Improvements in Type-writing Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 5th June, 1893-Accented, 26th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL 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 to be as follows:
This-invention relates to certain improvements in type-writing machines of the
kind described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me and bearing date the
7th day of September 1891 No. 15107 and especially to machines of that kind where
the type-holder itself is moved or where the type-holder and keyboard are moved
together while the apparatus holding the paper to be printed on remains stationary.
In order to effect this I mount the type-holder upon two or more rails or rods so
that it may be free to move to and fro from right to left and vice versa, the flexible
tubes being made sufficiently long to accommodate this movement. A spring,
suitably applied, gives motion to the type-holder, and a rack or ratchet wheel gives
the necessary step-by-step motion. The type-holder may be placed at such an
angle as to allow of the writing being seen as it is printed. The part where the
printing takes place may consist of a flat board, placed at the common striking
point of the types, and lifted up, as the writing progresses, by suitable pullies, racks
and pinions or other suitable means. The board is supported in position by two
arms projecting from the sides of the machine but preferably capable of being
turned to the front when not in use. Instead of the board a roller may be employed
and in this case a continuous web of paper may be used to write upon, supply and
wind-off rollers being suitably placed so that the paper will pass over the printing
roller. The inking of the type may be effected by a pad, a brush, or other known
means.
Dated this 6th day of December 1899
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 said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to certain improvements in type writing machines of the
kind described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me and bearing date the
7th day of September 1891 No. 15,107 that is to say, to type-writing machines in
which the type are actuated by pneumatic means and especially to machines of that
kind where the type holder itself is moved, or where the type holder and keyboard
are both moved while the apparatus holding the paper to be printed on remains
stationary.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I will now proceed
to describe the same with the aid of the accompanying three sheets of drawings in
which
Figure 1 is a plan of as much of a pneumatic type-writing machine, having my

page_text: present improvements applied thereto, as is necessary to elucidate the said improve-
ments. In this figure, part of the cover of the machine is shown broken away to
enable the parts below to be more clearly seen.
Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 1 but showing
paper-supporting and feeding arrangements and ink ribbon not shown in Figure 1.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show certain details to be hereinafter referred to.
A is the case of the machine, B the key board pivoted to the said case by the
arms B, CC are the collapsible air chambers, each of which is connected by a
flexible tube D with the rear end of its corresponding type-holder in the battery of
type-holders E. All these parts are constructed and arranged much in the same
way as that described in the Specification of my aforesaid earlier Patent. For the
purposes of my present invention I mount the battery of type-holders E on two or
more fixed rails or rods F by means of the carriage pieces G G' secured to the said
battery of type-holders and adapted to slide to and fro on the said rails or rods, the
flexible tubes D being made sufficiently long to accommodate themselves to these
movements. In the drawings a few only of the flexible tubes are shown in order to
avoid complication. The battery of type-holders E is moved from left to right
after each letter is printed, or in order to produce a space, by any suitable means
such as, for example, the spring arrangement shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 in which
H Hare two arms pivoted together at their lower ends by means of the spindle H²
which is rivetted or otherwise rigidly secured to the arm H, the arm H¹ being left
free to turn on the spindle H2. I is a spiral spring, one end of which takes into a
hole in the spindle H² or is otherwise secured thereto and the other end is secured
to the arm H' by the screw 12 or otherwise after the spring has been wound up into
a state of tension tending to open out the two arms H H. The upper end of the
arm H takes into a recess in the end of the case A and the upper end of the arm H¹
takes into a recess in the carriage piece G of the battery of type-holders E. The
effort of the spring I to uncoil tends to force the ends of the arms H H' apart and
consequently to press the battery of type holders E from left to right in Figures 1
and 3. The aforesaid arrangement of arms H H and spring I is allowed to act
when it is required to move the battery of type E from left to right for the purpose
of spacing, by the following means:-
Jis a bar provided with ratchet teeth on one or both of its edges. The ratchet
teeth on one side of this bar are preferably made of wider pitch than those on the
other side, and the bar is so arranged, and connected with the carriage piece G¹ of
the battery of type E by the pivot screw J' that it may be turned either into the
position shown in Figure 1, that is with the finer ratchet teeth facing the releasing-
mechanism, or with the coarser teeth facing such mechanism, according as it is
desired to have wide or narrow spaces between the printed letters. K (see
Figures 1 and 4) is an arm pivotted to the frame A at K; this arm is connected
by the link K with the keyboard B so that when the latter is depressed, either by
pressing on one of the collapsible chambers C in order to print a letter, or on the
part B of the keyboard in order to produce a space without printing a letter, the
said arm is drawn downwards; and when the keyboard is released and pushed
upwards by the action of the spring B2 on the arm B³ of the axis B to which the
sides B of the keyboard are secured, the said arm K is pushed upwards against the
stop K³. The arm K is provided with a pawl K pivotted to it at K³. K is a
spring which tends to force the pawl K into the position shown by dotted lines in
Figure 1 when the said pawl is out of gear with the teeth of the rack J. K' is a
tooth secured to the arni K in line with the pawl K' when the latter is pressed to
the right by any one of the teeth of the rack J under the action of the spring I and
arms H H. The tooth K' and the pawl K' act as an escapement to allow one
tooth of the ratchet rack J to pass for each movement up and down of the keyboard
and arm K. That is to say, when the keyboard B is depressed, the arm K is
depressed also and the tooth K' descends therewith and enters behind the tooth in
the rack J which has just previously been pressing the pawl K' to the right. The said
pawl descends also, and is thereby freed from the teeth of the rack J; its spring K

page_text: then presses its point to the left as shown in Figure 1, bringing it opposite another
tooth space, and when the keyboard B rises again the arm K rises also, the pawl K
enters behind the next tooth of the rack J, and as soon as the tooth K' has risen
free of the teeth of the rack into the position shown in Figure 4, the spring I and
arms H H move the battery of type holders and the rack J to the right until
stopped by the tooth on the rack pressing the pawl K against the arm K. Thus
the battery of type holders is moved the distance of one tooth of the rack J each
time the keyboard K. is depressed and released.
When the battery of type E arrives at the end of the line it is returned to
the left to commence another line of printing by simply pushing the knob J'
to the left, the pawl K* yielding to allow the teeth of the ratchet rack J to
pass it.
The ratchet bar J slides in a notch J³ in the side of the case A and is held
therein by means of a latch L, see Figure 5, which latch prevents the rack
from being turned on its pivot screw J by the up and down movements of the
pawl K and tooth K. When it is desired to turn the rack J over, the latch L
is drawn aside and the rack raised out of the notch J³; it is then turned over
and replaced in the notch J³ and the latch L returned to the position shown in
Figure 5.
The apparatus for supporting the paper and moving it forward each time a
line of printing is finished, may be of any suitable construction; an example of
a suitable arrangement is shown in Figure 2 wherein the part which supports the
paper against the impress of the type consists of a flat board or platen M (sec
Figure 2) carried by arms N pivotted in slotted holes N' in the side pieces P fixed
to the ends of arms Q which are pivotted at Q to the sides of the case A so that
they can be turned over with the paper holding apparatus attached to them
towards the front of the machine in order to be out of the way when the machine
is not in use. This flat board or platen M is pressed against a stopbar R by
means of a spring S. The paper T to be printed on is passed between the stop
bar R and the board or platen M and between a fixed bar U and a square roller V.
and presents a surface to be printed on at the common striking point of the types,
one of which E' is shown in dotted lines as projected forward with its face near the
point at which it is to print. The ends of the square roller V turn in slotted
holes V in the side pieces P; it is provided with indiarubber bands V2 by means
of which when the roller is turned the paper is raised for a fresh line of printing
in the manner hereinafter explained. W is an inking ribbon extending from end
to end, or nearly so, of the board or platen M and carried on arms W₁ secured
to the axis W2 pivotted to the side pieces P. The ribbon has a tendency to fall
away by its own weight from the platen M so as to leave the part of the paper
where the last impression has been made visible over the top of the battery of type
holders E, so that the operator can see the printing as it proceeds without having
to move the paper or any part of the apparatus. The inking ribbon W is moved
to cover the paper just before the type is pushed out to print a letter, by means of
a lever X pivoted at X to the side of the machine and connected at one end to
one of the side plates B' of the keyboard B by means of a link X². The other
end of the lever X acts upon an arm W³ extending from one of the arms W¹ of the
inking ribbon. When the keyboard is depressed, the lever X is actuated and
presses the arm W³ upwards, moving the inking ribbon towards the paper
readiness for the type to strike behind it. When the keyboard rises again the
lever X allows the arm W3 and ribbon to fall back into the position in which they
are shown in Figure 2. When the roller V is turned one quarter round by any
suitable means in the direction of the arrow it acts as a cam pressing the arms N
and platen M slightly to the right in Figure 2, against the action of the spring S
so as to leave the paper free to be moved upwards against the back of the fixed
bar U by the indiarubber bands V2 to a distance equal to the space between two
lines of printing. When the roller V has completed a quarter of a turn the
platen M and arms N are pressed to the left again by the spring S and the paper T
in

page_text: is firmly held between the stop bar R and the board or platen M and between the
bar U and the indiarubber bands V2 of the roller V.
It will be understood that the parts M, R, U, V and W2 extend from side to
side of the machine, and that the parts N and P shown in Figure 2 as supporting
those parts at one side of the machine are repeated at the other side and support
the other ends of such parts.
By the arrangements above described in which the type holders are moved or
traversed parallel to a stationary paper-holding apparatus, a continuous web of
paper may be used to write or print on, the roll of paper being carried by a
suitable roller or spindle placed in any convenient position with reference to the
machine. If desired the paper as printed on may be wound on to a suitable
receiving roller by hand or otherwise.
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. In a pneumatic type writing machine the type holders movable on rails
or rods parallel to the printing surface or platen, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Second. In a pneumatic type-writing machine the combination of the type
holders with a rack and mechanism for imparting a step-by-step or intermittent
movement to the said type holders substantially as hereinbefore described.
Third. In a pneumatic type writing machine the combination of a stationary
paper-holding apparatus with type-holders arranged and adapted to be moved
parallel to the printing surface or platen of the said paper holding apparatus,
substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the drawings.
Fourth. In a pneumatic type writing machine the combination of a paper-holding
and feeding apparatus consisting of a yielding board or platen M, a fixed bar U,
and a square feeding roller V, with type holders adapted to be moved parallel to
the printing surface or platen of the said paper holding and feeding apparatus
substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings.
Fifth. A pneumatic type-writing machine, constructed and arranged substan-
tially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and
operating as specified.
Dated this 5th day of June 1893.