US1754679A - Combined typewriting and computing machine - Google Patents

Description

F. A. HART COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE April 15, 1930.

2 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Jan. 19, 1926 IN VEN TOR ATTORNEY April 15, 1930. F. A. HART COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1926 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 8 HEESWE E: 53;:

WITN ES 5 ES Patented A r. 15, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcr-z FREDERICK A. HABT,. OF NEW BRITAIN,

coNNEorIoor, ASSIGNOR r0 REMINGTON" ACCOUNTING MACHINE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 01' NEW YORK COMBINED TYPEWBITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE Application filed .Tanpary 19, 1926. Serial No. 82,273.

My invention relates to combined typewriting and computing machines and it has for its principal object to provide certain improvements in the clearance proof mechanism of such machines.

To the above and other ends my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all of which will be fully set forth herein and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention at least in part is in the nature of an improvement on or modification of that described in the patents'to Poole 1,483,- 67 9 dated Feb. 12, 1924, for combined typewriting and calculating machine, and No. 1,491,167, April 22, 1924, for calculating machine. Each of said patents shows a Remington accounting machine equipped with clearance proof mechanism for the cross footer, the construct-ion being such that when the carriage steps out of that particular computing column in which the cross footer should be brought to zero the step of the carriage to sub-units position of such column trips off a device which locks the numeral keys against further computing operation. At that same step of the carria e the cross footer carriage is tripped off and umps back to normal position. A finger in the cross footer is so disposed and controlled that if said totalizer has een brought to zero said finger will, during the jump-back of the carriage, immediately restore the locking device to its normal unlocking position; but if the cross totalizer has not been cleared then the said device will remain in locking position. The lock employed in the Poole patents is of such a character that it operates only on the numeral keys and on them only in computing columns.

By the present invention I have provided means whereby a device which is trlpped off at a suitable point in the program of operation of the machine operates a lock which looks not only the numeral keys of the typewriter but the letter keys as well, and the effectiveness of which does not depend on the position of the carriage at the time when the operator seeks to use the keys. I have also modified the tripping mechanism so as to make it work twice in each back and forth One embodiment of my invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, all of which are more or less fragmentary so as to show only those parts of the machine that are necessary to an understanding of my invention. In said drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation.

F lgure 2 is a right-hand side elevation with parts 1n section alongthe line 22 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a plan'view with parts in sect1on.

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective View of parts of the mechanism as viewed from the right-hand side of the machine and looking toward the front of the machine.

Figure 5 is a side elevation, partly in section and partly broken away, of the cross totalizer and some of the associated parts.

My invention is here shown applied to an accounting machine of the sort described in the patent to Wahl, No. 1,270,471, June 25, 1918, Calculating machine.

The machine shown in the drawing comprises a Remington No. 12 typewriter, the frame of which includes among other things a base casting 10 and corner posts 11. It also includes printing key levers 12 for printing letters, numerals and other characters, these being pivoted at their rear ends and near their forward ends guided by a comb plate 13. Each of said key levers is operatively connected with a type bar 14 adapted to print against the front face of the platen, conventionally illustrated in Fig. 3 at 15. Each of the key levers 12 has projecting upward therefrom a hook 16 and a locking bar 17 having ears pivoted at 18 to the base casting 10, has a flange 20 which normally stands as shown in F' 2 where it is clear of the hooks 16 but w ich can be swung rearward under said hooks so as to lock the ke levers against depression. In the ordinary emington typewriter the bar 17 and books 16 are parts of the line lock mechanism but in the present case I utilize them as parts of my clearance proof mechanism. The bar 17 is held in its normal forward position by means of a spring 21 connected to said bar and to a stationary cross piece 22.

The computin mechanism comprises an actuator, the mam frame piece of which is a casting 23 which is secured by two screws to the top plate of the typewriter. The actuator framework also includes certain forwardly projecting frame plates of which the extreme right-hand one is shown in-the drawing at 24. Those of the key levers 12 which were adapted to print numerals are connected into the actuator by means of vertical links 25 which operate the actuating mechanism, the latter including a vertical master wheel 26, Fig. 3, and a cross master wheel 27, Fig. 1.

A main truck 28 travels right and left with the typewriter carriage and has mounted on it any desired number of vertical totalizers, three such totalizers 30, 31 and 32 being shown in the present instance.

The cross totalizing mechanism includes in addition the master wheel 27, a cross totalizer 33 mounted on a jumping truck 34 which by ball bearings travels right and left in a stationary rail 35 constituting part of the fixed framework of the computer. Each of the vertical totalizers has a lug which is engaged by a pick-up bar 36, Fig. 1, pivoted at 37 to a bracket 38 on the cross truck 34. This bar is adapted to be picked up by each vertical totalizer as the latter in its leftward travel approaches the computing column so that the cross totalizer 33 is drawn across the master wheel 27 in unison with the travel of the vertical totalizer across the master wheel 26; and at the end of the column the bar 36 is cammed loose and the cross footer is caused to jump back to its normal right-hand position by means of a spring 40, Fig. 5. When the cross truck is drawn rightward by said spring it is arrested by an arm 41 (Fig. 1) projecting from the cross truck, striking a lever 42 which is pivoted at 43 to the frame plate 24 and which is adapted to be pressed :1 short distance leftward by means of a spring 44. This lever has articulated thereto a link 45 which controls the locking mechanism utilized in the Poole patents above referred to for proof of non-clearance.

The registering mechanisms of the Remington totalizers each includes a series of car rier wheels 46 (Fig. 5) which are adapted to mesh with the master wheel, a series of idler or transmitting pinions 47 meshing with the wheels 46 and a series of ten-toothed dial inions 48 each having fixed thereto a dia 50,

said dials showing through the sight-opening in the casing of the totalizer.

The clearance proof mechanism includes a feeler comb 51 pivoted at 52in the side walls of the cross totalizer 33, said comb including a series of thin teeth, one extending into the plane of each of the pinions 48. Each of said pinions has one tooth 53 made shorter than the rest, and this tooth is so located that when all of the dials stand at zero all of these short teeth register with the comb 51 which under those conditions can be swung further toward the front of the machine than it could if some one or more of said dials displayed another numeral than zero. In this latter event one of the long teeth of the pinion 48 would register with a tooth of the comb 51 and hold said comb further rearward than is shown in Fig. 5.- The comb 51 has fast thereto an arm 54 articulated with an arm 55 of a bell crank which is pivoted on a frame rod '56 of the totalizer. Said bell crank has also a vertical arm which extends upward and projects through a slot in the top casing plate of the totalizer, constituting a finger 57. spring 58 is connected with the arm 55 and acts to press the feeler comb 51 against the pinions 48 and tends to hold the fin er 57 in the rear position shown in Fig. 5. aid finger can occupy said rear position only when the totalizer is clear. In the event that some one or more of the totalizers does not stand at zero a long tooth of one or more of the pinions 48 will hold the feeler comb 51 rearward, causing the finger 57 to stand forward of the position shown in Fig. 5.

The mechanism for cooperating with the finger 57 comprises a lever 60 pivoted at 61 to a frame plate or sheet metal bracket 62 which bracket has a forwardly bent portion which is secured to the end of the casting 23 by the same screws 63 (Fig. 1) which secure the frame plate 24 to said casting. The bracket 62 and the lever 60 and the other parts mounted on said bracket occupy a position to the rear of the casting 23 and in Fig. 1 said casting has been merely outlined in broken lines so as not to conceal this mechanism.

The lever 60 includes a leftward extending horizontal arm from the end of which an ear 64 (Figs. 3-5) is bent ofl horizontally rearward and said ear has in it a notch which embraces .a depending portion 65 of the bracket 62 to guide the lever 60 in its up and down motion.

The horizontal arm of said lever 60 has a bar 66 fixed thereon and spaced forward therefrom and parallel thereto by means of posts 67 and screws 68; and when the cross truck is in its normal right-hand position this bar 66 lies directly over and rests on the bar 66 is preferabl rounded and inclined to form a cam ed 0, Fig. 1,so that in case the bar 66 be in its lower position when the cross footer jumps back to the right, then if said cross footer is clear the finger 57 engaging with this cam edge 70 will restore the bar 66 and the lever 60 to the normal upper position shown in the drawing.

As shown in the drawing the bar 66 has a shelf bent forward horizontally from its upper edge to which at 71 is pivoted a lever 72. A spring 73 connected to said lever and to an ear 74 of the bar 66 tends to swin said lever clockwise in Fig. 3, its motion Ieing limited by a lug 75 thereof, striking the lever 60. Near its left-hand end the lever 72 is formed with a projection 76 extending first downward and thence bent rparward, the rearwardly directed part being made of V- shape, forming two inclines 77, adapted under certain conditions to act cam fashion on the finger 57. When the lever 60 is in its upper position shown in the drawing, the cam edges 77 stand higher than the top of u the fin er 57, but when said lever is dropped to its coking position these cam edges 77 stand in the path of said finger 57 and when on the jump back of the cross footer the finger 57 passes these inclines, then, if said finger is in its forward position said inclines tend to force said finger to its rear position, pressing the feeler 51 forward against the pinions 48, this pressure being derived from the spring 73.

The lever 72 and its cam inclined edges 77 are fully shown and described in the patent to Poole No. 1,491,167 hereinbefore referred to, and these parts have for some time constituted a portion of the Remington accounting machine as regularly manufactured. They may be retained in the present machine if desired and I have therefore shown them in the drawing, but in some instances they may be omitted. In writin the particular form or blank hereinafter escribed these parts are functionless and may therefore, and preferably will be omitted. I prefer to utilize the tension of the spring 58, hereinbeforedescribed, to control the feeler 51 and finger 57 In order to hold the lever 60 releasably in its normal upper position shown in the drawing, said lever is constructed with an upwardly extending arm from which an car 80 is bent off toward the rear and said ear engages a notch in the end of the horizontal arm of a latch lever 81 which is pivoted at 82 to the frame plate or bracket 62. Said latch lever 81. has a downwardl extending arm to which is connected one en of a spring 83, the other end of which is connected to the upright arm of the lever 60. This spring performs the double function of moving the latch 81 to its latching position and of swinging the lever 60 counter-clockwise in Fig. 1 when said lever is released from said latch.

In order at the proper time to release the latch 81 the latter is made with an upstanding arm against the edge of which a push rod 84 is adapted to act to rock the latch lever and release the lever 60. The right-hand end of said ush rod is guided in an ear 85 bent forward from the plate 62. The push rod 84 extends leftward nearly to the middle of the machine where it is pivoted to an arm 86 of a bell crank which also includes an arm 87, said bell crank being pivoted on a vertical stud 88 mounted in a sheet metal bracket 90 secured by screws 91 to the casting 23. The bell crank has its rear arm 86 on a lower lane than its leftward arm 87, the two arms ing connected by a bail portion 92 so that the bell crank is pivoted to the stud 88 at two points spaced apart. The stud 88 projects downward from an upper horizontal shelf of the bracket 90. A spring 93 tends to rock the bell crank counter-clockwise in Fig. 3.

The portions of the clearance roof mechanism thus far described except tile bar 17 do not difier materially from those described in the Poole patents hereinbefore referred to, and in fact so far as my invention is concerned they -may be identical with the parts described in those patents.

In the Poole patents, however, the arm corresponding to the arm 87, has a dog pivoted thereto for cooperation with a tripper mounted on one of the vertical totalizers and said dog is so constructed that when said triptherefore mounted on the arm 87 a rigid V- shaped projection 94 which is adapted to be struck and pressed rearward by a tripper 95 having an inverted V-shaped outline as indicated in Fig. 3, said tripper 95 preferably being mounted on the top of one of the vertical totalizers.

In order to lock the printing keys of the machine whenever the lever 60 is in its lower position the following means are provided: a long lever or pivoted piece 89 is pivoted at 96 to the rear side of the casting 23, said lever 89 extending from its pivot rlghtward and having at its free end an ear 97 bent forward from its lower edge and lying underneath the ear 64 of the lever 60. Preferably the ear 97 is also notched as best shown in Fig. 4 to embrace and be guided by the depending part 65 of the frame plate 62. Betweenits endsthe lever 89 has pivoted thereto a push link 98 grFigs. 1 and 2) extending downward thereom and pivoted to the locking bar 17 at a oint forward of the pivotal axis of said lockmg bar. The construction is such that the sprin 21 normally holds the locking bar 17 out o engagement with the hook 16 on the key levers and acting through the link 98 holds the lever 89 in its upper position with its ear 97 pressing upward against the ear 64 of the lever 60. But when the latch 81 is tripped the weight of said lever 60, assisted by the tension of the spring 83, is suflicient to deress said lever 60 and with it the lever 89, and the latter acting through the link 98 rocks the locking bar 17 to locking position, thus preventing the depression of any of the printing keys, and thus notifying the operator of the machine that the cross totalizer is not clear.

In order to illustrate the use and the mode of operation of my improvement I have in Fig. 3 conventionally shown a form or blank 100 mounted on the platen 15 in position to be written upon by the types 14. This blank or work sheet is of the sort used by some life insurance companies as a receipt for the premiums on their policies. The drawing does not show all of the printing and typewriting on this work sheet but shows enough to bring out the operation of the clearance proof mechanism. This work sheet or form would be inserted into the typewriting machine with the aid of side edge guides so as always to come in the same letter space positions of the typewriter. Under suitable captions there IS a single line of writing, hereinafter called the principal line of writing, which includes all of the typewriting that it is necessary to do on the sheet except the name and address of the policy holder. In the form, as shown, this line of writing includes the number of the policy, the date when the premium is due and how payable (whether annually, semi-annually or quarterly). Following these items in the same line of writing are three numbers, first, the stated amount of the premium, in the present instance $4A.10; next, the credit on account of dividend which the policy has earned, in this instance $3; and last, the amount paid, which is the difference between the premium and the dividend credit, and which in the instance shown in the drawing amounts to $41.10. The three vertical totalizers 30, 31 and 32 are set respectively to compute the three numbers above mentioned, or some or all of them may be'replaced by dummies. In other words, the totalizer 30 defines the adding column in which the premium is written, 31 defines the column in which the dividend credit is Written, and 32 defines the column in which the amount paid is Written. Each of these amounts is registered in the cross totalizer 33, the premium additively and the other two amounts subtractively. In the Remington accounting machine the direction of rotation of, the cross master wheel 27 is controlled by certain cams mounted on the vertical totalizers and in working on this particular form the vertical totalizer 30 would be equipped to cause addition in the cross footer and the totalizers 31 and 32 to cause subtraction in said cross footer. When the premium is written it is added in the cross totalizer. When the dividend credit is written it is subtracted in the cross totalizer, and when the amount paid is written this also is subtracted in the cross totalizer. Since the premium should equal the sum of the dividend credit and the amount paid, the cross totalizer will be cleared by the writing of the amount paid, provided all of the work on this particular premium has been correctly done. If the cross totalizer is not clear after writing the amount paid then it shows that there has been an error somewhere and the operator is notified of that fact by the locking up of the machine.

After writing the line above described the operators next duty is to write the name and address of the policy holder in the space defined by the frame marks 101. In the form shown in the drawing the first letter of the policy holders name is some distance to the right of the first figure in the policy number in the principal line of writing above described and some distance to the left of the column in which the premium is written. In order to get the carriage in theposition to write the policy holders name, therefore, it must of necesslty be drawn further back to the ri ht than the premium column, and will probably be drawn clear back to the ri ht and tabulated down to the position of the first letter of the olic holders name. The tripper 95 is pre erab y mounted on the left-hand totalizer 30 corresponding to the premium column and in the position which -will be understood by referring to Fig. 3. The position of the carriage is indicated by the pointer 102 which is designed to co-operate for that purpose with graduations 99 on the totalizers. It may be mentioned that the tripper 95 covers up one of these graduations which is, accordingly duplicated on its upper surface. In Fig. 3 the carriage is in that letter space position immediately at the left of the premium column, and the tripper 95 is in engagement with the right-hand incline of the cam projection 94. Motion of the carriage one step to the left of the position shown would operate the bell cranks 87, 86 and trip off the lever 60. In drawing the carriage back to the right after writing the first line, including the amount paid, the carriage would pass this point and trip off the lever 60. At that moment the cross footer would be in its righthand position and if it was clear the finger 57 would be standing under the bar 66 and would prevent the latter from falling and locking up the machine. If on the contrary the cross footer was not clear, the finger 57 same thing would of course be true for va rious locations of the tripper 95, it being only necessary that it be so located that when the carriage is pulled back to the right far enough to write in the name of the policy holder this 1 tripper shall act on the cam 94.

A location about such as shown is advantageous, however, for another reason. It is not only important that the cross totalizer be clear immediately after writing the amount paid, but it is also important that it be clear before writing the premium; It will be seen that by locating the tripper 95 in the position described it not only acts on the cam 94 during the rightward travel of the carriage after writing the amount paid, but it also acts on said cam again during the leftward travel of the carriage just before said carriage comes into the premium column. If ever hin goes well and the machine is not ocke up the operator is therefore assured of two things, first, that the cross totalizer was clear before she wrote the premium and second that it was clear after she wrote the amount paid and before she wrote in the name of the policy holder. In short, the tripper acts twice during each back and forth reciprocation of the carriage. This is the reason for making the cam 94 ri id instead of using the pivoted dog employed eretofore.

The lever has a depending arm which has a finger piece 104 mounted thereon, which can be tapped by the finger of the operator to unlock the machine.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangements without departing from my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a combined typewriting and comgiving said lock a tendency to lock said keys, and means in said cross totalizer acting to nullify'such tendency in case said totahzer is clear.

3. In a combined typewriting and computing machine, the combination with printing keys, including letter printing keys and numeral printing keys, a carriage, a register and a device which occupies one position when said register is clear and which occupies another position when said register is not clear, of a bar for locking said letter and numeral printing keys, by direct engagement with the key levers, and means whereby said locking bar is controlled by said device.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York this 18th day of January,

FREDERICK A. HART.

puting machine including a carriage and a cross totalizer arranged to register numbers written across a wor sheet in a plurality of columns, clearance'proof mechanism inc uding a tripper part a part tripped thereby and means acting when said part is so tripped to test said cross totalizer for clearance, one of said parts traveling with said carriage, said parts being constructed and arranged to test said cross totalizer for clearance once durin the travel of, the carriage in letter feed direction and once during the return motion of said carriage.

. 2. In a combined typewriting and computmg machine including letter printing keys, numeral keys, a carriage and a cross totalizer arran ed to register numbers written across a wor sheet in a plurality of columns, clearance proof mechanism for said cross totalizer comprising a lock for said letter and numeral keys, means controlled by the carriage for III III

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