US2286902A - Recording mechanism - Google Patents

Description

June 16, 1942. H N DEANE ETAL 2,286,902

RECORDING MECHANISM Filed March 3, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet l June 16, 1942. f H. N. DEANE ETAL RECORDING MECHANI SM Filed March 3, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 mmv June 16, 1942. H, N, DEANE ETAL 2,286,902

RECORDING MEGHANISM Filed March 5, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 L QmsA 27e l June 16, 1942.

H. N. DEANE EI'AL RECORDING MECHANI SM Filed March 3, 1941 h 4 Shams-Sheet 4 wNmN.

l llll Il llll Il ll Ill Patented `lune 16, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,286,902 RECORDING MECHANISM Henry N. Deane and James A.

Simplex Time Recorder Co.,

Mass., assignors to Dell, Gardner,

9 Claims.

This invention relates to recording mechanism such as workmens time recorders in which successive records are stamped or printed in vertical columns on a card or other record sheet during a deiinite period of time, such as a twentyfour hour day.

Advantages in computation may be secured by placing the earliest records at the bottom of the column, with successive later records upwardly disposed relative thereto. This brings the smaller time gures below the larger ones in each halfday period and thus facilitates subtraction in figuring elapsed time.

It is the general object of our invention to provide improved means for progressively and positively lowering a card support in a recording mechanism and for returning the support to raised position after the support has reached its lowest position.

A further object of our invention is to accomplish the return upward movement of the support quickly but without increased load on the mechanism which moves the support.

We also provide means for temporarily locking the support in eXtreme raised position until the irst downward movement is to be effected.

Our invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which-- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of parts of a time recorder lembodying our improvements;

Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial front elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial side elevation,

looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Fig. 3; f

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing certain parts in a different position;

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan View, taken along the line 6-6 in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Figs. 4 and 5 but i showing the parts in another position;

Fig. 8 is a partial sectional rear elevation, taken along the line 8-8 in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation showing the parts in the position assumed with the card support in its lowest position;

Fig. 10 is a detail sectional plan view, taken along the line l0--|0 in Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation showing the relation of the rack and pinion at the end of the upward movement of the card support,-

Fig. 12 is a partial side elevation of the ratchet feed mechanism for the rack gear;

Fig. 12a is a View similar to Fig. 12 but showing certain parts in a different relation;

Fig. 13 is a side elevation of parts of the actuating mechanism for the ratchet feed;

Fig. 14 is a partial rear elevation showing a card-operated switch;

Fig. 15 is a rear elevation showing the switch in closed position;

Fig. 16 is a partial sectional side elevation, taken along the line |6-|6 in Fig. 14; and

Fig. 17 shows a reverse arrangement of the ratchet feed.

Referring to the drawings, we have shown portions of a workmans time recorder having type wheels W (Fig. 2) a type ribbon R and a stamping hammer H mounted to swing with a square shaft H (Fig. 1) pivoted in the side frame members of the recorder. These parts are of the usual construction, and the operating mechanism therefor is not shown herein as it forms no part 0f our present invention. We have shown a card guide G mounted for periodical transverse adjustment along guide rods 20 and 2|, but the mechanism for eiecting such transverse adjustment is also omitted.

The card support in the card guide G comprises a card-engaging member 24 (Figs. 2-4) having a raised projection 25 at its rear edge. The member 24 is secured at the upper end of a slotted plate 2l (Figs. 14 and 16) which is slidably secured by a screw or rivet 28 at the side of a rack bar 29 (Figs. 9 and 10). The rack bar 29 projects rearward from a guide-bar 39 (Fig. 5) which is vertically slidable in a fixed vertical guideway 3|, which in turn is secured by a bracket 32 to a xed cross bar 33.

At its lower end, the plate 21 (Figs. 14 to 16) is provided with an offset end portion which is pivotally connected at 36 to a lever 31, which lever in turn is pivoted at 38 on a metal plate or bracket 39. The offset end of the plate 33 is riveted to the side of the rack bar 29 as indicated at 4i) in Fig. 6.

A plate 4| of suitable insulating material, such as hard rubber, is fixed to the front face of the metal plate 39, and the plate 39 is cut away as shown in Figs. 14 and 15 so that terminals 42 and 43 may be mounted on the insulating plate 4|.

A lever 44, formed in whole or in part of insulating material, is pivoted at 45 to the plate 4|. Contact points 46 and 41 are mounted on the terminal 42 and lever 44 respectively, and the contact point 41 is connected by a flexible wire 48 to the terminal 43.

When the points 46 and 41 are engaged, as shown in Fig. 15, an operative circuit is completed to energize suitable stamping mechanism and actuate the hammer H. This stamping mechanism forms no part of our present invention and may be of the type shown in detail in the patent to Watkins, No. 2,102,171. The lever 44 (Fig. 14) has a stud 59 at one end engaged by a cam latch 5| pivoted to the lever 31 in its free end. A spring 52 presses the latch 5| against the'stud 59, and a spring 53 normally raises one end of the lever 31 and the latch 5| and causes the other end of the lever to engage a stop 54.

The latch 5| has upper and lower cani faces engaging the stud 50. As the lever 31 and latch 5| are pressed downward by the card C, the latch 5| will swing to the right until it passes below the center of the stud 59, whereupon the upper cam face will quickly shift the lever44 to the position shown in Fig. l5, completing the stamping circuit.

As the latch 5| thereafter moves upward, the upper cam face will press against the stud 5D and will hold the circuit closed until the latch passes above the center of the stud 59, whereupon the lower cam face will shift the lever 44 abruptly to the open-circuit position shown in Fig. 14.

We have thus provided an extremely simple make-and-break switch for the circuit which controls the stamping mechanism.

With the construction described, it will be seen that in order to make an impression the card C (Fig. 14) must be pressed against the supporting member 24 and that said member must be thereby depressed relative to the temporarily stationary rack bar 29 until the carddepressed lever 31 moves the latch 5| to the position shown in Fig, and closes the stamping circuit. The card can only be stamped when i in the lowest position permitted by the setting of the rack bar 29.

We will now describe the mechanism for actuating and controlling the rack bar 29 in its vertical sliding movement.

The rack bar 29 isnormally engaged by the teeth 69 (Fig. '7) of a mutilated pinion 6| fixed on a cross shaft 62 mounted in bearings in the fixed frame F (Fig. l) of the recording mechanism. A ratchet 63 (Fig. 12) is xed to the outer end of the shaft 62 and is engaged by a stud 64 on a link 65 pivoted at 66 (Fig. 13) to a feed lever 61. The upper end of the lever 6,1 is mounted on a xed pivot 61 (Fig. l) and the lower end is bent forward and upward as indicated at 68 (Fig. 13) around the edge of a timing disc 69 which is continuously rotated by a pinion 19 (Fig. l) driven from the time mechanism.

Trip pins 12 (Fig. 13) are mounted in selected positions on the timing disc 69 and engage the concave surface 13 of the end portion 68 of the feed lever 61. Such engagement swings the lever 61 to the right in Fig, 13 and also moves the stud 64 to the right from the position shown in Fig. 12 to that shown in Fig. 12a. A spring 14 (Fig. 13) draws the link 65 downward as its movement to the right is completed and causes the stud 64 to drop below and at the right of the stud 15.

The stud 15 is xed in a lock lever 16 mounted on a xed pivot 11 and drawn downward by a spring 18. The lever 16 carries a lock stud 19 normally engaging the rear face of one of the ratchet teeth and preventing overthrow or excess forward movement of the ratchet as a feeding movement is completed.

Continued movement of the timing disc 69 causes the pin 12 to pass above the point of the feed lever portion 68. The feed lever 61 is thereupon swung to the left by a spring 89, causing the stud 64 tc engage and raise the stud 15 in the lock lever 16, which in turn removes the lock stud 19 from operative position.

The stud 64 then advances the ratchet one f tooth space, at the same time clearing the stud 15 and thus releasing the lock stud 19. The lock stud then prevents over-feed. The usual holding pawl 83 (Fig. 12) and pawl spring 94 are provided, to prevent rearward movement of the ratchet. A guide-plate 85 is xed above the path of movement of the link 65 and prevents the stud 64 from lifting away from the ratchet tooth with which it is engaged during its feeding movement. v

By the feed mechanism above described, th shaft 62 and mutilated pinion 6| are intermittently advanced Step by step at any desired intervals during the twenty-four hour rotation of the timing disc 69. At each advance movement of the pinion in a clockwise direction (as viewed in Figs. 5, '1, 9 and 1l) the rack bar 29, together with the card support and switch mechanism,I willbe lowered one space in the fixed vertical guideway 3|.

The lowermost operative position of the card support is shown in Fig. 9, with the last tooth 69a of the pinion 6| engaging the top tooth of the rack bar 29.

On the next advance movement of the pinion 6|, the pinion will assume the position shown in Fig. 11, with the end pinion teeth |59a and 6Db out of engagement with the rack bar 29. The rack bar and card support will then be returned to the raised position shown in Fig. 4 by a lever (Figs. 4 and 9) pivoted at 9| Vand having a pin and slot connection with a plate 92 secured to the lower end of the rack bar 29 by one or more screws 93. A tension spring 94 moves the lever 90 and the connected rack bar 29 upward when the parts are released by the pinion 6|.

The rack bar as thus far described is free to slide in the guide 3| and could be depressed to any desired extent by merely inserting a card and pressing downward on the card support 24. In order to prevent such free downward movement, we provide a latch 96 (Figs. 3-9) pivoted at 91 to the plate 92 and held against a stop 98 by a spring 99. A pinion |00 (Fig. 4) having a single tooth IDI is fixed to the shaft 62 and is so positioned angularly that the pinion tooth llll will be engaged by the offset lower end of the latch 96 when the rack bar isv released and returns to its highest position.

At the next advance movement of the mutilated pinion 6|, the tooth lill will be removed from holding position but until such advance movement, the engagement of the latch 96 and tooth |0| prevents manual downward shifting of the rack bar and card support.

In order to provide initial downward movement of the rack bar 29 and correct re-engagement of the pinion teeth 69 with the rack, we provide a gear plate IIU (Figs. 6, 9, 10 and l1) fixed to the side of the pinion 6| and having at least one tooth (Fig. 11). The tooth engages a block ||2 at the lower end of the rack bar 29 when the bar is in highest position and pushes downward on the next advance movement of the shaft 62, thus giving the rack bar its initial downward movement and causing the teeth 60 to correctly engage the rack.

It will be understood that the advance movement of the pinion 6| from the position shown in Fig. 9 to the position shown in Fig. 11 slightly depresses the rack bar before it releases the bar for return upward movement.

We thus provide for automatic intermittent down feed of the rack bar 29 and card support 24, with automatic and abrupt return to the highest position, and we prevent free or unauthorized shifting of the rack bar at any time. Furthermore, the return upward movement is effected entirely by the spring 94 and puts no additional load on the feeding devices or on the time mechanism associated therewith.

While our card-positioning mechanism is particularly designed for intermittent down feed as described, it may readily be reversed to feed intermittently upward, if for any reason this is found desirable. Such a reverse feed arrangement is indicated in Fig, 17, with the ratchet |20 rotatable clockwise, with the feed stud |2| in the link |22 engaging the ratchet teeth below the center, and with the lock lever |24 and holding pawl |25 similarly reversed. With these changes, the same timing mechanism will produce intermittent feed of the ratchet in a clockwise direction and intermittent raising of the rack bar 29 and card support 24, with abrupt return.

If this reverse construction is used, the spring 94 (Fig. 9) will be made lighter and only sufficient to partially counterbalance the vertically movable parts associated with the card support. The latch 96 and single-tooth pinion |00 will also be omitted.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

1. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing operating means effective by successive feeding movement to positively and progressively depress said card support from an initial raised position and effective by a further feeding movement in the same direction to release said card support, and means effective to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position when said support is released by said operating means.

2. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing operating means effective by successive feeding movements to positively and progressively depress said card support from an initial raised position and effective by a further feeding movement in the same direction to release said card support, yielding means effective to overbalance said card support and to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position when released by said operating means, and means to prevent downward movement of said card support after return to raised position until said operating means is given a further feeding movement.

3. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, the combination of a rack bar as- 4sociated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion, means to angularly advance said pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, and means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position after release.

4. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing means to move said card support positively downward from an extreme raised initial position and thereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which means comprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion, means to angularly advance said pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, and means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position after release.

5. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing means to move said card support intermittently and positively downward step by step from an extreme raised initial position and thereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which means comprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion, intermitently acting means to angularly advancesaid pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position after release, and means to lock said rack bar in raised position until said bar is re-engaged by said pinion.

6. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing means to move said card support intermittently and positively downward step by step from an extreme raised initial position and thereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which means comprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion, intermittently acting means to angularly advance said pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position after release, a latch on said rack bar, and a one-tooth collar rotatable with said pinion, said latch and tooth coacting to lock said rack bar in extreme raised position after return of said rack bar thereto and until said rack bar is ree-engaged by said pinion.

'7. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide and a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists in providing means to move said card support intermittently and positively downward step by step from an extreme raised initial position and thereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which means comprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion, intermittently acting means to angularly advance said pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised position after release, and a device rotatable with said pinion and engaging an abutment at the lower end of said support, a latch mounted on said cardengaged member and movable vertically thereby, and a spring to' swing said latch toward the `free end of said lever, said latch and lever having coa-cting cam surfaces effective to swing said lever down with a snap action to close said switch and circuit as said latch is depressed and to swing said lever up with a snap action to open said switch and circuit as said latch is raised with said card-engaged rmember by said first spring on release of pressure on said member.

9. In a recording mechanism having `a card guide, a card support mounted therein, electrically actuated impression mechanism, and an operating circuit therefor, that improvement which comprises a switch on said card support, a cardengage-d member mounted on said support and having vertical movement relative thereto, a spring to raise said member, a circuit-controlling lever for said switch mounted on said support, a latch mounted on said card-engaged member and movable vertically thereby, and a spring to swing said latch toward the free end of said lever, said lever having a roll on said free end and said latch having oppositely inclined cam surfaces engaging said roll and effective to swing said lever down with a snap action to close said switch and circuit as said latch is depressed and to swing said lever up with a snap action to open said switch and circuit as said latch is raised with said card-engaged member by said first spring on release of pressure on said member.

HENRY N. DEANE. JAMES A. DELL.

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