US3038578A - Drive arrangement for typewriters - Google Patents

Description

June 12, 1962 w. P. RYAN ETAL DRIVE ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 22, 1960 RYAN LOUIS CETRAN d4 INVENT WILLIAM E MM gfl mms June 12, 1962 Filed Aug. 22, 1960 Fig-6 W. P. RYAN ETAL DRIVE ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS WILLIAM E RYAN LOUIS CETRAN ATTORNEYS June 12, 1962 w. P. RYAN ETAL DRIVE ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed Aug. 22, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS WILLIAM B RYAN LOUIS CETRAN Fig-5 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,038,578 DRIVE ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS William P. Ryan, Avon, and Louis Cetran, Newington, Conn., assignors to Royal McBee Corporation, Port Chester, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 50,915 4 Claims. (Cl. 197-17) This invention relates to an improved drive arrangement for typewriters and the like, and more particularly relates to a novel typewriter action which maybe power or manually operated as desired.

One object of the invention is to provide a typewriter which has two distinct key dips which are selectively operable depending on whether the typewriter is power or manually operated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel typewriter drive arrangement whereby the type bars may be selectively driven by an arcuate bail that is cyclically actuated by a power roll.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved power roll type action for a typewriter wherein a separate predetermined camming surface is formed adjacent the lateral face of a circular roll cam that engages a rotating power roll.

A further object of the invention is to provide a power operated type action having a novel non-repeat arrangement.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational View showing the normal condition of the pertinent portions of the instant typewriter when the latter is conditioned for power operation.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the drive linkage for a single type action.

FIGURE 3 is a partial plan View of the roll cam drive assembly and related linkage.

FIGURES 4 and 5 are active views of the apparatus illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view showing one type action which has been conditioned for manual operation.

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view illustrating the active condition of the bypass or non-repeat arrangement for the powered type action.

Unless otherwise stated it will be assumed that the various conventional parts of the typewriter hereinafter described are constructed and supported in the machine base or frame in any suitable known manner such as that used in the portable typewriter presently being produced and marketed by the Royal McBee Corporation.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2 there is shown a pair of machine side frames 10 and 11 in which is mounted a segment 12 that operatively supports a plurality of type bars. In that the construction and drive arrangement for each type bar is similar the hereinafter description will, for the sake of clarity, take into consideration the operation related to only one of these type bars. Type bars 13 is articulately connected by a link 14 to a sub-lever 15 that is pivotally supported on an arcuately shaped pivot wire 16. Sub-lever 15 is articulately connected by a link 17 to a key lever 20 which is mounted on a cross shaft 21. Links 14 and 17 are respectively coupled to the sublever 15 at the arcuate slots 22 and 23 formed in said sub-lever. The key lever 20 is spring biased upwardly in-the usual manner to a position determined by engageice ment of the upper edge of the key lever with the lower edge of an eccentric 24 that is secured to a cross shaft 25 rotatably mounted in the side frames 10 and 11. Secured to one end of shaft 25 is a pulley 26, FIGURES 1 and 3, which is rotatably coupled by means of a belt 27 to a pulley 30 that is fixedly secured to a cross shaft 31. The shaft 31 is rotatably mounted in the side frames 10 and 11 and has fixed thereto at its outer end a mode selection crank arm 32 which is disposed along the outer side of the side frame 11 and which is provided with an operating handle 33 by means of which the crank arm 32 may be moved to either of the two detented positions E or M, FIGURE 1, that respectively correspond to the power and manual modes of operation of the typewriter. The cross shaft 31 has fixed thereto an elongated and radially extending key lever stop plate 34 which provides a lower stop fo all the key levers when the typewriter is conditioned for power operation as illustrated in FIGURE 1.

A power operated bail assembly 50 is provided for driving the various type bars and comprises a pair of hell cranks 51 and 52 which are disposed on the outside of said side frames 10 and 11 and which are fixed to the opposite ends of a cross shaft 53 rotatably supported in said side frames. The upper ends of said bell cranks are respectively formed with notches 54 and 55 so as to re spectively receive the pins 56 and 57 which are fastened to slides 60 and 61 that are connected to the opposite ends of the bail body 62. Slides 60 and 61 are respectively 30 supported for forward and rearward movement on the slide shafts 63 and 64 that are mounted on the brackets 65 and 66 fixed to the side frames 10 and 11 respectively. The bail body 62 is biased to a normal forward position by means of a spring such as illustrated at 67, said position being determined by engagement of the vertical portion of the bell crank arms with the adjustable eccentric type stops such as 68, 69, FIGURE 1, that are mounted on the side frames by any suitable means. The bail body 62 is normally disposed just forwardly and slightly below the depending tails, such as 70, formed on the Various sub-levers.

Means are provided for actuating the bell cranks 51 and 52 so as to cause the arcuate bail body 62 to move through a rearward power stroke and a forward return stroke which collectively define one cycle of operation; such means comprising an axially shortened conventional type rubber power roll or disc which is rotatably mounted on the outer side of the side frame 11, FIGURES 1 and 3, and which is continually rotatably driven by any suitable means such as by pulley 81 and belt 82. A circular roll cam 83 having a roughened periphery is adapted to cooperate with said power roll and is rotatably mounted on the upper end of an arm 84 that is rotatably fastened as by pin 85 to the side frame 11. The roll cam 83 has integrally formed on the side face thereof a triangular shaped cam 87 having flat sides 90, 91 and 92 which in operation are adapted to successively overlie the upper edge 93 of the rearwardly extending arm 86 of bell crank 52. The arm 84 is lightly biased in a counter clockwise direction by means of a frame anchored spring 94 so that one of said flat cam sides is yieldably retained in engagement with the said upper edge of the bell crank arm 86. In this way the roll cam 83 may be yieldably detented in successive rotative positions each of which locates the roll cam in a position which is out of engagement with the power roll 80. Articulately connected to the rearward end of arm 84 is a control lever 95 which is biased in a clockwise direction by a spring 96 and which is formed with an elongated arcuate slot 97 at the upper end of which is formed a shoulder 98 and a camming surface 100. As will be apparent the lowering and elevating of the control lever 95 will respectively cause the roll cam 83 to move towards or away from the periphery of the power roll 80. The roll cam 83 and arm 84 are normally locked in a position away from operative engagement with the power roll by means of a rearwardly extending projection 101 which is integrally formed on the end of said bell crank arm 86 and which has a bent olf ear 102 that rides in said control lever slot 97 and normally underlies and cooperates with said shoulder 98 thereby positively preventing any relative downward movement of said control lever which would permit a movement of the roll cam towards the power roll. The means for unlocking and lowering lever 95 so as to permit movement of the roll cam into operative engagement with the power roll comprises a transversely extending bail 103 which is fastened to an axially movable cross shaft 104 that is rotatably mounted in the side frames. The body portion of bail 103 defines a transversely extending and horizontally disposed comb 105 having a plurality of laterally spaced teeth 106. Bail 103 is biased in a counter clockwise direction by means of a spring 108 so that the forwardly extending arm 109 thereof is in normal engagement with the frame stud or stop 107, FIGURE 1. When the machine is conditioned for power operation the forward end of each comb tooth is normally disposed just to the rear, FIGURE 2, of the rearward end of a laterally flexible finger 110 fastened to the related key lever such as 20. As will be apparent when any one of the normal complement of key levers is depressed the bail 103 will here be rocked in a clockwise direction against the action of spring 108. A rearwardly extending arm 111 formed on the end of bail 103 is porvided with a bent ofl pad 112 which overlies a forwardly extending projection 113 formed at the lower end of the control lever 95,

The bail 103 is adapted to be axially displaced a short distance relative to the key levers when the typewriter is conditioned for manual operation so that the bail fingers 106 are out of registry with the various key levers. Here a bell crank 114, FIGURE 3, is rotatably mounted on the vertically disposed frame stud shaft 115, FIGURE 3, and is Provided on one arm thereof with a yoke 116 which straddles the radially extending end portion 117 of the bail 103. The other end of the bell crank 114 is articulately connected by means of a link 118 to the radially outer end of a crank arm 120, FIGURE 1, that is rotatably fixed to said shaft 31.

A power by-pass arrangement is porvided so as to prevent repeat cycling of the roll cam drive means in the event that any key lever is held in the depressed position. On the rearwardly extending arm of the bell crank 51 there is formed a bent off camming ear 121, FIGURE 3, which is adapted to engage the adjacent end 122 of shaft 104 and axially cam the latter through a short axial distance when the bell cranks 51 and 52 are operatively displaced during the first half of each cyclic power operation. The bail 103 and the shaft 104 are normally biased towards the bell crank 51 by means of a compression spring 123 which is operatively disposed between the end of bail 103 and the adjacent inner side of the side frame 11, the normal position of bail 103 being determined by engagement with side frame 10. This cyclic axial movement of the bail 103 is accommodated by the slot 124 formed in the said bell crank 114 thereby avoiding a corresponding cyclic movement of the link 118, crank mm 120 and related linkage.

The operation of the above described apparatus for power operating the type bars of the machine will now be discussed. The mode selection crank arm 32 is first moved to and yieldably retained in the E position illus trated in FIGURE 1 so that the eccentric 24 and the plate 34 respectively determine the upper and lower limits for the dip o operative movement of all the key levers such as 20. When the arm 32 is so positioned the bail 103 will be located such that the comb fingers 106 are in operative alignment with the various key lever projections such as 110. When key lever 20 is in its normal upper position the rearward hooked end of link 17 is biased upwardly by spring 18 into engagement with the shoulder 121 formed along the upper edge of the slot 23 of sublever 15, and the left end of link 14 will be at or near the upper end of the sub-lever slot 22 as illustrated in FIGURE 1. When key lever 20 is depressed the first portion of its travel will through link 17 serve to rotate the sub-lever 15 so that the depending sub-lever projection 70 is swung from a normal inoperative position into the operative path of travel of the power operated bail body 62. During this initial sub-lever movement no motion is transmitted to the type bar link 14 in that the left end of the latter merely rides towards the lower end of the arcuate slot 22. During and after this portion of the key dip the key lever projection 110 engages the associated comb tooth 106 and the bail 103 is thereby rotated in a clockwise direction so that rearward extension pad 112 thereof engages the control lever projection 113 and swings the control lever in a counter clockwise direction so that the locking shoulder 98 thereof moves forwardly away from locked engagement with the bell crank bent off ear 102 and the camming surface thereof is moved into camming engagement with the said bent olf ear 102 as illustrated in FIGURE 4. During the last portion of the key dip the slight further counter clockwise movement of control lever 95 will cause itself to be cammed downward a slight distance relative to the bent oif ear 102 and against the action of spring 94 so that the roll cam 83 is thereby swung into operative frictional engagement with the periphery of the rotating power roll 80. When the operational engagement of the roll cam and power roll has been accomplished the toggle action between the roll contact point, the roll cam center and the pivot pin 85 will tend to keep the roll cam in engagement with the power roll and hence the roll cam will be rotatably driven so that the integral triangular cam will thereby forcibly displace the rearwardly extending arm 86 of the bell crank 52 in a downward or clockwise direction as illustrated in FIGURE 5. This action will, through the bell crank supporting shaft 53, serve to rearwardly displace the upper ends of both of said bell cranks 51 and 52 so as to actuate the bail body 62 through a rearward power stroke. During this stroke the bail body will engage the sub-lever projection 70 and arcuately displace the sub-lever 15, the latter having initially been displaced to a position in the path of travel of said bail body. The operative stroke of the bail body 62 first takes up the last bit of lost motion between link 14 and the end of the sub-lever slot 22, and then drives the type bar 13 away from the head rest and towards the record supporting platen 130, FIGURE 2, as illustrated in FIGURE 5. At the same time the right end of the upwardly biased link 17 will ride along the upper edge of slot 23 of the counter clockwise moving sub-lever 15.

During the above noted printing stroke of type bar 13 the downwardly moving car 102 on the bell crank projection 101 will move down along the cam surface 100 thereby camming the control lever 95 in a clockwise direction so as to enable ear 102 to ride downwardly in the arcuate slot 97 as illustrated in FIGURE 5. During the downward movement of the rearwardly extending arm of bell crank 51 the camming car 121' will axially displace shaft 104 and bail 103 against the action of spring 123 to a position such that the various flexible fingers 1 10 are longitudinally aligned with the slots between comb teeth 106. If the actuated key lever is held depressed for a longer time than is necessary to complete the typing operation, the restoration of the bail 103 to its normal position will cause a lateral deflection of that flexible finger associated with the depressed key, this condition being illustrated by the dotted lines, 125, FIGURE 3. Thus this key lever cannot operatively displace the bail 103 to start a cyclic operation of the roll cam drivemeans until it is released to move to its normal upper position at which time said flexed finger 110 will snap into operative position in front of the related bail comb tooth 106. When the cam lobe or corner 131, FIGURE 5, between the flat cam sides 92 and 91 passes over' the upper bell crank edge 93 the spring biased bell cranks 5'1 and 52 together with the bail body 62 will begin their return stroke before the type bar printing operation occurs, thereby being ready to initiate a printing stroke for the next type bar to be operated. The inertial completion of the printing stroke of the type bar is accommodated by a relative movement between the left end of link 14 and the walls defining the sub-lever slot 22. During the return stroke of the bell crank the car 102 will move upwardly in the control lever slot 97 and the fiat cam side 91 will move toward engagement with the upper bell crank edge 93 which action permits not only the spring actuated return or counter clockwise movement of the bell cranks 51 and 52 but also allows the spring 94 to restore the arm 84 to its counter clockwise position so that roll cam 83 moves out of engagement with the power roll 80. At the end of the bell crank return movement the bell crank projection car 102 will have moved upwardly into normal engagement with the control lever shoulder '98 as illustrated in FIGURE 1 and the flat cam side 91 will be in normal operative engagement with the upper bell crank edge 93. After the printing operation the type bar 13 together with the sublever 15 will be immediately restored to their normal FIGURE 1 positions by means of the usual type bar return spring which may be fastened between the sub-lever and machine frame.

In order to prevent a repeat conditioning of type bar 13 for actuation when the key lever is held in the depressed position after completion of a typing operation, the forward end of the link 17 is provided with an extension 132, FIGURE 4, the end of which is normally disposed above a common cross shaft 133. Cross shaft 133 is secured to the radially outer ends of a pair of crank arms such as 134 fastened adjacent either end of the said shaft 31. If after a typing action has been initiated, as illustrated in FIGURE 5, the key lever 20' is moved to and held in the depressed condition against the stop plate 34 as illustrated in FIGURE 7 the forward extension 132 of the link 17 will engage the cross shaft 133 and the rearward end of the link 17 will be thereby swung downwardly so that as the sub-lever 15 swings back from the active condition shown in FIGURE 4 to V a normal position shown in FIGURES 1 and 7 the rearward end of link 17 will seat in the lower notch or recess 135', FIGURES 4, 5 and 7, formed in the sub-lever slot 23 as shown in FIGURE 7. Under these conditions the depressed key lever 20 will not then hold the sublever 15 in a position such that the projection 70 may be engaged by a subsequent power displacement of the arcuate type bar driving bail assembly 50. Thus the sub-lever 15 will not be conditioned for actuation when the key lever 20 is held depressed. When key lever 20 is permitted to move to its normal upper position the rearward end of link 17 will be spring biased back into engagement with the said slot shoulder 121, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, preparatory for a subsequent typing operation.

When it is desired to manually operate the instant typewriter, the mode selection arm 32 is rotatably displaced in a clockwise direction to the M position, FIGURE 1. This action will first serve to swing the plate 34 and the cross shaft 133' out of the paths of travel of the key levers and link extensions 132 respectively and secondly will serve to rotate the eccentric 24 through 180 degrees so that the normal upper position for the key levers is slightly lowered from that for electric operation which in turn will cause the left end of link 14 to be located at the right end of the sub-lever slot 22. The key levers now will have a greater possible dip 136, FIGURE 1, as compared with the upwardly displaced and shorter dip 137 for the power mode of operation and will be immediately and directly operable on the respective sublevers. In order to disable the operation of theroll cam drive engagement bail 103 during the manual operation of the machine, the swinging of the mode selecting arm 32 to the manual (M) position will, through link 118 and the yoked bell crank 114, axially displace the bail 103 through a short lateral distance so that the rearwardly extending laterally flexible key lever fingers such as will, when the key levers are depressed, merely move in the slots between the teeth 106 of the comb 105. Under these conditions the bail 103 and the remaining portions of the roll cam engaging linkage will not be actuated in response to the depression of any of the key levers and the parts 14-17 of each type action may be directly actuated by the manual depression of the various key levers. FIGURE 6 illustrates the effective type action for manual operation, such action being more or less conventional in arrangement and operation.

When it is desired to again enable the machine for power operation the arm 32 is moved to and yieldably retained in the E position whereby the various parts of the machine are again conditioned to power operate the type bars in response to the selective depression of the key levers as described above.

While there is in this application specifically described one form which the invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this form of the same is shown for purposes of illustration only and that the invention may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a typewriter; a frame, a plurality of type bars movably mounted in said frame, a plurality of means for individually operating the respective type bars, a plurality of depressible key levers movably mounted in said frame, means operatively connected between said key levers and said type bar operating means for enabling the direct manual actuation of said type bars upon depression of said key levers, a power drive means, means operatively arranged between said power drive means and said type bar operating means for power actuation of said type bars under the control of the selective depression of said key levers, means for preventing direct manual actuation of the type bars while simultaneously conditioning the latter for power actuation and for preventing the power operation of said type bars while simultaneously conditioning the latter for direct manual actuation, a first by-pass means for preventing a given type bar from being conditioned for repeat operation when the related key lever is held in a depressed position, and a second by-pass means for preventing repeat operation of said power drive means when said key lever is held in a depressed position.

2. In a typewriter; a frame, a plurality of type bars movably mounted in said frame, a plurality of means for individually operating the respective type bars, a plurality of depressible key levers movably mounted in said frame, an arcuate array of individual means operatively connected between said key levers and said type bar operating means for enabling the direct manual actuation of said type bars upon depression of said key levers, a power drive means, means including an arcuate bail operatively arranged between said power drive means and said type bar operating means for power actuation of said type bars under the control of the selective depression of said key levers, means for preventing direct manual actuation of the type bars while simultaneously conditioning the latter for power actuation and for preventing the power operation of said type bars while simultaneously conditioning the latter for direct manual actuation.

3. Apparatus as defined by claim 2 wherein said power drive means comprises a rotatably driven power roll and a roll cam which is frictionally cooperable with the pe riphery of said power roll.

4. Apparatus as defined by claim 2 wherein said type bar operating means includes a plurality of sub-levers which have a slotted connection to their respectively associated key levers and type bars and which have projections that are adapted to be engaged and operatively displaced by said means operatively arranged between said power drive means and said type bar operating means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bailey July 27, 1897 Morgan et a1 June 16, 1925 Hokanson Jan. 18, 1927 Von Reppert Apr. 22, 1930 Oswald Apr. 28, 1931

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