Improvements in Typewriting Machine having Rocking.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 6th July, 1895-Accepted, 10th Aug.. 1895
Improvements in Typewriting Machine having Rocking. Platen:
A communication from "THE GARVIN MACHINE COMPANY," a corporation
organised under the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., and doing:
business at No. 7 Laight Street, in the City of New York, N.Y.
I WILLIAM JORDAN of 120 Chancery Lane, London, W.C. Patent Agent 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 annexed:
-
The present improvements relate to that class of typewriting machines in which
a so-called rocking platen is used, that is to say, one mounted upon a rocking frame
and vibrated to and from type characters upon the periphery of an adjustable
wheel to make the printing impression.
In this class of machines, the type wheel is formed with one or more series of
characters upon its periphery and is mounted upon a vertical spindle, and the
platen is formed of an elastic impression roller mounted in a carriage sliding upon
the upper part of a rocking frame.
A lever is provided to adjust the type wheel in the desired impression before
printing each character, and a finger key is projected from the rocking frame to
vibrate the same after each adjustment of the type wheel, to press the paper
toward the type as desired.
In the present invention an inking ribbon is extended between the type wheel
and the impression roller, through a ribbon guard, and the ribbon spools are
provided internally with tension clamps by which they are held detachably upon
suitable studs. A ribbon feeding ratchet wheel is applied to a. rotary sleeve upon
one of the studs, and when the ribbon is wound wholly upon one of the spools, the
spools are shifted to the opposite studs and the ribbon is thus wound upon the
reverse spool.
The present invention consists partly, of a novel form of ribbon guide, a.novel
friction clamp for the hubs of the ribbon spools, a novel construction for the ribbon.
spool sleeve and ratchet wheel, a novel form of pawl for the said ratchet wheel, an
auxiliary roller pressed upon the rotary platen, a novel construction of spring for
the pawl of the platen rack, and an impression gage to regulate the vibrations
of the platen toward the type.
The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is a plan of the typewriting machine; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the
same, with the type wheel and its actuating lever removed to expose the ribbon.
guard;
Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3, 3, in Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a plan taken in section on line 4, 4, in Fig. 3, showing, the adjustable
screw stop for the rocking frame with a portion of the adjacent carriage bin
contact with the.stop.
Fig. 5 is a plan of the center bearing for the paper clamp roll.; Fig. 6 an edge
view of the same;
Fig. 7 is a plan of one of the end bearings for the paper clamp roll; Fig. 8 is an
end view of the same; and Fig. 9 an edge view of the same..
Fig. 10 is a side view, and Fig. 11 a plan of the spring pawl for, the ribbon.
feeding ratchet wheel.

page_text: Fig. 12 is a horizontal section of the ribbon spool hub enlarged with a section
of the clamp spring and sleeve inside the same; and
Fig. 13 is a plan of the friction clamp spring for the hub of the spool, removed
therefrom.
A denotes the foot board or bed of the typewriter, B the metallic bed of the
machine secured thereon, C the type wheel, D its spindle, and E its bracket
bearing.
F denotes the lever adjustable over the character bar F¹, to adjust the type
wheel by means of the gearing G.
a denotes the supports for the shaft gl of the rocking frame ց. b denotes the
sliding carriage mounted upon the rocking frame and carrying the elastic cylindrical
platen d. B is a key or lever attached to the end of the rocking frame g, and
operates when pressed downward to tip the frame carriage b forward and thus
press the platen against the type upon the wheel C. These parts are of ordinary
construction. A paper guard i is fixed to the rocking frame and provided with
a type aperture m adjacent to the center of the platen d, to protect the upper
paper from the ribbon adjacent to the type impression.
Heretofore, ribbon guides have been fixed upon the bed plate of the machine, to
lead the ribbon adjacent to the type wheel; but I find it preferable to have the
ribbon move with the paper guard, and I therefore form the latter with suitable
ribbon guides.
The ribbon guide is formed, as shown in Fig. 2, of guide wires j attached at
their lower ends to the paper guard i and projected upward at a little distance
from the edges of the latter, so that the ribbon j' may be passed between the rear
side of the wires and the front side of the guard.
By this construction, the rubbing of the ribbon against stationary guides is
avoided, as the paper guard vibrates with the platen.
Heretofore, the two spools upon which the opposite ends of the ribbon are wound
have been provided with feeding devices; but in the present invention, one of the
spools is mounted upon a stationary stud c, and the other upon a sleeve e provided
with a ratchet wheel e'. The stud c is a trifle smaller than the sleeve in its diameter,
and both are provided with shoulders to hold the spools on a level with the paper
guide. The sleeve is mounted upon a stationary stud c', and is provided with a
tension spring which presses the sleeve upward against a screw in the head of
the stud, and serves to hold the spool from reaction when intermittingly rotated.
The spools are formed each with flanges k and with a hub k' to which the end
of the ribbon is attached, and a sheet metal spring n is bent to encircle the stud or
sleeve and crowded within a recess inside the hub of the spool, so as to produce
a frictional grip upon such stud or sleeve.
The bent spring serves as a friction clamp, and its ends are preferably left loose
to make the spring yield freely, as shown in Fig. 12. The spring is held within
the hub of the spool by the flanges k whose apertures are smaller than the hole in
the hub, so as to barely pass over the hub or sleeve.
All the figures exhibit the parts of the natural size, except Figs. 12 and 13, which
show the spring and spool hub twice enlarged, to exhibit the operation of the
tension spring n.
The sleeve e being made a few thousandths of an inch larger
than the stud c, the spools, by their springs n, grasp the stud and sleeve with
unequal tension, and the spool upon the sleeve is thus rotated by the latter and
winds the ribbon from the spool upon the stud c, where the spring n operates to
produce a suitable reacting tension. The pawl for actuating the ratchet wheel is
made, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, of a leaf spring with slot to embrace the
edge of the wheel, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; the rear end of the pawl being
secured by pivot m² to a bearing upon the rocking frame.
This bearing is formed upon the rocking frame at a suitable distance from its
pivot to reciprocate the pawl, and is made with a slot m² to which the inner end of
the pawl is fitted snugly, so that the pawl is pressed elastically upon the teeth
of the ratchet wheel.

page_text: The teeth, in contact with the pawl, are pointed outwardly from the rocking
frame so that the outer end of the slot l'engages with the teeth. The pawl thus
operates by tension and can be made very much lighter than if formed to push the
teeth of the wheel.
The carriage is provided with bearings at the ends to sustain the platen d;
which is provided with the usual hand-wheel and spacing feel wheel I controlled
by detent J. The carriage is formed of a flat plate fitted to guides 12 upon the
rocking frame, and bent at the top into flange 3 to form the feed rack which
co-operates with the feed pawl q. A thin sheet metal guide B₁, shown only in
Fig. 3, is attached to the top of the rack near its ends in the usual manner, to
guide the paper beneath the platen, as indicated by the dotted lines B².
The auxiliary paper feeding roll is arranged upon the sliding carriage so as to
press elastically upon the cylindrical platen d, and is formed of a rod o covered
with rubber tube p to produce a frictional contact with the paper. The rod is
formed at the ends with pivots o¹ which are sustained in bearings o made of thin
sheet steel, with foot o³, as shown in Figs. 7 to 9 inclusive, for attachment to the
ends of the rack upon the carriage, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A portion of the
rod is left bare near the middle of its length to admit two additional bearings p
which, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, are formed of thin sheet steel upon a single foot
piece p' which is attached at its middle to the upper side of the platen rack 6³, as
shown in Fig. 3. The spring bearings press the auxiliary roll covering p elastically
upon the platen d, and the feet p' and o³ of the auxiliary roll bearings are arranged
to yield when the paper is drawn between the platen and the auxiliary roll, and the
paper is thus pressed firmly against the platen by the auxiliary roll, and is fed
forward with certainty when the platen is turned by the hand wheel c².
The platen rack 63 formed upon the top of the carriage b, is shown in section in
Fig. 3, and a portion of its teeth in the plan in Fig. 1, with the rack pawl q
engaged therewith. The pawl is provided with a pivot stud s (see Figs. 1 and 3)
fitted into a socket in the top of the post t at the rear of the carriage, and its
vibrating end is notched to admit a pin which limits the movement of the pawl.
The rocking frame is pressed normally backward against an adjustable stop g',
(shown in Fig. 1) by spring 62, shown in Fig. 3, and the pawl is pressed
normally toward the rack by a spring s² inserted within a socket in the post t and
adjusted by a screw t¹.
The studs is flattened, as shown in Fig. 4, to form a corner at one side, and the
springs is pressed against such corner, thus securing a sufficient leverage to rotate
the pawl as desired. This construction produces a very slight movement of the
spring when the pawl vibrates, and the spring is thus rendered more durable;
while it is readily adjusted and confined in its socket by screw t¹.
The gage, to regulate the pressure of the platen toward the type, is shown in
Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and consists of a screw u inserted through a slot U (in the
carriage b) into the post t and secured by a jam nut u¹. The screw u' is furnished
upon the front end with a head U₁ having a soft washer U2, as of leather or paper,
upon its rear surface, to contact with the front side of the carriage when the
rocking frame is tipped forward by the key B'.
The head U is adjusted by turning the screw, to vary the movement of the
platen toward the type as required.
The above described improvements add very materially to the effectiveness and
value of a typewriting machine having a so-called rocking platen, that is, one
mounted upon a rocking frame and pressed toward the type wheel by the key or
lever.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the inven-.
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I'
claim is:
1. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel with a rocking
platen, as set forth, the combination, with the elastic leaf spring i attached to the

page_text: rocking frame, and forming the paper guard and provided with type aperture m,
of the ribbon guide consisting of the wires attached at their lower ends to the
paper guard and projected upward adjacent to the edges of the same, and
adapted to hold the ribbon normally out of contact with the paper and the type,
substantially as shown and described with reference to Figs. I and 2.
2. In a typewriting machine, the combination, with a removable ribben spool
having the hub adapted to fit upon a stud or sleeve, of the leaf spring a crowded
within the hub and adapted to grasp the stud or sleeve elastically, substantially as
shown and described with reference to Fig. 12.
3. In a typewriting machine, the combination, with the printing devices and two
spools having the ends of the ribbon attached thereto, and friction springs applied
within their hubs, as set forth, of the stud c adapted to support one of the spools,
and the stud carrying the sleeve e. adapted to drive the other spool by
engagement therewith, and provided with ratchet mechanism to rotate the same,
and a tension spring to hold the sleeve when turned, substantially as shown and
described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.
4. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel and a rotary platen
mounted upon a rocking frame, as set forth, the combination, with the printing
devices, studs c and c¹, and the sleeve e fitted to rotate upon the stud cand.
provided with the ratchet wheel e¹, of the pawl pivoted to the rocking frame
and provided with the slot to embrace the edge of the ratchet wheel, and
pressed elastically thereon, the outer end of 'the slot operating upon the teeth. of
the ratchet wheel, substantially as shown and described with reference to Figs. 1
and 10.
5. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel, and the rocking
frame with the sliding carriage b fitted thereto and the platen d pivoted thereon,.
of an auxiliary roller mounted upon the sliding carriage and pressed upon the
lower side of the rotary platen, substantially as herein set forth.
6. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel, and the rocking
frame with sliding carriage b fitted thereto and the platen d pivoted thereon, of
the auxiliary roller formed of the rod o provided with yielding covering p, with
bearings o² and p2 having elastic attachment to the carriage and operating to
sustain the roll upon the carriage and to press it elastically upon the platen d,
substantially as shown and described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3.
7. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel, and the rocking
frame 62 with the sliding carriage b fitted thereto and the platen a pivoted thereon,
of the pawl g having the studs fitted in the top of the post t and flattened to
present a corner at one side, and the spring &² pressed against such corner by the
screw t', substantially as shown and described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4.
8. In a typewriting machine having an adjustable type wheel, and the rocking
frame with the sliding carriage & fitted thereto and the platen d pivoted thereon,
the combination, with the sliding carriage 6 having the slot U, of the post t in the
rear of the carriage, the screw u projected through the slot U and fitted adjustably
in the post and provided upon its front end with head U₁, and having yielding
washer U² to gage the vibrations of the platen toward the type, substantially as
shown and described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4.
Dated this Sixth day of July 1895.
WM. JORDAN,
120 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.