US699784A - Electrically-printing type-writer. - Google Patents

Description

No. 699,784. Patented May |3,.l902.

B. A. BROOKS.

ELEGTRICALLY PRINTING TYPE WRlTER.

(Application filed June 19, 1900.) (No Model.)

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BYRON A. BROOKS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRlCALLY-PRINTING TYPE-WRITER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,784, dated May 13, 1902.

Application filed June 19, 1900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRON A. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Electrically- Printing TypeWriter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in type-writers designed to be operated with paper which is charged or coated with a layer of material of such character that it is visibly changed in character wherever it is acted upon by a current of electricity. By using material of this sort in a machine as hereinafter described the usual printingribbon may be entirely omitted.

My invention comprises the novel features which will be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to beflhad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of sufficient parts of a type-writer to illustrate my invention; and Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of portions of the type-writer, illustrating the means adopted for making electrical connection with the platen.

Certain combinations of materials incorporated with or placed upon paper have the property of changing their color whenever acted upon by a current of electricity, so that by making the printing-bed an electrical conductor and connecting this bed with one side of a battery and the type with the other side of a battery letters may be printed upon the paper by bringing the type in contact with the paper, so as to close the circuit from said type to the printing-bed through the paper. The exact composition of the materials used for this purpose does not form any part of my present invention, and as this product is one which is known in the art particular description thereof is not herein given.

The drawings herein given show an exemplification of my invention in which the usual features of a type writer of one type are 50 shown.

Serial No. 201784, (No model.)

It will be understood that my invention may be applied to any of the usual forms of type-writers, and I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to its use upon thev type illustrated or to the exact construction herein shown when applied to that type.

In the drawings, A represents the typewriter frame; B, the carriage; D, the body of the platen, and O a sheet of paper being printed upon. The platen or roller about which the paper passes is provided with a layer E of material which ordinarily is composed of hard rubber and which is somewhat yielding. Outside of this is placed a thin layer F of tin-foil or any similar material composed of a substance which will form an electrical conductor. of the construction shown a metal cylinder may be employed and. the paper he placed in direct contact with the surface of this cylinder. The construction previously described and which is illustrated in the drawings is one which is designed for utilizing typewriters as at present constructed, and especially in connection with machines already built.

At one end'of the carriage D is placed a metal spring or brush G, which is supported upon an insulating-block g and which bears upon one end of the platen, making contact with the foil covering F of said platen. At the front side of the carriage is placed a bar I, which is supported from the carriage by means ofarms H, which are insulated from the carriage by means of blocks 71. The bar I is connected by a suitable wire I either directly or through the medium of one of the arms with the brush G. This bar extends parallel with the direction of travel of the carriage and contacts with a spring or brush J, which is mounted upon the frame of the type-writer and insulated therefrom by means of a block J of any suitable material.

The type-writer frame and the brush J are connected, respectively, with opposite ends of a battery K by means of wires and 7a, so that the foil covering of the platen forms one end of an open circuit and the body of the typewriter forms the other end. In the construction illustrated the foil covering F is ef- It is evident that instead 7 fectivelyinsulated from the body of the frame by means of the layer E of rubber placed beneath it. In case a metallic cylinder were used this cylinder would have to be insulated from the carriage or the carriage insulated from the frame of the machine in any suitable manner. The type-levers L being electrically connected with the frame, whenever one of them is raised and its type made to contact with the paper on the lower side of the platen the circuit is closed through said type and the foil covering F and the material in the paper is changed by the current of electricity which passes through it, so as to form aletter corresponding with the lettercarried by the arm L which was operated.

It is evident that the particular means adopted for securing the contact between the typeand the platen is immaterial and that therefore my invention is applicable to any form of type-writer. The form herein shown is simply given as an illustration of one of the forms, said form being chosen among the many, because it is one of the most widely used forms.

It is evident that with a machine operating upon the principle herein shown the usual form of ribbon is avoided. Moreover, when the paper has the substance which is acted upon by the electrical current incorporated with the body thereof the change in said material passes entirely through the paper, and it is therefore impossible to change the writing, and it is also possible by using more than one sheet of paper to produce duplicate copies each of which will be exactly alikethat is, one copy exactly as strong and as permanent as the other. For manifold copies this is evidently much better than the use of sheets of carbon-paper, in which the carbon copies are not as permanent as the outer or original.

The words type-writer and type-writing machine as herein used are intended to mean a machine provided with a series of characters which may be successively presented at a common printing-point in any order desired to print a series of lines on a sheet, the sheet and type having relative movement in one direction to form a line and in a direction at right angles to that to form successive lines, irrespective of Whether the types are connected or disconnected, whether the impression is produced by a movement of type or platen, and whether the type or sheet bemoved to form lines and successions of lines.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A type-writing machine having a longitudinally-traveling paper-carriage,means for supporting the paper therefrom, a platen, types, the platen-surface and types being of electrically-conductive materials normally insulated from each other and adapted to receive the paper between them, means for selecting the desired type and for bringing the selected type and the platen into contact with opposite sides of the paper at a common printing-point whereby the circuit is closed through the paper, and connections from platen and types to opposite poles of an electric battery.

2. In a type-writing machine the combination of a platen, means for securing the paper thereto, types, keys and means controlled by said keys for selecting and successively impressing the types upon the paper, the platen and types having electrically-conductive surfaces insulated from each other and adapted to be connected with opposite poles of an electric battery.

3. A type-writing machine having a platen for the reception of the paper, types, the platen-surface and types being of electrically-conductive materials and adapted to be respectively connected with opposite poles of an electric battery, keys for selecting and presenting the types at a common printingpoint, and means for causing relative movement of paper and printing-point to print a succession of lines upon the paper.

4. A type-writing machine having a longitudinally-traveling platen provided with a metallic foil covering insulated from the types, means for securing the paper upon the platen, types, means for selecting and presenting the types to the platen to print a series of lines, and means for connecting said foil covering and types respectively with opposite sides of an electric battery.

5. A type-writer having a platen-carriage and a platen provided with an electricallyconductive surface, types and means for selecting and successively presenting the types at a common printing-point, means for causing the types to be impressed upon the paper to print a series of lines, an insulated bar and a brush engaging with the platen, one carried by the carriage and the other stationary, a brush connected with said bar and engaging said conductive surface on the platen and a battery connected from opposite ends respectively with the bar-engaging brush and with the types.

6. In a type-writing machine the combination of a platen having an electrically-conductive surface, means for securing thereto a sheet of chemically-prepared paper, a series of types, said platen and types being elec trically insulated from each other and adapted to be connected with opposite poles of an electric battery, and means for bringing said type successively in contact with the paper upon said platen at a common printing-point, whereby a current of electricity is caused to flow through said sheet of paper at the point of contact of said types with the platen.

7. In a type-writing machine the combina tion of a longitudinally-traveling paper-carriage, a platen having an electrically-conductive surface insulated from the types, a plurality of types and means for presenting them atacommon printing-point, said platensurface and types being connected with opposite poles of an electric battery.

8. In a type-writing machine the combination of a plurality of type-carriers and means for bringing them successively in contact with the paper, at a common printing-point, a platen having an electrically-conductive surface insulated from the types, the types and platen-surface being connected with opposite poles of an electric battery, and means for causing relative movement of platen and printing-point to form a series of printed lines.

9. In a type-Writing machine the combination of a longitudinally-traveling paper-carriage, means for securing the paper thereto, types, an impression member cooperating with the types, keys, means controlled by the keys for selecting and presenting the types at a common printing-point and means for impressing the paper between the types and the impression member at said common printing-point, said impression member and the types having electrically-conductive surfaces I mutually insulated and adapted to be connected with opposite poles of an electric battery.

10. In a type-writing machine the combination of a longitudinally-traveling paper-carriage, means for securing the paper thereto, types, an impression member adapted to cooperate with the selected type to form a printingcouple, keys, and means controlled by the keys for selecting the types and suc-

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