US3048254A

US3048254A - Ribbon mechanism for typewriter

Info

Publication number: US3048254A
Application number: US810303A
Authority: US
Inventors: John C Morris
Original assignee: Sperry Rand Corp
Current assignee: Sperry Corp
Priority date: 1959-05-01
Filing date: 1959-05-01
Publication date: 1962-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1979-08-07

Description

Aug. 7, 1962 J. c. MORRIS RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1, 1959 ,4 Tram y TUE Aug. 7, 1962 J. c. MORRIS RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1959 m M M a. Q wmm \N\ Q? Aug. 7, 1962 J. c MORRIS 3,048,254

RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITER 4 Sheets-$heet 3 Filed May 1, 1959 F IG. IO

. INVENTOR.

Joy/v; c. Mart/5 Aug. 7, 11962 J. c. MORRIS 3,048,254

RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITER Filed May 1, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Delaware Filed May 1, 1959, Ser. No. 810,303 14 Claims. (Cl. 197-451) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in ribbon feed mechanisms for power typewriters or similar business machines and more particularly to improvements on the attachment and feed of carbon paper ribbon as applied to typewriters using fabric ribbon and on riibb'on reversing mechanisms to facilitate manual rewinding.

Heretofore, it has been the practice to construct ribbon feeds on power typewriters or similar business machines with reversing mechanisms wherein, being directly driven, disengagement of the driving mechanism for manual rewinding was very inefiicient. The loading of paper carbon ribbon reels into power machines has not been sulficiently simplified. Synchronization of the ribbon feed and takeup mechanism is known to result in occasional slipping and time consumption due to tearing of the paper during frequent backlashing while typewriting.

It is the intention of this invention to provide a positive disengagement of the driving gears of a power machine ribbon drive shaft so that while the shaft is in the neutral position manual rewind is facilitated since the operator will have freedom of both hands. My improvement of the paper car bon ribbon attachment and feed entails more simplified loading and unloading of reels, unrestrained simultaneous positive drive between the paper ribbon feed and the takeup reel, and a three phase selective manual control for regulating the feed of the carbon ribbon through the machine.

One object of the invention is to provide a simplification of the loading and unloading of carbon ribbon reels so that both the load reel and the take up reel are loosely disposed on respective sides of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a more positive drive for the carbon ribbon take up reel operating in synchronism with a non-slip drive mechanism for the carbon ribbon.

Another object of the invention is to provide a manual control whereby regulated feed, continuous feed, or complete stoppage of feed of the carbon ribbon can be accomplished.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for indicating the completed or unwound condition of a loading reel as well as an indicator to show the completed or woundup condition of the take up reel.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for disengaging the fabric ribbon drive mechanism whereby the drive shaft is forced into a neutral position when manual rewind is desirable.

A still further object of the invention is to construct a power typewriter or similar business machine with provisions for' rapid and efiicient interchange from fabric ribbon to a paper canbon ribbon.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of the ribbon carrier drive of a power typewriter showing the ribbon reverse detent mechanism and its novel locking out means;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with certain parts shown in a moved position;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the changeover procedure from fabric ribbon to paper carbon ribbon;

I United States Patent FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of a power typewriter illustrating the application of the paper carbon ribbon feed and drive thereto; v

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary right side elevation of the typewriter showing the load reel attachment;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary left side elevation of the typewriter showing the take up reel attachment in conjunction with the carbon ribbon feed and drive;

FIG. 8 is a detailed elevation showing the disengagement of the carbon ribbon feed;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 with parts further moved and illustrating continuous feed of the carbon ribbon, and

FIG. 10 is a section taken along the line 10-10 of FIG. 7.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown a conventional power driven ribbon reverse detent mechanism 10, FIGS. 1 and 2, comprising a horizontal drive shaft 11 slidably journalled at each of its extremities in the

respective side frames

12 and 13. The drive shaft extends beyond the right side frame 13 to have keyed thereto a backup or friction clutch 14. A step by step clutch 47 is keyed to the drive shaft 11, and is actuated through an arm 48 from a ribbon actuator bar which will be hereinafter referred to.

Hollow spool shafts 16 and 17, vertically disposed over and aligned with the center of the drive shaft 11, are each journalled in the horizontal arms of brackets 18 and 19, said brackets being suitably mounted on the inner surfaces of the

side frames

12 and 13 respectively. The lower ends of the spool shafts 16 and 17 have keyed thereto bevel gears 21 and 22 respectively, said gears 21 and 22 being arranged for alternate meshing engagement with the

bevel gears

23 and 24, keyed to the drive shaft. This gearing causes a fabric ribbon 20 to 'be wound or unwound on the

spools

25 and 26. Automatic reversing mechanisms are provided in carriers or cores 25' and 26 integral with the upper ends of said shafts 16 and 17, the actions of which are well known in the art.

The action illustrated in FIG. 1 shows gears 22 and 24 in mesh, and it is evident that the right hand spool 26 operates as the take up spool whereas spool 25 is idling. As spool 25 unwinds the reversing mechanism will engage a cam 27 on shaft 11, forcing the shaft to slide from right to left placing gears 21 and 23 into mesh resultantly disengaging gears 22 and 24, and causing spool 25 to become the take up spool. Alternately, cam 28 will come into action to reposition the shaft, as shown in FIG. 1.

This procedure continues automatically until the ribbon is to be renewed or a faulty ribbon necessitates removal of the cover 30 of the machine casing for easy access to the ribbon spools for manual reversing. A manual reverse detent mechanism 31 is provided consisting of a verticalv wall bracket 32 mounted on the frame of the machine by bolts 33. A toggle arrangement composed of two

arms

34 and 35 is fixedly pivoted by a stud 36 to the lower part of wall bracket 32. The arms are freely pivoted on a long stud pin 37. Upper arm 34 terminates in a finger knob 38 which can be pushed against stop ears 39, bent out horizontally from the upper end of bracket 32 and spaced to the left and right of arm 34. There is suflicient arc of swing of knob 38 allowed to cause a shift stud 40, engaging a turned down neck 41 of the hub of the gear 24, to slide the shaft for meshing and unmeshing adjustment of one set of gears 21 and 23 to the other set of gears 22 and 24. Said shift stud extends from a short lever 42, integrally fixed at its upper end to pivot stud 36. A spring tensioned lever 43, pivoted as at 44 to the rear of the bracket 32, is fulcrumed at its midpoint as at 45 to the upper arm 34 and extends laterally to the secured to one end of a spring 46 extending from an anchor 49 of the s,oss,25a

wall bracket, It can be seen that this so called deadcenter movement will obviously hold any of the sets of gears in mesh and also will lend itself to any automatic shifting of gear sets by the power reversing means.

Since it is essential, during manual ribbon rewind, respooling or faulty ribbon correction to be able to use both hands, this invention provides a neutral positioning feature for the manual reverse mechanism in which a latching detent slide 50 is slidably positioned on the front of wall bracket 32 by two aligned shoulder studs 51 extending through slots 52 in slide 50. A tension spring 53 fixed to the upper stud 51 extends downwardly and is anchored in a bent out ear S4 of the slide St}. A pin 55 depending from the cover of the machine normally bears down on a lip 56 bent out from the upper extremity of the slide 50, forcing the slide downwardly against the action of the spring 53.

A lateral arcuate bulge or Wing portion 57 integral with and extending laterally from the opposite edges of the detent slide, is situated [between the slots 52. Said portion 57 has an arcuate slot 58 cut therethrough concentric to the fixed pivot 36, and of substantial width to accommodate the long stud pin 37. The slot extends sufliciently left and right of the center of the slide to allow freedom of swing of the pin 37 to its limits established by the leverage of

arms

34 and 35 at their free pivot. A locking slot 60 is cut in the lower edge of the arcuate slot 58, left and right of its center to approximately one half the length of the arcuate slot and sufficiently deep to acoommodate the diameter of the stud pin 37.

In the operation of the device, the operator desiring to replace a ribbon will raise the cover 30 of the machine so that pin 55 will release slide Stl. Finger knob 38 of arm 34 is pushed to the left toward the center of the arc. Pin 37 will simultaneously swing to the right in slot 58, slide 50 will rise by action of spring 53 and consequently the pin 37 will fall into the left corner of the locking slot 60 to be biased in that position by the counter pressure of the spring tensioned lever 43. It is to be noted that the dead center has not been crossed as evidenced by the dot and dash line, FIG. 2.

The free pivot of stud pin 37, of the

toggle arms

34 and 35, by its swing toward the slot corner, causes the short lever 42 to rock clockwise with the result that gear 24 will be unmeshed from gear 22 without meshing gears 21 and 23. Both ribbon spools can then be rotated manually on the cores by the free use of both hands. The cover is lowered upon completion of servicing and the stud pin 37 will be freed by downward travel of the slide 50, and will swing in the slot 58 toward the left to return to the same end of the slot it had occupied previously, thus permitting resumption of drive with the same spool, FIG. 1.

Should it be desired to reverse the ribbon drive manually the operator would, while the coper is still removed, push the knob 38 to the left, over the dead center thus causing the stud 37 to swing in slot 60' and come to rest in the right hand corner of said slot. The drive shaft will slide to the left but will be arrested before meshing gear 23 with gear 21. After lowering of the cover 30 and depression of slide St the stud 37 will swing to the right end of arcuate slot 58 thus causing the lever 42 to rock in a clockwise direction, resulting in engagement of gears 21 and 23 for ribbon feeding action on spool 25.

Provision is made to facilitate rapid and eflicient interchange of the fabric ribbon with paper carbon ribbon. Certain advantages inherent in paper carbon ribbon over fabric ribbon make it practical to use both ribbons in the power typewriter. For example, power typewriters can produce carbon copies up to ten or twelve in number. However, fabric ribbon has proven to be, through its comparative thickness, unsuitable to produce clear and distinct copies beyond the sixth or seventh. Paper carbon ribbon, being of considerably less thickness than fabric ribbon is decidedly more'applicable to multiple carbon typing.

The obvious difference in thickness gives the operator the added opportunity to produce a clearer, blacker original for subsequent offset process work. On the other hand, because paper carbon ribbon is not rewindable, compared with the reversing capabilities of fabric ribbon, it is a more expensive medium and requires more constant servicing as to replacement. For these reasons it can be seen that when requirements call for paper carbon ribbon it can readily be threaded through this particular machine and upon completion of its special usages can again be supplemented by the conventional fabric ribbon for normal typing.

To illustrate the transition from fabric ribbon to paper carbon ribbon reference is made to FIG. 4. After the cover 3%) has been removed the operator pushes the finger knob 38 to the left. The latch slide will, as heretofore described, normally slide upward and force the stud pin 37 into the locking slot 60. However, in this example, the operator desires to subsequently have the spool shaft 16 driven, therefore the knob 38 is pushed over the dead center placing the pin 37 in the right hand corner of the slot 66, as shown in dot and dash lines. The drive shaft 11, being in neutral position, permits the operator to manually wind all of the fabric ribbon on spool 26, leaving spool 25 completely empty.

The shift lever 110, FIG. 7, which had been in the secondary position to cause indefinite inoperativeness of a ribbon drive mechanism 72 during usage of the fabric ribbon is shifted rearward to the primary position. This setting causes the feed governor mechanism 108 to actuate the ribbon drive mechanism for every action of a depressed character key during normal typing. The paper carbon ribbon 65 is threaded from a loaded reel 66 over

pulleys

67 and 68 on the right side frame through suitable fingers on a conventional vibrator 70. From the vibrator 76 the paper carbon ribbon is led over a pulley 71 on the left side frame 12 to be finally threaded through the paper ribbon drive 72 to terminate on a take up reel 73, FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7. The cover 30 is replaced and typewriting resumed. The drive shaft 11 will continue to be driven by the rocking of the actuator bar through the step by step clutch but it will be noted that the spool shaft 16 is now driven 'by gears 21 and 23, and spool shaft 17 is held inoperable for the reason that the automatic reversing mechanism in the core of the wound spool must not function thereby causing an indefinite inactiveness of the fabric ribbon wound spool.

The application of this paper carbon ribbon feed and drive to a power typewriter will be readily understood by the following description and with reference to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. A conventional freely rotating core reel 66, fully loaded with carbon ribbon, is dropped into a cage arrangement composed of two chute members 74 and 75, sufiiciently spaced from one another to accommodate the outer periphery of said reel 66, and bent under arms 76 and 77 forming a substantial cage like structure to locate the reel approximately in the center of and parallel to the side frame. Both chute members 74 and 75 are integral respectively with

vertical flanges

78 and 30 which are secured by suitable means to the side frame 13. Idler pulley 67 is horizontally pivoted to the upper end of flange 7 8 and idler pulley 68 is vertically pivoted to a horizontal flange 81 extending from flange The two

pulleys

67 and 68 are aligned over the center of the load reel to accommodate the paper carbon ribbon, the center of pulley 68 being disposed toward the rear of the machine and approximately aligned with the fingers of vibrator 70.

A take up reel 73 is cradled on the left side frame 12 in a cage of similar construction to the cage for reel 66:

Chute members

82 and 83 have bent in depending

arms

84 and 85, respectively, to loosely cradle the reel 66, FIGS. 5 and 7. Chute S2 is secured to the left side frame 12 by a demountable flange 86. A horizontal flange 87 integral with mounting flange 86 has pivoted as at 88 a swinging lever 90. The free end of lever 90 has re- .wall of chute 33 and inclines upwardly at an approximate 30 angle to form a ribbon guide.

A ribbon drive 72 is located near the upper extremity of wall 93 and comprises a conventional ball wedging clutch 97, integral with a lever 93 and journalled on a shaft 96 as shown in FIG. 5. Said clutch straddles and actuates a hub portion 100 of a gear 101. A friction drum 102, integral with said gear 101 has a gripping surface, preferably of rubber, of somewhat larger width than the paper carbon ribbon. Contraction spring 103 serves to swing lever 104 about its pivot 105, holding the teeth on the follower gear 106, journalled at the other end of lever 104, in mesh with the teeth of gear 101. A friction wheel 107, integral with gear 106 is simultaneously urged against the surface of friction drum 102. It can be seen that the paper carbon ribbon 65, being held firmly between the peripheries of the two

friction members

102 and 107, will move only when the

gears

101 and 106 are caused to rotate.

-A novel ribbon feed governing mechanism 108 is shown in FIGS. 7 and 10, in which a shift lever 110 is pivoted at 111, approximately near its center, to the left side wall 12, and is disposed between the side wall and the take up reel. Below and beyond the pivot 111 the lever carries a stud 113, horizontally aligned to conform with the horizontal portion 114 of a right angle slide governor 115. The depending or vertical face of said governor 115 is loosely guided by two

shoulder studs

116 and 116 in slots of irregular shape, namely, a forward or pivoting slot 117 and a rearward or enlarged slot 118, the reason for which will be more clearly hereinafter defined. An car 120 on the rear end of the horizontal portion 114 has a coil spring 121 connected thereto, the opposite end of which is anchored to side wall 12,- said spring, FIG. 7, serving to keep the governor in a position relative to normal typing ribbon feed. It is obvious that the spring holds the governor against the studs 116, allowing freedom of horizontal movement.

The front edge of the horizontal portion 114 ends in a nose 122, FIG. 10, which engages either of two stops on a cam wheel 123. Said cam 123 is axially pivoted at 124 to a lever 125 and carries integrally a knurled elliptical wheel 126 which is normally held clear of a power roller friction extension 127 by virtue of the nose 122 camming out cam 123. The lever 125, pivoted to side wall 12 at 120, is pivoted as at 130 to a link 131, the upper end of which pivotally connects to arm 98 of clutch member 97. A spring 132 exerting pull between arm 98 and an anchor on the upper end of chute 83 serves to keep the nose 122 and the stop of cam 123 in positive relationship during momentary idlings. A vertical shift positioning plate 133 secured to the side wall 12, in close proximity to the shift lever 110, carries two radial spaced cleats 134 in concentric relationship to the pivotcenter or fulcrum 111 of said lever 110. An indentation 135 on lever 110 engages one of the cleats 134 as desired and retains the lever until shifted manually.

In order to actuate the governor a conventional ribbon actuator bar 136, FIG. 10, is modified with an extension 137 the end of which normally rests against a hook 138 extending rearward from the vertical wall 115 of said governor. Action is conveyed to the ribbon actuator bar 136 through a link 139 connected to a universal bar, which in turn is operated from the power mechanism. A full disclosure of operation of the universal bar and components has been made in a co-pending application of common assignee, Serial No. 808,806 filed April 24,

6 1959, in FIG. 1 of which application, the ribbon actuator bar is indicated by numeral 52, the link' by numeral 56 and the universal bar by numeral 48.

The take up reel besides being cradled in its

chutes

82 and 83 rests on an extension 140 of the power roller 15 adjacent the friction extension 127. Since the power roller is constantly rotating during typing the periphery of the reel will, under normal intermittent interruptions, slide on the metal surface of the extension without revolving. The reason for this is that the ribbon is held fast between the friction wheels of the ribbon drive thereby preventing revolving motion of the reel. As soon as slack is developed by typing and consequent feed of the ribbon, the reel will react to the rotation of the power roller and take up the accumulated slack.

FIG. 8 illustrates a moved position of the ribbon feed governor in which the shift lever has been shifted forward so that the indentation is engaged by the next successive cleat 134. The governor 115 is pushed downward by pin 113 over shoulder stud 116 in slot 117 to be held at the upper surface of slot 118 against stud 116. It can be seen that the governor is, in this position, immovable since the hook 138 has receded below the extension 137 which will bypass said hook with every character printing action. The nose 122 will remain indefinitely in the stop of the cam 123.

FIG. 9 illustrates a further movement in that the shift lever 110 is forced forward completely, engaging no cleat. The horizontal stud 113 bears against a vertical arresting pin 141 extending from horizontal portion 114 of the governor, pulling said governor rearward on

studs

116 and 116 in

slots

117 and 118 thereby disengaging the nose 122 from the stop on cam wheel 123 allowing the elliptical wheel 126 to engage and be continuously turned by the friction extension 127 of the rotating power roller 15. This position permits any amount of ribbon to be fed, but for ribbon replacement preferably, the old ribbon is completely taken through the machine and the lead end of the new ribbon is fed into the take up reel to continue normal typing.

In order to give the operator notice of the amount of ribbon left on the load reel and the amount wound on the take up reel a means of ribbon indication has been incorporated. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6 there is shown a bell crank lever 142 pivoted at 143 to the side wall 13, one arm 144 of which lever extends rearwardly and below the load reel 66 to have axially mounted thereto a small wheel 145 of lesser width than the carbon ribbon, said wheel 145 being urged between the inner surfaces of the reel and against the ribbon by a spring 146. The other arm of bell cranklever 142 is connected through a link 147 to an indicator drum 148, a colored area 150 of which is not visible through a slot 151 in a frontal cover portion 152. As the ribbon is taken off it is evident that the dium 148 will rotate in an anticlockwise direction so that the colored area 150 will gradually become visible in the slot after the arm 144 has passed dead center on the reel, thus indicating the depletion of all but approximately 12 feet of ribbon from the load reel.

Similarly the amount of ribbon wound on the take up reel 12, FIGS. 4 and 7, can be observed by an indicator drum 153, having a colored area at 154 not yet visible through a slot 155 in a frontal cover member 156 on the left side frame 12. A link 157 connects drum 153 with a lever 158 pivoted at 160 to side frame 12. The upper end of said lever 158 carries a wheel 161 of similar conformation to wheel 145, said wheel penetrating the vertical wall of chute 82 through a hole 162. The ribbon will not engage the wheel 161 until the take up reel is just short of full, at which time, pressure against the wheel will, through the leverage, rotate the drum 153 anticlockwise to bring the colored area 154 into view through the slot 155. The indicator in this manner shows the operator that the take up reel, being full, necessitates replacement.

The operation of the paper carbon ribbon drive and feed over the reels can best be understood by preliminary reference to the description of transition from fabric ribbon to paper carbon ribbon, FIG. 4, wherein the cover 30, having been raised, the ribbon reverse detent mechanism 31 is set to place the drive shaft 11 into neutral position, FIG. 2. The fabric ribbon having been completely wound on spool 26, FIG. 4, the insertion of the paper carbon ribbon is now possible. The paper carbon ribbon is led into and through the machine as heretofore described to be finally secured manually to the take up reel 73 preparatory to mechanical operation. The indicator 150 on drum 148 shows through the slot 151 as representing a full reel, FIG. 6, whereas the indicator 154, FIG. 7, is not visible through slot 155.

The operator switches the machine to On and also sees to it that the lever 110 is in the normal typing position as shown in FIG. 7. The depression of any character key will actuate the ribbon universal bar through which motion is continued by the link 139 to the actuator bar 136. The extension 137, rocking rearwardly in an arcuate motion will engage the hook 138, pushing the governor 115 rearwardly. The nose will slip away from the stop on cam 123, permitting the lever 125 to be pulled downwardly on pivot 128. The wheel 126 will bear against the continuously revolving power roll extension 127 and will commence to rotate in anticlockwise direction. As the wheel turns to its high point it will force the lever 125 to pivot at 128 upwardly, to raise the arm 98 of the clutch member 07 and cause the clutch to grip the hub 100 of the gear 101. Said gear will rotate carrying along gear 106 and friction drum 102. The friction drum 102 and the friction wheel 107, being integral respectively with

gears

101 and 106, will invariably feed a certain length of ribbon. As the wheel 126 passes its high point the connected leverage will gradually return to normal condition, unlocking the clutch grip on the hub 100 thereby leaving the gears and friction Wheels in the original advanced position. The actuator bar extension 137 has meanwhile returned to normal condition permitting the governor to slide forward by action of spring 121 so that the nose 122 will bear against the surface of the cam 123. As the cam progresses the stop will engage the nose 122 stopping the action. Wheel 126 makes one half revolution for every normal type action thereby urging the ribbon forward for just enough distance to replace the imprinted area on the ribbon with a fresh area. Slack will be taken up on the take up reel instantaneously.

As the indicator 154 begins to appear in the .slot 155 notification is given to the operator that the take up reel is almost full and must be removed and replaced with a new one. The load reel, however, remains in the machine since it empties in a ratio of 1 to 2 or 3 compared with the winding of the takeup reel. As soon as the ribbon is completely removed from the load reel the cover 30 is lifted, shift lever 110 is shifted forward, FIG. 9, allowing continuous drive and feed of the remaining tail end of the ribbon on the take up reel. Both reels are then replaced and normal typing is resumed as described above.

Should the operator desire to change from a paper carbon ribbon to the fabric ribbon prior to completion of the carbon ribbon reel operation the cover is removed, the ribbon is broken as closely to the load reel as is possible, the lever is shifted forward to cause take up of the remainder of the ribbon and the lever then is shifted to the central position for permanent disengagement of the ribbon drive and feed. In this position, FIG. 8, the hook 138 is lowered away from the extension of the actuator bar and the nose 122 remains constantly in the stop of cam 123. This disengagement position is required for all normal fabric ribbon typing. The fabric ribbon is then rethreaded on the empty spool and the drive shaft will drive spool shaft 16 upon replacement of the cover.

It is obvious that the ribbons can be interchanged rapidly and efficiently by the operator with a minimum of servicing.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention, as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions, and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a typewriter, the combination with ribbon carrier means, a drive shaft, gears for transmitting drive from said shaft to said carrier means and means controlled by said carrier means for automatically shifting the shaft a full distance in opposite directions to alternately drive said carrier means; of auxiliary means for fully shifting said shaft in opposite directions to drive said carrier means alternately, detent means for holding said auxiliary means to adjust the shaft to non-driving position, and means for operating said detent means to free said auxiliary means for full shifting movement of said shaft in opposite directions.

2. In a typewriter having a movable cover, the combination with ribbon carrier means, a drive shaft, gears for transmitting drive from said shaft to said carrier means and means controlled by said carrier means for automatically shifting the shaft a full distance in opposite directions to alternately drive said carrier means; of auxiliary means for fully shifting said shaft in opposite directions to drive said carrier means alternately, detent means for holding said auxiliary means to adjust the shaft to non-driving position, and cover controlled means for operating said detent means to free said auxiliary means for full shifting movement of said shaft in opposite directions.

3. A machine as set forth in claim 2 in which said auxiliary means includes pin means and said detent means includes pin movement limiting means, said detent means being controlled by the position of said cover for freeing said pin means from said limiting means.

4. A machine as set forth in claim 3 in which said auxiliary means includes a swinging lever associated with said pin means, said detent means including a slide member having a recess for defining an initial restricted movement of said pin means, and said cover controlled means moving said detent means and freeing said auxiliary means for full movement of said pin means.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 4 in which said auxiliary means includes resilient means for urging said lever in opposite directions for fully shifting said shaft in either direction to drive the carrier means alternately.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 5 in which said detent means includes resilient means associated with said slide member for holding said pin means at alternate restricted movement positions wherein said auxiliary means adjusts the shaft to non-driving position.

7. In a typewriter having a cover, fabric ribbon carrier means, carbon strip carrier means, a common drive means for both of said carrier means, means for transmitting the drive from said common drive means to said fabric ribbon carrier means including a movable drive shaft, gears for operating said ribbon carrier means alternately from said drive shaft, settable means controlled by the cover for maintaining the drive shaft in a moved position to operate the ribbon carrier means from which the ribbon has been exhausted, and means for operating the strip carrier means including strip feeding means operated from said common drive means whereby a ribbon and a carbon strip can be interchangeably used without removing said ribbon and strip from the machine.

8. In a typewriter including opposite side frames, a

plurality of ribbon reels, a plurality of cage members on said side frames in which some of said reels are freely rotatable, ribbon driving means, releasable cam means for operating said ribbon driving means, feed governing slide means associated with said cam means for releasing said cam means for feeding the ribbon intermittently between said reels and adjustable shift lever means for controlling the operation of said slide means.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 8, including a plurality of ribbon supply indicating means on said side frames for indicating the amount of ribbon on each of said reels.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 9 having a cover, said ribbon indicating means including rotatable drums having colored areas thereon, and lever means activated by said ribbon and effecting rotation of said drums to cause colored areas on the drums to be visible through sight openings in the cover.

11. In a typewriter having a power roll and a ribbon actuator bar, the combination comprising an eccentric Wheel adapted to engage said power roll, but normally out of contact therewith, feed governor means associated with said eccentric wheel to hold it in disengaged position, said governor means being retracted by said ribbon actuator bar when a type bar is actuated to release said eccentric wheel, means moving said eccentric wheel into engagement with the power roll when so released, a ribbon drive mechanism, and linkage disposed between the eccentric wheel and the ribbon drive mechanism to efiect drive of the said ribbon drive mechanism as the eccentric rotates. I

12. A machine as set forth in claim 11 including a manual control means having a plurality of setting positions to effect said ribbon drive, in which a primary position of said control means conditions said governor means for intermittent feed, said control means having a secondary position in which said governor means is conditioned to prevent ribbon drive, and said control means having a further position in which said governor means is conditioned to provide continuous ribbon drive.

, 13. In a typewriter having ribbon drive means, and governor means for controlling said ribbon drive means, a manual control means which in a primary position conditions said governor means for intermittent feed, said control means having a secondary position in which said governor means is conditioned to prevent ribbon drive, and said control means having a further position in which said governor means is conditioned to provide continuous ribbon drive.

14. In a typewriter having a power roll, a fabric ribbon actuator bar operated from said power roll, and left and right side frames, the combination of a paper carbon ribbon load reel, a paper carbon take up reel to wind the paper carbon ribbon cage means on said side frames to accommodate said paper carbon ribbon load reel and said paper carbon take up reel, paper ribbon driving means, releasable cam means engageable with said power roll for operating said paper ribbon driving means, feed governor slide means in association with said cam means for releasing said cam means to effect operation of said paper ribbon driving means, and means for rotating said paper carbon take up reel to Wind the paper ribbon fed by said paper ribbon driving means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 921,599 Doane May 11, 1909 2,554,028 Helmond May 22, 1951 2,616,547 Dodge Nov. 4, 1952 2,734,614 Page Feb. 14, 1956 2,815,110 Carlson Dec. 3, 1957 2,930,470 Roller et a1. Mar. 29, 1960