US2724328A - boyden etal - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 22, 1955 R. E. BOYDEN ET AL 2,724,328

TAMPER-PROOF MEANS IN PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES Original Filed July 12, 1 5 Sheets-Sheet IL IN VEN TORJ Robert fifio yd en, BY Holland H. Freeman.

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 22, 1955 R. E. BOYDEN ETAL.

TAMPER-PROOF MEANS IN PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed July 12, 1948 INVEN'I'ORJ, Roberl iBo yden, BY Holland H. Freeman.

XX 7. M ATTORNEY.

Nov. 22 1955 E, BOYDEN ETAL 2,724,328

TAMPER-PROOF MEANS IN PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES Original FiledJuly 12, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 "min" 37 I 6 INVENTORJ F1 4 Robert EBogZlrp 13y Holland H. Freeman.

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 22, 1955 R. E. BOYDEN ETAL TAMPERPROOF MEANS IN PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES Original Filed July 12, 1948 5 SheetsSheet 4 No 22, 1955 R, E, BQYDEN ET AL 2,724,328

TAMPER-PROOF MEANS IN PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES Original Filed July 12, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORJ,

Robefl E Boyden BY Holland H. Freeman.

United States Patent fihce 2,724,328 Patented Nov. 22,1955

TAMPER-PROOF MEANS 1N PRINTING AND COMPUTING MACHINES Rioliert E. Boyden and: HollandI-I; Freeman, San: Gabriel, Calih, .assignors to Clary Corporation r a corporation of California Original application Jilly 12,, 1948, Serial No. 38,294,,

now Patent No. 2,607,526, dated August 19, 1952; Divided. and this application November 20, 1951", Serial No. 257,213;

2 Claims. (Cl. 101-94) This inventionrel'at'es tocash registering and like machines and? has particular reference to means for safeguarding suchimachines againstunauthorized andifraudulent: handling or manipulation.

It thereforerbecomes apr-incipal object of the present invention: to prevent unauthorized and fraudulent opera-' tion'. of) amachine" of theabovetype.

Another object is: to prevent? unauthorized opening, tamperingon dismantling of the machine.

Another object is to provide for ejection of a ticket or other record: from the-printing mechanism of a machine ofithe: above type'while preventing unauthorized tampering with. such printing mechanism through the opening provided for ej'ectiorr of suchrecordl.

The manner in which. the ab'ove and other objects of the invention are. accomplished will" be readily understood on; reference to the following specification when read; in' conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

wherein :1

Fig; L. is a planiview of part of a: cash registering machine embodying the present invention.

Fig; 2: is: a sectional el'evational view taken substantiallyalong the line 2"2of Fig. 1, illustrating part oftheu cover-locking mechanism.

Figs: 3 and: 4 are. coextensive longitudinal sectional views of thecmachine.

Fig; 5.1 is: a sectional planview taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, showing the drawer and cover release controls.

Fig; 6. is" asectional. view takensubstantially along the line: 6-6. of Fig. 4..

Fig. 7' is; a fragmentary plan: view illustrating the key lock for the-.machine;

Fig. 8 is an end view, partly in section, of the transparent: printing opening cover.

The present invention is disclosed herein in connection with the. well-known Clary cash registering machine which is disclosed and claimed in the copending application, of Boyden. and; Freeman, S. N. 38,294, filed July 1 2, 19.48;. and entitled Computing Machine,'the latter having. since matured into Patent No; 2,6071526, issued on- August 1 9, 1952. The presentapplication is a division" of said copending application and reference is herebydrawer section. including a cash drawer 1*1 enclosed. by:

a. cover 12. underlying the computing section.

A paper stripv indicated by dot-andvdash lines .13

(Fig. 4),. on which the various items entered into. the

machine and. totaled out thereof are recorded, is passed 2. over a platen" 12a to a, position where such items are visible and is then fed under a rear cover'or housing part 113 extending over the rearportions of the covers 10 and 12.

The machine is controlledby a keyboard comprising amount keys 9a upon which items to be. entered into the. machine are set. The two left hand rows, 16 and 17' of amount keys are provided for designation purposes only.

A depressible add bar 10a (Fig. 3) is provided to cause the machine to additively enteritems' set up on the keys 9ainto an accumulator generally indicated at 50 andto print such items on' the paper strip 13. Total andsub total bars 17a and 18a, respectively, effect totaling or subtotaling of items from the accumulator and'printing of such items on the tape;

The computing mechanism housed by'the cover 10is supported by' a frame comprising two main side frame plates, one of which is'illustrated at 23 (Fig; 4), rigidly secured in spaced relation bycrossbraces 20, 3'64 and 365 (Figs. 3 and 4'). Thisframe and the mechanism carried thereby is resiliently supported upon a tray'21, integral with the drawer cover 12, through four resilient: supporting; units 22.

The drawer" cover 12 which supports the computing section is, in turn; resiliently supported on fourfeet 27" through a pair of cross braces 26, and 26a rigidly secured? at the sides of the cover.

The computingsection-cover 10 is resiliently supported by'the main frame plates 23 through vibration absorbing, mounts 369's (Fig. 2) of rubber or the like mounted on brackets 370a suitably secured in a manner, not shown to the frame plates.

Means are provided for releasably locking the cover 10 in place and comprises lock levers, onev of which is illustrated at 28, located on opposite sides of the machine. Tlie leversare'pivoted at SOtobrackets extending, upward from the tray 21. Each locking; lever when in. its-illustrated l'ockingpositionas shown in Fig. 2 is located with an arcuate portion 31 extending into a slot. 32' formed in-a rib 33*extendingfrom the respective side wall. of the cover 10. The lock lever is'unlockedby pressing on a tail portion 3'4 to rock the same counter-clockwise outof engagement with the slot,- 321 It will be noted that the lock levers 28- are operable only from within. thecash drawer cover and'onl'y when the cash drawer'll is removed; thereby preventing unauthorized. entry into the computing section when the drawer 12' is in} closed. position as is illustrated inthe drawings.

As disclosed indetail in" the aforementioned R. E. Boyden patent, the computing mechanism is motor driven and includes a rotatable drive shaft 51a (Figs. 3 and'4) which rotates a complete revolution. upon depression of a selected control bar, i; e;, 10a, 17a, and 18m Each rotation ofthe shaft causes operation of the machine in, accordancewith the particular control bar depressed and the item entered into, orthe total taken, from the accumulator is printed on the paper strip 13 at a point where the latter passes over the platen 12a.

The accumulator 50 (Fig. 3) is disclosed in detail in Patent 2;472,696 issuedto E; P. Drake on June 7, 1949, and comprises a series of accumulator gears 51, one in. each order of the machine, and rotatably mounted on a shaft 52" independently of each other. The latter shaft is raised or lowered bymechanism not shown herein to mesh the accumulator gears 51 with rack gear sections 83a or 84a of drive racks 19a; depending upon Whether additive or subtractive operations are being performed; Each rack 19a is provided with a" plurality of shoulders 79a cooper-able with key stems 29a of the aligned bank of' amount keys9a. The racks 19a areyieldably driven, forwardly by means not shown actuated by the shaft film during each cycle of the machine and thereby differentially advance the associated accumulator gears a number of increments equal to the values of the amount keys depressed in the aligned orders.

The printing mechanism comprises a series of printer dials 135a carried in side by side relation independent of each other on individual arms 136a mounted for limited rotatable movement on a printer control shaft 137a. The dials 135a have type thereon ranging from O to 9 and are operatively connected in a manner not shown herein to respective ones of the racks 19a. Springs 138a tend to rock the arms 136a clockwise to cause the dials to .strike the paper tape 13 at a printing point P on the platen 12a during a printing operation.

The shaft 137a is provided with diametrically opposed grooves, the edges of which normally engage inwardly extending teeth formed on the levers 136a to hold the arms in their outer illustrated positions until the printing phase of the operating cycle at which time the shaft is rocked clockwise by means not shown, under control of the drive shaft 51a, to allow the printer arms 136a to follow under the urge of their individual springs 138a and thus strike the tape 13 at the printing point.

In accordance with thepresent invention, a transparent cover 207 (Figs. 1, 4 and 8) of plastic or the like is adapted to be locked in place over the opening 208 formed in the machine cover 10 over the printing mechanism. This cover enables the printing mechanism, i. e., type dials 135a etc., to move into the opening 208 and also allow the operator to view the printed values on the tape 13 immediately after the printing operation and at the same time to prevent unauthorized tampering with the printing mechanism or printing operation, while allowing the printed portion of the tape to pass out through the opening 208.

The cover 207 is provided with side flanges 209, the lower sections 209a of which extend into and lit within the edges of the opening 208. Flange sections 209a are provided with lips 210 at their forward ends which are arranged to engage under the edge of the cover 10 at the forward edge of the opening 208, thus locking the forward end of the transparent cover in place. Similar rearwardly extendinglips 211 are formed in the flange sections 209a and such lips are arranged to be engaged by locking members 212, each formed of a thin resilient metal strip, to lock the cover in place.

Each locking member is provided with a slot 214 slidably mounted on a guide stud 215 fixed to the cover 10.

The lower end of each member 212 has attached theretoa knob 216 extending through a slot 317 in the cover 10 whereby, when the rear cover is removed as will be noted hereinafter, the respective member 212 may be drawn downward to release the upper forward end thereof from engagement with the lip 211.

A spring 217 is tensioned between each stud 215 and the respective knob 216 to normally hold each strip in its upper rearward locking positions as illustrated. It should be noted that the rear end of each locking memher 212 springs upwardly so as to engage at all times the undersurface of the cover 10.

The rear edge of the'cover 207 is provided with an opening 218 through which the printed portion of the paper tape 13 may extend. The upper edge of this opening is serrated as at 219 forming a severing or tearotf edge in the event it is desired to issue tape receipts. For example, it may be desired to use a carbon bi-pack tape formed of two paper strips wound together, the outer strip being provided with a carbon transferring coating,

on the rear surface thereof so that it may pass through the opening 218 to be torn off when desired, while the inner strip is passed over the upper surface of the cover 10, under the rear cover 113 and onto a take-up roll 184 which is yieldably driven in a manner not shown.

In either its single or bi-pack form, the tape 13 is fed from a supply roll indicated at 180, rotatably mounted on brackets 71, through openings in the casing 12 and tray 21, over a roller 181 rotatably mounted on brackets 182 secured to the top of the casing 12, through an opening 183 formed in the rear of the cover 10, under the take-up roll 184, from which it is guided onto the platen 12a.

In order to prevent unauthorized tampering of the machine as by placing a knife or other object through the opening 218 to block or otherwise prevent a printing operation of the dials 135a, a partition or baflle 220 is formed within the transparent cover 207 integral therewith. This partition extends into the opening 208 to a point directly adjacent the path of the paper tape 13. The lower edge of the baffle 220 is formed with a series of teeth 221 (Fig. 7) which curve rearward to form hooks so as to catch and block any paper, card or other thin sheet material which might be inserted through the opening 218 to block printing of the dials 135a.

It will be noted that the knobs 216 on the locking members 212 are located within the rear lever 113 and thus may not be manipulated to release the transparent cover 207, until the rear cover 113 is removed as will be described presently. Also, legs 230 are secured to the inner surface of the rear cover 113 and when the latter is in place the legs lie directly; below the knobs 2l6to hold the same in locking position and prevent the same from being released by hooks or the like inserted through the machine from below.

In order to magnify the image of a value printed on the tape 13 the center section of the cover 207 may be formed lenticular in shape as by providing a convex lower contour indicated by the dotted lines 1222 so that the operator may see the printed value in magnified form.

Means are provided under control of a key lock 15 (Figs. 2 and 7) to removably lock the rear cover 113 in place, removal of which is necessary in order to remove the transparent cover 207. As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the rear cover 113 is provided with a pair of downwardly extending conical studs 118 and 119 at the upper end thereof which are normally located in apertures 120 formed in the upper cover 10. A bracket 121 is suitably secured to the cover 113 at the lower end thereof and a pair of apertured ears 122 extend therefrom. The ears 122 are arranged to extend through apertures formed in the drawer casing 12 and the apertures of such ears are adapted to receive locking fingers 222 (Fig. 6) formed on extensions of a cross slide 91 (see also Fig. 5). The latter is provided with elongated slots 92 embracing and slidable along guide studs 93 fixed to the tray 21, thereby permitting movement of theslide laterally of the machine to engage or disengage the locking fingers 222 with the ears 122 of the rear cover.

The slide 91 is provided with a pin 94 extending upwardly through an elongated slot 95 in the tray 21. The pin 94 is also fitted within a slot formed in a bell-crank 96 pivoted at 97 on the tray. The bell-crank, in turn, is connected by a pin and slot connection 98 to a control slide 99 (see also Fig. 2). The latter slide is provided with elongated guide slots 100 embracing guide studs 101 extending from the side of the tray 21 and is provided with an extension 103 to which is secured a knob 14 extending through a slot in the top of casing 12.

Movement of the knob 14 to the rear will actuate slides 99 and 91 to remove the locking fingers 222 from the apertured ears 122 of the rear cover, permitting removal of the latter.

'The knob 14 and consequently slides 91 and 99 are detented in each of four positions by a centralizer 105 (Fig. 2) pivoted at 106 to the side of the tray 21 and urged downward by a spring 107 tensioned between the centralizer and a suitable portion of the frame (not shown) to urge a roller 108 on the centralizer into engagement with one of four notches 109 formed on the slide 99. The slide 99, and consequently the cross slide 91, is adapted to be locked in any of the above .four positions by the aforementioned key lock 15, the barrel of which is pivotally supported by the top of the drawer casing 12. A lock arm 112 (Fig. 7) is secured to the lock barrel and when the latter is rotated to its position shown in Fig. 7, the lock arm will bepositioned directly above the centralizer roller 108, preventing raising of the centralizer when in this position. v

Although we have described our invention in detail and have therefore used certain terms and languages herein, it is to be understood that the present disclosure is illustrative rather than restrictive, and that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of. the invention as set forth in the claims appended hereto.

mitting values printed on said strip and located between.

said printing point and said opening to be viewed therethrough, said cover having an opening therein through" which said strip may be fed after passing through said first mentioned opening, an edge of said transparent cover forming part of said last mentioned opening being serrated whereby to facilitate severing of said strip and a transparent baffle extending from said transparent cover into said opening in said housing to prevent insertion of a tool or the like serially through said openings, said baffie permitting said values to be viewed therethrough.

2. In a cash registering machine, the combination comprising, means for feeding a record medium pasta printing point, printing mechanism for printing values on said strip at said printing point, a housing part for said printing mechanism, said housing part having an opening therein through which said strip may be fed by said feeding means after passing said printing point, a transparent cover normally mounted on said housing part and extending over said opening, said transparent cover and said housing part conjointly forming an opening through which said strip may pass after passing through said first mentioned opening, an edge of said transparent cover forming part of said last mentioned opening being serrated whereby to facilitate severing of said strip a manipulatable device for releasably locking said transparent cover on said housing part, a second housing part, said transparent cover and said second housing part being removable for access to said strip and means for releasably locking said second housing part on said first housing: part in a position enclosing said manipulatable locking device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,085 Smith -2 May 25, 1909 955,224 Taylor Apr. 19, 1910 1,391,129 Lee Sept. 20, 1921 1,564,634 Side Dec. 8, 1925 1,671,780 Perkins May 29, 1928 1,818,338 Kropfi Aug. 11, 1931 1,936,903 Fr'iden Nov. 28, 1933 2,340,261 Eichler Jan. 25, 1944 2,422,103 Lambert June 10, 1947 2,506,337 Boyden May 2, 1950 2,616,365 Hicks Nov. 4, 1952

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