Patent GB-190328039-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Typewriting Machines
Inventor: DISS LOUIS PHILIP
Filed: 1903-12-21
Granted: 1904-04-07
Abstract: 28,039. Diss, L. P. Dec. 21. Type-writers.-Relates to vibrating-mechanism for actuating the ribbon so that, at each operation of a key lever, the ribbon is caused to cover and uncover the printing point, and is also shifted transversely when the platen is shifted from one printing centre to another. The ribbon is wound upon spools 30, Fig. 8, the ends of the ribbon being held by springs 31 secured at one end to the core 33, and serrated at the free end, which may be raised by a fingerpiece projecting through a hole 37 in the flange to release the ribbon. The spools are mounted on horizontal shafts 38, Fig. 1, having at their rear ends bevel-wheels gearing alternately with bevelwheels on a transverse shaft 42 which is driven by bevel gearing from the spring drum 18 which propels the carriage 15. The ribbon passes up through slots in the top-plate, and extends across the machine in front of the platen 11, the central portion of the ribbon being arranged vertically and threaded between vertical guide-fingers 47, Fig. 4, formed upon a vibrating arm 48 on each side of the type opening 49. The portions of the ribbon at the sides of the vibrator pass over guideplates 50, Fig. 1, shaped in conformity with the twist of the ribbon, and through guiding-fingers 51 shaped so as to take up the slack along the lower edge of the ribbon which results from twisting it from a horizontal to a vertical position. To take up the slack caused by vibrating the ribbon laterally, and so to prevent creasing in the direction of the width of the ribbon, the latter is passed over conoidal projections 54, Fig. 4, as it feeds through the vibrator. The projections are larger at the bottom than at the top, and so keep a substantially equal tension on the upper and lower edges of the ribbon. The vibrator is carried by a bent arm 55, Figs. 1 and 4, which is mounted on a short rock-shaft 59 carried upon the upper ends of a pair of movable arms 60 mounted on a shaft 61 supported in hangers 63. A bent arm 65 at the rear end of the rock-shaft 59 is connected by an adjustable link 66 to the rocker 26 which operates the escapement dogs 21, the rocker being actuated by a universal bar 28 extending under the key levers. The shaft 59 is thus rocked at each depression of a key lever, causing the vibrator to swing upwardly and to the left, thus covering the printing point with the ribbon and allowing the types to strike through the opening 49 upon a spot where an index 64 on the left of the opening stands in the normal position of the vibrator. The vibrator is returned to its normal position by a spring 73, Fig. 1, coiled round the shaft 59 between the arms 60. The platen-shift key 74 is connected by a link 76 to an arm 77 on a rock-shaft 78 which carries a curved arm 80, the free end of which bears against a rod 81 mounted on the platen frame in all positions of the platen. When the key is depressed, the platen is raised about the hinge 13, so that the outermost characters 10 on the type bars may print. In order that the ribbon may shift vertically with the platen, an arm 82 on the rock-shaft 78 is connected by a link 83 to a horizontal arm 84, Fig. 4, adjustably fixed on the shaft 61. When the platen is raised, the shaft 61 is rocked and the arms 60 which support the shaft 59 are swung upwardly and inwardly, the vibrator being moved in an approximately vertical direction. The vibrator is then actuated by the key levers as before.