Improvements in Typewriters.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Oct., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 31st July, 1900-Accepted, 15th Sept., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Typewriters.
We, WALTER BERESFORD, of 118, Needham Road, in the City of Liverpool,
Mechanical Engineer, and FREDERICK THOMAS RUSHTON, of 14, New Inn, Strand,
in the County of London, Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to typewriters and has for its object to provide a simple
and efficient means for adjusting the position of the platen where two or more
characters are carried by the printing type bars.
According to our invention we mount the carriage or frame carrying the
platen so as to turn upon a central point or hinge so that the platen carried
thereby may be readily adjusted by means of an operating lever or levers to any
part in the arc of a circle of which the said hinge is a centre.
In one such arrangement when the platen is horizontal and the printing
point is on its front face we mount the platen in a suitable frame or carriage
extending rearwardly thereof and resting upon or hinged to a horizontal rod
upon which the said carriage is adapted to be travelled by the usual escapement
device, suitable anti-friction rollers being provided. The said carriage is also
provided with a forward extension carrying a supporting rod adapted to travel
over suitable antifriction rollers carried by one end of a lever extending to the
keyboard of the machine and adapted, when depressed, to turn the carriage upon
its hinge and raise, or raise and lower the forward end of the carriage to a pre-
determined point or points so as to adjust the printing point of the platen
according to the disposal of the particular type required upon the type bars.
One or two operating levers may be employed, for instance, one to raise and one
to lower the carriage or one to raise the carriage to one point and another or
others for adjusting the carriage to other points in the arc of the circle of which
the hinge is the centre or a cam having stepped recesses for the carriage rod and
adapted for operation by the levers may be employed.
The carriage will also carry the paper table or guide and other mechanisms
for the adjustment of the paper in the usual manner.
Dated this Second day of October 1899.
J. C. CHAPMAN & Co.,
Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Typewriters.
We, WALTER BERESFORD, of 118, Needham Road, in the City of Liverpool,
Mechanical Engineer, and FREDERICK THOMAS RUSIITON, of 14, New Inn, Strand,
in the County of London, Solicitor, 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:
Our invention relates to typewriters and has for its object to provide a simple
and efficient means for adjusting the position of the platen where two or more
characters are carried by the printing type bars.
According to our invention we mount the carriage or frame carrying the

page_text: platen so as to turn upon a central point or hinge so that the platen carried
thereby may be readily adjusted by means of an operating lever or levers to any
part in the arc of a circle of which the said hinge is a centre.
We will describe our invention in reference to the accompanying drawings in
which Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are part sectional side elevations. Fig. 5 is a front
view of a typewriter having our invention applied thereto and Figs. 6 and 7 are
sectional side elevations of a modified arrangement.
Referring now to Figs. 1 to 5; in the typewriter íllustrated the type bars a
carry three types marked 5, 6, 7 and the platen r is horizontal with the printing
point on its front face. According to our invention we mount the said platen in
a suitable frame or carriage 8 extending rearwardly thereof and resting upon
or hinged as at 11 by a split tubular part such as 9, to a horizontal rod 10
upon which rod the said carriage is adapted to be travelled by the usual escape-
ment device, suitable antifriction rollers being provided if required.
The forward end of the carriage is supported by a rod 12 upon a suitable
antifriction roller 13 which latter is adapted when depressed or raised by the
shift lever 4 to turn the carriage upon the hinge 11 and raise or lower the for-
ward end of said carriage to a predetermined point or points so as to adjust the
printing point g on the platen r according to the disposal of the particular
type 5, 6 or 7 required.
One arrangement for raising and lowering the carriage is shown in Figs. 1,
2, 3, 4 and also 5 where the roller 13 supporting the carriage rod 12 is mounted
on a vertical pillar 14 which slides in a guide such as 15 and is itself supported
first upon a cam like quadrant 16 and also independently upon a cam 17 having
three stepped recesses 18, 19, 20. The said quadrant is mounted and operated
by a cross rocking shaft 21 and the cam 17 is mounted upon and operated by a
rocking shaft 22, the latter being for convenience a sleeve working independently
upon the cross shaft 21. The cam 17 is operated by a shift lever 5 at the outer
end of its shaft 21 and its stepped recesses 18, 19, 20 serve to raise and support
the carriage in either of the three positions provided for, thus if the lever 5 is
operated to bring the notch 20 under the pillar 14 the carriage 8 will be moved
to the highest of the three positions and will be kept in that position until the
lever 5 is depressed to allow its return to the notch 19 or 18, the latter being
the normal lowest position.
The quadrant 16 which is operated by the lever 4 provides a means by which
the carriage can be raised from the normal position or position to which it is raised
by the cam 17 and returned to such position automatically on the release of lever 4.
This arrangement is adapted for use where it is only required to keep the carriage
in raised position whilst one or a few letters are printed whilst the lever 5 is
operated when it is required to keep the carriage in raised position for a con-
siderable time.
The lever 4 is centred on the frame and connected to the quadrant shaft 16
by a link 23 and intermediate lever 24 centred at 24ª, in a bracket 24h, secured
to the frame. The amount of downward movement which can be imparted to
the shift lever 4 is determined by an adjustable stop 25 centred on the machine
frame beneath the lever 4 and adjusted by a handle 26. In operation the
spring 27 keeps the lever 4 in raised position with the carriage 8 and quadrant 16
in the normal position shown in Fig. 1. If now it is desired to print a middle
type disposed at 6 on the type bar the lever 4 is depressed as shown in Figs. 2
and 3 until it engages the stop 25 at the part 28 this movement turns the
quadrant 16 and raises the carriage 8 to the second position corresponding to the
notch 19 on the cam 17. Directly the lever 4 is released the carriage and all
parts return to normal position by the weight of the carriage and the
spring 27. If the third or highest position is required the handle 26 is turned
to the position shown in Fig. 4. This movement turns the stop 25 upon its
centre so that the lever 4 engages it at a lower point 29 thereby raising the
carriage to the highest position (equivalent to the notch 20 in cam 17). Release

page_text: of lever 4 again causes all parts and the carriage to return to normal position
although it will be seen that if the carriage has been already raised to the
second position 19 by the cam 17 it will only return to that second position.
By a modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the quadrant 16 may be dispensed
with and a cam or cams 30 equivalent to cam 17 described can be employed for
all movement of the carriage. In this arrangement the carriage will be sup-
ported by a wheel 31 upon a bar 32 mounted in arms 33 hinged at 33a at the
ends of rod 10. The bar 32 will be supported on two cams such as 30 30*
mounted on and connected to a common shaft 34 one cam 30 being operated by
a shift bar 34 so as to be turned by a link 36 in one direction to lower the
carriage into notch 18 while the other cam 30ª is operated by a lever 35 so as
to be turned by a link 37 on the other side of its centering to raise the carriage
into notch 20. The notch 19 being the normal position to which the cam is
returned by a suitable spring such as 38 Fig. 6 under the levers 34 and 35
when either are released, stops not shown may be provided for the levers 34*
and 35 so as to lock the carriage in any position when required.
The carriage will also carry the paper table or guide and other mechanisms
for the adjustment of the paper in the usual manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. The improvements in typewriters comprising a paper carriage carrying the
printing platen and adapted to be operated so as to be turned upon a hinge for
adjusting the position of the printing surface of the platen in the arc of a
circle of which the said hinge is the centre.
2. In type-writers such as described the means for adjusting the position of
the printing platen in regard to the type comprising a carriage supported,
hinged and travelled at its back end upon a longitudinal rod, and supported at
its front end upon an eccentric quadrant or cam adapted to be operated by a
side shift lever having a variable movement determined by an adjustable eccen-
tric stop, substantially as set forth.
3. In type-writers such as described the means for adjusting the position of
the printing platen in regard to the type comprising a carriage carrying the
platen and hinged at its back end, and supported at its front end upon a cam
or cams having stepped recesses and turned upon an axis by a single shift lever
adapted to turn the cam or cams in both directions by an eccentric quadrant or
cam adapted to be operated by a side shift lever having a variable movement
determined by an adjustable stop, substantially as set forth.
4. The improvement in type-writers comprising the combination of a printing
platen or cylinder, a carriage therefor, a rod upon which said carriage travels
and is supported and to which it is hinged at its back end, a longitudinal bar
supporting the front end of the carriage, and cams turning upon a hinge and
provided with stepped recesses for raising and lowering said front bar, a lever
for turning said cams in one direction and a lever for turning said cams in the
other direction, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
1000