US2056452A - Printing quotation board - Google Patents

Description

0d, 6, 1936. HOOVER ET 2,056,452

PRINTING QUOTATION BOARD Original Filed May 9, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 OPEN E E BE HIGH l] El 8 D, 5 LOW m@ m a m /21 -TREND INVENTOR- I RAY HOOVER BY EVAN WHEELER 6 AT ORNEY- Oct. 6, 1936. R. HOOVER ET AL PRINTING QUOTATION BOARD" Original Filed May 9, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 'Hl HM,

FIG. 8

INVENTOR- RAY HOOVER BY EVAN R WHEELER ATi f h Oct. 6, 1936. R. HOOVER ET AL 2,056,452

' PRINTING QUOTATION BOARD Original Filed May 9, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 STOCK B STOCK A OPEN HIGH

LOW

TREND l9 INVENTOR- RAY HOOVER BY EVAN R. WHEELER Patented Oct. 6, 1936 UNl'l'ED STATES PATENT FFIQE PRINTING QUOTATION BOARD ration of New York Original application May 9, 1930, Serial No.

451,140. Patent No. her 4, 1934.

1,972,341, dated Septem- Divided and this application August 2'7, 1931, Serial No. 559,765

16 Claims.

This invention relates to a quotation board mechanism and more particularly to apparatus for visibly indicating or posting information concerning different items such as stock, bond and commodity quotations in response to telegraph signals. This application is a division of application Ser. No. 451,140, filed May 9, 1930, entitled Quotation Board System and Apparatus, and issued September 4, 1934, as Patent No. 1,972,341.

One system of posting stock quotations automatically at a plurality of separate places such as brokers offices and banks from a common transmitting point, now in use, involves the use of four channels of communication extending between i the transmitting station and the receiving quotation board apparatus, separate channels being employed to transmit signals corresponding to each of the hundreds, tens, units and fractions (in eighths) values of the quotation. The four transmitting channels may comprise four separate line wires or two line wires each having battery of positive and negative polarity applied alternately thereto in a series of impulses, in conjunction with polarized relays at the receiving station, for responding to the polarity of the current transmitted over each of the lines. A single line wire may be employed, of course, with a rotary distributor at the receiving station for distributing the signal impulses to the four control channels of the quotation board apparatus.

The quotation board as heretofore constructed employs a group of four indicating units each having a dial or drum bearing the numerals l to 9, 0 and a blank, the four units being disposed side by side behind suitable apertures so that when properly set up the numerals on the dials may be directly observed to give the quotation. Ordinarily, five of such groups of indicators are provided for each stock or item corresponding to the yesterdays close, open, high, low, and last quotations of the stock.

The four control channels are also employed for selecting concurrently the range and the stock. For this purpose, each group of indicators comprising the range; i. e., the yesterdays close, open, high, low, and last quotations, and combinations thereof are designated by single digit numbers and each stock is arbitrarily designated by a three digit number, the stocks having the greatest volume of sales and hence those most often quoted being designated by digits of low order as 111, 121, 211, etc.

The range is selected by transmitting over channel one for instance, a number of electrical impulses corresponding to the digit number of the range to be posted and the stock is selected by sending over channels two, three and four impulses corresponding in number to the hundreds, tens and units digits, respectively, of the stock designating number. The receiving apparatus in response to such impulses selects the stock and range and subsequently operates to transfer the four transmitting channels from the selecting mechanism to the magnet windings of the four indicating units of the range and stock selected. Each indicator unit may then be operated by transmitting the required number of impulses over the channels connected thereto.

In order to eliminate accumulative errors, means is preferably provided for restoring each indicator to blank or unison position before transmitting the quotation or answer. The restoration is accomplished by transmitting a series of ten impulses over each channel to step the indicators around to blank position. The ten impulses are sufiicient to restore any of the indicators to unison position even in the most unfavorable setting thereof and if this position is reached with a particular indicator before the entire ten restoration impulses have been applied thereto, the ground connection is automatically removed from the winding of the indicator magnet so that the remaining impulses are ineffective to rotate the indicator further. At the conclusion of the transmission of the restoration impulses the ground connection is automatically restored to each indicator magnet so that it will respond to a further group of impulses termed the answer group, corresponding in number to the number of the digit of the quotation to be posted, so as to set the indicator dials in the desired position.

The present invention has for one of its objects to provide a printing apparatus for a quotation board which may be operated by the same type of signals as those employed in the above system and which may be operated concurrently with such indicator boards from the same signals.

Another object is to provide a printing apparatus which may be employed in place of any of the groups of indicator units used in the so-called indicator boards and in which no change is required in the transmitted signals or in the indicator board control apparatus, to operate the same.

Another object is to produce stock quotation boards in which different combinations of indicator units and printing units may be employed, that is, in which the quotations of certain stocks may be posted by means of indicators, others by printing the quotation on suitable paper tapes in characters of sufficient size to be discerned. at a distance and in which the quotations of still other stocks may be posted by the use of indicators for certain of the ranges such as yesterdays close, open, high, and low and by printing mechanism for other of the ranges as the last, all of said arrangements being usable for different stocks on the same board and different boards being arranged differently, all of said boards being operable by the same transmitted signals.

Further and more specific objects, features and advantages will more clearly appear from the detailed description given below taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification.

The invention consists in the novel features of construction, arrangement, combination of parts, and electrical connections constituting the printing and paper feed unit and the control mechanism therefor and in the combination of such unit with the indicator units, as hereinafter described by way of example only, as being illustrative of one embodiment of the invention.

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawings for a detailed description of the invention wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of a portion of a stock quotation board having provision for a number of stocks, in which a combination of indicator units and printing mechanism is used for each stock or item;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the indicator board shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a fragment of one of the printing units, shown in its relation to the face of the quotation board.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of one of the type wheel units;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the paper feeding and metering device taken on the line 55 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view of the paper metering mechanism on the line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an exploded View of the commutator employed in connection with each type wheel for controlling the application to and removal of ground from the windings of the type wheel operating magnets;

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional View of the indicator unit on the line 8-8 of Figure 2;

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electrical equipment and control circuits for the indicator units of a stock or item in which the last quotation is posted, in one instance by means of a printing unit and in the other instance by means of direct reading indicators; and

Figure 10 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of a remote control system for a plurality of boards of different types.

A system for transmitting signals representative of stock or other item quotations, is described in a co-pending application of R. Steeneck, Serial No. 414,105, filed December 14, 1929, entitled Signal transmitting apparatus and issued January 30, 1934, as Patent No. 1,945,420, and in a co -pending application of R. Hoover, Serial No. 406,357, filed November 11, 1929, entitled Selecting and indicating system, and issued October 9, 1934, as Patent No. 1,976,398, a receiving apparatus is described, which is particularly adapted for the operation of a stock quotation or bulletin board in response to transmitted signals to automatically select a stock and a particular range thereof, such as the yesterdays close, open, high, low, or last quotation and to operate a series of indicators for posting a desired price or quotation of such selected stock.

The printing mechanism comprising the present invention is so constructed and arranged that it may be operated directly from the system and apparatus described in the said Hoover application in place of or concurrently with any of the indicator units and without the use of any additional apparatus or changes in the circuit arrangement.

Reference will now be had to Figures 1 and 2 in which we have shown a portion of a quotation board comprising a front panel 29 having a number of apertures or windows 2! behind which are disposed a plurality of direct reading indicator units 22 and a printing unit 23. Four groups of direct reading indicator units 24, 25, 26 and 21 are provided for each stock appearing at the corresponding respectively to the yesterdays close, open, high, and low quotations of the stock, each group of indicators consisting of four units 29, 30, 3! and 32.

Each indicator unit has a drum or cylinder 18 bearing digit characters adapted to be rotated around by a step by step movement, by means of a magnet l9 in response to electrical impulses, so as to bring the proper character appearing on the drum into view through the windows 2 i. Each drum is operated entirely independently of every other drum as will appear hereinafter, the construction of the indicator unit being subsequently explained more fully with reference to Figure I. In place of the four indicator units corresponding to the last quotation, the printing unit 23 is employed.

The printing unit has four type wheels 33h, 331E, 33a and 33), by means of which the hundreds, units, tens and fractions values of the last quotation are printed upon a strip of paper 34 which extends from a reel 35, beneath the type wheels 33 and downward across the face of the panel 20 to a take-up roller 35 upon which it is rewound. The printing occurs at the lower side of the type wheels 33 after which the paper is automatically fed downward along the board a distance sufficient to bring the printed quotation into view. A sufiicient length of paper is provided at the face of the board to expose a number of successive quo tations of each stock, so as to give the trend of the market for a predetermined number of quotations.

In accordance with the usual method of operating indicator stock quotation boards, at the conclusion of each days business the indicators may be set in their blank positions, with the exception of the yesterdays close indicators, which are operated to post the last quotation of the day in readiness for the opening of the market on the succeeding day. At the opening of the market when the first sale occurs of any particular stock the indicators corresponding to the open, high low and last quotations are connected in parallel through the selecting system and the first sale simultaneously recorded upon each of these indicators. Subsequent sales occurring during the day actuate the last group of indicators only, except in those cases in which the last sale also establishes a new high or a new low for the day, in which event either the high or low indicators are operated simultaneously with the last indicators. It will be noted that the last indicators are operated in each case.

The printing unit 23 is so constructed, as will appear in detail hereinafter, that it may be operated directly from the same signals which are employed for operating the last indicators, the printing unit and paper feed operations occurring automatically without the transmission of any special or additional signals or without any change in the control apparatus employed for operating the last group of direct reading indicators, other than an extra contact upon one of the relays of the stock selecting system. Therefore, the quotation board, may at the selection of each broker, employ direct reading indicators entirely for certain stocks and printing apparatus in combination with indicators for other stocks or the board may be composed entirely of printing units in case range quotations other than the last are not desired and the printing boards or combination indicator and printing boards may be operated from the same signals and over the same system employed for operating the indicator boards, as will appear from reference to Fig. 10.

Reference will now be had to Figures 3 to 6 for a detailed description of the printing unit. The four type wheels 33h, 3315, 3511. and 33 corresponding to the hundreds, tens, units and fractions digits of the quotation to be printed are mounted for individual rotation upon a fixed shaft 40. Each wheel is provided with a star or ratchet wheel M by which it is individually operated with a step-by-step movement by a double armed pawl or anchor 62 pivoted upon a shaft 53 which is common to each type wheel unit. The pawls 42 each have a right angled armature portion M by means of which they are actuated by an individ ual electro-magnet G5.

The type wheels rotate in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 2. Each stroke of the armature 14, in a closing direction, in response to an electrical impulse transmitted to the magnet l5, causes the upper pallet of the pawl to move downwardly against a tooth of the ratchet wheel to rotate the same counter-clockwise one twentysecond of a revolution. Upon release of the armature, the pawl 52 is moved upwardly by a retractile spring 416 to cause the lower pallet of the pawl to engage the ratchet wheel tomove the same in the same direction another twentysecond of a revolution.

The type wheel has eleven flat sides bearing the characters l to 5 and El and a blank side. It is moved the distance of one character for each impulse received by its operating magnet 45.

Each type wheel unit comprises in addition to the type wheel 33, and ratchet wheel 4!, a commutator 55, the unit being mounted upon a sleeve 55 bearing on the shaft ill). The ratchet wheel All is mounted upon a reduced portion 57 of the sleeve 56 and is secured to the sleeve by a pin 58. The reduced end of the sleeve is offset at a number of points 59 to further secure the ratchet wheel thereto. The type wheel 53 is mounted on a reduced portion (ii of the sleeve for a limited rotation thereon and is retained against lateral movement by a disc or washer 62 carried by a further reduced portion 63 of. the sleeve 55. The commutator 55, the construction of which will be presently described, abuts against the washer 62. The commutator is fixed in definite angular position relative to the sleeve 55 by offsetting the reduced portion 55 of the sleeve 56 into the outer face of the commutator, as indicated by the numeral 65.

Obviously, the type wheels may be set in printing position by rotating the same from the last set position until the proper character is moved into printing position or the printing wheels may be restored before each printing operation to a predetermined or unison position, as for instance with the blank portion thereof in printing position, and then set in the correct printing position by transmitting to their operating magnets, impulses corresponding in number to the digit which it is desired to print. We prefer to employ the latter method of operation in order to bring the same into accord with the method employed for operating the direct reading indicator units, so that the printing mechanism may be operated in combination with an indicator board or from the same signals employed for operating the indicator board.

The commutator 55 mounted rigidly with the ratchet Wheel for rotation therewith, provides the means for controlling the restoration of the printing wheels to such predetermined or unison position prior to transmitting the impulses corresponding to the new quotation. Referring to Figure 7 which is an exploded view of the commutator it comprises an insulating disc l2 having a disc shaped metallic contact member '83 mounted upon one side thereof, the contact member l3 having a tubular hub l4 extending through the insulating disc and being riveted over as shown at i5 against the opposite side of the insulating disc to secure these parts together. An annular metallic contact member It is disposed at the opposite side of the insulating disc 72 from the contact member 13 and is secured to the disc by tabs ll which extend over the edge of the disc. The contact member 13 has a sector cut away and the contact member it has a sector 18 disposed within the cut away portion of the member l3. The sector l8 and annular contact member iii are insulated from the contact l3 and each of these contacts are provided with brushes l5 and respectively. The commutator is mounted relative to the type wheel in such angular position that the sector '88 is engaged by the brush when the blank portion of the type wheel is in the printing position.

The contact member 73 is grounded, as by means of a contact strip 82. The brushes l9 and 85 are mounted upon an offset portion 83 of the bracket 39 and are provided with terminal lugs Bi and 8H for making the electrical connections thereto. Lug BI is connected by conductor 84 to one terminal of the operating magnet, the opposite terminal of the magnet being connected to the line as will appear fully hereinafter and lug Si is connected, as by conductor 85 to a contact of. the selecting mechanism (no-t shown) whereby it may be selectively grounded.

The operation of the commutator is as follows. When it is desired to restore the printing wheels to their predetermined initial position prior tomaking a new setting, ten restoration impulses are supplied to the operating magnets through the selecting apparatus, as fully described in the aforesaid Hoover application, the operating circuit for the magnet 55 being completed through the brush 80 and the grounded contact 73.

Assuming for instance, that the type wheel was set to print the character for the numeral 6, the first five impulses would step the type wheel around to bring the numerals l, 8, 9, 5, and the blank portion thereof, successively into the printing position. At the moment the blank portion of the wheel reaches the printing position, the brush engages sector [78 of the commutator which, as stated before, is insulated from the grounded contact 13. The segment 16 of the commutator is ungrounded at the selecting mechanism at this time, and consequently, the circuit to the magnet is not completed during the transmission of the remaining five restoration impulses. The type wheel therefore remains set in its unison or blank position at the end of the transmission of the restoration impulses.

The ten unison or restoration impulses enable the type wheel to be set in blank position in the most unfavorable previous setting thereof, that is, with the numeral I in printing position.

At the conclusion of the restoration impulses, the selecting mechanism operates to apply a ground through the brush it? to the sector H1. The required number of impulses for stepping the type wheel into the new position may then be transmitted, the grounded circuit of magnet being completed through the sector 78 and brush 79. As soon as the first impulse is received the commutator rotates to place the contact 73 in engagement with the brush all so as to restore the normal ground to the magnet, the actuating ground at the same time being removed from the sector 18 in readiness for the next restoration cycle. The operating circuit connections for the printing unit and the direct reading indicators which may be associated therewith are shown more fully in Figure 9 and will later be described with particular reference thereto.

Separate inking rollers 90, rest upon each type wheel. Since the type wheels rotate to each printing position through the unison position, they make an average of one complete revolution for each quotation printed. In certain instances, where the wheel is set to print a number of high digit, as nine, and the succeeding quotation involves the printing of a number of low digit, as one, the low digit character will not be carried past the inking roller in moving into printing position and therefore, will not be inked immediately preceding printing. Two successive occurrences of this condition cannot occur, however, without a complete revolution of. the type wheel and complete inking thereof.

Prior to the opening of the exchange, each morning for the transaction of business, a number of groups of unison or restoration signals are transmitted for each stock and a thorough inking of the type wheels thus effected at this time. In the case of those stocks or items which are active, the type wheels will make successive revolutions past the inking rollers at frequent intervals. In the case of the less active stocks, a considerable period may elapse between each operation of the printing wheels. Ordinarily the character to be printed will be inked just preceding the printing operation but in order to provide for those occasions referred to, in which two successive printings occur a long time apart, without an intermediate inking of the character to be printed, a slow drying ink should be employed. Inks are available and in general use on stock quotation tickers which will remain moist on the type wheel under favorable atmospheric conditions for several days and which under the most severe conditions met in operation, will remain sufficiently moist to make a good impression, for several hours. An adequate inking of the type wheels is therefore assured at all times.

It will be readily understood that in printing successive quotations of the same stock it will be unnecessary to reset the type wheels for the entire hundreds, tens, units and fractions Values of the quotation but only for those values in which changes occur since the last preceding quotation. The remaining type wheels may be left in their last set position or may be returned to blank or unison position, thereby printing only the changes occurring in the quotation. The hundreds, tens, units and fractions digits will always be printed in the same relative position transversely of the paper tape and when a single digit as the fractions or units is printed alone the column or positioning of the printing will indicate ordinarily whether the printed character represents a units or fractions value of the quotation. However, in order to avoid confusion and to definitely indicate fractions values from units values irrespective of position on the tape, we prefer to print the fractions in a distinctive manner either as to color or form or both.

The provision of individual inking rollers for each type wheel and the use of individual type wheels for each digit of the quotation, permits such distinctive color to be employed for the fractions. We prefer to employ red ink for the fractions inking roller and black or other difierently colored ink for the units, tens, and hundreds rollers.

The paper strip 34 upon which the printing is recorded is of a width sunicient to extend across the face of the four type Wheels and extends from the roll 35, mounted between the side plates 53 and 54, over a metering roller 95, thence beneath the type wheels and around an idler roller 96 and through an aperture 91 to the front of the indicator board panel 20. The idler roller 96 is mounted between oifset lugs 98 at the ends of a plate 99 which extends crosswise between the side plates 53 and 54.

Individual platens or hammers Hi0, are positioned beneath each type wheel and have stems HH pivoted thereto by pins I02, the stems having vertical sliding engagement in apertures in the cross plate 99. The heads of the platens normally rest on the plate 99 and the lower ends of the stems are disposed directly above a universal platen actuating bar H13 pivoted centrally on a pin H34 in the forked upper end of the plunger H35 of a printing solenoid N16. The plunger N35 is returned to its lower position after each printing stroke by a coiled spring )8 secured to an extension llll of the pivot pin M34. The solenoid is mounted between the arms of the U-shaped bracket I09.

After the type wheels have been set in printing position, the solenoid I06 is energized, as will hereinafter appear, to raise the universal bar Hi3 against the platen stems, to move the platens upwardly against the paper 34 and force the same into contact with the type Wheels. The pivoted connection between the plunger W5 and the universal bar I03 compensates for any inaccuracy in the construction of the actuating mechanism and insures all of the platens making a complete stroke. The pivoted mounting of the platens on the stems compensates for slight irregularities in the setting of the type wheel or in the location of the characters thereon.

The paper is maintained under constant tension by the take up mechanism disposed at the lower end of the board, and the paper is fed forward, after each printing operation, a distance sufiicient to bring the printed quotation into view at the front of the board.

The paper is gripped between the knurled surface of the metering rollers 95 and knurled rollers H5 positioned adjacent each margin of the paper. The rollers II5 are mounted on the ends of levers H9 pivoted on stub shafts III threaded into the side plates 53 and 59 respectively, and each wheel is pressed against the metering roller by a spring II8.

The shaft of metering roller 95 is pivoted on pin bearings I22 in the side plates 59 and 59 and is retained against rotation under the tension of the paper by a stop wheel I23 having a shoulder I24 engaging a stop arm I25 pivoted on a pin I25 threaded into a bracket I2'I suspended from the cross plate 99. The stop arm is normally held in engagement with the shoulder of the stop wheel by a spring I29 encircling the pivot I29 and having one end engaging the lower end of the stop arm. A latch ISI, pivoted at I39 in a recess in the cross plate 99, is pressed upwardly by the opposite end of the spring I29, against a pin I99 carried by the stop arm I25. The latch is notched at I95 to engage the pin I39 when the stop arm is moved out of engagement with the stop wheel.

A lever I39, pivoted at I31 to the bracket I2I, has a. forked end I38 in which the end of the pin I99 engages to rock the lever each time the plunger I95 operates to print a quotation. The lever I39 carries a dog I49 pivoted thereto at MI, an end of the dog normally extending over the shoulder I92 of the stop arm I25.

Upon upward movement of the solenoid plunger, the left end (Figure 5) of the lever I39 is swung downwardly, the dog I99 engaging the shoulder I42 of the stop arm, and pivoting to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 5 against the action of a coiled spring I93 until the shoulder M2 is cleared and then moving down below the inclined lower edge Hi l of the stop arm. Upon the return or downward stroke of the plunger, the left end of the lever, in swinging up, carries the dog in to contact with the inclined face of the stop arm and re-acting against the stop pin I45, throws the stop arm out of engagement with the stop wheel. Pin I34 engaging in notch I35 of the latch I3I holds the stop arm withdrawn. The metering roller shaft 95 is thus freed to rotate, under the tension of the paper 34, in a clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 3. During the first part of this rotation the eccentric portion of the stop wheel engages the free end of the latch I3I, depresses it and permits the stop arm to return under the action of spring I29 into position to again stop the metering roller shaft after it has made one revolution.

The diameter of the metering roller is such as to permit the printed portion of the paper to be drawn into view at the front of the board.

The paper passes down the face of the board and through an aperture I59 at the bottom thereof and around an idler roller I5I to the take-up roller 39, mounted between the side plates 53 and 54. A gear I52 fixed to the take-up roller meshes with an idler gear I53, meshing in turn with a gear I54 driven by a spring motor, not shown.

Reference will now be had to Figures 2 and 8 which show the construction of the indicator units 22 which may be employed in conjunction with the printing unit. The indicator unit comprises a rectangular casing I82 having the drum I9 bearing the characters I to 9, 9 and a blank portion, mounted on a vertical shaft I89 bearing in the frame I82. The drum has a star or ratchet wheel 4| secured to the upper side thereof, and a commutator similar to commutator 55 of the printing unit, fixed to the underside. The magnet I9 mounted within the casing has an armature I9w, pivoted on a vertical shaft I84, the armature having a right angled extension terminating in the two armed pawl 92 which engages the star wheel to step the drum around. A spring 99 moves the pawl in the opposite direction. A pair of brushes I9 and 99 engage the opposite sides of the commutator to control the application of a ground to the winding of the magnet I9. The casing has an aperture or window in its front side to cause a single character to be exposed at a time.

In Figure 9 we have shown the circuit connections for operating the quotation board units of two stocks or items B and A. Stock B comprises four groups of direct reading indicators, the operating magnets I9 only of which are shown, corresponding to the yesterdays close, open, high and low quotations, and a printing unit for printing the last quotation or trend, the printing wheel operating magnets 45 only being shown. The board mechanism for stock A is similar to that of stock B except that direct reading indicator units are employed for posting the last quotation in place of the printing unit.

The mechanism and system by which the particular stocks and the range, that is whether yesterdays close, open, high, low or last quotations, to be posted are selected, forms no part of the present invention, being fully disclosed in said aforesaid application of R. Hoover. A portion only of the operating circuit is shown for the purpose of explanation.

The four channels of communication over which the signal impulses for operating the hundreds, tens, units and fractions magnets are represented by the conductors I95, I99, IB'I and I88 respectively. Each of these conductors extend in multiple to the contacts of a group of range relays I90, I9I, I92, I99 and I94, which determine which group of magnets I9 or 45 of any particular stock are to be operated. The range relays are controlled through the selecting mechanism (not shown) through conductors I95. The opposite contacts of each of the range relays I99 to I94 are connected to groups of conductors I9Iia, I9Ia, I92a, I93a and I99a common to the entire board and from which multiple connections I991), I9Ib, I921), I931) and I991) are made to the multi-contact stock relay I96 of each stock. The stock relays are also selectively controlled through the selecting mechanism, to determine the particular stock, the magnets I9 or 95 of which are to be operated. The connections I991) to I99!) are continued through the contacts of the relay I99 to the windings of the magnets of the yesterdays close, open, high, low and last indicators or printing units.

The switch tongues I9'I and associated contacts I98 and I99 represent diagrammatically the commutator 55 or 55' and serves when on contact I98 to apply the normal ground 299 to the magnet windings, the tongue reversing to contact I99 when the indicator drums orprinting wheels are in unison or blank position, to remove the normal ground and connect the magnet windings to the ground control contacts of the selecting mechanism through conductor 29 I.

Upon closing of one of the stock relays I99, as that for stock B, and one of the range relays, as

relay I94, the four signal conductors I85 to I88 are connected directly to the windings of the type wheel magnets 65 and upon transmission of the ten unison or restoration impulses over the lines,

the type wheels will be moved to unison or blank position and held there by removal of the normal ground 200 from the magnet windings. Thereafter, and before the signals corresponding to the new quotation are transmitted over the lines I85 to I 88, a ground is applied to the conductor 20I to cause the magnets to respond to the subsequent signal impulses. If the new quotation to be printed is 147%, for instance, one impulse would be transmitted over line I35 to set the hundreds printing wheel, four over line I86, seven over line I81 and five over line N38 to set the tens units and fractions wheels respectively, in readiness for the operation of the printing solenoid I06.

It will be understood that by operating two or more of the range relays, as the last and high relays I94 and I92 that the group of high indicators and the printing unit may be operated simultaneously.

The control circuit for the solenoid I includes a locking relay 205 and a control relay 206. The winding of relay 208 is grounded at one end and connected to one contact 201 of the stock relay I95, the cooperating contact having a source of potential applied thereto. Upon closing of the stock relay I90 to select a particular stock, relay 205 picks up and applies battery through its front contact to the grounded winding of locking relay 205 which then operates to complete a locking circuit from battery 208, left hand front contact of relay 205, and contacts 209 and 2I0 to the mid-point of the winding of relay 205. A circuit is also prepared for the solenoid I06 from the ground 2II, right hand contact of relay 205 and conductor 2 I2 to one terminal of the solenoid I00, the circuit being open at the back contact of relay 206.

This circuit condition is established upon selection of the stock and prior to transmitting the restoration and quotation signal impulses. At the completion of the transmission of these signals, the stock relay I96 releases and in so doing causes the tongue of relay 200 to drop back on its back contact, thus completing the circuit to the solenoid 05 and causing the same to operate to complete the printing operation. The upward movement of the plunger, through extension 2I3 opens the contacts 209 and 2I0 thus interrupting the locking circuit of relay 205 and the downward stroke of the solenoid plunger, releases the metering roller to feed the printed quotation into View. The contacts 209 and 2I0 are shown in Figure 9.

The exposed portion of the paper at the front of the board may be of any desired length and preferably should show from ten to twenty quotations. However, at times a broker or one of his customers may desire to examine the quotations on a portion of the tape which has already been wound in the take-up roller and this may be accomplished by merely grasping the paper and pulling it outwardly at the front of the board. The spring motor associated with gear I54 is tightened up by this action and serves to rewind the paper on the take-up roller when the paper is released.

At the time the paper is held withdrawn from the take-up roller, the tension on the paper is released at the metering roller 95 and should a printing occur at this time it would not feed out into view. The latch I3| serves to hold the stop arm I25 out of engagement with the stop wheel after the printing so that when tension is restored to the paper, the metering roller is free to make a revolution and feed the quotation into View.

It is obvious of course that the metering roller may be positively driven so as to rotate one revolution each time the stop arm is withdrawn from engagement with the stop wheel, as through a slip clutch or spring motor. Furthermore, the winding magnet I66 may be sup-plied with impulses from a purely local impulse generator instead of using the signal impulses or a winding motor individual to each printing unit or common to a number of units, may be employed.

It will be noted that a printing unit has been produced in which the type wheels may be set simultaneously or in succession and in which the printing from all four type wheels is accomplished in a single operation of the platen. The printing and paper feeding is effected automatically without the transmission of any special or extra signals other than those required to effect the stock selection and no changes are required in the selecting and control apparatus and circuits employed for quotation boards employing indicator units, other than the addition of an extra contact to the stock relay. The printing apparatus is rapid in operation and will keep pace with the indicator units and operates on the same signals whereby printing quotation boards, indicator quotation boards or combinations of indicator and printing quotation boards may be operated in the same transmitting system.

In Figure we have illustrated a quotation board system comprising transmitting station equipment 220 located at the stock exchange or other central point and a number of quotation boards 22I, 222 and 223, which may be located in different brokers ofiices. Each quotation board provides facilities for posting four stocks, A, B, C, and D. Board 22I uses direct reading indicators 22 for the entire range of quotations, that is, for the yesterdays close, open, high, low, and last quotation. Board 222 employs direct reading indicators 22 for the yesterdays close, open, high, and low quotations and a printing unit 23 for posting the trend of the market. Board 223 dispenses with all direct reading indicators and employs only printing units 23 for each stock for posting the trend.

Each board is operated from the common transmitting equipment 220 over the same group of conductors 224, four conductors being employed to control the hundreds, tens, units, and fractions indicators or type wheels. At each quotation board a relay 225 is included in series with each of the conductors 224 and the transmitted signals are thus repeated to the stock and range selecting mechanism 226 which controls the quotation board mechanism.

It is possible thus, to transmit a group of signals over the lines 224 representative, for instance, of the last and high quotation of stock A and to simultaneously operate all of the boards therefrom, the last and high direct reading indicators of stock A operating at board 22I, the high indicators and printing unit oper- .ating at board 222, and the printing unit alone operating at board 223. Various other arrangements and combinations of printing units and direct reading indicators may be used. For instance, all three arrangements or any two thereof shown in Figure 20 may be used with a single board for different stocks or items. The transmitting equipment 226 may be of the construction described in the aforesaid application of R. Steeneck and the stock and range selection mechanism 226 may be of the form shown in the Hoover application referred to above.

Obviously, other forms of direct reading indicators and printing mechanisms may be used, .as long as they respond to the same signals. Therefore we do not desire to be limited to the particular form shown and described but contemplate by the term direct reading indicators, as used in the appended claims, all forms of indicators in which the character carrying member is viewed directly as distinguished from those which produce a printed record from which the quotation is read.

Many changes and modifications of the struc ture will occur to those skilled in the art and we do not desire to be restricted to the specific construction shown and described.

What we claim is:

1. In a quotation board unit for posting information relating to a particular item, a group of direct reading indicators individual to said unit for indicating a certain range of values concerning said item, a tape, a printing mechanism integral with said unit arranged to print upon said tape additional successive values relative to said item, and means for selectively operating simultaneously one or more of said indicators and said printing mechanism for posting on said unit information concurrently both directly and in printed form.

2. In a quotation board unit for posting information relating to a particular item, groups of indicator units arranged horizontally in each group, said groups being disposed vertically one above the other, for indicating a certain range of information concerning said item, and a printing mechanism arranged to print upon a vertically moving tape additional information in horizontal lines, and means for selectively operating said indicator groups and printing mechanism either separately or together for posting said information in a vertically arranged column.

3. In a quotation board unit for displaying open, high, low and last values of a particular item comprising a plurality of groups of direct reading indicators for displaying the open, high and low values, and a printing mechanism for displaying a number of successive last values in printed form, operating signal channel means common to both the printing means and the groups of indicators, and means for selectively coupling the printing mechanism and indicator groups separately or two or more together to the signal channel means whereby one or more values relating to a single item may be individually displayed separately or concurrently displayed together.

4. In a quotation board unit for displaying a quotation as the open, high, low or last value of a particular item comprising a plurality of groups of direct reading indicators for displaying the open, high and low values, and a printing mechanism for displaying a number of successive last values in printed form, operating signal channel means common to both the printing means and the groups of indicators for transmitting operating signals thereto, and means for coupling selectively the printing mechanism and one or more of the indicator groups to such Signal channel means whereby a quotation maybe displayed simultaneously as a last value in printed form and as one or more of the other of said values directly.

5. A unitary quotation board for posting information concerning a plurality of items regarding someof which it is desired to post information of a certain character which may include one or more types, and regarding others of which it is desired to post information of another character which may or may not include information of the first type, said board being subdivided into sections to be viewed as a unit and arranged for information of a predetermined character relating to a particular item, said units being comprised either of one or more groups of direct reading indicators or a printing means or both together according to the character of the information to be posted upon said unit, signal channel means over which signals arrive for operating the posting means, and means for selectively connecting one or more of said posting means to the signal channel means whereby the posting means selected in each board unit may be operated to post the type of information to which they are adapted from the same operating signals.

6. A unitary quotation board for posting one or more ranges of information concerning a plurality of items, said board being subdivided into sections to be viewed as a unit upon which information relating to a particular item is to be posted, each unit of said board comprising one or more direct reading indicators for posting information as to certain ranges to be received directly and a printing means for posting other ranges of information successively in printed form, means for selectively operating theindicators or the printing means separately or together for displaying upon said board one or more ranges of said information in one or more forms.

7. A quotation board unit for posting one or more ranges of information relating to a particular item and having one or more groups of direct reading indicators for posting information as to certain ranges, and a printing means for posting other ranges of information successively in printed form, and means responsive to received signals for selecting and operating the printing means of said unit alone or together with one or t more of said indicator groups.

8. A quotation board unit for posting two or more ranges of information relating to a particular item and having one or more groups of direct reading indicators for posting information as to certain ranges, and a printing means for posting other ranges of information successively in printed form, and means for selecting and operating said indicator groups and said printing means separately or together in response to signals received for displaying upon said unit the information directly, as to any one of certain ranges, and in printed form, as to the other ranges.

9. A quotation board for posting a plurality of ranges of information concerning several items including a unit for each item comprising for certain items a plurality of impulsively operated step-by-step direct reading indicators, for certain other items an individual printing mechanism, including impulsively operated step-bystep printing wheels, and for still other items both indicators and a printing mechanism, said indicators and printing mechanism being arranged for displaying difierent ranges of the information, a pulse generator means common to both the printing mechanism and the direct indicators and operating in response to signals received, and means responsive to the signals re-' lating to a particular item for selectively completing the circuits from the pulse generating means to said indicators and printing mechanism either separately or together in accordance with units designated for the item and the range or ranges of information to be displayed, and means included in the indicators and printing mechanism for stepping those selected into position at the same time whereby they may be concurrently set for posting the information.

10. In a quotation board unit for posting quoiations of several ranges concerning a particular item, one or more groups of direct reading indicators for posting information as to certain ranges and having an indicator wheel for each digit of the quotation to be posted and a printing mechanism for posting information as to certain other ranges in printed form and likewise having a printing wheel for each digit, a common circuit means for the respective digit wheels of each over which pulses arrive for simultaneously setting the wheels of the indicators and the printing mechanism, and means for selectively connecting the respective digit wheels of the printing mechanism alone or together with those of one or more groups of indicators to the common circuit means.

11. In a quotation board for posting information concerning a plurality of items, a plurality of direct reading indicators for indicating certain information relative to said items, an individual printing mechanism for each of predetermined ones of said items for indicating additional information concerning said predetermined items, operating signal circuits common to both the direct reading indicators and the printing mechanisms, actuating means individual to each of said indicators and printing mechanisms, responsive to operating signals transmitted over said signal circuits, and means for selectively completing said signal circuits to said indicators and to said printing mechanism.

12. In a quotation board for posting informa- .tion concerning a plurality of items, a plurality of direct reading indicators for each item for indicating certain information relative to said item, an individual printing mechanism for each item for indicating additional information concerning said item, and means controlled from the same source of signals for selectively operating said indicators and printing mechanism either separately or together.

13. In a quotation board for posting information concerning a plurality of items, direct reading indicators for indicating certain information concerning said items, an individual printing mechanism for each of predetermined ones of said items for indicating additional information relating to said items, means for operating said indicators and printing mechanism by the same signals, signal conductors, and means for selectively connecting said conductors to said indicators and printing mechanism.

14. In a quotation board for posting information concerning a plurality of items, a combination of direct reading indicators for displaying certain information relative to said items, an individual printing mechanism for certain predetermined ones of said items for indicating additional information concerning the same, and selectively controlled means responsive to a single source of signals for operating said indicators and printing mechanism together to display the same information or for operating the same separately.

15. In a quotation board for posting information concerning a plurality of items, a plurality of direct reading indicators for indicating certain information concerning said items, an individual printing mechanism for each item for recording the quotation of said items on individual tapes, means for operating said indicators and printing mechanism from the same telegraph code signals, signal circuits, and means for selectively completing said signal circuits to said indicators or to said printing mechanism.

16. In a quotation board for posting information concerning the price of a plurality of items, a plurality of direct reading indicators and an individual printing mechanism for each of said items, means for operating said indicators and printing mechanism by the same telegraph code signals, and means for selectively operating said indicators and printing mechanism either separately or together, said printing mechanism recording the last price quotation of said items, and said indicators indicating the ranges of prices of said items.

RAY HOOVER. EVAN R. WHEELER.

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