US438617A - Type-writing machine - Google Patents

Description

(Model.

J. H. FORREST. TYPE WRITING MAGHINE.

No. 438,617. Patented Oct. 21, 1890.

JOHN H. FORREST, OF MARION, INDIANA.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,617, dated October 21, 1890.

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. FORREST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marion, in the county of Grant and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Type-Writ ing Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in type-writing machines in which movable keys by mechanical connection with a wheel with flexible arms carrying fixed types, of metal, rubber, or other material, operate in conjunction with said wheel and arms to print the letters of the alphabet and numerals into words on paper or other substance; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to increase speed and accuracy in type-writing; second, to facilitate and cheapen type-writing in various styles of type; third, to simplify and increase the capacity of type-writing machines and reduce their cost and size, and,fourth, to increase the durability of type-writing machines. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawin gs, in which-- Figure 1 is a vertical section of the machine, illustrating the adj ustmentand method of operating the letter-keys, the key-board, and levers and their connections, and of the carriage and its connections. Fig. 2 is a Vertical section of part of the machine, showing the letter-wheel and letterhammer and their connections and mode of operation. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of part of the machine, showing the ratchet or stop, its connections, and mode of operation. Fig. 4 is a top view of the letter-wheel, beneath the arms of which the letters are fixed. Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the ratchet and ratchet-wheel used to operate the carriage. Fig. 6 is a detailed view of the letter-key.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The wheel A has flat flexible projecting arms 13, to which are secured at or near their ends types, of metal, rubber, or other suitable material, all operated bythe mechanical devices following: ahammer-lever C, so formed that one end can be operated as a hammer upon the letter-bearing arms of the Wheel above described and strike on the letter-arms on the side opposite the respective types, and

thus drive them upon the paper or other material placed to receive the impress of the types.

The lever and hammer described are operated as follows: The hammer-lever is supported by a bridge or beam, as at D, and at the end of the hammer-lever is attached a link E, connecting with a lever F upon a sup port G, and said lever F is connected with a link 11, which is connected with a key-board K, the fastenings and connections. of said levers, links, and supports being by flexible joints. The letter-key L, or any other letterkey, when pressed down will rotate the wheel so as to bring the corresponding letter directly under the hammer, and the continued pressure on the key and key-board will drive the link H downward, and, operating on its connections, cause the hammer to strike upon the type-arm, thus imprinting the letter on the paper'or other material beneath it.

Beneath the hammer-leverisasecond bridge or beam 0 over the letter-Wheel A, and in this bridge or beam is a set-screw to regulate the blow of the hammer upon the types and prevent injury to the types by too hard a blow or too long a sweep of the hammer-arm.

Theletter-keyrestson theleverm,furnished with a cogged are 02, made to match the wheel and cogged arm 0. The spring P, or other proper springs, supports the levers m at an elevation or depression, as the case may be, sufficient to disconnect the same from the wheel 0 when the letter-key is not in use.

The elevation and depression of the cogged arcs n are arrested at the points of disconnection from the wheels and cogged arms 0 by means of the transverse bars 1" and s, supported on the posts R and S, placed at each side of the machine, or by other secure supports.

Then the pressure is applied to the key L, the are n is brought into connection with the wheel 0, which is fixed on the shaft a, causing the wheel and shaft to revolve, and thus rotate wheel A by acting on the connecting cogged wheels Wand X. The pressure of the key upon the lever m lowers the lever and presses down the transverse bar 4) and lifts the ratchet T out of the slot in the wheel to, which is fixed upon the transverse shaft a, and at the moment the ratchet is withdrawn from the slot the cogged are n connects with the cogged wheel 0 and rotates the same, operating through the wheels WV and X, turning the letter-wheel A, as above described. "When the lever on is returned to the point of disconnection from the wheel 0 by the pressure of springs, as above stated, the ratchet T, moving on the pivot 2', drops back into the slot of the wheel to by force of the spring K or other suitable spring and holds the cogged wheel 0 in exact position to receive at the proper point the stroke of the ascending or descending cogs of the levers m when operated by downward pressure on the letterkeys. The key-board K, operating on a fulcrum at e, is, by the operation of proper springs after removal of the pressure from it, returned to its proper place. The levers m also are returned to their point of disconnection from the wheels 0 by the use of proper springs for that purpose. These levers m are of two classes, the cogs of one class ascendin g and of the other class descending by pressure on the letter-keys. The fulcrum of. one class of levers is upon a transverse shaft at q and the other upon a transverse shaft at g. The levers m are held firmly in position and move in the slot in the post h. These levers disconnect from the cogged wheels 0 only when the pressure is removed from the keys. To prevent such disconnection during the pressure of the letter-keys and to prevent the letter wheel A from being turned too far by such pressure, a stop is provided, consisting of the transverse ba .2, supported by posts or other firm support. In the transverse bar .2 are placed set-screwsone for each lever-to regulate the descent of the levers and fix the exact distance the wheel may turn in order to bring the required letter to its proper place to receive the stroke of the hammer.

By means of the two classes of levers, with different movements, as above described, an advantage accrues from the fact that the let ter-wheel need not be rotated more than half a revolution to bring any letter upon it to the proper place to receive the stroke of the hammer, and the highest attainable speed in printing is thus secured.

The number of letters, figures, signs, and characters which may be printed with this machine can be increased to any desired numher by making the letter-wheel larger and the machine wide enough to receive the increased number of levers m and cogged wheels 0 required to print the additional letters, figures, signs, and characters. In this way the machine may be made of any desired capacity without materially impairing its speed or case of operation.

' The paper or other material on which the type-writing is done is fed into the machine by forcing it through the crevice u by means of a revolving roller (1 in the carriage Q. This carriage Q is moved by the cogged wheel y, operating in the cogs along the edge of the carriage. The cogged wheel 3 is fixed upon the end of a shaft J, having at the other end the ratchet-wheel 00, operated by the ratchet I. The pressure on the key-board, causing the hammer-lever to strike the letter-arm, also causes the ratchet to recede upon the ratchetwheel, and the force of the rising-key-board, when the pressure is removed, causes the ratchet to turn the ratchetwheel and the wheel y, and thus moves the carriage to the point required.

WVhen the printing of a line is completed, the carriage is returned by hand and adjusted for another line by means of a set-screw or fixed wheel at the end of the roller (1. By pulling the knob f, connected with the ratchet I by the wire or rod p, the ratchet is disconnected from the ratchet-wheel cc, and the carriage may be easily returned in the manner stated, and when the knob is released the ratchet resumes its place by force of the spiral spring or other suitable springs, as at c.

The letter-wheel A is held firmly between clamps upon its opposite sides, the upper one of which is shown at j, and the letter-wheel between these clamps is screwed down firm and solid on the end of the shaft t. The letter-wheel can easily be removed and replaced by other similar wheels bearing the same or different styles of type, enabling the operator of the machine to write or print in avariety of styles with very little additional expense or trouble.

In writing in different styles it may become necessary to increase the space between the letters, which is done by shifting the ratchet I from right to left or from left to right along the slot 1) in the shaft F, so as to increase or diminish the number of cogs passed over by the point of the ratchet when lowered by pressure on the key-board K, the distance the carriage Q, is moved depending upon the number of small cogs on the ratchet-wheel ac taken up by the point of the ratchet at each pressure of the key-board.

The rim of the ratchet-wheel 0c is made wide enough to permit the ratchet to be shifted from side to side any distance required, so as to secure any desired width of space between the letters.

The knob of the letter-key L is made to screw on the top of the tube i Inside of this tube the spiral spring 0 is placed, filling the cavity of the tube, and into the lower end of the tube is inserted the shaft u having next to its upper end a slot a in the shaft long enough to permit the tube to slide down over the shaft far enough to depress the key-board the distance required. The spiral spring 0 is of sufficient strength to sustain the pressure needed to force down the lever m the required distance without material compression of the spring, so that in using the letter-key the lever m, when thus forced down, reaches its destination at or before the moment the lower end of the tube comes in contact with the key-board. hen this contact with the keyboard occurs, the shaft 10 under continued pressure, remains stationary, and the tube by increased pressure slides down over the shaft, forcing down the key-board far enough to operate the hammer-lever O and to carry forward the carriage Q the distance required for the space between letters. The space between words is made by depressing the key-board only as often as required before beginning to print the next word. In operating the keyboard for spacing between words the pressure may be applied at any convenient place on top of the key-board; but the use of the fixed knob c for that purpose is preferred. If an increased width of space between letters is desired, it may be made by depressing the key-board in the same way that the space between words is made.

The use of the spiral spring in the construction of the letter-key, as above described, is preferred; but a straight spring 0 is alsoused, one end of which is united to the lower end of the shaft 11. by a flexible joint and the other end fixed solid on the upper edge of the lever m, the straight spring being of sulficient strength to operate the lever m and keyboard K in succession in the same manner and on the same principle as they are operated by the letter-key in which the spiral spring is used; but when the straight spring is used the upper end of the shaft M2 contains no slot, but is bolted fast in the lower end of the tube so as to prevent the tube from sliding upon the shaft and utilize the tube for depressing the key-board to the same extent as when used for that purpose in connection with the spiral spring.

Spacing between words without soiling the paper or other material on which the printing is done is accomplished as follows: That arm of the letter-wheel immediately beneath the hammer when the letter-keys are not in use is made short enough for the hammerarm when descending to miss it, and thus leave the paper or other material to be printed on blank at that point, and such blank-points are repeated as often as the key-board is depressed, except when such depression is made by depressing the letter-keys. In this way the spaces between words or letters may be made of any desired length.

To prevent the key-board K when in operation from ascending or descending too far, a stop is provided, consisting of the clamp r which is secured to the machine by a screw or other proper fastening, so that one arm of the clamp projects over the upper edge of the key-board and holds it down to its proper place, and the other arm projects under the key-board at sufficient distance beneath it to permit sufficient sweep of the key-board to operate the hammer-arm C, the ratchet I, and the carriage Q, and make the spacing between letters and words as above described, and in the lower arm of the clamp r is placed the set-screw 8 with which the sweep of the keyboard is regulated with the greatest precision.

I do not claim the combination, in a typewriting machine, of gear-arms, a type-wheel shaft, and a pinion carried by said shaft, said arms being brought independently in gear with said pinion to rotate said type-wheel in either direction from a fixed point and subsequently to return said type-wheel to its initial point.

What I claim, and desire to secure by-Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the key-board K, the lever F, the carriage Q, the shaft J, carrying the wheels ac and y, and the ratchet I, carried by the lever F and adjustable in the slot 1), whereby the carriage is moved varying distances corresponding to the distances the ratchet may be set from the fulcrum of the lever, substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

2. The combination of the carriage Q, the shaft J, bearing the fixed wheelsw and y, the hammer-lever O, and the lever F, carrying the ratchet I and united to the key-board and hammer-lever by suitable links, as E and H, all substantially as described, the arrange ment being such that by elevation and depression of the key-board the stroke of the hammer-lever and forward movement of the carriage occur alternately, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, in a type-writer, of the fixed wheel w, the ratchet T, the transverse bar n, the levers m, and the type-wheel A, geared to the shaft a, substantially as shown, for the purposes specified.

4. The combination, in a type-writer, of the type-wheel A, the shaft or, carrying the fixed wheels 0 and w, the ratchet T, the transverse bars 0, s, z, and o, the springs 1c, thelevers m, and the keys L, all substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

5. The combination, with suitable supports, of the transverse bars 0", s, and z, carrying set-screws, the levers m, and the letter-key L, the arrangement being such as to limit the oscillation of the levers and arrest the rotary movement of the type-wheel when the desired character is brought into position, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, in a letter-key for a type-writer, of the tube '5 the spring 0 and the shaft a provided with a suitable slot, as a engaging with a pin through the tube and slot and limiting the sliding movement of the tube over the shaft, with the key-board K, the levers m, and springs is, all substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

JOHN H. FORREST.

Witnesses:

GARRY D. CUSTER, ANDREW T. WRIGHT.

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