US2609907A - Self-justifying printing device - Google Patents

Description

p 9, 1952 T. E. LYNCH 2,609,907

I SELF-JUSTIFYING PRINTING DEVICE Filed Sept. 16, 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET l PR! NTER AMPLIFIER SPACE CONTROL DEVICE Q Ll.

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g INVENTOR. O THOMAS E. LYNCH P 9, 1952 T. E. LYNCH SELF-JUSTIFYING PRINTING DEVICE 2 m mm m W Y S E W Z N m 4 5 Z w A 2 m w l V l N UUDQOUEME Filed Sept. 16, 1947 Patented Sept. 9, 1952 l-"TED STATES rATsNT OFFICE SELF-JUSTIFYING PRINTING DEVICE? Thomas E. Lynch, Cleveland, Ohio, assignon to The Brush Development Company, Cleveland; Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 16, 1947,.Serial' No. 774,204

. 6 Claims.

The subject matter of. this invention relates generally. to-a self-justifying printing device and relates speoifically to a selfejustifying printing devicewhich a magnetic recording medium is used asthe-required memoryfdevice.

The benefits ofi aprinting device which prints succeedingcomplete lines ofequal length have long. been recognizedin. the art. However, the apparatus available for producing this desired result has. eitherbeen very complicated or has been cumbersome to operate and, in any event, no practical.arrangement has hithertobeen provided wherein the results of self JuStificatiOn are provided, automatically and with. a minimum of operations. requiredby the operator.

It has been proposed, for example, to provide typewritten material-which is. justified by means of arspecial paper in which eachtypewritten line can-.be bodily-lifted. from. abacking medium, stretched to the; required. length, and again fastened te t-he, backing. medium. ,In utilizing such speciatpap'er, some reproducing process, suchas a photo offset process, is usuallyrelied IZDQHftQQl'Ql/idfi the, final copy;

Also,,- it has. beenproposed to provide atypewriter which has-am adjustment such that varyingnurnbers' of characters and the unit spaces therebetween can be provided in a given printed linelength. Such typewriters have generally also comprised; a counter arrangement in order that the. operator can; determine thenumber of characters and unitwspaces therebetween in any typewritten line. In; utilizing thisrapparatus, it has been customary. for the: operator to type material, noting aiter'eachlline; the number of characters and unit spaces therebetween. which are involved in. that line; Thereafter the. material is again typed upon" the same maohinerbut before. typing each line thexopera-tor makes an-adjustment of the kind-mentioned aboveto. assure that the line, as'typed,willl have a, predetermined length; Thus, in the final copy; all ofth'e complete lines typed have the same, length and apleasing appearance of thetmewrit-ten material is provided; Such a system: has the disadvantage, however, of requiring-thematerialtobe typed twiceand of requiringaspecia'l care and" adjustments on the part of the operator to assure-that, in the final copy, all oompletelineshave thesamelength Variousotherarrangements and artifices have beenproposedjorsecuring typed or printed materia-lv having; all complete lines of equal length. Thus thiseffect is procured-in linotype machines by the expedient of setting up the type for each individual line and thereafter justifying the length of the line by a mechanical meansbefore the line is printed. All such prior schemes, however, have been far. too complicated to provide an arrangement of the nature of the ordinary typewriter for'use inproducing printed or typed material having all complete lines of equal length.

It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide an improved printing device;

It is a further object of the invention to provide a printing device which is not subjectf to one or more of the above-mentioned disadvantages of prior such devices. 9

It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved printing device by which each-complete printed line has the same length.

It is yet another object of. the invention to provide a self-justifying printing device which requires minimumattention on the part of the operator in order to. eiiect the desired justification.

In accordance with the invention, a printing device comprises means including a. closed loop magnetic record track .for. magnetically recording information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced. together with means for. developing a control. effect, dependent upon these charactersand upon-the number of unit spacings bet-ween. characters. The device also comprises means for reproducing. the. information-recorded on" the record track and type-selecting means dependent upon the aforementioned control effect for utilizing the information developed by the reproducing means to place the characters, with adjusted spacings at least in the positions of the above-mentioned unit spacings, in a line of predetermined length. The device further com prises means including magnetic. erasing means for preparing and positioning the closed loop record track to recordinformation corresponding to'asucceedingline to be reproduced.

An automatic self-justifying printing device. of the type under consideration requiresa memory.- This: is'true for thelreason that, in general, the number of ch'aracters and the unit spacings between characters in a given line are not known until after the printing device has been operated toprint thisline; In accordance with the principlesof the present invention, a magnetic recording is made of the information corresponding tothe characters and the unit spacings between oharacters in a line to be reproduced and some counting arrangement is provided to determine the number ofthesecharacters and the unit spacings between characters. After this counting is completed, the printing device is adjusted, in accordance with the number indicated, to provide the spacing necessary for printing such a line. Thereafter, the information previously recorded is developed and utilized to cause the printing device to print the line.

It is desirable to utilize a recording medium of the magnetic type for the reason that, with such a medium, the recording process can easily be effected, the recorded information can easily be reproduced and utilized, and the entire record can then be erased and the recording medium utilized again and again. In utilizing such a magnetic record, a system of coding can be utilized in order to record the information corresponding to a character to be printed at a given place in a particular line. Such a coding system has the advantage that separate and complete control channels for each character to be printed need not be provided. Thus, the signals maybe coded on the basis of frequency, amplitude, time, etc., or any combination thereof. However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, which is hereafter described, an arrangement has been utilized in which the recorded information corresponding to each character occupies a separate point on the recording medium.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram, partly schematic, of a complete self-justifying printing device in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 illustrates another view of certain compo- 'nents of the arrangement of Fig. 1 while Fig. 3

illustrates portions of the components of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1, there is illustrated a self-justifying printing device, in accordance with the invention, in which many of the portions thereof are illustrated schematically. This is done more clearly to show the essential features of the portion of the system to which the invention relates. Many conventional features of printing devices or typewriters have been omitted but it will be understood that many of such features are applicable to various embodiments of the present invention.

Thus, in the drawings, there is illustrated means for magnetically recording information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced. This means comprises a drum which may, for example, be of brass with a coating of magnetic material thereon. The surface of the drum It! may be considered to have hypothetical strips running lengthwise thereof and hypothetical rings running around the drum. These rings on the surface of the drum constitute a closed loop magnetic record track. In its normal position, the drum is stationary at a point such that an index I is aligned with a plurality of recording heads A, B, C, Sp, etc. along a particular one of the above-mentioned hypothetical strips (see the index 1 in Fig 1 and the recording heads in Fig. 2). A keyboard I2 is provided which is generally similar to that of the ordinary typewriter except that the keys A, B, C, etc. thereof, corresponding to recording heads A, B, C, etc., are effective to close switches IE, IS, IT when the corresponding key is pressed by the operator. Switch I5, for example, is effective, when closed by pressing key A, to connect the D. C. source indicated to recording coil A through normally closed contacts [8 and the coil of a relay [9. Thus, the closing of switch [5 is effective to cause direct current to flow through the recording coil A and thereby make a magnetic record at a particular spot on drum [0. Similarly, key B, when pressed to close switch [6, causes recording head B to be energized through the contacts 18 and the winding of relay [9. Recording coil 13 is shown out of place in Fig. 1 for the reason that it is physically located directly behind coil A in Fig. 1 as can be seen from an inspection of Fig. 2. When switch It is closed, therefore, recording coil B is effective to cause the magnetic material of drum H] to be magnetized at a particular spot thereon. In this manner a complete group of recording heads is provided corresponding individually to the characters to be reproduced.

The relay i9 is also effective to cause the drum ID to rotate relative to the fixed recording heads in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. l, by an angular value corresponding to one of the above-mentioned hypothetical strips. This action is effected by means of a cog wheel 22 aflixed to one end of the drum [0 and upon which an arm 23, connected to the armature of relay I9, acts to provide a ratchet action. Thus, the armature of relay 23 is normally biased to the right as illustrated in Fig. 1 by the action of a spring 24. However, when the relay I9 is energized, a dog on arm 23 is caused to slip over a preceding one of the teeth of cog wheel 22 so that, when the winding of relay I9 is thereafter deenergized, the drum III is advanced in a counterclockwise direction by one step, corresponding to one of the above-mentioned hypothetical strips on drum I0. Certain of these hypothetical strips on drum [0 are indicated in Fig. 1, and in the corresponding enlarged view of Fig. 3, by the numerals l to 4, inclusive, 40, 45, and 50. Preferably this series of 5B of these hypothetical strips on drum in occupies somewhat less than half of the circumferential area of the drum. Unit spaces between characters are recorded in the same manner as characters. Thus, the pressing of the space bar Sp is effective to close a switch 53 so as to energize the recording head Sp, which is not shown in its proper position with reference to drum In in Fig. 1 but which is shown in its proper position in Fig. 2.

The arrangement illustrated also comprises means for developing a control effect dependent upon the characters, and, more particularly, upon merely the number of such characters, and also upon the number of unit spacings between characters which are set up by the operator, by closing switches I5, [6, etc. and by operating space bar Sp, and which correspond to a particular line to be set up and printed. The arrangement which is illustrated for developing the control effect comprises a series of permanent magnets 25 to 34 inclusive (see Fig. 3), set into the drum on the right hand hypothetical ring thereof, as viewed in Fig. 2, but it will be understood that instead of the permanent magnets, a recording head can be utilized to provide a suitable recording in the manner described above for re cording characters to be printed. Each of the permanent magnets is set into this last-named ring at angular positions corresponding to the above-mentioned hypothetical strips in a series coinciding with the right hand end portions of certain consecutive ones of these strips, as represented in Figs. 1 and 3. A space-pulse reproducing head 36 i provided which is so positioned adjacent to the ring containing the permanent magnets Zto 34, inclusive, that the magnet 25 is under the-head 36 for the fortieth notch po-- sition in a counter-clockwise rotation of drum to, thatis, when 40 characters and word spacings have been typed.

Provision is made whereby the space-pulse reproducing head 36 can be connected to a control circuit by closing a switch 5'! after a line has been set up by the operator. This means comprises a normally open switch 52 which is closed by the operator by pressing a button after the line has-been set upin order to close switch 5| and thereby to energize the coil of a relay 55 which in turn closes switch 52. When relay 55 is energized, the switch .51 is short-circuited by the contacts of a normally open switch 55 on relay 55 and the contacts of a limitswitch 5?, these last-named contacts being open only in the normal position of the drum It as indicated in the drawing, namely, that position at which the hypothetical strip 1 of the drum in is under the recording heads A, B, C, etc.

A means is provided for driving the drum H) in a counterclockwise direction to its original or normal position which is illustrated in Fig. 1. This may be a spring or lever arrangement but preferably a motor 58, having a shaft connected to drum It; as indicated by the dotted line 59 in Fig. l, is provided and the motor is energized through normally open contacts 68 of relay 55'. The motor thus drives the drum H) in a counterclockwise direction until the limit switch 5'! is opened when strip comes under the line of recording headsA', B, C, etc.

As the permanent magnets 25 to esinclusive are driven by themotorfifl underthe space-pulse reproducing head 36, a series of pulses is provided to control a space-control device 54: This space-control device is eiiective to adjust a typeselecting or, more specifically, printing'means'to allot a proportional part of a given line length to each character and. toeach unit spacing to be printed in a predetermined line. If desired a plurality of identical printing means can be provided so that the desired number of copies is printed. The printingmeans fi-i which is-illustrated may be a typewriter, having a dial or lever which can be adjusted in order to cause the-machine to print a predetermined number-of characters and unit spacings in a given adjustable line length. The space-control device 54 can be utilized to controlthe position of this lover or dial. Warning means for the operator, such as the bell on a typewriter, are provided to assure that the number of characters for a line falls within predetermined limits.

The arrangement of Fig. 1 also comprises means for reproducing the information recorded on drum Hi and for utilizing. the reproduced information to cause the printingJmeans't I" to print a line of a given length andcontaining the information recorded on drum ill by the operator when manipulating keys A, B, C, Sp, etc. to close switches l5, l5, ll, 53, etc. This last-named means includes a line of; reproducing heads A, B, C, Sp, etc., corresponding individually to the similarly designated'recording heads. These last named heads are aligned on the hypothetical strip do of the drum It when hypothetical. strip 1 is about to come under the. recording. heads A,

B, C, etc. Each reproducing head A, B, C, Sp,

etc. is connected to a magnet 62,63, 64,65, etc.

through a suitable amplifier, only the. amplifier 16 utilized'to. connect reproducing head A to the winding 62 being illustrated for the sake of simplicity.

The magnets 62, 63,. 64; 65, etc. are utilized to presskeys A,.B-,, C, Sp, etc. of printer 6! to print the characters desired. These keys. may be those of an ordinary'typewriter.

A suitable means for erasingthe recordings which have been made by recording-heads A, B, C, Sp, etc., after these recordings have been reproduced by reproducing heads A, B, C, Sp, etc., is provided. This means may utilize any of the known principles for. erasing a magnetic recording. In. the illustrated arrangement, this era. ing: means comprises a series of erasing heads, one for each of the above-mentioned hypothetical. rings having a recording head associated therewith, and aligned on one of the above-mentioned. hypothetical strips of drum I0 which comes under the recording heads A, B, C, etc., afte'r'the drum I0 is displaced in a counterclocln wise direction from its normal position which is illustrated in Fig. 1. Each of the erase heads may be permanently connected to an oscillator. Only; one erasehead 6'6- is illustrated in Fig. 1, and all erase heads may be permanently connectod to a suitable oscillator 8?.

In considering the operation of the. arrange-- ment of Fig. l, itwilll first'beassumed that the operator wishes to printa line which has 50 char actors and unit spacings between characters. It will also be assumed that the drum iii i in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 so that hypothetical strip I is aligned with recording heads" A, B, C, etc. and so that limit switch 57 is open, as by means of a rod. 68 which rotates with drum it Under these "conditions. the operator. presses the keys corresponding to theletters to beprint ed, so as to close the. associated switches is, it, Ii, etc., or presses the space bar Sp so as to close the switch 53 and record'a spacing between characters. Assume, for example, thatthe first letter to be printed is A. Therefore, the operator closes switch [5 connecting, the D. C. source to recording head A through the switch iii andthe winding of relay l9: This causes a portion of the surface'of drum Hi tobe magnetized. Since relay I9- is energized, it also picks up and the circuit is broken through the normally closed switch l8; thereby. causing the relay it again to be de-energized and to return to its normal position by the action of spring This causes the drum in to be moved in a counterclockwise direction by an angular distance corresponding to one of the above mentioned hypothetical strips; Similarly, thesucceeding desired charac-- ters or spaces between characters are recorded on drum H3 at successive stages of the motion of the drum relative to the group oi'recording heads; Under theassumptionmentioned above, when'the last character is recorded the strip i will then have been advanced 50 notch positions to a; position almost halfway around the drum from the position illustrated in the drawing. Each: of. the ten permanent magnets 25 to M will have been advanced beyond the position of theispace-pulse recording head 36, since the first magnet 25*would be under the head 3% for the fortieth notch position and the last magnet 3 1 would be under the head 3t for the forty-ninth notch; position; Under these conditions, when theoperator closes switch 5!, the relay 551s en ergized, thereby causing switches 52, 55 and 6?) to be closed. The closing of switch 56 causes the switch 5! to be short-circuited through limit switch 51, thereby maintainingrelay- 55 energized even though the switch is opened by the operator. The closing of switch 60 causes the motor to be energized, thereby to drive the drum in a counterclockwise direction until the limit switch 5'! is opened, which de-energizes relay 55 and stops the motor 58. As strip 1 is driven by the row of reproducing heads A, B, C, Sp, etc, the character A is reproduced because reproducing head A is subject to the action of the magnetized portion of the drum which was effected by the recording head A. Similarly, when the next strip is driven by the drum and under the conditions assumed above, the reproducing head corresponding to the character or space occupying the second position in the line, as previously typed, receives a signal from the magnetized portion of the second hypothetical strip on the drum. Thus, various ones of the reproducing heads A, B, C, Sp, etc, are energized successively in accordance with the recorded information, thereby to cause relays (i2, 63, 64, 65, etc. to operate corresponding ones of the keys of the printer 6!, thus selecting and actuating the corresponding type bars or type-bearing arms and printing the required line with the required spacings between characters. It is seen that, for printing this line, the space-control device 54 is de-energized and that the justifying lever or dial of printer 6! is not adjusted in any man ner.

As the motor 58 turns the drum It during the printing interval after the switch 5! is closed, at least some of the hypothetical strips on the drum pass under the several magnetic erasing heads 86 before the limit switch 5'! arrests the turning at the starting position for the next line. The information previously recorded on any remaining strips is erased as the drum is notched forward while the succeeding line is being set up. Thus, there is provided means, including the motor 58 and the limit switch 51 and including the magnetic erasing means, for preparing and positioning the closed loop record track on the drum to record information corresponding to the succeeding line to be reproduced.

Assume, now, that the operator wishes to type a line which contains only 40 characters. The recording will be made as before by closing particular ones of switches I5, HS, ll, 53 etc, but when these operations are complete, the strip I will have advanced only 40 notch positions to a position just beyond the space pulser head 36. Now, under these conditions, when the button is depressed by the operator to close switch 51, the motor 58 is again energized to drive the drum H3 in a counterclockwise direction until the motor is stopped by the action of limit switch 51. However, with the magnet under the spacepulse reproducing head 36 at the time the switch 5! was closed, all of magnets 25 to 34, inclusive, are driven by the space pulse head 36 to provide 10 pulses in the circuit of control device 54. These 10 pulses are utilized to set the dial or control level of printer 6| to the proper position to type the 40 characters and spaces therebetween involved in the line under consideration in the same length that was used previously to type 50 characters and unit spacings between characters assumed originally.

Similarly for a line of 45 characters and unit spacings, space pulse head receives 5 pulses and a corresponding justifying action is effected on printer 6h The series of pulses thus developed is the control effect, mentioned hereinabove, upon which the space-control device 5 3 is dependent for adjusting the justifying mechanism in the type-selecting and printing means at the beginning of the interval during which the information in the particular line is to be printed. The control effect is seen to be developed responsive to the extent of the notching motion of the drum relative to the magnetic heads during the typing and recording of the line. It will therefore be seen that the apparatus is effective to set up and print all complete lines with the same line length where the number of characters and unit spacings to be printed is between 40 and 50. In other words, the type-selecting means, which chooses the type and effects the printing, is dependent upon this control effect for utilizing the information developed by the reproducing means to place or print the characters with adjusted spacings, at least in the positions of the unit spacings and preferably to some extent at each character as well, in a line of predetermined length. Lines having less than 40 characters are, however, printed in a shorter line length.

The space-control device may be, for example, a notching device which advances one position for each pulse applied thereto and which in turn mechanically advances the dial or lever of printer 6| which controls the amount of justifying action provided. However, in the arrangement of the drawings, the space-control device has been illustrated as an electrical device which, for example, delivers a voltage proportional to the number of pulses applied tothe input circuit thereof. This voltage in turn is used to control the position of the dial or lever of printer 6| which adjusts the amount of justifying action provided.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A printing device comprising: a closed loop magnetic record track; means for magnetically recording on said record track information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced; means for developing a control effect dependent upon the number of said characters and the unit spacings between characters; printing means; means dependent upon said control effect for adjusting said printing means to allot a proportional part of a given line length to each character and to each unit spacing; means for reproducing said information recorded on said record track and for utilizing said reproduced information to cause said printing means to print a line of said given length containing said information; and means including magnetic erasing means for preparing and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to a succeeding line to be reproduced.

2. A printing device comprising: a closed loop magnetic record track; means for magnetically recording on said record track information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in successive lines to be reproduced; means for developing a control effect varying in accordance with the number of said characters and the unit spacings between charmeans to print the corresponding information of each line during said intervals with a predetermined constant line length for all of said lines; and means including magnetic erasing means operative substantially during each of said intervals for preparing and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to the succeeding one of said lines to be reproduced.

3. A printing device comprising: means including a closed loop magnetic record track for magnetically recording information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced; means for developing a control effect dependent upon said characters and upon the number of unit spacings between characters; means for reproducing said information recorded magnetically on said record track; type-selecting means dependent upon said control effect for utilizing said information developed by said reproducing means to place said characters, with adjusted spacings at least in the positions of said unit spacings, in a line of predetermined length; and means including magnetic erasing means for pre-- paring and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to a succeeding line to be reproduced.

4. A printing device comprising: means including a closed loop magnetic record track and at least one recording head for magnetically recording information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced; means for developing a control eifect dependent upon said characters and upon the number of unit spacings between characters; means including at least one reproducing head for reproducing said information recorded magnetically on said record track; typeselecting means dependent upon said control effect for utilizing said information developed by said reproducing means to place said characters, with adjusted spacings at least in the positions of said unit spacings, in a line of predetermined length; and means including at least one erasing head for preparing and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to a succeeding line to be reproduced.

5. A printing device comprising: means for magnetically recording information corresponding to the characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced, including a closed loop magnetic record track and a group of recording heads corresponding individually to said characters; means for developing a control effect dependent upon said characters and upon the number of unit spacings between characters; means including a group of reproducing heads, corresponding individually to said recording heads, for reproducing said information recorded magnetically on said record track; type-selecting means dependent upon said control effect for utilizing said information developed by said reproducing means to place said characters, with adjusted spacings at least in the positions of said unit spacings, in a line of predetermined length; and means including at least one erasing head for preparing and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to a succeeding line to be reproduced.

6. A printing device comprising: means, including at least one recording head and a closed loop magnetic record track arranged for motion relative to said recording head, for magnetically recording at successive stages of said relative motion information corresponding to the successive characters and the unit spacings between characters in a line to be reproduced; means responsive to the extent of said relative motion during said recording for developing a control eflect dependent upon said characters and upon the number of unit spacings between characters; means for reproducing said information recorded magnetically on said record track; type-selecting means dependent upon said control effect for utilizing said information developed by said reproducing means to place said characters, with adjusted spacings at least in the positions of said unit spacings, in a line of predetermined length; and means including magnetic erasing means for preparing and positioning said closed loop record track to record information corresponding to a succeeding line to be reproduced.

THOMAS E. LYNCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,258,106 Bryce Oct. 7, 1941 2,379,862 Bush July 10, 1945 2,390,413 Ayres Dec. 4, 1945

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