US1818883A - Taximeter or fare recorder - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 11, 1931. H. DUNHOLTER 1,818,833

TAXIMETER 0R FARE RECORDER Filed Sept. s, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M 1%,; M w I ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 1931- H. DUNHOLTER 1,

nxmmsn on FARE anconvsn Filed Sept. 5, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

/ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 11, 1931 HEINRICH DiiNHijLTER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY TAXIMETER OB FARE RECORDER Application filed' September 5, 19-28, Serial This invention has reference to a taximeter or fare recording apparatus for recording and checking fares on vehicles.

It has already been suggested to provide a taximeter with printing mechanism for printing the fares paid upon a checking strip which remains in the meter and which is therefore only available to the owner of the meter, and for printing the fare paid upon a ticket which is delivered to the passenger. Such apparatus has been either of a very complicated nature or unreliable in operation.

The present invention contemplates attaining reliability and simple construction and consists broadly in printing a checking strip and a receipt ticket in two stages or operations by movement into two successive' positions of the flag or signal, the movement of which actuates the other registcring and recording mechanism of the taximeter. hen the flag is moved into the first of the two positions, in which position it is held by a detent, the first printing movement takes place. The movement of the flag into the second of the two posit-ions cannot be effected until the detent has been released by an extra movement of the flag and until this is carried out, the second printing operation cannot be effected. The

detent mechanism not only ensures that both printing operations will be effected in succession, but also prevents any attempt on the part of the operator to evade the double printing operation by turning the flag quickly contrary to the instructions for use.

An example of a taximeter according to the invention is illustrated in the drawings on which Fig. 1 is a side view of the mechanism showingv the printing mechanism at rest. 2 is a similar View showing the mechanism in the first printing position. Figs. 3 and 4 are detailside views of part of the mechanism in two different positions; Fig. 5- is a detail? View of the delivery roller to a larger scale.

Referring to the drawings, a casing 1, only the front portion of which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 on the drawings, encloses the no usual. numbered wheels 2 of the indicator or No. 303,991, and in Germany July 3, 1928.

indicator and totalizer, which are visible through an aperture 3 in the casing 1. The several numbered wheels 2 drive corresponding type wheels 7 through gearings 4,, 5 and 6, such that'the type wheels make equal movement with the indicator or totalizer, thereby to bring the same numerals of the type wheels into the printing position as the numerals visible behind the aperture 3.

A shaft 9 is driven by or carries flag or signal (37, the shaft 9 being rotated in the direction of the arrow (ai'iticl ocl'nvi'se as seen looking on Figs. 1 and 2) on turning the flag 67.

Fixed upon the shaft 9 is a spur wheel 10 which drives a wheel 11 with which turns a printing roller 12 carrying printing type on a portion of its periphery for printing upon a paper strip 15 wound upon a spool The printing roller may carry both permanent and interchangeable type inked in the known manner by an inking roller 14. The strip 15 serves as a ticket strip and passes over a roller 17 so positioned that the strip 15 is pressed against the printing roller 12 and is fed forward a distance equal to the desired length of the ticket on the rotation of the printing roller 12. The r ller 17 in conjunction with the portion of the periphery of the roller 12 which does not hold type, feeds the printed matter past the cutting blades 20" and 42 before the cutting action takes place. The interchangeable type may consist of date wheels 18, set by the proprietor of the mechanism, so that the printing roller 12 will print both permanent matter and the date upon the strip 15. From the roller 17 the strip 15 passes over a shelf 22 which is pivoted on a horizontal axis 23 and has anextension normally held down by a spring 24. In the position shown Fig; 1 the edge of the shelf 22Qishcld down upon a roller 21 by a projection 25, so that the shelf 22 acts to strip the paper strip 25 from the roller 21. 9 A second paper strip 30' upon a spool 31 passes over the roller 21 beneath the strip 15 and below the edge of the shelf 22, so that it is delivered. into the lower part of the casing and isstored therein until it is severed by hand shears 32 which are provided for enabling the proprietor to remove for checking purposes that portion of the strip stored in the bottom of the apparatus.

The roller 21 is supported in a rocking frame 35 pivotally mounted at 36 in the casing 1 and having an arm 37, the extremity 38 of which normally lies in the path of two projections 39 and 40 of a member 41 fixed on the shaft 9 and consequently rotated in the direction of the arrow when the flag 67 is turned.

Turning with the roller 21 is a ratchet wheel 14 engaged by a spring-controlled detent 45 pivoted on an arm 48 which is pivoted at 46 upon the rocking frame 35. A spring 47 normally holds the arm 413 in the path of a pin 19 on the wheel 11 so that the rotation of the wheel 11 swings the arm 48 to the left and thereby causes the detent 45 to rotate the roller 21 through a distance sutficient to feed the paper strip 30 one step forward.

The roller 21 is preferably made of resilient material such as rubber and forms the printing bed for the type wheels 7 being rocked by the frame towards and away from the type wheels 7, from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2 and reversely.

hen the frame 35 is in its normal inoperative position, the inking roller 52 is positioned between the frame 35 and the type wheels 7. The inking roller 52 is carried by a yoke 54 pivoted at in the casing 1 and having a cross-pin which co-acts with a slot 57 in a bar 56 fixed to the rocking frame 35 in such manner that the upward movement of the frame 35 and bar 56 swings the inking roller 52 away from the printing point as shown in Fig. 2.

On the front of the rocking frame 35 is fixed a toothed segment 60 which meshes with a pinion 61 turning with a roller 62,

which is preferably a rubber roller. The mechanism is so constructed, in known manner, that the segment 60 only rotates the pinion 61 in one direction, namely during the downward movement of the frame 35, whilst the pinion 61 remains stationary dur ing the upward movement of the frame 35 which is arrested by a fixed stop 64. As shown in Fig. 5, the pinion 61 is freely mounted on the spindle 62a of the roller 62 and cooperates with a spring-pressed pawl 61a carried by the roller 62. On the upward movement of the segment 60, the pinion 61 rides under the pawl 616; which is held stationary by the inertia of the roller 62. On the downward movement of the segment 60, the pinion 61 drives the pawl 61a round with it, thus rotating the roller 62. The gear ratio of the pinion 61 and segment 60 is such that the pinion 61 rotates at a relatively high speed so that, during the downward movement of the frame 35, the ticket 15 (shown in dotted lines) which is severed from the ticket strip 15 by the cooperation of the lower cutting blade 12 with the upper cutting edge 20 and which is pressed against the roller 62 by the shelf 22, is rapidly ejected through a delivery aperture 65 into a receiving cup 66 by the roller 62.

The stop pin which holds the shelf 22 down in the position shown in Fig. 1 projects from the segment 60 of the frame 35 and thus releases the shelf 22 during the upward movement of the frame 35 and allows the spring 24: to turn the shelf 22 into the position shown in Fig. 2 in which it rests against the roller 62.

After the ticket 15 has been ejected and upon further rotating the shaft 9, the frame 35 is again rocked by contact of the projection 40 with the extremity 38 of the rocking arm 37. As the ticket 15 has been ejected in the interval, the paper strip 30 passing over the roller 21 is now uncovered. On the next upward movement of the frame 35, the inking roller 52, which had returned during the preceding down stroke of the frame into the position shown in Fig. 1, thereby inking the type wheels afresh, moves outwards again into the position shown in Fig. 2 and the roller 21 presses the strip 30 against the type wheels 7.

Figs. 3 and 4: show means for preventing the shaft 9 from being rapidly turned without a pause between the two printing oper: tions. Upon the shaft 9 is the usual friction ratchet gear comprising a star wheel 68 coacting with a lever 70 held against the star wheel 68 by means of a spring 6.). The star wheel 68 in the example shown has five teeth corresponding to five positions of the flag 67 denoted by the inscrhations For hire, Tariff 1, Tariff 2, Tariff 3 and Check. When the flag 67 is in the position denoted by the word Check, the projection 39 aetuates the frame On the wheel 10 are provided two pins 73 and 74, the pin 73 being larger than the pin 7 1 or further from the shaft 9. Upon a stud 75 is fitted a detent 76 having a recess 77 which engages with a fixed pin 7 8 for limiting the rocking movement of the detent 76 which is controlled by a spring 79 so that it normally assumes the position shown in Fig. 1. The detent 76 has two teeth 80 and 81 which are so designed that, when the flag 67 is moved into the Check position, the leading pin 74 strikes the tooth 80 and turns the detent 76 into the upright position shown in Fig. 3 in which the tooth 81 is brought in front of the pin 73 and prevents further rotation of the wheel 10 and shaft 9. The operator is thus compelled to pause in turning the shaft 9 and during this pause the printing and issue .of the ticket 15 is effected. To enable the operator to turn the flag into the For hire position, during which movement the projection 40 initiates the printing upon the checking strip 15 of the fare paid, the detent 76 must first be released. For this purpose, ratchet teeth 82 upon or turning with the wheel 10 and which cooperate with a spring pawl 84 to prevent backward rotation of I the shaft 9, are associated with a wider tooth so that a limited backward movement of the spindle 9 is possible when the flag 67 is in the Check position. The operator must therefore give the flag 67 a slightturn backwards, just sufficient to allow the pin 7 3 to clear the tooth 81 of the detent'76, as in Fig. 4, whereupon the pin 73 and spindle 9 are free to be further rotated in the normal direction.

As already stated, the numbered wheels 2 of the indicating mechanism are geared to the type wheels 7. Consequently, the Zeroizing of the type wheels will synchronize with the zeroizing of the indicating mechanism, which may be effected by the use of the usual heart-shaped cams 86 attached to the type wheels 7 and cooperating with end rollers 90 on the usual. cam levers '87 which are controlled by springs 88. The cam levers 87 return the cams 86 and type wheels 7 to zero position as soon as the type wheels 7 nave been released by the throwing-out of gear of the indicating mechanism.

The parts of the numbering mechanism can be easily manufactured and may be mounted on hardened wires to be easily rotatable and thereby enable the use of the simple heart cam for zeroizing the different numbered discs and type wheels, especially as each disc of the indi rating mechanism is geared to one of the type wheels.

Apart from the practical advantage of simple and reliable zeroizing of the indicating mechanism and type wheels, there is the further advantage, particularly important from a practical point of view, that the comparatively heavy paper roll 13, from which a strip is issued in the form of a ticket after every fare, is mounted in fixed bearings in the casing of the apparatus, and only the paper roll 31 for the checking strip requires to be mounted. on a movable part, i. e. the frame 35. The paper roll 31 can be very much smaller than the paper roll 13 because only a small strip corresponding to the height of the type of the type wheels 7 is required for the printing of each fare paid.

A further considerable advantage of the apparatus is that it can also be used without any difficulty with only one paper strip. Thus, for example, if the indicating mechanism 2 incorporates the usual totalizer, the proprietor may prefer to dispense with the checking strip 30 or he may temporarily remove the member 41 and substitute a member having only the projections 39 without the projection 40. The simplicity with which this can be carried out without reconstructing or rebuilding a number of parts is due to the fact that the same roller 21 is used as a printing bed for printing upon both strips.

Claims 1. The combination with a ta-ximeter having a fare indicator controlled by a n1anually-operated flag or its equivalent, of fare printing mechanism controlled by said indicator, and mechanism actuated by the operation .of said flag to print a checking strip and a ticket strip in succession.

2. The combination with a taximeter having a fare indicator, of fare printing mechanism controlled by said indicator, of manually operated mechanism to bring a ticket stripinto printing position, means for severing and ejecting as a ticket the portion so printed, and manually operated mechanism. to thereafter print a checlzing strip.

8. The combination with the indicator of a taximeter of fare printing mechanism controlled by the indicator, of an operating handle normally movable in one direction only, mechanism opera-ted when said handle is moved into one position to print a ticket strip, detent mechanism for preventing movement of said handle beyond said position, said detent mechanism being released by slight backward movement of said handle, whereby to enable further forward movement of said handle to bring checking strip into printing position.

4. The combination with a taximeter having a fare indicator set in. operation by a flag, of fare printing type controlled by the indicator, a reciprocatory frame, for supporting a ticket strip and a checking strip in superposed relationship, mechanism actuated by movement of said flag into one posi tion to recipro'catesaid frame and thereby move the ticket strip into and out of printing position, means for removing the printed portion during the backward movement of the frame to uncover the checking strip, whereupon further movement of said flag effects reciprocation of said frame to move the checking strip into and away from the printing position.

5. A taximeter as specified in claim 4 wherein the checking strip and the ticket strip both pass over the same printing bed comprising a roller mounted in the reciprocatory frame.

6. A taximeter as specified in claim 4: wherein the mechanism for reciprocating said frame comprises a rocking arm con nected to said frame and a member rotatably driven by said flag, said rocking arm being provided with a pair of projections arranged to successively cooperate with said arm.

7. A taximeter as specified in claim 4; having detent mechanism whereby to prevent continued forward movement of the flag when the latter is moved to actuate mechanism to print the ticket strip and means operated by slight backward movement of the flag to release said detent mechanism.

8. The combination with a taximetcr having a fare indicator, of fare printing type controlled by the indicator, a printing drum, means for manually rotating said drum, a spool from which a ticket strip is drawn, a guide roller to hold said strip against said drum, a platen roller cooperating with said fare printing type and over which said strip passes, and means cooperating with the rotation of said drum to move said platen roller towards and away from its printing position.

9. The combination with a taximetcr having a fare indicator set in operation by a flag, of fare printing type controlled by said indicator, a spindle rotated by said flag, 'atchet and pawl mechanism for controlling unidirectional rotation of said spindle, said ratchet having a broad tooth to permit slight backward movement in one position only of said flag, and mechanism actuated by movement of said flag into the position beforementioned to print a ticket strip and whereby after said flag has been moved slightly backward and thereafter moved forward beyond the first-mentioned position, a checking strip is printed.

l0. The combination with a taXimeter having a fare indicator, of fare printing type controlled by said indicator, a rocking member, means for manually rocking said member, a platen roller over which a ticket strip passes whereby to bring said strip into printing position when said member is rocked, severing mechanism for severing the printed portion of said strip, a pivoted shelf over which said strip is delivered, an ejecting roller against which said strip is pressed by said shelf when said member is rocked, and mechanism for rotating said ejecting roller during the return of said member to normal position.

11. A taximeter, as claimed in claim 10 wherein the ejecting roller is rotated on the return of the rocking member by a toothed segment on said member meshing with a pinion on said roller.

12. The combination with a fare indicator, of fare printing wheels driven from said indicator, a manually operated spindle, a printing drum rotatably driven from said spindle, a guide roller over which a ticket strip is passed and whereby said strip is held in contact with the printing drum, a platen roller over which a checking strip is passed, a pivoted shelf over which the ticket strip is delivered after passing over the checking strip around the platen roller, a rocking frame, means to impart two successive rocking movements to said frame for each revolution of said spindle, whereby to bring the ticket strip and checking strip successively into printing contact with the type wheels, means for severing the printed ticket strip when the latter is brought into contact with the type wheels and means for ejecting the severed portion of the ticket strip.

13. Fare indicating mechanism as claimed in claim 12 having a feed wheel on the platen roller and means actuated by the rotation of the printing drum for rotating said feed wheel.

14. Fare indicating mechanism as claimed in claim 12 in which the means for rocking the frame comprises a member on the spindle, a pair of spaced projections on said member adapted to successively coact with the rocking frame to rock the latter, ratchet and pawl mechanism for controlling unidirectional rotation of said spindle, said ratchet having a broad tooth to permit slight backward movement of said spindle when the leading projection on said member has rocked said frame and detent mechanism for preventing forward movement of said spindle beyond said position, said detent mechanism being released by slight backward movement of said spindle.

15. Fare indicating mechanism as claimed in claim 12 in which the means for rocking the frame comprising a member on the spindle, a pair of spaced projections on said member adapted to successively coact with the rocking frame to rock the latter, ratchet and pawl mechanism for controlling unidirectional rotation of said spindle, said ratchet having a broad tooth to permit slight backward movement of said spindle when the leading projection on said member has rocked said frame and detent mechanism for preventing forward movement of said spindle beyond said position, said detent mechanism being released by slight backward movement of said spindle, said detent mechanism comprising a pivoted spring don. means for limiting the movement of said dog and a pair of teeth on said dog cooperating with spaced projections rotatable with the spindle in such manner that the leadina projection moves said dog to arrest further movement of said spindle until said spindle is given a slight backward movement, whereupon said spring dog moves clear of said projections.

16. In a taximeter the combination with a fare indicator, of a manually operable flag for controlling said indicator, a casing having an aperture through which said indicator is visible, printing mechanism driven by said indicator, means actuated by the

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