US2084560A - Accumulating device - Google Patents

Description

C. D. LAKE kACCUMULATING DEVICE June 22, 1937.

Filed July '15, 1954 '5 shets-sneet 1 S. mm

Mmm "HMM ddHNTOR. BY Y ATTORNEYS.

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June 22, 1937.

C. D. LAKE ACCUMULATING DEVICE Filed July l5, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 vr Q v Q f INVENTOR. f q BY ATTORNEYS.

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. www wm June 22, 1937. c. D. LAKE 2,084,560

ACCUMULATING DEVI CE Filed July 1s, 19434 y 5 sheets-sheet 's gleiillllll Z @l INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

June 22, 1937. c. D. LAKE 2,084,550

ACCUMULATING DEVICE Filed July 1s, 1954 5 sheets-sheet 4 Fles. f

INVENTOR.

June 22, 1937. Q D, LAKE 2,084,560

ACCUMULAT ING DEVICE Filed July 13, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Patented June 22, 1937 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ACCUMULATING DEVICE Application July 13, 1934, Serial No. 734,901

4 Claims.

This invention relates to tabulating machines and more particularly to an improved form of accumulator for such machines. In the well known form of Hollerith accumulator the drive 5 shaft is provided with a series of continually running clutch driving elements, one for each denominational order. The adding or indicating wheels are individually geared to driven clutch elements and these latter are tripped into engagement with their associated driving elements at differential times during the operation of the machine and thereupon rotate with the driving elements an amount depending upon the Value to be entered. At a predetermined time all the I5 clutches are mechanically disengaged and the several adding wheels will have been displaced different amounts depending upon the time at which the associated clutches were engaged. The driving clutch elements are constantly rotating so that engaging and disengaging occur while the parts are in motion and obviously the clutches are under a mechanical load when the disengaging action occurs. Further than this, it has been necessary to provide so-called overthrow locks for the driven elements to prevent inertia carrying them beyond the point of disengagement all of which has imposed an additional load on the driving mechanism.

The object of the present invention is to accomplish the differential displacement of the adding Wheels in a new and improved manner by so organizing the accumulator that disengaging of the clutches that have been tripped occurs while they are at rest. This plan has many and important advantages and reduces considerably the wear on the moving parts of the machine.

By providing an intermittent drive for the driving clutch elements the latter are brought to a stand-still at the time of de-clutching so 40 that disengagement occurs without strain and since at such time the driven elements are also at rest, there is no possibility of overthrow and the overthrow locks may be dispensed with entirely.

According to another feature of the invention, the hitherto mechanical carry mechanism operative to add a unit to the next higher order whenever one order passes through ten has been replaced by electrical instrumentalities. This has the effect of further reducing the hitherto heavy load on the machine which in rapid action may not be adequately sustained.

According to the improved arrangement of the accumulator the time element involved in declutching the driving clutch elements is obviated and de-clutching may be effected at any time after the clutch shaft is brought to a standstill.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention or from an inspection of the accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings: 1

Fig. l is a central section of an accumulator.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. l, showing several orders of the accumulator.

Fig. 3 is an outside view of the accumulato.: showing the clutch knock-out operating mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a detail of the intermittent driving gears for the accumulator drive shaft.

Fig. 5 is a time chart showing the timing relationship of several parts of the mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the circuit connections of the accumulator.

Figs. 7, 8, and 9 show the driving and drive gears in different operative positions.

The accumulator is provided with a series of index or number bearing wheels I0, each arranged With ten digit spaces, characters or type and adapted to be' singly, successively, or simultaneously rotated by the driving mechanism to add columns of figures. Each wheel I0 has secured thereto a gear II which meshes with a gear I2 freely mounted upon clutch shaft I3. Gear I2 has integral therewith a plurality of teeth I4 which are adapted to be engaged by teeth of clutch member I5 which is slidably mounted on shaft I3 but constrained to rotate therewith. Member I5 is normally held out of engagement with teeth I l and permitted to move `into clutching engagement whenever a corresponding magnet I6 is energized. There is a magnet I6 provided for each clutch I5 and these are arranged in two horizontal rows and staggered in position. For each magnet there is a vertical bar or rod II lpivoted in the frame and carrying an armature I8 facing a magnet pole so that, on energization of the magnet, its corresponding rod il will be partly rotated against the force'of a spring I9. This movement of the armature I8 releases a clutch lever 20 having a stop 2l with which the armature is in direct engagement. The lever 20 is thus normally latched and when released by the energization of magnet I6 is free to be moved sidewise about its pivot f clutching. Following this, those orders 22 by leaf spring 23 which bears upon one extremity of the lever.

Lever 20 at its forward end engages with the groove of sliding clutch member l5 and causes vthe teeth thereof to be carried into engagement with corresponding teeth I4 on gear I2 and thus transmit motion to the index wheels I0.

It will be understood that the magnets I6 are energized by circuits completed through perforations in record cards of the well known Hollerith type wherein the locations of holes represent numbers and as the cards are moved in transit past analyzing devices the circuits are completed to energize the magnets I6. The time of engagement of the clutches on shaft I3 therefore depends upon the position of the holes causing engagement. Consequently, the corresponding index wheel will be turned through an arc proportionate to such time. In other words, if the hole in the card represents the numeral 5, the index wheel will be turned five digit spaces.

If it is started from zero, the number it will dis-l play is 5 but should it start from any other number, say 7, then the number it will display is 2 but it will have moved the wheel of the next higher order of units one digit space through carry mechanism which will be described hereinafter.

Restoration of the clutches is effected by iingers 24 which are individually and adjustably mounted upon bar 25 mounted for horizontal reciprocation on arms 26. One end of the bar is also pivoted to the free end of an arm 21 secured to a vertical rod 23 whose other end carries an arm 29. A rod 3U carries a cam follower member 3| whose follower roller 32 cooperates with a cam 33 mounted upon shaft 34.

As the shaft rotates cam 33 will rock member 3| counterclockwise as Viewed in Fig. 3 and a depending arm 35 thereof will through adjustable screw and nut connection cause rocking of arm 29 and its supporting rod 28. This action will cause movement of bar 25 and attached fingers 24 against the free ends of clutch levers 20 to re-latch the same on the armatures I8. Shaft 34 also carries a cam 36 which cooperates with a sliding plate 31 in which are mounted studs 38 which are adapted to cooperate with extensions of rods I1. The timing is such that just as levers 20 are restored by bar 25 plate 31 is moved to cause rocking of rod I1 whereby the armatures will be retracted from the magnets and relatching with stops 23 positively effected.

The accumulator is driven from main drive shaft 39 which is connected to the card feeding and other units of the machine and is in constant rotation. Shaft 39 carries a gear 40 meshing with a gear 4I on shaft 34 in such ratio that shaft 34 effects one complete revolution for each cycle of the machine. During the greater part of the cycle the clutches I5 may be tripped at differential times to start rotation of their respective index wheels. At a predetermined time thereafter the bar 25 is operated to effect deinto which carrying is to be effected will be again tripped and, after they have turned their related wheels an additional space, will be again disengaged by the bar 25.

The shaft i3 is driven from shaft 34 through an intermittent gear connection as shown in Fig. 4. If'his connection comprises a driving gear 42 and a driven gear 43. Gear 42 is provided with sets of teeth 3U and lll and arcuate plates 32 and 83 each coextensive with a. SeCiOH 0f the gear having no teeth. Gear 43 is provided with a set of teeth a which mesh with teeth 80 and a set of teeth Bla which mesh with teeth 8|. Gear 43 also carries plates 82a. and 83a. which cooperate with plates 82 and 83 respectively to hold gear 43 stationary during the periods when teeth 80, 80a and 8|, 8Ia are out of mesh. The operation and the timing of this connection may best be understood in connection with the timing chart of Fig. 5. In this chart a cycle of operations is represented as divided in sixteen parts. Entering takes place and the clutches are tripped at times indicated along the line labelled Adding clutches. The line labelled Distributor indicates the time at which the circuits are completed through the adding magnets which is some time before actual engagement occurs to provide for the necessary mechanical movement of the parts. During the entering period, the toothed portions 80, 80a of the gears 42 and 43 are in engagement and the shaft I3 is driven uniformly and in synchronism with the card feeding mechanism through shaft 39. At the .point marked 11 on the chart the driven gear 43 will have come to rest While the plate 83 is in cooperation with plate 83a and the gears I2 and connected index wheels I0 which may be clutched to the shaft will come to rest therewith at which time amounts will have been entered in accordance with the time at which initial engagement of the clutches occurred. It is during this period when the shaft 43 is at rest, that the knockout bar 25 is operated to cause declutching and the actuated wheels will accordingly remain in their displaced positions. After the de-clutching action, the teeth Bla of the driven wheel 43 are again picked up byrthe further teeth 8l on gear 42 and the clutch shaft is accordingly in motion at point I3 of the cycle. At this time, impulses are transmitted to magnet I6 for carry purposes and their corresponding clutches will again be tripped and their wheels I8 will rotate through one further space.

At 15 the driven gear 43 will again have come to rest due to cooperation of plate 82 with plate 82a, and while in such position the knock-out bar 25 is again operated to cause de-clutching of the parts. It will be appreciated, of course, that with the intermittent gear construction the stopping and starting of the shaft I3 occur with gradual deceleration and acceleration as indicated on Fig 5, due to the coaction of the gear teeth so that there is no sudden jarring of the parts during stopping and starting. It will also be apparent that with the shaft I3 at rest during de-clutclling that the driving strainon the clutch elements I5 is released so that disengagement occurs with a minimum of strain on the knockout bar 25 and its driving mechanism.

The several relative positions of the gears 42, 43 are shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9. In Fig. 7 the parts are shown in the position at which deceleration of shaft I3 commences. At this point the last of the teeth 80 is leaving the last of the teeth 80a and the leading edge of plate 83 has engaged plate 83a and will proceed to effect a camming action against the latter to bring it to the position of Fig. 3. This decelerating movement takes place during the period represented in Fig. 5 by the oblique line extending between the points labelled Clutch shaft slows down and Clutch shaft stopped. Fig. 8 shows the position in which gear 43 is locked while gear 42 continues in its rotation and the locking, as seen, is due to the cooperation between plates 83a and 83 and also between sections 90 and 9| of gears 43 and 42 respectively. In Fig. 9 is shown the position of the parts with gear 42 `iust about to pick up and advance gear 43. This is brought about by the wide leading tooth of group of teeth 8| with the edge of section 96. Due to the involute configuration of the engaging surfaces there is a resultant acceleration of gear 43 from rest position to the speed of gear 42, whereupon uniform driving speed is attained through engagement of the remaining teeth 8| with teeth Bla. This same sequence of operations is later repeated when plate 82 arrives in cooperative relationship to its companion plate 82a. Thus in the manner de'- scribed gear 43 is driven with a uniform motion during the period when its teeth 86a and Bla are driven by teeth 86 and 8| respectively; is decelerated through the engagement ,of the leading edges of the plates 83 and 62 with plates 83a and 82a respectively; is accelerated by the engagement of the leading wide teeth 8| and 81a; and is held in rest position as explained in connection with Fig. 8.

Each index wheel I carries a commutator 44 having a conducting segment 45 which is adapted to form an electrical'connection between a pair of brushes 46 whenever the wheel stands at 9. A cam 41 is also carried by the wheel i6 and this cam is adapted to rock a bell crank latching lever i6 to cause release of a contact blade 49 whenever the index wheel passes from 9 to 0. Blade 49 carries one of a pair oi contacts 56 and when released by latch 48 will move against insulating bail I without, however, closing contacts 56. At the carry time in the cycle, bail 5I is moved toward the right as viewed in Fig. 2 and closure of contacts 56 will be effected in those positions in which the blades 49 have been released. This closure will complete the carry circuits as will be more specifically traced in connection with the circuit diagram.

Bail 5I is carried by arms 52 pivoted at 53, one of which is provided with a cam follower roller 54 cooperating with a cam 55 on a shaft 56 which has gear connection 51 with shaft 34. On shaft 56 are commutators 58, one for each order of the accumulator which are provided with contact segments 59 adapted to electrically connect brushes '66 during the carry portion of the cycle. The manner in which the carry circuits are com pleted may best be explained in connection with the circuit diagram (Fig. 6). This figure represents an adding machine and the various appliances and circuits used in operating it. Bearing in mind the manner in which these machines are habitually used and operated by punched cards, the numerals on which are indicated by the number and positions of the holes and are to be added, the following is the plan of operation. Start key contacts 69, when closed, complete a circuit from one side oi line 66, through motor M, stop key contacts 65, start relay magnet 66, start key contacts 63, to other side of line 61. Sta-rt relay 66 closes its contact 66a to provide a holding circuit for the motor M through relay contacts 66a and cam contacts 69 in parallel. Contacts 66a are closed while record cards traverse the analyzing brushes of the machine and are closed under control of the so-called card lever contacts. When a punched card is inserted into the machine, it moves a lever 6I and closes contacts 62 thereby completing a circuit from line 64, relay magnet 10, relay magnet 68, contacts 62, to line 61, thereby causing closure of contacts 66a.

Assuming that the machine is operating and cards passing through it; whenever an analyzing brush 1l encounters a perforation in a card, a path for the current is established to such counter magnet as may be determined by the position or column in which the perforation lies and the corresponding clutch is shifted into engagement and remains so during the adding portion of the cycle and until the clutches are knocked out of engagement. A representative adding circuit may be traced from line 64 to contacts 16a, cam contacts 12 and 13 which permit current to pass only during the card reading portions of the cycle, perforation in the record card, analyzing brush 1|, plug connection, such as 14, adding magnet I6 to line 61. It will be observed that at the time the clutches are first disengaged that the cycle of operations is not complete and carry operations are still to be performed. At the carry point in the cycle, cam contacts 15 are adapted to close and, in accordance with the conditions ob taining in the several orders of the accumulator, circuits will be completed to the adding magnets I6 in those positions in which an extra .unit is to be added. In the diagram are shown four orders, in-the units of which commutator 44 may be omitted since carrying is not effected in such order. The commutators, however, have been shown in dotted outline to indicate their location for certain cases where it might be desirable to carry a 1 into the units order.

Assuming that during adding operations the units order passed through zero, its contacts 59 will therefore be closed at the carry time and upon closure of contacts 15 the circuit will be completed from line 64, contacts 15, contacts 56 in the units order, wire 16, to adding magnet I6 of the tens order, and to line 61. If at such time the tens order wheel is standing at 9, the corresponding brushes 46 will be connected by segment 45 and the circuit through wire 16 will branch through brushes 60 and segment 59 of the tens order, brushes 46 and segment 45 of the tens order to magnet I6 of the hundreds order. After the carry circuits have been completed as selected by the condition of the index wheels, the circuits are broken by opening the contacts 15 and contacts 50 are again moved to their open, latched position by the restoring bail 5i.

The index wheels iii are freely mounted upon a shaft 11 which is provided with a notch 16 running parallel with theaxis of the shaft. Each. wheel carries a spring-pressed paw] 19 which, as the wheel is rotated to accumulate, is moved away from the notch in a counterclockwise direction so that after adding operations are cornpleted the pawls 19 will occupy various positions about the periphery of shaft 11. When it is desired to reset the accumulator, the shaft 11 is given one complete turn in a counterclockwise direction during which the notch 16 will pick up the pawls 19 and therethrough return the wheels to their zero positions. 'Shaft 11 may be rotated manually or by automatic mechanism well known in the art which need not be described herein.

` While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In an accumulator for a tabulating machine, an adding clutch, including an intermittently and cyclically operating driving element, means for causing the same to move and rest in alternation, means for causing engagement of said clutch at differential times during the movement of said driving element in each cycle of operation and means for causing disengagement thereof during the period in each cycle when the driving element is at rest.

2. In a cyclically operated accumulator for a tabulating machine, an adding element, a driving element therefor, means for moving said driving element with a uniform motion for a plurality of periods during each cycle and for bringing the same to rest after each movement, means for connecting said adding element to the driving element during any or all of said periods of motion and means for causing disconnection during each period of rest.

3. In a cyclically operated accumulator for a tabulating machine, an adding element, a driving element therefor, means for moving said driving element with a uniform motion for a plurality of periods during each cycle, and for bringing the same to rest after each movement, record oontrolled means for connecting the adding element to the driving element during one of said periods of movement, carry mechanism for causing the adding element to be connected to the driving element during another period and means for causing disconnection during each period of rest.

4. In an accumulator for a tabulating machine, an adding clutch including a driven element and a driving element, a member integral with said driving element, a constantly rotating driving shaft, an intermittent gear device on said shaft for alternately operating said member and holding the same at rest, record controlled means for causing engagement of said elements While the member is in motion and a cam carried by said shaft for causing disengagement of said elements after the member has cometo rest.

' CLAIR D. LAKE.

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