US2553915A - Computing device - Google Patents

Description

Patented May 22, 1951 COMPUTING DEVICE Chester A. Grant, Syracuse, N. Y., and Ransom L. Richardson, Meriden, Conn, assignors to Gaylord Bros, Inc., Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 8, 1950, Serial No. 199,804

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to computing devices, and more particularly to an improved computing device which is primarily suited for use in libraries where charges are multiplied by the number of days that a book or books may be loaned to a borrower, or retained beyond the due date.

In public libraries, books are usually loaned to the public free of charge for a predetermined number of days, but the borrower is fined a certain amount of money for each day over the predetermined number of days that the borrower retains the book. Thi fine or charge is not counted for any day that the library may be closed, such as Sundays, legal holidays, or any other day that the library is closed for any reason, and which may vary with different libraries or with different localities. This fine or charge also varies in different libraries in (different sections of the country, usually from one cent per day up to six cents per day or more. Ordinarily, the library attendant in each instance must consult a calendar to determine the total number of actual days that a returned book is overdue, excluding days that the library was :closed, and must then multiply the charge or fine per day by the number of days to determine the total charge to be made.

In commercial libraries such as the various fiction lovers libraries or lenders libraries, the charging system is very similar to that of the public libraries, except that Ea, flat charge is made for a predetermined number of days, and an additional charge is made for every day over the predetermined number that a book or books may be held. This additional charge also varies in different lending libraries in Tdifierent sections of the country, and also varies according to the popular demand for certain books, in which instance the charges are increased to some extent as an inducement to prompt return Of the more popular books. In this type of library, the clerk must consult a calendar and determine the total number of days over the predetermined number for which the usual fiat rate applies, that each returned book has been held by the borrower, and then must multiply the number of days by the excess charge rate per day for the respective books.

It accordingly is an object of this invention to provide a fine or charge computer for use in libraries, public or commercial, which facilitates and expedites computation of the proper charge or fine to be made for a returned book or books.

Another object is to provide a fine or charge computer for use in libraries and the like, which facilitates and expedites the computation of the proper charge or fine to be made for a returned book or books, and which is extremely flexible in that it may be utilized in any library regardless of whether the charge rate per day is the same for each book, or whether the rate varies with different libraries, and regardless of whether the non-chargeable days vary with different libraries.

A further object is to provide a library fine computer which in use compensates for days that the library is closed, thereby enabling the attendant to instantly ascertain the correct charge to be made upon reference to the computing device, and which minimizes the possibility of errors in calculation, as may happen quite frequently when the calculations are made mentally according to the conventional practice prevailing heretofore.

While the fine calculator or computer of this invention is herein described as being useful for computing library fines, it will be readily understood that the invention may be availed of in any instance where a predetermined rate of charge is made for a predetermined period of time, and it is particularly well uited in such instances where the chargeable time periods are broken by periods of non-chargeable time. I

With the above objects in view, the specific details of the preferred embodiment of the invention will be hereinafter described, and the novel features defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in top plan of a library fine computing device made in accordance with the present inventionj I Figure 2 is a view in end elevation of the computing device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in horizontal section, as taken on the line 33 of Figure 2 Figure 4 is a view in vertical section, as taken on the line 44 of Figure 1; v

Figure 5 is a view in transverse section, as taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1; and I Figure 6 is a reduced detail plan View of the back side of the Vinylite sheet on which the scale figures are applied.

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawing, wherein l designates a substantially rectangular body. This body is made of any suitable material, and is provided adjacent one of its longitudinal side edges with a longitudinally extended groove 2 adapted to receive a row of time increment rep-resenting elements or date blocks 3. The body i is covered by a sheet of transparent material 4, such as Vinylite plastic or other suitable transparent material which is adapted to overlie the groove 2 in the body I, and to confine the blocks 3 within said groove. The inner face of the transparent sheet 4, in the present embodiment, is provided, as by means of printing or the like, with a plurality of rows of scale figures or indicia, and as best seen in Figure 1, these rows of scale figures are in progressively increasing multiples of a predetermined unit value. The row 5 represents progressively increasing multiples of a one-cent value, and the rows 6, I, 8, and 9 represent multiples of a two, three, four, and six cent value, respectively.

The rows of figures 5 through 9 are preferably printed on the inner face of the transparent sheet 4 in alternate colors; for instance, the rows 5, I, and 9 may be printed in red numerals while the rows 6 and 8 may be printed in black numerals, or any other suitable combination of colors may be utilized as desired. After the rows of figures have been printed on the sheet 4, a coating of suitable backing material is applied over substantially the entire inner face of the transparent sheet 4, as at IU (see Figure 6). or background has been found particularly desirable for this purpose, but any desired color may be utilized that is in contrast to the colors of the scale figures. A longitudinal section II of the transparent plate 4 is left uncoated, this section II bein substantially equal in width to the width of the groove 2, and being transparent, whereby when the sheet 4 is secured to the body I as by means of a suitable number of screws or the like, as at I2, the date blocks 3 confined within the groove 2 may be readily observed.

As seen in Figure 1, at I3, the sheet 4 is im printed with the words Current date and an arrow, in the preferred embodiment, but any other suitable designation of a given period of time may be utilized corresponding to the increment of time designated by the block or blocks 3.

At each end of the groove 2, the body I is provided with an arcuate indentation or recess as at I4. At each end of the groove 2, the body is also provided with a depression I5 located on substantially the longitudinal center of the groove 2, and a spring latch I6 is suitably attached to the body, as at H, so as to project outwardly from the groove 2 into engagement with the blocks 3 at the respective opposite ends of said groove 2. The blocks 3 are preferably made of plastic material and the time increment representations may be suitably applied to each respective block, as by means of printing, stamping, molding, or any other suitable method.

At its bottom side, the body I is also provided with a longitudinally extended drawer-receiving groove I8, said groove I8 being closed at the bottom of the body by means of the plate I9 which covers substantially the entire bottom of the body I and acts to confine a drawer 20 within said groove I8. The drawer 20 extends sub stantially the full length of the body I and terminates flush with the end walls of said body, and the bottom plate I9 is provided with an arcuate recess or indentation 2| directly beneath the opposite ends of the drawer 20, as best seen in Figure 3. The drawer or slide 20 is provided with a compartment 22 for storing any of the blocks 3 which are not being utilized in the groove 2 to designate computable increments of time. The drawer 20 is preferably provided with a spring 23 secured to one side thereof for frictional contact with one of the side faces of the A white backing groove I8 which prevents accidental displacement of the drawer 20 from the body I when the computing device is being used.

The method of using a library fine computer made in accordance with this invention will now be described. In the illustrative embodiment, as seen in Figure 1, the increments of time represented by the blocks 3 are shown as being days, but, however, these blocks 3 may represent any other time period as desired. The time increments as shown in Figure 1, for purposes of illustration, represent the period between the fourth day and the twenty-seventh day of October, 1950, minus the Sundays between these dates which fell on the 8th, 15th and 22nd, respectively, of this month. Should it be that the library were closed on Saturdays, the date blocks corresponding to these Saturdays will also be eliminated and stored with the date blocks representing Sundays and the balance of the days not represented on the face of the computer, within the drawer 20, as seen in Figure 3. Assuming that a book has been borrowed from the library and is due to be returned on the tenth day of the month, but is not returned until the twenty-seventh day of the month, which is indicated as being the current date; and also assuming that the library makes a charge or fine of three cents per day for each book retained by the borrower in excess of the allotted time, it will be seen that it is only necessary for the attendant or clerk to run his finger laterally across the face of the scale in the block which represents the tenth day of the month to the third row of vertically extended figures representing progressively increasing multiples of a three-cent unit value, and he immediately sees that he should charge forty-five cents for each book. Should it be that the borrower has retained two books for this period of time, it is only necessary for the attendant to run his finger over to the fifth column of vertically arranged figures which represent progressively increasing multiples of a six-cent unit value, which is twice the three-cent value for a single book, and he instantly finds that he should charge a total of ninety cents. The total charge to be made is determined, and is represented on the scale, by multiplying the total number of days that the library was open, excluding all Sundays and holidays, by the predetermined unit value of the proper scale row.

The library fine computer of this invention is extremely flexible and may be utilized in libraries making a base charge per book per day of one, two, three, four, or six cents per day, or on the other hand, if the library makes a charge of onecent per day, the progressive multiples of the unit values two, three, four, and six may be utilized to designate the number of books. Likewise, if the library makes a base charge of two cents per day per book, the scale column having a unit value of four will represent the proper charge for two books, and the scale column having the unit value of six, by the same token, will represent the appropriate charge for three books.

If desired, only a single column of figures may be utilized in conjunction with the column of date blocks 3, this single column of progressively increasing multiples having a, predetermined unit value of the particular charge a given library makes, and the appropriate charge for a plurality of books will be readily and simply ascertained by merely multiplying the appropriate charge for a single book by the number of books.

Each morning, the library attendant will take the date block corresponding to the current date out of the drawer 20, and will insert this block in the lower end of groove 2 while at the same 1 time depressing the spring latch [5 shown at the upper end of Figures 1, 3 and 4. Thus, as the new block 3 is inserted, the whole column of blocks 3 will be moved upwardly a distance corresponding to the size of a single date block, and the uppermost date block will be discharged from the groove 2.

The spring latches i5 serve to prevent accidental displacement of the block 3 from the groove 2, and to maintain the blocks 3 in proper relationship with respect to the figures of the scale. The arcuate recesses i4 permit the spring latches to be easily and readily depressed by the library attendant, and permit the latches iii to be inset slightly from the edges of the body of the computer, thereby obviating accidental depression of the latches and possible accidental displacement of one or more of the date blocks.

While the specific details of the preferred embodiment of the present invention have been herein shown and described, changes and alterations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof, as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A computing device of the class described, comprising a body member having indicia denoted thereon and arranged in a plurality of vertical columns and horizontal rows, the indicia of the respective vertical columns representing progressively increasing multiples of difierent se-- lected unit rates, a plurality of date blocks shiftably and displaceably carried by said body memher and arranged in a vertical column adjacent and parallel to the indicia columns aforesaid,

with the individual date blocks aligned with the horizontal rows of indicia, said date blocks running from the current date progressively backwards for a selected period of time with certain dates omitted, and the indicia in any horizontal row opposite any selected date block representing the product of the cumulative number of days from the selected date to the current date and the unit rate of the respective vertical rate columns.

2. A computing device as defined in claim 1, wherein the date blocks are carried in a groove in said body member.

3. A computing device as defined in claim 1, wherein the date blocks are carried in an openended groove in said body member, and said body member is provided with means for preventing accidental displacement of said date blocks from said groove.

CHESTER A. GRANT. RANSOM L. RICHARDSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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