Improvements in Inking Ribbons for Type Writers.
Year: 1895

page_text: .Date of Application, 22nd Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Mar., -1895
עII I
Improvements in Inking Ribbons for Type Writers.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of
London Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has
been communicated to me from abroad by The Rogers Manifold & Carbon Paper
Company, a Corporation under the laws of the State of New York and of
75 Maiden Lane New York City in the United States of America) and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to the manufacture of inking ribbons for use in type
writing machines. As is well known a ribbon subjected to ordinary use on a type
writer will last but a comparatively short time, the ink with which it is saturated
becoming gradually exhausted, and the fabric itself being worn and cut by the
blows of the type. Much care and judgment must be exercised in the fabrication
of these ribbons to obtain the best results. If the fabric be thick and heavy it will
wear longer, but will not make a good clear impression; if light and thin it will
print clearly for a brief time, but will quickly wear out. New ribbons are usually
inked more heavily than is required, and consequently their work is at first
somewhat coarse and indistinct, and after further use the impressions become more
and more faint. Where the machine is used for stock reports, accounts, bills,
statistics and similar work, the periods, dots, and dashes, largely employed in this
work cut the ribbon up very quickly. These are the main considerations and
requirements to be kept in view in the manufacture of type-writer ribbons, and the
object of the present invention is to produce a ribbon better adapted than are those
now made to the conditions of usage, as the ribbons made according to this inven-
tion will wear longer, do better work, and retain the ink a much greater time than
is the case with ordinary ribbons.
In a ribbon made according to this invention there is employed two plies or layers
of fabric; of such texture that the two plies together make a ribbon of proper
medium thickness. The two layers may be stitched together at the edges (though
it is desirable only for sake of convenience of manipulation) and are inked and
finished, which may be done by any of the usual methods which are well known in
the art and need not be here described. The two layers or plies of fabric
constituting the doubled ribbon may be united at the edges in any suitable way.
Preferably this result is accomplished by weaving the ribbon in the form of a tube.
and flattening it, and the advantage of this plan is that the double ribbon thereby
produced has selvage edges.
The increased durability of the double ribbon is not due to increased thickness;
for the combined thickness of the two plies is not, or need not be, greater than that
of an ordinary single-ply ribbon. The advantageous results are due to having
two independent layers of fabric to hold the ink and to receive the impact of the
type. The cutting of the ribbon above referred to is caused by a sharp type
striking several times in the same spot. When there are two layers of fabric, the
under one not only cushions against the upper one, but there is opportunity for the
two layers to shift their relative positions slightly, so that the ribbon as a whole is
not so easily cut. Thus it has been found in practice by my foreign corre-
spondents that one of the duplex ribbons will stand (so far as the wear of the
fabric is concerned) more than twice as much wear as a single ribbon of about the
same thickness.

page_text: Regarding the lasting of the ink, the gain is still more decided. The fibres of a
ribbon composed of one layer will absorb and hold as much ink as a duplex
ribbon of the same thickness but in practice four times as many impressions can be
made from the latter as from the former. With the double ribbon a portion of the
ink will be taken from the layer next the cylinder, but this layer is also reinforced
by a new supply driven into it by the impact of the type, and is ready with a new
supply when the type again strikes in the same spot. The space between the two
ribbons serves as a sort of reservoir for ink, which is gradually forced through the
layer next the cylinder to the surface which acts upon the paper. To increase the
durability of a ribbon as an inking device it is obviously necessary both to increase
the durability of the fabric to resist the wearing action of the type and also to
increase the inking capacity, since it will not make the ribbon more lasting as an
inking device to improve one of these properties only. It will be seen then that,
by simple means, which do not materially increase the cost of the ribbon or the
difficulty of production, the present invention increases both the resistance of the
ribbon to wear and its capacity for ink.
Although I have referred to the use of only two plies or layers of fabric, two or
more may be used, since it will be obvious that the same useful results would attend
the use of a larger number than two plies, other things being equal. No advantage
or new results, however, are gained by using more than two plies.
The invention will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and for
the purposes of illustrating it, I refer to the accompanying drawing representing
portions of type-writer ribbons constructed in accordance with this invention.
Fig. 1 is a top view of a two-ply ribbon with part of the upper layer 2 broken
away, exposing the under layer 3. The two layers are attached together near their
edges by rows of stitches 4.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a ribbon continuously woven in the form of a
tube, and flattened for use, the upper layer being marked 2 and the under layer 3.
In this form of ribbon (which is the form preferred) lines of stitches near the
edges may be employed, if desired, to hold the tube in its flattened condition, but
they are not necessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
0
1. As a new article of manufacture, a type-writer ribbon composed of several
layers or plies of fabric united as specified, the several plies being charged with
ink and having their adjacent surfaces in contact substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. As a new article of manufacture, a two-ply-type-writer ribbon composed of a
seamless tube of suitable fabric flattened to bring the adjacent surfaces of the
layers or plies into contact, both layers or plies being charged with ink, substantially
as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 22nd day of Janua
1002
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.