Improvements in Type Writers.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1891
Improvements in Type Writers.
IN TYPE
I, DANIEL CARROLL STOVER, of the City of Freeport, in the County of
Stephenson, in the State of Illinois, United States of America, Inventor, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS
WRITERS, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention pertains principally to the type-bearing arms, their supports,
mounting and adjustments. Type arms have long been hinged in the arc of a
circle, in order that while of the same length they may strike at a common point,
and that their paths may diverge rapidly from that point, whereby they act in
quick succession without clashing with each other. In this invention, also, the
arms are hinged at points in the arc of a circle, but to greatly increase the
rapidity of the divergence above mentioned, they are caused to swing to the common
point in planes having successively greater inclination to the plane of that circle,
instead of in planes perpendicular thereto as in the common constructions. As
illustrated, the arms are caused to move in this novel manner by the new expedient
of giving to the axes upon which they swing progressively increasing inclination
to the plane of said circle, instead of making them parallel thereto. As shown,
these axes are perpendicular to the axes of certain post-like type-arm supports by
which they are respectively borne, and are caused to incline by giving the proper
inclination to those supports.
The supports are made revoluble about their longitudinal axes, in order that the
type arms may readily yield to the lateral directing action of a certain notch
into which they all fall, at the common point, the instant before the impact of the
type upon the paper; but this is a subordinate consideration, the main result of
rapid separation being dependent upon the old plan of hinging the arms at points
in the arc of a circle and the broadly new expedient of causing them to swing to
the common point in planes oblique to the plane of that circle.
The frame roller for receiving the impact of the types, mechanism for actuating
the type arms, and all such parts as are not shown, may be mechanism used for like
purposes in well-known type writers. Such parts, therefore, are neither illustrated
nor described in detail in this Application.
In the accompanying drawings-
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the parts involved in my invention, three arms only
being shown; these are all depressed, and as they necessarily conflict when all
are depressed at once, two of them are broken away near their free, or printing,
ends.
Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same parts, the arms being in their normal or raised
positions, and parts being broken away to show construction.
Fig. 3 is a section on the line - Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a front view of a type-arm guide.
Fig. 5 is a section on the line y-y, Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 shows a peculiar ribbon carrier.
In these figures A is a circular segment which supports all the type arms and is
itself supported by arms B that are either fixed or pivoted to the frame below,
according as it is desired to place one or more types upon each arm. As illustrated,
this segment is adapted to bear twenty-six type arms, E, it being provided with
thirteen perforations, F, upon each side of the medial line. They are arranged
symmetrically, and successively increase in inclination, by equal amounts, until the
outer one upon each side makes an angle of preferably about 30 degrees with a

page_text: vertical line. In each perforation is mounted a primarily cylindrical type-arm
support, G, having at its upper end two slightly separated parallel discs, H, whose
planes pass through their, support parallel to its axis and through the center, C,
of the segment's curvature. Between these discs is pivoted a closely fitting
disc, I, to one side of which is rigidly secured a type arm, E, while_upon its
opposite side projects a short arm, K. The latter is engaged by a rod, L, which,
at proper times, receives, from well-known mechanism below, an upward impulse
that depresses the type arm. The lower, rear portion of the segment is cut away,
as shown, to expose the lower parts of the supports, G, which are flattened upon
the exposed side and pressed, respectively, by flat springs, M, fixed to the segment
near its lower edge by screws. The upper end of each spring is bent forward to
enter a corresponding groove in the support, G, and prevent its withdrawal from
the segment. Now, when any arm is thrown down into printing position, as shown
in Fig. 1, it normally crosses the medial line of the machine at the center, C, of
the segment's curvature; but at this point each arın is so bent that the portion
extending beyond the point, when the arm is depressed, crosses in such medial
line a printing roller or platen, D. The arms upon the same side of the medial
line are, of course, all bent at different angles, but corresponding arms upon
opposite sides make equal but opposite angles. With the arms so formed and
supported, all when depressed evidently strike the roller at the same point, but
more or less obliquely.
Such obliquity tends to cause imperfect impression upon the paper, and, therefore,
a directing device is employed to correct the obliquity, and give the type, at the
instant of impact, a direction perpendicular to the surface upon which they strike.
This device is shown as a rigid arm preferably fixed to the segment and extending
forward to its center of curvature, or slightly beyond it. Here it is bent upward
and provided with a notch, P, whose converging walls guide the descending arm
into a recess, P1, at the bottom of the notch, and of a width and depth only slightly
greater than the diameter of the arms. The walls of the notch pass by a gentle
curve into the corresponding walls of the recess, and thus a descending arm striking
upon either wall of the notch glides smoothly into the recess whose opposite wall
gives it a vertical direction at the instant before its impact upon the paper. The
notch preferably receives that portion of the arms which lies between the bends
above mentioned and the type-bearing sleeve, O, if such sleeve is employed. It
is to be observed that when the arm enters the directing notch, and is thereby
given a vertical direction, its support, G, rotates upon its axis very slightly
and presses the spring, M, outward; the reaction of the spring when the arm
rises from the notch returns the support to its normal position with great
exactness.
In all type writers, having long type-arms that strike a common point, each arm
in returning to position after striking passes quickly out of the path of the more
distant of the remaining arms, and the letters are commonly so distributed that, in
the language for which the machine is intended, those upon adjacent arms rarely
occur in succession. But at best, adjacent arms must now and then follow each
other, and in rapid writing they then collide. This is the common cause of faulty
alignment, the impinging of the type arms producing permanent displacement.
This fault is partially obviated by making the arms heavy, which is in itself
objectionable for well-known reasons; and it follows that the machine then has
some degree of two faults instead of a greater degree of one of them. In the
apparatus shown this evil, instead of being modified, is eliminated.
Each arm
bears, near its axis of motion, a preferably revoluble disc, Q, adapted to impinge
upon the like disc upon the adjacent arms whenever the arms would otherwise
clash, and this cause the arms to separate and pass without injury. The discs
being placed near the axes of the arms the latter are not sprung at all, but pass
by the slight rotation of the supports, G, the springs, M, yielding as before, and
returning the letters to their normal positions as soon as the discs have passed.

page_text: Fig. 6 illustrates a novel and compact arrangement of the inking ribbon
devices, adapted to support the ribbon upon each side of the striking point of the
types, to give a practically constant tension between the supports and to permit
readily withdrawing the ribbon to expose each character as soon as it is formed.
The ribbon runs from one to the other of two spools, and in its course passes
around two oppositely inclined bars, which support it, produce tension by friction,
and at the same time changes its direction. As shown, the spools, V, are mounted
upon the same shaft, Y, and the bars, W, are arranged alongside of and oblique
to the normal path of the ribbon, T, extended from the spools. The bars are
supported by, and may be integral with, rods, U, extending from a sleeve loosely
mounted upon the spool shaft. The carrier may be supported in the main frame
of the machine in any convenient position-depending upon the arrangement of
other parts-so that that portion of the ribbon between the bars lies in position
to be thrown against the platen at the printing point.
Evidently the construction may be varied without passing the limits of my
invention, and in point of fact I have constructed a working machine in which
the arms strike upward from below, though the essential features of the invention
are all preserved.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A series of type arms hinged respectively upon suitable supports in the arc
of a circle to swing to a common point, the several axes of motion being placed
at successively increasing angles with reference to the plane of the circle.
2. The combination with the circular segment and the type-arm supports
revolubly mounted therein and having progressively increasing inclination upon
each side of the middle of the segment, of the type arms hinged to said supports,
respectively, and swinging to a common point.
3. The combination with the circular segment, the differently inclined type-arm
supports revolubly mounted therein, and the type arms hinged respectively to said
supports to swing in planes passing through the several axes of the supports and
the center of curvature of the segment and all bent at said center into the same
fixed line, of the rigid arm, N, projecting from the segment, and having the forked
end, P, to receive said arms as they descend, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination with a series of type arms hinged to swing to a common
point, of discs fixed respectively upon each arm in position to impinge upon the
disc mounted upon the adjacent arm when both move together through conflicting
parts of their paths, whereby adjacent arms are separated and allowed to pass
each other.
5. A series of type arms hinged upon distinct axes to swing to a common
point, each having its hinge axis itself mounted in a support revoluble in a different
plane, and springs offering respectively yielding resistance to the rotation of said
supports, whereby each type arm may swing in different planes and be automatically
returned to one of those planes when the force removing it therefrom ceases
to act.
6. In combination, the circular segment, the variously inclined type-arm supports
or bearings revolubly mounted therein and having one side flattened and recessed,
the flat springs pressing said flattened sides respectively, and provided with the
bent ends entering the recesses therein, and the type arms hinged respectively to
said bearings and swinging to a common point.
7. In combination, the circular segment, the revoluble type-arm supports
mounted therein, the series of type arms hinged to said supports, respectively, each
upon an independent axis, and the notched rigid arm adapted to receive each type
arm as it descends and ensure to all a vertical direction as they pass to the bottom
of the notch, substantially as set forth.
8. In a typewriting machine the combination with two suitably mounted ribbon

page_text: spools, of ribbon-supporting bars arranged alongside and oblique to the normal path
of the ribbon extended from the spools, whereby the ribbon passing around the
oblique bars and in contact therewith may be changed in direction.
Dated this Sixth day of October 1890.
DANIEL CARROLL STOVER.