Patent GB-296731-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to record-card-controlled printing machines
Filed: 1928-09-05
Abstract: 296,731. British Tabulating Machine Co., Ltd., (Assignees of Decker, S. K., and Roberts, G.). Sept. 6, 1927, [Convention date]. Statistical machines.-Recordcard controlled machines such as are described in Specifications 183,867, 190,144, and 247,200 are equipped with an attachment whereby printing is performed on separate sheets, for example post cards, the attachment comprising a sheet magazine and means operated by the total shaft of the machine for feeding a sheet into printing position at the conclusion of each total-printing operation; the attachment may include means for ejecting the sheets and stacking them in the same order as the record cards so that the sheets can be readily checked against the record cards. The machine when equipped with the attachment, may be employed in accounting systems involving a large number of small accounts, for instance the accounts of gas, water, or lighting companies. For this purpose the record cards are perforated to represent various details of the accounts including the present and previous meter-readings, the difference of the readings, and the amount due, separate record cards being employed for each item, for instance water and gas, of an account. The record cards are run through the machine and the details and totals are printed on post cards, the amounts and totals being printed also on stubs which are retained by the cashier. If a series of accounts consists of single items, the machine may be set to perform an idle total-printing operation. The record cards constitute a ledger and are placed in a container, the record cards corresponding to paid accounts being periodically removed, and the remainder being again run through the machine, the post cards printed at this stage bearing warning indications or notices. In the attachment shown in Figs. 6 and 11, post cards B are stacked in a magazine 42 and are fed by means of a reciprocating picker 41 and feed-rollers 45, 56 to the platen 20, and alter being printed are delivered by means of feed-rollers 58, 63 to a container 67 where they are stacked in order of delivery. The total-printing shaft 22 reciprocates a rack 26 engaging a pinion 29 which carries a pawl 33 co-operating with a notched disc 31 on a pinion 34 operating a gear train 35, 36, 37. A shaft 47 driven by the gear train is connected by links 39 to the picker and carries the feed-rollers 45. The shaft 47 drives the feed-rollers 56 by means of a sprocket-chain 166. The platen shaft 147 has one-way connection to a sprocket-chain 161 driven by the gear train. The feed-rollers 58, 63 are constantly driven through belt connections by means of a motor. The feed-rollers 45, 58, 63 co-operate with spring-pressed rollers 44, 59, 64. When the machine is started, the bottom post card in the magazine is fed on to the platen by performing three re-set operations of the tabulator, the post card being fed successively from the magazine to the feed-rollers 45, to the feed-rollers 56, and on to the platen. Thereafter the machine is run under control of the record cards, and after each item is printed the platen is line-spaced by pawl-and-ratchet mechanism which is connected to the listing-shaft 123 by means of linkage 135, 141. When the items have been printed, the re-set operation causes the total to be printed, and during the final part of the revolution of the shaft 22 the platen is rotated by means of the sprocket-chain 161, the post card being fed to the feed-rollers 58 and delivered to the container 67. Simultaneously, a blank post card is fed on to the platen.