International Business Machines Corporation

David J Bowles

Danny Marvin Neal

Douglas E Clancy

Carl F Johnson

The electronic controls for a typewriter disclosed herein allow the operator to erase a character using automatic erase capability such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,846 and at the same time to remove any underscores associated with that character. When an underscore command is entered the memory which stores the code representing the characters typed is caused to be altered in its content to indicate upon the reading of that code segment that the character has been underscored and that the character must be erased along with the underscore. The apparatus accomplishes multiple erase cycles to remove the underscore and then the character. In proportional space mode of operation it is possible that multiple underscore erase cycles will be necessary to remove an underscore which is wider than the underscore type font on the type element.

Underscore erase

On electronic typewriters which have the ability to record into a small working memory those characters, functions and escapements which are keyed at the keyboard, it is many times advantageous to be able to place the carrier and the print point over a character which has been previously typed without using repeated backspaces. Disclosed herein is a feature for an electronic typewriter which permits the operator to easily align the print point with a character on the page by positioning a reference mark on the card holder or print carrier in relation to a previously printed character and then through keyboard control cause the carriage to shift its position such that the print point is then exactly aligned with the character printed. The positioning of the carrier such that the reference mark is in relation to the desired print point is accomplished by a backspace operation and the repositioning or causing of the carrier to assume a position immediately over the subject character is accomplished by keyboard control through the electronics of the typewriter to cause the carrier to shift a predetermined distance.

Relocate feature for an electronic typewriter

An electronic typewriter which has the capability of erasing characters automatically and which has the further improved capability of being able to back through unused space on the line, which results after a tabulation command, thereby allowing the repositioning of the type element over the characters typed prior to the tab command thereby allowing automatic erasure of those characters. The improvement of the typewriter as described permits the retrieving of characters from an electronic memory and the use of that memory to control the erase cycle even where the carrier position and the character to be erased are on opposite sides of space without printed characters due to a tab command. This is accomplished by the electronic control of the mechanical hardware and the ability to determine where the tab command was entered on the typing line and to prevent erasure cycles in the unprinted space until the carrier has returned to the point at which the tabulation command was entered.

Growing community of inventors

Winchester, KY, United States of America

David J Bowles