US1227485A - Counting device. - Google Patents

Description

H. F. MYERS.

COUNTING DEVICE.

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COUNTING DEVICE.

' APPLICATION FILED IAN. 17, 1916. 1,227,485. Patented May 22, 1917.

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HENRY F. -MYERS, OF LAKE LINDEN, MICHIGAN.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 191 '7.

Appucatien led January 17, 1916. Serial No. 72,525.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. MYERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake Linden, in the county of Houghton and State of Michigan, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Counting Devices, of which'the following is a specification.

This invention relates to counting or tallying devices, and it has particular reference to a tallying device adaptedA to be mounted on and used in connection with a box conveyer for the purpose of counting or keeping tally of the boxes passing over such conveyer.

The invention has for its object to produce a simple and improved tallying device which may be conveniently mounted for operation -on a box conveyer of the gravity type, such conveyer being provided with ball bearing rollers.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and improved tallying device comprising a frame equipped with 'a plurality of rollers, said frame being mounted detachably on the frame of a conveyer, the rollers of the tallying device being disposed in a plane at a sufficient angle to the plane in which the rollers of the conveyer are mounted to produce a drop at one end of the tallying device, the latter being provided with arms supporting a cross bar that lies in the path of boxes passing over the conveyer and the tallying device, said arms serving to actuate the tallying mechanism.

A further object of the inventi-on is to produce a tallying device of the class described which will be simple in construction consisting of very few parts and which will not be too heavy to be readily transferred to any desired place on the conveyer.

A further object of the invention is'to produce a tallying device of the character described which will be so constructed that a box passing thereover will by no chance be registered more than once and by which on the other hand each box will be registered no matter how closely together the boxes may be passing over the conveyer and the tallying device.

With these and other ends in view which will readily appear as' the. nature vof the inv ention is better understood, the same conslsts 1n the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and'preferred form of the invention, it being, however, understood that no limitation' is necessarily made to the precise structural details'therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the claim may be resorted to when desired.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a portion of a gravity roller conveyer to which the improved tallying device has been applied.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken through the conveyer on the line8--3 in Fig. l, and showing the tallying device in end elevation.

Fig. A is a side elevation on a larger scale showing the casing containing the actuating means for the tallying device and related parts, the face plate of the casing having been removed.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

In the drawing there has been shown a portion of a roller conveyer of well known construction, the samey including side bars or frame bars l5 which are properly connected together and spaced apart and which are provided with bearings for rollers 16 which are suitably proportioned so as to project above the top edges of the frame bars 15, and said rollers being arranged in an inclined plane so that an object such as a box placed thereon will gravitate in the direction of the low end of the conveyer. The rollers are preferably equipped with ball bearings, as indicated at 17.l v

The improved tallying device includes in its construction a frame comprising side members 18 made of angle iron, said side members or side bars being provided with downwardly extending lugs 19 for the reception of spacing bars 20 which constitute the end bars of the frame. The side bars 18 aord bearings for a plurality of rollers 21 which are also preferably of the ball bearing type, as indicated at 22, said rollers being so arranged as to project slightly above the top faces of the angle bars 18. r1`hc rollers 21l are of smaller diameter than the rollers 16 of the conveyer, but the rollers 21 are spaced apart equally as the rollers 16, so that when the parts are assembled for operation the rollers 21 will partly fill the interspaces` between the rollers 16. The side members 18 of the tallying device are so spaced and arranged that they may be supported at the receiving end directly on the side'bars 15 of the conveyer frame. At the discharge end of the tallj-Jing device the frame members 18 are provided with lifts 23 whereby they are raised above the level of the top edges of the side bars of the conveyer frame. The roller 21 at the discharge end of the tallying device will thus be supported at an elevation above the proximatev rollers of the conveyer suiiicient t-o insure a proper drop of the object which is to be counted.

The side bars 18 are provided at the discharge end of the tallying device with bearings for a rock shaft 24 having rearwardly extending arms 25 that are connected together by a cross bar 26 lying in the path of objects discharged over the tallying frame. One end of the rock shaft 2l also has a forwardly extending arm 27 which projects within a casing 28, said arm 27 being` provided at the end thereof with a notch 25. A lever 26 is provided with an approximately circular head 27 which is pivoted at 28 on a side wall of the casing 28, said lever having a laterally extending pin or stud 29 engaging the notch 25. The lever 26 has at its free end a pivoted shoe 29, the rocking movement of which is limited by stop members 30. A retracting spring 81 connects the head of the lever 26 with an end wall of the casing 28, thereby maintaining the arms 25 of the rock shaft 211 normally in an elevated position, the parts being, however, so proportioned and arranged that the cross bar 26 will normally lie in a plane slightly below that of the rearmost roller 21 of the tallying device. The tallier, which may be of any well known construction, and vwhich is conventionally indicated by T, is mounted exteriorly of the casing 28, said tallier being provided with an operating shaft 32 that extends within the casing. rllhe shaft 32 carries a star wheel 38 and a spur Vwheel 34, the number of teeth of which is a multiple of the number of points of the star wheel, said spur wheel being engaged by a dog which is actuated by a spring 36. rEhe dog 35 not only prevents retrograde movement of the shaft 32, but it also acts as a drag to prevent the shaft from being rotated beyond the proper limit when the star wheel is engaged by the shoe 29 of the lever 26. The

tallier is obviously to be so constructed that it will be advanced one unit by each actuation of the star wheel 33 which may be regarded as forming a part thereof.

In the operation of this invention, the tallying device may be mounted or supported at any convenient place on the conveyer. When objects, such as boxes, are passed over the conveyer, each object in turn will pass over the rollers of the tallying device and will drop on the cross bar 26 carried by the arms 25, thereby rocking the shaft 211 and actuating the arm 27, whereby the pivotally supported lever 26 is moved against the tension of the spring 3l, causing the shoe 29 to strike the face of one of the points of the star wheel which will thereby be rotated a proper distance to cause the tallier to be advanced one unit. It will be seen that the downward movement of the cross bar 26 is limited by the frame members 15 ofthe conveyer which lie in the path thereof, said downward movement as well as the movement of the arm 27 within the casing'28 being of small extent. This necessitates the employment of the lever 26 which, when actuated, multiplies the movement of the arm 27, thus giving ample scope of movement to the pivotcd shoe 29 whereby the star wheel 38 is actuated. As soon as the object passes out of engagement with the cross bar 26, the parts will be restored by the retracting spring 31 to their initial position. The tallying device may be made of a length slightly exceeding the length of the boxes or objects that are to be counted, and the parts will be so proportioned that the forward part of the object will be tilted on to the rollers of the conveyer before the rrearward part of said object drops from the rearmost roller of the tallying device on to the cross bar 26. lt will thus be impossible for any one object to register more than once, and it will likewise be impossible for any object to pass over `the tallying device without being properly counted and registered.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed as new, is:-

The combination with a gravity conveyer, of a tallying device adapted to be detachably mounted on the frame of such conveyer, said tallying device comprising a frame adapted to be supported on the conveyer frame, means whereby the tallier frame will be raised with respect to the conveyer frame at the discharge end thereof, rollers mounted in the tallier frame and adapted to receive an object from the conveyer and to carry such object over a portion of the conveyer and in an upward direction with respect thereto, such object Iii: A

being free to drop over the raised end of In testimony whereof afix `my signature in presence of two wltnesses.

HENRY F. MYERS.

the tallier frame, a mechanical counting device carried bv the taliier fianie` and means for actuating said counting device including a member extendino; in the path of an object dropping from the raised end of the tallier frame to receive the impact thereof.

Witnesses:

J. A. MACKINSEL, JOSEPH H. WERNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing' the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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