Improved Apparatus for Holding and Feeding Forward or Exposing to View Successive Portions of a Sheet of Paper or the like for Various Purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1890-Accepted, 1st Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Holding and Feeding Forward or Exposing
to View Successive Portions of a Sheet of Paper or the like for
Various Purposes.
We, CHARLES E. BRUNTHAVER, Clerk, and JOHN J. O'CONNELL, Clerk, both of
Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A., 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 that class of indicators which are adapted to show by
successive steps, successive portions of a sheet or band bearing for instance the names
of stations on a railroad or of street crossings on a street car line, or the lines of
proof sheet to be read or of writing to be copied, or the names of periods of time on a
calendar, etc., and the object of this invention is to provide a simple machine to feed
forward a sheet of paper exposed to view one line at a time by a single stroke of the
operator's finger whether the said lines are far apart or near together, to adapt it
peculiarly as a copyholder for use with type-writing machines. To this end the
invention consists in the construction and combination of parts which are hereinafter
described as applied to the purposes of a copyholder, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the copyholder.
Figure 2 is an end view of the same with certain parts broken away to show parts
beyond, and
Figure 3 represents a vertical section at a Fig. 1.
5 represents the bed piece adapted to rest upon any table. 6, 6, are the two end
portions of the frame secured by screws to the bed piece and connected together by a
cross bar 7 having a wooden portion 8 secured to it. 9, 10, represent cylindrical
rollers journalled in the ends 6.
The lower roller 10 is in permanent bearings but the upper roller 9 is free to rise
and fall in its bearings and is pressed down by a spring 11 and follower 12 at each
end to ensure its pressure upon the paper 13 which is the copy to be passed between
the rollers. The roller 10 is provided with a knob 14 by means of which it may be
rolled rapidly forward to draw the copy or other paper into place, and with a gear
wheel 15 engaging an intermediate gear wheel 16 that is journalled to revolve freely
upon a stud 17 which is fixed to the frame 6.
18 is a ratchet wheel journalled upon the same stud 17 and rigidly fixed to the
intermediate wheel 16. 19 is a lever provided with a finger knob 20 and journalled
upon the same stud 17, and further provided with a series of pawls 21 whose free ends
are forced into engagement with the ratchet-wheel 18 by means of springs 22, one
spring for each pawl. 23 is a slotted segment secured to the frame 6 and having an
24 is a stop pin in the path of
offset to carry its are beyond the gear wheels and lever.
the lever 19 and made adjustable along the said segment 23 by means of a set screw 25
passing through a screw nut fitted to slide but not to turn in the slot in the segment.
26 is a spring coiled around and secured at its inner end to a hub of the lever 19, and
secured at its outer end to a long screw 27 which stands as a fixed stud from the
frame 6. The spring 26 pulls the lever 19 and pawls 21 backward until a shoulder of
the lever rests normally against a shoulder 28 of the fixed segment 23. 29 is a drum
neatly concealing the coil of the spring 26 but open at one side to permit the arm of
the spring to reach its point of attachment 27.
39 is a sash provided with hinges 30, which attach it to a cross bar 8 of the frame.
31 is a shield fitted to slide vertically in grooves 32 in the end bars of the sash. 33 is
a plate or table secured by screws 34 to the ends of the frame and located tangent to
the lower roller 10, and just below it to serve as a backing or table to support the
paper should it be found necessary to write upon it while it is in the machine.

page_text: The operation is as follows: To insert the paper, first raise the sash 39 and swing it
up out of the way, then put the upper edge of the paper between the rollers 9, 10, and
by turning the knob 14 draw the paper in a little then turn its lower end back under
the plate 33 as shown in Fig. 3. Now bring the sash down to the place in front of
the paper then bring a line of the paper exactly to the upper edge of the shield 31.
Press the lever 20 down until the next line on the paper is exactly at the edge of the
shield and then by means of the thumb screw 25 fix the stop pin 24 against the lever.
If this adjustment is accurately made every pressure upon the lever will bring up
another line of the copy. It will be observed that there are three pawls 21 of different
lengths to engage a tooth one after another so that whatever may be the space between
lines some one of the pawls is ready to engage a tooth without loss of space. By
properly proportioning the gearing described this machine may be gauged to draw the
copy along any space varying from one thirty-second of an inch to several inches
at a step, so that it may be adapted for reading printed proof in fine type or for
reading copy in the widest spaced writing. It is here shown with a bed piece
adapted to stand upon a table, but it would require only common mechanical skill
to provide a clamp-screw whereby this copyholder may be attached conveniently to
the frame of a type-writing machine. Its means of adjustment render it applicable
to a great many uses not here enumerated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. The combination for the purposes specified of a frame, two cylinders journalled
therein one above the other and one of them provided with a gear wheel; an inter-
mediate wheel journalled upon a stud fixed on the frame and gearing with the aforesaid
wheel and having a ratchet-wheel fixed to it, a lever journalled upon the said stud and
provided with a series of pawls and springs to engage the aforesaid ratchet-wheel, a
spring for returning the lever; a fixed stop at one end of the path of the lever and a
stop adjustably fixed in its path, substantially as shown and described.
2. The combination for the purposes specified of two feed rollers journalled in a
frame and one of them provided with a gear wheel; an operating lever journalled upon
a stud fixed on the frame and provided with pawls; a ratchet-wheel engaged by the
said pawl and fixed to an intermediate wheel journalled upon the said stud and gearing
with the said wheel upon the roller; a slotted segment fixed to the frame and
having a shoulder ending the path of the said lever and a stop pin provided with a
screw nut adjustable along the slot in the said segment in the path of the lever,
substantially as shown and described.
3. The combination for the purposes specified of two feed rollers journalled in a
frame; a sash having a shield in it hung in front of the rollers and an aperture
through the sash above the shield, and a plate fixed nearly tangent to the lower roller
between the same and the said shield, substantially as shown and described.
4. The combination for the purposes specified of two feed rollers journalled in a
frame, and a sash hung in front of the rollers upon hinges and having an aperture
exposing to view the region of the rollers substantially as shown and described
whereby the rollers may be uncovered to place the paper between and below them and
then the paper be partially concealed.
5. The combination for the purposes specified of a pair of feed rollers one of which
is provided with a ratchet-wheel a lever having a pawl or pawls to engage the said
ratchet-wheel and means for regulating the amount of movement of the said lever,
substantially as described.
Dated this 26th dex of June 1890
CHARLES E. BRUNTHAVER.
JOHN J. O'CONNELL.