US2355903A - Signaling system - Google Patents

Description

Aug; 15, 1944.

F. E. BLOUNT SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 6 Sheets-She MIME/V701? E 5. BLOUNT ATZQRN Aug, 15, 1944. F. EQBLOUNT 2,355,903

SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 1 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 d HI H lNVEA/TOR By E E. BLOUNT ATTORNE V Aug. 15, 1944, F. E. BLOUNT SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1944.

F. E. BLOUNT SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 6 Sheets-5heet 4 mm W Qk \WN bmw lNVE F 5 BLOUNT ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1944.

F. E. BLOU NT SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 l/VVENTOR /-T E. BLOUNT ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1944. F. E. BLOUNT 2,355,903 I SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 27, 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 EIE-Il- QF' V/NL/ENTOR g By F. E. BLQUNT 691%. M

ATT ORA/E 1 Patented Aug. 15, 1944 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE SIGNALING SYSTEM Application June 27, 1942, Serial No. 448,754

24 Claims.

This invention relates to telephone exchange systems and more particularly to apparatus for providing data relating to the date and time of day for enabling such data to be printed on a toll ticket.

As fully disclosed and described in the application of J. W. Gooderham, Serial No. 448,782, filed concurrently herewith, a subscriber, desiring a connection to a line terminating in an office in the nearby toll area, dials the office code and numerical digits of the wanted line number and in response to the dialing of one or more of the office code digits a connection is extended to an idle one of a plurality of ticketing trunks which has access to the office in which the wanted line terminates. Immediately following the seizure of the trunk, an idle sender common to the ticketing trunks is associated with the seized trunk over a trunk-finder switch. The first digit dialed after the seizure of the trunk is registered in the trunk and the remaining digits of the called line number are registered in the sender. Since the trunk maybe seized by a first selector in response to the dialing of the first office code digit of certain called office designations, by a second selector in response to the dialing of the first two office code digits of other omce designations and by a third selector in response to the dialing of all three OfilCe code digits of still other office designations, the register in the trunk may register either the second or third oflice code digits or the thousands numerical digit. As soon as the first digit has been registered in the sender, which digit may be either the third office code digit, the thousands digit or the hundreds digit, an idle identifier is associated with the sender over an identifier-connector and the identifier is associated directly with the trunk over a trunk-identifier-connector. Thereupon the identifier proceeds to reconstruct the office code dialed by the calling subscriber, which information may be derived from the trunk or from the trunk and the sender, and transmits this information to the sender where it becomes registered. The identifier also proceeds to identify the calling line and to transmit information concerning the identification digits, the class of the calling line and the rate at which the call should be charged to the sender where it becomes registered.

The sender after registering the office code digits of the wanted line transmitted to it from the identifier and the numerical digits of the wanted line dialed into the sender from the calling line proceeds to direct the setting of selector switches to extend a connection from the ticket- 55 ing trunk to the wanted subscribers line. At a later time when the sender has received all of the information concerning the calling and called lines it proceeds to connect itself to the calling trunk over a trunk-sender-connector to control a ticket printer over such connector to print on a toll ticket information required to render a bill to the calling subscriber for the toll connection. This information includes the calling and called line numbers, the class of the calling line, the rate to be charged, the month, day of the month, the'hour of the day and the tenth division of the hour of the day of the time when the call was made and, for maintenance purposes, the number of the identifier and the number of the sender used in the establishment of the connection. The trunk is also provided with registers which are effective to register the elapsed time of the conversation and to control the ticket printer to print such elapsed time information on the toll ticket.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a month, day and hour circuit for chronologically varying the registrations of the various elements of the date and time of day for the use of a sender in controlling the ticket printer of an associated trunk to print such data on a toll ticket.

A further object of the invention is to check for crosses between and grounds connected to the control conductors used by the sender for controlling the printer.

A further object of the invention is to check the setting of the registers and relays involved in the control of one month, day and hour circuit against similar registers and relays in other month, day and hour circuits and to establish an alarm circuit if the settings do not agree and to provide means for synchronizing one month, day and hour circuit with another.

To attain these objects, two or more month, day and hour circuits are made available to all of the senders of an office building an idle one of which becomes associated with a sender over a connector circuit upon the seizure of a sender. Each month, day and hour circuit comprises a plurality of rotary step-by-step switches which serve as registers. The first of these registers is advanced step-by-step by a Telechron motordriven timer which closes a single make contact at six minute intervals. Two of these timers are used in an office with a part of the month, day and circuits under the controlof each in order that a check may be obtained if for some reason one of the timers should stop. The first register serves to register tenth division of the hour of the time of day. At the end of each hour a second switch is advanced progressively to register the units digit of the hour and at the end of the ninth and nineteenth hours causes the advance of a third register to register the tens digit of the hour of the day. At the end of each twenty-four hour period or day, a fourth switch is advanced progressively to register the units digit of the day of the month. This switch in turn causes the advance of a fifth switch to register the tens digit of the day of the month. At the end of each month a sixth switch is advanced to register the month of the year. Provision is made for advancing the month switch a step at the actual end of a month depending upon whether the month has 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Thus at any sixth minute interval the settings of the six registers are indicative of the actual month, day of the month, hour of the day and tenth division of an hour. When therefore the month, day and hour circuit is seized by any sender, the settings of these registers are rendered effective to control the ticket printer of the trunk at the tim associated with the sender to print the date and time on the toll ticket.

To insure that the control conductors extending from the month, day and hour circuit to the ticket printer are in condition to control the ticket printer, these control conductors are connected to test relays immediately following the seizure of the circuit and before the circuit is conditioned to transmit information to the ticket printer whereby such conductors are tested for false grounds and crosses.

Provision is also made for exercising the register switches of each month, day and hour circuit since certain of the registers such, for example, as the month register are operated infrequently and their brushes and terminals might become poorly conductive through the accumulation of dust or corrosion. Provision is also made for correcting the settings of any registers of a circuit after they have been exercised or should they fail to progress properly, whereby the corresponding registers of all circuits are placed in synchronism to correspond to the correct calendar date and clock time.

The invention having been described in a general manner, reference may now be had to the following detailed description thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows in the upper left portion thereof a schematic representation of the distributor, driving motor and print magnet of the ticket printer of a trunk; in the right and lower portions thereof certain of the apparatus of a sender including the printer control progress switch thereof and the preference relays allocated to a plurality of month, day and hour circuits and in the dot and dash rectangles the preference relays of other senders allocated to the month, day and hour circuits;

Fig. 2 shows the multicontact relays of the connector circuit for associating any sender with any month, day and hour circuit and a box schematically representing one of the month, day and hour circuits; and

Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, show the complete circuits of another month, day and hous circuit, Fig. 3 showing control relays, Figs. 4 and 5 showing the register switches and Fig. 6 showing the motor-driven timers, checking and alarm circuits.

To completely disclose the invention Fig. 2 should be placed beneath Fig. 1, Fig. 3 should be placed to the right of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 should be placed to the right of Fig. 3, Fig. 5 should be placed above Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 should be placed beneath Fig. 4.

The ticket printing mechanism I60 of Fig. 1 may be of the type disclosed in the Patent 2,309,- 688, granted to W. J. Zenner, February 2, 1943.

The control conductors extending from the distributor segments of the printing mechanism to the sender are established over the contacts of multicontact relays of a sender-trunk-connector not shown but fully disclosed and described in the application of Gooderham hereinbefore referred to. Only so much of one of the senders is disclosed in Fig. 1 as is deemed necessary for a complete understanding of the invention. The sender is provided with a progress switch I which progressively controls the printing mechanism I60 to print digits and characters relating to the required information to be printed on the toll ticket. The brushes of this switch, of which two only NH and I82 are disclosed, are advanced step-by-step in response to the operation of stepping magnet l83 and stepping relay I84 and are r advanced to their normal positions by the further operation of stepping magnet I 83.

The register switches of the month, day and hour circuits disclosed in Figs. 4 and 5 are of the rotary step-by-step type and each is advanced by the operation of its stepping magnet, and the release hereof. The stepping magnets are all disclosed in a horizontal row near the top of Fig. 5 and the switch brushes and terminal arcs appertaining to each switch are disclosed in Figs. 4 and 5 vertically beneath the stepping magnet appertaining to such switch.

To more clearly set forth the novel features of the invention, it will be assumed that in response to the initiation of a call and to the dialing of code digits of a called line number, an idle ticketing trunk with which the ticket printing mechanism of Fig. 1 is associated is seized, that an idle sender becomes associated with such trunk over a trunk-finder, that an idle identifier be comes associated with such sender and that the identifier becomes associated over a trunk-identifier-connector with the calling trunk in a manner fully described in the Gooderham application hereinbefore referred to. The identifier then proceeds to reconstruct the called oflice code dialed by the calling subscriber, to identify the calling line and to transmit to the sender for registration therein the digits of the calling office code, the digits of the calling line number, the digits of the called office code, the class of the calling line and the charge rate to be used for the call. The identifier having then completed all of its functions is dismissed and the sender is signaled to proceed to establish control paths from the sender to the ticket printer I60 of the trunk, over the contacts of a sender-trunk-connector and to proceed with the control of the ticket printer.

To accomplish this, progress switch I80 of the sender is progressively advanced to associate the calling office code and calling line numerical registers of the sender with the control conductors extending to the ticket printer whereby the complete directory number of the calling line is first printed on the toll ticket. Following the printing of the last or units numerical digit of the calling line number on the toll ticket, the brushes of progress switch I80 will have been advanced to the position disclosed in which position they will be in engagement with the N0. 12 terminals of their arcs.

With brush I82 in engagement with the No. 12 terminal of its arc, ground is connected over the contacts of oil-normal relay I39 of the sender, over the normal contacts of stepping relay I84, over brush I82 and the No. 12 terminal of its arc, control conductor Iiil, to the dash segment of the commutator of the ticket printer. When the distributor arm I62 of the ticket printer which is rtated with the type wheel by the motor I fiI, engages such segment, a circuit is completed from ground applied to the dash segment over brush I62, ring I63 and thence to battery through the winding of print magnet I64. The armature of magnet I64 carries a stabber which enters a slot in the distributor when the selected character has been positioned for printing thereby arresting the rotation of the printer shaft and pressing the ticket tape against the type wheel to print the selected character, in this case, a dash. When the stabber enters the slot the contacts shown associated with the magnet 54 are closed Where-- upon ground is connected over conductors I55 and I55 and over contacts of the sender-drunkconnector to the sender. With ground connected to conductor I55, the circuit of stepping relay I84 is completed and relay I84 operates, looks over its right contacts to ground on conductor I55, establishes a circuit for stepping magnet I83 of the progress switch I80 which may be traced from ground over contacts of off-normal relay I39 and the left alternate contacts of relay I84 to battery through the winding of magnet I83 and opens at its left normal contacts the previously traced circuit of print magnet I534. Magnet IM thereupon releases and when the stabber is entirely removed from the slot in the distributor, the locking circuit of relay I84 is opened and relay I84 releases in turn releasing stepping magnet I83 to advance the brushes I8! and I82 to the No. 13 terminals of their arcs. The shaft of the ticket printer is now freed and the motor IEI again advances the brush arm I52! over the distributor segments and rotates the type wheel.

Seizure of the month, day, and hour circuit With brush I82 engaged with the No. 13 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, to battery through the Winding of relay IZO whereupon relay [2c operates to establish an obvious circuit for relay IZI which also operates and locks over its inner left contacts, the back contact of relay I23 to ground at the contacts of oil-normal relay lid and closes a circuit for the preference relay of the first available month, day and hour circuit. It will be assumed that the first month, day and hour circuit disclosed in full. in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, has been constituted the first preference to the sender disclosed in the lower and right portions of Fig. 1 by the cross connection of terminal !25 to terminal I26 and that this month, day and hour circuit is at the time available. A circuit is therefore effective from ground through the winding of the preference relay IDGF, allocated to this month, day and hour circuit and to the No. 0 sender, over the upper back contact of the busy relay IMF, allocated to this month, day and hour circuit and to the No. 0 sender, over the strapped terminals 525 and I25 and the outer left contacts of relay i2! and through resistance I2 to battery. Relay I BBF thereupon operates, locks to ground over its lower alternate contacts, removes operating ground from preference relays IUIF to NSF allocated to the same month, day and hour circuit and to all other senders sothat no other sender may cause the seizure of this month, day and hour circuit and establishes a circuit from ground over the upper normal contacts of preference relay IISF, thence in series over the upper normal contacts of other preference relays allocated to the same month, day and hour circuit, over the upper front contact of relay Illflli and conductor I21 through the winding of connector relay 2061 allocated to the first month, day and hour circuit to battery and ground. Relay 200E then operates to extend control conductors from the sender to the first month, day and hour circuit.

Had the first month, day and hour circuit been busy, then its busy relay IMF would have been operated and the circuit previously traced over terminal I25 would have been extended over the upper front contact of relay I3I'lF and the upper front contacts of the busy relays of succeeding busy month, day and hour circuits, thence over the upper back contact of the busy relay of the first idle month, day and hour circuit to ground through the winding of the preference relay of such circuit. If it should be assumed that all month, day and hour circuits except the last are busy, then this circuit will be extended over the upper back contact of relay i351, through the winding of the preference relay IIlElL of such month, day and hour circuit to ground over the normal contacts of preference relay HBL of such month, day and hour circuit allocated to the last sender. It should be noted that the last month, day and hour circuit is the first choice for the last sender and the last choice preference for the first sender.

With connector relay ZIHJF operated, a circuit is established from ground over its No. 25 contacts, conductor 22!! to battery through the windings of busy relays and 3B! in parallel which operate and connect ground to conductors such as I28 of cable I29 extending to the upper wind-- ings of all busy relays ISQF to I491 allocated to the first month, day and hour circuit and thence through such relays to battery as illustrated in connection with relay l39F and all such busy relays therefore operate with the exception of relay IEGF whose upper winding is shunted over conductor I22 and the No. 1 contacts of relay EMF to ground. Relay 2MP upon operating also connects ground over its No. 24 contacts to conductor HI and over the No. 4 back contacts of relay 3H2 to battery through the winding of relay 3% which thereupon operates and connects ground over its lower contacts and the No. 2 back contacts of relay 352 to conductor 232 and to battery through the windings of relays 3M and 395. Relay 305 when operated establishes a circuit from ground over its No. 6 contacts, conductor 3% and over the upper contacts and through the lower winding of relay Gilt to battery to prevent relay see from releasing if at the time operated to cause the switches of the month, day and hour circuit to advance during the time that the circuit is in use with a sender. Relays and 395 also extend the control conductors Me to I51, inclusive, extending from the segments of the ticket printer over contacts of connector relay conductors Mil to 25L inelusive, over contacts of relays 3M and 3555, through associated resistances, through the common resistance 301 over the No. 8 back contact of relay hrough the upper winding of polar ized relay 3%, the No. 8 contacts of relay 3G5 and the back contact of relay 309 to battery. A circuit is also established from ground over the No. 1 contact of' relay 305, the No. 10 contacts of relay 304, the inner upper contacts of relay 303 to battery through the winding of start relay 309. Relay 309 operates over this circuit and after an interval, as determined by its slowto-operate characteristic, removes battery at its lower back contact from the circuit traced through the upper winding of relay 308, and over the control conductors extending to the segments of the ticket printer. If a ground does exist on any control conductor, relay 308 will operate prior to the operation of relay 309 and will in turn cause the operation of relay 3I0 over a circuit extending from ground on conductor 222 over the right contacts of relay 300, over the next to bottom contacts of relay 30l, to battery through the Winding of relay 3I0 which will operate to light the alarm lamp 3I I and to establish a circuit from ground over its upper contacts, conductor 223, the No. 3 contacts of connector relay 220E. conductor I38 to the sender timing circuit as a signal that trouble exists on a control conductor.

It will be assumed, however, that no ground condition is found and that relay 309 operates in turn operating relay 302. Relay 302 then locks over its No. 5 contacts to ground on conductor 222, lights lamp 3I4 over its No. 3 contacts, connects ground over its No. 6 contacts and conductor 308 for holding relay E operated, establishes a holding circuit for relays 300 and SE-I and over its No. 9 contacts and opens the operating circuit of relay 303 at its No. 4

contacts. With relays 302 and 309 both operated, the control conductors are connected over the lower front contacts of relay 309, the No. 8 contacts of relay 305 through the upper winding of relay 300 to ground over the No. 8 front contacts of relay 302 in order to check for crosses between control conductors. During the time that the winding of relay 308 is thus connected to the control conductors, the printer distributor brush I52 battery through the print magnet I64 to each of the control conductors for approximately .013 second. If a cross occurs between two of these conductors, this battery current will be closed through two or" the resistances shown at the right of relays 304 and 385 such as 3I2, thereby increasing the current through th upper windin of relay 308 to a value required for its operation. To render relay 303 slightly slow to operate to prevent its operation by the momentary short-circuit established between adjacent control conductors as the distributor brush. I62 advances from one segment to the next, condenser 33 is connected in parallel with the upper winding of relay 308 by the opening of the No. 8 back contact of relay 302. If a cross is found, relay 308 upon operating causes the operation of relay M0 to light alarm lamp 3II and to return a trouble signal to the sender timing circuit.

It will be assumed that no cross is found and that therefore relays 308 and SH) do not operate and that therefore with relays 302 and 300 operated and relay 303 released, relays 304 and 305 are released whereby the month, day and hour circuit is prepared for the transfer of information concerning the month, the day, the hour and the fractional part of the hour to the ticket printer. In the present case, it will be assumed that when the month, day and hour ciris rotated and successively connects cuit is associated with the sender, its register switches have been positioned to record the month, day and time as December 25, 9:36 a. m.

Printing the month It will be recalled that when switch I of the sender advanced brush I82 into engagement with the No. 13 terminal of its arc, relays I20 and I2I were operated. When these relays are operated, ground is applied over the right contacts of relays I2I and I20 to conductors I55 and I58 whereby stepping relay I84 of the sender is controlled in the manner previously described in connection with the operation of print magnet I64 to cause the operation and release of stepping magnet I83 to advance the brushes I8I and I82 of switch I80 to the No. 14 terminals of their arcs. When brush I82 is in engagement with the No. 14 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I3I, the No. 4 contacts of relay 200E, conductor 252, the No. 1 back contact of relay 304, the No. 7 back contact of relay 305, the No. 7 contacts of relay 302, the back contacts of relay 3I0, conductor 3I5, brush 504 of the month register, the brushes 50I to 505 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. 12 terminals of their arcs to register the month as December, thence over the lower No. 3 back contact of relay 400, conductor 24I, the No. 14 contacts of relay 200F and conductor I4I, to the No. 1 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of the print magnet I54 when the brush I62 engages the No 1 segment, the numeral 1 is printed on the ticket and switch I00 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes I8I and I82 to the No. 15 terminals of their arcs.

With brush !82 engaged with the No. 15 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I32, the No. 5 contacts of relay 200E, conductor 253, brush 505 of the month register engaged with the No. 12 terminal of its arc, conductor 242, the No. 15 contacts of relay 200F and conductor I42, to the No. 2 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of print magnet I64 when the brush I62 engages the No. 2 segment, the numeral 2 is printed on the ticket and switch I80 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes I8I and 102 to the No. 16 terminals of their arcs.

Printing the day of the month With brush I82 engaged with the No. 16 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I33, the No. 6 contacts of relay 200B, conductor 254, brush 5I4 of the day-tens register, the brushes 5| I to 5I4 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. 3 terminals of their arcs to register the tens digit 2 of the 25th day of the month, thence over conductor 242 and as previously traced to the No. 2 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described the rotation of the printor type wheel is arrested by the operation of the print magnet I64 when the brush I62 engages the No. 2 segment, the numeral 2 is printed on the ticket and switch I80 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes IBI and I82 to the No. 1'7 terminals of their arcs.

With brush 82 engaged with the No. 17 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I34, the No. 7 contacts of relay 2001", conductor 255, brush 525 of the day-units register, the brushes Hi to 525 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. terminals of their arcs to register the units digit 5 of the 25th day of the month, thence over conductor 245, the No. 18 contacts of relay 200F and conductor I45 to the No. 5 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of the print magnet I64, when the brush I62 engages the No. 5 segment, the numeral 5 is printed on the ticket and switch I06 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes IBI and I32 to the No. 18 terminals of their arcs.

Painting the hour of the day The hours of the day are numbered 00 to 23, hour 00 being the hour between 12 midnight and 1 oclock a. In. With brush I82 engaged with the No. 18 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor 35, the No. 8 contacts of relay 200E, conductor 256, brush 534 of the hour-tens register, the brushes 53I to 534 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. 1 terminals of their are to register the tens digit zero of the hour of the day, conductor 260, the No. 11 contacts of relay 200F and conductor I40 to th No. 0 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described, the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of the print magnet I54 when the brush I62 engages the No. 0 segment, the numeral 0 is printed on the ticket and switch I80 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes I8I and I82 to the No. 19 terminals of their arcs.

With brush I82 engaged with the No. 19 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I36, the No. 9 contacts ofrelay 2001 conductor 25?, brush 545 of the hour-units register, the brushes 54I to 545 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. terminals of their arcs to register the units digit 9 of the hour of the day, conductor 249, the No. 22 contacts of relay 200F and conductor I49, to the No. 9 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described, the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of print magnet I64 when the brush I52 engages the No. 9 segment, the numeral 3 is printed onthe ticket and switch I80 oi the sender is controlled to advance its brushes I8I and I32 to the No. 20 terminals of their arcs.

With brush I82 engaged with the No. 20 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over conductor I31, the No. 10 contacts of relay 2001 conductor 258, brush 555 of the tenth of an hour register, the brushes 55I to 555 of which are assumed to be engaging the No. '7 terminals of their arcs to register the sixthtenth of an hour division or the thirty-sixth minute of the hour, conductor 246, the No. 19 contacts of relay 200F and conductor M6 to the No. 6 distributor segment of the printer. In the manner previously described the rotation of the printer type wheel is arrested by the operation of the print magnet I64 when the brush I52 engages the No. 6 segment, the numeral 6 is printed on the ticket and switch I80 of the sender is controlled to advance its brushes IBI and I82 to the No. 21 terminals of their arcs.

With brush I82 engaged with the No. 21 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground thereover, to battery through the winding of relay I23. Relay I23 upon operating releases relay I2I which in turn releases preference relay Illill followed by the release of connector relay 2001. Relay 205i? upon releasing disassociates the month, day and hour circuit from the sender, whereupon the operated relays 300, 3IJI, 302 and 389 thereof release. The operated busy relays I3IF, etc., are now released and the first month, day and hour circuit is again made available to other senders. Relay I23 upon operating also connects ground to conductors I and I56 whereby stepping relay I84 of the sender is operated and then released to advance the brushes IBI and I82 of switch I80 to the No. 22 terminals of their arcs. When brush 582 engages the No. 22 terminal of its arc, ground is connected thereover to conductor I5I whereby the printer is controlled to print a dash on the ticket and the switch I80 is controlled to advance other brushes (not shown) into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs.

The sender now proceeds to progressively advance the brushes of progress switch Ital to control the ticket printer to print the sender number, the identifier number, the called office digits, the called line number, the calling class and the charge rate. Since the present invention is concerned only with the functions of the month, day and hour circuit, the apparatus by which the sender controls the ticket printer to print this other data on the toll ticket has not been disclosed. For a full disclosure and description thereof, reference may be had to the aforementioned application of J. W. Gooderham.

Setting the registers of the month, day, and hour circuit The settings of the registers and relays are controlled by a Telechron motor-driven timer which closes a single make contact at siX minute intervals. Two of these timing motors EDI and 602 are used in an ofllce building, one of which controls a pulsing relay 653 over its cam-operated contacts 504 and the other or" which controls the pulsing relay 605 over its cam-operated contacts 606. The motor GUI is normally driven from the frequency regulated source 601 of cornmercial alternating current over normal contacts of keys 608 and 609 and the motor 602 is normally driven from the source 501 over normal contacts of keys (H0 and BI I. Each month, day and hour circuit is provided with a transfer key BIZ and with associated control relays 608 and 6 I3. With all'keys BIZ in their normal positions, the operating windings of all relays 600 and BIS are connected over the left normal contacts of such keys to front contacts of pulsing relay 663 Whereby the relays 600 and 6 I 3 of such month, day and hour circuits are operated at six minute intervals under the control of timing motor 60 I. With the keys 6I2 all in their alternate positions, the operating windings of all relays 500 and M3 are connected over the left alternate contacts or such keys to the front contacts of pulsing rela B whereby the relays 600 and 6I3 of such month, day and hour circuits are operated at six minute intervals under the control of motor 652. In order that a check may be obtained if for some reason one of the motors should stop, the keys 6I2 of some of the month, day and hour circuits are maintained in their normal positions so that the relays 600 and 6I3 of such circuits are normally operated under the control of motor Gill and the keys 612 of the other month, day and hour circuits are maintained in their operated positions so that the relays 600 and 613 of such circuits are normally operated under the control of the motor G 02.

When relay 803 for example operates in response to the closure of the contacts 604 of timing motor 001, it establishes a circuit from ground over its inner lower front contacts, over the left normal contacts of key 612 of the month, day and hour circuit disclosed in full in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, thence in series through the winding of relay 600 and the Winding of relay 513 to battery, whereupon relays 600 and 613 both operate. Upon the opening of the contacts 604 of the timing motor 601, relay 603 releases and closes a circuit from ground over its inner lower back contact, the right normal contacts of key 612, conductor 614 of cable 615, over th No. 8 contacts of relay 506, or the No. 1 contacts of relay 50'! to battery through the winding of make busy relays 300 and 301 for holding the circuit busy during the time that the registers are being advanced at the end of any day. If the month, day and hour circuit, however, is in use at this time with a sender, the previously traced circuit from ground over conductor 306 will be extended over the upper contacts of relay 600, through the lower winding of relay 600 and through the winding of relay 613 to hold these relays operated until the sender has released the circuit.

It will be assumed that the registers have been set as previously stated to register the date and time as December 25, 9:36 a. m. and that at the time relays 500 and 613 operated, the circuits have been released from a sender. A circuit is therefore established upon the operation of relay 600 from ground over its inner upper contacts and conductor 616 of cabl M to battery through the winding of relay 5119 which operates in turn operating stepping magnet 550 of the tenth-hour register. When relay 600 releases, relay 509 releases in turn releasing magnet 550 which thereupon advances brushes 551 to 555, inclusive, of the tenth-hour register one step or in the case assumed into engagement with the No. 8 terminals of their arcs to register the elapse of six additional minutes. This register now registers the elapse of the forty-second minute of the registered ninth hour of the day. After the elapse of two additional six minute intervals the tenth-hour register will in a similar manner, under the control of relay 600, be advanced two additional steps to position its brushes on the No. 10 terminals of their arcs.

With brush 552 in engagement with the No. 10 terminal of its arc, when relay 609 again operates at the end of the next six minute interval or at exactly 10 oclock, a circuit is established from ground over the lower contacts of relay 600, conductor 611 of cable 615, over brush 552 and No. 10 terminal of its arc to battery through the winding of stepping relay 515. At the same time relay 600 establishes the previously traced circuit for relay 509. Relays 509 and 515 upon operating establish obvious circuits for stepping magnets 550 and 540, respectively, and upon the release of relay 600, relays 509 and 515 release to release magnets 550 and 549, whereupon the brushes of the tenth-hour register are advanced to the No. 11 terminals of their arcs and the brushes of the hour-units register are advanced from the No. 10 terminals of their arcs on which they have been assumed to be standing to the No. 11

terminals of their arcs. With brush 541 now engaged in the No. 11 terminal of its arc, a circuit is established from ground over brush 541, the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 540 to battery through the winding of stepping re lay 515, whereupon relay 515 operates in turn operating magnet 540. Magnet 540 upon operating opens the circuit of relay 515 which in turn releases magnet 540 to advance the brushes of the hour-units register one step to the No. 12 terminals of their arcs. Since the Nos. 11 to 22 terminals of the are associated with brush 541 are strapped together, stepping relay 515 and magnet 540 reciprocally control each other in the manner just described to advance the brushes of the hour-units register into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs whereupon the hour-units register is now positioned to register the zero units digit of the hour of the day. Since the tenth-hour register has now been advanced to engage its brushes with the No. 11 terminals of their arcs, this register is now positioned to register the zero tenth-hour digit.

It will be recalled that the brushes of the hour-tens register were assumed to be standing upon the No. 1 terminals of their arcs to register the tens digit zero of the hour of the day since it was assumed that the time was 9:36 a. in. when the month, day and hour circuit was seized by the sender. At the end of the ninth hour, at which time the brushes of the hour-units register are standing on the No. 10 terminals of their arcs, a circuit is established by the operation of relay 600 extending from ground over its inner lower contacts, conductor 618 of cable 615, brush 553 engaged with the No. 10 terminal of its arc, brush 542 engaged with the No. 10 terminal of its arc to battery through the winding of stepping relay 516 which thereupon operates and closes an abvious circuit for the stepping magnet 530 of the hourtens register. When relay 600 thereafter releases, relays 516 and magnet 530 release, whereby magnet 530 causes the advance of the brushes of the hour-tens register into engagement with the No. 2 terminals of their arcs to register the tens digit 1 for the hour of the day which iS now 10 oclock.

Upon the elapse of subsequent six minute intervals, the brushes of the tenth-hour register are advanced step-by-step over the Nos. 12 to 20 terminals of their arcs, the previously traced circuit over brush 552 being controlled by the operation and release of relay 600 when brush 552 engages the No. 20 terminal of its arc to advance the hour-units register one step to register the units digit 1 of the eleventh hour. When the brush 551 of the tenth-hour register engages the No. 21 terminal of its arc, after the end of the tenth hour, a circuit is established from ground over brush 551 over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 550 to battery through the winding of stepping relay 509 which operates in turn operating magnet 550. Magnet 5511 upon operating releases relay 509 which in turn releases magnet 550 to advance the brushes of the tenth-hour register to the No. 22 terminals of their arcs, whereupon relays 509 and magnet 550 again reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes to the No. 1 terminals of their arcs. In a similar manner at the end of the subsequent hours 11 to 19, inclusive, when the brush 552 engages the Nos. 10 and 20 terminals of its arc, the hour-units register is advanced step-by-step until at the end of the nineteenth hour, at which time the brushes of the hour-units register are in engagement with the No. 10 terminals of their arcs to register the units digit 9 of the nineteenth hour of the day or 7 oclocl: p. m., the circuit previously traced over brush 542 is established for relay 516 under the control of relay 60!! to cause the advance of the brushes of the register 530 into engagement with the No. 3 terminals of their arcs. At this time the brushes of the tenth-hour register and the brushes of the hour-units register will be so positioned as to register the tenth-hour and units digits of the hour as zero.

In a similar manner when brush 552 of the ten li-hour register engages either the No. 10 or terminal of its are at the end of the twentieth to twenty-third hour, the hour-units register is advanced step-by-step to successively register the units digits 1, 2, 3 and l of the twenty-first, twenty-seeond, twenty-third and twenty-fourth hours. The brushes of the hour-tens register remain in a position during this time to register the tens di it 2 of these hours. When, however, the brush is advanced to the No. l terminal of its are at the end of the twenty-third hour of the day or midnight, relay Elli upon operating establishes a crcuit from ground over its inner lower contacts, conductor tilt of cable 6E5, brush and terminal oi the tenth-hour register, brush l the No. 4 terminal of its arc, brush of the hour-tens register and the No. 3 terminal of its arc, to battery through the Winding of relay Relay now operates; looks over its No. 4 contacts and the strapped terminals of the are associated with brush of the hourunits register to ground over brush 5 23 to insure that relay will remain operated until this register is restored to normal; establishes a. circuit from battery through the winding of relay El i, over its No. 8 contacts, the No. a terminal of the arc associated with brush 552, of the hourunits register, brush 553 of the tenth-hour register, and conductor elB of cable M5 to a front contact preparatory to advancing one f relay ted the houi tens register; establishes a circuit from ground over its No. 5 contacts to battery through th winding of relay fill which operates to cause the operation of the stepping magnet 52d of the day-units register; closes over its No. 8 contacts the previously traced circuit for make busy relays 323i; and 38! upon the subsequent releas of relay for making the circuit busy to senders during the time that the registers are advancing and closes a circuit from ground over the lower contacts of relay H3, conductor EH9 of cable hi5, over its No. '1 contacts and conductor 6% of cable EH5 to battery through the upper winding of relay 658 for holding relay 5% operated during the time that is required for slo-w-to-release relay Elli to releas following the opening of the operating circuit of relays ti t and 553 by the release of relay tilt? in order to prevent the registers from advancing if at this time a sender is starting to seize the month, day and hour circuit. If a sender does seize the circuit before the operation of relays Silt and till becomes effective, relays 334 and 55535 will be operated as previously described and. connect holding ground over conductor to hold relays Gill! and [H3 operated.

upon releasing controls the advance of the brushes of the hour-units register into engagement with the No. 5 terminals of their arcs whereupon a circuit is established from ground over the No. 3 contacts of relays 586, th No. 5 terminal of the arc associated with brush 5 H, brush 5 3i, over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 5:710 of the hour-units register to battery through the winding of stepping relay 5 i 5. 555 thereupon operates in turn operating magnet 549 which releases relay 5H5. Relay upon releasing releases magnet to advance the brushes of the hour-units register one step. Since the Nos. 5 to 10 terminals of the are associated with brush are strapped together, the previously traced circuit for relay tits is eiiective until brush E li advances beyo d the No. 10 terminal of its arc whereby relay 555 and reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes of the register step-by-step. When brush igages the No. 11 terminal of its arc, the circuit for role? is established from ground over brush 5M engaged therewith whereby relay magnet 5 35 reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes of the hour-units register into engagement with the l lo. 1 terminals of their arcs to 'egister the hourunits digit as zero.

When relay Sill; releases, the circuits for relays 585 and EH6 are opened and relay hit upon re leasing releases magnet 538 to advance the brushes of the hour-tens register into engagement with the No. l terminals of their arcs whereupon a circuit is established from. battery through the winding of stepping relay hi6, over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet and the strapped terminals of the associated with brush 522 to ground over brush 5312. Relay 5l6 now operates in turn operating magnet which in turn releases relay Elia. Relay Elli upon releasing releases magnet 536 to advance the brushes of the hour tens register one step. In this manner relay and magnet reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes of the hour-tens register into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs to register the hour tens di it as zero. Relay tilt also releases relay 569, t ch was operated over conductor 566 oi cable to advance the brushes oi the tenth hour register to the No. 1 terminals of their arcs to register the digit 0 indicating the first six min ute division of the hour. The three hour reg isters now register the time as use or just past midnight.

Relay 5&6 upon releasing opens the circuit of stepping relay 5!! which releases in turn releasing stepping magnet 526 to advance the brushes of the day-units register one step from their assumed engagement with the No. 5 terminals of their arcs into engagement with the N0. 6 terminals thereof, whereby the day-tens and day-units registers now register the day of the month as the twenty-sixth. In the manner previously described, the tenth hour, hour-units and hour-tens registers are advanced during each subsequent twenty-four hour period in turn causing the advance of the day-units register stepby-step until after the end of the twenty-ninth day of December its brushes will be positioned on the No. 9 terminals of their arcs. When relay 506 is operated in response to the operation of relay 690 at the end of the last six minute interval of the twenty-ninth day of December, a circuit is established from ground over the No. 1 contacts of relay 5%, brush 523 and the No. 9 terminal of its arc to battery through the winding of stepping relay 518 which operates in turn operating stepping magnet 5H1 of the day-tens register. When relay 5% releases relay 5H3 releases in turn releasing magnet 5|0 to advance the brushes of the day-tens register into engagement with the No. 4 terminals of their arcs to register the digit 3. Relay 506 also releases relay 5|$ which in turn releases magnet 520 to advance the brushes of the day-units register into engagement with the No. 10 terminals of their arcs. The day-tens and day-units registers are now set to register the thirtieth day of the month. At the end of the next twenty-four hour period, relay 506 is again operated and released, the dayunits register is again advanced a step to engage its brushes with the No. 11 terminals of their arcs whereby the thirty-first day of the month is registered. At the end of the next twentyfour hour period when relay 506 is again operated a circuit is established from ground over its No. 2 contacts, brush 52! and the No. 11 terminal of its arc, brush SM and the No. 12 terminal of its arc, since the month register has been assumed to register the twelfth month or December, brush 512 and the No. 4 terminal of this arc, to battery through the winding of relay 50! and the circuit of relay 5|! associated with the day-units register is established to thereby cause the operation of stepping magnet 520. Relay 50! upon operating locks in a circuit from battery through its winding, over brush 5|2 and the No. 4 terminal of its arc, brush 5M and the No. 12 terminal of its arc to ground over the No. 6 contacts of relay 50! and connects ground over its No. 6 contacts, over the No. 11 terminal of the arc associated with brush 52! and brush 52| engaged therewith, over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 520 to battery through the winding of relay 5|!, whereupon relay 5|! operates in turn operating magnet 520. Magnet 520 upon operating releases relay 5|! which in turn releases magnet 520 to advance the brushes of the day-units register to the No. 12 terminals of their arcs. A circuit is now established from ground over the No. 7 contacts of relay 50! and the Nos. 12 to 20 terminals of the arcs associated with brush 52! whereby relay 5|! and magnet 520 reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes of the day-units register into engagement with the No. 21 terminals of their arcs. With brush 52| engaged with the No. 21 terminal of its arc, strapped to the No. 22 terminal, relay 5!! and magnet 520 recipro cally control each other to further advance the brushes to the No. 1 terminals of their arcs.

When the day-units register has reached its No. 1 terminal position, a circuit is established from ground over the No. 3 contacts of relay 50!, the No. 1 terminal of the arc with which brush 522 is now engaged, the No. 4 terminal of the arcs with which brush 5|| is engaged over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 5|0 to battery through the winding of relay 5|8, whereupon relay 5|8 operates in turn operating magnet 5l0. Magnet 5! upon operating releases relay |8 whereupon magnet 5|0 is released to advance the brushes of the day-tens register into engagement with the No. 5 terminals of their arcs. With brush 5|! engaged with the No. 5 terminal of its arc, which is strapped to terminals 6 to 22, inclusive, a circuit is established from ground thereover, over the interrupter contacts of magnet 5|0 to battery through the winding of relay 5|8 whereupon relay 5|8 operates in turn operating magnet 5|0 which in turn releases relay 5|0 followed by the release of magnet 5|0 to advance the brushes of the register one step.

Thus relay 5|8 and magnet 5|0 reciprocally con- 1 trol each other to advance the brushes of the day-tens register into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs. Over its No. 8 contacts, relay 50! establishes the circuit of stepping relay 5|9 preparatory to advancing the month register. Over its No. 2 contacts it closes the previously traced holding circuit for relay 600, until relay Bl3 releases and over its No. 1 contacts closes the previously traced circuit for makebusy relays 300 and MI to make the month, day and hour circuit busy until the registers thereof have taken their new settings. As soon as brush 5|2 of the day-tens register leaves the No. 4 terminal of its arc, relay 50! releases and following the release of relay 6|3 relay 600 releases followed by the release of relay 505. When relay 50! releases, relay 5|9 releases in turn releasing magnet 500 which advances the brushes of the month register into engagement with the No. 13 terminals of their arcs. A circuit is now established from ground over brush 502 and the strapped terminals of its arc, over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 500 to battery through the winding of relay 5|9 whereupon relay 5 l 9 operates in turn operating magnet 500 which in turn releases relay 5|9 followed by its own release whereby relay 5|9 and magnet 500 reciprocally control each other to advance the brushes of the month register into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs. At this time the registers of the month, day and hour circuit are set to register the month, day and hour as 0101000 or just after midnight on January 1.

The circuits function as just described during the month of January to register the days and hours and at the end of the month or at midnight on January 31 up the release of relays 506 and 50!, the registers are set to register the month, day and hour digits as 0201000. It will be assumed that the year is not a leap year and that therefore February has but twenty-eight days. When therefore, relay 506 operates at midnight on the twenty-eighth day of February, brush 52| of the day-units register will be in engagement with the No. 8 terminal of its arc and brush 512 of the day-tens register will be in engagement with the No. 3 terminal of its arc and a circuit will be established from ground over the No. 2 contacts of relay 506, brush 52| and the No. 8 terminal of its arc, brush 50! and the No. 2 terminal of its arc, brush 5|2 and the No. 3 terminal of its arc to battery through the winding of relay 50!. Relay 50! will thereupon operate to establish a circuit for stepping relay 5!!! of the month register and to establish circuits over its Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 contacts to cause the advance of the brushes of the day-units register into engagement with the No. 21 terminals of their arcs, whereupon they are advanced into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs. When brush 522 engages the No, 1 terminal of its arc, relay 50! establishes the previously traced circuit for advancing the brushes of the day-tens register into engagement with the No. 5 terminals of their arcs whereupon they are advanced into engagement with the No. l terminals of their arcs. When relays 50B and 50! release, stepping relays 5|6 and 5|9 release whereupon the brushes of the hour-tens register are advanced into engagement with the No. 4 terminals of their arcs and are thereupon advanced into engagement with the No. 1 terminals of their arcs under control of brush 532 and the brushes of the month register are advanced one step into engagement with the No. 3 terminals of their arcs. The registers are now set to register the month, day and hour as 0301001 or just after midnight on March 1.

Had the year been leap year, then the strapping shown at 526 in the conductor connected to the No. 8 terminal of the are associated with brush 52! of the day-units register would have been omitted and the previously traced circuit for relay 501 would not have been established until midnight on the 29th day of February at which time brush 52! would then engage the No. 9 terminal of its arc.

During the months of March, May, July, August and October during which months brush 50! of the month register is in engagement with the Nos. 3, 5, 7, 8 and 10 terminals of its arc, respectively, the circuit for relay 501 is established by the operation of relay 506 on midnight of the 31st day of such months at which time brush 52l of the day-units register will be in engagement with the No. 11 terminal of its arc and brush |2 of the day-tens register will be in en gagement with the No. 4 terminal of its arc. During the months of April, June, September and November, during which months brush 50! of the month register is in engagement with the Nos. 4, 6, 9 and 11 terminals of its arc, the circuit of relay 501 is established by the operation of relay 506 at midnight on the 30th day of such month at which time brush 53l of the day-units register will be in engagement with the No. terminal of its arc and brush 5H2 of the daytens register will be in engagement with the No. 4 terminal of its arc.

Checking and setting registers and relays In order to check the settings of the registers and the relays of the month, day and hour circuit, circuit paths are provided through arcs on the different registers and which are equivalent to those used in controlling the ticket printer to print the digits of the month, day and hour characters. The terminals in the arcs associated with brushes 503, 5l3, 524, 533, 544 and 554 of each month, day and hour circuit which correspond to the terminals of the corresponding arcs associated with the brushes 505, 5I4, 525, 534, 545 and 555 which are connected to the ten printer control conductors 240 to 249, inclusive, are multipled together and connected through indicating lamps to battery. The brushes 503, 513, 524, 533, 544 and 554 are connected over conductors of cable 40l corresponding to the control conductors 258, 251, 256, 255, 254 and 253, respectively, to armatures of a relay 62! individual to the same month, day and hour circuit and are connected over front contacts of such relay to ground if the relay is operated or over back contacts of such relay if it is not operated to the windings of checking relays 625 to 630, inclusive of such month, day and hour circuit to battery. For example, corresponding terminals of the arcs associated with brushes 553 of the tenth hour registers of all of the day and hour circuits are multipled together and connected through the checking lamps 480 to 489, inclusive, to battery and the brush 554 of the month, day and hour circuit is connected over conductor 402 of cable 40! to ground over the No. 3 alternate contacts of relay 62|F if such relay is operated or over the No. 3 normal contacts of relay 62 IF to battery through the winding of relay 625 if relay E2IF is not operated.

It will be assumed that it is desired to check another month, day and hour circuit using the circuit shown as the master circuit. To accomplish this, key 622 is operated, thereby closing an obvious circuit through the upper winding of relay 623 which thereupon operates and locks from battery through its lower winding and inner contacts, over the No. 7 back contacts of the unoperated relays 62l of all circuits over the normal contacts of the make-busy jacks 524 of such circuits and to ground over the upper back contacts of checking relays 625 to inclusive, of such circuits and closes the circuit of relay 332 through the thermistor 033. Relay 523 also closes a circuit over its lower contacts and in series over the normal contacts of keys 63|L to 5381 Of all other month, day and hour circuits and over the alternate contacts of key 63lF, assumed, to be operated, to battery through the winding of relay GZIF of the month, day and hour circuit shOwn in full which is to be used as a master circuit. Relay SZIF upon operating lights lamp 035 and connects ground to all of the conductors of cable 40! whereupon a lamp in each group associated with brushes 503, 5l3, 524, 533, 544 and 554 will be lighted to indicate the settings of the registers of the circuit being used as a master circuit. If it be assumed that the registers of the circuit disclosed have been set to register the date and time as December 25, 9:36 a. in, then lamp 542 of the group 53| to 542 associated with brush 503 of the month register, lamp 422 of the group 420 to 423 associated with brush 5i3 of the daytens register, lamp 435 of the group of twenty lamps associated with brush 524 of the day-units register, lamp 46!] associated with brush 533 of the hour-tens register, lamp 419 of the group associated with brush 544 of the hour-units register, and lamp 486 associated with brush 554 of the tenth hour register are lighted. The grounds applied by the operated relay 6MB to the'ccnductors of cable 40! will also be extended over the brushes 503, 5l3, 524, 533, 544, and 554, the terminals of their associated arcs and over the multipled terminals of the corresponding arcs of all other month, day and hour circuits and thence over the brushes associated therewith and conductors of cables such as cable 40! of all other month, day and hour circuits and over back contacts of relays 62l of such circuits to battery through the windings of checking relays 635 to 630, inclusive, of such circuits.

As an example when brush 554 of the month, day and hour circuit disclosed is in engagement with the No. 7 terminal of its arc to light the No. 6 lamp 435, the corresponding brushes of all other month, day and hour circuits should also be engaged with the No. 7 terminals of their arcs and consequently ground applied over the N0. 3 alternate contacts of relay 62lF, over conductor 202 of cable 40L brush 554 and the No. 7 terminal of its arc should be connected over the No. 7 terminals of the arcs associated with brushes 554 of all other circuits and over conductors 402 of cable 40] extending from such brushes, over the No. 3 normal contacts Of relays 02! of the other month, day and hour circuits to battery through the windings of relay 5525 of such other circuits thereby operating such relays. Similarly if all corresponding registers of all circuits have taken settings similar to the settings of the registers of the circuit being used as a master, all relays 525 to 630 of such circuits will be opeated thereby opening at their upper back contacts the locking circuit of relay 623 which will thereupon open the circuit of relay 632. If any circuit should for any reason fail to progress at the end of a time period, the relay of the group 625 and 630 associated with the register which did not advance will remain normal during the checking operation.

If it be assumed that the tenth hour register of one of the circuits fails to advance so that its brush 554 is not engaged with the No. '7 terminal of its arc, then relay 625 of such circuit will not operate during the checking operation and relay 623 Will not therefore release after the release of key 622, relay 623 being held over its holding circuit extending to ground at the upper back contact of the non-operated relay 625. Relay 623 is therefore maintained operated for a suflicient interval to permit alarm relay 632 to be energized through the thermistor 633 and over the locking circuit of relay 623 to thereby light alarm lamp 634 and to cause the operation of the audible alarm device 635.

If some circuit is found to be out of synchronism as indicated by the operation of the visual and audible alarms, the maintenance man will then proceed to determine which circuit is out of synchronism. It will be assumed that the circuit disclosed in full is correct as indicated by the correct lighting of the lamps associated with its registers to correspond to'the calendar date and correct clock time and is therefore being used as a master circuit as hereinbefore described. The maintenance man, with relay 623 locked operated due to the trouble condition, now successively operates the checking keys 63! of all of the circuits thereby causing the successive operation of the associated relays 621. When the relay 62! of each circuit operates, the conductors of the cables 40l of such circuit will be grounded to thereby cause lamps associated with the registers of such circuit to light to indicate the settings of its registers. The lamps associated with the registers of each circuit should light when each circuit is checked in correspondence with the lighting of the lamps of the master circuit, but when the circuit is checked in which some register or registers are out of synchronism, the lamps associated with such registers will not be lighted to correspond with the lamps which were lighted in the master circuit, thus informing the maintenance man that such circuit is in trouble. If it be assumed that the tenth hour register of this circuit is out of synchronism, then checking relay 625 will have failed to operate as previously described. The maintenance man then makes such circuit busy by the insertion of a plug in the make-busy jack 624 thereby opening the circuit of relay 632 to discontinue the alarms and establishing a, circuit from ground over the sleeve ano ring contacts of jack 624, conductor 63'! to battery through the winding of make-busy relay 3N5.

Relay 3 l 6 upon operating connects ground over its inner upper front contacts to conductor 638 to hold relay 623 operated, connects ground over its lower front contacts to conductor 639 and over the inner lower back contacts of unoperated relay 025 through lamp 540 to battery to light 1 lamp 640 as a signal that the tenth hour register of the particular circuit is out of synchronism, over its upper contacts, causes the operation of relays 300 and 30! to render the particular circuit busy to all senders and establishes a circuit from ground over its upper middle contacts, over the lower contacts of relay 30l, the No. 1 back contact of relay 302 and conductor 3!! preparatory to operating relay 403.

The maintenance man now momentarily perates key 404 of the month, day and hour circuit found to be in trouble corresponding to the register thereof found to be out of synchronism, in the case assumed the tenth hour register indicated by the lighted lamp 640. Keys 405 to 409, inclusive, are similarly allotted to the hour-units, hour-tens, dayunits, day-tens and month registers and may be operated if any of such registers are found to be out of synchronism as indicated by the lighted condition of any of the lamps 64| to 645 allocated to the checking relays 626 to 630, inclusive. When any one of these keys is operated, the circuit of relay 403 is completed over the right contacts thereof whereby relay 403 is operated to connect ground to the left contacts of all of the keys. With key 404 operated as assumed, a circuit is completed from ground over the lower No. 1 contacts of relay 403, over the left contacts of key 404, conductor 4l2 of cable 413 to battery through the winding of stepping relay 509 of the tenth hour register. Relay 509 thereupon operates and establishes the circuit of stepping magnet 550. When the key 404 is released, relay 509 releases followed by the release of the stepping magnet 550 whereby the brushes of the tenth hour register are advanced one step. The key 404 is thus operated and released one or more times until the tenth hour register is brought into a position corresponding to the position of the tenth hour register in the master circuit at which time a circuit for relay 625 of the defective circuit will be established from ground over the N0. 3 alternate contacts of relay 62IF of the master circuit, conductor 402 of cable 404, brush 554 and the terminal of its arc with which it is engaged, cross-connected to the terminal of the arc of the corresponding register of the defective circuit, brush 554 engaged therewith, conductor 402 of the cable 4M of such defective circuit, over the No. 3 normal contacts of relay 62! of such circuit to battery through the winding of checking relay 625 thereof. Checking relay 625 thereupon 0perates to extinguish the associated lighted lamp 640 to indicate that the register has been brought into synchronism. Keys 404 to 409, inclusive, are made effective by relay 403 only when the circuit is made busy and is not in use by a sender in order that registers thereof may not be advanced by accidental operation of such keys.

Exercising the registers Since the month register operates only once a month and some of the other registers operate infrequently, it is desirable at times to advance the brushes of the registers over the terminals of their associated arcs to free the terminals of dust and corrosion. To accomplish this the month, day and hour circuit is taken out of service by inserting a plug into the make-busy jack 624 as previously described, resulting in the operation of relay 316. With relay SIB operated and if the circuit is not at the time in use with a sender, the circuit of relay 403 is prepared as before described. lhe maintenance man then operates the exercise key 4|0 thereby completing the circuit of relay 403 over its right contacts and establishing the circuits of relays 400 and 4| 1 over its left contacts. Relay 4 upon operating connects ground to all of the printer control conductors 240 to 249, inclusive. Relay 400 upon operating, over its lower No. 2 contacts connects brushes 504 and 505 of the month register together and connects brushes 5|4, 525, 534, 545 and 555 of the day-tens, day-units, hour-tens, hour-unit and tenth hour registers over its lower No. 1 and upper Nos. 1 to 4 contacts, inclusive, over conductors M4 to M8, inclusive and over the interrupter contacts of the stepping magnets 529, 539, 549 and 550, respectively, of the registers to battery through the windings of the respective stepping relays 5l8, 5H, 5l6, 5l5 and 509. Relay 400 upon operating disconnects the printer control conductors from the are with which brush 5% of the month register is associated and connects these conductors over conductor H9 and the interrupter contacts of magnet 506 of the month register to battery through the winding of stepping relay 5l9.

With these connections established, stepping relay 5l9 of the month circuit is now operated in a circuit from battery through its winding over the interrupter contacts of magnet 5B0, conductor the upper No. 5 and lower No. 3 front contacts of relay 4%, over any terminal of the are engaged by brush 504, brush 504, the lower No. 2 contacts of relay 4G0, brush 565, the terminal of its arc with which it is engaged, over that one of the printer control conductors 240 to 249, inclusive, connected to such terminal to ground over a contact of relay 4| I. Relay 5H1 upon operating causes the operation of stepping magnet 560 which in turn releases relay 5E9 which in turn releases magnet 5% to step the brushes of the month register one step, whereupon the circuit of relay die is reestablished over other terminals engaged by brushes 504 ad 595. The month register is in this manner advanced step-by-step until rush 5G2 engages the strapped terminals of its arc, whereupon the brushes are advanced to the No. 1 terminals of their arcs and the further advance of its brushes is continued under the control of brushes 504 and 505.

Stepping relay 5| 8 is operated over a circuit ex tending from battery through its winding, over the interrupter contacts of stepping magnet 5! conductor M4, the lower No. 1 contacts of relay 4%, brush 5M of the day-tens register and the terminal of its arc with which it is engaged over the printer control conductor of the group 24% to 243, inclusive, connected thereto, to ground over a contact of relay 4i :1. Relay 5l8 upon operating causes the operation of stepping magnet 5H) which in turn releases relay bid which in turn releases magnet 5m to step the brushes of the day-tens register one step whereupon the circuit of relay 558 is reestablished over another terminal now engaged by brush 5 l 4 and connected to a conductor of the group 248 to 243 grounded through the operation of relay 4! l. The day-tens register is in this manner advanced step-by-step until brush 5H thereof engages the strapped terminals of its arc, whereupon the brushes are advanced to the No. 1 terminals of their arcs and the further advance of the brushes is continued under the control of brush 5M. The other registers are similarly advanced step-by-step under the control of their brushes 525, 534, 545 and 555. All of the registers are thus exercised so long as the exercise key 4!!! is maintained operated and relays 400, 493 and 4 are thus operated. Since the control paths for exercising each register are dependent upon the application of ground to the printer control conductors 240 to 249, inclusive, by the operation of relay 4!! and extend over the arcs or arc used in controlling printing, the exercise test also checks the continuity of these paths, an open circuit over any path being effective to cause the register controlled thereby to stop.

Synchronizing the circuit After the exercising has been completed, the registers may be resynchronized by the operation of synchronizing key 646 which establishes a circuit from ground over conductor 3i? over its contacts to battery through the winding of relay S ll. Relay 64'! upon operating locks over its No. 2 right contact and over the lower back contacts of such relays of the group 525 to 630 as are at the time unoperated to indicate an unsynchronized condition of the registers corresponding thereto and thence to ground over conductor 539 and the contacts of busy relay 3H3; causes the lighting of lamp 648 over its No. 5 right contacts and establishes a circuit from ground over its No. 4 right contacts and over the back contact of relay 549 to battery through the winding of relay 555 whereupon relay 65H operates. Relay upon operating establishes an obvious circuit for relay 649 which after an interval determined by its slow-to-operate characteristic operates to open the circuit of relay 650. Relay 6% being slow to release does not release immediately. Thus during the interval measured by the slow-to-operate characteristic of relay 549, and the slow-to-re-- lease characteristic of relay 6536, relay 653? maintains ground connected over its contacts, front contacts of relay 641 and the inner upper back contacts of the unoperated relays of the group 625 to 63$, inclusive, to conductors of cable 65! and thence to battery through the windings of the stepping magnets of such registers as are not in synchronism with the corresponding registers of the master month, day and hour circuit. As soon as relay 549 becomes fully released, it again closes the circuit of relay 655 which again operates to reestablish the circuit of relay M9, thus relays 649 and B reciprocally control each other whereby relay 550 is intermittently operated to repeatedly close and open the circuits of the stepping magnets of the registers whereby the registers are all advanced step-by-step.

For example, if it be assumed that the month register is out of synchronism, the repeated operations and releases of relay 65B, repeatedly operates and releases stepping magnet 5E0 to advance the brushes of the month register step-by-step over a circuit which may be traced from ground over the No. 4 right contacts of relay the No. 4 left contacts of relay 6 31, the inner upper back contact of relay 630, conductor 552 of cable S5l to battery through the win-ding of stepping magnet 500. When brush 503 of this register has been advanced to a terminal position corresponding to the terminal position of brush 555 of the month register of the master circuit, relay 63!! becomes energized in the manner previously described to open the stepping circuit of magnet 50!] and to extinguish lamp 645 which has been lighted to indicate the unsynchroniized condition of the month register. The other registers are brought into synchronism in a similar manner and when all registers have been synchronized and all of the relays 625 to 6343 have been operated, all the lamps 646 to 645 will become extinguished and relay 641 will be released to arrest the operation of relays 549 and 656. Any of the month, day and hour circuits can be made the master circuit by the operation of its relay 52! thus making it possible to put the registers and relays of such circuits in the proper positions corresponding to date and hour settings obtained from a calendar and a clock, by means of the manual control keys 404 and 499 as before explained and then to synchronize all other circuits with this preset circuit. This expedites returning the circuits to service when power failure causes the circuits to fail to progress.

As previously described, checking paths are provided through the correspondin register arcs associated with brushes 503, |3, 524, 533, 544 and 554 of the several circuits to check the synchronism of the registers of such circuits. These checking paths are prepared automatically every six minutes upon the release of either relays 603 or 655 and while relay H3 is still operated by the operation of relay 623, in a circuit from ground over a back contact of either relay 603 or 685, the right normal or alternate contacts of key 6!2, the upper contacts of relay M3 to battery through the winding of relay 623. Relay 623 then functions to operate relay 62! of any circuit whose individual checking key 63! has been operated to lock itself operated and to establish the circuit for alarm relay 632 as previously described. Checking then proceeds in a manner previously described.

Synchronizing the timers If it be assumed that the timer 60! is operating in service, the timer 602 is then allowed to run until the circuit controlled thereby for operating relay 605 has been closed and is just on the point of releasing or has just released as is indicated by the extinguishing of lamp 653. The keys 6H] and 6i are then operated to open the circuit for timer 502, until relay 603 is operated by the timer Bill as indicated by the lighting of lamp 654. Key GM is then released while key BI! is maintained operated, whereupon the circuit for timer 602 is reestablished through the source 501, over the contacts of key 610 and the left alternate contacts of key 6H. The key 6H is then released. If the timer 602 is assumed to be operating, the timer 60! may be synchronized with it in a similar manner by the operation of keys 608 and 609.

What is claimed is:

1. In a signalin system, a clock, a fractional hour register operable step-bystep in response to impulses transmitted by said clock, a register for registering the units digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of each hour, a register for registering the tens digits of the hours of a day operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-fourth hours of each day, a register for registering the units digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step at the end of each day, a register for registering the tens digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth and nineteenth days of each month and at the end of the twenty-ninth day or at the end of each month, a register for registering the months of the year and means controlled jointly by the setting of the month, day-tens and dayunits registers for determining whether said month register shall be advanced at the elapse of twenty-eight, thirty or thirty-one days.

2. In a signaling system, a clock, a relay operable periodically by said clock, a fractional hour register operable step-by-step in response to said relay, a register for registering the units digits of the hours of a day operable step-bystep at the end of each hour under the joint control of said relay and said fractional hour register, a register for registering the tens digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth, nineteenth and twentyfourth hours of each day under the joint control of said relay and said hour-units register, a second relay operable under the joint control of said first relay and said hour-tens and hour-units registers at the end of each day, a register for registering the units digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step under the control of said second relay at the end of each day, a register for registering the tens digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step under the joint control of said second relay and said dayunits register at the end of the ninth and nineteenth days of each month and at the end of the twenty-ninth day or at the end of each month, a register for registering the months of the year, a third relay operable under the joint control of said second relay and said month, day-tens and day-units registers at the end of each month, and means controlled by said third relay for controlling the step-by-step advance of said month register.

3. In a signaling system, a clock, a relay operable periodically by said clock, a fractional hour register operable step-by-step in response to said relay, a register for registering the units digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of each hour under the joint control of said relay and said fractional hour register, a register for registering the tens digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-fourth hours of each day under the joint control of said relay and said hour-units register, a second relay operable under the joint control of said first relay and said hour-tens and hour-units registers at the end of each day and means controlled by said second relay for causing the restoration of said hour-tens and hour-units registers to normal at the end of each day.

4. In a signaling system, a clock, a relay operable periodically by said clock, a fractional hour register operable step-by-step in response to said relay, a register for registering the units digits of the hours of the day operable step-bystep at the end of each hour under the joint control of said relay and said fractional hour register, a register for registering the tens digits of the hours of a day operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth, nineteenth and twentyfourth hours of each day under the joint control of said relay and said hour-units register, a second relay operable under the joint control of said first relay and said hour-tens and hourunits registers at the end of each day, a register for registering the units digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step under th control of said second relay at the end of each day, a register for registering the tens digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step under the joint control of said second relay and said day-units register at the end of the ninth and nineteenth days of each month, a, register for registering the months of the year, a third relay operable under the joint control of said second relay and said month, day-tens and day-units registers at the end of each month, means controlled by said third rclay for controlling the step-by-step advance of said month register, means controlled by said second relay for causing the restoration of said hour-tens and hourunits registers to normal at the end of each day, means controlled by said third relay for causing the restoration of said day-tens and day-units registers at the end of each month, and means for restoring said month register to normal at the end of each year.

5. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, each of said circuits having a clock, a plurality of registers for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the month of the year, a relay operable periodically by said clock for controlling the step-by-step advance of said registers, and means for rendering said circuit lousy to all recorders during the time that registers thereof are being advanced in response to said relay.

6. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, each of said circuits having a clock, a relay operable periodically by said clock, a fractional hour register operable stepby-step in response to said relay, a register for registering the units digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of each hour under the joint control of said relay and said fractional hour register, a register for redistering the tens digits of the hours of the day operable step-by-step at the end of the ninth and nineteenth hours of each day under the joint control of said relay and said hour-units register, a second relay operable under the joint control of said first relay and said hour-tens and hourunits registers at the end of each day, and means controlled by said second relay for holding said first relay operated for a predetermined interval to prevent the advance of said registers if said circuit is about to be operatively associated with a recorder.

'7. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, each of said circuits having a clock, a first relay operable periodically by said clock, a second relay operable by said first relay at the end of each day, a register for registering the units digits of the days of each month operable stepday-step under control of said second relay at the end of each day, a register for registering the tens digits of the days of each month operable step-by-step under the joint control of said second relay and said day-units register at the end of the ninth and nineteenth days of each month, a register for registering the month of the year, a third relay operable under the joint control of said second relay and said month, day-tens and day-units registers at the end. of each month, means controlled by said third relay for controlling the step-by-step advance of said month register, and means controlled by either said second or third relays for holding said first relay operated for a predetermined interval to prevent the advance of said registers if said circuit is about to be operatively associated with a recorder.

3. In a signaling system, a plurality or recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible by said means to said associated recorder, means operative upon the seizure of said circuit for testing said control conductors for false grounds, and means thereafter effective if no false ground condition is found for progressively rendering said registers effective to selectively establish circuits over said control conductors to control said associated recorder in accordance with said registrations.

9. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible by said means to said associated recorder, means operative upon the seizure of said circuit for testing said control conductors for false grounds and crosses with each other, and means thereafter effective if no false ground or crossed condition is found for progressively rendering said registers effective to selectively establish circuits over said control conductors to control said associated recorder in accordance with said registrations.

10. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible "by said means to said associated recorder, means operative upon the seizure of said circuits for testing said control conductors for false grounds and crosses With each other, and alarm means operable in the event that a false ground or crossed condition is found.

11. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, mean for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a clockoaperated relay for controlling the advance of said registers, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible by said means to said associated recorder, means operative upon the seizure of said circuits for testing said control conductors for false grounds and crosses with each other, means thereafter effective for progressively rendering said registers effective to selectively establish circuits over said control conductors to control said associated recorder in accordance with said registrations, and means operative during said tests and during the control of said recorder to hold said relay operated to prevent the advance of said registers.

12. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible by said means to said associated recorder, a polarized test relay, means effective upon the seizure of said circuit for associating all of said control conductors with a winding of said relay and for so poling said relay as to render it responsive only to a false ground on any one of said conductors, and alarm means operable in the event said relay responds to a false ground condition.

13. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in said registers and extensible by said means to said associated recorder, a polarized test relay, means efiective upon the seizure of said circuit for associating all of said control conductors with a winding of said relay and for so poling said relay as to render it responsive only to a false ground on any one of said conductors, means for thereafter so poling said relay and for rendering it marginal in operation as to render it responsive only to battery applied simultaneously to two or more of said conductors because of crosses therebetween, and alarm means operable in the event said relay responds to either a false ground or a crossed conductor condition.

14. In a ignaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of step-by-step registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, means for rendering said circuits busy to all recorders, an exercise key, and means controlled by the operation of said key if said circuit is not associated with any recorder at the time it is made busy for establishing a self-interrupting stepping circuit for each of said registers whereby the brushes thereof are rapidly advanced over the terminals of their arcs so long as said key is maintained operated whereby said terminals and brushes are burnished for better conductivity.

15. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of step-bystep registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hour of the day, the tens and units digits of the day of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in the terminals of an arc of each of said registers and extensible by said means to an associated recorder, means for rendering said circuit busy to all recorders, an exercise key, a first and a second relay operable by said key, said first relay operative to connect ground to all of said control conductors and said second relay operative to complete a self-interrupting stepping circuit for each of said registers over the brush and the terminals of the are associated therewith to which said grounded control conductors are connected whereby the brushes thereof are rapidly advanced over the terminals of their arcs to burnish them for better conductivity and whereby the continuity of the circuit paths over said control conductors are tested.

16. In a signaling system, a plurality of recorders, a plurality of month, day and hour circuits, means for associating any recorder with an idle one of said circuits, a plurality of stepby-step registers in said circuit for registering the fractional hour and the tens and units digits of the hours of the day, the tens and units digits of the days of the month and the digits of the month of the year, a plurality of control conductors terminating in the terminals of an arc of each of said registers and extensible by said means to an associated recorder, means for rendering said circuit busy to all recorders, an exercise key, a first and a second relay operable by said key, said first relay operative to connect ground to all of said control conductors and said second relay operative to complete a self-interrupting stepping circuit for each of said registers over the brush and the terminals of the arc associated hterewith to which said grounded control conductors are connected whereby the brushes thereof are rapidly advanced, and a further selfinterrupting stepping circuit for each of said registers for insuring the continued advance thereof so long as said key is maintained operated.

17. In a signaling system, a clock, and a plurality of signal transmitting circuits each comprising a plurality of registers operable from said clock to register various calendar and time periods including the hour and fraction thereof, the day and the month, and means for synchronizing the settings of the registers of any one of said circuits with the settings of the corresponding registers of another of said circuits used as a master circuit.

18. In a signaling system, a clock, and a pluality of signal transmitting circuits each comprising a plurality of step-by-step registers operable from said clock to register various calendar and time periods including the hour and fraction thereof, the day and the month, a plurality of groups of lamps common to said signal transmitting circuits, each group of lamps associable with one of said registers and a relay individual to each signal transmitting circuit operable to cause one lamp of each group to be lighted to indicate the settings of the registers of the corresponding transmitting circuit for comparison with the correct calendar date and clock time.

19. In a signaling system, a clock, a plurality of signal transmitting circuits each comprising a plurality of step-by-step registers operable from said clock to register various calendar and time periods including the hour and fraction thereof, the day and the month, each of said registers having a plurality of arcs of contacts, a group of indicating lamps associable with each register, each lamp being connected in multiple to corresponding terminals of corresponding arcs of corresponding registers of all of said circuits, a mast-er checking relay, means for operating the master checking relay of any one of said circuits and means controlled by said relay for establishing circuits for one lamp of each group to indicate the settings of the registers of the circuit whose master relay is operated for comparison with the correct calendar date and clock time.

20. In a signaling system, a clock, a plurality of signal transmitting circuits each comprising a plurality by step-by-step registers operable from said clock to register various calendar and time periods including the hour and fraction thereof, the day and the month, each of said registers having a plurality of arcs of contacts, a checking relay for each register, a group of indicating lamps associable with each register, multiple connections extending between correspondin

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