by the keyboard. The keyboard also operates a send-receive switch into the send position to cause these contacts to be effective in the transmission of signals.

Setting of control members by received signal This rotation of shaft 3 starts the motor 6 (if this is not already running), as will be described later, and also releases the receiving clutch 7.

The methods of operation of the receiving clutch 7 (Fig. 2) and the transmitting and printing clutch 8 (Figs.

2, 3 and 13) are similar and will be described with reference to the transmitting and printing clutch 8.

Construction of friction clutch The clutch consists of an eccentric band 9 (Fig. 13) which naturally grips the drum 10 on shaft 11, which is driven by the motor 6 through the reduction gears 12 and 13. The band 9 is fastened to the transmitting and printing cam unit 14 by pins 15 and 15', the latter of which runs in a slot 16 in block 18. The pin 15 which is fixed to both the band 9 and the cam unit 14 is the driving pin, while pin 15 in conjunction with slot 16 guides the band 9 in its movements to and from the expanded position. The block 18 which carries the slot 16 is mounted on the band 9 by a screw and a nut 17. The clearance between the band 9 and the drum It may be adjusted by releasing the nut 17 and moving the block 18. Between the ends of the eccentric band 9 there is carried, by the band 9, a lever which can pivot on a knifeedge 24, and a diamond-shaped piece 21 which can pivot on a corresponding knife-edge 24. The lever 20 and diamond-shaped piece 21 cooperate to form a toggle arrangement as shown in Fig. 13. Also carried by band 9 is a support 422 from which a tongue 22 projects into a position behind the lever 20. When the clutch is engaged and the transmitting and printing shaft 19 and its associated cam unit 14 are being driven by it in the direction of the arrow, the toggle arrangement 20 and 21 and the tongue 22 on its support 422 all rotate with the band 9. The clutch is disengaged by moving a pawl 23 into the path of the lever 20 (as shown in Fig. 13), which impinges on the pawl 23 so that it is pushed back against tongue 22 and pivots about the knife edge 24 to force the diamond-shaped piece 21 downwards about its knife-edge 24 and backwards so that the point 423 is almost in a straight line with the edges 24 and 24 on which the respective toggle members pivot. As the diamond-shaped piece 21 is forced backwards it takes 'the block 18 with it thus expanding the band 9, which releases its grip on the drum 10. The tongue 22 is arranged so that the point 423 cannot lie exactly'in a straight line with the edges'24- and 24' when the band is in the expanded position, as the lever and diamond must be able to release when the pawl 23 is removed from the path of the lever 2i). However the point 423 is arranged to be almost in a straight line with the edges 24 and 24', in order to provide a very light release, i.e. the force exerted on pawl 23 by lever 2% is made as small as practicable.

Considering now the operation of the receiving clutch (in Fig. 2), when a start element is received the shaft 3 makes a rotary movement in an anticlockwise direction, as already described, and moves its arm 25 to the left. This arm 25 moves arm 26 of a two-armed member pivoted at 27, thus raising the second arm of the member on which there is a pawl 23, which serves a similar purpose in clutch 7 to that performed by pawl 23 in clutch 8. The receiving cam 29 then commences to rotate.

Operation of receiver cam tmit On the receiving cam unit 29 there are three cams 30, 31 and 32 (Figs. 1 and 2), which are respectively the second clutch release, traverse and striker cams. Tne traverse and striker cams operate a pecker 33 (Figs. 1 and 4) so that it sets up a combination on five of the control plates 3443 (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) which corresponds with the combination of marks and spaces in the received signal.

The pecker 33 is mounted on a shaft 44 which is shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4 and runs behind shaft 45 in Fig. 2 and parallel therewith. The pecker 33 is continuously urged towards the control plates 3443 by the spring 46 (Fig. 4), but is only allowed to strike one of the plates when a roller 47 (Fig. 2) on a lever 48, which is also mounted on shaft 44, is allowed to fall into a recess on the striker cam 32.

The striker cam 32 has five recesses and these are arranged so that the roller 47 will fall into them, if it is allowed to, during each received signal element. Whether the roller 47 is allowed to fall into the recess or not will be determined by the position of a second arm 49 on the shaft 3 which makes rotary movements in accordance with the received signal. When a mark element is received the arm 49 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, and when a. space element is received the arm 49 moves upwards from this position. With the arm 49 in the lower position, the roller 47 is prevented from falling into a recess on the striker cam 32, but, when the arm is in the upper position, roller 47 falls into a recess in the cam 32 and the pecker 33 strikes one of the control plates 34-43. A control plate is therefore struck in response to a received space element.

On pecker 33 there is a projecting 50 (Figs. 4 and 11) which strikes a control plate on the receipt of a space element. During each rotation of the receiving cam unit 29, the pecker 33 has to traverse the line of the control plates so that it strikes the control plate corresponding to the particular signal element being received at that instant. This traverse is effected by lever 51 which is spring-urged by spring 352 under the control of the traverse cam 31. A movement of lever 51 to the right in Fig. 11 (i.e. clockwise about shaft 45 on which it is mounted) will pull with it in that direction link 52 which is fastened by a pin 53 to an arm 54 (also shown in Figs. 1 and 4). The arm 54 is one arm of a bellcrank pivoted at 56, the other arm 55 of the bellcrank being the traversing member.

The way in which traverse cam 31 controls the movement of lever 51 is similar to the way in which the striking of the pecker is controlled from the striker cam. Mounted on the receiving cam end of the shaft 45 on which lever 51 is mounted is a lever 57 carrying a roller 58. The action of spring 352 on lever 51 ensures that the roller 53 is maintained in contact with the traverse :am 31 andfollows the contour in that cam. Cam 31 roller 58 on lever 57. As the unit 29 starts to rotate, the roller 58 follows the contour of cam 31 which on this part is a gradually increasing radius. Levers 57 and 51 are thus moved slowly to the left in Fig. 11 and the bellcrank consisting of arms 54 and 55 moves anti-clockwise about its pivot 56. Arm 55 which fits loosely in a slot in pecker 33 therefore causes the pecker to move along its rails 361 at such a speed that the projection 50 on pecker 33 will be opposite one of the control plates 42, 40, 38, 36, 34, at each of the instantswhen the striker cam 32 will cause the pecker to strike if an all-space signal is being received.

At the conclusion of the traverse, the contour of cam 31 decreases sharply in radius causing levers 57 and 51 to move to the right, as shown in Fig. 11, under the action of spring 352. Arm 55 of the bellcrank is thus caused to return the pecker 33 to the beginning of its traverse preparatory to the receipt of the next signal combination.

The control plates 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 have on them projections 59 (Fig. 4) on which projection 50 may act. The other project 60 on the pecker 33 is arranged two plates distant and at a lower level as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Then, supposing that projection 50 of pecker 33 is in the position opposite control plate 38 during its traverse and that the pecker is allowed to strike, the projection 50 of pecker 33 will strike projection 59 on control plate 38, which will be operated, and projection 60 of pecker 33 will pass under projection 59 on control plate 40, which will remain in its unoperated position. The unoperated position of the control plates 34-43 is that shown in Fig. 4. The position which an operated control plate will take is shown dotted in Fig. 4 immediately beneath the end of rockers 99-103 at gap 262. As will be explained later, after a combination has been set up on a set of five control plates and before that combination is read for printing, the whole set of control plates 34-43 which are arranged in a single array are moved in the direction of the array a distance equal to the distance between centers of adjacent members in the array. Thus in the middle of the traverse for the character combination immediately succeeding that which has just been described, the projections 50 and 69 on pecker '33 will be opposite, for example, control plates 37 and 39. The odd-numbered control plates 35, 37, 39, 41, 43 have on them projections '59 at a lower level than the projections 59 on the evennumbered plates already referred to. Thus, for the same traverse with the alternate combination, projection 60 will strike projections 59' on, for example, control plate 39 for a space signal and projection 50 will pass over projection 59 on the control plate two before the one actually being struck, i.e. plate 37 in the example quoted.

Release of printing cam unit from receiving cam unit As the receiving cam unit completes its first revolution a signal combination has been set up on the control plates 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42. -At this point it is necessary to operate clutch 8 and set the printing mechanism in motion. This is done by the second clutch release cam 30 and its associated mechanism. The second clutch release is prepared for operating when the receiving cam unit 29 starts to rotate. Roller 61 attached to arm 62 is forced out of the recess in cam 30, in which it is shown in Fig. 2, against the action of spring 63, shown in Fig. 1. This downward movement of arm 62 causes a projection 64 (Fig. 2) on it to engage with projection 65 on an arm 66 which is also forced downwards. The arm 66 is attached to a shaft 67 (Figs. 1 and 2) which performs a rotary movement in a clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 2. The shaft 67 also has attached to it an arm 68 (Fig. 1) which extends along the side of the machine until it is level with the transmitting and printing clutch 8 (Figs. 1 and 3). At this point, arm 68 carries a lifting release plate 69 which contains an aperture 70 to catch a latch ,71 which when pulled downwards removes pawl 23 from the path of lever 20. Therefore, when the receiving cam 29 starts to rotate, shaft 67 performsa rotary. move,-

ment and lifts arm 68 and'release plate 69 'again'st lth 'e action of spring 72 to engage latch 71 in aperture 70. This condition continues until the end of the revolution of receiving cam unit 29, by which time a set of control plates has been operated in accordance with the combination of elements received. Then, as the cam unit 29 completes its revolution, roller 61 falls back into the recess on cam 30 thus allowing release plate 69 to drop and release the printing clutch 8.

As cam unit 29 completes its revolution, a stop element received by the electromagnet 2 brings pawl 28 back into the path of the clutch lever on the receiving clutch 7 and brings the cam unit 29 to rest. In addition to performing the second clutch release as described above, the roller 61 as it falls back into the recess on cam 30 under the action of spring 63, ensures that the cam unit has sufficient power independent of its own inertia to operate the clutch toggle against substantial resistance to expand the clutch.

Reading control plates Clutch 8 having been released, the printing shaft 19 now commences to rotate. At the beginning of the revolution of this shaft earns 73 and 74 (Fig. 2) lift the levers 75 and 76 (Figs. 1 and 4) to which the cross-pins 77 and 78 (Fig; 4) are fixed. As these pins 77 and 78 are lifted they lift the change-over plates 79-83 and the combination fingers 34-83 so that they are clear of the control plates 34-43, and the trip finger 89 (Fig. 1) so that it is clear of the trip lever 90 (Figs. 1 and 4). At the same time cam 91 (Figs. 2 and 4) operates control plate restoring levers 92 to the left in Fig. 4.

In the next few degrees of rotation of the shaft 19, the gear wheel 93 (Figs. 2 and 14) which is rotated therewith through gear wheel 393 on shaft 19 and which has . face cams 94 and 95 one of which thrusts on one of the anvils 96, 97, is operative to move the single character storage unit 98 to the left or right, depending on which position the storage unit was previously in. Let it be supposed that the storage unit and control plates start in the position shown in Fig. 2 and that a combination has been set up on control plates 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42, then the storage unit is now movedto the left so that these plates are brought into position to be read by the cam followers 99-193 (Figs. 1 and 4) associated with printing cams 104-108 (Fig. 2). Cam followers 99-103 are hereinafter referred to as the type-setting rockers. In Fig. 14 the storage unit 98 and the control plates carried thereby are shown in the left hand position to which they have been moved by the cam face 95 thrusting on anvil 97. Gear wheel 93 is arranged to make only half I a revolution during each complete revolution of gear 393 on shaft 19. It will thus be moved back to the right hand position at the corresponding time in the next revolution of shaft 19 by the cam face 94, which is on the opposite half of the opposite face of gear wheel 93 to the cam face 95, thrusting on anvil 96. By this time a signal combination .will have been set up on control plates 35, 37,

39, 41, 43 and these plates will be in position to be read by type-setting rockers 99-103.

When the movement of the storage unit'98 is completed, the cams 73 and 74 lower the change-over plates 79-83 and fingers 84-38 and 89. The type-setting cams 104-108 then allow those of the type-setting rockers 99- 103 which are not held up by operated control plates to move under the action of springs 109 and 110 (Figs..1 and 15 through the various links and arms 111-121and -133 thus allowing the type wheel to rotate and lift according to the rockers 99-103 which have been permitted to move. a

Aggregate motion mechanism

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