IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR WRITING DUPLICATE COPIES SIMULTANEOUSLY
Year: 1885

page_text: I GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN of the General Patent Office N° 4 South Street
Finsbury in the County of Middlesex Patent Agent do hereby, declare, the nature
of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR WRITING DUPLICATE COPIES SIMULTANEOUSLY a communication from Emile
Levesque of 30 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris, in the Republic of France
Agent to be as follows:-
"
Hitherto the useful application of the production of two similar lines of writing
at one time with two pens suitably fixed at the end of one holder has not been
effected by reason of the difficulty of producing complete pages of writing on two
separate sheets at one time.
Now by this invention the said difficulty is overcome and the invention consists
in effecting the said object by means of suitable apparatus such as are hereinafter
described and which I call diplographs.
In one form of apparatus which has been found suitable for carrying out the
invention two boards are employed each of which is provided with a sheet of paper
one of the edges of which is situated upon its board and the sheets are well
stretched by means of clips or clamps, fixed at the top and bottom of each sheet;
the said clips or clamps are connected by a tension string. The said boards being
brought together edge to edge the two sheets of paper can be written on at the
same time with two pens fixed at the end of one holder by suitably shifting the
sheets after each line has been written-Means are provided for guiding a carriage
similar to those employed for the carriages of spinning mills in order to draw the
sheets along in a parallel manner; the carriage is caused to advance line by line by
means of an endless band operated by a clip or clamp having jaws, which clip or
clamp draws the paper along in its course which is limited by a stop and releases
it and returns and takes hold of it again and so on-A guide rail is provided along
which the front board can be slid so as to bring it towards the right or left hand
side of the other board to allow of terminating a page on one sheet of paper at
the same time that another page is commenced on the other sheet.

page_text: In a modification of the hereinbefore described apparatus the two boards are
placed end to end in the same frame, which carries a single band and a single clip
or clamp so as to cause the two carriages to move together.
Instead of arranging the boards end to end as herein before described they can be
arranged one above the other and in this case two sheets of paper can be written
upon situated in two superposed planes.
I sometimes arrange the apparatus so that both the sheets can be drawn along
by one carriage to which are hooked the clamps fixed to the top of the sheets.
Or I can employ an arrangement in which the lower sheet being placed flat on
its board which is immoveable and the upper sheet being held by the top thereof
in a fixed position a carrying apparatus of a tablet or writing surface on the edge
of the upper board causes the said sheet to spread itself over the other sheet in
such a manner that both the sheets can be written upon at one time. By
modifying the construction of apparatus last described it can be applied to a book
so as to allow writing on the said book and on a loose sheet at the same time.
In a simple construction of apparatus which I sometimes employ the lower sheet
is placed flat on its board at the top of which the top of the upper sheet is also
fixed, the bottom of this sheet being folded under its board, so that the upper sheet
spreads itself above the lower sheet when the board is again raised either by hand
or by means of a cord wound around a drum.
For holding two pen holders at once in any position required by the writer two
small checks or plates are employed connected by a bolt the head of which is
countersunk in one of the plates and the set nut is milled. To prevent sliding
I employ india rubber rings surrounding each of the pen holders or each of the
plates. This construction allows of setting the pen holders at any required distance
from each other and at any required angle. Pens or styles can be used with liquid
or solid ink or the like.

page_text: Duplicate Copies Simultaneously.
I GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN of the General Patent Office, 4 South Street,
Finsbury, in the county of Middlesex Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature
of this invention (a communication from abroad by Emile Levesque of Paris in
the republic of France) 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 the construction of a machine called a "diplograph" for
making two manuscript copies at one time.
In order to enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe the same
by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is a plan of an
apparatus for writing duplicate copies simultaneously constructed according to this
invention; figure 2 is a transverse section on line A, B, of figure 1; figure 3 is a
side elevation; figure 4 is a section on line C, D of figure 2; figure 5 is a section
on line E, F, of figure 2 and figure 6 is an underside view of the apparatus.
In carrying out the invention the apparatus is constructed of a wooden
frame a, b, c, d, in which slides a small board e, f. Upon this board is placed an
iron bar g acting as a clamp in order to hold in position the sheet of paper which
is placed upon the said board e, f.
At a distance of a few millimetres above the bar g, is fixed upon the frame a
strip h, having for object to guide the upper sheet of paper. The latter is first
fixed upon a cross bar k, and then passed over the strip h under which the said
sheet is folded back and rests flatwise upon a sheet of cardboard i. The edge of
this sheet of cardboard is provided with an iron bar 7 resting against the slip h, so
as to keep the upper sheet well stretched. The cross bark is fixed at the top of
the board e, f.
Upon the left hand side of the apparatus is arranged a small wheel mounted
upon a transverse axis p, passing under the frame of the apparatus. To the
extremity of this axis p, is fixed a grooved pulley 8, upon which is wound a cord,
the two ends of which are fixed under the board e, f, as shown in figure 5. Below
the board e, f, is arranged a rack rod u, figure 4, the distance between the teeth of
which corresponds to the width of the spaces between the lines of the paper which
is being written upon. A stop or pawl, situated above a spring x, is engaged at
a given time with one of the teeth of the rack rod u; t, is a transverse rod placed
across the apparatus and terminated on the left hand side by a knob 1, serving to
move the said rod t. To the other end of the rod t is fixed an eccentric y, having
for its object to depress the spring x, and thereby release the stop or pawl, from
the rack u; k, is a spiral spring serving to press the bar 7, towards the strip h.
Figure 6 shews the arrangement of the cords passing over pullies for regulating
the motion of the board e, f.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows: after the two sheets have been
properly fixed, one upon the board ef, and the other upon the clamp k, so that
these sheets may be well stretched, a duplex pen shewn in figures 4 and 5 is used
and with it the two sheets are written upon simultaneously. When one line has

page_text: been written upon each sheet and in order to write a fresh line it is only necessary
to move the two sheets forward at the same time. For this purpose the wheel r,
being grasped by the left hand while the knob z¹, is simultaneously pressed upon
by means of the finger the two following motions are produced videlicet. The
eccentric y, depresses the spring x, and consequently releases the stop or pawl z,
from the rack u.
By this means it will be easily understood by reference to figure 5 that by
rotating the small wheel in the direction required the board e, f, will move forward
in the same direction, and that the latter will only move a distance equal to the
distance between two consecutive teeth of the rack.
Having now. particularly, described and; ascertained: the nature, off my, said.
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that what
I claim is:
I
The manufacture and use of the improved apparatus or diplograph herein before
described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
....... :
D
1000