Improvements in Type-writing Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 7th June, 1892-Accepted, 9th July,
1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Type-writing Machines.
1, MARSHALL ARTHUR WIER, of Fairview, Spring Grove, Kingston-on-Thames,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention
to be as follows:--
This invention relates to improved means and apparatus for mounting and
actuating the printing type in type-writing machines, and consists essentially in the
employment of pneumatic means for that purpose instead of or in combination with
the mechanical appliances heretofore in use.
For this purpose I employ a series of tubular type-holders or carriers of_square
or other suitable internal section, and in each of these tubular type holders I place
a rod of wood or other light material of corresponding section adapted to slide
easily but steadily therein. On the outer end of each rod is mounted a type, and
each type-holder is connected by a flexible, or other tube, to a collapsible air
chamber mounted in a position corresponding to the ordinary keyboard of a type-
writing machine. On pressing any one of the said collapsible chambers with the
finger, the corresponding rod and type is forced outwards more or less in its
tubular type holder, and the type strikes against the paper (which is carried over
a roller or other suitable surface placed in a proper position with reference to the
type holders) so as to print the corresponding letter thereon. The necessary step-
by-step movements of the paper or of the type, or of both, as the case may be, in
order to present a fresh point for receiving the impression of each successive
letter; and the movements of the paper or type for commencing a fresh line may
be effected by any suitable means, for example, the collapsible air chambers may
be mounted on a rocking board, so that each time one of the said collapsible
chambers is pressed by the finger, the said rocking board is depressed and
this action causes the paper, or the type, as the case may be, to move a sufficient
distance to bring forward a fresh space to receive the impression of the next
letter.
The rods carrying the type may be arranged in the type-holders in any required
order, so that a type-writing machine constructed in accordance with my invention,
can readily be used as a cryptograph or cipher writer when the lettering on the
collapsible chambers is made to correspond with the type on the ends of the rods in
the corresponding type-holders, and for this purpose such machines may be furnished
with moveable scales, indices or pointers as described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to me, dated the 19th August 1887, No. 11,341.
Instead of the type being mounted directly on the ends of the rods operating in
the tubular type holders, the type may be mounted on levers or other instruments
operated directly or indirectly by the pneumatic appliances, that is to say, by the
action of compressed air.
The inking of the type may be effected by any of the well-known arrange-
ments that may be best suited to the particular kind of machine to which the
improvements are applied.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Type-writing Machines.
I, MARSHALL ARTHUR WIER, of Elm Place, Thames Bank, Lower Ham
Road, Kingston-on-Thames, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement that is to say :-
This invention relates to improved means and apparatus for mounting and
actuating the printing type in type printing machines, and consists essentially
in the employment of pneumatic means for the actuation of the type, instead of, or
in combination with, the mechanical appliances heretofore in use.
And in order that the said invention may be fully understood, I will now proceed
to describe the same with reference to the accompanying two sheets of drawings.in
which
"
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a type-writing machine acting on the principle of
the well known "Remington" machine but constructed in accordance with my
invention..
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same taken on line X X of Figure 1.
AA are the two side frames of the machine. B B' B² B³ and B' are stretcher
(bars uniting these two frames together; CC are a series of tubular type holders or
carriers of square or other suitable internal section. These type holders or carriers
are secured in and supported by two plates D D carried by pillars D' on the
stretcher bars B' B' of the framing of the machine. The said type holders or
carriers C C are placed so that they each and all converge towards a point E on
the printing roller F as will be well understood in connection with this class of
machine. In each of the tubular type-holders C is placed a rod G of wood or
other comparatively light material of corresponding section adapted to slide easily
but steadily up and down in the said type holder C. Or instead of a rod, a light
.metallic tube may be employed. The type holders C and the rods G sliding
therein are preferably of square or oblong section in order to prevent the rods G
from turning round in the type holders C. On the outer end of each rod G is
mounted a type H, the face of which is placed at such an angle to its supporting
rod G as will cause it to stand in the same plane as the faces of all the other type
as shown in the drawings when the rods G are down in their lowest positions in the
type holders C, that is to say resting on the stop pins C¹ passing across the type-
holders. The lower end of each type holder C is connected by a flexible or other
tabe I to a collapsible air chamber J mounted in a position corresponding to the
ordinary key of a type writing machine. On pressing any one of the said
collapsible air chambers J with the finger, the air in the said chamber and tube is
compressed and acts on the lower end of the corresponding rod G, forcing the said
rod upwards in its tubular type holder, and the type H strikes against the paper
(which is carried under the roller F, or other suitable surface placed in a proper
position. with reference to the type holders) so as to print the corresponding letter
thereon as shown by dotted lines at G* in Figures 1 and 2. When the collapsible
chamber is released, it resumes its original form, the compressed air therein and in
the tube I expands to its normal pressure and the action of gravity to return the
rod G quickly to its normal position is thereby assisted.
The necessary step by step movements of the paper in order to present a fresh
point for receiving the impression of each successive letter, and the movements of
the paper for commencing a fresh line, or for the spacing between adjacent words,
may be effected by any suitable means, for example the collapsible air chambers J
may be mounted, as shown in the drawings, on a rocking board K turning on a
fulcrum at K' so that each time one of the said collapsible chambers is pressed by
the finger, the said rocking board is depressed at its front end and draws the
sliding bar L to the left by means of the band or cord M which is connected at

page_text: "
one end to the said bar L, and, after passing over the guide pulley N, is connected
at the other end to the said rocking board K. The bar L is furnished with teeth
on its upper edge as shown. P is a pawl pivotted at P to the frame carrying the
printing roller F. When the bar L is drawn to the left by the depression of the
rocking board K a tooth on it presses against the tooth P' of the pawl P, moving
the latter and with it the printing roller F and paper a predetermined distance to
the left. When the rocking board K is released from the action of the finger
of the operator, it is restored to its normal position by means of the springs K',
and a spring L' then draws the bar L to the right, bringing another tooth of its
rack behind the tooth P of the pawl P in readiness for another operation.
When it is required to bring forward the paper for the commencement of a fresh
line of type writing, the crank handle Q is moved in the direction of the arrow and
the pawl Q' taking into one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel Q³, which is fixed on
the axis of the roller F, moves the paper forward to the required distance in a
manner well understood in connection with machines of this kind.
The rods G, carrying the type, may be arranged in the type holders in any
required order; so that a type writing machine, constructed in accordance with
my invention, can readily be used as a cryptograph or cipher writer and for this
purpose such machines may be furnished with movable scales, indices or pointers,
as described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me dated the 19th August
1887 No. 11,341. For example, such a movable scale may be arranged as shown
in the drawings in which R R are two rollers mounted one at each side of the
machine. S is a flexible band one end of which is attached to the roller R and the
other end to the roller R'. This band S has printed, or otherwise marked, thereon
letters or other signs corresponding to the type on the rods G, such letters or signs
being so placed on the band S that when the latter is in its normal position they
stand over the corresponding collapsible air chambers J and the latter can be
operated by pressing on the part of the band S where the corresponding letters or
signs are found and ordinary type writing can be executed. But when the said
▸ band is moved one or more places to the right or left by winding it more or less
on to one of the rollers R or Rand unwinding it to the same extent from the other,
the letters or signs on the band S will stand over air chambers-J. which do not
correspond to them and the machine can then be used as a cryptograph in the
manner described in the Specification of my aforesaid Patent No. 11,341. Instead
of employing the flexible band S or other movable scale, index or pointer, the
collapsible chambers J may be provided with movable letters so adapted that any
such letter may be applied to any given collapsible chamber, that is to say that the
letters on the said chambers are interchangeable.
The inking of the type may be effected by any of the well-known arrangements
that may be best suited to the particular kind of machine to which the improve-
ments are applied. For example in the machine illustrated in the drawings the
inking is effected in the following manner :-T is an inking pad arranged to turn
on a hinge at T on a fixed bracket T'. T' is an arm of the inking pad T pin-
jointed by a link T to a lever T' turning on a fulcrum at To. T' is a spring which
tends constantly to press the lever T' downwards and thereby to hold the inking
pad 'T in the elevated position shown. T is a sliding rod the lower end of which
rests on the rocking board K and the upper end comes under the lever T'.
When the rocking board K, after being pressed down to effect the lateral move
ment of the paper as above described, is released, it rebounds under the action of
the springs, somewhat above its normal, position, striking the lower end of the
rod T, causing the latter to push up the lever T, turning the inking pad on its
hinge into the horizontal position shown in dotted lines so as to apply ink to the
surfaces of the type H. But when the rocking board K has resumed its normal
position, the spring T' restores the parts to the positions shown in the drawings to
allow of the next printing-operation.
--
Instead of the type being mounted on the ends of the rods operated directly by
the pressure of air in tubular type-holders, the type may be mounted on levers,

page_text: rods or other instruments operated directly or indirectly by the pneumatic appliance
as illustrated diagrammatically in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings in which J is
a collapsible air chamber, J' an expansible air chamber such as for example a
flattened indiarubber ball in Figure 3, or an expanding bellows in Figure 4.
I a tube connecting the air chambers J and J' together. "G' (Figure 3) is a lever
or arm pivotted at G' and either carrying at its outer end a type H or acting on a
rod Gsliding longitudinally in suitable guides and carrying at its upper end a type
in the same way as the rods G in Figures 1 and 2. On causing the air chamber J
to collapse by the pressure of the finger or otherwise, the air chamber J' expands,
raising the lever G¹ and its type H, causing the latter to strike the paper placed in
a suitable position above it. Or, if the type is carried on a rod G³, the latter is
raised by the lever G' and the type on it strikes the suitably placed paper. On
removing the finger from the air chamber J; the latter expands and the air
chamber collapses, and the other parts return to the position shown in the figure.
In Figure 4 the type rod G³ is operated directly by the expansible air chamber J¹
without the intervention of the lever G.
The collapsible air chamber, instead of being pressed directly by the finger
of the operator, may be pressed by a lever key as illustrated at J' in Figure 5.
It is obvious that the above described pneumatic means of operating the type
may be applied to almost any kind of type writing machine, the mechanism, and the
arrangement thereof, being varied according to the nature of the machine employed
and its mode of action.
The collapsible air chambers J shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 consist of india-
rubber hemispheres but they may consist of cylinders and pistons, bellows, or any
other known and suitable appliances for compressing air.
Similar letters of reference relate to like parts in all the figures of the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. Actuating the type of type writing machines by pneumatic means sub-
stantially as herein before described, and illustrated in the drawings.
Second. Apparatus for actuating the type of type writing machines, which
consists of a tubular type holder or carrier, a rod sliding in the said type holder or
carrier and having at its upper end a printing type, a collapsible air chamber, and
a tube connecting the same with the tubular type holder or carrier, combined,
arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in
the drawings.
Third. In a type writing machine an air compressing appliance connected
directly by a tube or other passage with a tubular type holder or carrier wherein
the type is actuated by the direct action of the compressed air substantially as
hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings.
Fourth. In a type writing machine an air compressing appliance connected by a
tube or other passage with an expansible air chamber which actuates the type
either directly as in Figure 4 for example or indirectly through the medium of an
intermediate lever or other suitable mechanical appliance as in Figure 3 for
example, substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the said figures
of the drawings.
Fifth. The improved type writing machine constructed and operating_sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the
drawings.