Patent GB-189810866-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Typewriters.
Inventor: LAMBERT FRANK
Filed: 1898-05-12
Granted: 1898-09-17
Abstract: 10,866. Lambert, F. May 12. Type-writers such as are described in Specification No. 22,910, A.D. 1896, are improved in details. The types are formed on a spherical surface 3, which is supported by a light arm and a marked disc 1, pivoted on a central ball 10, so that, when any character marked on the disc is pressed upon by a finger, the disc 1 and surface 3 rock and place the corresponding type immediately over a s m a l l rubber block 51. The finger pieces on the disc 1 may be glass buttons, or be pivoted in recesses in the disc. The disc 1 is situated below the toothed edge of a bowl 16, pressed down by a spring 14 ; the teeth are so placed that they provide two bearings about which the disc 1 rocks when any character is depressed, any lateral rocking being checked. Accurate placing of the types is ensured by corresponding recesses behind the types bearing on a pointed pin 30. Further pressure on the disc 1 causes it to move down, with the ball 10, in opposition to a spring, so that the selected type impresses the paper laid over the block 51. The type acts through a small aperture in a thin guard-plate 41, carried by a yoke 34, which also carries, on side pivots, a thin inking-pad 38. The pad is pressed up against the types, to ink them, and to prevent vibration, by a spring 45, adjustable by a sliding screw 47, on which is screwed a bell 127 and a nut 128. The type surface is provided with several sets of characters, either of which may be used, by depressing the pin 30 more or less by a stepped cam 32, so that it engages different rings of depressions at the back of the type surface. The depressions in each ring are alternately shallow and deep, corresponding to two circles of types. The ball 10 is connected to its support 12 by a serrated clutch 150, held closed by the spring-pressed bowl 16, but so that the disc 1, type surface, &c. can be turned to print the letters inclined in any desired direction. The support 12 is adjustable by screws 126, carried, with the pin 30, by a yoke 21, which is connected by a lever 23 and a parallel link 27 with the arm 4 of the frame. A spring 29 balances their weight, and an inclined surface 181 on the lever 23 is acted on by an arm 75 of a spring-actuated rod 73 to hold them up, when not pressed down by the finger. The inclined surface 181 reduces the effect of the spring 76 after the disc &c. have begun to move downward. The arm 4 is pivoted to the base-plate 5, and can be turned back to show the paper : normally it rests on a stop 140, set adjustably in a box 61. The block 51 projects through a long table 50 over which the paper lies, its edge being held by a gripping-strip 89 inserted and held adjustably by oblique grooves and pins in a slotted roller 58. This is supported in bearings on a carriage 54, movable along grooves in the base 5. A spring 99, bent from a triangular piece of sheet metal, is carried by a rod 95 on the carriage, and bears on the paper. The carriage is propelled by a rack on it engaging a pinion geared to a driving-spring 65 in the box 61 ; the movement is regulated by another pinion carrying an escapement-wheel 71, which is engaged by two catches on the rod 73, so that each up and down movement of this, corresponding to the printing of one character, permits the wheel 71 to turn one tooth The rod 73 may be turned by hand to disengage both catches from the wheel 71, and permit the paper carriage to be moved by hand. The rod 95 carries an adjustable helical spring, which is compressed as it passes a part of the arm 4, and then enters an inclined hole bored in this arm ; by striking a ball loose in this hole, it projects the ball against the bell 127. When the carriage is withdrawn from engagement with the driving-pinion, this is held by a pivoted catch falling from the carriage into engagement with it, or by a spring catch which is moved by the carriage under a fixed pin and into engagement with the pinion. Stops are provided to limit the ordinary movement of the carriage. The escapement pinion is supported by an adjustable eccentric pin, so that it can be placed in slightly-different positions, in engagement with the rack. By this means, after printing a word, the carriage may be reset so that the outlines of the types may be printed double. The paper roller 58 carries a ratchet-wheel in engagement with a detaining-spring, and may be turned one, two, or three teeth of the ratchet by a pawl on a hand-lever, the pawl being held out of engagement with more teeth than desired, by an adjustable shield.