Typebar

The lever was the predominant type of mechanical typewriters technology. Each button is connected to a lever, mounted on the usually several characters (types) in a sublime, mirror-image form. The lever type typewriter goes back to one of John T. Underwood for a patent from 1893, was further developed by Franz Xaver Wagner technique. Until the final rise of the computer, there were also electric lever type models in the lower price segment. Today this technology is a largely historical and is hardly available.

Surcharge technology

If the user presses a button, he leaves the associated type lever in the direction of the paper fast. The type levers are arranged in a semicircle below the platen. The further a lever type of center is located, the greater the angle of the horizontal axis of the lever type to compensate for these lateral angle on impact of type on paper again (see left picture). The characters on the type presses on the left in front of the paper ribbon, which is lifted to the impact time, until it is located between the type and the paper. The raised part of the type, their profile, leaving a color imprint on the paper.

Mostly two characters are mounted above each other ( for example, h and H ), sometimes three on a type lever. The mechanism of the typewriter is designed so that only one of the character comes into contact with the ink ribbon. If you want to write another attached to the lever type characters, the lever mechanism or the clamped paper needs to be moved up or down; this is done using the shift key.

As a rule, the type lever made an angled arm and the separately mounted / clamped Type the characters represented. Depending on the design, these types could also replace the one hand for repair purposes (if a piece had broken off ), on the other hand also for replacement of individual characters against very different, depending on the particular task setting Tung. So type lever with the SS rune were made during the Third Reich for the SS typewriters. The replacement of individual character was of course greatly simplified by the later appearing ball heads and daisy wheels, see below The cost of inserting a special character into a ball, especially in individual productions, however, were very high.

The individual components of a lever type typewriter are described in the article typewriter.

Comparison with other type carrier systems

The hundred year old system was very successful, since, unlike competing systems allowed a standard keyboard and the keys were struck with ten finger spelling. The relatively simple mechanism could be manufactured inexpensively and quality sound. At the same time were still cheaper models on the market that had to be operated by a cumbersome levers and a print button. Other devices such as the Blickensderfer were expensive due to their highly integrated mechanics top models. The lever type models positioned themselves as a compromise between efficiency and writing comfort and were in this respect for a long time with no real alternative.

Type levers have the disadvantage that they snag easily when typing quickly. Electric typewriters therefore mostly use ball heads or type wheels. Later Carbon Ribbons allowed a razor sharp typeface and ball heads and daisy wheels to change the font by simply changing the type carrier. These systems ousted the type lever mechanism gradually since the 1970s.

The position of the lever type compared to other type of carrier systems is outlined in Article typewriter.