US707380A - Cash-register. - Google Patents

Description

F Patented Aug. I9, I902.

\H. BICKFORD.

CASH REGISTER.

(Application filed Aug. 17, 1595.

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(N0 Modal.)

I47 MARJ? INVENTOR.

BY I I A TTOR/Vg;

WITNESSES.-

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No. 707,380. Patented Aug. l9, I902;

F. H. BICKFORD.

CASH REGISTER.

(Application filed Aug. 17', 1898.) (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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I I ATTORNE.

of mixed keys.

fourth bank are designated by letters of the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK H. BICKFORD, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 707,380, dated August 19, 1902. Application filed August 17, 1898. Serial No, 688,801. (No model.)

5 of Ohio, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Cash-Registers,of which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in IO cash-registers, and has more particularrelation to improvements in the class of machine patented to me August 31, 1897, and numbered 589,114, and also'tothat covered by the patent to Cleal and Reinhard, No.

1 580,378, April 13, 1897.

In the type of machine above referred to and as illustrated in the drawings the keys are arranged in banks, three of the banks being amount-keys, the fourth being a bank The upper six keys of the alphabet and in practice may be appropriated to different clerks or different departmentsin a store and are referred to and commonly known as department-keys.

The three lower keys are so-called special keys and are employed to distinguish charge sales, money received on account, and money paid out from the cash 0 sales, the latter being recorded upon theamountkeys. In practical operation, for example, the department-keys would be assigned to the several clerks operating the machine,and if clerk .A makes a sale he presses 5 the key designated A and the proper amount-keys and turns the operating-crank. If moneyis paid in on account, he presses first the A key, then the key designated Rd. A, (signifying received on account,) also in the fourth bank, and the proper amount-keys.

practical to simultaneously use two keys in the same bank. I

The object of my present invention is to provide means whereby the department-keys and special keys may be located in the same bank with separate detents, the, so that they will operate wholly independent of each other, or the department-keysmay be omitted and the special keys placed in the same bank With and operate independently of amount-keys, or the fourth bank may be composed of department-keys and amount keys any such modification being comprehended-by my invention.

Another feature relates to an improved means for releasing the keys pressed without turning the handle. In other words, if by mistake the operator presses the wrong keys the improved releasing means will enable him to correct the error.

In the appended drawings, forming part of thisspecification, Figure 1 represents an end elevation, partly in section, of the devices embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of one of the checks printed by my said improved devices. Fig. 3 represents a perspective View of a machine containing my said improvements; and Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of the detent-plate which operates in connection with the fourth bank of the register, showing the slot through which the special keys pass.

As a great many of the parts illustrated in connection with my present invention are fully described in the before-mentioned patents, attention is directed to the same for such detail description.

In the said drawings, 1 represents the frame of the machine; 2, the amount-keys; 3, the special initial or department keys 4, the special keys, and 5 the key-release lever. The keys 3, which represent in the present instance the clerks initial keys, operate in connection with the detent-frame 6 in the usual manner; but the special keys 4; when operated project through an elongated slot 4;, formed in the detent-frame 6, so that they do not become locked to said frame, but operate altogether free of the same. The shank or stem of each of the said keys elis provided with a laterally-projecting pin 7, which extends through one of a series of slots 8, formed in the main frame, so as to be capable of engagement with the curved edge of a pivoted segmental plate 9. This plate is pivoted to the frame at 9 and is formed with a rigid segmental rack 10, which is normally held in a depressed position by a coil-spring 11, which connects it with the frame. This segmental rack meshes with a gear 12, fast on a sleeve 13 and provided with a toothed stop-segment 14, which is arranged to be engaged by a detent 15, also pivoted upon the main frame at 15. The said detent is normally held out of engagement with the stop-segment 14 by a coil-spring 16 and is arranged to be forced into engagementtherewith bya cam 17,mount ed upon the revolution-shaft 18 of the machine.

It will be seen from the above that when the special keys 4 are operated they will respectively move the segment 9 difierent distances, and thus move the segment 10 and sleeve 13 correspondingly, so that the printing-segment 19, (shown in broken lines in Fig. 1,) attached to said sleeve, will be adjusted to the proper position to print the designation of the special key operated. As thedetent 6 does'not lock the keys 4 when the latter are pressed inward, means must be provided for securing them in this position,and such means I provide in three locking-bars 20, one for each key. Each of these bars is pivotally connected at one end to its respective pin 7 and formed at its opposite end with a nose 21. When one of said bars is operated, upon its key being pressed inward the nose 21 passes under a spring-pressed hook-pawl 22, mounted on the frame, and is caught and held by the same until said pawl is again raised. This raising of the pawl is accomplished either by another one of the keys 4 being operated or by a release cam-bar 23, which is movably supported in contact with a pin 24:,mounted on the pawl, and is arranged to be moved longitudinally to raise said pin by a crank-disk 25, to which it is pivotally connected. This disk is mounted upon and operated by a transverse rock-shaft 26, which in turn carries the releasing-lever 5 and a plurality of radially-extending release-pins 27, so arranged as to contact with pins 28, mounted on the usual locking-bars 29 of the locking detents for the respective banks, which latter are described in the said Gleal and Reinhard patent. When the lever 5 is depressed and the shaft 26 thereby rocked, the pins 27 contact with the pins 28, and thus force all of the bars 29 forward to release the detent-frames and allow the keys to return to their normal positions. By means of this improved release should any key or keys be depressed through mistake this error may be instantly corrected and all the keys re turned to their normal positions. In order to prevent fraudulent operation of the machine, such as the release of the keys before the operating-crank has made a complete revolution, I form the lever 5 with a lug 30 and provide said lug withalaterally-projecting stud 31, which projects into the lower slotted end of a bell-crank locking-lever 32, pivoted upon the main frame. The upper end of said lever is formed with a nose 33, which is adapted to pass into a notch 34, formed in a disk 35, when the lever 5 is operated. The said disk 35 is mounted upon the shaft of the driving-crank 40, so that after the revolution of said shaft is once commenced the notch will pass out of alinement with nose 33, and thus prevent the operation of the bell-crank lever and the lever 5, connected thereto, until the disk 35 returns to normal position. The said bell-crank lever is normally held with its nose 33 clear of the wheel 35 by a coil-spring 36, connecting it with the main frame. As it is necessary to release the keys 4 at the end of each operation of the machine independently of the action of the release-lever 5, I provide the main rock-shaft 37 with a cam 38, which latter is adapted to contact with the pin 24, and thus raise the pawl 22 to release the bars 20. Should a mistake be made in depressing the keys, the same may be corrected before the operatinghandle has been turned by releasing the keys through the medium of the releasing-lever 5; but after the movement of the operatinghandle has once commenced the releasinglever becomes locked and the key cannot be released except by completing the operation of the machine, so that the regular release through the cam 38 and pin 24 Will take place.

In machines of the type shown and heretofore in use where the special keys and department or initial keys were located in the same bank it was possible to operate only one of them in connection with the amount-keys, for the reason that when, for instance, a department-key was pressed it locked all the other keys in that bank. With my present improvement, however, when one of the department-keys is pressed it locks only the other department-keys. One of the special keys may be subsequently operated,and when so operated it locks the remaining special keys-from operation until after the crank has been turned.

I do not wish to limit myself to the application of my invention to clerks initials and special keys, as the same can be employed with equal facility in any bank of keys in which it would be desirable to provide for operating more than one key at the same time.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of ,keys, of locking devices for said keys, a release for said locking devices and means connecting said release with the operating parts of the machine for preventing its operation except when the mechanism is in normal position.

2. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, a locking device for said keys, a driving mechanism,means for releasing said locking device independently of said driving mechanism and a lever arranged tocooperate with the driving mechanism to lock the releasing means except when the machine is in normal position.

3. In a cash-register the combination with aseries ofkeys,ofindependentlongitudinallymovable locking-bars pivoted respectively to said keys and each formed with a hook, and a single locking-pawl adapted to be moved by each of said hooks when the same engages therewith to release any previously-operated key.

l. In a cash-register the combination with a series of keys and a driving mechanism, of a series of movable locking-bars pivoted respectively to said keys, a single pawl arranged to be moved by each of said bars when it engages therewith and means for operating said pawl to disengage it from said bars when the machine is operated.

5. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, and a driving mechanism, of locking-bars connected respectively to a portion of said keys, a detent arranged to lock said bars, means for releasing said detent and devices for raising said detent independently of the operation of the machine.

6. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, of a detent having projections with which a part of said keys engage when operated and aredu'ced portion through which the remainder of the keys project when operated, independent detents for these latter keys, and an operating mechanism for operating all of the detents to release the keys.

7. In a cash-register the combination with a series of keys, of independently-movable actuating locking-bars pivoted to said keys, and a single retaining-pawl to which said bars become latched and adapted to be moved by each of the same when it engages therewith to release any previously-latched bar.

8. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, of a locking device for said keys, a release for said locking device, an operating-lever for said release, and a controlling-lever connected to the operating-lever and engaging the operating parts of the machine for preventing any movement of said operating-lever except when the mechanism is in normal position.

9. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, of locking devices for said keys, means for releasing said devices upon the operation of the machine, independent means for releasing said devices upon the operation of the machine, independent release means for said latter locking devices, and devices for preventing the operation of the latter release means except when the machine is in normal position.

10. In a cash-register, the combination with a series of keys, of locking devices for said keys, means for releasing said devices at will, a lever controlled by said means, and a notched wheel connected to the movable parts of the machine and cooperating with said leverfor preventing the operation of the release devices except when the register mechanism is in normal position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK H. BIOKFORD. Witnesses:

ALVAN MACAULEY, IRA BERKSTRESSER.

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