US1381851A - Calcirlatinrg-machilte - Google Patents

Description

P. N. SEA. CALCULATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18' I9l9.

Patented June 14, 1921.

Z SHEETSSHEET 1.

' P. N. SEA.

CALCULATING MACHINE.

AFPLICATION FILED APR. 18, I919.

- Patented June 14, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP N. SEA, OF CHICAGO ILLINOIS.

CALCULATING-MACHINE.

Application filed April 18, 1919. Serial No. 291,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP'N. Sm, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Calculating-Machine's, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to calculating machines and more especially to a simple attachment therefor by means of which the operator may obtain information which the machine itself will not give.

My invention is particularly applicable to calculating machines of the Dalton and Sundstrand type which machines are being widely used throughout the country. In these machines decimal order sector bars or frames are provided which are movable vertically or substantially so and each ofwhich carries a vertical row of horizontally shiftable printing bars, usually ten in number, for printing numerals ranging from O to 9. By means of the key board ,such type frames or sectors are selected and their degree of movement established, and actuating mechanism controlled manually or by power is operated after manipulation of the key board to raise the selected type sectors or frames to bring the corresponding type bars into a printing line, whereupon striking mechanism is released to strike such type bars to effect printing pressure of the bars on a record sheet.

On these machines there is nothing provided by means of which the operator may check up on what the set-up has been, and she must print the set-up on the record sheet before she can check.

The object of my invention is therefore to provide a simple and inexpensive attachment for machines of the class referred to by means of which the operator may at any time determine before actual prlnting on the record sheet, what has been set up on the machine for printing, or what ,totals the registers contain.

f In accordance with my invention, I aflix pointers on the type sectors, and in front of the opening through which the type sectors operate I provide a dial havlng numerals thereon with which the pointers cooperate to indicate what the set-up-is after a setting erator may deup operation so that the o termme this information be ore the prmting operation. The dial has decimal rows of numerals 0 to 9 to correspond with the printing characters on the type bars of the t pe sectors. The arrangement is preferably such that the dial may be entirely removed or swung away from the type sector slot so as not to interfere with the operators vision of the record paper and the printing thereon.

My invention is clearly illustrated on the I accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a Sundstrand machine with parts broken away and with my attachment applied thereto.

F g. 2 is a front elevational view.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a section of'the machine and m improved attachment and Fig. 1 is a ront elevational View of a modified form of dial members.

As the construction of the Sundstrand machine is fully disclosed in Reissue Patent No. 14,237 of December 26th, 1916, only such parts of the machine have been shown on the drawings to enable the application and operation of my improved attachment to be clearly understood.

On the drawings 10 represents the supporting base of the machine, and 11 the housing frame for inclosing the various operating parts. The set-up keys K are at the front of the machine and the operating lever 12 is at the right side of the machine. The type sectors 13 are arranged in a horizontal row within the machine and are adapted to be projected upwardly through the housing opening 1 1 when the lever 12 is swung after a set-up on the keys. Behind this opening the printing mechanism P is mounted on the machine and involves type roller and other mechanism for guiding the record sheet 15 in position'to be printed. In the upper end of each type sector is contained a vertical row of horizontally extending type bars 16 having printing characters on their rear ends respectlvely 0 to 9 reading downwardly. Within the housing in front of the type sectors hammer mechanism (not shown) is' arranged to be actuated after setup on the keys and raising of the type sectors, to strike the-set-up type bars to effect printing of the numbers set-up on the keys.

Describing now my improved attachment, an indicating finger or pointer 17 is secured to the up erend of each type sector. In front of t e" path of the type sectors and the pointers thereon, I place a dial 18 on on the dial to indicate the set-up in the machine. Normally, that is, when there is no set-up in the machine and the type sectors are all down, the ends of the pointers 17 will be in a horizontal row behind the dial and each will indicate 0 on the dial. After an entry on the keys and set-up of the type sectors preparatory to printing, the pointers on the raised sectors will point out and indicate on the dial the respective type bars brought into the printing line so that the operator by reading the dial knows just what is going to be printed before she moves the lever 12 to effect such printing.

' Different constructions and arrangements may be used for carrying out my invention. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the dial is in the form of a rectangular piece of glass .or other transparent material with the numerals painted or etched thereon. The pointers 17 are L-shaped with their ends 17 turned up a short distance to present a surface which can be colored or marked so that its indication on the dial can be readily interpreted. As shown in Fig. 2 the pointer ends 17 appear in the transparent spaces between the vertical numeral rows. The drawing shows that a set-up has been made on the machine, the dial indicating that the number 963 has been set up on the keys and the lever 12 operated to raise the corresponding type sectors preparatory to further movement of the lever 12 and printing of the number on the record ribbon 15. The' pointers on the type sectors which have not been raised indicate 0 on the dial. If the operator should make a mistake in setting up on the key board she will immediately learn of this by consulting the dial after the lever 12 has been swung to raise the type sectors. She can then press the error key, the non-print key or other keys to take care of the error.

Various ways may be utilized for supporting the dial on the machine. Preferably arrangement is made to permit removal of the dial entirely from the machine or to one side of the machine to permit unobstructive view-of the record sheet. In. the arrangement of Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a channel member 19 is secured to the machine to support the dial .18 in vertical position as clearly shown in Fig. 1. On the Sundstrand machine a sheet metal cover is provided over the printing ribbon compartment and this cover is held in lace by thumb screws 21 and 22 in front'of and to either side of the opening 14 through which the type sectors are raised. I take advantage of these thumb screws and provide a base or supporting plate 23 of sheet metal from which sections are stamped upwardly to form the channel 19 for receiving the dial. At one end of the base is the opening 24 for receiving the thumb screw 21 and at the other end is the transverse slot 25 for receiving the thumb screw 22. The dial holder can be held rigidly in place to support the dial in proper position or, if it is not desired to use the dial, the thumb screws can be loosened and the holder with the dial swung to one side. Instead of swinging the entire holder, the dial 18 can be bodily removed from the holder.

In Fig. 4, I have shown a modified dial structure. The supporting base 26 and the dial part 27 are stamped and formed from a single piece of sheet metal, the dial being comb-shape to provide the vertical tongues 28 on which the vertical rows of numerals 0 to 9 are printed. When the supportlng base 26 is received under the screws 24. and

25 of the machine, the dial will be in front of the path of the type sectors and the ends 17' of the pointers will be visible through the spaces 29 between the tongues 28 so that the set-up on the machine can be qulckly and readily determined.

' My invention is equally applicable to machines where the type sectors travel along the arc of a circle instead of vertically. In the Dalton machine whose construction is shown in full in Patent No. 1,121,734: of December 22nd, 1914, the type sectors move in the arc of a circle, but it is apparent that the dial forming part of my invention can be readily shaped to be parallel to the path of travel of the sectors.

Instead of having the pointer ends visible through the spaces between the vertical rows of numerals on the dial, they could be arranged to appear directly behind the numerals Where the dial is transparent, and the pointer ends could be colored so as to throw color on the dial numbers behind which they appear.

To facilitate accurate reading of the dial, horizontal lines 30 are drawn across its face between the horizontal numeral rows. By means of these lines it is easier to determine which particular numeral the respective pointer ends are to be associated with in reading the dial.

I do not desire to be limited to the exact construction and arrangement shown and described as changes and modifications are no doubt possible which would still come within the scope of my invention.

I claim as follows:

1. In combination with an adding machine of the Dalton or Sundstrand type of an information indicating attachment comprising pointers secured in a horizontal row on top of the machine type sectors, a supporting frame hinged on the machine in front of the path of said pointers, and a dial supported by said frame, said frame when swung into one position supporting said dial in front of said pointers, said dial having decimal rows of numerals 0 to 9 thereon with which said pointers cooperate during operation of the machine to indicate what the set-up is, said frame when swung to another position holding said dial away from in front of said pointers.

2. In combination with an adding machine ot' the Dalton or Sundstrand type, of an information indicating attachment comprising a frame shiftable on the machine in front of the opening through which the type sectors project upwardly during operation of the machine, decimal order rows of numerals 0 to 9, on said frame, members secured to the upper ends of the type sectors for cooperating with said decimal order rows during operation of the type sectors to indicate entries made in the machine, and 15 In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 20 my name this 15th day of A ril, A. D. 1919.

. PHI IP N. SEA.

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