Patent GB-436163-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to multiplying machines
Inventor: KEEN HARALD HALL
IPC: G06F7/46
Filed: 1934-04-06
Abstract: 436,163. Calculating - - apparatus. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd., Victoria House, Vernon Place, Southampton Row, London, and KEEN, H. H., 25, Sollershott East, Letchworth, Hertfordshire. April 6, 1934, No. 10498. [Class 106 (i)] In a multiplying-machine for ascertaining the total cost of a quantity of goods at a given price per unit quantity the factors are entered as a decimal number and a decimal fraction of one shilling the product is obtained and entered into an accumulator, and mechanism is provided for converting the decimal product so obtained into British Currency notation. The invention is described as applied to a record-card controlled multiplying machine of the type described in British Specification 405,031 and U.S.A. Specification 1,944,665. In machines of this type the first card feeding cycle results in a card being advanced to an intermediate position and in each succeeding cycle one card is fed past the reading brushes and delivered to the punching mechanism. The factors read from the card are entered into the multiplicand and multiplier registers and the machine operates to multiply the multiplicand by each digit of the multiplier the partial products being entered into the appropriate denominations of right-hand and left-hand accumulators. The amount in the right-hand accumulator is then transferred to the left-hand accumulator and the factor registers are reset. The final decimal product in the left hand is then converted into British currency units and transmitted to a Sterling register from which it may be read out and recorded by punching on the card or printed as described in Specification 428,793. During this transmission a new card feeding cycle is initiated and the right-hand accumulator is reset and after the transmission is completed and the product is punched the left-hand accumulator and the Sterling register are reset and the multiplying operations are initiated with respect to the new factors that have been entered from the next card. In accordanco with the present invention the left-hand accumulator has sixteen denominations and the ten highest denominations are associated with a reading out mechanism as shown in Fig. 3. The seventh denomination wheel, which registers one-hundredths of a shilling, drives a gear-wheel 401 with a pair of brushes 402 co-operating with a conducting segment 404 and a set of contacts 405. The eighth. denomination wheel drives a wheel 407 with a pair of brushes 408 co-operating with a conducting segment 410 and a set of contacts 411 and with a pair of brushes 412 on the other side which co-operate with a set of contacts 414 and a common segment 415 the contact 414 for the digit nine only being in circuit. The ninth or unit of shillings denomination gear-wheel 416 carries a pair of brushes 417 which co-operate with a set of contacts 418 and a segment 419. The tens of shillings wheel 420 carries two pair of brushes 421, 422 on one side ; the brushes 421 co-operate with a segment 423 and a set of five contacts 424 each contact extending over two adjacent spaces, the brushes 422 cooperate with a segment 426 and a set of five contacts 425 arranged in the odd positions. This arrangement is repeated for the higher denominations. The electrical circuit connections for this read out mechanism are shown in Figs. 2d and 2e ; the energization of a relay D after the complete product has been entered into the left-hand accumulator closes contacts D1 to complete a connection to an impulse emitter EM2 with contacts associated with leads 437, 451. The leads 451 (1 to 4) are connected to the contacts 424 for the digits 2, 3, 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9; in the case of the highest denomination the connection is direct, in the other denominations it is effected through relay contacts 440a, 441a ... 445a. The segments 423 are connected through leads 452 to the pounds counter magnets 213FP. The segments 426 are connected by a lead 453 and cam contacts CC6 to the lead 438 while the contacts 425 for each denomination are connected together and to the appropriate relay coils 440 ... 445. An additional relay coil 458 is provided and is arranged to be energized when the tens digit in the left-hand accumulator is odd so as to close contacts 458a to ensure the entry of " 1 " in the tens of shillings denomination of the Sterling register. The units of shillings is entered directly through the brushes 417. The operation of these circuits for the integral part of the decimal product is such that this product is divided by twenty to produce a pounds quotient and a shillings remainder. To obtain the pence digit a translating device for the tenths and hundreds digits is provided. This device comprises a set of ten multi-contact relays with operating coils O-O, 1-0, .. 9-0, relatching coils O-R, I-R,-..9-R, and normally open contacts Oa .... 9a. Control coils 470 are provided to form a holding circuit to hold the appropriate relay energized. The contacts are arranged in groups of ten and pairs of contacts are numbered to identify them with the particular relays ; each pair of contacts is thus associated with a one-tenth digit in accordance with the group in which it occurs and with a one-hundredth digit in accordance with the relay to which it belongs. An impulse emitter EM3 is arranged to transmit impulses to the contacts as shown corresponding to the pence digits. Values above 0À92 shillings are assumed to be equal to 12 pence so that the closure of one of the contacts 92 to 99 will complete the circuit through the contacts D1, CC7, to line 465 and thence through brush 414 segment 415 and lead 466 to a magnet 467 which on energization trips a transfer mechanism associated with the units of shillings denomination. Specification 358,105 also is referred to.