Patent GB-190408709-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Cash Registers.
Filed: 1904-04-15
Granted: 1905-03-30
Abstract: 8709. National Cash Register Co., [National Cash Register Co.]. April 15. Receipts, checking and recording ; counting-apparatus.-Cash registers of any key-operated type, but particularly those described in Specification No. 18,277, A.D. 1896, are provided with improved means for re-setting the registering. mechanism, for locking the pawl which operates the register-operating wheel, for locking or disengaging at will the full-stroke devices for all the keys, for controlling the indicator support and the flash, and for actuating the till-cover, and a printing-mechanism actuated from the key coupler under the control of a cam-plate, engaged by any of the keys. In the machine shown in section in Fig. 2, having a single bank of keys, the depression of any key moves the registering-frame 3, shown separately in Fig. 7, in proportion to the amount, at the same time raising the key coupler 51 and thereby releasing the latch of the till-cover. The key enters one of the slots in the sliding plate 3<c>, and displaces it so that the hook 3<d> forces the pawl 3<a> into engagement with the wheel 4 and the pawl 3<e> locks it in that position. The registering-wheels are mounted on a shaft 14 in a frame 25 pivoted to the main frame, and are driven through the pinion 10 and star-wheels mounted on a shaft 11. The frame is raised by moving a lever which engages a pin on the frame. The spindle of this lever is connected to a counter to register the number of re-settings. The wheels are brought to zero by turning a milled head on the shaft 14, spring plungers 26 carrying the wheels round until the projections 30 are caught by the bar 29. The reversible detent 71 of the full-stroke device may be held in the horizontal position to prevent the operation of any of the keys, or, if in engagement, may be turned vertically to release the keys and the indicators, by bringing forward the arm 73. This is effected by means of a latch projecting through the front of the casing and engaging another arm 75 on the spindle 72. The latch is adapted to be fixed in either position by means of a lock with a removable key. The till-cover 7 is provided with lugs 44 to slide on the rods 43, the cover being retracted by the spring 43<1> and cushioned by the springs 45, 45'. The operating or union key, (not shown), is locked in its normal position by a lug on a pivoted tumbler until the latter is displaced by the lifting of the coupler by one of the other keys. The back part of this key is pivoted independently of the front part and abuts against a shoulder of the front half under the action of a spring, thus making it impossible to hold back the operating-key. In rising, a lug on the back part of the key pushes back a lever connected to the supporting-frame of the indicators and allows these to descend. The flash 64 is raised by the operating-key and is retained by a pivoted latch-lever, which is disengaged on the return of the key. The machine shown in section in Fig. 2<a> has three banks of keys, with independent fullstroke devices, and separate registering-mechanisms for each bank, but no separate operating-key, and is provided with printing-mechanism to record each item on a strip. The three type-wheels are mounted on sleeves surrounding the shaft 141; each sleeve carries a pinion 154 gearing with a wheel 152 driven from the registering-frame by the toothed sector 151. The type-wheels and registering-frames are held in their set positions by pawls 161 pivoted on a cam-plate, which is shifted to bring the pawls into alignment with the ratchetplates 160 by the operation of any of the keys. The movement of the register-frame in each bank releases a pawl, (not shown), which holds the arrester bar 124 in position to prevent the operation of another key in that bank. The printing-mechanism shown in Fig. 3<a> is operated from the key coupler 170, which is connected to the lever 175, pivoted at 176, by the pin 174 and slot in the plate 172. The depression of a key moves the lever 175 and draws down the hammer 181 by means of the pawl 178. While the type-wheels are being set, the aligning- pawls 93 are withdrawn from their star-wheels by the action of the bevelled lugs on the levers 100, 175. At the moment when the key coupler returns to its normal position, the pawl 178 is tripped by the bevelled lug 91 of the arm 88, and releases the hammer. The paper strip and inking- ribbon receive a spacing-motion from the lever 175 by means of the crank-pin 113 on the shaft 111, and a pawl and ratchet, (not shown). The fall of the key coupler 170 is delayed by a pawl pivoted on a lever connected to the key coupler and hooking over a projection of the cam-plate. Another pawl pivoted on the frame of the machine catches the cam-plate after it has been released by the keys, and allows it to fall back only so far as to allow the first pawl to spring sideways past the projection. The lever then falls, trips the second pawl, and releases the pivoted latch of the flash. On the next operation of the machine, a lug on the lever pushes back, as it rises, a lever connected to the supporting-frame, and allows the indicators to drop.