US1390278A - Computing-machine - Google Patents

Description

G. 0. DIEGENER.

COMPUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23. 1919.

1 390,278, PatentedSept. 13, 1921.

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y Af/amqy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVE O. DEGENER, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD COMPUTING MACHINE COMPANY, 01 NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COMPUTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. v Patented Sept, 13, 1921 Application filed. July 23, 1919. Serial No. 312,754.

T 0 all whom it ma concern:

Be it known thati GUSTAVE O. DEGENER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain newand useful Im rovements in Computing-Machines, of w ich the following s a specification.

This invention relates to combined adding and t pewriting machines of the Underwoodanson type, an example of which is found in the Thornton Patent, No. 1,238,055, dated August 21, 1917, and has to do with the mechanism by which the typewriter carriage selects the denominations for the computing mechanism, to enable any of the nine typewriter digit keys to compute in any denomination.

The computing mechanism in such machines includes a series of jacks, one for each denominational order, and upon the typewriter carriage is usually placed a dog, which, as the carriage advances step by step, raises the jacks one after another, and thereby sets the computing mechanism to operate in that particular denomination or order.

The invention relates mainly to the denomination-selectin dog, the operation of which, it has been ound, is affected by the wear of the ty ewriter carriage controlling mechanism. Y hen the machine is newly manufactured or adjusted, the dog maintains such a relation with the 'acks that it holds up any jack properly w en the carriage stands at rest in the correspondlng denomination or place; but after considerable wear of the typewriter letter-feeding mechanism a drop occurs, that is, the letterfeeding parts become worn and bring the carriage to rest at a point which is a trifle in advance of the point where the carria e v 'rested when new. Owing to this drop, is e dog is not ositioned precisely under the jack, and it 15 possible for it to happen that the dog will just escape the jack at the time the carriage comes ositively to a rest, so that said jack, whic is lifted by the dog while the carriage is stepping, is released bythe dog as the carriage comes to rest, and hence at the ensuin operation of a numeral key no computation 1S effected, in-

' asmuch as no denomination mechanism was puting mechanism will operate satisfactorily, and yet under. some obscure conditions the dog may release a jack in the manner ust described, leading to an error or omis- S1011 in the computation.

To avoid this difliculty, I substitute for the'usual vertical-rear-sided dog, a dog havmg an auxiliary or drop shoulder. This shoulder is on the opposite side from the ack-lifting cam with which the tip of the dog is usually formed, and is preferably inchned at an angle of about 45 degrees, so that it does not interfere with the descent of the jack .to normal position during the ensuing stepping movement of the type- Writer carriage. In other words, since the carriage is moving the dog is retreating from the jack which it has just misplaced, and as it retreats the novel shoulder allows more and more clearance for the descending jack, so that the provision of such shoulder has no tendency to interfere with or slow down the action of the returning denomination jack. Such shoulder, however, although sloping, is still found to be sufficient to hold up the denomination jack in case tlriere should be a drop of the carriage. In other words, although the carriage may drop so far that the jack does not rest upon the exact tip of the dog, it may rest upon said inclined shoulder, so that said shoulder prevents the jack from actually returning to normal position, and has the effect of maintaining the denomination-selecting devices in sufficiently effective positions so that the computation proceeds as satisfactorily as if the denomination fjack were actually sustained by the tip 0 the dog.

The selector dog is pivotally mounted on a carrier and is supported in an operative position during its forward movement by a stop or abutment against which it is held by a spring attached to the carrier. Upon which may be of sufficient extent to bridge the gaps between successive acks.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view, partly in section of an Underwood-Hanson machine, with my invention appliedthereto.

Fig. 2 is a rear view, showing the improved selector dog and some of the associated parts.

Fig. 3 is a detail rear view, showing some of the parts of Fig. 2 on a larger scale.

Fig.4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the position of the parts as the carriage ad-.

vances from one letter-space position to another.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the selector dog in the position assumed during the return movement of the carriage.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view, showing the improved selector dog mounted on the .usual blockv or carrier.

In the operation of the machine, depression of an alphabet key 1 or numeral key 2, will swing the corresponding key-lever 3 about the pivot rod 4, and through a bellcrank 5 actuate the corresponding type-bar 6 to bring types 7 into engagement with a platen 8 mounted in a platen frame 9 on the carriage 10.

Said carriage 10 is mounted on forward and rearward rails 11 and 12, respectively, and is urged toward the left by the usual strap 13 and spring-drum 14. In ,order to control the movement of the carriage under the urging of spring-drum 14, provision is made of a rack 15 pivotally mounted on said carriage 10 and normally engaging a pinion 16 having the usual one-way connection with an escapement wheel 17, the movement of which is controlled by -means of the usual fast and loose dogs 18 and 19, respectively, mounted for a rocking movement about shaft 20. Said dogs are actuated in the usual manner by a universal frame 21 supported by rockers 22 at the rear, and having at its front a universal bar 23 'adapted to be struck by a heel 24 on an actuated type-bar.

The numeral keys are provided with pendants or links 25, which, upon depression of the corresponding numeral keys, are brought into engagement with arms 26 mounted on shafts 27 on which are secured arms 28 for actuating linkages of which the lower bars 29 serve to set settable pins 30 on rack bars 31. Said rack bars 31 are connected by suitable means with the dial wheels 32 of the usual register, and provision is made of a sight-opening 33 through which the results may be read. It

-will be seen that the pins 30 are normally out of alinement with the pin depressing bars 29, and that it will be necessary to advance rack bars 31 in order to bring the pins 30 thereon into a position to be engaged by said bars 29. I

The movement of bars 31 into effectiveposition with respect to the bars 29 is effected by the usual denomination selecting means, in which a carrier or block 34 is mounted for turning and sliding movement on a rod 35 supported by the carriage, and the block or carrier is held against lengthwise movement along said rod 35 by means of a tooth 36 on the carrier extending into any one of a series of notches in a rod 37, also supported on the carriage. It will be understood that a plurality of carriers 34 may be used. Provision is made of a selector dog 38 on carrier 34, which, in the step-bystep movement of the carriage, is brought into engagement seriatim with the ends of pivoted jacks 39 which act through links 40, levers 41, transposition linkages 42 and bell-cranks 43, in engagement with pins 44 on said bars 31, to advance the rack bars 31, one by one, against the action of springs 45 into positions to enable the setting of pins 30 thereon by means of bars 29 when the numeral keys are actuated. Upon completion of the indexing upon pins 30 of a number to be computed, a general operator 46 is actuated to bring the bar 47 thereon into engagement with the lower ends of the depressed pins, and actuate the corresponding rack bars 31 in accordance with the pins depressed to run up the number indexed on the dial wheels 32.

When out of computing zones, carriers, 34 are allowed to swing downwardly about rod 35 and to rest onrod 37 in ineffective position (shown at the left in Fig. 2), but upon entrance of a carrier into a computing zone, a conical roller 48 attached thereto will engage a zone-controller or roller 49 having conical ends, and the carrier 34 and dog 38 thereon will be raised into effective position. It has been found desirable to provide means whereby a dog may be made ineffective in a computing zone. For this purpose the zone-controller 49 is mounted on arms 50, pivotally supported on shaft 51, which are normally held in a position to render the zone-controller 49 effective b means of a spring 52. Secured to the sha t 51 is a forwardly extending arm 53 engaging the upper side of an arm of a bell-crank 54 pivoted on the frame of the machine. Control of said bell-crank 54 is effected by means of a forwardly extending link 55, a second link 56 pivoted to said first-mentioned link 57, and a non-add key 58 attached to the forward end of said link 56. It will be seen that depression of the nonadd key 58 will act through this chain of connections to withdraw the zone-controller tained in this position by the passage of a pin 59 carried by a link 55 along the horizontal portion of a slot 60 and into a downwardly extending portion of said slot.

The parts so far described are in general the same as those disclosed in said patent to Thornton.

The improved selector dog 38 is pivoted at 61 on a carrier 34, and is held against a stop or abutment (not shown) at the left thereof, as seen in F ig; 2, by means of a spring 62. Saiddog 38 is'provided with the usual inclined face or cam 63, by means of which the jacks are lifted, and also by an auxiliary rear face or drop shoulder 64 preferably inclined at an angle of about 45 degrees.

It willlbe understood that the heads of pins 30 are of such size, and that bars 29 are of such width, that when a rack bar has been advanced to enable a setting of a pin 30 thereon, a limited return movement of the rack bar may occur without withdrawing said pins from effective relation with respect to bars 29. Advantage of this fact is taken in providing the novel inclined face or shoulder 64, for, although the apex of theselector-dog may be carried slightly past the end of the actuated jack, the jack will rest upon the inclined rear face near the apex and will prevent movement of the cone sponding rack bar from effective relation with respect to bars 29.

It will also be evident that although the inclined face or shoulder 64 serves to maintain theselected rackbar in ineffective position under the condition pointed out above, it does not materially interfere with the action of the returning jack during movement of the carriage to the next letter-space position.

Upon the ordinary rapid return of the carriage to a position for starting a new line, the selector-dog 38 will, upon engagement with jacks 39, be rocked against the resistance of spring 62 to the position shown in Fig. 5, and the passage of said dog across the jacks will be comparatively smooth.

There will evidently be a tendency of. in-

clined face 64 of the selector-dog to cam up the jacks during return movement of the carriage, but, in the rapid-engagement of successive jacks by the dog in such return movement, resistance to movement of the jacks, due to springs 45 and the inertia of jacks 39, rack bars 31, and the intermediate connecting elements, will be so great that spring 62 will yield to permit the selectordog to assume the position shown in Fig. 5. Furthermore, due to the length of said inclined face 64, the dog 38 in the return movement of the carriage will not be released by a j ack untilvit is substantially in engagement with the next succeeding'jack.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 7

1. In a computing machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, of a series of denominational jacks, and a selector-dog mounted for movement with said carriage past said jacks to engage the same sem'wtz'm, said dog having a jack-actuating cam faceand a rearwardly-extending drop shoulder so shaped that, when the carriage is carried sli htly past the proper letter-space position be ore being brought to rest, a slight return movement of the selected jack will be permitted, insuflicient to destroy the denomination-selecting effect but sufficient to prevent any material interference with the jack in the return movement of the latter when the carrriage is letter-spaced to cause the dog to actuate the next jack.

2. In a computing machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, of a series of denominational jacks, and a selector-dog mounted for movement with said carriage past said jacks to actuate the same serz'atim, said dog having a jack-actuating cam face and a rearwardly-extending drop shoulder inclined downwardly, so that, when the carriage is carried slightly past the proper letter-space position before being brought to rest, the selected jack will be permitted a slight return movement, insufficient to destroy the denomination-selecting effect, the inclination of said drop shoulder being such as to prevent any material interference with the jack in the return movement of the latter when the carriage is letter-spaced to cause the dog to actuate the next jack.

3. In a computing machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, of a series of denominational jacks, and a selector mounted for movement with said carriage past said jacks to actuate the same seriatim and maintain the selected jack in actuated position when the carriage. is brought to rest at the end of a letter-space movement, said selector having a jack-actuating cam with a high point to maintain the selected jack in actuated position, and a part to the rear of said high point receive a jack in case the high point of the cam is carried slightly past the jack, said part permitting a slight return movement of the jack before intercepting the same, and permitting, without interadapted to permit, when the carriage is carried slightly past the proper letter-space position before being brought to rest, a slight return movement insufficient to destroy the denomination-selecting efiect, and to permit the return of the jack without substantial interference when the carriage is 1etterspaced to cause the dog to actuate the next drop shoulder so shaped that, when the carriage is carried slightly past the proper letter-space position before being brought to rest, a slight return movement of the selected jack will be permitted, insufficient to destroy the denomination-selecting effect but suflicient to prevent any materlal interference with the jack in the return movement of the latter when the carriage is letterspaced to cause the dog to actuate the next jack.

6. In a computing machine, in combinati0n, a traveling carriage, a series of denominational jacks, a selector-dog, and means whereby movement of said carria e will effect actuation of said jacks by sai dog seriam'm, the en aging portions of said jacks and said dog emg such that, when the carriage is carried slightly past the proper letter-space position before being brought to rest, a slight return movement of the selected jack, insufiicient to destroy the denomination-selecting effect, will be permitted, and that, in the ordinary letter-spacing of the carriage, there will be substantially no interference with the jack in its return movement when the carriage is letter-spaced to cause the dog to actuate the next jack.

GUSTAVE O. DEGENER. Witnesses:

E. M. EVANS, -W. HENRY LOGAN.

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