US3565229A - Line spacing means for music typewriters - Google Patents

Abstract

A typewriter for printing music, having a finger-operated keyboard for selecting at least 21 pitch lines on the paper. The pitch lines are selected by rotating the paper holding carriage around the paper cylinder''s (platen) axis, while keeping the platen and the paper carried by it stationary in relation to said paper-holding carriage. Each pitch key has an adjustable stop and locking arm adapted to accurately position the rotatable carriage. A specially designed font of printing characters for said typewriter comprises all the 26 letters of the alphabet, 8 numerals, 4 punctuation marks and 46 characters of music notation to enable said typewriter to be used separately or simultaneously for text as well as music typing.

Description

nited States Patent [72] Inventor ArmandoDalMolin Oyster Bay, N .Y. [21] Appl. No. 737,716 [22] Filed June 17, 1968 [45] Patented Feb. 23, 1971 [73] Assignee Music Reprographics, Ltd.

Oyster Bay, N.Y.

[54] LINE SPACING MEANS FOR MUSIC TYPEWRITERS 9 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl. 197/8, 197/73, 197/138 [51] Int. Cl B4lj 3/34 [50] Field otSearch 197/8, 71, 72, 73,1l4,124,135,135A,l36,138

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 826,892 7/1906 Secor 197/73 1,001,359 8/1911 Crowellm. 197/8 1,089,075 3/1914 Pfunder.... 197/73 1,611,500 12/1926 Walton..... 197/8X 1,827,451 10/1931 Aillaud..; 197/8 2,103,668 12/1937 Fowler 197/8 Primary Examiner-Ernest T. Wright, Jr. Attorney-James P, Malone ABSTRACT: A typewriter for printing music, having a fingeroperated keyboard for selecting at least 21 pitch lines on the paper. The pitch lines are selected by rotating the paper holding carriage around the paper cylinders (platen) axis, while keeping the platen and the paper carried by it stationary in relation to said paper-holding carriage. Each pitch key has an adjustable stop and locking arm adapted to accurately position the rotatable carriage. A specially designed font of printing characters for said typewriter comprises all the 26 letters of the alphabet, 8 numerals, 4 punctuation marks and 46 characters of music notation to enable said typewriter to be used separately or simultaneously for text as well as music typing.

mou en CAHNAGE 1 1 PATENTED F5523 197i sum 10F 4 ARMANDU DAL MJLIN PATENTED FEB23 Ian SHEET 2 OF 4 LINE SPACING MEANS FOR MUSIC TYPEWRITERS This invention relates to typewriter means for printing music and, more particularly, to means for selecting 21 or more pitch lines on the paper for printing the various notes on a round platen"type of music typewriter.

In printing musicnotes, it is necessary to select at least 21 different lines covering three octaves for locating notes. In round platen" type of machines, it is not practical to rotate mechanically the paper-holding platen for this purpose, since the paper loses registration with the platen after a few turns. In this invention the paper-holding platen is mounted on an upper carriage which is rotatably mounted on a lower carriage or cradle and the entire upper carriage is rotated to select one of the 21 or more lines. In this way, the pitch registration may be very accurately controlled. I

Accordingly, the principal object of the invention is to provide new and improved means for typing music by means of a round platen" typewriter.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved means for selecting any one of at least 21 pitch lines (vertical levels) for printing notes without moving the paper holding platen on its support.

Another object of the invention is to provide separate key bar means for selecting the pitch lines without moving the paper-holding platen, and having novel locking means with adjustable stops for selecting each of the 21 or more pitch lines.

Another object of the invention is to provide a typewriter for printing on different horizontal lines without rolling the paper comprising a cylindrical paper platen, an upper carriage, a platen carriage cradle, said upper carriage being rotatably mounted on the platens axis in said cradle, and key bar-operated means to rotate said upper carriage to print on predetermined horizontal lines.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawing of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the prior art method of moving the type basket relative to a flat platen;

FIG. 2 illustrates the round platen" method of rotating the paper-holding roller in order to select different line levels on 'justable stop lock.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a new and improved keyboard; and

FIG. 8 is a musical arrangement diagram illustrating how the keyboard of FIG. 7 provides simultaneous spacing of music and lyrics.

The music typewriter; in use today fallinto two types: FIG. 1 shows the fixed paper P on flat platen F with vertically movable basketshift type T as in'Dal Molin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,632, FIG. 2 shows the paper P rolling type. The first type of machine (FIG. 1) have pitch selection keyboards which makes them fast, accurateand easily equipped with sensing switches for coding of pitch information, but they have the drawback of allowing only one type character per typebar 61 or 42-44 characters per machine.

The second type of machine (FIG. 2) has two type characters per typebar 49 like all the" other normal typewriters because this is just what they are, standard machines with music symbols replacing the standard characters. The pitch selection is accomplished by turning the paper P by means of the roller R with the help of a pointer or other sighting device (not shown). This is fine for manual operation, but it is slow and does not lend itself to mechanical pitch selection because of the paper's tendency to get out of register after a few up and down turns of the roller R; typewriter carriages are just not designed for that kind of usage.

The present invention provides a typewriter carriage for this second type of machine which obviates the above-described shortcoming, making them perform the required motion for pitch selection equally well as the first-described type of machine.

The principle of this system for achieving pitch positioning, by rotation of the paper with respect to the point of impact of the types, is not to roll the paper P, but to leave it stationary with respect to the platen R and rotate instead the whole car riage assembly platen 34, including feed rollers 44, 45, below the line of typing, and bail rollers 60, 60' above the line of typing, around the platens shaft. The bail 60a, 60b is split to show its two positions. Roller 60 is mounted on bail half 60a and roller 60 is mounted on bail half 60b. In this system, the paper P is rolled conventionally only whengoing from one line of music to the next, but it stays stationary on the platen R while the upper carriage part U is rotated in the up and down motions used to locate the notes on the proper vertical pitches as a music line is being typed. This assures absolute register of the paper P throughout the line and therefore permits use of an auxiliary keyboard K (FIG. 5) for pitch selection which in turn provides the means of coding the typed information.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the typewriter upper carriage part U and cradle L of the present invention that will accomplish the above-described motion.

The new carriage is split into two parts: the lower part L being a cradle" for the upper part U, and hinged to it by means of the platen R shaft 1. The lower part L provides the carriage with the usual conventional transverse motion for horizontal spacing of the characters. It carries the rails A, B for the transverse motion bearings, and is fitted to the typewriters rails exactly as any usual conventional carriage would be. The two end plates C and D of this lower carriage part L have stops K to limit the rotation of the upper carriage part U and two bearings E, F for the ends of the platen shaft I. These bearings E, F could typically be oversized to accommodate two sleeves G, H machined onto the two platen knobs I, I. When the shaft 1 of the platen R is lined up with the bearings, E, F and the two knobs l and J are inserted from either end and secured to the shaft 1, the upper carriage part U will be transversely locked to the lower carriage part L, yet free to rotate around the axis of shaft I of the platen R.

The upper carriage part U has a pair of side members 30, 3]. The when the upper carriage part paper platen R is rotatable with respect to the side members 30 and 3!, but is connected to the line spacing ratchet 32 (FIG. 4) so that the paper platen R may be rotated manually if desired, but the paper platen R will not move relative to the upper carriage part U WHEN THE UPPER CARRIAGE PART U is rotated by means of the crank arm 3.

The upper part U of the carriage is basically a standard typewriter carriage with the conventional transverse motion rails and carriage return line spacing mechanism removed. Paper guide pans 65 are rigidly connected to the upper carriage part U by means of shaft 66 and cross member 67. It can have all the other features normally foundon a typewriter carriage such as paper release, line spacing ratchet 32 with line finder, etc. In manual machines the carriage return handle is attached to the cradle I. but with the line spacing mechanism inoperative or removed. Electric machines have a power band which is also attached to the cradle L.

A distinguishing feature of the upper carriage part U is the elevating shaft 2 attached to the conventional side members 30, 31. This shaft 2 is used to rotate the upper carriage part U around the platen axis I and does so by engaging two elongated rollers 4 maintained on the end of a rocker arm 3, whereby any up and down motion of this arm will result in a corresponding angular rotation of the upper carriage part U. The shaft 2 rotates freely in order to roll out on the rollers 4 as it describes an arc when elevating. The rollers 4 also roll freely to permit the whole carriage to move transversely for spacing of the characters. FIG. 4 shows a cutaway view (front) of the assembled carriage.

FIG. 5 shows the auxiliary keyboard K that is used to control the up and down motion of the rocker arm 3 which, as has been shown, controls the amount of rotation of the upper carriage part U and, therefore, the pitch of the characters being typed.

This keyboard K, which is called Pitch Keyboard", consists of three horizontal rows of seven keys labeled A-G each similarly shaped and spaced as the normal keys of the machine, each higher horizontal row of keys A-G being one notch to the right in the spacing comb in respect to the keys of the next lower one. The seven keys A-G of each horizontal row control the correct pitch elevation for seven successive notes of the musical scale, starting with the note F. Each successive horizontal row represents the same notes but one octave higher in pitch. This is a matrix arrangement where the vertical columns each have three keys, each bearing the same characters separated by an octave and the horizontal rows are the octaves of seven notes each and as such it is very easy to memorize and operate without looking at the hands. The keyboard K is approximately centered in front of the regular keyboard M (FIG. 7) and situated below the skirt 52 of the typewriter and protruding in front of it, as in Applicants prior U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,632. The conventional legs, not shown, and skirt 52 of the machine are lengthened to accommodate the new keyboard. The operator operates the Pitch Keyboard K with the left hand while he operates the regular keyboard M with the righthand. The typing sequence is as follows: First the left-hand brings the carriage part U to the proper pitch by pressing on one of the pitch keys A-G. While this key is held depressed, the right-hand selects the proper character and strikes it.

DETAILS OF THE PITCH KEYBOARD FIGS. 5 and 6 show how one of the pitch keys 13 operates the rocker arm 3 to cause an exact preset angular motion of the upper carriage part U. The pitch keybars 13' are in two pieces, joined by a conventional shift overtravel joint" 23, including slot 25 and pin 25 connection and spring 24 to avoid bending of the bars 13 if one should press too hard on the keys 13. They are pivoted on a shaft 7 anchored to the machine's frame and kept in proper alignment by a comb 12 where they protrude from the front frame. Every keybar 13 has a tail-shaped locking arm 11 pivotally connected to it, kept in alignment by another comb 17 and pulled towards the front of the bar 13' by a spring 19. The tail end of the lock-arm l1 rests on a small roller 15 attached to a small arm 14 hinged by a shaft 21 to a slotted positioning frame member 18. The small arm 14 is prevented from turning downward by an adjusting screw 16 on which it rests. The adjustment of the screws 16 determines the height at which the small rollers 15 and the arms 11 tails are positioned. This, in turn, determines the amount of downward travel of the keybars 13 before the lock-arms 11 on pivots 11' grip the pitch universal bar 20' against part 21 of keybar 13', and therefore, controls the amount of rotation of the upper carriage part U.

The keybars 13 have also a protruding shape or portion 21 designed to push down the pitch universal bar 20' to complete the locking.

On notes calling for very small shift (low notes), these rotruding portions 21 are trimmed short to permit the lockurm 11 to be in operating position before the universal bar 20' is pushed by the keybar 13.

The L-shaped hardened pitch universal bar 20' is part of the rigid box-framed rocker lever or actuator 20 which operates the rocker arm 3. The rocker lever 20 is hinged on the same shaft 7 as the pitch keybars 13' and is held against the protruding shapes 21 by the weight of the upper carriage part U pushing down on the rocker arm 3.

At rest, the springs 19 keep the locking arm 11 tails pushing against the rollers 15 and thus keep the keybars 13 up against their stops 52'. Pressing on the pitch keys 13 will cause the lock-arms 11 to slide out to meet the universal bar 20 which is being depressed at the same time by the protruding shapes 21 of the bars 13'. At impact, the motion will stop and the pitch universal bar 20 will be securely held in that position till pressure on the key 13 is released.

Switches S are also provided to be operated by the various keys A-G for providing an electrical output which can be fed to a computer or other utilization apparatus. For instance, the electrical output could be used to provide a tape output or other permanently recordable output, which could then be used to operate typing or printing machines or a computer which, in turn, would adjust the spacing and justify the lines and feed a corrected output to automatic printing or typing apparatus.

KEYBOARD ARRANGEMENT As I stated previously, the additions and modifications embodied in the first part of this invention bring the round platen machines in line with the speed and convenience of the flat platen ones, while retaining the desirable feature of having two types per type bar, or about types per machine. This improvement itself would be a very small gain however, since the round platen machines are operated percent of the time on the upper case in locked position (since this is where the notes are) and the keys of the lower case are used only seldom and largely for marginal characters. The reason for this is that one has to unlock the shift, strike the character, and then relock the shift again in order to use these lower case characters, the left-hand of the operator being meanwhile kept busy on the platens knob for pitch selection or, as in the case of this invention, on the pitch keyboard K. This has resulted in a general neglect of the lower case and a practical availability of characters little better than that of the flat platen" machines.

It is another object of this invention to show how the font of characters of a music typewriter can be arranged to take full advantage of the 85 characters available and thereby double the usefulness of such a machine by enabling it to write lyrics, tempos, chord names and expression marks in addition to music, thereby eliminating the last big obstacle to a universal acceptance of the music typewriter for general as well as professional use. Let us consider the lyric, for instance: the lyrics are as important to a page of music as the notes are and should be added while one is typing the music so that the notes will be centered exactly above each syllable with the proper amount of room left between syllables. In all the present-day alphabet less machines the operator has a very skilled job on his hands; he must calculate (or guess) the amount of space between the center of a given syllable and the center of the next syllable where the succeeding note is to be typed (FIG. 8). He must then equate this space with the musical space required by the value of the first note, and should the space required for the syllable be bigger than that allowed for the note, he must enlarge and recalculate the spacing of all the notes in the entire bar to avoid distorting the legibility of the music. In crowded lines, this precess can get so bad that one has to type the lyrics on a separate paper and hold this against the platen of the music machine while the notes are typed. In addition, when a different operator writes in the lyrics later on, he must again calculate the centering of the syllables under the notes and this very often results in poor spacing and costly mistakes.

All these problems are eliminated by using the novel arrangement of characters as shown in FIG. 7. This keyboard M is intended for a 44 key typewriter with elite" spacing, equipped with a standard dead key mechanism on all upper case characters and having a pitch keyboard" K as described previously.

The lower case consists of all the alphabetical characters in the same location as that of a standard typewriter. These characters should preferably be all capital letters, and in sans serif" style elite" size as shown, so that the I" (No. 29) can double as number 1, the (O) (No. 33) as number 0", and the V as an upbow mark for music. Three keys (Nos. 32, 36, d2) have no character on the lower case to allow room for notes with the stem down in the upper case. eight necessary numerals are approximately in their standard positions and there are only four punctuation marks (Nos. 36, 39, 40, 41). The period is in the No. 40 position but on the upper case since it is also a frequently used music symbol and is, in addition, used in combination with the other punctuation marks (and the pitch keyboard) for the remaining three punctuation marks Position No. 23 (staff key) and 43 (trill line) are reserved for these two musical symbols because they require automatic spacing.

The upper case is devoted exclusively to music characters arranged in a particular location on the keyboard M which is the product of much refining and experimenting. It allows a full selection of music and related symbols, keeps the hands of the operator in a natural position and puts the most often-used characters in easily reached and memorizedlocations It also takes into account the physical size of the characters and avoid crowding of the type faces. The pitch space keybord K is mounted below and in front of the type keyboard M of FIG. 7, as shown in Applicants prior US. Pat. No. 2,542,632.

With a machine equipped with the pitch keyboard K and the above described font of types corresponding to the keys in FIG. 7, a music line is typed in the following manner:

First the staff is typed across the page by repetitively striking the key No. 23 lower case, (in electric machines this is done by simply holding the key depressed till the carriage has moved to the end of the line). The carriage is then returned to the starting position (without rolling the paper), the upper case shift is locked, and clef, notes, chords, etc; of the music score are typed across the line, the spacing of the characters being accomplished by way of the space bar. Finally, after returning the carriage one more time, the upper case shift is unlocked, the left-hand of the operator leaves the pitch keyboard K and is placed conventionally on the character keyboad M, ready for touch-typing the lyrics, etc.

Whenever the operator recognizes a trouble spot (FIG. 8, where he suspects that the lyrics or chord names may not fit with the spacing of notes previously determined for that line (FIG. 8, B-C), he can type the notes which are safe, switch to typing the problem" lyrics or chord names first and then resume typing the music for the remainder of the line. The missing notes can then be added over the center letter of the syllables in question as one goes along, taking advantage of the featurethat the notes do not'space or they can be added after completion of the line by eye, for even finer fitting.

Combined typing of both lyrics and music so to speak simultaneously" is also possible and may be advantageous in special situations. Alternatively, a foot-operated shift pedal, not shown, would greatly increase the speed of this operation.

in a music typewriter, the feature of being able to switch readily from music to lyrics and back to particularly advantageous if one is using a proportional spacing typewriter as the basic music machine. Inthese machines, the spacing of the characters varies according to the shape or size of the letters, thus making it even more difficult for the operator to calculate the exact room for the lyrics.

Another very important feature of this keyboard arrangement is the complete absence of one (smaller sized) notes. instead of trying to cram two fonts of music characters where there is barely room for one, I use a red ribbon to differentiate between them; the black notes are the'reg'ular sized notes, the red ones are cues, merely at theflip of a conventional ribbon shifting lever, not shown. This can be extended to the alphabet letters too; red letters mean caps, black, lower case letters. To the composer or copyist, the result is definitely easier to read and write) and one thereby finally gets a complete set of cue notes, not just a few. An alternative version is to use so-called "action" paper for typing, in which case the stencil position of the ribbon will take the space of the red ribbon, rendering the notes to be differentiated in a purple color.

Many modifications may be made by those who desire to practice the invention without departing from the scope thereof, which is defined by the following claims:

I claim:

l. A typewriter for printing different horizontal lines comprising:

a cylindrical paper platen;

a plurality of keys connected to type along a typing line on said platen;

an upper carriage;

means to mount said platen in said upper carriage;

paperguide pans rigidly mounted on said upper carriage;

paper feed roller means mounted on said upper carriage below said typing line and extending through said paper guide pans;

bail rollers mounted on said upper carriage above said typing line;

a lower carriage cradle comprising a pair of side members;

front and rear rails connectingsaid' side members;

said rails being adapted to slide on the frame of said typewriter;

said upper carriage being rotatably mounted in said cradle on the axis of said platen;

a separate pitch keyboard;

and pitch keyboard operated means to rotate said rotatable upper carriage to cause the type print to be written on predetermined horizontal lines,

said keyboard operated means comprising a horizontal elevating rail attached to said upper carriage underneath said paper guide pans, a vertical rocker arm mounted for vertical movement, roller means to connect the upper end of said rocker arm to move said elevatingrail vertically and an actuator mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis, one end of said actuator being connected to the lower end of said vertical rocker arm.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said pitch keyboard comprises a plurality of finger keys connected to rotate said actuator, each of said finger keys being connected to a key bar rotatably mounted on a horizontal shaft.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2 having a locking ann pivotally mounted on each of said key bars, a plurality of adjustable stops, each of said locking arms riding on a respective one of said adjustable stops whereby when said key bar is depressed said locking arm is connected to grip said actuator against a portion of said key bar.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 having at last 21 finger keys arranged in matrix form having vertical columns and horizontal rows wherein the rows are seven successive notes of the musi cal scale and the columns re three successive musical octaves.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 having integral means to type both music and lyrics comprising a keyboard connected to type music and lyrics whereby notes and lyrics may be space coordinated as the typing progresses.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said integral means for typing interchangeably music and lyrics comprises a keyboard for controlling printing characters said keyboard having all 26 letters of the alphabet, at least 8 numerals, a plurality of punctuation marks and a plurality of music notation characters whereby the music notation characters and lyrics or chord names may be space coordinated as the typing progresses.

7. A typewriter as in claim 1 having means to rock said actuator a predetermined, adjustable amount by means of said keyboard-operating means for each different vertical displacement desired, said keyboard-operating means having said separate pitch keyboard located in front and below a standard typing keyboard to enable an operator to operate said pitch keyboard with one hand, while simultaneously striking the character desired with the other hand of said standard keyboard.

8. A typewriter as in claim 7 having a plurality of bars rotatably mounted on a horizontal shaft, a plurality of finger keys on said pitch keyboard and means to cause each of said tuator whenever said bar is depressed. 9. A typewriter as in claim 8 having electrical contacts for each finger key of said keyboard to enable a processing device to code the positioning information.

Claims (9)

1. A typewriter for printing different horizontal lines comprising: a cylindrical paper platen; a plurality of keys connected to type along a typing line on said platen; an upper carriage; means to mount said platen in said upper carriage; paper guide pans rigidly mounted on said upper carriage; paper feed roller means mounted on said upper carriage below said typing line and extending through said paper guide pans; bail rollers mounted on said upper carriage above said typing line; a lower carriage cradle comprising a pair of side members; front and rear rails connecting said side members; said rails being adapted to slide on the frame of said typewriter; said upper carriage being rotatably mounted in said cradle on the axis of said platen; A separate pitch keyboard; and pitch keyboard operated means to rotate said rotatable upper carriage to cause the type print to be written on predetermined horizontal lines, said keyboard operated means comprising a horizontal elevating rail attached to said upper carriage underneath said paper guide pans, a vertical rocker arm mounted for vertical movement, roller means to connect the upper end of said rocker arm to move said elevating rail vertically and an actuator mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis, one end of said actuator being connected to the lower end of said vertical rocker arm.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said pitch keyboard comprises a plurality of finger keys connected to rotate said actuator, each of said finger keys being connected to a key bar rotatably mounted on a horizontal shaft.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2 having a locking arm pivotally mounted on each of said key bars, a plurality of adjustable stops, each of said locking arms riding on a respective one of said adjustable stops whereby when said key bar is depressed said locking arm is connected to grip said actuator against a portion of said key bar.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 having at last 21 finger keys arranged in matrix form having vertical columns and horizontal rows wherein the rows are seven successive notes of the musical scale and the columns re three successive musical ''''octaves''''.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 having integral means to type both music and lyrics comprising a keyboard connected to type music and lyrics whereby notes and lyrics may be space coordinated as the typing progresses.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said integral means for typing interchangeably music and lyrics comprises a keyboard for controlling printing characters said keyboard having all 26 letters of the alphabet, at least 8 numerals, a plurality of punctuation marks and a plurality of music notation characters whereby the music notation characters and lyrics or chord names may be space coordinated as the typing progresses.

7. A typewriter as in claim 1 having means to rock said actuator a predetermined, adjustable amount by means of said keyboard-operating means for each different vertical displacement desired, said keyboard-operating means having said separate pitch keyboard located in front and below a standard typing keyboard to enable an operator to operate said pitch keyboard with one hand, while simultaneously striking the character desired with the other hand of said standard keyboard.

8. A typewriter as in claim 7 having a plurality of bars rotatably mounted on a horizontal shaft, a plurality of finger keys on said pitch keyboard and means to cause each of said finger keys to depress one of said bars a different amount, comprising: a locking arm pivotally mounted on each bar; and an adjustable stop for each finger key mounted in such a way as to cause its locking arm to positively grip said actuator whenever said bar is depressed.

9. A typewriter as in claim 8 having electrical contacts for each finger key of said keyboard to enable a processing device to code the positioning information.

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