Patent GB-447481-A (GB)
Abstract: 447,481. Cash registers. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO., Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.- (Assignees of Arnold, C. H.; 106, Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.) Nov. 19, 1934, No. 33203. Convention date, June 16. [Class 100 (iv)] [See also Group XIX] In a cash register or similar accounting machine in which single-item and multipleitem transactions and the totals of the latter can be printed upon inserted record material which is line spaced after each line entry of a multiple-item transaction, the record material, after the printing of a single-item transaction or the total of a multiple-item transaction, is automatically ejected out of the machine in a direction opposite to line-spacing. The invention is described as applied to a machine of the kind forming the subject-matter of Specification 8119/15, [Class 106 (i)], and provided with key-set total-taking controlmechanism of the kind disclosed in Specification 215,746, [Class 106 (i)]. The machine is designed for use by an electricity and gas company and is provided with a single line of type-wheels for printing simultaneously in four columns of an inserted sheet, Fig. 33, and on a record strip, Fig. 34. In operation, the sheet is inserted in the machine and the previous reading of the meter set up on the amount keys. Upon the depression of the " Prior " key in the first transaction bank, Fig. 1, and the motor bar, the sheet is automatically adjusted to printing position and the meter reading printed thereon and subtracted from a balance totalizer. The present meter reading is now set up and the machine released after the depression of the appropriate " Present " key in the first transaction bank to print the reading on the sheet and strip and add it into the balance totalizer. A total-taking operation follows automatically during which the difference between the meter readings is printed and added into the appropriate one of two grand totalizers represented by the keys " K.W.H. " and " 100's cu. ft." The amount corresponding to this difference is calculated by the operator and set up, and the machine released after the depression of a price-rate key in the second or third transaction bank and either the " Single - item " or " Multiple-item " key in the first bank. During the ensuing operation, the amount is printed on the sheet and strip and is entered into a totalizer for the particular rate and a grand totalizer for either gas or electricity. If the multiple-item key has been depressed the amount is also entered into a multiple-item totalizer and the sheet and strip are line-spaced in readiness for the next operation. After a single-item transaction, or after the total of a multiple-item transaction has been taken in the usual manner, the sheet is automatically ejected from the printer, turned face downwards and deposited in a receptacle. Hammer - impression arrangements.-The machine is provided with a printing-hammer 261, Fig. 14, for each column of the statement sheet and record strip. These hammers are similar and similarly controlled. Each hammer is actuated through a toggle 258, 260 and link 244 by cams 249, 250. The link is normally connected to the toggle lever 258 by a notch 256 taking over a stud 257 on the lever. This connection may be broken to disable the hammer by means under the joint control of the first transaction differential and totalcontrol plate. For this purpose, the left-hand end of the link 244 is suspended from a lever 238 that is free on a shaft 239 but connected to an arm 241 rigid with the shaft by a spring 240 and stud 242. The right-hand end of the lever 238 has pivoted thereto a pair of feeler arms 237, the tips of which co-operate one with each of a pair of selecting discs 231, 232 positioned, respectively, by the first transaction differential and the total-control plate. The shaft 239 is rocked counterclockwise at each operation just prior to printing, the arrangement being such that if the feeler arms find a low spot on either of the selecting discs, the link 244 is lowered and the hammer disabled. Sheet feeding and guiding arrangements.-The sheet 275, Figs. 19 and 33, is inserted manually into the machine until its leading edge abuts right-angled recesses 274 in a pair of feeding discs 273. Upon the release of the machine, the discs feed the sheet to printing position. In operations involving the depression of the " Multiple-item " key, the machine is conditioned to line-space the sheet in the direction of insertion at the beginning of the succeeding operation. After printing, in operations involving the depression of the " Single-item " key or the printing of the total of a multipleitem transaction, the feeding discs reverse to eject the sheet. The feeding discs are rotated by a rack 281, Fig. 19, actuated by a slide 301, Fig. 20, movable parallel therewith. During the first operation of a series, the slide is moved to the left by a cam 306, the rack being also moved to the left by the engagement with a projecting surface 345, thereon, of a pawl 300 on the slide. The rack and slide are maintained in their left hand positions by pawls 288, 312, respectively, which pawls are controlled by the first transaction differential and the total-control plate through pairs of selecting discs 330, 331 and 323, 324 in a manner precisely similar to the printing-hammers, described above. At the end of an operation involving the depression of the " Multiple-item " key, the pawl 312 releases the slide. During the succeeding operation, the slide is returned and as the tail 308 of its pawl 300 slips off a guide stud 310, the pawl engages the first tooth of a ratchet 299 on the rack to move the latter one step and thus line-space the sheet. Prior to the printing of a single-item transaction or the total of a multiple-item transaction, both pawls 288, 312 are operated to release the rack and slide, which when freed after printing by the cam 306 return to the right and rotate the feeding-discs to eject the sheet. The sheet 275, Figs. 22 and 33, upon its ejection by the printing mechanism, is guided by a plate 340 to a pair of rollers 341, 342, that feed it into a compartment 343. The feed rollers 341 are operatively rotated by the clockwise movement of a toothed sector 351 under the action of a spring-urged link 353. Guides 377 are normally in position to invert the sheet but are moved to the position shown at the end of the operation to allow the sheet to fall flat in the compartment. The guides are rockable about the shaft 346 and actuated by a slotted arm 380 co-operating with a stud 381 and cam face 383, both on the sector 351. The pressure rollers 342 are normally separated from the feed rollers, but are rendered operative towards the end of each operation by a cam 397. The link 353 is moved to the left by a cam 357 and normally held in its left-hand position by a latch 360 co-operating with a stud 359 on the link. The latch is controlled by a pair of selecting discs 369 in a similar manner to the printing- hammers, described above, so that in operations in which the sheet is ejected from the printing mechanism, the latch is disabled to allow the storing mechanism to operate. The record strip passes from a supply roll 403, Fig. 26, over a longitudinally slidable table 411, between feed rollers 413, 435 to a storage roll 414. The table is given a to-and-fro excursion at each operation by a cam 426 to shift the part of the strip to be printed from inspection to printing position and back. This cam also serves to press the roller 435 against the roller 413 at the appropriate period of the cycle. The feed roller 413 is clutched to the hub of a gear 438, Fig. 28, and is driven from a shaft 251 through a Geneva disc 471, Geneva wheel 468, and pinions 467, 466. The storage roll is driven from the gear 438 through a pinion 439, gear 441, and a friction clutch comprising arms 444 rotating with the gear and yieldingly engaging the periphery of a disc on the storage roll. The storage roll may be rotated manually by a key 419, Fig. 26, or stepped forward by a lever 460 connected through a link 457 to a ratchet mechanism 449. The line-spacing mechanism is controlled by a pair of selecting-discs and allied mechanism similar to that used for controlling the printing hammers, described above. This mechanism serves to move the Geneva disc 471 axially and thus render its stud 470 effective or ineffective to rotate the Geneva wheel 468.