US3912069A

US3912069A - Sound confining typewriter cover

Info

Publication number: US3912069A
Application number: US496340A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert Faulhaber
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-08-12
Filing date: 1974-08-12
Publication date: 1975-10-14
Anticipated expiration: 1992-10-14

Abstract

A sound confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter including side walls having pins therein for insertion into holes in the typewriter housing, a link on the cover for engaging the bail actuating tab within the housing, said link including a portion external of said cover so that said bail can be manipulated from outside of said housing, and a door hingedly attached to the remainder of the cover for permitting selective access to the area within said cover.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 1111 3,912,069 Faulhaber 1 Oct. 14, 1975 [54] SOUND CONFINING TYPEWRITER C()VER 2,351,725 6/1944 Wack 197/186B UX 3,122,228 2 1964 D01] 197 186 R [761 Inventor: Robe" Faulhaber 642 Aurora 3 513 938 551970 l97/l 86 B in Lancaster, NY. 14086 i [22] Filed: Aug. 12, 1974 Primary Examiner l-larland S. Skogquist A F P. pp No.: 496,340 Attorney, gent, 0r zrm Joseph Gastel 6 8 [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl,2 197/18 B, 17 /42 A Sound confining Cover for mounting on the housing [51] Int. Cl. B4lJ 29/02 f t l H h th [58] Field of Search 197/60, 180, 186 R, 186 A, F Y" lf S l i .erem l97/186 178/42 or lnsertlon into hoes 1n e typewriter ou smg, a link on fh/ cover for engagmg the ball actuatmg tab within tne' 'iousing, said link including a portion exter- [56] References Clted nal of said cover so that said bail can be manipulated UNITED STATES PATENTS from outside of said housing, and a door hingedly atl,422,433 7/1922 Fries l97/l86 B t hed to the remainder of the cover for permitting 1,519,224 2/1924 snckneym 197/186 B selective access to the area within said cover. 1,578,935 3/1926 Stickney 197/186B 1,656,268 l/l928 Daniel 197/186 B 18 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures 1a a I 75 27 Z 2 20 I 7 22 l 29 52 49/6/47 1 my 52, 6/ as 2 43 '44 l 1 52 4s *1 .33 Z67 5] v a;

Sheet 2 0f 3 Oct. 14, 1975 US. Patant U.S. Patent )ct.14,1975 Sheet3of3 3,912,069

SOUND CONFINING TYPEWRITER COVER The present invention relates to an improved sound confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter.

By way of background, there are numerous typewriters in the field which are used in conjunction with magnetic memory devices. In typewriters of this type data on a magnetic tape or card in conjunction with an electronic circuit causes the typewriter to operate automatically. A typewriter operating under these circumstances is extremely noisy, and when a bank of typewriters in a single room are operating simultaneously, a very high noise level is produced which can be quite distracting to other workers in the general area. In ad dition, there are ordinary typewriters in the field which do not have sound-confining covers and for which it may be desirable to provide a sound-confining cover.

It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to provide a sound-confining cover which can be installed on typewriters in the field in an extremely simple and expedient manner.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter, said cover including structure which permits the manipulation of the typewriter bail from outside of the cover, thereby obviating the necessity for entering the cover for this purpose.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter, said cover being easily mounted and demounted from the typewriter housing without the use of tools so as to permit access to certain internal parts of the typewriter, as required.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter, said cover including a door thereon which permits selective limited access to the area within the cover, as may be required during operation, without requiring that the entire cover be demounted for this purpose. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter.

The improved sound-confining cover of the present invention is for mounting on the housing of a typewriter having an opening therein for permitting paper to be supplied to the operating elements of said typewriter and having a bail for holding said paper against the platen of said typewriter and a bail actuating tab coupled to said bail comprising cover means for substantially completely covering said opening and causing said bail and bail actuating tab to be enclosed within said housing, mounting means for mounting said cover means on said housing, and hail actuating means including a first portion within said cover means for moving said bail toward and away from said platen and a second portion outside of said housing for manual manipulation. In addition, the cover means may include door means for selectively permitting access to the area within said cover means. The various aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specifications are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view showing the improved sound confining typewriter cover in position on a typewriter;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view, with portions broken away, taken substantially along line 22 of FIG. 1 and showing the door of the cover in both a closed and an open position;

FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view taken substantially along line 2A2A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing various details of construction of the sound-confining cover and the bail actuating link;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 and showing further details of construction of the sound-confining cover and the bail actuating link;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 55 of FIG. 1 and showing the relationship of the sound-confining cover door to the opening in the typewriter housing and also showing the structure on the cover which is used to guide paper leaving the platen;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 1 but showing a modified form typewriter cover which does not possess a door for permitting access to the area within the cover;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary side elevational view, partially in cross section, taken substantially along line 88 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view, partially in cross section, taken substantially along line 99 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 1010 of FIG. 6 and showing the relationship between the cover retaining tab and the portion of the typewriter housing with which it coacts.

The improved sound-confining cover 10 preferably is fabricated from clear, transparent plastic for mounting on typewriter 9 and includes

side walls

11 and 12 having rearwardly sloping

upper edges

13 and 14, respectively, and downwardly sloping

forward edges

15 and 16, respectively. An upper panel 17 has its

opposite ends

18 and 19 suitably secured, as by cement, to the adjacent portions of

edges

13 and 14, respectively. A door portion 20 has an upper panel 21 which is in alignment with panel 17 when the door 20 is in a closed position. Door 20 also includes a front panel 22 which is formed integrally with and is a continuation of panel 21. Panel 22 extends at substantially a right angle to panel 21. When door 20 is in the closed, solid-line position of FIGS. 2 and 5, the end portions of the lower edge portion 23 of panel 22 rests on

adjacent portions

24 and 25 of typewriter housing 26 (FIG. 1) while the central portion of edge 23 fits closely to edge 27 (FIG. 5) of typewriter housing 26. When door 20 is closed, the outer end portions of door panel 21 rests on

edges

13 and 14 of

side panels

11 and 12, respectively, and the end portions of front panel 22 rests on

edge portions

15 and 16 of

side panels

11 and 12, respectively.

The ability of door 20 to move from the closed position shown in solid lines in FIGS. 2 and 5 to the open position shown in dotted lines is possible because door 20 is attached to panel 17 by means of spaced hinges 28 which suitably attach door 20 to panel 17. It is to be noted that when door 20 is closed, the adjacent longitudinal edges of

panels

17 and 21 abut each other at 29 throughout their length, thereby effectively causing panel 17 and door 20 to be equivalent to a single unbroken unit. Door is opened for the purpose of correcting the paper being typed on by means of correcting tape, as may be required when using a conventional typewriter. The door also permits any access which may be required for a typewriter associated with a memory device.

For the purpose of mounting cover 10 on typewriter housing 26, pins and 31 are mounted on each of

side panels

11 and 12, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Each pin 31 has a threaded end portion 32 which is threadably received in

side panels

11 and 12. A nut portion 33, which is adjacent portion 32, limits the amount that portion 32 is threaded into the side panels and also receives the wrench for turning pin 31. Merging outwardly from nut portion 33 is a split stem 34 which is divided into four resilient quadrants 35 which can move toward each other when stem 34 is forced through aperture or bore 36 in housing 26. At this point it is to be noted that bores 36 and 37 are drilled into housing 26, as housing 26 does not have these drilled bores as originally fabricated. At this point it is to be noted that pins 30 are equivalent in all respects to pins 31 and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted in the interest of brevity. However, pins 30 differ from pins 31 in that they are of a much smaller size.

Pins

30 and 31 are known in the trade as banana pins.

In order to install cover 10 on housing 26, pins 31 are inserted first into bores 36 while pins 30 are held above housing 26 and thereafer the cover 10 is rocked in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2 until pins 30 are fully seated within bores 37. The quadrants 35 of pins 31 and equivalent structure of pins 30 will be biased against the sides of their respective bores because of their resiliency, thereby producing a snug fit of cover 10 on the housing.

The typewriter 9 includes a plurality of operating parts including a ball 39 and a platen 40 around which paper 41 is threaded in the conventional manner. In this respect it can be seen from FIG. 5 that the paper is guided between typewriter portion 43 and platen 40, and it therefore passes between typewriter portion 43 and panel 44 of cover 10. In this respect panel 44 has its opposite end portions 45 secured as by cementing to

edges

46 and 47 of

side panels

11 and 12, respectively. A space 48 is located between edge 49 of panel 17 and top edge 50 of panel 44 for substantially the entire length of these members to permit the paper 41 leaving platen 40 to pass out of cover 10.

In order to hold paper 41 against platen 40, a bail 51 is provided. This bail includes a rod 52 which mounts a plurality of spaced'cylindrical rollers 53 which bear against the paper so as to hold it in position on the platen when bail 51 is in the solid-line position shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. However, in order to position the paper 41 properly against platen 40, bail 51 must be moved from the solid-line position of FIG. 5 to the dotted-line position shown therein. This is possible because a pair of links 54 on opposite ends of rod 52 are pivoted at 55 relative to the typewriter frame 54.

In order to permit pivoting of bail 51 from the solidline position to the dotted-line position of FIG. 5, a bail actuating link 57 is provided so as to permit the manipulation of bail 51 from the outside of cover 10. To this end link 57 includes a forked end portion 58 having a space 59 between tines 60. A tab 61 forms a conventional part of bail 51 and it is this tab which is conventionally used to shift bail 51 between the solid and dotted line positions of FIG. 5 when cover 10 is not being used. However, cover 10 will obstruct access to tab 61 when cover 10 is in position. Accordingly, since tines straddle tab 61, when link 57 is moved to the left to the dotted line position in FIG. 2, bail 51 will move to the dotted-line position in FIG. 5. In order to effect such movement, link 57 includes a knob 62 rigidly affixed to stem 63 which is a continuation of the central portion 64 of link 57. Thus, by grasping knob 62 and moving it to the left in FIG. 2, the bail 51 will be pulled away from platen 40, and by moving knob 62 to its solid-line position in FIG. 2, bail 51 will press against paper 41 and cause it to line against platen 40.

At this point it is to be noted that knob 62 is contoured at 65 and 66 for ease of handling by the typewriter operator. The space 59 between tines 60 essentially provides a lost-motion connection with tab 61 so as to permit relative movement therebetween while link 57 is being manipulated. The lost-motion connection provides a convenient manner of coupling link 57 and tab 61 without the use of complex structure. At this point it is to be noted that central portion 64 of link 57 rides in slot 64' in side panel 12. Slot 64 is provided by leaving this space blank after cementing a lower elongated member 67 to the inside of side panel 12 in the manner shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Link 57 is retained in slot 64 because side wall 12 is loosely sandwiched between side 66' of knob 62 and side 67' of lug 68' having its lower edge 69 cemented to central portion 64 of link 57.

Whenever access is desired to the inside of cover 10, door 20 need merely be swung from its solid-line position shown in FIG. 2 to its dotted-line position. This'obviates the necessity to remove cover 10 for most of the time that access is required, as for straightening paper 41, or correcting the paper, or for any other reason. However, under certain circumstances complete removal of cover 10 will be required. In order to do this, all that need be done is to pivot cover 10 in a clockwise direction in FIG. 2 so as to cause pins 30 to pull out of bores 37 in which they are located. Thereafter, cover 10 is lifted so as to cause pins 31 to move out of bores 36. To reinstall cover 10, the above procedure is reversed, as described in detail above. When cover 10 is installed, the lowermost edges of

panels

11 and 12 will seat firmly on housing 26.

In FIGS. 6-10 an alternate embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. The cover is essentially identical in all respects to cover 10 of FIGS. 1-5 except that it does not have a door. In addition, it utilizes a different type of securing arrangement for attaching it to the housing 26 of the typewriter 9.

Cover 75 includes

side panels

76 and 77 and a bent panel 78 having downwardly sloping

portions

79 and 80 secured to the edges (not numbered) of

side panels

76 and 77. A tab 81 has a first portion secured, as by cement, to edge 82 of panel 80. The free end of tab 81 is adapted to underlie the edge of typewriter housing 26 adjacent thereto, as can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 10. After tab 81 has been inserted under typewriter housing 26, the cover 75 is swung in a clockwise direction in FIG. 8 until pins 83 extending downwardly from

side panels

76 and 77 enter suitable bores which have been drilled in housing 26, as described in detail above. The cover 75 will remain in position for as long as is desired and the bail of the typewriter can be manipulated by the use of link 84 which is identical to link 57 described in detail above in FIGS. 1-5.

Except for the structure described above relative to FIGS. 6-10, it will be understood that cover 75 is essentially identical to cover 10 of FIGS. 1-5.

Since the entire cover is made out of clear, transparent plastic, all parts of the typewriter and the paper which is being typed on can be observed by the typewriter operator. With the embodiment of FIGS. l-5, the door may be selectively opened as required for access to the area within the cover. In the embodiment of FIGS. 6-10, all parts of the typewriter can be viewed through the clear, transparent plastic cover 75. However, in the event it becomes necessary to obtain access to the area within the cover, all that need be done is to pivot the cover in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 8 so as to cause pins 83 to move out of the apertures in which they are located and thereafter slide the cover 75 slightly to the right in FIG. 8 so as to cause tab 81 to become disengaged from the underside of housing 26.

It has been found in operation that the covers of the present invention are manifestly capable of achieving the above enumerated objects because they tend to confine the sound within the typewriter so that it does not have as great a disturbing effect on the environment as it would otherwise have if the typewriter was uncovered. The sound is muffled to a very low percentage of what it would otherwise be without the cover of the present invention.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto but may be oth- -erwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter having an opening therein for permitting paper to be supplied to the operating elements of said typewriter and having a bail for holding said paper against the platen of said typewriter and a bail actuating tab coupled to said bail comprising cover means for substantially completely covering said opening and causing said bail and said ball actuating tab to be enclosed within said housing, mounting means for mounting said cover means on said housing, and bail actuating means including a first portion within said cover means for moving said bail toward and away from said platen and a second portion outside of said housing for manual manipulation.

2. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim I wherein said first portion of said bail actuating means comprises a forked end for effecting a lost-motion connection with said bail actuating tab within said cover means, and wherein said second portion of said bail ac- .tuating means comprises a knob, and a central portion connecting said first and second portions.

3. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 2 including a slot in said cover means, and wherein said central portion rides in said slot.

4. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 1 wherein said mounting means include attachment means for detachably mounting said cover means on said housing.

5. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 4 including slot means in said housing for guiding said paper relative to said housing.

6. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 4 wherein said attachment means include pin means on said cover means and bore means in said housing.

7. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 6 wherein said attachment means include tab means on said cover means for engaging an under portion of said housing.

8. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 1 including door means on said cover means for selectively permitting access to the area within said cover means.

9. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 8 wherein said mounting means include attachment means for detachably mounting said cover means on said housing.

10. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 1 including slot means in said housing for guiding said paper relative to said housing.

11. A sound-confining cover for mounting on a housing of a typewriter having an opening therein for permitting paper to be supplied to the operating elements of said typewriter comprising cover means for substantially completely covering said opening, mounting means for securing said cover means to said housing, and door means on said cover means for selectively permitting access to the area within said cover means while permitting the remainder of said cover means to remain in its normal installed position on said housing.

12. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 11 wherein said door means comprises a portion of said cover means, and hinge means for attaching said door means to the remainder of said cover means.

13. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 11 wherein said mounting means includes attachment means for detachably securing said cover means to said housing.

14. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 13 wherein said attachment means comprises pin means for insertion into bore means in said housing.

15. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 11 including slot means in said housing for guiding said paper relative to said housing.

16. A sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter having an opening therein for permitting paper to be supplied to the operating elements of the typewriter comprising cover means for substantially completely covering said opening, and attachment means on said cover means for detachably attaching said cover means to said housing, said attachment means comprising a plurality of pins for reception in mating apertures in said housing.

17. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 16 wherein said attachment means includes tab means for engaging said housing.

18. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 16 including slot means in said housing for guiding said paper relative to said housing.

Claims

1. A sound-confining cover for mounting on the housing of a typewriter having an opening therein for permitting paper to be supplied to the operating elements of said typewriter and having a bail for holding said paper against the platen of said typewriter and a bail actuating tab coupled to said bail comprising cover means for substantially completely covering said opening and causing said bail and said bail actuating tab to be enclosed within said housing, mounting means for mounting said cover means on said housing, and bail actuating means including a first portion within said cover means for moving said bail toward and away from said platen and a second portion outside of said housing for manual manipulation.

2. A sound-confining cover as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first portion of said bail actuating means comprises a forked end for effecting a lost-motion connection with said bail actuating tab within said cover means, and wherein said second portion of said bail actuating means comprises a knob, and a central portion connecting said first and second portions.