Patent GB-189913743-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Cash Registers or Check Tills.
Filed: 1899-07-03
Granted: 1899-11-25
Abstract: 13,743. National Cash Register Co., [Carney, T.]. July 3. Type-writers and like machines.-Relates to cash registers and check tills in which there are several counters for different departments and two special banks of keys for indicating and recording the nature of the transaction and the person effecting the same. The keys 7, Figs. 10 and 16, have pins 8 engaging V-shaped slots 10 in a latch plate 11, so that, when any key is depressed, the latch plate is forced down. This movement, by the pin -and-slot connection 15, 16, rocks a lever 17 till a spring latch 19 engages a notch 18 and locks the lever. The key is thus held depressed till nearly the end of the operation of the machine, while the pins 8 of the other keys, being in the short legs of the V-shaped slots, prevent them from being actuated. The keys are released at the end of the operation by pins 22 on a sliding bar 23 which disengages the latches 19. A slight movement is given to this bar at the beginning, when an "initial" key, showing which attendant has operated the machine, is depressed, and this slight movement is utilized to release a hooked catch engaging a pin on one of the gear-wheels of the apparatus. The mechanism can be operated only after this catch has been released, and in its subsequent movement the pin on the wheel, acting on cam surfaces of the catch, rocks it backwards and forwards ; the tail of the catch lies in an inclined slot in the bar 23, and so communicates the required movement to the bar 23. The rotation of the external handle of the apparatus causes a rocking movement of the sector 54, which is communicated to a sector 47 having a tooth 46 at the back. When a key in any set is depressed, the lever 17 is rotated so as to move the nose 37 from in front of a cam 39 on a sleeve 40<a> carrying a sector 40 and a controlling lever or latch 44. A pin 49 on this controlling-latch is simultaneously released, and the spring 48 moves the latch forward so that its hook 45 engages the tooth 46. Consequently, when the sector 47 moves, the sleeve 40<a>, sector 40, and latch 44 move with it, until the latch is disconnected by striking the end of the depressed key. The pin 49, jambing in the teeth on the part 36 of the detent 17, prevents rebound. In the return stroke, the latch is picked up by the sector 47, and taken back to its normal position. Indicator wheels, to show the amount of each transaction, are provided in duplicate sets for the front and back of the machine, the sets being geared together. One of them is actuated by racks connected to the ends of the levers 64, a cam pressing a detent into star-wheels on the indicators to hold them in position after setting. At the beginning of each transaction the cranks 65, to which the levers 64 are pivoted, are rocked by a cam to bring the sectors 63 out of engagement with the setting-sectors 40, and the racks are lowered to zeroize the indicator-wheels by a segmentally-toothed wheel. During the return stroke, the cranks 65 rock back again, and the indicators are set for the new transaction. Shutters carried by radial arms on the shaft of the indicator-wheels are drawn over the windows displaying the indications by a spring, and are removed at the end of the transaction only by a cam acting on a :ever operating the arms. The gear for actuating the counters from the sectors 40 consists of the sectors 113, 118 at the ends of a bell-crank lever 114, 117 and sectors 119, 122, the latter engaging a toothed wheel 247. There is a sector 122 for each denomination of each counting-wheel, and the corresponding sectors are geared to move together so that, if, say, the 5-dimes key is pressed, the corresponding dimes sectors all move five units. Normally the wheels 247 of the counters are out of gear with their sectors, but during the operation of the machine one of the counters is thrown forward on its pivot 127 by the action of a cam 134 on a pendant arm 136, other cams 130 engaging rollers 128 and holding the counters in position till the registration is complete. One counter only is engaged at a time, usually the cash counter, the arm 136 of which is normally in front of the cam 134, the arms 136 of the other counters being displaced to one side. Three special keys are, however, provided, and, when one of them is pressed, it acts upon a sliding bar and draws the arm 134 of its corresponding counter into position and the arm of the cash counter out of position. Means are provided for preventing the depression of more than one key at a time, and to prevent one of the counter keys from being depressed after the operation of the machine has been commenced. On the special key bank there is also a " thousand dollar" key for striking totals on the printed detail strip, and a release key, by depressing which all registering and indicating keys previously depressed are released, the machine meanwhile being locked. "Carrying" is effected on the counters by mechanism shown in Fig. 14. When any counting-wheel has completed a revolution, the pin 182 lifts a spring lever 184, and allows the lever 188 carrying a pawl 195 engaging the ratchet-wheel 181 of the next wheel to rock backwards, the pin 187 being disengaged from the tooth 186. In the subsequent movement these levers are thrown forwards again by a series of spirally-arranged studs on a rotary shaft striking the noses 198 on the levers 188, and one is carried to the wheel of next higher denomination. To zeroize the counter, the wheel 177 can be rocked backwards and forwards, and by means of a pawl and ratchet turns forwards the shaft 175, a groove 179 in which engages pawls 180 on the counting-wheels and carries them forward with it. A cam-actuated lever stops the movement when the wheels have reached zero position, and actuates a yoke 201 to reset any of the levers 188 that have been displaced. This counting-mechanism may be somewhat modified. The spring latch of the till drawer is in the form of a bell-crank lever, the other end of which engages with a cam on one of the motion spindles of the apparatus, so that, at each actuation, the drawer is released and thrown open by a spring The same spindle 78 carries a cam 235 actuating the bell hammer 237. As most of the work of the apparatus is done near the end of the rotation of the handle, the power is equalized by causing a spring to be put under tension during the first part of the movement, the spring assisting at the end. The printing-mechanism is preferably of the type described in Specification No. 18,562, A.D. 1897, and a check key is provided which operates a clutch connecting the check feeding-roller to the actuating-mechanism. Means are provided for making the issue of the checks continuous when desired.