US230879A - Foubths op his eight to eodney a - Google Patents

Description

(ModeL) 2 SheetsSheet l.

C. LAMB.

Hand Stamp. No. 230,879. Patented Aug. 10, 1880.

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O LAMB. Hand Stamp. No. 230,879. Patented Aug. 10,1880.

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PETERS, PHOTG-L\THOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, I: (1y

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES LAMB, OF BINGHAMTON, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOUBTHS OF HIS RIGHT TO RODNEY A. FORD, WILLIAM L. MIIDGE, AND HARPER DUSENBUEY, ONE-FOURTH TO EACH.

HAND-STAMP.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 230,879, dated August 10, 1880.

Application filed May 24, 1880. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LAMB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Canceling and Recording Stamps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, and which form a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of the letterstamp canceler and recorder; Fig. 2, a similar elevation with the dial-plate removed; Fig. 3, a bottom view; Fig. 4, a front elevation, partly in section, with dial-plate and interior operating wheels or disks removed; Fig. 5, a vertical cross-section through the center of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, detached end views of operating-wheels; Figs. 7, 8, and 9, side views thereof Fig. 10, an end view thereof and a section of the rear plate of the inclosing-case, the parts being arranged as when ready for operation, and the engaging-pins being clearly illustrated; and Fig. 11, a perspective of a section of the inclosing-case, the arc-plate which carries a pawl, and the post that moves the arcplate.

My invention relates to canceling and recording stamps, and has for its object the production of a device adapted to cancel stamps on mailable letters, and at the same time to make a record of every letter the stamp on which is canceled, so that at any period of the day the device will indicate the number of letters marked by it.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts consisting of wheels, pawls, levers, dial-plate, and index-hands, and also an alarm to indicate the movement of the index-hand, a full and explicit description of all of which I will now proceed to give.

In the accompanying drawings, the letterA indicates the casing of the device, usually cast or otherwise made of metal, and with a hole, a, in its back plate, and which generally has a flange, B, around it, a slot 0, in its periphery, at or near its top, and two vertical ways, D, one at each side, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and at.

The casing is generally circular in form, except at the bottom, where it is flat. At the top of the casing, between its handle E and the casing, and preferably around the shank of the handle, as shown in Fig. 5, there is placed a gong-bell, F, and to the back plate of the casing, on the inside thereof, there is pivoted or fulcrumed a lever, G, in such a manner that when struck on the lower end, by means hereinafter described, that end will be thrown out toward the periphery of the easing and the other end drawn in therefrom, and when the force is released the movement will be the reverse, causing the fingerc of the lever to protrude through slot 0 and strike gong F, thereby sounding an alarm; The recoil of the lever to strike the alarm is caused by a spring, H, coiled around the sleeve of the lever which fits over the fulcrum-pin, and one end of which is made to bear against the casing, as shown in Fig. 4:. A pin, I, projecting inwardly from the periphery of the easin g, constitutes a check for the lever which strikes against it. It may, however,be omitted. Ascrew-pin,J is passed through the back plate of the casing at a point below the opening a, as illustrated, and its end is beveled and projects into the interior of the casing.

To the bottom of the casing, inside the same, there are bolted three springs, K, side by side, each of which is preferably formed with a fingered end, as shown, and they are designed to act as pawls, allowing the wheels, hereinafter described,'to be turned in one direction, but not in the other.

A shaft, L, formed with a collar, (7, extends through casing A from front to rear, and has its bearing at one end in the hole a in the back plate of the casing, and that end is shouldered, so that a key may be applied thereto for the purpose of turning the same. The forward end of this shaft projects through a dial-plate, M, and has an index-hand, N, attached thereto. This shaft supports within the casing A three or more peripherally-toothed wheels, 1, 2, and 3, two of which numbers, 1 and 2, are also ratchet-faced. It also supports an arc-plate, O. 'The arc-plate is journaled on the collar d of the shaft and fits next to the back of the casing. The wheel N o. 3 is rigidly secured to the shaft next to the wheel No. 2. No.2 is provided with a sleeve,l?, which encircles the shaft L to a point outside of the dial-plate M, and to its outer end is attached the index-hand N while wheel No. l is journaled on the sleeve of wheel No. 2, and is provided with a sleeve, Q, which encircles sleeve P, and extends outside of the dial-plate M, but not so far as sleeve 1?, and it, too, has an index-hand, N attached to its end. The sleeve Q, inside of the casing, in the rear of the dial-plate, is formed with a collar, 0, and a shoulder, f, on which collar and against which shoulder fits the tripod R, the ends of which rest on the seats S b S, formed in the casin g therefor. This tripod holds the three wheels in place, and against the toothed periphery of each wheel bears the finger of one of the springs K, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The wheels 2 and 3 have both a spring, T, pinned to their faces, and at the end of the spring is a pin, U, which extends through a slot made in the wheels, and preferably both ends of the pin are beveled, as shown. These pins are designed, when brought into contact with each other, or one with the pin J, to be thereby pushed outward into contact with the ratchet-face of the adjoining wheel, so that by such means the adjoining wheel can be turned. These pins are arranged with reference to one another so that for one complete revolution of wheel No. 3 wheel No. 2 will be turned one notch or point, and indicate the same by the index-hand and dial-plate and for each complete revolution of wheel No. 2, wheel No. 1 will turn one notch or point and indicate the same by index-hand N and dial-plate.

To the face of the arc-plate 0 there is pivoted or hinged a pawl, V, that engages with the teeth of Wheel No. 3, and is held in contact therewith by means of a spring, g.

In the arc-plate 0, below the rear end of pawl V, there is made a slot or hole, into which enters one end of a pin, h, which passes transversely through post NV, and by which means the arc-plate is raised and lowered, and pawl V is made to disengage with one tooth and engage with another, so that when the arcplate is drawn down the wheel No. 3 is caused to turn one notch or point.

The posts \V move up and down in the ways D, and are kept from falling therethrough by the pins h, passed transversely through the same near their upper ends, and which strike against the tops of ways D.

The lower ends of the posts connect with a transverse bar, X, to the lower face of which is attached the canceling-pad Y and the marking device Z, in which are secured, in any of the well-known ways, type for printing the mailing-office and time of mailing and whatever else may be desired.

Between the bar X and the bottom of the casing A there is placed a curved or equiva= lent spring, A, the function thereof being to separate or spring apart bar X and casin g A when they have been brought in contact or toward each other by the act of stamping and canceling.

The dial-plate M is provided with a scale for each one of the hands, the scale for the hand N recording fifty letters, that for hand N twentyfive hundred, and that for hand N one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The indexhand N moves but one point to every fifty of hand N, and N moves one point to every fifty of hand N, or every twenty-five hundred of hand N.

In operation the canceling-pad and marking device are inked from the inking-pad. The operator takes hold of the handle E and presses the device down on the letter to be canceled and marked. The casing A slides down the posts W, one of which forces up the arc-plate 0, thus causing the pawl V to pass from one tooth of wheel No. 3 to the tooth next above it, and the other post strikes against the end of lever H, thus drawing the fingered end thereof inwardly, and as soon as the pressure is released the spring A forces up casing A, which causes wheel No. 3, through the instrumentality of pawl V, to turn to the extent of one point or tooth, carrying with it the index-hand at the end of shaft L, and recording on the dial the canceling and marking of one letter. At the same time the other post is freed from contact with lever G, when the spring H throws the finger thereof out, causing it to strike the bell and sound the alarm, which indicates the movement of the hand to record the cancellation. The operation thus continues until the spring-pin T U of wheel No. 3 is brought into contact with pin J. The latter being stationary and the spring-pin movable, when the spring-pin strikes against the beveled end of pin J it is forced thereby through its slot into contact with one of the face-teeth of wheel No. 2, so that as the wheel No. 3 continues to be turned until it passes pin J, (which is to the extent of one point,) it carries wheel No. 2 along with it, and as this is done only once in every full or complete revolution of wheel N o. 3, wheel No. 2 is caused to register one point for every complete revolution of wheel No. 3, the same being indicated on the dial-plate by index-hand N. This continues until wheel No. 2 has made a complete revolution, at which time it will be found that the spring T U of wheel No.1 and that of wheel No. 2 will be immediately opposite each other and the pin J, and as the pin in wheel No. 3 is pressed out by contact with pin J it is pressed against the pin in wheel No. 2, and forces it out into contact with one of the teeth of wheel No. 1, so that as wheel No. 3, which has just completed another complete revolution, (in this instance its fiftieth,) and wheel N o. 2 one complete revolution, (in this instance its first,) wheel No. l is moved one point, indieating on the dial-plate, by index-hand N the rig registration of twenty-five hundred canceled letters, and so the operation of cancellation and registration continues until no letters remain to be canceled, or the capacity of the device to register is exhausted. The device illustrated is capable of registering one hundred and twenty-five thousand, and the teeth of the wheel are cut so as to register up to that number, a detailed description thereof not being deemed necessary, as it is a matter of mere mechanical skill. Of course the device can be constructed to register a greater or less number than one hundred and twenty-five thousand without departing from my invention.

When it is desired to begin anew the registry a key is applied to the shoulder of shaft L and the index-hands turned back until all are again on the same line as at first.

In front of the dial and index hands is a glass face, B, for protecting the hands.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- 1. The combination of a casing, shaft L, tripod R, and two or more toothed ratchetfaced wheels, a movable pawl for actuating one of the wheels, means for operating the pawl, a spring-pin for connecting and disconnecting one wheel with the other, so that by means thereof the wheels may be turned in unison or one independent of the other, a dial- 3o plate, and index-hands, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of casing A, arc-plate O, pawl V, post W, connecting with plate 0, bar X, and a spring for separating casing A 3 5 and bar X and operating post W, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of casing A, lever G, bell F, post W, bar X, and a spring for separating casing A and bar X and operating 0 post \V, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of casing A, provided with lever G, springs K, pin J, and pawl V, wheels 1, 2, and 3, provided with the pins T U andindex-hands, bar X, provided with posts 4 5 W, a canceling-pad and marking-plate, spring A, and bell F, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHAS. LAMB.

Witnesses:

A. D. WALLS, W. L. MUDGE.

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