US2746590A - Upper feed roll control means for typewriting and like machines - Google Patents

Description

May 22, 1956 LEMOS 2,746,590

UPPER FEED ROLL CONTROL MEANS FOR TYPEWRITING AND THE LIKE MACHINES Filed Dec. 11, 1952 INVENTOR. MANUEL G. LEMOS BY film/94% ATTORNEY United States Patent UPPER FEED ROLL CONTROL MEANS FOR TYPE- WRITING AND LIKE MACHINES Manuel G. Lemos, New York, N. Y., assignor to Underwood Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 11 1952, Serial No. 325,466

2 Claims. (Cl. 197-138) about the lower surface of a cylindrical platen and up i into typing position. In addition to the lower feed rolls it is customary to provide upper feed rolls to hold the paper in close contact with the platen at a point beyond the printing point, so that at the printing point the paper will lie close against the platen and so that as the sheet is fed through the machine, the leading edge will be directed along a rearward path and cannot bend over forwardly to possibly interfere with the typing operation.

It is customary when inserting a new sheet of paper into the machine to rotate the platen by means of a knob provided for that purpose, in order to feed the paper beneath the platen and up into typing position'and it is also customary to release the upper feed rolls from contact with the platen while the paper is being inserted. After the paper is moved into typing position, the upper feed rolls are restored to operative position tohold the paper in close contact with the upper portion of the platen. It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby in a single operation the upper feed rolls may be released and the platen rotated to bring the paper into typing position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means whereby an operator in one motion of the hand may rotate the platen and operate means for releasing the upper feed rolls of a typewriting machine.

These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent as a description of a preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a platen carriage of a typewriting machine showing the upper feed rolls in operative position and showing the means for moving said feed rolls to their paper-inserting position,

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the upper feed rolls in paper-inserting position and also showing, in dot-and-dash lines, the upper feed rolls in the position to which they are moved when erasures are to be made,

Figure 3 is a plan view showing how the means for releasing the upper feed rolls and the means for rotating the platen may be simultaneously operated, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the upper feed roll supporting and operating means.

A typewriter carriage is generally indicated at in Figure 1 and includes a pair of end plates 11, only one of which is shown, between which a cylindrical platen 12 is mounted for rotation. The platen 12 is provided with 2,746,590 Ce Patented May 22, 1956 a central shaft 13 mounted in suitable hearings in the end plates and a manually rotatable knob 14 is fixed to said shaft. Mounted on the carriage in any suitable manner are lower feed rolls 15 and suitable guides 16, so that when the paper is inserted at the rear of the platen, it may be fed beneath said platen by the feed rolls and guided up to the printing point, which is slightly above the guide 16, as is well known. After the leading edge of the paper reaches the printing point, the platen is rotated a little further to bring the paper into position for typing the first line. As the paper reaches the position for typing the first line, the upper edge is passed beneath a set of upper feed rolls by means of which the paper at the printing point is held in close contact with the platen, as will presently be more fully explained.

A set of upper feed rolls is indicated at 17; said feed rolls being mounted on a frame or bail structure including a rod 18 supported at its ends by a pair of rearwardlyextending arms 19, only one of which is shown. In the particular machine shown in the drawing, the arms 19 are pivotally mounted upon crank portions 20 of a rod 21 which is pivotally mounted at its ends in the end plates 11. A tab portion 22 of each arm 19 is provided with detent notches 23 and 24 for cooperating with a bail portion 25 of a spring member 26, which spring mem bers are secured to the crank portions of the shaft 21 in any suitable manner, as by fitting into holes provided in said crank portion as illustrated particularly in Figure 4. With the feed roll bail in the position shown in Figure 1, the spring 26 cooperates with the detent notch 23 to re siliently hold said bail in that position, with the rollers 17 pressing against the upper portion of the platen. When the feed roll bail is moved to its other positions the spring 26 cooperates with the detent notch 24.

A finger piece 27 is secured to a collar 28 loosely mounted on the shaft 13. The collar 28 is provided with an opening 29 into which extends an arm 30 fixed to a stub shaft 31 pivotally mounted in the end plate 11. The arm 30 is located on the outside of the end plate 11 so that the finger piece 27 may lie adjacent the platen knob 14, as shown in Figure 3. Connected to the stub shaft 31 on the inside of the end plate 11 is an arm 32 to which is pivotally connected one end of a link 33, the other end of which is pivotally connected to the crank portion 20 of the rod 21. The arm 32 is provided at its upper end with a bent-over slide portion 34 upon which the arm 19 is adapted to slide as the feed rolls are moved from paper-feeding to paper-inserting position.

It will be evident that, with this arrangement, when the finger piece 27 is moved in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 1 to the position shown in Figure 2, the linkage including the arms 30 and 32 and link 33 will swing the crank portion 20 of the rod 21 in a counterclockwise direction and move the arms 19 of the upper feed roll bail forwardly. During the forward movement of the arms 19, a cam plate 35 provided on one of said arms slides over the top of the slide portion 34 of the arm 32 to thereby cause the feed rolls 17 to move upwardly, so that rocking of the finger piece 27 will result in positioning the feed rolls 17 in the position shown in full lines in Figure 2. If desired, a spring 36 may be provided between a pin 37 secured to the crank portion 20 of the rod 21 and a suitable anchorage on the end plate 11. By proper positioning of the anchorage of the spring 36, such spring can be caused to move over the center of the rod 21 as the feed roll bail is moved from its Figure l to its Figure 2 position and vice versa, to aid in holding the bail in the desired position.

It will be apparent from Figure 1 that if a sheet of paper is inserted into the machine with the upper feed rolls in their normal position shown in that figure, the leading edge of the paper, after passing through the paper guide 16, will continue along a path tangent to the surface of the platen and that such path will bring the edge of the paperin front of thefeed rolls, making it necessary to manually direct the leading edge rearwardly so that it may enter between the upper feed rolls and the platen. From Figure 2 it will appear that if, before the leading edge of the paper is inserted into the machine, the upper feed rolls are moved to the position shown in that figure, the leading edge of the paper will extend behind the feed rolls and that by merely pressing rearwardly on the bar 18, the feed roll bail will be moved back to bring the feed rolls into contact with the paper and press it against the surface of the platen. Thus, insertion of the paper into the machine is considerably facilitated if, before inserting the paper, the upper feed rolls are moved from their normal Figure 1 position to their Figure 2 position. Since the arms 19 are pivotally mounted on the crank portions 20, the feed roll bail may be swung upwardly into the dotted line position shown in Figure 2 when it is desired to make erasures.

By referring to Figure 3, it will be seen that the finger piece 27 is located so closely adjacent the knob 14 that said finger piece and knob may be simultaneously operated by a single digital member, for example the thumb, of the operator. Thus, when a sheet of paper is to be inserted into the machine, the operator grasps the knob 14, with the thumb positioned as indicated in dot-anddash lines in Figure 3, so that as the knob 14 is rotated, the finger piece 27 will be rocked rearwardly to move the upper feed rolls to paper-inserting position, as above explained; thereby enabling a single motion of the hand to bring the paper up through the lower feed rolls and into position between the upper feed rolls and the platen. If it is desired to rotate the platen without operating the upper feed rolls, the operator merely rotates the knob 14 without allowing the thumb to contact the finger piece 27. While the invention has been illustrated asapplied to a typewriting machine, it will be understood that it is equally adaptable to other types of business machines such for example as adding and accounting machines. Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a typewriting or like machine, a rotatably mounted cylindrical platen, a manually rotatable knob for rotating said platen, a set of lower teed rolls engaging the lower portion of said platen and serving to feed paper therearound when said platen is rotated, a set of upper feed rolls movable from paper-feeding engagement with said platen to a position off said platen wherein the leading edge of paper fed around the lower portion of said platen will pass freely between said upper feed rolls and said platen, a finger piece mounted closelyadjacent said knob so that said finger piece and knob may be moved simultaneously by a single digital member of an operator, and means operatively connecting said finger piece to said upper feed rolls so that movement of said finger piece moves said upper feed rolls to their position off said platen, said lower feed rolls remaining in engagement with said platen when said upper feed rolls are moved to their position off said platen whereby in one operation paper may be fed beneath the platen and between the platen and said upper feed rolls.

2. In a typewriting or like machine, a platen carriage comprising a frame having a pair of end plates, a cylindrical platen rotatably mounted in said end plates, a manally rotatable knob operatively connected to said platen and located outside said end plates, a set of lower feed rolls engaging the lower portion of said platen and serving to feed paper therearound when said platen is rotated, a set of upper feed rolls, means mounting said upper feed rolls for movement from a paper-feeding position to a paper-inserting position, a finger piece mounted outside said end plates and closely adjacent said knob so that said finger piece and said knob may be moved simultaneously by a single digital member of an operator, and means operatively connecting said finger piece to the means mounting said upper feed rolls so that movement of said finger piece causes said upper feed rolls to be moved to paperinserting position, said lower feed rolls remaining in engagement with said platen during operation of said finger piece and said knob.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,496,876 Garbell June 10, 1924 1,840,817 Lear Ian. 12, 1932 1,916,371 Helmond July 4, 1933

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