US2267655A - Cash register - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 23,-1941.

H.'F. B HOGFORS 2,267,655

CASH REGISTER Original Filed May 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet l Ilia 1X9 158' Dec. 23, 1941. H, F, B, Hgj FoRs 2,267,655

CASH REGISTER Original Filed May 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 23, 1941.

H. F. B. HOGFORS CASH REGISTER Original Filed May 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 23, 1941.

H. F. B. HOGFoRs 2,267,655

- CASH REGISTER Original Filed May 5, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Dec. 23, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Stockholm,

Sweden,

assignor to Svenska Kassaregisteraktiebolaget, Stockholm, Sweden, a joint-stock company of Sweden Original application May 3, 1937, Serial No. 140,521. Divided and this application January 10, 1938, Serial No. 184,316. In Sweden May 1 Claim.

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the annexed drawings. For the purposes of illustration the invention is shown and described in association with a cash register, but it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily restricted to use with cash registers.

Fig. 1 shows a side View of the drawer casings of a cash register in accordance with this invention, some parts being shown in section. Reference is made to the fact that in the left part of Fig. 1 for the two upper drawers the section is taken approximately on the line X-X in Fig. 3, that is between the cash drawer and that wall of the casing which is next to the observer, while in the same left part of Fig. 1 for the two lower drawers the section is taken approximately on the line YY in Fig. 3, that is through the drawers proper and consequently farther off from the observer.

Fig. 2 is a crosssection through a part of the cash register mechanism and the top drawer.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on the broken line IIIIII of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the cash register, on a. smaller scale.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the lower part of a cash register, in accordance with a modified embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a back side view on a larger scale (similar to Fig. 3) of the cash register shown in Fig. 5, the back wall of the casing being partially broken away.

Fig. 7 is a top view, on a larger scale, of the frame guiding the drawer latch release rods.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line VIII-VIII in my United States patent application Serial No. 140,520 for Improvements in cash registers, adding and accounting machines and the like filed May 3, 1937 (corresponding to British Patent No. 493,638) Reference is made to the fact that Fig. 2 of the annexed drawing is a part of Fig. 3 in said U. S. application Serial No. 140,520.

It is, however, evident that the cash register proper may be of any other well-known or suitable type.

The cash register as shown has four cash drawers a, b, d, e each for the exclusive use of one of four assistants or clerks A, B, D, E respectively.

A setting slide or rack I for the clerks totalizers or registers may be coupledby a wheel I09bwith an indicator rack 83 for wheels showing the letter of the clerk concerned. Both of said racks may be operated, for instance, by means of keys II of the clerks key bank, as well-known in the art (see the patents and patent application referred to above).

The selector 0) the cash drawers A toothed wheel 105a, Fig. 2, which meshes with the clerks indicator rack 83 and may belong to the transmission to the printing mechanism for the check and the control ribbon or record strip, also meshes with a toothed rack I35, Figs. 2 and 3. The rack I is guided in a vertical motion both by a stationary pin I35 entering a slot I3! of said rack and by a slot of a piece I38 of the stationary machine frame. At its lower end the rack I35 has teeth I39 at right angles to the upper teeth. The teeth I39 mesh with a toothed wheel I40 rigidly secured to a second toothed wheel I4I The double wheel I40, MI is journalled on the pin I42 secured to the frame I38. The wheel I4I meshes with a movable toothed rack I43 slideable horizontally on the frame I 38 on stationary pins I44 engaging slots I45. The settable rack !43 has two horizontal projections I46 with holes, in which a. pin M1 is slideably journalled. This pin is normally pressed downwards by a spring I48, Whose upper end engages the upper projection I46 and. lower end engages a washer 349 fixed by a split pin I50, which also limits the downward motion of the pin I4'I.

In the zero or rest position, that is, upper position of the rack 83 the slidable pin I51 has the position shown in Fig. 3. Between it and the rod I35 there are four rods I5Ia, I5Ib, I5Id, I5Ie, Figs. 1-3, extending downwards through the base plate I52 of the machine into the casings for the cash drawers a, b, d, e, which are placed I vertically above each other. The lower ends of the rods I5Ia, b, d, e are each articulately connected with one arm of bows I53a, b, d, e, respectively, one for each drawer, and are prevented from sliding off by means of split pins Gill! or the like. Said bows are rockable on stationary journals I54 in the casings and are engaged by torsional springs I55, tending to press other hookshaped arms I56a, b, d, e of said bows downwards for engaging and locking the corresponding drawer a, b, d or e. At their upper ends the rods I5Ia, b, d, e are provided with arms projecting laterally and having an upper step I53 and a lower step I51. The upper step I53 limits the downward motion of the rod by engaging the stationary frame I38 and is normally pressed into engagement with said frame I36 by the spring I55. The lower step I51 is at a level immediately above the upper end of the pin or slide I41 when the latter is in its position of rest. The slots of the frame I38 prevent the rods I5Ia, b, d, e from being unintentionally unhooked at I56.

Cams I59 on the main driving shaft 66 rock the arm I66 to and fro when the shaft 66 is retated. The arm I66 is rotatably journalled on the shaft I I5 and is provided with a bent portion I6I, which extends inwards below the pin I41 in all positions, into which said pin may be displaced horizontally. When the arm 566 is rocked in the direction of the arrow I62, the pin I61 will thus be raised by the part IN.

The casings for the cash drawers Each cash drawer has its push spring I63 and is slidable in its individual casing or housing I64 a, b, d, e respectively, Fig. 1.

Each of said casings comprises an upper portion I65 in the shape of an inverted trough and a bottom I66 inserted therein, both being preferably stamped and pressed of thin sheet metal. Between the casings packings I61 of rubber may be inserted. Bow-shaped carrying portions I68 are placed between the bottom and r| -shaped rails I69, which engage the top or ceiling of the part I65 from below. The parts I66, I69, I66 are rigidly inter-connected, for instance, by welding, to an inner body which is inserted into the upper portion I65. The uppermost casing is secured to the base plate I52 by means of bolts I151), screwed into rails or blocks I16a, inserted into the rails I66 (Figs. 2 and 3).

At its rear end each drawer has bufi'ers I16 and on each side an angle-shaped rail I1I, passing between rollers I13, arranged in groups of three on fittings I12 secured to one of the carrying pieces I68. Thus, the cash drawer is wellguided and runs lightly.

The casings I6 Iae have holes I14 through which the rods I 5Iae pass.

Each casing with its cash drawer consequently forms a separate aggregate, independent of the other casings and their drawers.

The casings are kept together by bolts I15, one in each corner. Said bolts have heads I15a engaging the lowermost casing bottom I66 from below, and extend upwards through all the casings and are tightened against the upper side of the uppermost casing bottom I66 by means of double nuts I16. Thus, the bolts cannot be loosened from the outside. Between a bottom I66 and the top of the adjacent underlying part I65 short distance sleeves I11 are inserted. Longer distance sleeves I16 are also pushed on the bolts I15 and extend between the top of one part I65 and the underlying bottom I66 of the same casing. Even if the parts I65, I66 are made of relatively thin sheet metal, it is consequently possible to tighten the bolts I15 strongly without any risk of deforming the sheet metal.

Under the lowermost casing I6 ie a base plate I19, preferably made of rubber, is arranged.

At the rear end of each cash drawer a roller I66 is secured, rolling on a stationary guiding rail I6I, which is engaged from both sides by a downwardly projecting part I62 of the fitting which carries the roller I80.

The device described operates as follows:

As well-known in the art (see for instance my U. S. patent application Serial No. 140,520 or British Patent No. 493,638), the setting rack I20 for the clerks totalizers will move upwards a number of steps, corresponding to the denomination or value of the clerks key just depressed, say B. After said rack then has been coupled with the corresponding clerks indicator rack 83 which at this time is in its zero position, the rack I26 returns to its position of rest or Zero position and then pulls the indicator rack 83 downwards a number of steps, also corresponding to the clerks key B depressed.

Such motion of the rack 83 rotates the toothed wheel I65a, which consequently draws the rack I35 upwards. By means of gear I36, I III, MI this motion is transmitted to the slidably settable rack I63, which is consequently moved, together with the pin I41, as many steps to the right in Fig. 3 as corresponds to the downward motion of the rack 83 from its zero position, that is to the value of the clerks key B depressed. Thus the pin I61 will be displaced laterally, that is horizontally so that it stops just below the projection or step I51 of the rod I5Ib which corresponds to the cash drawer b of the clerks key B depressed. When a registration in the cash register is finished, the arm I65 begins rotating in the direction of the arrow I62 so that the part I6I engages the lower side of the pin I41 and raises the pin. The pin then lifts the rod I5Ib below which it has been brought and thus the hook I56?) is lifted from the corresponding cash drawer b which is pushed out by its spring I63. Thereafter, the arm I66 returns to its position of rest, Fig. 2. now be pushed in again and is retained in its closed position by the locking hook I561) snapping in under the action of the spring I55.

After the depressed keys have been returned to their position of rest in well-known mannner, the machine is ready for the next registration.

It is evident that a cash drawer may be set out of operation or put into operation by removing or re-introducing one of the rods I5 Ia-c. As mentioned above, the rods are only loosely inserted into slots in the part I38, while their lower ends are easily detachable from the bows I53, after removing the pins 466. The removal or insertion of a rod is consequently a very simple operation. The drawer itself and its casing may easily be detached from the machine, after the nuts I16 have been unscrewed and the bolts I15 removed. By means of shorter bolts I15, the remaining casings of the machine may be secured again, the cash register having now a capacity of three clerks only. It is evident thatwithin the limit fixed by the maximum number of drawers-4t is thus easy to increase or reduce the number of drawers in accordance with the need, and by use of simple, identical standard parts. The bottom drawer together with its casing is always first removed, then The opened cash drawer b may the next one etc. upwards. Inversely, a new drawer together with its casing is always added below the bottom drawer etc. downwards. The cash register shown has a maximum of four drawers, but this number may be increased without any difiiculty. The number of clerks keys (or the number of operative positions of one or more clerks levers) determines the number of operative positions of the rack 83 and consequently also the number of operative positions of the rack on settable slide I43, that is the number of independent rods to the cash drawers. When a drawer together with its casing is removed, it is convenient to remove or look the corresponding clerks key, though this is not strictly necessary.

One and the same cash register may thus in a simple and inexpensive manner be provided with different numbers of drawers in accordance with the actual need and may easily be altered to another number. Without any difficulty standard cash registers of one single type may thus be adapted to any need occurring in the practice. The cash register of a shop may also easily be temporarily altered to a higher capacity during the rush season for a greater number of assistants than normal.

Certain modifications of the devices shown and described are possible within the scope of this invention. Thus, for instance, the drawers may be inserted by twos into a common casing. By combining single and double casings, any desired number of drawers may be attained. Also triplicate casings are possible, as illustrated in Figs. and 6, showing a cash register for six drawers a, b, d, e, f, g. The drawer a is accommodated in a singlce housing IBM: and the drawers b, d in a double housing I641 while the drawers e, ,f', g are accommodated in a triple housing I642. The housings I641; I64y, I642 are detachably secured to the base plate I52 of the machine and rest upon a bottom plate I19.

This cash register has five rods: I5Izc, I5Iy, I5Iz, I5Iu, I5Iw. The lower ends of the rods I5Ia:, I5Iy, I5Iz, I5Iu are connected with one arm of bows I53a', I531), I53d, and I53g respectively, while the rod I5Iw is connected with one arm of each of the bows I53f' and I53e'. The other arms of said rockably journalled bows are hook-shaped for engaging and locking the drawers, as described above in connection with Figs. 1 to 4.

The operation of the machine shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is quite analogous to that of the machine shown in Figs. 1 to 4. Evidently, in the machine shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the drawer selector must have five operative positions, for lifting the rods I5I;r, I5Iy, I5Iz, I5Iu, I5Iw separately. It is only essential that the drawers be accommodated in one or more detachable casings, so as to render it possible to vary the number of cash drawers. In other words: the casing comprising the greatest number of drawers shall always have a number of such drawers less than the maximum number for the cash register. That maximum number may be defined as the number of clerks keys of the machine or as the number of setting positions of one or more clerks levers.

The construction of the casings forms no part of this invention. Also the selector of the cash drawers may have another construction, but it must always be possible to disconnect or insert casings and cash drawers in accordance with the actual need. The casings may be arranged horizontally instead of vertically, or both horizontally and vertically. For the double toothed wheel I40, MI a conical toothed wheel or one single cylindrical wheel may be substituted.

Some features herein shown are shown and claimed in the copending United States patent application Serial No. 140,521 for Improvements in cash registers filed on May 3, 1937.

What I claim is:

In a mechanism for selectively releasing one or another of a plurality of drawers normally latched closed, such as individual clerks cash drawers; individual means for normally latching each of said drawers closed; latch releasing rods, each connected with one of said individual latching means, each of said releasing rods having an actuating part, said parts being arranged in a row; a differentially settable member, means for differentially setting said member in accordance with the drawer desired to be released; a settable slide movable by said differentially movable member to different positions according to the movement of said differentially movable member, the path of setting movement of said slid being adjacent the row of actuating parts of said releasing rods; said slide having a pin mounted slidably therein, a spring yieldingly pressing said pin in one direction, and means for moving said pin in the other direction against the action of said spring and against the actuating part of one or another of said latch release rods according to the position of said slide and pin to release the drawer latch connected with the rod so actuated.

HANS FREDRIK BIRGER HGGFORS.

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