Improvements in Type Writing Machine.
Year: 1895

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Type Writing Machine.
I, RAFAEL HERTZBERG, of 37 Norra Esplanadgatan, Helsingfors, Finland, in
the Empire of Russia, Doctor of Philosophy, 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 a machine, by means of which it is possible to write
either ordinary type and type for the blind simultaneously, or after some slight
changes of the machine, either of these modes of writing.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine, as arranged for writing ordinary type and type
for the blind simultaneously.
Figure 2 shows a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of the same figure with the upper part of
the machine removed.
Figure 4 shows a plan of the same machine as shown in Figure 1, some changes
being made, so that only ordinary type can be written by the machine.
Figure 5 shows a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 in same figure.
1 designates a round or polygonal roller, for instance octangular, on the upper
half of which are arranged ordinary type as well as type for the blind, for instance
consisting of short, projecting pins, placed according to the point alphabet of
Braille. On the lower half of the roller are arranged printing type, corresponding
to the type on the upper side. The roller 1 is journalled in plates 2, the ends of
which are fixed to a sleeve 3, applied to a bar 5 in a carriage 4 in such a manner
that the plates and the sleeve may partly turn about the bar 5 and slide along the
same. This sliding may be effected by means of a finger support 6 on the sleeve 3.
Another har 7 extends parallel with the bar 5 and passes through openings 8 in the
frame. The bar 7 is at its one end bent like a hook and journalled in the carriage 4.
The other end of this bar is fixed to a lever 10, pivotally fixed to the carriage and
provided with a pawl 9, the axis of this lever coinciding with the bent end of the
bar 7. A spring 11 presses the bar 7 and the plates 2, resting on said bar, and
thus the roller I upwards. The pawl 9 is by means of a spring 13, situated in a
recess in the lever 10, brought to engage with a toothed bar 15, secured to the
frame 14, which forms the support for the carriage 4. To the roller 1 is firmly
secured a ratchet sector 16, into which engages a spring 17, fixed to one of the
plates 2 and by means of which the roller is retained in the desired position with
one of its sides turned upwards. A pin 161 in the plate 2 limits the movement of
the roller to half a revolution. A toothed bar 18 is secured to the carriage 4
parallel with the bar 5; between the teeth of this bar a tooth 19 on the plate is
adapted to engage. 20 is an index, fixed to the carriage 4 and reaching to the
upper side of the roller 1; for the purpose hereinafter described. 21 and 22 are
two press plates, the former secured to the plate 2 and the latter to the bar 7.
The carriage 4 rests at one end wbich is provided with a guide groove 23, on a
rim of the frame 14 this rim being formed in a corresponding manner. "The
opposite end of the carriage is connected with a sleeve 25, which may slide upon
and turn about a bar 26, fixed to the frame 14. By this arrangement the carriage 4
may slide forwards and backwards on the frame 14 and be swung upwards about
Pinil

page_text: the bar 26. When the carriage is down it is securely retained in this position
against the frame by means of a book 271 which is pivotally connected with the
carriage and made to engage with the under side of the frame 14. Two shafts 28
and 28 having at their ends caoutchouc coatings and being parallel with the
direction, in which the carriage moves, are journalled in the frame 14, and serve to
advance the paper. Two bars also parallel with the direction, in which the carriage
moves, are attached to the frame. The one 32 of these bars serves as a support for
the ordinary type in the printing; while the other 33, which is provided with ridges
or furrows, arranged six and six rectangularly according to the fundamental sign in
the point alphabet of Braille, serves as a support for the pins on the roller 1 in the
printing. The paper is brought over the bars 32 and 33 and between the
shafts 28, 28¹. A tracing paper, passing under the bar 33, over the bar 32 and
between the shafts 28, 28' is placed under the paper.
The above described machine may evidently be used for correspondence between
blind persons and between persons having their sight. When a person possessing
the faculty of sight uses the machine, he seizes the support 6 with the thumb and
the long finger of the right hand, turns the roller 1 with the fore finger, until the
letter to be written is brought upwards, pushes the roller in the one or the other
direction, until the letter is brought before the index 20, and then presses the
press plate downwards with the left hand, whereby the roller 1 is brought down-
wards to the paper underneath. The index 20 has such a position, that the type
or the pins on the lower side of the roller, which corresponds to the type, brought
before the index, will come above the bar 32 or 33. In order to obtain the prints
on the same line the tooth 19 enters between two corresponding teeth on the
toothed bar 18, when the roller is pressed downwards. Before the roller 1 has
been pressed down so far that a print has been made, the lever 10 has by means of
the pawl 9 brought the carriage forwards a distance corresponding to the width of
a letter and the dead point has been passed. The distance between the words is
obtained by moving the carriage the required length or also by pressing down-
wards the roller so much, that the carriage moves, but without making an
impressiou.
When a blind person uses the machine he applies the thumb of the right hand
on the support 6, which may either consist of a ring or, as shown, have the shape of
a semi-cylinder, feels with the other fingers on the elevated point types, while he,
as required, turns the roller in the one or the other direction until he has found the
desired type. Then he brings the roller to such a position, that the finger, under
which the type is situated, touches the index 20, and finally presses on the plate 22
with his left hand. He may also use both his hands for finding the type, in which
case he presses the roller 1 downwards by pushing the free fingers forwards to the
press plate 21 and by pressing this plate downwards. For warning the blind person
in proper time, that there remains only a certain length of the line, a pin 26' is
loosely inserted in the bar 26, this pin stopping the carriage when only a certain
number of types, for instance five, may still have place in the line.
If the machine is to be used only for writing types for blind the bar 32 and the
tracing paper are removed, and if it is desired only to write ordinary types the bar 33
is removed.
The above described machine is arranged in such a manner, that the carriage, in
consequence of the arrangement of its feed mechanism, must move from the right
side towards the left side in writing. But as the prints are obtained on that side
of the paper, which is turned downwards and as the types and the pins on the lower
side of the roller 1 are so arranged, that right turned types are obtained on said
side, the types will evidently be legible from the right hand towards the left.
Figures 4 to 6 show modifications of the machine in which the same is adaptable
only for writing ordinary type. In this case the writing is performed from the
left hand towards the right and the type are obtained on the upper side of the
paper.
The pawl 9 is therefore turned in an opposite direction in relation to the pawl of

page_text: the above described machine. The teeth, with which the pawl engages, are in
this case arranged in the bar 26, and the pawl consists of a pin, fixed to an arm,
which is provided with an opening 39 and which is pivotally connected to the
bar 10 by means of a screw 40, passing through the opening. The arm 10 is,
beyond its pivot, formed as a pawl 41, which engages with the teeth on the bar 26
for preventing a movement of the carriage 4 during the adjustment of the roller 1.
In the pressing downwards of the roller 1 the pawl 41 is evidently brought out of
engagement with the teeth on the bar 26, and the pin of the pawl 9 descends
between two teeth and advances the carriage 4 one tooth. In consequence of the
opening 39 the carriage 4 cannot move backwards during the pressing downwards
of the roller, when the dead point has been passed.
A suitable disc 37 is connected with the roller 1, which is provided only with
ordinary signs and types; this disc serves to turn the roller, for which purpose
the fore finger is applied on the disc, while the support 6 is seized by the thumb
and the long finger, as described. A similar turning disc may also be applied to
the machine, shown in Figure 1. In the carriage 4 are placed two flexible metal
plates 38 extending parallel with the roller aud containing colour cushions, which
at the pressing down of the roller, deliver to the types the colour, necessary for
the printing. The bar 32 is placed between the plates 38. The teeth of the bar 18
are in this case pointed and are not cut short as in the machine for the use of the
blind, which latter circumstance is a necessity, in order that the tooth 19 may not
slide down between two wrong teeth. If it should happen, that the blind person
did not bring the type sufficiently near to the index 20, the plate cannot be
pressed down, whereby he is made aware of the necessity of bringing the type in
the proper position.
.
A scale 42, arranged on the frame 14 (Figure 5), serves for the proper adjust-
ment of the carriage, when a new line is to be written. By means of a pin 43,
which may be inserted in either of several holes in the frame 14, it is possible
to limit the movement of the carriage towards the right, if a margin is desired at
the right edge of the paper.
The operation of this machine is the same as that above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A type writing machine with a roller, for producing the prints and provided
on one half with printing types characterized by the feature, that the said roller
on the same half is provided with projecting parts, for instance pins, corresponding
to any suitable alphabet for the blind, for instance the point alphabet of Braille,
and which parts are placed close to the corresponding printing types, so that each
letter or sign is simultaneously printed in a type for blind and a type for persons
having their sight, the one above the other, whereby a blind person is able to
communicate what he has written to a person having his sight and inversely and
that the roller on its other half is provided with ordinary types and types for blind,
corresponding to the printing types and pins on the opposite half of the roller and
serving as a guide in the adjustment of the roller.
2. In type writing machines, as described in the first claim and in which the
roller (1) is journalled in a frame or plates (2) which may slide in the longitudinal
direction of the roller and which is so-arranged that the roller, counteracted by
spring pressure, may be pressed against the underlying paper for the printing of
the types, the arrangement that the plates (2) can be swung about a bar (5),
extending in the longitudinal direction of the roller and mounted in a carriage (4),
movable on a frame (14) rectangularly to the roller, and, if desired, provided with
a pivotally fixed hook (271) which may be brought to engage with the frame (14)
and that the plates are supported by a bar (7) parallel with the bar (5) and
journalled in the carriage (4), and which bar (7) is connected with a pawl (9)

page_text: engaging with a tooth bar (15) in the frame (14) and serving to feed the carriage
and therefore the roller.
3. In type writing machines as described in the first claim, the arrangement of
an index (20), fixed to the carriage (4), and in front of which the roller may slide
and which terminates near the side of the roller, provided with type, with the
view, that the types to be written may be brought before the index and thus the
prints be obtained in the same line.
4. In type writing machines as described in the first claim, the bars (32, 32)
which are loosely applied perpendicularly to the roller (1) and of which the one (32)
serves as a support for the paper, taking up the print, and for a tracing paper
beneath said paper, while the other bar serves as a support for the paper and is
provided with ridges and furrows, into which the pins on the roller enters during
the writing.
5. In type writing machines as described in the first claim and in. which the
paper is fed forwards by means of shafts (28, 28¹), the arrangement in which the
ends of said shafts are coated with caoutchouc, with the object that the prints
made by the pins may not be damaged.
6. In type writing machines as described in the first claim, the modification, in
which the roller (1) is on its one half provided only with ordinary type, corre-
sponding to the printing type, arranged in the usual manner on the other half of
the roller, while beside the roller and along the same are placed two metal
plates (38) at a certain distance from each other for obtaining place for the paper,
said plates being provided with colour cushions, with which the printing type
come in contact during the pressing of the roller towards the paper, with the object
of producing only ordinary type on that side of the paper, which is next to
the roller.
7. In type writing machines as indicated in the second claim, the arrangement
in which the pawl (9) is pivotally connected to the one end of a double armed
lever (10), journalled in the carriage (4) and supporting the bar (7), the other end
of said lever being formed to a pawl (41), which engages with the tooth bar,
serving for the advancement of the carriage.
Dated this 2nd day of February 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.