Patent GB-814853-A (GB)
Title: Discount computer for liquid dispensing mechanism
IPC: B67D7/08
Filed: 1957-04-24
Abstract: 814,853. Counting-apparatus. VEEDERROOT Inc. April 24, 1957 [April 27, 1956], No. 13026/57. Class 106 (1). Liquid dispensing apparatus is adapted to indicate the cost of liquid supplied at a discount. A quantity drive shaft 30 driven from the liquid meter (not shown) drives quantity indicator wheels Q for indicating the amount of liquid supplied in a dispensing operation, quantity totalizer wheels QT for indicating the total amount of liquid supplied, and, via a gear cone 54 adjustable in accordance with the particular discount offered and a discount drive shaft 59, one input to a differential gear 72, the other input to the differential gear being driven by a cost drive shaft 31 which is driven from the liquid meter at a speed depending on the cost of the liquid being supplied. Cost wheels C and cost totalizer wheels CT are thus driven from the shaft 79 at a speed which represents the speed of the cost drive shaft 31 minus the speed of the discount drive shaft 59 thereby to register the cost as a basic price less discount, the amount of discount being indicated by a wheel train D. Predeterminer mechanism 101 which commences the operation of the discount mechanism after a predetermined quantity of liquid has been dispensed comprises a drum 130 driven indirectly from the quantity drive shaft 30 and provided with a series of shoulders 150 cooperating with a follower 151 splined to a shaft 152 carrying an arm 153 at its other end for actuating a clutch 53. Alternatively the clutch 53 may be manually operated. The shoulders 150 are so disposed that when the drum 130 is rotated the follower 151 will, after a predetermined quantity of liquid has been dispensed, ride over the unrelieved portion of the drum 130 thereby engaging the clutch 53 to initiate operation of the discount mechanism. The wheel trains D, C, Q, and the predeterminer mechanism 101 are reset by rotation of a reset shaft 41, the required axial shifting of the numeral wheel bearing shafts 100, 145, 146 being accomplished by a notched disc 140 attached to the shaft 41 and co-operating with a finger 141 on a vertical shaft 142 which has gears meshing with rings 144 on the number wheel bearing shafts. The upper end of the shaft 142 carries an arm 166 bearing a spring- biased pawl 167 adapted to return the arm 153 to the clutch disengaging position on return movement of the shaft 142 at the completion of the zeroizing operation. The numeral wheel construction and zeroizing mechanism are similar to those described in Specification 776,014. In another embodiment, Fig. 5, a progressively increasing discount may be made during a dispensing operation. A splined intermediary shaft 208 carries a sprocket 210 which engages spirally arranged perforations 211 of a disc 212. At the initiation of a dispensing operation, the sprocket 210 is engaged with the holes at the centre of the disc and travels outwards as the shaft 208 is rotated so driving the disc 212 at a progressively decreasing speed. The shaft 220 of the disc 212 is adjustably connected via a cone of gears 221 to a differential 230 which subtracts the discount output from the output of a compensator 200, arranged to ensure that the output of the differential 230 will always be zero at the initiation of a dispensing operation. In a further modification (Fig. 6, not shown) the discount mechanism is driven by the cost drive shaft 31 so that the discount is made as a proportion of the price rather than as an amount per unit of liquid dispensed. Specification 425,473 also is referred to.