Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/108

 96 TYPE WRITERS circle. By this means a series of type bars of uniform length are caused to present their type at a common printing point. The paper is fed past this point, to accomplish the letter and word spacing, by the longitudinal movement PIG. 1. Sholes and Glidden Typo Writer. A. The bank of keys. B. Type-lever disk, showing one lev- er In printing position. C. Space bar. D. Space bale and yoke. E. Wheel and axle for return of paper car. F. paper car turned back upon its hinge to expose printing. of a paper car, bearing a cylindrical platen, which platen is moved upon its axis a certain distance to accomplish the line spacing. The movement of the paper car past the printing point is effected by a spring escapement, and governed by a bale or lever which is moved by the depression of any key. Fig. 1 repre- sents a front view of the Sholes and Glidden type writer, with working parts exposed. A saturated inking ribbon is interposed between the type and paper, and is moved automati- cally through the slots shown on each side of the disk. A type writer recently invented by L. S. Crandall of New York consists mainly of a vibrating platen and paper feed arranged in connection with a series of type bars, which are provided with more than one type and operated by oscillating finger levers in such manner that, according to the backward or forward motion of the same, two adjoining types are printed on a common centre. The number of centres may be increased, in pro- portion to the number of types on the bars, by definite vibrations of the platen. For ex- ample, if there are six types on a bar, two of them are brought to the printing point in ihe manner above stated, and to utilize the remaining four one forward and one backward vibration of the platen is required. The types are placed on eight bars, arranged in the seg- ment of a circle, and connected with eight finger cups by oscillating levers. Two thumb keys, with connecting mechanism, effect the transverse movements of the platen. The lon- gitudinal movement of platen, for accomplish- ing the letter space, is by common means. This machine, being operated by the fingers without changing position of hands, may be used by the blind with facility, but the reading requires sight. In fig. 2, 1 represents a side elevation, showing the arrangement of its prin- cipal elements ; 2 and 3 are detail side views of the finger lever and type bar, showing their duplex motion. The type bars A are so con- nected with the finger levers B, and stationary supporting arms C, that a double action may be imparted to them simultaneously with their swinging motion toward the printing points. The double action throws the lever a fixed distance in a forward or backward direction, and thereby admits the use of two types on each type bar for each printing point or cen- tre. The double action of the type bar is pro- duced by projecting cams or shoulders, D, which, by the forward or backward oscilla- tion of the finger levers, are thrown into con- tact with corresponding projections or recess- es, E F, of the fixed arm C, BO as to define the extent of movement required for the coupled pair of types to strike their printing point on the platen, G. In the "Zachos steno-phono- type reporter " the types are placed on twelve shuttle bars, according to a definite scheme, and two or more of the bars may be placed Fio. 2. Crandall's Type Writer. in position simultaneously. The impression is given by a plunger or platen common to all the shuttle bars. By his scheme any mono- syllabic word of the English language may be produced at one impression.