Year: 1889

page_text: I, ADOLPHE PROSPER EGGIS of Fribourg, Switzerland, Journalist, do hereby declare
nature of this invention to be as follows:
The writing machine which forms the subject of the present application for a patent
is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a transverse section of the machine.
Figure 2 is a lateral view of the guide circle, and of the inking ribbon and of the
rotary bell.
Figure 3 is a plan of the machine after removing the rotary bell.
Figure 4 is a front elevation, also after the removal of the bell.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the action of the ratchet, which produces the automatic
advance of the paper.
Figure 8 is a front view and a cross section of the paper holder of which Figures 9
and 10 give an end view.
Figure 11 is a view of the guide circle with inker from below, and
Figures 12, 13 and 14 give views from above, from below, and in section of the
indicator, with obturator, the object of which will be hereinafter described.
In all the Figures the same marks denote the same parts.
The machine consists essentially of a bell A the lower edge of which bears a ring
preferably of india rubber provided with characters in relief, which bell can at one
and the same time be lowered and turned at will about a piston B fixed by means of
a cross bar C to a circle D which is provided with a series of holes corresponding to
the series of characters of the bell. The circle D is fixed upon a base E by means
of a hinge F and a foot G, so that it can be shut down like a lid with the bell A
which it carries. Between the latter and the base E there is a paper holder which is
shifted automatically whenever the bell A. having descended to print a letter, rises
again automatically, under the action of a spring b. A catch permits of the
course of the bell A being regulated at will. The bell A carries a piston or plunger a
which drops at will into one or other of the holes of the circle D, and thereby
determines the letter, which being at that moment at c (Figure 3) prints itself upon
the paper placed underneath an inking ribbon H, which advances automatically,
interposes itself between the character in question of the bell A and the paper as is
the case in other writing machines.
The following is a detailed description of the above mentioned elements of the
machine.
Paper holder. The base E carries rollers d, between which the edges of the exposed
plate I fit, which plate supports the cylinders J f and f" of the paper holder. In
Figures 3 and 4 these cylinders, the arrangement of which is shown in Figures 8, 9
and 10 are supposed to be removed, in order to make the drawing clearer. The
exposed plate I, bears a rack K in which a ratchet g worked by the lever L gears.
The latter may be lowered either by hand by a simple pressure of the finger, or
automatically by the tappet M fixed to the piston B of the bell and descending at the
Price 81

page_text: same time as the latter whenever the knob N is pressed. The lever L is brought
back to its normal position by the spring fitted in the base E. Its handle has a
tooth L which gears underneath with the rack as is shown in Figure 6, whenever
the ratchet g has finished pushing back the rack in the direction indicated by an
arrow in Figure 5, i.e. whenever the lever I is raised by the action of the spring 1.
The paper to be written on is introduced between the cylinders J. f and fas
shown in Figure 6. One of the pivots of the cylinder is fitted in a hinge i.
which permits of its being drawn apart from J for the introduction of the paper. A
clasp i holds the other pivot of the cylinder f' which turns by means of a pommel h.
Ratchet gear determines the advance of the paper line by line. The springs 11"
regulate the pressure of the cylinder f' against the cylinder J. The plate I also has
a moveable arm o which can be shifted upon I, and fixed thereto by means of an
eccentric e. This arm o has a hinged finger m, similar to those of door gongs and
intended to work the lever n of the hammer of a warning gong P, placed in the
base E. This warning serves to determine the margin, which one wishes to leave on
the right when writing; by shifting o upon I, one regulates the width of this margin,
upon condition of stopping the writing of each line at the moment when the gong
rings. Qis a moveablé stop on E and determines the width of the left hand
margin. R is an eccentric lever, having an arm of conical section R' which separates
the tooth L from the ratchet g, as is shown in Figure 7, in order to disengage
them from the rack K, so as to move the paper holder without obstacle in either
direction.
The guide circle D, the holes of which serve to guide the printing bell as above
described supports at the same time the said bell and the inker. Hinged at F it
rests upon the foot G, the height of which is so calculated that when at rest, the
characters of the bell A are a little above the paper surrounding the cylinder J.
Figures and 11 shew the arrangement of two coupled levers S S. ss the object
of which is to mark accents or sundry signs over the ordinary letters just written.
For that purpose one of the levers S, bears the acute accent the other the grave
accent, and these two accents are so placed as to form together the circumflex accent,
and to print themselves exactly above the letter which has just been printed. In
Figure 2 one of these levers S is supposed to be lowered to mark an accent, while
the other is at rest. This arrangement has the great advantage of diminishing the
number of characters, both upon the bell A and upon the indicator shown in Figure 12,
and of facilitating accordingly the working of the machine.because the more characters
there are on the indicator. out of which the eye has rapidly to select the right one,
the more difficult it is. We will hereinafter describe a very ingenious arrangement
of the indicator itself, having the same object.
The inker, represented in Figures 2 and 11 is supposed to be removed in Figures 3
and 4, in order to make the drawing clearer. It consists of two drums T and U on
which the well known inking ribbon H alternately winds and unwinds itself. The
drums T and U are held by supports fixed to lugs T'U' which are screwed to the
circle D as shewn in Figure 11.
The ribbon H passes between characters of the bell A and the cylinder J and
advances one notch at each descent of the bell. This advance is caused by a
ratchet W, working a ratchet wheel t fixed to the drum T. The ratchet W is itself
worked by the lever L every time the latter is raised. The ribbon H having a greater
width than the characters printed, the drums T and U are so arranged as so shift
upon their axis in order to shift the ribbon H parallel to itself when it is exhausted
upon one width of letter. This shifting is effected by means of the adjusting
screws u and v.
The printing bell A is more particularly shown in Figure 2. The cross bar C
fixed to the guide circle D, has a fixed central barrel in which are placed the
piston B of the bell A and a spring b which rests on the one hand on the bottom of
the barrel r, and on the other hand under the stop b' of the piston B. The latter is
fixed to the bell A by means of the tube a fitted with gentle friction upon x, and
furnished with a manipulating knob N.

page_text: The lower rim of the bell A has a ring X, of india rubber metal or some other
material or combination of materials of a suitable kind, upon which the printing
characters stand out, as shown in Fig. 1. The ring X being of conical section, is
fixed to the bell A by means of a hoop Y, held by springs y. Whenever it is
desired to print a letter, the knob N is pressed, the piston or plunger a catches in
one of the holes of the circle D, and the bell descends with its ring X. It is now
necessary to complete the machine so described with an indicator, by means of
which one can ascertain what is the letter which one prints when the bell A is
lowered. This amounts to determining into which of the holes of the guide
circle D the plunger must be sunk in order to print a given letter. This is done on
the one hand by means of the fingers B¹ and C' fixed to the bell A, and on the other
hand, by means of a series of letters arranged in a semicircle round the holes of the
front half of the circle D, whether these letters be engraved, painted or gummed on
the circle D itself or on an independent circle D', fixed in any manner upon D, as
shown in Fig. 14. The letters, figures, stops, etc. standing out upon X will be placed
all round the circle so that one half of this circle will contain for instance, the
capital letters and the figures (from 0 to 9), and the other half the small letters and
stops, or vice versa. By this means the indicator will only bear one alphabet, which
will serve at one and the same time to print capital and small letters according as
the finger B or the finger C¹ is placed on the letters. On the other hand, the
indicator with have, upon one and the same radius, a figure and a stop, and either
one or the other will be printed according as the finger B¹ or the finger C¹ is placed
on that radius.
This latter part of the indicator has the disadvantage of giving rise to mistakes,
if the person printing places, for instance, the finger B', corresponding to the
figures, upon a radius bearing at the same time a figure and a stop, when his
intention was to print a stop. In order to avoid this, an indicator with obturator
may be adopted, on the system shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14. Figure 13 is a
view of the circle D' from below, and Figure 12 the same from above.
The circle D is pierced with a series of slots, in which appear alternately either
the stops or the figures but never both at once. These stops and figures are
engraved, painted or gummed upon a segment d', sliding in clasps e', and which a
stay gholds either to the left or to the right of the pin h fixed to D'. The same
object may be obtained without slots by means of an obturator in the form of a
grating or otherwise, moving over fixed figures and stops which will be each
alternately hidden or made visible.
In order that this arrangement may be useful, the segment d¹, or its equivalent,
must move automatically so that, when one places, over the slots made in D', that
one of the fingers B or C which corresponds to the figures, it shall be the figures
which appear in these slots, and when the finger corresponding to the stops is placed
over the slots, the stops shall appear. For that purpose, the movement of the
segment dis governed by a system of levers and bolts placed under D' and shown
in Figure 13. This mechanism is so arranged that the piston a cannot pass from
one half of the circle D' to the other half without striking against one of these bolts
so as to place the segment d' in the suitable position. Thus, for instance, if the
plunger a, of which we will suppose that the finger B' corresponds to the capitals and
stops, has just printed a comma, plunging in front of the corresponding slot of D',
and if the bell is so turned as to bring above that same slot the finger C¹ which
corresponds to the figures, the piston a will forcibly come out of the semi-circle
in which it was and will meet either the bolt m' or the bolt n¹, according as the bell
has been turned in one direction or the other. In either case, the bolt struck is
driven back into the interior of D', and the crank o' or p¹ produces the movement of
the segment d' so as to make the stay g' pass to the other side of h',which causes the
row of figures to appear under the slots D', instead of the row of stops, which are
hidden under the full parts of the circle D'. But the cranks o' and p¹, upon
shifting, have thrown forward the bolts q' and r' so that when the piston a comes

page_text: back into the front semicircle, it produces the inverse effect and again causes the
stops to appear and the figures to disappear.
Lastly, the indicator D' may also be combined with a double row of figures corre-
sponding to the number of letters adopted (see Figures 12), by means of which one
can, by a simple shifting of the circle D' write a cypher letter, the key of which will
be given simply by knowledge of the figure indicating the shifting of the circle D'
in relation to a fixed indicator of the circle D of the machine and corresponding to
the line o of the circle D' for ordinary writing. If this indicator is placed, for
instance, at 1, and I indicate to the person to whom the cypher letter is addressed
that the key is 1, he will know that A means B, M must be read as N, and so on, and
if such person possesses a similar machine, he can, with the greatest facility, recopy
the cypher letter in fair decypher, by utilising in an inverse sense, the power of move-
ment of the circle D'.
The base E of the machine is provided with two feet F' and G', which fold upon
hinges when it is desired to place the machine flat, but which can support it in an
inclined position if preferred.
Datod this and day of Dasaiban toàn
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Writing Machine.
I, ADOLPHE PROSPER EGGIS of Fribourg, Switzerland, Journalist, do hereby.
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The writing machine which forms the subject of the present application for a
patent is represented in the drawings, left with the provisional specification, in
which
Figure 1 is a transverse section of the machine.
Figure 2 is a lateral view of the guide circle, and of the inking ribbon and of the
rotary bell.
Figure 3 is a plan of the machine after removing the rotary bell.
Figure 4 is a front elevation, also after the removal of the bell.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the action of the ratchet, which produces the automatic
advance of the paper.
Figure 8 is a front view and a cross section of the paper holder of which Figures 9
and 10 give an end view.
Figure 11 is a view of the guide circle with inker from below, and Figures 12, 13
and 14 give views from above, from below, and in section of the indicator, with
obturator, the object of which will be hereinafter described.
In all the Figures the same marks denote the same parts.
The machine consists essentially of a bell A the lower edge of which bears a ring
preferably of india rubber provided with characters in relief, which bell can at one
and the same time be lowered and turned at will about a piston B fixed by means of a
cross bar C to a circle D which is provided with a series of holes corresponding to the
series of characters of the bell. The circle D is fixed upon a base E by means of a
hinge F and a foot G, so that it can be shut down like a lid with the bell A which it
carries. Between the latter and the base E there is a paper holder which is shifted
automatically whenever the bell A, having descended to print a letter. rises again
automatically, under the action of a spring b. A catch r' permits of the course of the
bell A being regulated at will. The bell A carries a piston or plunger a which drops
at will into one or other of the holes of the circle D, and thereby determines the
letter, which being at that moment at c. (Figure 3) prints itself upon the paper placed
underneath an inking ribbon H, which advances automatically, interposes itself
between the character in question of the bell A and the paper as is the case in other
writing machines.

page_text: The following is a detailed description of the above mentioned elements of the
machine.
Paper holder. The base E carries rollers d, between which the edges of the exposed
plate fit, which plate supports the cylinders J, and f" of the paper holder. In
figures 3 and 4 these cylinders, the arrangement of which is shewn in Figures 8, 9
and 10 are supposed to be removed, in order to make the drawing clearer. The
exposed plate 1. bears a rack K in which a ratchet worked by the lever L gears.
The latter may be lowered either by hand by a simple pressure of the finger, or
automatically by the tappet M fixed to the piston B of the bell and descending at
the same time as the latter whenever the knob N is pressed. The lever L is
brought back to its normal position by the spring fitted in the base E. Its
handle has a tooth L' which gears underneath with the rack as is shown in
Figure 6, whenever the ratchet g has finished pushing back the rack in the direction
indicated by an arrow in Figure 5, i.e. whenever the lever L is raised by the
action of the spring 1. The paper to be written on is introduced between the
cylinders J, and as shown in figure 6. One of the pivots of the cylinder f'
is fitted in a hinge i, which permits of its being drawn apart from J for the
introduction of the paper. A clasp holds the other pivot of the cylinder
which turns by means of a pommel h. Ratchet gear k determines the advance of
the paper line by line. The springs regulate the pressure of the cylinder f¹
against the cylinder J. The plate I also has a moveable arm o which can be shifted
upon I, and fixed thereto by means of an eccentric e. This arm o has a hinged
finger m, similar to those of door gongs and intended to work the lever n of the
hammer of a warning gong P, placed in the base E. This warning serves to
determine the margin, which one wishes to leave on the right when writing; by
shifting upon i. one regulates the width of this margin, upon condition of
stopping the writing of each line at the moment when the gong rings. Q is a
moveable stop on E and determines the width of the left hand margin. R is an
eccentric lever having an arm of conical section R', which separates the teeth I,'
from the ratchet gas is shown in Figure 7, in order to disengage them from the
rack K so as to move the paper holder without obstacle in either direction.
The guide circle D. the holes of which serve to guide the printing bell as above
described supports at the same time the said bell and the inker. Hinged at F it
rests upon the foot G, the height of which is so calculated that when at rest, the
characters of the bell A are a little above the paper surrounding the cylinder J.
Figures 2 and 11 shew the arrangement of two coupled levers S S, s s, the object
of which is to mark accents or sundry signs over the ordinary letters just written.
For that purpose one of the levers S, bears the acute accent, the other the grave
accent, and these two accents are so placed as to form together the circumflex accent,
and to print themselves exactly above the letter which has just been printed. In
Figure 2 one of these levers S is supposed to be lowered to mark an accent, while the
other is at rest.
This arrangement has the great advantage of diminishing the number of characters,
both upon the bell A and upon the indicator shown in Figure 12 and of facilitating
accordingly the working of the machine, because the more characters there are on the
indicator, out of which the eye has rapidly to select the right one, the more difficult
it is. We will hereinafter describe a very ingenious arrangement of the indicator
itself, having the same object.
The inker, represented in Figures 2 and 11 is supposed to be removed in Figures 3
and 4, in order to make the drawing clearer. It consists of two drums T and U on
which the well known inking ribbon H alternately winds and unwinds itself. The
drums T and U are held by supports fixed to lugs T¹ U' which are screwed to the
circle D as shewn in Figure 11.
The ribbon H passes between characters of the bell A and the cylinder J and
advances one notch at each descent of the bell. This advance is caused by a ratchet W,
working a ratchet wheel t fixed to the drum T. The ratchet W is itself worked by
the lever L every time the latter is raised. The ribbon H having a greater width

page_text: than the characters printed, the drums T and U are so arranged as to shift upon their
axis in order to shift the ribbon H parallel to itself when it is exhausted upon one
width of letter. This shifting is effected by means of the adjusting screws u
and v.
The printing bell A is more particularly shown in Figure 2. The cross bar C
fixed to the guide circle D has a fixed central barrel in which are placed the
piston B of the bell A and a spring b which rests on the one hand on the bottom of
the barrel, and on the other hand under the stop b' of the piston B. The latter is
fixed to the bell A by means of the tube a' fitted with gentle friction upon 2, and
furnished with a manipulating knob N.
The lower rim of the bell A has a ring X, of india rubber, metal, or some other
material or combination of materials of a suitable kind, upon which the printing
characters stand out, as shown in Figure 1. The ring X being of conical section, is
fixed to the bell A by means of a hoop Y, held by springs y. Whenever it is desired
to print a letter, the knob N is pressed, the piston or plunger a catches in one of the
holes of the circle D, and the bell descends with its ring X. It is now necessary to
complete the machine so described with an indicator, by means of which one can
ascertain what is the letter which one prints when the bell A is lowered. This
amounts to determining into which of the holes of the guide circle D the plunger a
must be sunk in order to print a given letter. This is done on the one hand by means
of the fingers B and C fixed to the bell A, and on the other hand, by means of a
series of letters arranged in a semicircle round the holes of the front half of the
circle D, whether these letters be engraved, painted or gummed on the circle D itself
or on an independent circle D', fixed in any manner upon D, as shown in Figure 14.
The letters, figures, stops etc. standing out upon X will be placed all round the circle
so that one half of this circle will contain for instance, the capital letters and the
figures (from 0 to 9), and the other half the small letters and stops, or vice versu.
By this means the indicator will only bear one alphabet, which will serve at one and
the same time to print capital and small letters according as the finger B' or the
finger C is placed on the letters. On the other hand, the indicator will have upon
one and the same radius, a figure and a stop, and either one or the other will be
printed according as the finger B' or the finger C' is placed on that radius.
This latter part of the indicator has the disadvantage of giving rise to mistakes, if
the person printing places, for instance, the finger B', corresponding to the figures,
upon a radius bearing at the same time a figure and a stop, when his intention was
to print a stop. In order to avoid this, an indicator with obturator may be adopted,
on the system shown in Figures 12, 13, and 14. Figure 13 is a view of the circle D
from below, and Figure 12 the same from above.
The circle D'is pierced with a series of slots, in which appear alternately either the
stops or the figures but never both at once. These stops and figures are engraved,
painted or gummed upon a segment d' sliding in clasps e', and which a stay g' holds
either to the left or to the right of the pin h' fixed to D'. The same object may be
obtained without slots by means of an obturator in the form of a grating or otherwise
moving over fixed figures and stops which will be each alternately hidden or made
visible.
In order that this arrangement may be useful, the segment d', or its equivalent,
must move automatically so that, when one places, over the slots made in D¹, that one
of the fingers B or C which corresponds to the figures.it shall be the figures which
appear in these slots, and when the finger corresponding to the stops isplaced over the
slots the stops shall appear. For that purpose, the movement of the segment d'is
governed by a system of levers and bolts placed under D' and shown in Figure 13.
This mechanism is so arranged that the piston a cannot pass from one half of the
.circle D¹ to the other half without striking against one of these bolts so as to place
the segment d' in the suitable position. Thus, for instance, if the plunger a, of which
we will suppose that the finger B¹ corresponds to the capitals and stops, has just
printed a comma, plunging in front of the corresponding slot of D', and if the bell is
so turned as to bring above that same slot the finger C¹ which corresponds to the

page_text: figures, the piston a will forcibly come out of the semi-circle in which it was and will
meet either the bolt m' or the bolt n' according as the bell has been turned in one
direction or the other. In either case, the bolt struck is driven back into the interior
of D', and the crank o' or p' produces the movement of the segment d' so as to
make the stay g' pass to the other side of ' which causes the row of figures to appear
under the slots of D', instead of the row of stops, which are hidden under the full
parts of the circle D'. But the cranks o' and p', upon shifting, have thrown forward
the bolts g' and ' so that when the piston a comes back into the front semi-circle, it
produces the inverse effect and again causes the stops to appear and the figures to
disappear.
Lastly, the indicator D¹ may also be combined with a double row of figures
corresponding to the number of letters adopted (see Figures 12) by means of which
one can, by a simple shifting of the circle D', write a cypher letter, the key of which
will be given simply by knowledge of the figure indicating the shifting of the circle D'
in relation to a fixed indicator of the circle D of the machine and corresponding to
the line o of the circle D' for ordinary writing. If this indicator is placed, for
instance, at 1 and I indicate to the person to whom the cypher letter is addressed
that the key is 1, he will know that A means B, M must be read as N, and so on, and
if such person possesses a similar machine, he can, with the greatest facility, recopy
the cypher letter in fair decypher, by utilising in an inverse sense, the power of
movement of the circle D'
The base E of the machine is provided with two feet F' and G', which fold upon
hinges when it in desired to place the machine flat, but which can support it in an
inclined position if preferred.
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. The combination of a plate or bell having type on the underside of its circum-
ference, a central knob or handle by which the plate or bell can be rotated about a
vertical axis and also be caused to descend vertically a horizontal ring of holes fixed
to the frame of the machine and a peg fixed to the plate or bell and engaging with
one or other of the holes of the ring when the plate or bell is depressed substantially
as described.
2. In type wiiters such as are referred to in the first claim the combination of a fixed
central tubular axis upon which works a tube carried by the central knob or handle of
the plate or bell, a central spindle also carried by the knob or handle, a collar upon
the said spindle and a helical spring within the tubular axis upon the top of which the
said collar bears substantially as described.
3. In type writers such as are referred to in the preceding claims carrying all the
parts mentioned in such claims upon a frame which is hinged to the bed plate of
the machine substantially as described..
4. The paper feed mechanism consisting of a rack upon the paper carriage, a bell
crank lever one arm of which is depressed cach time a letter is printed which arm
carries a blade which when the arm is raised engages with the teeth of the rack
holding it stationary whilst the other arm has pivotted to it a lever carrying a blade
which engages with the teeth of the rack and propels it during the return of the lever
substantially as described.
5. In the mechanism referred to in the 4th claim providing a pin upon each lever
which pin can by a wedge or the like be caused to separate and throw the feed out of
gear substantially as described.
6. The slide rest for supporting the paper carriage substantially as described.
7. The combination of the plate I and rollers d for supporting and steadying the
paper carriage substantially as described.
8. The combination of the roller J with the adjustable springs 11" for regulating
the pressure of the roller J upon the paper substantially as described.
9. The combination with a type writer of two levers independent of the other

page_text: printing mechanism one carrying a type for printing the grave accent and the other a
type for printing the acute accent and so placed that when both are struck the
circumflex accent is printed substantially as described.
10. In type writers an indicator of the letters signs and figures which are to be
printed in which part of those leiters, signs and figures are alternately shown or
concealed.
11. The combination of the plate or bell A the fixed ring D and the adjustable
ring the latter being moved automatically by the motion of the plate or bell A
substantially as described.
12. The combination of the ring shaped indicator D' provided with suitable openings,
and of a slider d' bearing the alphabets, signs and figures which are to be shown
alternately in the openings of D' and with the sliders r'n' and m¹ q' which are acted
upon by the peg a and connected to the slider d¹ bymeans of oscillating pieces o' and p¹
substantially as described.
13. The improved type writer substantially as described and shown in the
drawings.
Dated this 5th day of April 1800
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.