Patent GB-190221178-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Adding Machines.
Inventor: WALES CHARLES
Filed: 1902-09-29
Granted: 1903-09-24
Abstract: 21,178. Wales, C. Sept. 29. Calculating-apparatus.-In a keyboard adding- machine, stops are operated to regulate the throw of the racks which actuate the numeral wheels when driven by a hand-lever ; incorrect settings can be directly cleared ; the same number can be repeatedly added without re-setting ; and direct zero-setting apparatus is employed. Fig. 1 is a general view of the machine, and Figs. 2 and 7 are sectional elevations. A base-plate 25, Fig. 2, has corner studs 24 for supporting the casing 23, 46, and uprights 32, 26 on each side, the latter having backward arms 28 and forward arms 27, upon which rests one end of the front cover plate 44 carrying the entire set of keys, keylevers, and stop-rods. There are nine keys, 69, in each row, having rods 68 which can thrust up aligned stop-rods 67 by means of levers 63, which are fulcrumed on pivots 62 in plates 60 hung from the cover by brackets 45. The pivots are secured by wires 64, and spring pieces 65 upon the levers bear against elastic strips which render the movements dead-beat. The thrust-up stoprods 67 project through the block 49, and determine the extent of forward motion of the proper segmental rack-bar 71, which swings on links 74, 73 pivoted on spindles 34, 33, and is thrown forwards by the spring 75 unless held by the release plate 80 engaging in the notch 76. After each number is set on the keys, the extension arm 81 is pressed to release the rack-bars. The hand-lever 50 is normally held against a back stop 54, as shown, by means of the spring 55 attached to the crank 51 keyed to the same shaft 42. After the depression of the arm 81, the drawing forward of the lever causes the links 58, 59 to move forward, whereupon the transverse rod 57 strikes the lower ends of such levers 74 as are behind their foremost position, and thereby returns the rack-bars to the position of Fig. 2. The lever or dog 70 rests upon the top of the stoprods, and further prevents the forward motion of the rack-bar until lifted by a stop-rod. On the forward stroke of the lever, the hook 87, Fig. 7, at the end of the rod 86 hinged to the crank 51, engages with the plate 82, and presses it down upon the dog, so as to re-set the keys, unless the multiplying-rod 100 is depressed, when the rocking-plate 102 pushes the lever 86 out of gear with the plate 82. A spring 101 returns the plate 82 by causing the forward edge of the lever to press against it. A correcting-key 110 is provided for each row, and acts directly upon the dog. Upon the rack-bars are curved racks 77, which gear with pinions 78 carrying sectors 79, Fig. 14, and pawls 88, which gear with ratchet-wheels on the numeral wheels 90, Fig. 15, and rotate them on the backward stroke of the rack, the number thus rendered visible depending on the length of the stroke, predetermined by the stop-rods. Both pinions and numeral wheels are loose on the shaft 91. On the numeral wheels are teeth 94, with which small friction-wheels 115 on spring-held levers 116, Fig. 2, engage to render the motion dead-beat. When the finger wheel 129 is turned to zeroize the numeral wheels, the shaft 91 rotates with it, and, by means of a pin 124, causes the end-pieces 120, Fig. 22, to move until the shaft is at the rear of the slots 121. Pins 127 upon the rake 126 carried by the pieces 120 are then in a position to engage with pins 97 upon the numeral wheels, when the further rotation of the finger wheel carries the rake round, and when the plates 120 are stopped by the fixed pins 128, Fig. 2, the zero marks are aligned on a rule 165. On the forward stroke of the hand-lever, an extra rack-bar 72, Fig. 7, operates a pinion 98 keyed to the shaft 91 so as to return the rake to its normal position with its flanges resting upon fixed stops 178. The rake, in rotating, lifts the rule 165 by means of projections 166, and thereby passes beneath it. Bearing blocks 171 with grooves sliding on the edges 173 of apertures in the frames support the shaft 91. and can be adjusted by screws 175 in caps 176. The carrying-on is effected by means of the pins 97 striking the bevelled head 131, Fig. 2, of the trigger 130, and forcing it forwards so as to free the end of the lever 135 from the recess 132. The lever falls on to the transverse sliding bar 155, which is moved to the left during the back stroke of a lever by means of a bar 150, pivoted to the crank 51, and having a wedge-shaped head 151 which engages with a lug on the sliding bar, bemg supported meanwhile by a pin on the fixed bracket 164. The movement brings a slot in the bar underneath the lever 135, which is forced thereinto by the spring 142, and, in dropping, jerks up the jack 140, so that a cog or tooth 141 at its upper end engages with the teeth 94 of the numeral wheel 90 and moves the wheel one step. On completion of the backward stroke of the hand-lever, the link 149 operates the bent lever 147, 145 to depress the transverse bar 146 on to projections 143 of the jacks and carry them down until the notch 132 holds the lever 135. A projection 168 on this lever checks the downward motion of the jack.