US534902A - Cash-register - Google Patents

Description

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J. MILLER & C. D. MoLEAN. CASH REQISTBR.

N0. 534,902. i Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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J. MILLER & C. D. MoLEAN. CASH REGISTER.

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UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES MILLER AND CHARLES D. MCLEAN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,902, dated February 26, 1895. Application filed April 26, 1894. Serial No. 509,135. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMES MILLER and CHARLES D. MCLEAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cash-Registers; and we declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. This invention relates to cash registers, and has for its object an improvement in that class of cash registers in which the amount ofapurchase is indicated by a tablet which is thrown up and exposed to view, and in which is contained a device or appliance for registering the totals of the amounts that have been indicated by each several tablet. The appliance that we employ for this purpose is rather an indicating device than an adding device, although it serves the same purpose as that mechanism which is employed for it and known as partial adders in machines of this kind.

Other improvements will be pointed outin the specification and specified in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective of the machine, with one end broken awayin order that the interior arrangement of the mechanism may be seen and understood. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the machine, showing a single tablet and the parts connected with it, and also indicating the means of opening the money till. Fig. 3 shows one of the registering disks.

A indicates the main frame, which is in the form of a box having a flat under side, a straight, vertical rear, and a curved front. At the lower end of the curved front is the money till, and at the upper end of the curved front is a "ertical box provided with an inspection .slot S through which the tablet '1, located within the short vertical section of the box, can be seen when it has been lifted by the proper mechanism to a position opposite the inspection slot.

B indicates a vertical sliding tablet rod at the upper end of which is a tablet T, and near the lower end of which is a lug b.

C indicates a flange on the main frame, through which the stem of the tablet rod slides,

and which serves as a guide to keep the tablet rod in its vertical position and from turning on its axis.

Across the frame of the register, parallel with the line of tablet rod B, is a swinging catch D. This catch D is provided with a slot (1 that extends from end to end across the entire length of the tablet rods; and beneath the slot (1 is a bar 6 which forms part of the swinging catch D. The catch D swings from a point- E, and is held forward so that its lower or swinging end, comprising the bar e, lies in the path of the lug b of the tablet stem B.

F indicates a key lever, hung on a bar or pinf, and the outer end of which, F, projects through the case, and terminates in a finger piece. The inner end, F projects inward, lies under the lower end of the tablet stem B, and is so engaged with it that, when the outer end of the key is depressed, the inner end and the tablet rod B and the tablet are lifted. When the .tablet rod is lifted, the lug b engages with the bareof the swinging catch D, and is pushed backward until the lug b rises above the upper edge of the bar e. The bar c then swings forward toward the stem B of the tablet rod underneath the lug b, and prevents the tablet rod from dropping when the finger of the operator is removed from the outer end of the key lever. As there are a number of key levers similar to the lever F, each one of which engages with its own tablet rod and actuates it in the way just described, whenever a second tablet rod is lifted, the lug on this second tablet rod, similar to the lug b engaging with the bar e, which is common to all of the tablet rods, pushes the bar e backward, and forces it out of engagement with the lug of the tablet rod that has been previously lifted up, and the previously lifted tablet rod drops when the second or succeeding tablet rod is rising. Thus, it is not possible to keep any tablet in its elevated position unless it is held there by depressing the key which belongs to it.

Each depression of the key registers on the adding mechanism which belongs to it, and this adding mechanism is described as follows: Within the case is a tube G, open both at the top and bottom. Below the bottom of the tube, and spaced from the tube by a space suflicient to permit the passage of a single one of the indicating disks to be described, is a table orplate g. This table or plate g is common to all tubes, and there is one tube for each key lever. B indicates an expelling slide, one end of which rests on the plate 9 under a guide g. The other end of the expelling slide H rests on a supporting guide 'h. The extreme end H of the expelling slide is curved or chamfered off to engage with the ehamfered lug I on the main frame of the register. On the under side of the expelling slide His a lug l, and on the upper side of the key lever F is an arm F that engages with the lug L. The expelling slide is held in position with its expelling end just in front of the lower front side of the tube C, by means of two springs, neither of which are under tension when the slide is in the position shown in Fig. 2, and either one or the other of which is put under tension when the slide is moved from that position. The two springs are indicated in Fig. 2 as connected to the slide H at a post Pthat rises from about the middle part of the slide, and from the upper end one spring, P, extends to, and is connected with, some fixed part of either the tube or part of the frame near the tube G. The other spring, P extends to, and is connected with, a part of the frame or some fixed part of the register on the forward side. It is shown in the drawings as connected to a lug h, rising from the guide rest 71.. The tube G is provided on its forward side,or on one side that is readily visible, with a long slot extending from the top to the bottom of it, and along the edge of this slot on the tube are graduations, each one of the thickness of a disk, with a number of which disks the tube is to be loaded.

Into the tube we place a number of disks, shown in Fig. 3. The disks are of the same thickness as the graduations on the outside of the tube G.

The operation of this registering device is as follows: The tube is loaded full of disks, when there will be seen at the slot in front of it no open space, and any person looking at it will see that this key of the machine has not been operated. When the outer end of the key lever is depressed, the arm F engages with the lng L on the expelling slide, throws the expelling slide forward toward the operator, bringing the chamfered end H in engagement with the beveled ledge I until the forward movement lifts the forward end of the expelling slide upward and lifts the lug L out of engagement with the arm F During the forward movement of the expelling slide, the spring P has been put under tension, but as soon as the slide is released from the arm F, the retractile force of the spring throws the expelling slide quickly backward, driving out from underneath the column of disks that one which lies immediately in front of the end of the expelling slide. This movement of the expelling slide has taken the tension out of the spring P, and the momentum has produced tension in the spring P and the spring P now retracts the expelling slide froni underneath the tube G. If the tension of the spring is properly. regulated, the return of the expelling slide to its normal position, which is hindered some what by the weight of the disk which rests above it, will be so slow that there will be no following or return movement of the expelling slide to throw out a second of the disks until the key shall have been again operated.

The money till is located within the under part of the frame work and at the front thereof, at the place indicated by J, which is a sliding cash drawer arranged to slide from the position shown in Fig. 3 back over the shelf K,and disclose the second or bill drawer M underneath it. Over the till J is a sliding cover R, which is normally held in its forward position and locked in that position by a mechanism that is released when the key is depressed.

The unlocking mechanism consists of a lug 'rat the rear end of the sliding cover R, and a locking bar V that extends from end to end of the register frame, and lies immediately over the key levers. by swinging connections '0, on pins '1) secured to the main framework or the casing. Whenever the outer end of the key lever is depressed, the inner end rising carries up with it the bar V until it is lifted out of engage ment with the lug r. As .soon as this happens, a spring w,one end of which is secured to the frame, and the other end of which is secured to the sliding cover R, withdraws the cover rapidly inward until its further inward movement is stopped by the handle bar R. To cover up the money till again, the operator must take hold of the handle bar and draw it and the sliding cover outward. The cover itself is held in guides, one of which is indicated by 'r', and the other of which consists of a slot or lug in the main frame, and

is indicated at a. The front side of the lug 'r at its upper end is chamfered off, and the rear side of the bar V at its lower edge is chamfered off, so that the forward movement of the sliding cover draws the lug under the bar, and the bar then drops down in front of the rear of the lug and locks it in position. At the rear or end of the frame is an opening in which is inserted a drawer to receive the disks as they drop otf from the table g.

It is evident that each depression of the key will not only raise a tablet to a point of inspection and drop all preceding tablets that have been raised, but it will also cause the expelling slide to throw out from the tube belonging to the particular key which is depressed, one of the disks; and the entire column of disks will then drop downward so that an inspection will enable the user to know at It is held to the frame a glance how many times the particular key has been operate thus forming a partial adding cash register. s,

When a tube has been emptied, the operator fills it again, and the register is ready for use.

What we claim is 1. In a cash re ister, the combination of a tubularcounter receptacle open at top and bottom, a tabular rest located below and spaced from the bottom of the tube, an expelling slide engaging with the key lever and adapted to be retracted thereby, means for disengaging the slide and the key, and a spring-adapted to propel the slide across the bottom of the counter receptacle, substantially as specified.

2. In a cash register, the combination of a tubular counter receptacle open at top and bottom, a tabular rest located below and spaced from the bottom of the tube, an expelling slide engaging with the key lever and adapted to be retracted thereby, a spring adapted to propel the slide across the bottom of the counter receptacle, and a retrieving spring adapted to return the slide after such propulsion.

3. In a cash register, the combination of a tubular receptacle for counters, open at the top and bottom, and provided with an inspection slot, a tabular rest located below and spaced from the bottom of the tube, an expelling slide engaging with the key lever and adapted to be retracted thereb a spring adapted to propel the slide across the bottom of the counter receptacle, and a retrieving spring adapted to return the slide after such propulsion.

In testimony whereof we sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES MILLER. CHAS. D. MCLEAN.

Witnesses:

CHARLES F. BURTON, FRANCES CLOUGH.

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