US3836072A - Damped transfer arrangement for a counter - Google Patents

Abstract

Two successive ordinal toothed counter wheels are connected by toothed transfer means to make a tens-transfer once during each revolution of the counter wheel of the lower order. The teeth of the counter wheels and of the transfer means are cut out and hollowed so that the teeth are resilient and dampen impacts thereon during the transfer operation.

Description

United States Patent [191 Kelch et al.

[ 1 DAMPED TRANSFER ARRANGEMENT FOR A COUNTER [75] Inventors: Heinz Kelch, Buchenberg; Helmut Mueller, Sankt Georgen, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Kienzle Apparate GmbH,

Villingen/Schwarzwald, Germany 221 Filed: Mar.6,1973

21 Appl. No.: 338,551

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 9, 1972 Germany 2211392 [52] U.S. Cl. 235/133 R, 235/94 R, 235/95 R,

235/136, 235/144 R [51] Int. Cl G06c 7/10, G06c 9/00 [58]- Field of Search 235/94 R, 94 A, 133 R,

235/95 R, 95 A, 135, 50 A; 74/461, 460, 457

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 322,667 7/1885 Wilson, Sr. 74/461 Sept. 17, 1974 2,572,334 10/1951 Guibert 74/461 2,928,288 3/1960 Bliss et al..... 74/440 3,304,795 2/1967 Rouverol 74/461 3,337,129 8/1967 Johnson 235/95 R 3,496,791 2/1970 Gabriel l. 74/461 3,618,852 11/1971 Kes 235/94 R Primary Examiner-Stephen J. Tomsky Assistant Examiner-Vit W. Miska Attorney, Agent, or FirmMichael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT Two successive ordinal toothed counter wheels are connected by toothed transfer means to make a tenstransfer once during each revolution of the counter wheel of the lower order, The teeth of the counter wheels and of the transfer means are cut out and hollowed so that the teeth are resilient and dampen impacts thereon during the transfer operation.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENIEI] SEF I7 I974 SHEET 1 (IF 2 FIGS.

DAMPED TRANSFER ARRANGEMENT FOR A COUNTER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a damping arrangement effective during the transfer of intermittent movements of counter wheels in counters, particularly for the tenstransfer in rapidly rotating counters.

In gas stations, where gasoline is automatically metered, counters including a plurality of ordinal counter wheels are used, which are connected with each other by tenstransfer means.

It is necessary that the counter wheels have large indicating wheels which require that the counter wheels have certain minimum size, and consequently a certain minimum mass which cannot be further reduced without impairing the legibility of the indication. Particularly, with the counter wheel of the lowest order, which is the driven input counter wheel and indicates the smallest units, difficulties occur because a minimum size and mass cannot be further reduced, while on the other hand, for economic reasons, the greatest possible amount of flow of liquid through the apparatus is to be registered. Particularly the number wheels of the lowest order, and during the tens-transfer also the number wheels of the higher orders, must be driven at very high rotary speeds, and must be able to withstand the high loads resulting therefrom.

In known counters, the input counter roller is continuously rotated by means of a gear secured to the respective counter wheel. During a transfer operation by.

which a unit has to be transferred to the next higher order and if necessary also to further higher orders, a transfer lug, which is fixedly connected with the input counter wheel, strikes while rotating at high speed, the toothed flanks of a tens-transfer gear which turns about an axis parallel to the axis of the counter wheels. The tens-transfer gear also meshes with the gear of the counter wheel of the next higher order and cooperates with a cam disc which locks the transfer gear, but releases the transfer gear for angular movement when a unit is to be transferred.

Counters of this type have the great disadvantage v that the transfer lug strikes the respective tooth of the transfer gear, which is at first at a standstill, with a very hard impact. In the same moment, acceleration of a mass is required, which depends on the number of counter wheels to be shifted, and the accelerated masses must be rapidly decelerated until the transfer gear is again in the normal position. The occurring force peaks must be sustained without damping, and even if high quality material is used, disturbances and damage frequently occur, because the material cannot resist the high stresses. Furthermore, the load peaks of the impacts have also an effect on the drive means of the counter, and may detrimentally influence the precision of the values metered by the counter, and the exact transfer of such values to the indicator.

Another construction of the prior art provides a transfer means which consists of two coupling elements connected by a torsion spring. To assure the complete transfer operation, additional connecting means are required, and the device consists of a great number of parts so that manufacture and maintenance is expensive. The resilient coupling element has no effect dur- SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is one object of the invention to provide a resilient transmission of the intermittent movements of counter wheels in counters, which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

Another object of the invention is to dampen impacts of cooperating teeth in the tens-transfer device of an ordinal counter.

In accordance with the invention, the teeth of the counter wheels, and of the tens-transfer device are formed with cutouts so that the teeth are resilient and dampen impacts thereon. Preferably, also the peripheral rim of a transfer wheel is formed with a cutout and rendered resilient for damping the impact of a tooth of a tens-transfer gear.

In order to make resilient the zones where the peak forces prevail, and to transform impact energy into the deformation of an elastic zone, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the teeth have cutouts equidistant to the tooth flanks so that resilient flank walls are formed between the addendum circle and the dedendum circle of the tooth. For the same reason, the resilient flank walls axially project from a supporting disc, and may be located on one side or on both sides of the disc. In order to render the damping particularly effective, all forcetransmitting elements of the apparatus are formed with cutouts and made resilient.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view schematically illustrating two successive ordinal counter wheels, and tens-transfer means therebetween;

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a transfer gear according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is an axial sectional view illustrating a transfer gear with a supporting disc, and axially projecting transfer teeth on one side;

FIG. 4 is an axial sectional view illustrating a modified transfer gear having a disc and transfer teeth projecting in opposite axial directions from the disc;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side view on an enlarged scale, illustrating a preferred embodiment of a transfer wheel with transfer lugs or teeth for shifting the transfer gear; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view illustrating a counter wheel provided with counter teeth according to several modifications of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The portion of a counter shown in FIG. 1 includes counter wheels 1 and 2 correlated with successive decimal orders, and being mounted for free rotation on a shaft 3 supported by lateral walls, not shown. It is assumed that counter wheel 1 is the counter wheel of the surfacel5.

1; or lu distances I between counter teeth SL" 1 L counter: eethofthejsecond cou nter 'wheel 2. Tr'ansfejf gear 2l"has*alternatingteeth Z3-a'nd 24, theftee t hj23 directionthan'the-teeth24. &

Yates-,withthe I ';turni ng ofthe'firstcounter wheel 1 f; the" respective long I As shown in FIG. 1, the cutouts in the counter teeth 9 of the circularrow 5 are'shaped sot'hat the inner surfaces of the flank walls 7 are equidistant from the flanks 6, andthe flank walls have a constant thick ness.

An upper cylindrical surface is carried by discf4, and" As noted above,- the transfer teeth '20 vn'd are coh structed in the same mannerto be resilient. The curved cutouts 14 form resilient portions which'are partof the peripheral rim l9, and are engagedby the ne xtfo is provided with ten indicia, for example the digitsnO to The. counter wheels of higher orders are stepwise shifted, only counter wheel 2 jof the second decimal order being shown, and during one full revolution'of a counter wheel, the countertwheel' of 'the 'next higher,- order is turned one angular step corresponding to the angular distance between two indicia on the cylindrical The tens-transfer b zi bn' riiin ongfiteeth zli ranjsfer gear 2 lextend 'al'ging--the eriph'eral r-ifnii' 1-9 and, the respectivetransfertooth 20 per pherahritn"19, sliding thereon during ooth? 2 3"prevents a turning movement of the transfer V i geai-"121 ,and;ofthe counter wheel2'duringjthe turning ofJc'o'un ter wheel 1 forthej-first' nine angular steps.

lar step and completes one revolution, the .first transfer operation, it is -'necessary to rapidly decelerate all masses acceleratedby the impact on the short tooth 24, including the transfer gear 2 l, the counter wheel 2, and

. isaccornplished by a transfer de- 'vicewhichl includes a transfer wheel 17 which has a'circular ,ldiSCfjl connected by ,pins '16 with the first counter wheel 1" for rotation. As also shown in'ElG .i'5-, [the disc 18 carries two axially projecting transfer" teeth 32 0 and 20 which have the above-described I tsi-lOfito form flank walls 7 of uniform thickness I fand elasticit'y. The disc 18 of the transferwheel 17 has a circular peripheral rim 19 under which partcircular cutouts-J14 and 14 are :provided adjacent the transfer -teeth' 2'0 and 20 so that resilient part cireular bar-""- shaped portions 26 a'r'e formed*on .whichparts .Of the. peripheral }.rim'- l9 are-located. The circumferential length of th'ecutouts l4imayfcorrlespond to two'angul'ar 34o,

' i The traiisfergear2lfconnectssthe first counter wheelx,

I 25. 'w I the, disc 25 and ave one end s'ec ure'd to the disc 25, "as

v.7 of uniform selected thickneSsIwhIleI theroot; which usually connects the fla n'kgo, may .b'e-zorni tte rim portionsl'26; are required.

to the .next counting position.

.curved flankwallsf] or-7 to improve the following counter wheels andtens-t'ransfer devices of higher orders, not shown, if they 'are in the required an-;

gular position. For decelerating the masses, the next following long tooth 23 engages the peripheralrim 19 of the disc 18, and blocksfurther movement of the" order. For damping this hard impact, andthl the impact on therespective parts, the tr 23, 24 of the transfer gear 2l freely projec rection from disc 25, and are cut o'ufto quired'if the counter wheels rotate only in u one'idirecv tion of rotation, but when also negative operations are i required, twotransfer'teeth 20 and 20 anft WQ'elastic I tWh e'nthe first-counter wheel 1 iscontinuously driven I asinput'coun'tei" wheel by gears, no't'shownl-meshing withfthe' circularrowS of teeth 9, the ,trl ansfe'irl gearg l H .fis shifted by the respective transfer tooth 2 0 or-2l)- ',-"Qt, v and'shifts the second counterwhe'elf2 one angular step zf x 7 proje'ct in axialdirec tion from in 3."; root portion 8' may be omitted me modification shownin-FlGfld, the disc 2'5" is FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 1 show constructions of fthetrans j 1 f gear2lg The teeth 23,24 arel'composed of tworesilient Y I ..wh'ichresiliently yieldiwhenf the flanks arefiengaigedibut also yield resiliently in ,cirfctioninrelation'tothesupporting discastilcity iin circumferential direction.

arranged'at-theendof the' s'hort tooth 2 4, and the long: teeth 23 project 'in opposite axial directions'ffrom the disc 25". Assh'own inElGf. 23in the region A,the, disc 1 2 5 ,wl iich isnormally geacshapedand has peripheral v fradial projections ij's cut outatllso that the radial protoff-th f trahSferIwhel 17. secure'di tdth'e:first'fcounter. 3 h' fl the i c a 'th Sa configuration s wheel thesame time, the respective longit'ooth 23 "rnesheswithjthecouhte'nteethof the Circular'rowS' of sociated-with the next higher deci' he fact'that a long tooth 23 cooper-' --the'respectivetoothiiandso that' 'the fl'ank walls of each tooth areQconnectedwith'fthe disc 25 by parts having th'e'.' ame}width .asffthie'j flank "walls 7. i Further modifications of the teethiaccording to the I presentinventionare shown in FIG. 6. A tooth 27 is shown, which has a narrow cutout" 11 so that only one Wlien the first counter wheel 1 'turnsthe tenth angu narrowflank wall is formed. A tooth shaped as tooth 27 is very strong and suitable for impact damping trans- A transfer gear 21 and a transfer wheel 17, as described above, are also used between the counter wheels of the higher orders. All transfer wheels 21 can be mounted for rotation on a shaft 22 parallel to counter shaft 3. When simultaneous tens-transfer between several pairs of counter wheels take place, the tens-transfer means according to the invention dampen the peak forces occurring during simultaneous tenstransfer in several orders since the energy is used for deforming the elastic parts.

By carefully selecting the dimensions for the teeth according to the invention, together with the use of a suitable elastic material, the disadvantages of known counter damping apparatus are overcome. Particularly, the present invention has the result to dampen simultaneously occurring tens-transfers by constructing all parts which engage each other of an elastic material.

Breakage is avoided, the transfer is quiet, and wear is reduced so that the life span of an arrangement according to the present invention is increased as compared with the prior art. No forces are transmitted to the metering device for a liquid from which the counter is driven.

The apparatus of the invention has substantially the same space requirements as known counter arrangements, and can be used with conventional metering apparatus.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of damping transfer arrangements for counters differing from the type described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a damped tens-transfer arrangement including hollow resilient teeth for damping impacts during a tens transfer, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim: 1. Damped transfer arrangement for a counter comprising at least first and second ordinal counter wheels having first and second counter teeth, respectively; a

transfer wheel secured to said first counter wheel and including a peripheral rim having a first transfer tooth; and a transfer gear having second transfer teeth meshing with said second counter teeth and having a locked position in which one second transfer tooth slides on said peripheral rim for locking said transfer gear and said second counter wheel, another second transfer tooth being engaged with an impact by said first transfer tooth once during each revolution of said first counter wheel so that said transfer gear is angularly displaced for turning said second counter wheel, at least some of said teeth being formed with a cutout between the flanks thereof so that said flanks are resilient and dampen the impact, and said transfer wheel being formed with a curved cutout under said peripheral rim adjacent said first transfer tooth so that said peripheral rim is likewise resilient and dampens the impact of said one transfer tooth thereon.

2. Transfer arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second transfer teeth are formed with cutouts and are resilient.

3. Damped transfer arrangement for a counter comprising at least first and second counter wheels having first and second counter teeth, respectively; a transfer wheel secured to said first counter wheel and including a disc having a peripheral rim and a first transfer tooth axially projecting from said disc and being formed with a cutout,.said disc being formed with a curved cutout under said peripheral rim so that said rim and said first transfer tooth are resilient; and a transfer gear including a disc having second transfer teeth axially projecting therefrom and being formed with cutouts so that said second transfer teeth are likewise resilient, said second transfer teeth meshing with said second counter teeth and having a locked position in which one second transfer tooth slides on said peripheral rim for locking said transfer gear and second counter wheel, another second transfer tooth being engaged with an impact by said first transfer tooth once during each revolution of said first counter wheel so that the transfer gear is an-- gularly displaced for turning said second counter wheel, whereby the impact of said one second transfer tooth on the peripheral rim and of said first transfer tooth on said second transfer tooth is dampened by said resilient peripheral rim and said resilient second transfer teeth.

4. Transfer arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein said curved cutout is part circular and extends circumferentially over an angle corresponding to at least two spaces between two counter teeth so that a resilient part-circular bar portion is formed along said peripheral rim.

Claims (4)

1. Damped transfer arrangement for a counter comprising at least first and second ordinal counter wheels having first and second counter teeth, respectively; a transfer wheel secured to said first counter wheel and including a peripheral rim having a first transfer tooth; and a transfer gear having second transfer teeth meshing with said second counter teeth and having a locked position in which one second transfer tooth slides on said peripheral rim for locking said transfer gear and said second counter wheel, another second transfer tooth being engaged with an impact by said first transfer tooth once during each revolution of said first counter wheel so that said transfer gear is angularly displaced for turning said second counter wheel, at least some of said teeth being formed with a cutout between the flanks thereof so that said flanks are resilient and dampen the impact, and said transfer wheel being formed with a curved cutout under said peripheral rim adjacent said first transfer tooth so that said peripheral rim is likewise resilient and dampens the impact of said one transfer tooth thereon.

2. Transfer arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second transfer teeth are formed with cutouts and are resilient.

3. Damped transfer arrangement for a counter comprising at least first and second counter wheels having first and second counter teeth, respectively; a transfer wheel secured to said first counter wheel and including a disc having a peripheral rim and a first transfer tooth axially projecting from said disc and being formed with a cutout, said disc being formed with a curved cutout under said peripheral rim so that said rim and said first transfer tooth are resilient; and a transfer gear including a disc having second transfer teeth axially projecting therefrom and being formed with cutouts so that said second transfer teeth are likewise resilient, said second transfer teeth meshing with said second counter teeth and having a locked position in which one second transfer tooth slides on said peripheral rim for locking said transfer gear and second counter wheel, another second transfer tooth being engaged with an impact by said first transfer tooth once during each revolution of said first counter wheel so that the transfer gear is angularly displaced for turning said second counter wheel, whereby the impact of said one second transfer tooth on the peripheral rim and of said first transfer tooth on said second transfer tooth is dampened by said resilient peripheral rim and said resilient second transfer teeth.

4. Transfer arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein said curved cutout is part circular and extends circumferentially over an angle corresponding to at least two spaces between two counter teeth so that a resilient part-circular bar portion is formed along said peripheral rim.

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