US3272303A

US3272303A - Typewriter control apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3272303A
Application number: US431570A
Authority: US
Inventors: Pohl Carl
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-02-10
Filing date: 1965-02-10
Publication date: 1966-09-13
Anticipated expiration: 1983-09-13

Description

Sept.13,1966 C.POHL 3,272,303

TYPEWRITER CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Feb. 10, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 p52 "VVE/VTOR CAI POHL ATTORNEY PEI Sept. 13, 1966 c. POHL 3,272,303

TYPEWRITER CONTRQL APPARATUS Filed Feb 10, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 F/G. T 2/ 53 United States Patent 3,272,303 TYPEWRITER coNrRor. APPARATUS Carl Pohl, 30s 19th St. 5., Brigantine, NJ. 08203 Filed Feb. 10, 1965, S61. No. 431,570 10 Claims. or. 197-114 This invention relates to apparatus for controlling typewriters and more particularly to apparatus advancing the platen for line of writing control.

The length of a workpiece in a typewriter is determined by the nature of the workpiece, such as a standard letterhead of a length of 11 inches, a statement or billing form of a length of /2 inches, and the length of the workpiece, insofar as the typewriter operation is concerned, can be considered in terms of the number of writing lines. A standard letterhead of eleven inches in length for standard typewriter line spacing of six lines to the inch accordingly has 66 lines.

In accordance with the present invention control app aratus for typewriters is provided for use with manually operated typewriters, electric typewriters which are manu ally operated, or electric typewriters operated by paper tapes, punched cards or other input.

The control apparatus in accordance with the invention is suited for friction fed individual work pieces, such as paper, or pin fed perforated mar-gin paper.

In accordance with the invention control apparatus for typewriters is provided which controls the engagement and disengagement of typewriter platen driving mechanism and the rotation of the typewriter platen.

The apparatus in accordance with the invention is simple, rugged and free from likelihood of operating difficulties.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

The nature and characeristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a typewriter having the control apparatus of the invention thereon;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view, enlarged, taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the control apparatus of FIG. 1 with the top cover plate removed;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 66 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 7-7 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram for the electrical circuits employed with the apparatus of FIGS. 1 to 7, inclusive.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings a typewriter 10 is shown for purposes of illustration which 3,272,303 Patented Sept. 13, 1966 has a rotatable platen 11. The platen 11 which may be linearly movable or not, depending on the nature of the typewriter, has a shaft 12 for controlling the rotary positioning thereof with a manual control knob 13 at at least one end thereof.

An abutment clamp 14 is provided surrounding and engaging the knob 13 and held in place by a set screw 15. The clamp 14 has opposite driving abutments 16 extending radially outwardly with respect to the knob 13.

The typewriter 10 preferably has the control apparatus in accordance with the invention carried thereby and for this purpose a horizontally extending mounting bracket 19 is secured to the frame of the typewriter by screws 20.

The mounting bracket 19 is secured to a first vertical frame plate 21. The frame plate 21 has a second frame plate 22 mounted in spaced parallel relation thereto by frame rod 24 and a horizontal bottom frame plate 25.

Front, top and

rear cover plates

26, 27 and 28 can be provided to protect the mechanism between the

frame plates

21 and 22.

A driving motor M is provided, preferably reversible, mounted on the frame plate 21. The motor M preferably has a main shaft 30, and an auxiliary shaft 31 driven from the main shaft 30 in a well known manner and at a higher rate of speed to actuate a fan 32 to aid in cooling the motor M and the space between the

frame plates

21 and 22.

The motor shaft 30 extends through the frame plate 21 and has a gear 35 secured thereto outside the frame plate 21 which meshes with a gear 36 on a hollow shaft 37 journaled in a bearing and abutment block 38 which is carried by the frame plate 21. The shaft 37 has secured thereto a clutch collar 39 having an interiorly finely serrated rim 40 for engagement by the complementally serrated peripheral portions 41 of a clutch arm 42. The arm 42 is secured to a platen drive shaft 44 by a set screw 45.

The shaft 44 has a circumferentially and longitudinally adjustable driving bar 46 secured thereto by a clamping strip 47 which is held by screws 48. The bar 46 has a pair of driving pins 49 for engagement with the driving abutments 16.

A spring 50 on the shaft 44 and engaging the gear 36 and the bar 46 normally urges the bar 46 toward a position for engagement of the pins 49 with the abutments 16.

The shaft 44 is supported in a bearing collar 52 carried by an intermediate vertical frame plate 53 whidh is spaced at the top from the frame plate by a spacer rod 54 held by bolts 55.

The shaft 44 has a thrust bearing 58 carried thereon which is mounted within a coupling head 59, preferably of synthetic plastic material, such as nylon or the like. The coupling head 59 has the armature 60 of a solenoid 61 connected thereto by a screw 62 which restrains the head 59 against rotation while permitting longitudinal movement to position the shaft 44. The thrust bearing 58 has an end locking face 64. The solenoid 61 is preferably mounted on the bottom frame plate 25 and is held in place by screws 65.

A holding solenoid is provided, preferably held by screws 71 to a horizontal frame plate 7 2 which is secured to the bottom frame plate 25 by screws 73. The solenoid 70 has an armature 74 to which a locking head 75 is secured by a bolt 76. The locking head 75 is also preferably of synthetic plastic, such as nylon or the like, and has a tension spring 77 secured at one end thereto, the other end of the spring 77 being secured to a post 78 supported by the frame plate 72. The spring 77 normally urges the locking head 75 toward a position where it is engaged by the end locking face 64 of the coupling head to retain the shaft 44 in an inactive position.

The circuit connections for operation of the motor M and the

solenoids

61 and 70 are shown in FIG. 8.

Power leads 80 and 81 connected to any suitable source of electrical energy such as 115 volt alternating current are provided, connected through cut off switches SW1 and through a switch SW2 for determining the polarity to

conductors

82 and 83. The conductor 82 is connected to one terminal of the motor M, to one terminal of the solenoid 61 and to one terminal of the solenoid 70.

The conductor 83 is connected to the other terminal of the motor M and through a manually operable pushbutton P131 to the other terminal of the solenoid 61 and through a manually operable pushbu-tton PB2 to the other terminal of the solenoid 70. The pushbuttons PBl and PB2 are shown as carried on the front cover plate 26.

A conductor 84 is provided, connected to the other terminal of the solenoid 70 for supplying, if and when desired, an inserter feed impulse from any desired programming device.

Any preferred line spacing input control impulse, also from any desired programming device can be employed for controlling the solenoid 61.

For one type of input impulse supply a conductor 85 can be connected to the other terminal of the solenoid 61.

For another type of input impulse supply such as with an automatic typewriter or writing machine a conductor 86 can be connected through contacts 87 controlled by a direct current relay 88 having a positive connection 89 and a ground connection 90, with an energizing switch The mode of operation will now be pointed out.

During the normal typing operation the motor M is energized to rotate the shaft and through the gears and 36 drive the shaft 37 and the clutch collar 39. In this condition the clutch arm 42 has its peripheral portion 41 out of engagement with the rim 40. This is effected by the locking head 75 at an inward position engaging the end locking face 64 and holding the shaft 44 at an inactive position and with the pins 49 out of engagement with the driving abutments 16.

If now it is desired to rotate the platen 11 to a different position, the solenoid 70 is energized to retract the locking head 75 so that the shaft 44 urged by the spring 50 is moved to advance the pins 49 so that they can engage the driving abutments 1 6 and then so that the clutch arm 42 can engage the serrated rim of the clutch collar 39 to effect rotation of the shaft 44 and thus rotate the platen 11.

When the desired extent of movement of the platen 11 has been effected, either as determined by a preset line of Writing, or as otherwise programmed in the programming device an energizing impulse is supplied to the solenoid 61 to move the armature 60 which through the coupling head 59 and shaft 44 effects immediate disengagement of the clutch arm 42 and disengagement of the pins 49 so that no further turning of the platen 11 is effected.

As soon as the shaft 44 is thus moved by energization of the solenoid 6 1 the locking head 75 again moves inwardly, urged by the spring 77, so that the locking head 75 engages the locking face 64 and holds the shaft 44 in its inactive position. A

The direction of rotation of the platen 11 can be controlled by operation, manual or by programming, of the switch SW2.

A positive control of line of writing is thus provided which is accurate and free from overrunning and which is exceedingly rapid in its action.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for line of writing control of a typewriter having a rotatable platen with a member for rotating the platen comprising a frame, a rotary electric motor mounted on said frame, a linearly movable member for driving engagement with said platen rotating member, and means for controlling the actuation of said movable member by said motor, said movable member having a resilient element in engagement therewith for urging it in one direction, said means including a solenoid controlled device for moving said movable member in the opposite direction against the force of said resilient element, and a releasable locking member for retaining said movable member at a predetermind position.

2. Apparatus for line of writing control of a typewriter as defined in claim 1 in which said movable member has a rotatable portion, said solenoid controlled device has a solenoid, and a coupling head is interposed between said solenoid and said rotatable portion.

3. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 1 in which said motor has a motor shaft, said linearly movable member includes a shaft, and driving connections are provided bet-ween said motor shaft and said other shaft, and said driving connections include a disconnecting member.

4. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 1 in which said linearly movable member includes a member carried thereby having a locking face thereon and said releasable locking member includes a locking head movable into and out of position for retaining engagement by said locking face.

5. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 4 in which said releasable locking member includes a resilient element for moving said locking head in one direction and a solenoid for moving said locking head in the opposite direction.

6. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 1 in which said motor is reversible.

7. Apparatus for line of writing control of a rotatable typewriter platen having a member for rotating the platen comprising a frame,

a rotary electric motor mounted on said frame,

a platen driving shaft mounted in said frame for rotary and longitudinal axial movement, said platen driving shaft having members carried there by for engagement with said platen rotating member,

driving connections between said motor and said platen driving shaft for rotating said shaft including a disengageable connection controlled by longitudinal axial movement of said platen driving shaft,

a resilient member for impelling said shaft longitudinally axially in one direction,

a first solenoid in said frame for impelling said shaft longitudinally axially in the opposite direction,

said platen driving shaft having a portion thereon with an end locking face located for determining the longitudinal axial positioning of the platen driving shaft,

a locking member in said frame having a locking head movable into and out of position for engagement by said locking face,

a resilient member for moving said locking head in one direction, and

a second solenoid in said frame for moving said locking member in the other direction.

8. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 7 in which said first solenoid is effective for moving said platen driving shaft to inactive position. 9. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 7 in which said second solenoid is eflective for moving said locking head to an out of engagement position with respect to said locking face. 10. Apparatus for line of writing control as defined in claim 7 in which said first solenoid is effective for moving said platen driving shaft to an inactive position, and said second solenoid is effective for releasing said platen driving shaft from said inactive position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Beard 197-127 Garbell 197121 Mabon et a1 197133 Westover 197-133

Claims

1. APPARATUS FOR LINE OF WRITING CONTROL OF A TYPEWRITER HAVING A ROTATABLE PLATEN WITH A MEMBER FOR ROTATING THE PLATEN COMPRISING A FRAME, A ROTARY ELECTRIC MOTOR MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, A LINEARLY MOVABLE MEMBER FOR DRIVING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID PLATEN ROTATING MEMBER, AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE ACTUATION OF SAID MOVABLE MEMBER BY SAID MOTOR, SAID MOVABLE MEMBER HAVING A RESILIENT ELEMENT IN ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH FOR URGING IT IN ONE DIRECTION, SAID MEANS INCLUDING A SOLENOID CONTROLLED DEVICE FOR MOVING SAID MOVABLE MEMBER IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AGAINST THE FORCE OF SAID RESILIENT ELEMENT, AND A RELEASABLE LOCKING MEMBER OF RETAINING SAID MOVABLE MEMBER AT A PREDETERMINED POSITION.