Patent GB-494522-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to record card controlled calculating machines
IPC: G06F7/46
Filed: 1937-04-26
Abstract: 494,522. Statistical machines. REMINGTON RAND, Inc. April 26, 1937, No. 11930. Convention date, April 25, 1936. [Class 106 (i)] A record-card-controlled multiplying-machine has nine groups of nine commutators, each commutator having contacts representing the units and tens digits of a pro - duct of two of the digits 1 to 9, means for reading the units and tens digits off the commutators during the first and second half cycle of reading respectively, cardcontrolled means for selecting commutator groups according to one factor and for selecting from such groups the commutators according to the other factor, denominational counter magnets and a stepping switch for connecting the counter magnets to the commutator-reading means in appropriate sequence during the said first and second half cycles. The invention is set out as applied to a pin box machine controlled by 90-column code cards, as shown in Fig. 39. The multiplier (digits 709) is punched in columns 6 ... 8 of the top field, the multiplicand (digits 202546) in columns 57 ... 62 of the lower field and the product calculated by the machine is punched in columns 20 ... 28 in the top field of the card bearing the factors. If desired, factors and product may all be punched in the top card field or all in the lower field. Transversely movable decoding mechanisms are positioned over the appropriate upper or lower columns for the multiplier and multiplicand and, according to the pins raised at the card-reading, various contacts are closed in ladder circuits to give electrical paths corresponding to the factors read. These circuits are then connected through stepping switches to the commutators and in appropriate sequence the partial products are obtained and added to give the final product. The counter used is of the crawl type, there being epicyclic gearing associated with each counter wheel and driven from the lower wheel so that tens transfer is continuously cared for. The machine is normally driven by an electric motor but a hand wheel 111, Fig. 1 (not shown), is provided for manual drive if desired. The sensing mechanism is generally of the Powers type. Connection rods 147, Fig. 4 (not shown), are locked up, when they are lifted by the reading of card holes, by latching slides of which latter there are two for each column of pins, one for the upper five rods of the upper card field and one for the lower five rods. When a connection rod is raised it raises, and holds up, a rod 219, Fig. 12, which closes a set of spring contacts 218. In the code used a single hole represents an odd number (e.g. column 61, Fig. 39, is punched for a " 5 ") and if accompanied by a " 9" hole represents the next higher even number (column 62 is punched for " 6"). The contacts 218 form part of the decoding device. Circuits are closed according as there is a single or double punching in a column to correspond to the particular digits represented. There is a decoding unit for the multiplier and one for the multiplicand. Each unit, which is adjustable laterally to the desired columns, and to the upper or lower card field, consists of ten columns, each of five pins 219. Fig. 12 shows ten sets of contacts 218 and each pin 219 controls one set. There are five vertical rows of contact sets like the one vertical row shown in Fig. 12. The closure of contact sets 218 according to the code reading locked up is converted by the wiring of the contacts into a standard numerical notation (0 ... 9 in each denomination). At the front of the machine two sets of plugs and jacks are provided, Fig. 14 (not shown), to enable the multiplying circuits through the commutators to be connected to the desired columns of the ten card columns covered by the multiplier or multiplicand decoding unit. Commutators. Each possible partial product of a digit 1 ... 9 by a digit 1 . . . 9 is represented by two conducting segments on a commutator ; one segment for the tens and one for the units of the partial product. Each segment is in the form of a radial, conducting projection. The eighty-one commutators thus involved are shown in Fig. 22 (commutators 616, 618, 659 and 597 are used for other purposes) and are arranged in nine groups, each of nine commutators, mounted on a common shaft; e.g. the first set 1A shows the three commutators for 1 x 1, 1 x 2, and 1 x 3. The partial products are selected according to the value of the digits of the multiplicand and of a single digit of the multiplier and are registered on the appropriate accumulator wheels at each stage of the multiplication. Each conducting segment is so positioned relatively to its fixed brush as to determine the correct length of time during which a then associated accumulator wheel shall be driven (under electromagnetic clutch control) by a synchronized driving shaft. Each group of nine commutators is electrically insulated from each other group but the commutators of any one group are electrically connected by means of their mechanical assembly, Figs. 18 and 19 (not shown). The commutator drive shaft 230, Fig. 5, and the accumulator drive shaft 250 are intergeared to give the correct synchronization. Product field. In order to punch the product in code form in any desired card field, the accumulating devices, punching mechanisms, and accumulator control mechanism are mounted on a carriage 110, Fig. (not shown), adjustable transversely of the machine by a hand wheel 107, Fig. 1 (not shown). Between the two side plates of the carriage are mounted the accumulator shaft 260, Fig. 5, the total sectors 267 and associated racks 268 and the magnets which clutch the accumulator wheels to the drive shaft 250. Shoes 271 at the lower end of the carriage slide on guide rails 273. The hand wheel is on a shaft 270 actuating a train 277, 275, 274, 276 the latter coacting with a rack 278 to adjust the carriage, in conjunction with an indicator, over the desired punch setting members. The squared counter drive shaft 250 carries clutch elements for the various denominations, detent wheels 287 and counter wheel driving gears. The clutches are controlled by electromagnets 298 mounted on bars 279 and 297. The detent wheels 287 are controlled by rollers 300 on three-armed levers 301 which are interconnected with the drive so as to give a rapid disengagement of a clutch and to bring the accumulator wheel into correct position. The sequential changing over of the connections to the selected commutators from one denomination to the next higher denomination is effected by a stepping switch 310, Figs. 16 and 17 (not shown), of a type well known in the telephone art. Adding mechanism; transfer mechanism.- Fig. 26. The accumulator is of the crawl carry type (exemplified in Specification 272,569, [Class 106 (i)]) and consists of twenty units, in each of which an accumulator wheel 332 is driven by planetary gear from a sun wheel 334 fixed to the accumulator wheel of the next lower order. In the units order the sun is fixed. An accumulator wheel 332 is rigid with the sun 334 of next higher order and with an orbit wheel 339 of the same order, the orbit meshing with a wheel 338 on a stub axle 342. This axle is rotatably mounted in the accumulator gear 331 of the same order and carries a wheel 337 meshing with a wheel 336. The latter and a wheel 335 fastened to it, are rotatably mounted on a stud 341 on gear 331 and wheel 335 meshes with the sun wheel 334 of the same denomination. The accumulator gear 331 is driven by a gear wheel 289 controlled by one of the above-mentioned electromagnetic clutches (magnets 298, Fig. 43). Each accumulator gear 331 is thus driven directly, if its electromagnetic clutch is actuated, to add the amount for that denomination and also receives a cumulative creep through the planet gearing from the wheels of the lower orders, to care for the tens-transfer. Total-taking.-Each accumulator wheel 332, Figs. 26 and 31, has an integral zero stop 333 on its rim which occupies one-tenth of the periphery. For total-taking the wheels are rotated backwards, until the stops meet lugs 345 on arms 343, by meshing the accumulator gears 331 with toothed sectors 267 which are normally lowered, Fig. 5. The sectors are mounted on a shaft 360 carried by two arms 361 and have rigid with them gears 365 coacting with racks 268 pivoted to detent bars 370. These bars serve as detent members and as links between the racks and the punch setting members. At total-taking the arms 361 are raised and the sectors 267 rotated to rotate the gears 331 backwards until each zero step 333 reaches its stop arm 343. The lugs 333 being one-tenth of the periphery of wheel 332, and the lower wheels being zeroized first, any creep less than a whole digit is automatically removed by the planetary gearing so that the wheels are zeroized correctly. The arms 343 are provided with interconnected latching devices whereby as any arm 343 drops to coact with its associated zero stop it releases the latching means for the next higher denomination so that zeroizing occurs sequentially from the lowest order upwards. As each accumulator wheel 332 is rotated to zero, the gear 365 fixed to the corresponding zeroizing sector 267 actuates the associated rack 268 and bar 370 so that a pin 371 on the latter is followed by an arm 372 pulled clockwise about pivot 373 by a spring 377. The lever 372 is connected at 374 to code bars 375, Fig. 6. Bars 375 are slidable longitudinally on guides 376 and have gaps 391 and lugs 392 coacting with set bars 381. The punching mechanism 380 is of a well known kind and comprises forty-five columns, each of five set bars 381. The factor-bearing card is fed between plates 383 beneath the punches 382 and after punching is fed to a discharge magazine 469. On each code bar 375 the lefthand notch 391 is double the width of the others and of the five set bars 381, four are evenly spaced and the left-hand, fifth, one is one unit removed. The code bar 375 i