Patent GB-1267927-A (GB)
Title: An accounting or other office machine with a tabulating device
Inventor: CORTONA ALESSANDRO
IPC: B41J25/18
Filed: 1968-12-30
Abstract: 1,267,927. Tabulating devices in accounting or other office machines. ING C. OLIVETTI & C. S.p.A. 30 Dec., 1968 [10 Jan., 1968], No. 61739/68. Heading G4B. [Also in Division B6] A tabulating device for controlling the movement of the carriage 18 in an accounting or other office machine from one columnar position to another, comprises comparison means for comparing the indications given by a first store indicating the current position of the carriage and a second store which has been set to indicate a desired position of the carriage, the comparison means controlling driving means which shift the carriage until the indications are identical. The carriage 18 (Fig. 1) is secured to wires 81 and 82 wound in opposite senses onto a grooved drum 76 fixed on a shaft 66 carrying two sets of cam pairs (Figs. 2 and 3) 64a, 63a to 64g, 63g and 277a, 276a to 277g, 276g (forming the first store), the drum 76 being driven for tabulation in either direction from a continuously rotating shaft 163 via a friction clutch 162, a shaft 161, a dog coupling 159, and bevel gears 181, 182, 183 (Fig. 2), The motion of the carriage is damped by a dashpot 323 during part of the tabulating cycle. The second store comprises seven code bars 26 carrying lugs 27, each code bar 26 being selectively rotatable electromagnetically into one of two positions by a programme device (not shown) so that together the code bars 26 represent the binary code for a desired position (one of 128 normally possible) of the carriage. The comparison means comprises pairs of sensing levers 33 and 34 pivoted on a spindle 38, and having sensing projections 36 and 37 cooperable with the shoulders 31 of the lugs 27 and having sensing teeth 61 and 62 co-operable with the one set of cam pairs 64 and 63, the levers 33 and 34 also having blocking projections 107 and 114 co-operable with pivoted levers 92 and 109 controlling the dog coupling 159 which is movable to couple the rotating shaft 163 to either of the bevel gears 181 and 182 meshing with the bevel gear 183, so as to shift the carriage 18 in either direction by rotation of the drum 76. The compression means also comprises pairs of sensing levers 251 and 252 pivoted on the spindle 38, having sensing projections (253) and (254) (Fig. 5, not shown) co-operable with the shoulders 32 of the code bar lugs 27, and having cam follower rollers (273) and (274) co-operable with the other set of cam pairs 277 and 276, the levers 251 and 252 also having blocking projections (281) and (282) co-operable with the stepped edge 280 of a bail 283 (Fig. 3) controlling the friction clutch 162. Tabulation is initiated by the programme device transmitting a signal to a start electromagnet (330) (Fig. 10, not shown) which effects release of a disengaged clutch (57) to produce two 360 degree rotations in succession of a main shaft (56) so that a controlling cam-shaft (52) rotates through two half-rotations and is then halted. During tabulation, the drum 76 is disengaged from a shaft 189 (Fig. 9) rotatable by a step-by-step advancing device (not shown) controlling the normal character spacing of the carriage 18. The cam pairs 63 and 64 and associated pairs of sensing levers 33 and 34 may be omitted, the pivoted levers 92 and 109 then directly sensing the positions of the sensing levers 251 and 252. First store cam pairs.-Cam pairs 63 and 64 comprise square teeth (indicating a binary digit of one) and recesses (indicating a binary digit of zero) arranged in opposite phase; the lowest order cams 64a and 63a (corresponding to the bit of weight one) have sixteen teeth and sixteen recesses, cams 64b and 63b have eight, and so on up to cams 64e and 63e (bits of weight 16) which have one tooth and one recess. The cams 64f and 63f (bits of weight 32), 64g and 63g (bits of weight 64) are fixed on a sleeve 67 rotatable on the shaft 66 and driven by the shaft 66 through a Geneva motion (Fig. 11, not shown) so that the cams 64f and 63f, 64g and 63g are rotated through 60 degrees at each revolution of the shaft 66 and hence respectively comprise (for normal tabulation purposes) two teeth and two recesses (each of 60 degrees, 240 degrees in all) and one tooth and one recess (each of 120 degrees, 240 degrees in all). Movement of the carriage from its zero position (Fig. 1) to position 127 corresponds to rotation of the shaft 66 by four revolutions and of the sleeve 67 by 240 degrees. The cams 277 and 276 are similar, but the teeth have inclined and chamfered sides so that the teeth can cam the cam follower rollers (273) and (274) out of the recesses as agreement is reached between actual and chosen positions of the carriage.  Second store code bars.-If a bit of a particular order is to have a zero value then the shoulder 31 of the lug 27 blocks the projection 36 of the lever 33, and if the bit is to have a one value then the shoulder 31 blocks the projection 37 of the lever 34; similarly, the shoulder 32 blocks the projection (253) of the lever 251 if the bit value is zero and blocks the projection (254) of the lever 252 if the bit value is one. Sensing levers 33 and 34 are released for clockwise rotation by a universal bar 41 carried by cranks 42 rotated clockwise via levers 43 and 44 by two complementary cams 49 and 51 on the cam-shaft 52. For each bit, the lever 33 or the lever 34 can turn, the assembly of levers 33 and 34 which turn representing the selected position. The teeth 61 and 62 of the levers 33 and 34 sense the cams 63 and 64 and encounter a tooth when there is agreement between chosen and current positions.  Operation.-If the chosen bit is one and the current bit is zero, projection 107 of lever 33 blocks the lug 106. Then the universal bar 96 is moved by complementary cams (101) and (102) on the cam-shaft 52 to allow the levers 92 and 109 to move towards the levers 33 and 34. The lever 92 corresponding to the bit of greatest weight having different values in the chosen and current positions encounters projection 107 or 114 and is stopped ineffective in the Fig. 4 position. All the levers 92 corresponding to bits of lower weight are also arrested because shoulders 104 on the higher order levers 92 engage lugs 103 on the lower order levers 92. Cam 146 on the shaft 52 causes shifting of the rod 136 and hence movement of crank 156 to shift the dog coupling 159 and hence the carriage 18. Cams 233 and 234 on the shaft 52 shift connecting rod 223 to rotate lever 226 to move two pawls 303 and 304 to the right and cease the release of the clutch 57. The levers 251 and 252 are then released and the bail edge 280 engages the projection 281 of greatest weight, the bail edge 280 successively turning by small increments as the projections 281 are moved clear by movement of the carriage until the bail 283 engages the two pawls 303 and 304 with overshoot connection stop ratchet wheels 306 and 307 to connect control lever 226 to the shaft 66. If the chosen bit is zero and the current bit is zero, the projection 114 blocks the lug 113 so that the levers 109 are rotated to move a bar 116 to release a lever (123) (Fig. 7, not shown) blocking a lever system operated by cam-shaft 52 to move dog coupling 159.  Movement of carriage outside the tabulating range.-The carriage 18 can be moved outside the range of positions zero to 127 by means of the step-by-step advancing device, or manually. Cams 441, 411 and 412 provided on the sleeve 67 permit tabulation from positions outside the range by avoiding ambiguity between positions spaced apart by 128 positions (hence having identical profiles of cams 276 and 277).