US2265628A - Register - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 9, 1941. 7 G, c, CHASE 2,265,628

REGISTER Original Filed March 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Ge rg g-C77a$ WwLATTORNEY Dec. 9, 1941.

G. c. CHASE 2,265,628

REGISTER Original Filed March 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR George c, Chas e Patented Dec. 9, 1941 REGISTER George 0. Chase, South Orange, N. J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company, Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Original application March 1, 1940, Serial No. d this application June 2,

321,732. Divided an 1941, Serial No.

4 Claims.

The invention relates to registers, and it consists-in the novel construction and combination of parts, as set forth in the appended claims.

The present application has been divided from application Serial No. 321,732, filed on March 1, 1940, by the present inventor and entitled Registers.

The invention provides for the transmission of tens transfer movements concentrically with the numeral wheel axis through supporting frames which are provided between adjacent wheels, and for the support of said wheels on said axis by removable supports to facilitate the assembly and disassembly of said wheels, in a manner to avoid a binding action or excessive friction on the tens transfer mechanism due to unavoidable imperfections in the alignment of the axial- 1y mounted parts.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention,

Fig. 1 is a sectional viewof the taken on the line l-l of .Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows in cross section a numeral wheel accumulator,

of the units order of the accumulator, the right hand supporting frame, an intermediate supporting frame, and the gear members related to the numeral wheel of the tens order.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the transfer aligner cam carried by each numeral wheel except the one of highest order.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken just inside the right end frame of the register carriage, with the parts in the position taken when 'the carriage is at the extreme left.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the parts located in the right hand end of the carriage.

In Figs. 1 and 4 the intermediate supporting frames I5l, which are shown in Fig. 2, are omitted for clearness.

In the drawings the invention is shown as it might be used in conjunction with the register mechanism of. applicants co-pending applications for United States patent, No. 176,156, filed November 24, 1937; No. 285,860, filed July 22,

1939; and No. 316,738, filed February 1, -194:0, which is similar to the register mechanism of United States Patent No. 2,089,6 issued to George 0. Chase on August 10, 1937. These disclosures illustrate the uses of I the invention in connection with any wheel to wheel tens transfer type of register, as well as its more specific uses with a register of the crawl transfer type, with or without the feature of normal reading alignment which is shown in the applications and the patent.

Insofar as the parts shown in the present application correspond with parts shown in the 1ssued patent, like part numbers will be used.

That patent and the co-pending applications show no zero setting mechanism for the accumulator, and make no provision for the return of the accumulator wheels to zero through the taking of a total as is commonly done if listing mechanism is provided.

United States Patent No. 1,932,013 issued to Loring P. Crosman on October,24, 1933, shows a listing machine having an accumulator of the crawl transfer type, but in order to restore the numeral wheels of said Crosman patent to zero, as in the total taking operation, it is essential that a successive zero setting action be provided, in which the numeral wheel of lowest order shall be cleared first, then the tens order, etc. There are various reasons for this requirement of successive zero setting of the numeral wheels of a the Crosman patent, one of which would apply equally to a zero setting mechanism adapted to clear the accumulator of applicants patent, or

of the co-pendlng applications, through the numeral wheel actuating train.

If a simultaneously acting zero setting mechanism were applied to an accumulator constructed in accordance with the disclosures of Patent No. 2,089,682, or the co-pending applications, a cramping action would occur under certain conditions between the pinion 412, the sleeve of the eccentric hub 430, and the shaft 403 upon which these parts aremounted, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of that patent. This cramping action would occur in case the higher of two adjacent wheels is driven against its zero stop ahead of the lower order wheel, after which the member which moved said higher wheel to zero by rotating its pinion "2 reverscly continues to press said 'wheel firmly against its zero stop, crowding the pinion hard against the sleeve, which is in turn pressed against shaft 403 during the time when the sleeve is to be rotated reverscly by continued movement of the lower wheel. It has been observed in practice that this squeezing effect upon the sleeve may reach such proportions as to require positive instead of spring or frictionally impelled means for simultaneously resetting numeral wheels so constructed to zero. The present invention embodies improvements which eliminate this cramping ac tion.

As shown in Figs. 1 and digital values are der, it is mounted on an eccentric hub 438 which rotates with the numeral wheel of next lower order. The floating gear 418 meshes with internal teeth 413 of the numeral wheel 413, to transmit both direct digital and tens transfer values to that wheel, the first by rotary movement and the other by an orbital movement transmitted by hub 438. The gear 418 has nine-tenths as many teeth as the internal gear 413, thus providing for the tens transfer movement, as floating gear 418 is carried about its orbit.

A pin 481 is secured in each wheel, and passes through a slot formed in the aligner cam 485 related to each wheel excepting the one of highest order. A spring 488 is secured at one end to the pin, and at the other to the cam, to normally hold one end of the slot against the pin as shown in Fig. 3. This flexible connection between the numeral wheel and the aligner cam serves no new purpose in connection with the present invention, its purpose being described in United States Patent No. 2,089,682.

Each aligner lever 483 (Fig. 1) is provided with a lug 484 which may take its position against the aligner cam 485 of the next lower numeral wheel, under the influence of the spring 486. Aligner gear 482 (forming part of the above mentioned transmission train) is mounted on this lever, and meshes on its forward side with the pinion 412 of the numeral wheel of the same I order, and on its rearward side with the gear As the aligner lever 483 and the aligner-gear 482 are lifted by cam 485 of a lower order wheel, a retractive or minus movement is imparted to the related numeral wheel, which is sufficient to counteract the crawl transfer effect which would otherwise be transmitter to that wheel from the wheel of next lower order.

A bail 489 (Figs. 4 and 5) is provided to lift all of the aligner levers during registering operations, permitting a free and uniform speed rotation of each numeral wheel. Normally, however, the lugs 484 of the several aligner levers rest against their related aligner cams.

The pin 481 which drives the aligner cam also engages an arm I48, formed on a sleeve of the eccentric hub 438, to drive the latter member in time with the next lower numeral wheel.

Since there are a greater number of numeral wheels in the register carriage 2 than output gears 411 in the base frame I of the machine, detents I41 (Fig. 4) are provided to prevent accidental displacement of the overhanging numeral wheels. Springs I48 impell the forwardly extending hooked arms of the detents between the teeth of gears 480, unless some means prevents this action. Plate I49 is secured to the stationary frame I of the machine, and holds all of the detents disengaged in orders in which the gears 488 are in mesh with the output gears 411. Recesses may be provided in the forward edge of this plate, to permit the dropping of the detents while the carriage is shifting, at which time the gears 488 may move from oneto another of the gears 411.

The gear 488 should preferably be made wider thanthe gear I58 (to be hereinafter described) in order that the detent I41 may engage with the gear 488 and not interfere with the rotation of gear I58.

A supporting frame I5I (Fig. 2) is located between each two adjacent numeral wheels, and is provided with a cylindrical bearing, upon which the pinion 412 is mounted, while the sleeve of the eccentric hub 438 which rotates with the wheel of next lower order is mounted within the bearing, so that any radial pressure from the pinion may not be transmitted to the sleeve. This eliminates the cramping action referred to above, and

supporting frames I5I are also advantageous in maintaining alignment of the accumulator elements of a four rules calculating machine, which is frequently provided with twenty or more numeral wheels.

The numeral wheels 413 and the aligner cams 485 are mounted for rotation concentric with the sleeves of the eccentric hubs 438 by means of a sectional shaft 483, the sections of which are in turn supported at each end within the sleeves of the eccentric hubs. By this arrangement a numeral wheel and its aligner cam may rotate upon their supporting shaft, or the shaft may rotate individually within the sleeves, which ever offers the least frictional resistance to rotation.

The shaft sections are held in their proper longitudinal position by means of adjustable screws I52, one in each end frame of the carriage, these screws being so adjusted as to permit slight endwise freedom between the shaft sections.

The aligner cams and the numeral wheels may be readily removed from the machine by removing screws I52 and the shaft sections, unhooking the springs 488 from the pins 481, and removing the cams, which provide the space necessary for the removal of the wheels. Any wheel and its related cam may be individually removed from the machine at will by the use of the well-known follow through" shaft which is used to push out some but not all of the shaft sections, according to the position of the wheel which it is desired to-remove, then retracting said shaft the distance of one numeral wheel space to free that wheel and its cam.

The use of a separate shaft section for each wheel, instead of a single shaft extending through the several wheels, eliminates any tendency to bind the sleeves of the eccentric hubs 438, resulting from imperfect alignment of the sleeve, or lack of straightness of .the shaft.

Secondary actuator The numeral wheels are normally driven by -the output gears 411 of the differential actuator mechanism, but may alternatively be driven by the gears I58 which are mounted on the power shaft I53 (Fig. 4). Spring impelled plunger pins I54 carried by collars secured to the shaft engage each with one of a series of depressions formed in the adjacent gear, so that the'gears will be driven in the rotation of the shaft unless held by some means, in which case the plunger pins will yield, permitting the shaft to complete its rotation. Such a construction is extensively used in the zero setting mechanism of calculating machines and is well known.

Each gear I58 is provided witha pin I55 which serves to limit the movement of the gear by contact with a tooth I58, secured upon the housing of the carriage. As shown in Fig. 4, the gear I58 is in its zero position. v

As will be explained hereinafter, the gears I58 may serve for storing values, or indicating grand totals-as well as for a secondary actuator. Consequently a numeral wheel I51 is secured to a gear I58 which is mounted on a shaft I59, and meshes with the gear I50. This numeral wheel may, if desired, be secured directlyto the gear I50, and the gear I58 eliminated, or may even be eliminated-altogether, since the gear I50 is of Selective meshing mechanism A key I60 (Fig. is provided for lifting the gear 480 from engagement with gear 411 and into engagement with the gear I50. Depression of this key rocks a lever I 6I to which it is piV-- oted. This lever is pivotally mounted on a fixed stud I62 and is provided with a rearwardly exessary. These arms are pivoted at their forward ends upon the axis of the numeral wheels 413. Pinions I65 are secured to each end of shaft 53, and engage with fixed racks I66 so that the shaft is rotated as it is lifted, and maintained in a. horizontal position, carrying the arms I64 with it. A rod I61 underlies the rearward ends of the arms, limiting their downward movement.

Shaft 48I, upon which the gears 480 are free to rotate, is carried by the arms I64, forming therewith an oscillatory frame. The supporting frames I5I are not shown in Figs. 1 and 4, but slots are to be provided in these frames to permit the ifting of this shaft. Springs I68 tend to hold the gears 480 normally in mesh with gears 411.

The aligner levers 483 are also pivotally mounted on shaft 48I, as seen in Fig. 1, so the aligner gears 482 which may stand in various positions, according to the position of the next lower numeral wheel (excepting the gear 482' of the units order which is mounted on the right hand arm I64) maintain substantially the same relative position when the gears 480 are lifted ations from either source of movement.

A spring impelled latch I68 snaps under the the lever encounters a lug I11 formed on the releasing lever I1I, depressing the lever and passing to the rearward side of the lug, which resumes its previous position under the influence of the spring I13. When the nose of the lever falls back into the notch at the end of one revolution in a clockwise direction (under the influence of spring I18 as will be hereinafter described) the lower end of the lever encounters the lug I11, and the angle of the contacting faces is such that the lever I1I will not be depressed, but the latch I68 will be carried forlifted shaft 48I, holding the gears 480 in mesh with the gears I50, until this latch is manually or automatically released. The latch is pivoted on the shaft I53, and its upwardly extending end passes through a slot in the carriage housing, and is provided with a key button I which may be pressed manually to effect the release. A releasing lever I1I is pivoted on the latch, and provided with a lug I12 which is impelled by a spring I13 against the rearward edge of the latch, these two parts normally acting as one and the spring functioning to snap the latch beneath the shaft 48I. Automatic means are provided to release the latch at the end of each clockwise rotation of shaft I53. Spring impelled plunger pin I14 is mounted near the right hand end of.this shaft and serves to rotate cam I15 in a clockwise direction, but not in a counterclockwise direction. A nose of follower lever I16 normally rests in a notch of the cam, and is positioned rearwardly during substantially the entire cycle of clockwise rotation of the cam. During its rearward movement, the lower end of ward, allowing the shaft to resume its normal position with the gears 480 in mesh with the gears 411. In this action the latch I68 is carried forwardly somewhat more than is required to release the shaft 48I, in order that the lug I11 which is moving in an are about shaft I53 may escape from the lower end of lever I 16, after which the spring I13 retracts the latch until it rests against the forward side of shaft 48I, the lug I11 at the same time swinging beneath the lower end of lever I16 and coming to rest in the position shown in Fig. 5. The slot in the carriage housing through which the upper arm of the latch passes is long enough so that the arm may move a short distance rearwardly, and a greater distance forwardly from the position in which it is shown.

When the gears 480 are lifted into mesh with the gears I50 it is essential that the detents I41 which have previously been in engagement with the gears 480 which stood at the right or the left of the output gears 411 of the differential actuator mechanism shall be lifted. These detents are mounted on the shaft I63 which is lifted as previously described whenever key I60 is depressed, carrying rearwardly extending arms I18 of the detents against the rod I61, withdrawing any detents which may have previously engaged the gears. The numeral wheels 413 are now subject to the control of the gears I50.

Setting of the zero stop rocker frame I16 rearwardly and holding it set until the end of the cycle, the rearward edge of said lever presses against a pin I8.) which is mounted in an arm I8I which forms the right hand end of a zero stop rocker frame I82 which bridges all of the numeral wheels 413 and is pivoted at each end of the carriage on the fixed studs I62. The lever I16 is pinned to the shaft I58 on the left hand end of which there is secured a duplicate lever which acts on a second pin I in the left hand arm I8I, to provide for parallel operation of the zero stop rocker frame I82. This frame is provided with upstanding fingers I84 which normally stand out of the path of travel of the pins 481 of the numeral wheels (Figs. 2 and 5), but are moved into the path of these pins to arrest the wheels at zero as they are rotated in a subtractive direction in zero setting operations. Upon the completion of a cycle of operation of the shaft I53 and the cam I15 in a clockwise direction, the rocker frame I82 resumes its normal position under the influence of spring I18.

Rotation of shaft 153 The shaft I53 is adapted for selective rotation in either direction, according to the function it has to perform. In a commercial machine it should preferablybe operated by motor power under the control of selectively operable func tion keys, but such a driving means forms no part of the present invention and is not shown. This shaft could be driven selectively in either direction by a hand crank applied to its right hand end. A spring impelled locating roller 585 (Fig. 5) rides. a cam use secured to shaft 553 to facilitate the location of said shaft in full cycle position.

Elemental operations Total taking and value transporting operations of the numeral wheels 613 through the difierential actuator gearing sir are facilitated by this invention, since the crawl transfer accumulator wheels may be zeroized simultaneously. Aside from this there are five different and useful operations which may be performed by the selective rotation of shaft I53, in some of which the keys Hill and Ill) must also be used. These five operations are:

1. Clearing the grand total indicator.

2. Transporting values from the accumulator to the grand total indicator.

3. Transporting values from the grand total indicator to the accumulator.

4. Accumulating grand totals.

5. Clearing the accumulator.

Four elemental operative movements are involved in these five different operations, as follows:

(a) Depression of the key I60. mib) One cycle of clockwise rotation of shaft One cycle of counter-clockwise rotation of shaft I53.

(d) Operation of key no.

Operation No. 1 is affected by movement (0) (rotating shaft H53 one revolution counter-clockwise). This rotates the gears 850 and the wheels l5! until the teeth use arrest the grand total indicator wheels with Os showing through the windows in the carriage housing.

Operation No. 2 is efiected by movement (a) (depression of key 860) and (b) (rotation of shaft H53 clockwise). This clears the accumulator, transporting the value it contained to the grand total indicating wheels 9511 which should have stood at zero when operation No. 2 was started. At the end of this operation the gears 488 resume their engagement with the output rev aaeaeae total indicating wheels in movement (1)). at the end of which operation latch its is automatically released, permitting the gears 380 to resume their normal position in engagement with gears t'll.

Operation No. 5 is effected by movements (a), (b) and (c). In movement (22) the accumulator 573 is cleared to zero, transporting the value to the grand total indicator l5! which, if constructed according to Fig. '4, must have stood at zero before this operation was started. At the end of movement (b) the gears 489 are automatically released from engagement with gears 556 so that in movement (0) the grand total indicator 551 is cleared to zero.

- I claim:

i. In a register, a series of supporting frames provided each with a cylindrical bearing, an accumulatorincluding a series of differentially driven pinions mounted on said bearings, tens transfer mechanism of the direct wheel to wheel type and including cylindrical elements mounted within said bearings, a; sectional shaft comprising sections each supported within two adjacent cylindrical transfer elements, and a series of numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a section of said shaft.

2. In a register, a series of supporting frames, an accumulator including cylindrical elements rotatably mounted in said frames and having movement transmitting extensions, a sectional shaft comprising sections each supported within two adjacent cylindrical elements, a series of numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a section of said shaft, and means for maintaining the individual shaft sections against excessive endwise displacement.

3. In a register, the combination with a series of yieldably driven zero setting gears and drive means operable to impart a simultaneous driving impulse tothe gears of said series; of a series gears an of the differential actuator mechanism,

as previously explained.

.OperationNo. 3 is efiected by movements (:1),

(0) and (d). The rotation of shaft 853 in a counter-clockwise direction in this operation clears the grand total indicating wheels 551, transporting the value to the accumulator 573 where it will be added to any previous value which may have been registered. If accumulator 413 previously registered a complemental (negative) value the effect will be subtractive. Operation of key I10 following the rotation of shaft I53 restores the gears 480 to their normal engagement with gears 47?.

Operation No. 4 is effected by movements (a), (c) and (b). In movement (c) the indicating wheels I51 are cleared, transporting the-value to the accumulator 413 where it is added to the newly registered total to accumulate a new grand total, which is then cleared from the accumulator M3 and transported to the grand of supporting frames provided each with a cylindrical bearing, an accumulator comprising orbital differential gearing including a series of input pinions mounted on said bearings and designed for driving connection with the zero setting gears, tens transfer input elements mounted within said bearings, and a. series of output numeral wheels provided with zero stops, and cooperating stop means adjustable to active position by the drive means.

i. In a register, the combination with a series of yieldably driven zero setting gears and drive means operable to impart a simultaneous driving impulse to the gears of said series; of a series of supporting frames provided each with a cylindrical bearing, an accumulator comprising orbital differential gearing including a series of input pinions mounted on said bearings and designed for driving connection with the zero setting gears, tens transfer input cylindrical elements mounted within said bearings, a sectional shaft comprising sections each supported within two adjacent cylindrical transfer elements, and a series of output numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a section GEORGE CHASE.

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