IMPROVEMENTS IN WRITING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Forbes, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WRITING MACHINES,"
Sealed the 20th January 1877, and dated the 17th August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Forbes at the Offico
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th August 1876.
GEORGE FORBES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark.
WRITING MACHINES."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
This Invention has for its object improvements in writing machines. For this
purpose I make use of á stencil plate with all the required letters and symbols
upon it, together with a corresponding number of finger keys to transmit motion to
the stencil plate, in such a manner that the depression of any one of the finger keys
shall bring the corresponding letter or symbol on the stencil plate below an inking
pad. The movement of the finger keys I also arrange to cause the writing machine
to move a distance over the paper, or the paper to be moved whilst the machine is
fixed, and also to cause the inking pad to descend on to the stencil plate and mark
on to the paper whichever letter or symbol of the stencil plate is at that time
below it.
In one form of machine I effect these objects in the following manner :-The
stems of the several finger keys I pass through horizontal plates mounted one below
the other, and each capable of being depressed whilst still remaining parallel with the
other plates. Each plate is held up by light springs. Upon the stems of the finger
keys are stops to act upon the plates and depress them, the stops being so adjusted
that the depression of each key shall produce a different movement of the plates to
that produced by the depression of any of the other keys.
The stencil plate I mount at the lower end of a lever arm, supported at its upper
end by a universal joint. From the upper end of the arm project two other
shorter arms at right angles to it and to one another. The extremity of one of
these short arms is depressed by the depression of one of the moveable plates, and
the short arm by another moveable plate. A third plate moves the machine or
the paper and strikes the inking pad on to the stencil plate. Each plate is generally
moved by the depression of each key. The highest plate may be moved through
Price 6d1

page_text: say of an inch by each key, it has a rod rigidly attached to it to effect two
operations; it moves a ratchet working into a cog wheel upon the axis of one of
the rollers upon which the machine is mounted, or if the machine be a fixed machine
it causes the paper to be moved, and it also strikes against a spring by which the
inking pad is carried, and so depresses the pad. The middle and lowest plates may be
moved through say, or the of an inch, and serve to give motion
to the stencil plate. Each of these two moveable plates may have a rigid arm
standing out from it. The arm of one plate or one of the arms that give the parallel
motion acts upon one of the short arms of the stencil plate lever above described,
and the arm of the other plate upon the other short arm of the stencil plate lever;
thus the stencil plate can be brought into 40 different positions. In place of the
stencil plate having a compound motion given to it, as above described, it may have
given to it a single motion either of rotation or translation.
Other mechanism than that above described may also be adopted for transmitting
notion from the keys to the stencil plate and inking pad, and for governing the
movement of the machine or the paper when any of the finger keys are depressed.
When the machine is mounted upon wheels to travel to and fro over the paper
the wheels of the instrument may run along a straight ruler, and this ruler may
roll on polygonal wheels at right angles to the wheels of the instrument, so that
the ruler may be traversed down the paper with a step-by-step movement, tho
distance between two consecutive positions of rest controlling the distance between
the lines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Forbes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th February
1877.
GEORGE FORBES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WRITING MACHINES."
This Invention refers to improvements in writing machines, whereby all the
necessary machinery is confined within dimensions which render it more portable
and efficient than those hitherto used, and whereby also the words can be read
immediately after they are printed, as the paper which is being operated upon lies
before the operator just as when writing with a pen.
The improvements are included in the particular forin of apparatus which I am
about to describe, or in the modifications of it suggested.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews a plan view; Figure 2, a
front view; and Figure 3, an end view of one forin of apparatus constructed
according to my Invention; this apparatus is formed with a base plate Y, to which
are attached the various brackets necessary for supporting the working parts.
In order to communicate the various movements which are required to bring a
type or stencil letter into its proper position the apparatus is provided with three
plates marked A, A', A³, respectively. The upper plate A moves vertically, and is
kept level by being connected to a vertical rod E which is guided by two grooved
rollers F, and is kept in position by working in grooves or slots at the sides. The
plate A¹ is supported at the centre upon pivots H³ carried by brackets, and is free
to oscillate about that axis. The plate A² is supported upon pivots H2 carried by
similar brackets, and is free to oscillate about that axis at right angles to the axis
of the plate A¹. [Instead of having an oscillating motion about the pivots H¹, H*,
the plates A¹ and A* may be mounted so as to have a vertical motion, being kept
always level by a mounting exactly similar to that of the plate A.] Cheese-headed
pins B, B, pass through the two upper plates, and their upper surfaces are acted
upon by the operator; they are provided with shoulders which catch upon the
centre plate A, excepting those pins which lie along the axis H, H', of that plate,
and the bottoms of these pins all rest upon the lower plate A³, excepting those pins

page_text: which lie along the axis H2, H3, of that plate. The amount of depression of all the
plates is regulated by the play of the upper plate, but as they are at different
distances from the axis of the plates A1, A2, they communicate a movement which
corresponds to these different distances. The movements of the plates A¹, A², being
at right angles to each other are communicated by projections I, I, to levers that
control the movements of a universal joint, so that the motion of the plate A¹ moves
a stencil plate or curved type plate D in the direction of a line, and the movement
of the plate A in the direction of a column of the paper being printed. [In the
case where the three plates have all a motion of the same kind the lengths of the
pins and the positions of the shoulders must be adjusted to give the same amount
of motion to the stencil plate or type plate D as is given by the varying distances
of the pins from the axes of the oscillating plates. The number of pins representing
letters and stops is entirely a matter of choice.] In this way as the whole machine
moves parallel along the lines each letter is brought into its proper position by
simply depressing the pin that is peculiar to itself.
The process of inking is carried out by an endless band K. which passes over
rollers L, L, the two lowest of which guide it immediately over the stencil plate or
under the type plate, and all the inside or uninked surface of this endless band is in
contact with the guiding rollers, and the outside surface which requires to be inked
is the one which runs upon the inking roller M. One of the guiding rollers is on
the axis of the carrying wheel P¹, so that the endless band is continuously inked by
the movement of the machine, or a fresh portion of it brought to the printing point.
If the number of letters on the stencil plate be not large the plate need not be
curved, for one letter alone being struck the neighbouring letters produce no
impression; but in using a type plate it is the principle of this machine that by
using a curved plate which is a portion of a sphere only one letter can produce an
impression at a time.
In order to produce an impression at the moment when each assumes its proper
position by the depression of the pins, already described, a lever N is. provided
working upon a fulcrum O and acted upon by a projection from the upper plate A,
and carrying a vertical pin which strikes the required letter vertically, thus pro-
ducing the required impression.
In order to provide for the forward movement of the apparatus it is carried upon
wheels P, P, and P', the two former working in a groove Q upon a framing X, and
to avoid the necessity of moving it by hand a drum R containing a coiled spring is
attached to the side of the framing X at one end, and draws the apparatus forward
by means of a cord wound round its periphery. It will be seen that this coiled
spring is self acting, as the return of the apparatus by the hand from right to left
rewinds it for each new line.
For the purpose of controlling the movement of the apparatus from left to right
along the line an escapement S is made to work on a rack Z; this is of the nature
of a pin wheel escapement, but one of the pawls is free to move upon an axis
between two checks over a distance equal to that between two teeth of the rack,
and is pressed to the right by a spring on its left side, all these parts being seen
distinctly in elevation 2. This escapement is acted on by the upper plate A, as
seen at Figures 3, so that during the depression of the plate the apparatus does not
advance, but in returning it allows the coiled spring R to advance it one tooth of
the rack. When any additional spacing is required (as for the spaces between words)
a thumb plate T is depressed, so that the escapement acts through the distance
occupied by a letter for each depression. In returning the apparatus from right to
left the escapement is thrown out of gear by a further movement by lifting the
thumb piece T
In order to provide for a movement in the direction of the columns of the paper
being operated on (ie., to pass from line to line), the apparatus is provided with
two polygonal (preferably hexagonal) rollers V connected to each other by a rod W
working in pivots W2, W2, so that the spacing between the lines may be regulated
by the length of the sides of these polygonal rollers.

page_text: In order that the plates after being depressed by the pressure upon the pins may
return to their normal positions, the top plate A is provided with a spiral spring &
supported by the upright G³, and the plates A1, A2, are kept in their positions by
two finger springs J, Js, supported by the stud J. The escapement is brought
back to its normal position by the spiral spring T⁹.
The coiled spring and barrel R may be attached to the base plate Y instead of to
the framework X, and may be connected by cog wheels or otherwise with any one
of the wheels P, P, P¹. In place of a rack a cog wheel might then be fixed upon
the axis of the wheel thus driven (preferably the wheel P¹), and the escapement
may act in this wheel, thus doing away with the necessity of using the ruler X.
Moreover it is not necessary that the apparatus should move over the paper, for the
same apparatus may be fixed in position, and the paper by resting on a smooth
frictionless plate may be moved, or the paper may be wound on a cylinder or drum
whose axis is parallel to the columns of the paper, and it may be driven round by
the wheel P¹ driven by the coiled spring above referred to, which is attached to the
base plate Y.
If the framework X be dispensed with two polygonal rollers may be attached to
the sides of the machine which do not come in contact with the paper except when
passing from line to line. If a stencil plate be used the endless band K is made of
india-rubber, which I have discovered to give an excellent impression.
Having now given a full description of my apparatus, I would state that I claim
as my improvements in writing machines,-
First. The employment of a stencil plate with all the letters, numerals, stops, &c.,
cut in such positions that each may be brought into position when required.
Second. The employment of a curved type plate, so that the depression of the
plate on the paper will only produce the impression of one letter.
Third. The employment of an inked piece of smooth india-rubber to produce an
impression through the stencil plato.
Fourth. The driving of the endless inked band by a wheel moved by the relative
motion of the apparatus and the paper, substantially in the manner indicated.
Fifth. Carrying a type plate or stencil plate by gymbals or universal joint, in
the manner herein-before described, to allow any portion of the plate to be brought
opposite a definite point.
Sixth. The arrangement of plates which transmit different required motions from
any number of pins to any stencil plate or type plate, or to any other similar
apparatus, essentially in the manner described above. These plates may be of any
number, and may be mounted either with an oscillating or a parallel motion.
Seventh. The employment of a ruler with polygonal rollers, substantially for the
purpose and in the manner described above.
Eighth. The combined arrangement of type writing machine, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Forbes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Fifteenth day of February. in the year of our Lord One thou-