Hyphen characterization apparatus for a typewriter

Claim 1

In a typewriter of the kind having a keyboard apparatus that sequentially produces coded signals representing printing operations, said signals including a coded normal hyphen signal representative of a hyphen printing operation, plural coded signals representing graphic printing operations and a coded carrier return signal, said typewriter further including a printing apparatus that responds to coded signals to position a print point and to print indicia along a line, means for maintaining a stored record of the present printing position along a line, means for establishing a beginning location for a return zone along said line, and storage means for storing said coded signals originating from said keyboard apparatus, a hyphen characterization system comprising: means for detecting said coded normal hyphen signal in a sequence of coded signals produced at said keyboard apparatus; means, cooperating with said detecting means, for examining the coded signals adjacent to said coded normal hyphen signal when detected in said sequence of coded signals to determine the nature of the printing operations represented thereby; means for comparing the present print location and the beginning location for the return zone; means for selectively converting said coded normal hyphen signal, prior to receipt by said storage means, to a distinctive coded signal for a syllable hyphen based in part on the nature of said adjacent coded signals as determined by said examining means and in part based on the results of the comparison by said comparison means; means for defining line endings during playback from storage, said defining means recognizing as potential line ending codes, said coded normal hyphen signal and said coded syllable hyphen signal; and means, operative on playback from said storage means, for nullifying a coded syllable hyphen signal that does not occur upon playback at a position in said sequence of coded signals that corresponds to the end of a line, whereby syllable hyphens that may be omitted and hyphens that are always printed may be represented at said keyboard apparatus by a common code.