US1436282A - Computer - Google Patents

Description

s. F. nuckous.

COMPUTER. AfPLICATlON FILED JAN. 26, I92].

Patented Nov. 21, 1922.

E- mpz F n 1- 1- IH'I'I" Fig.5

Patented Nov. 21, 1922.

UNITED STATES STEPHEN F. NUCKOLLS, 01F BINGHAM, UTAH.

COMPUTER.

Application filed January 26, 1921. Serial No. 440,190.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that STEPHEN F. NUCKOLLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bingham, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Computers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for making calculation of an intricate nature, and has for its object to provide a simple and efiicient device whereby. intricate calculations or computations may be accurately and quickly made, and to make it possible to have two or more graduations on each face of the device.

These objects I accomplish with the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters and numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views, and as described in the specification forming a part of this application and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, in which I have shown a substantial embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of the device with portions of five different graduations shown thereon. Figure 2 is a plan view showing one of the two slide plates used in pairs,

and Figure 3 is an edge view of the same. Figure 4 is a plan view of one of the other pair of slide plates, and Figure 5 is an edge view'of the same. Figure 6 is aplan view of the indicator slide, and Figure 7 is an edge view of the same. Figure 8- shows the side, plan and end elevation of the metal clamp which holds one end of the pair of slide plates shown in Figures 2 and Figure 9 shows the side, plan and end elevation of the metal clamp plates which hold one end of the slide plates shown in Figures 4 and 5. I Figure 10 is a plan and edge view of the friction spring used with the slide plates shown in Figures2 and 4. Figure 11 is an edge view and a plan of one of the guides for the indicator slide, and Figure 12 is a planrview and edge view of the other form of guides for the indicator slide.

'The present invention consists of a flat circular base disk D having a central opening therein which should be reinforced to prevent any possible wear. A pair of fiat circular disks E are concentrically mounted for independent oEeration on opposite sides of said disk D. ach of said disks E has logarithmic graduations marked thereon in helical lines beginning near the center of said disksand terminating near the periphery. In order to give accurate position and direction to said helical graduations I draw the helical line i and mark said graduations by short radial lines extending inwardly from said line as at a, other graduations are drawn with the radial lines extending outwardly from said line i as at 6, while other helical graduations may be drawn in the space between the convolutions of the said line i, as at d. The said disks D and E are held in concentric relation to each other by the pivot L, and also on said pivot is mounted two slide plates A, one on each side face of the device, with their outer ends secured together by the metal pieces J and J, which are fastened together and to each of said slide plates A, and which are curved to conform with the periphery of said disk D. A spring I is fastened at one end to the metal strip J and bears against the face of said disk E as a friction element. Each of said disks E has a longitudinally disposed central hair line we drawn from near each end. Another pair of slide plates B are also pivoted on said pivot pin L, with their inner end portions bearing against the face of the adjacent slide plate A, and their outer ends are fastened together by the metal strips K and K. The said slide plates B are spaced apart far enough and are of length sufficient to allow them to pass the slide plates A. A friction spring H similar to that shown at I provides suitable friction to retain said slide plates from unintentional movement. The said slide plates A and B are made of transparent material. and each of the plates B has a hair line drawn thereon as at n, similar to that shown as m on the other pair of slide plates A. Graduation scales are'marked by short transverse lines h and f on the face of each of said plates B and conforming to the graduation on disks E. An indicator slide C, made of thin transparent material, is mounted for operation on the face of each of said plates B by being passed under the guides F and G. The said guides arethin metal strips bent to form a channel within which said slide C is operated, and a friction spring is attached to said guide G to retain said slide from unintentional movement. One end of each of said slides C-hasastop piece and the other end is given a perforated circular form to provide a finger pieceo by which said slides G are moved longitudinally and the slide plates B are operated on the common pivot L. The face of said. slide C is graduated by transverse {lines similar to; those on one edge of the slide plate B and with similar numerals running consecutively from 1 to 10, and for some uses an arrow point p is shown on said face at 1. I thus provide a base disk D and oneach side'tace thereof, an independently operable disk and transparent slide plates all of which are pivoted together, and with a radially op erable slide, which aids and is to be used with helically disposed graduations marked on the tace of the movable disks to make intricate and difiicult calculations. On the face of each of said disks E is formed an arrow point 7' which is on a radial line from the inner end of said helical line 2'. to its termination or outer end, and the outer end of saidline z merges into a concentric'circle, shown as r inFigure l, eiicept that for clearness the said circle 1* is not completed. The slide plate B has a graduated's'cale on one edge with anti-logarithmic graduations and numerals runningconsecutively from 1 to 9, as shown at 7):. The graduations and numerals on theslide plate B and on the indicator slide C are made semi-transparent in order not to interfere with correctlyplaeing them onjthe helical linell ith the mechanical parts of my invention constructed as shown in the drawings, and having the graduations thereon as shown, I am able to make logarithmic calculation readily and much more accurately than other similar devices now on the market and in use. Also as so constructed and graduated I am able to make stadia computations quickly and accurately.

The device computes the following tor inula: r V

1K.cos a fiorizontal distance. T.K.cos"-a, tanazverical distance; I being the stadia intercept multiplied by 100, and l! a stadia factor. U sing the logarithmic numerals and graduations shown at a, and the logarithmic tangent graduations shown at b, with other logarithmic tangent graduations from 30 to 5 45 shown at a; the indicator slide C is used from outer convolution of line 2' adjacent or corresponding to these graduations. The logarithmic cos graduations are-laid oil outside the helical line i, as. shown at 74, on, the concentric circle 1, as the cos up to 35can be indicated and covered in one turn of the helical line. The factor K is a personal and instrumental factor,- and when once determined for a certain transit can be indicated or laid off on the outsidespace'or rim, by the operator using the device, with an arrow point, as shown at If, and in use this arrow point is used as an orientation point instead of the point In making stadia computations turn the disk E until the angle number appears'under' the hair line m of slide plate A using the cos graduation, then set hair line a of slide plate 13 over the stadia intercept, using numerical graduationaand orient, using constant K orientation point arrow 6, when the corrected horizontal distance will appear under hair line 7% of slide plate B. Then turn the disk it until the angle appears under slide plate A, using tana graduation. The verticall distance now appears under slide plate B onyhair line a. The operation of the indi cator slide is the sameas in other con'iputations containing trigonometric functions and includes one setting of the distance, twosettinge of angles, and one orientation for constant ii, the indicator is set but once. The special advantage of using my device is that the corrected horizontal distance is determined and not the horizontal correction. The stadia intercept is set oil but once for horizontal and vertical"readings. The constant K factor while sometimes overlooked nearly always necessary in accurate stadia computations. lVit-h my device having a six-inch diameter 01" disk D the result will have an accuracy of four places throughout, which is a consistent degree of accuracy for practically all stadia computations with a transit. oinake logarithmic computations it will-be noticed that near the periphery of diskv E is a concentric circle a graduated to even parts as at c. The graduations on this circle are numbered so that the numerals hers on, the same radial line on the helical line 2', therefore the'hc'lical line being graduated from one to ten and portions thereof, this circle being equal to one convolution will he graduated into ten divided'by the number'of convolutions. Forinstance, with a dislchaving five COlTVOlUtlOnS, ten divided by five equals two therefore with suchdisk the circle oiteven parts s is graduated into two segments of ten equal. parts and sub-- divisions thereof. in looking up logaobtain theanti-logarithmf of a number, place the hair line of slide plate B over the number on the circle 8. It is seen that the first figure is lacking on this circle, but in this case with a five convolution disk the even numbers will be-r'ead from the right half of said circle 8 and the odd numbers from on the circle equal't-he logarithms of nunithe left half. That is, if the first figure of the mantissa is even, place the other figures under the hair line 11 on the right segment of circle s, and using the anti-logarithm scale It as an indicator, under the mantissa of said scale it will. be located the antilogarithm, which is read under hair line a. The anti-logarithmic scale is simply an indicator and acts in practically the same manner as the indicator slide (7, with the exception that it is stationary to slide plate B. Thus it will be readily seen that the natural or logarithmic function of an angle can be easily obtained, and these functions are valuable in checking computations carried on by other means than by my invention. Also this makes possible the computation of powers and roots of trigonometric functions or numbers. The scale f in connection with the indicator slide C is used as a rough check on nearly all computations.

The indicator slide is of special importance, as it locates the answer, the decimal point and checks the answer. This holds true in nearly all cases. Substitution is used, as in the case of an angle the natural function is substitutedthis natural function occurs on the same radial line and heli cal convolution. The main function of the indicator slide C, is to make possible the use of a spiral or helical line, thereby increasing the accuracy a great deal. over the accuracy obtainable with circular graduations. The indicator slide also allows the use of any function thereby increasing the range of operations. The said indicator slide is simple in construction and operation and requires a minimum of time to operate it, thus making the computer practical for check purposes as examples to indicate some of the computations which may be made with my computer, I give the following:

tor, the answer 1285 is read under hair linem of slide A. As the check answer appears on the outer section of the indicator sllde, the number of digits in the answer is one plus the difference in digits between the dividend and divisor, or one; therefore, the answer is 1.285, or the decimal point may be determined by inspection in this case.

Multdplicatiam-98fi5 X .96.

Orient, place arrow j of disc under hair line m of slide A. Turn slide B until its hair line a is over 98.65, then place arrow P of indicator slide C over 98.65 and turn disc E until .96 appears under hair line on of slide A. Now under .96 on indicator slide is found the answer reading 94.70 under hair line 01 of slide B. As the inner section of the indicator slide only was used, the number of digits in the answer is the sum of the digits in the multiplier and multiplicand; therefore, the answer is 94.70. The check answer 947 approximately is found scale f.

Prop0rtz'on.-76.98:47 :X.

Set 76 under hair line m of slide A. Turn slide B until hair line 71. is over 98. Set 76 of indicator slide C over 98 then turn disc until 47 is under hair line m of slide A. Un

der 47 of indicator slide C is found the an-- swer reading 60.60 under hair line of slide B. Decimal point being located as in multiplication, division or by inspection.

Having thus described my invention and its operation I desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim 1. The combination of a plane rotary spiral scale; an angularly movable slide; a

radially and angularly movable double radial scale, each segment corresponding to the spiral scale, and acting in conjunction with the aforesaid angularly movable slide as an indicator in the manipulation of quantities on the spiral scale to make computations; and means to locate the resultant and determine the decimal point.

2. In a device of the class described the combination of a plane rotary spiral scale; an angularly movable radial scale corresponding to the spiral scale; a radially and angularly movable double radial scale, each portion being identical with the angularly movable radial scale and acting in conjunction with the said angularly movable radial scale as an indicator in the manipulation of quantities on the spiral scale; and means for checking the operations and the answer substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

STEPHEN F. NUCKOLLS.

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