US1837363A - Typewriting machine - Google Patents

Description

1931- w. F. HELMOND TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed May 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l //7 van for: %%m amfia & Arm/3Z4 Dec. 22, 1931. w. F. HELMOND TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed May 6. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 22 19 3 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I i WILLIAM F. HELMOND, or wnsr HARTFORD, connncrrcu'r, nssrenoe TO unnn'itwo'on ELLIOTT FISHER COMPANY, on NEW YORK, N. Y.,' A CORPORATION or DELAWARE TYPEWRITING MACHINE Application filed May 6, 1929. Serial 1t1" 360,881..

. alignment of the impressions on the types written line. V 1

In short typewriter-carriages that have run upon pivoted rolls, 'it has been a common fault that the carriage has been loose and shaky, and apt to run unevenlyr In many kinds of machines, the short carriage has been supported at its rear upon widely-spaced rolls, and at its front upon a single center roll, all of the rolls pivoted upon a carriage to travel therewith; and this type of mounting, while permitting freedom of motion, has had the drawback that the short carriage vibrates excessively both from right to left and up and down, and is very liable to teetering, one corner dropping While another cor-. ner rises.

In order to overcome these objections, it is one of the features of the present invention to substitute a four-point support for the usual three-point support on this class of pivoted-roll short carriages. Upon the front of the short carriage are pivoted two rolls which are widely separated, while at the back the carriage has also two supports, thus making a four-point support. The. two front rolls are placed one at each side of the center of gravity of the carriage, and the portion of the carriage-weight that'overhangs beyond the rolls at either side of the carriage is much reduced, and the leverage of such overhanging weight is also much reduced, so:that said overhanging weight is rendered ineffective to teeter the carriage at either end. In other words, the weight at either side of the carriage is mainly at one side of aline which joins the front and rear rolls at the opposite side of the carriage. ,At the left-hand side, the carriagetends to swing down about the front and rear rolls at the right-hand side. At theright-hand side, the carriage tends to swing down about the front and rear rolls at the left-hand side; This conduces substantially to steadiness and trueness of operation, the carriage adhering to its true path even at high speed.

These advantages are gained without .increasing the-dimensions of the typewriting machine, since it is contrived to guide the front rolls by means of a single track which may have ordinary length, and, in fact, need not exceed the length of the rear rail. I Preferably, the front and rear rails are about the same shortness. V p

. To gain these ends, there is fixed upon the front standards of the machine a short rail which is grooved on its rearside to form" opposed upper and lower tracks, between which the combined front rolls fit, and along which they travel. The rolls are of a diameter just sufficient to clear the space between the upper and lower tracks, and preferably in the combination the right-hand roll may be made adjustable so that it will run in contact with I theu-pper track, .to prevent rising, while the left-hand one rolls upon the lower track,

to prevent falling. Each roll always remains confined between the tracks; and the rolls may use the main portion .of the length of the track in common, each roll moving across the middle point of the machine during the traverse of the carriage.

, At the rear of the carriage the left-hand support may include rolls substantially as shown in the patent of Helmond, No. 1,693,- M, of November 27, 1928 ;whi le-at the righthand side of the carriage there may be used only a slide unit in the form of a simple .collar riding directly upon the rear carriage-rail. The collar rests directly uponthe crown of the rail, and the surface of contact may extend down around therear of the rail about to its middle. This constitutes the main sliding portion of the collar. Directly 0 3-. posite thismain sliding or bearing portion, a take-up screw is threaded into the collar, to take against the under front portion of the rail, thus eliminating up-and-down play at this point, without incurring friction. The arrangement of the carriage with the sliding support at its right-hand rear end, and the roll-supportat its rear left-hand side, in com? bination with the substantially separated front pivoted rolls, is found in practice to avoid chattering or trembling and give a superlative accuracy and freedom of movement, rendering the carriage very sensitive and quickly moved in its letter-spacing operations, while the alignment of the typewritten characters is substantially perfected.

The sliding of the carriage at one of its four supporting points does not result in liability of friction or binding, because the carriage is guided by rolls at its other three supporting points; but the sliding support at this one point contributes to the solidity and to the true and smooth action of the carriage. lVith the described supports, the carriage is practically free from the fault of teetering.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a part-sectional side elevation of the carriage of an Underwood front-strike typewriting machine provided with the pres ent improvements.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the supporting unit for the rear of the carriage at the right-hand side.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the carriage.

Figure 4 is a detail of the device seen at Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the right-hand supporting roll, showing a detail of eccentric adjustment.

' Figure 6 is a front elevation of the machine, partly in section and partly broken away.

Figure 7 is a rear elevation of the carriage.

Figure 8 is a front sectional elevation of the details of the front carriage-rolls, showing one adjustable. The clearance between the rolls and the guide-rails is exaggerated.

As usual in the Underwood machine, types 10 strike rearwardly against a platen 11 which is mounted in a frame 12, Figures 1 and 7, said frame being mounted in the usual manner in a carriage. The carriage will be seen to include side bars 13 and 14, a rear bar 15 and a front bar 16 of inverted L-section. The carriage is supported and guided by the usual cylindrical rear rail 17 and by a novel grooved front rail 18, the latter forming part of a crossbar 19 which rigidly joins the front standards 20, 21 of the typewriter-frame.

The carriage is pulled along by a spring strap 22 at its rear, and is arrested at its letter-feeding movement by a rack 23, which meshes with the usual pinion 24, driving the usual escapement-wheel 25, controlled by the usual dogs 26.

The weight of the carriage is mainly in front of its point of arrest 23, so that the carriage, when arrested, tends to set up a rotation in clockwise direction, when viewed in plan, thus setting up tremors in the carriage.

It is also noted that substantially the entire weight of the leftwardly-feeding car- *iage is above the point of arrest 23, so that there is a tendency set up for the arrested carriage to r ck or teeter in anti-clockwise direction when viewed from the front, this tendency being very great in carriages having the welbknown three-point suspension. The rear guide-rail 17 may be the usual length. The carriage has secured to its rear bar collars 28 and 29, which encircle the rail 17, these collars being suitably spaced for guiding the carriage, and each one always remaining upon the rail 17. With the left-hand collar 29 are associated a rear oblique guide-roll 30 and a front horizontal guide-roll 31, running upon the rail 17. Roll 30 rides upon the rear upper face of the rail, as set forth in said Patent No. 1,693,1 l, and these rolls co-operate with the collar 29 substantially in the manner set forth in said patent.

The right-hand carriage-supporting collar 28 constitutes a sliding unit, which is detachably secured to the rear carriage-bar 15 by means of screws 32. This slide is seen at Figure 1 as bearing upon the crown of the rail 17, and hugging the rail on the rear side. The collar is C-shaped, and its hooked end 33 also bears against the rear face of the rail. The weight of the carriage, which is borne by this collar or slide 28, is sufiicient to hold the slide down tightly upon the rail; and tendency to upward vibration is overcome by the means of an adjustable guide, preferably in the form of a screw which threaded up through the collar at a point preferably a little in front of the vertical plane of the rail axis. This screw may be secured by means of a clamp-screw 35, Figure 2, which tends to close a slit 36 which is formed circumferentially through the collar, the slit intersecting the threaded hole in which the screw 3 L turns. Hence this sliding unit 28 is in contact with the rail 1? practically throughout the circumference thereof, the contact of the screw 34 being light, so as not to produce binding and friction, but still being sufficient to prevent vertical jump of the carriage at this point due to the reasons already given. It will be seen that the rear of the carriage runs freely, the single slide unit not tending to produce any binding upon the rail, and the rolls 30, 31 at the left-hand side of the carriage successfully overcoming any tendency of the co-operating slide 29 to stick. The guiding of the carriage at its rear is therefore very free and yet very accurate, and the tendency of horizontal and vertical vibration is much reduced. Especially, it is noted that the rear of the carriage is safeguarded against jumping up when arrested by the rack 23 and pinion 24-. The collar or slide 28 being the sole support of the carriage at this point, it is made much thicker for wearing purposes than the collar 29, which has the aid of the rolls in carrying the load, Figure 7. The carriage-driving strap 22 may be conveniently connected to the screw 34, Figures 1 and 7.

The tendency of the carriage to jump up has been very noticeable at the front of the machine, but this tendency is practically overcome in the present organization having the widely-separated front rolls 37, 38 and guide-tracks 18. WVhile these anti-jump rolls need not be separated so far as are the rear collars 28, 29, still-there is substantial separation, so that the jumping tendency of the front of the carriage isv met at two separated points, thus preventing the carriage-front from rising at one side while dipping'at the opposite side, and overcoming the tendency of the front of the carriage to teeter up and down, which tendency is due partly to the weight of the overhanging portions of the carriage, that is, the portions at the right of the roll 37 and at the left of the roll 38, and partly to the explained tendency of the carriage to turn anti-clockwise when'arrested. These rolls, although separated, are still constantly in contact with the front carriageguide rail 18, which has top track 39 and bottom track 40,,the length of the front rail 18 being about the same as that of the rear rail 17, and thus not increasing the over-all dimensions of the typewriting machine, although admitting a very wide separation of the front carriage- rolls 37, 38. 7 These front rolls are closely fitted in th race formed on the rear side of the rail 18, but each roll runs upon one track and is just out of contact with the other, so that there is not a perceptible shake. Preferably the right-hand roll 37, Figures 6 and 8, runs upon the bottom track 40, and is vertically adj ustable by means of an eccentric bushing 41, Figure 5. Thus it is impossible for the front of the carriage either to rise or fall, as both rolls are in contact with the track, one with the top track and the other with the bottom track. The bushing 41 has a'bolt-head 42 whereby it may be adjusted. The roll 37 runs upon a row of balls 43, running upon a pair of cones 44, held by a screw 45, which is threaded into the eccentric 41.

The rail, being formed directlyupon the usual scale-bearing cross-bar 19, forms a flange for said her, and thereby stifiens'the same, while the entire rail occupies a position above the usual margin-gage mechanism, and contributes to the pleasing appearance of the machine.

Variations may be resorted towithin the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a power-driven carriage, of front and rear fixed rails, widely-separated guideat the left-hand end of the carriage, and the right-hand rear support consisting of a sliding collar riding upon the rail, thecollar resting directly upon the crown of the rail, and the surface of contact extending down around the rear of the rail, said collar having a slit, a take-up screw threaded through the collar against the under front portion of the rail, to eliminate u'p-and-do'wn play without incurring friction, said screw being threaded through said slit, and a transverse screw for closing the slit and thereby binding the take-up screw wherever adjusted.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a power-driven short carriage and short front and rear fixed rails, of widelyseparated guide-supports secured upon the carriage to run upon the rear rail one support being a friction bearing support, the other an anti-friction bearing support, and a pair of combined widely-separated guide rolls pivoted upon the carriage to run upon the front rail, said front rail having upper and lower parallel tracks, said front rolls placed one on each side of the center of gravity of the carriage and always confined between said tracks, one roll running upon one track, and the other roll having a rolling entrack.

3. In a typewriter machine in combination with a power driven carriage, front and rear fixed rails, guide supports secured upon the carriage to run upon the rear rail, and two widely separated front supports both arranged to continuously run upon the front rail, one of said rear supports being a sliding support and to which the strap for moving the carriage is attached, the sliding support comprising a collar resting directly upon the crown of the rail, and the surface of contact extending down around the rear of the rail, the other rear support having guide rolls and tion take-up device on the collar.

WILLIAM F. HELMOND.

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