Improvements in Typewriters.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 31st July, 1896-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Typewriters.
I, ANTONIN ULRICH, Doctor of Medicine, of 14, Herrengasse, Prague,
Bohemia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, do hereby declare the nature of this
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 a type writing machine in which the writing mechanism
is adapted to slide down over the paper from line to line under the influence of its
own weight, and to print upon the paper the type resting on the inking pad,
whenever one of the keys is depressed; the printing lever which when at rest, lies
horizontally against the inking pad, being placed perpendicular to the printing
surface by the depression of the key and guided accurately by means of rings, so
that the place where the impression is made retains the same position exactly in
relation to the machine, as the latter slides over the surface of the
paper. The
keys are arranged radially around the vertical axis of the machine, and the writing
is always visible during the manipulation of the machine.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a plan of a type-writer embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an axial
section of the same;
Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing the lever mechanism on a larger scale;
Fig. 4 is a plan of the lever mechanism, also on a larger scale.
The remaining figures represent details of construction, as will be hereafter
more fully described.
The machine comprises in its construction a main frame a, a, h, h³, which, when
writing, is inclined in such a manner that the sides a and a¹ remain horizontal,
while the sides and are more or less inclined towards the operator. Each of
the toothed bars and carries a sliding frame 34 guided in dovetailed grooves
as indicated by Figs. 14, 15 and 16. Said sliding frames are connected with each
other by transverse rails fand f¹, and support the stands j and j¹, which are con-
nected at the top by a toothed rack g, so that the parts 34, j, f, f, g, 34', j' form
together a frame capable of sliding on the stationary main frame a, a, h, h in a
direction perpendicular to a and a¹.
The writing mechanism of the machine is movable parallel to a and a¹ along the
rails fand fand upon the rack g. Both motions may be effected with or without
racks, although only the former case is assumed in the drawings.
The spaces between the lines of writing are produced by means of the racks h
and hand spring pawls i', which have their fulcrum at 33, 331. The weight of
the movable frame and of the mechanism resting on the same causes the said
frame to slide down on the inclined rails, if not held in place by the hooks of the
pawls i, engaging with the teeth of the racks h and h¹. As soon as the opposite
ends of the said pawls are pressed down, the teeth are released, and the frame
slides along the rails h and h¹, so as to produce the spacing between the lines.
The letter spacing is produced along the guide rails fand f, and along the rack
bar y provided with teeth at the top and the bottom, which rack bar is guided
through a longitudinal slot of the central pin 1.
The pin is fitted vertically into a central block 2, so that it can shift
axially in the same for a distance slightly exceeding the height of the teeth of
the rack g.
In its lowest position the pin 1 rests upon the block 2 by means of a shoulder
and is retained by a helical spring 7, as indicated by Fig. 5. The central block 2

page_text: is fixed to the casing of the type writer mechanism by means of radial
arms n, n', n (Figs. 3 and 4). This casing chiefly consists of a vertical sheet-
metal cylinder p, a horizontal upper plate or cover p', and a pair of annular
horizontal strips p, p situated at the bottom and provided with radial horizontal
arms o, o, o. Concentrically to the two annular strips p, p, there is an external
ring composed of two segments c and c, each of which consists likewise of two
superposed sheet metal strips, the connection between the said ring and the other
parts of the casing being made by eight radial arms p' to pl.
As shown by Fig. 1, the segments e and e', of which the ring is composed, leave
a gap between the arms pt and p on the one hand, and the arms p and p7 on the
other hand, in order that the ring e, o may not be stopped by the stands j,, when
the machine slides to the right or to the left. In this lateral action the ring c, c
is guided on the rails and f' at the points 41, 42, 43 and 44 shown in Fig. 1.
This is also shown on a larger senle by Figs. 17 and 18.
The keys 8, 9, 10... are arranged in circles, and the type bars 11, 12, 13...
are guided at the top in the upper flange or ring p¹. Each key is supported
by a helical spring resting on the ring p', and each key-bar has at its
lower end a knee joint v, v', v². . . connecting the bar on one side with a lever
arm 26, 27, 28. . and on the other side with a link 23, 24, 25. . . The opposite
end of each lever 26. . . acts as a fulcrura and is supported in a slot of the
ring c or c, and the opposite end of each link 23. . . is connected with one of the
striking levers 16... near the fulcrum and point of support 49 of the same.
When the machine is at rest, that is, when the keys are in their highest position,
the lever 16 belonging to the different keys are also vertical, and the short
horizontal type bar or printing lever 15 ... secured to the upper end of the
corresponding striking lever 16.. by means of a hinge joint, is borizontal and
rests with its free extremity, that is to say, with the printing type, upon an
inking pad 14, held in a recess of the cylinder p, as shown by Fig. 3. The
opposite end of the type lever 15 is pivoted to the free end of an auxiliary lever 17,
which is nearly vertical and is pivoted at its lower end 14 to an upright hinge
plate 22, which serves as the support and fulcrum of the lever 17. The lever
mechanism belonging to any of the keys is situated in the same vertical plane which
is radial to the cylinder p. For instance, the lever mechanism 11. 26. 23. 16.
1517 belonging to the key 8 is situated in a vertical plane passing through the
axis of the pin 1. The cylinder p contains vertical slots which allow the links 23
to pass through the cylinder and serve also as guides for the lever mechanism.
If the key 8 is pressed down, the levers 15, 16 and 17 and 26 turn on their
respective fulcra, and the levers 1, 16, 17 thereby gradually assume the
positions 15, 16, 17¹.. 15, 162, 172.. 153, 16, 173. 15, 16, 17, shown in
Fig. 3 by dotted lines. In the last position the type lever 16 is vertical, and the
type strikes the surface of the paper mounted on the base r, as heroinalter
described, thus producing an impression which is always visible froin above.
The radial arms o, o', o, support a pair of rings I and m provided at the top with
knife edges corresponding to recesses or nicks 18, 20 and 21 formed in the lower
surface of the levers 17 and 16, as shown by Figs. 3 and 7. In this manner the
striking lever is held when it has reached its lowest or printing position, so that the
type lever 15 will be exactly in the centre.
As shown by Figs. 3 and 4, the central block 2 has at the top a series of radial
slots for the radial arms of segment levers 6' to 6', which levers are pivoted at
4, 41. The long arms of these levers are inclined downward and have curved
heads forming segments of a circle, while the short arms are directed towards the
axis of the central pin 1 and are situated under the shoulder of the said pin.
The length and position of these levers 61 to 67 and of the levers 17 are so chosen,
that the latter during their downward motion, strike against the former and turn
them on their respective axes, so as to lift the pin 1 from its normal position of
rest into the position indicated in Fig. 3 by dotted lines. The effect of this motion
of the ceutral pin appears from Figs. 2 and 9 to 13. As mentioned above, the

page_text: toothed bar g passes through a slot of the central pin 1. The upper part of the
pin 1 is armed with a spring 32, secured to the same by means of a pivotal
screw 31, so that the said spring may be turned sideways into the position shown
in Fig. 9 by dotted lines, after the screw 31 has been loosened. In the normal
position of the spring, however, the latter lies vertically against one of the upper
teeth of the double rack g (Fig. 10) and thereby retains the cylinder p, together
with the writing mechanism mounted on the same, in its relative position to the
rack 9, which writing mechanism and cylinder would otherwise follow the pull of
the spiral spring K shown in Fig. 2, or equivalent transverse feed mechanism. The
lower edge of the vertical slot through which passes the bar g is formed by a
tooth 35 situated opposite the spring 32, so that by the lifting of the central
piu 1 from the position shown by Fig. 10, the said tooth 35* will rest against
one of the lower teeth of the rack bar g and retain the same, while the spring 32
is released from the upper rack and assumes the position shown by Fig. 11, so
that during the subsequent lowering of the central pin 1 the teeth occupy the
position shown by Fig. 12, and as the writing mechanism is constantly drawn
against the teeth of the rack by the spring K, the pin 1 will again drop into the
position shown by Fig. 10, as soon as the striking lever 17 has passed the lever 6',
with this difference however, that the writing mechanism has advanced one tooth
on the rack 9, the spring 32 now being in contact with the subsequent tooth.
Now, as this shifting of the printing mechanism along the rack bar g takes place
whenever one of the keys is depressed, and as the pitch of the rack corresponds
to the average distance between the letters of a word, the mechanism just
described produces the transverse motion necessary for the spacing of the letters.
For producing the intervals between the words, it is necessary to depress a key e
(shown in Fig. 2), which has a rod el connected with a lever 50 and adapted to
turn the same into the position 50¹ shown in Fig. 2 by dotted lines, so that the
lever 50 acts on one of the segmental levers mounted on the central block 2, and
thereby shifts the cylinder p, together with the writing mechanism, for the same
distance as is done by depressing one of the type keys.
If it is desired, to draw the writing mechanism horizontally by hand, the
operator turns the spring 32 into the position indicated in Fig. 9 by dotted lines,
so as to release the rack bar g.
In the case of levers with stationary signs, that is to say, where the depression
of the key is not combined with a feed motion, the lifting levers 6 could be
omitted; but in order to ensure the turning of the priuting lever beyond the dead
centre, I apply to the block 2 instead of the lever 6 a stationary disc or ring 29
(Fig. 5), and when the lever mechanism 15-16-17 passes this disc during the
operation of printing (corresponding to position 16-17 shown in Fig. 3), the
lever 17 slides with its extremity over the edge of the elastic ring or disc
mentioned above, whereby the lever 17 is held back for a moment, so that the
printing lever which at that instant is in its dead centre, swings out of its dead
centre by reason of its inertia, and the lever mechanism may continue to move
without hindrance.
The paper is laid immediately upon the base plate r, underneath the rule 6 and
between the frame h, ', a, a' which rule is adapted to turn on its horizontal
pivots 51 and is pressed against the paper by the spring 52. At the place where
the types are printed, there are on both sides the springs 35 and 35 situated
underneath the writing mechanism, which press the paper tight against the base
plate r, in order to ensure a clear and sharp impression.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A type-writing machine comprising in its construction a writing machine
proper and an inclined frame a, h, a', ' adapted to guide the said machine over
the paper in a direction perpendicular to the lines of the paper by means of tooth

page_text: gear and the weight of the machine, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
2. A type-writing machine having keys 8, 9, 10. . arranged circularly around a
central pin 1, lever mechanism. 11, 26, 23, 16, 15, 17 connected with the said keys,
printing levers 15 adapted to rest horizontally against inking pads 14 and then to
be turned vertically and to be pressed upon the paper in the position represented
by 15, and guide rings m l, adapted to guide the said lever mechanism, substantially
as and for the purpose described.
3. The mechanism for producing the letter spacing or transverse feed motion,
comprising in its construction a double rack g adapted to guide the writing
mechanism transversely to the paper, a spring or equivalent device adapted to
draw the writing mechanism transversely, a block 2 and central pin 1 provided
with a slot for the rack bar g, a retaining spring 32 and retaining hook 35³, and
segment levers 6 adapted to lift the said central pin at every depression of a type
key, substantially as described.
4. In a type-writing machine substantially as described, a pair of rings l and m
provided with knife edges, in combination with levers 16 and 17 having recesses 18
and 26, for guiding the said levers.
5. A type-writing machine having in combination two or more of the features
of construction specified under Claims 1, 2 and 3.
Dated this 30th day of July 1896.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents.