US1055917A - Telephone-comptometer. - Google Patents

Description

G. W. JONES.

TELEPHONE COMPTMETER.

APPLCATlON FILED N0V,5.1909` 1,055,917, ,Patented Mar.11,1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEicE.

GEORGE w. JONES, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

`'lELEPHONE-COM'P'IOIVIETER.

ZIE-hisyinvention-has orits object to provide a novel counting attachment 'for coincontrolled. devices by means oflwhich the aarnoiintof .money which has been deposited throughlv the slot-fof the coinseont-rolled de;

vic ill be i-ndieated,

ile. the. device is capable of :use in conn tion Witha variety of coin-controlled de i *itl has .been especially designed for 2o use inceunection with telephones of that typ e vgherein the user' deposits a. coin leach time that the telephone is used..

phone. companies are usually pre- ,pa to installav telephone service `wherein thereharge i rs. b a.sed on the number of calls,-

" thelrovi 1on1.A usuallybeing added that amiii ii r u charge of a certain amount is mad foip ac li'v months service regardless of umher ofi-. f-calls. Y VTele-phones installed hese conditions aiefrequently-provide" with afeoin-controlled apparatus ineludir/ig a coin-receiving slot sov that acoin corlxesponding tqthefcharge for each-call (a IRC by the "subscriber each time that a call is made. ]f f we Suppose that the minimum charge for the month is $2.50 and the. charge for each c'all is five cents, then asubscriber is-obliged to pay .for ftycalls each month, Whether he uses the telephone to that extent or not and each call over the fifty, of course, costs him a nickel. When a telephone of this `nature is installed, a. subscriber rarely remembers how many calls he has made and as the end of the mont-h approaches he does not know Whether he has used more than the number of calls corresponding, to thel minimum charge or less than the number of calls corresponding to the minimum charge. If the subscriber could know at any time during the month what proportion of the fifty callshe has used he could often so conduct his business as not to use any extra' calls during the month beyond that provided 5F or'by the minimum charge.

My invention is a counting attachment Specification of Letters Yatexit.

Patented Mai'. 11, 1913.

Application tiled November 5, 1909. Serial No. 526,354.

which is so arranged that every time a nickel or other coin is deposited into the coin-'receiving slot, the attachment-willregister this fact andl a Vsubscriber may, therefore, know at all tinies'justhow many 'calls he 'has used.

Referring now tothe drawings wherein I have shown a selected embodimentvof.' my invention, Figure 1 is av frontvie'w of the lower portionV of a telephonestand provided with the niCkeLiii-tlie-slot attacl-iment', the` telephone being omitted and showing my. counting attachment associated therewith; Fig. 2 a side 'View of Fig. 1 Fig. is a vertical sectional View through my improved counting attachmenton the 'line :f5-rc, Fig. 4; Fig. 4 is aser-.tion on the line y-y, Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a front elevation.

l have not. deemed it necessary to illustrate the whole telephone herein, but have simply shown the lower portion of the baekboard -3 of a telephone, it being understood that the transmitter and receiver and' other telephonie apparatus are supported on the upper end of'this board.

4 indicates the coiirin-the-slot attachment which includes the coinreceiving slot 5 through which the coinf is deposited each tiu'iefthat the telephone is 'used The coin (3 may be one ot any value, but as in most'of these telephones a tive-cent piece 'is thev regular charge, I will hereinafter refer to the coin as-a nickel. l'

As stated above,`uiy improvement consists in a counting device which is associated with the coin-controlled apparatus 4 and -which serves to register the total amount ofthe money deposited throughthe coin-receiving. slot 5. The counter herein 'illustrated is 1nclosed in a casing 7 which. is attached to the hack-hoard 3 and which houses an indicat ingr cylinder which is graduated to indicate dollars and cents. This cylinder is mounted on a Shaft 9 supported by the cas! ing and has rigidtherewith'ehlx ratchet-wheel 10 that is engaged by a pawl lleairied by a rocking lever l2 that is suitably secured to a support 13. The end 14 off the rocking lever is moved by a reciprocatingactuator 15 which extends out beyond the easing and which is guided in its movement by screws or pins 16 that are secured in the support 13 and play in slots 17 extending through the actuator. The actuator is acted upon by a spring 18'Whi`ch tends te keep it in nor- .mal position, but is adapted to be pushed inward by the coin 6 when-the latter is' iuserted inthe slot. The actuator may `be connecte-,dito the lever 12in a variety of ways',

' and I have herein-shown it as provided with the notch into which the end 14 of the lever is received, so that the reciprocation rnally received -in'said slotand which of the actuator will rock the lever. 'A Stoppawl 2l acts to prevent the ratchet-Wheel and I'cylinder 8 from Y. turning backwardly.V

projecting end of the. actuator is situvatedcver the" coin-receiving slot 5 and itv has pivoted thereto a finger 22 that is norartially closes the latter,`as clearly seen in 2. As a result, whenever the coin 6 is 1nserted into the slot, said coinwill engage the end of the actuator and the finger, and

A,the act of inserting the coin into the slot will force the actuator backwardl thus causing the rever 12- to ro'ck and fee ing the cylinder 8 forward one step. It will thus be seen that each time a coin is inserted in'the slot the cylinder will be moved forward one step. A

The front of the casing 7` is provided .with an a erture 23 through which the cylinder r can e seen, and I will preferably provide ning of the month. The shaft 9 of the cylf inder is rovided with'a thumb-piece 26 by means o which the cylinder can' be adjusted to zero position at the beginning of each month.

The object in pivotin the finger 22 to the actuator is so that the nger may be swung into the dotted line position Fig. 3 up out ofthe coin-receiving slot Whenever it 1s del sired to drop a coin iu the slot without operatin the counting attachment. I have herein s own said finger 22 as pivoted to the actuator at 27 and the actuator is provided with theshoulder28 below the pivot against which the finger rests normally and which limits the inward swinging movement of the finger while permitting saidv finger lto swing outwardly vand upwardly into its dotted line position Fig. 3.

The casing 7 may be secured to the backboard 3 in ,any suitable way,l but I will preferably 'hinge' it thereto, asA shown at 29, so

dotted line position,` the casing I may be box or; coin-controlled` attachment 4.

While I have shownthe invent-ionl as it might be used in connection wit-l1..a-coin; controlled telephone, yet I wish it understood that the counting attachment might be ap lied to other' coin-controlled devices .that'after lthe finger 22 is swung into'its" 1 ',eo vswung laterally :to one side if this neces1 sary in -order to permit theopening of fthe and tiat the invention isnot necessarily" limited to use inconnection witha telephone. Havin fully: described my invention, what I c aim as newv and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 'A y The combination with a coin-receiving member having va 'coin-receiving slot, of a "coin-counting attachment pivoted toAV the coin-receivingmember and comprising a re'- ciprocating actuator, and a finger pivoted A' to the actuator and adapted'toextend into the slot, said finger being capable of being' swung out of the slot to permit the coin! counting attachment to be moved into m-r operative position. I In testimony whereof, have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing'witnesses."

' GEORGE JONES.

Witnesses: i

VLouis C. SMITH, 'FREDERICK' S. GREENLEAF.

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