Patent GB-558566-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to record-card controlled accounting machines
Filed: 1942-07-07
Abstract: 558,566. Statistical apparatus. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd. July 7, 1942, No. 9442. Convention date, July 8, 1941. [Class 106 (i)] A record controlled machine is provided with a multiples accumulator and a singles accumulator, means for entering into the first accumulator the integral quotient by a predetermined common factor greater than unity of each digit of each number sensed and for entering into the second accumulator the remainder if any, and means for combining the product of the total registered in the first accumulator by the said factor with the total registered in the second accumulator to show the total of the numbers sensed. By this means the speed of the machine operations is increased as the movements on entering the numbers and carry over operations are reduced As an example, suppose the numbers to be totalled are 345, 567 and 789; using the common factor 3 these numbers are entered as 111, 122 and 223 in the multiples or quotients accumulator with remainders 012, 201 and 120 in the singles accumulator. The totals in the two accumulators, viz. 456 and 333 are combined by entering the product of each digit in any denomination in the multiples accumulator by the common factor 3 into the singles accumulator to obtain the total 1701 = 456 X 3 + 333. For negative entries the record card has a control perforation whereby the amount to be subtracted is entered by adding its complement with respect to 9. The machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has a motor M driving a shaft 10 one revolution in a short cycle; shaft 10 is geared w shafts 40, 42 and 45 to make one revolution in a long cycle equal to two short cycles. Energization of a magnet FM operates a clutch 14 - 16 to feed cards from a hopper 34 to feed rolls 22 past sensing brushes 37, 38 during succeeding short cycles. The shafts 42 carry gears 43 for driving accumulator units, while the shaft 45 drives a recording unit 47. The motor M also drives a generator G to supply current to the circuit lines of the machine. The circuits include emitters SE, LE, distributers D, and various contacts operated by cams 50, 52 on shafts 51, 53. The accumulators are made up of removable units, Figs. 3, 4, 6 and 7, and each unit includes a drive clutch, a register device, a read-out commutator, and control magnets all arranged on a supporting plate 70. When inserted in position a gear 73 on each unit engages its drive gear 43. The gear 73 is fixed to the hub of a ratchet wheel 75 rotatable on a sleeve secured to the supporting plate. The ratchet wheel is adapted to be engaged by a clutch dog 84 pivoted on a pin 82 on a register wheel 78 and a stud 84b on the dog engages a cam edge of a toothed disc 77 rotatable on the hub of the ratchet wheel. Clutching and declutching of the register wheels are controlled by advance and stop magnets AM and SM. When a clutch lever 87 is rocked by energization of a magnet AM its tooth 87a releases the disc 77 and rocks the dog 84 to couple the register wheel to the ratchet wheel. Energization of magnet SM restores the clutch lever to arrest the disc 77 and cam the dog out of engagement, the register wheel being arrested and held by a detent 79. As the energization of the magnets is momentary a latch 91 is provided to hold the clutch lever in one or other adjusted positions. Transfer or carry-over to the higher denominations is controlled by a cam 80, Fig. 8, fixed to each register wheel. Coacting with the cam is a transfer lever 96 on which is mounted an insulated hairpin-shaped contact spring 98. The upper limb of the contact is anchored to a conductive insert TC while the lower limb extends between conductive inserts 10T and 9T. Upon movement of a register wheel to the " 9 value position the transfer lever is rocked to cause the contact spring to engage the contact 9T. Movement beyond the " 9 value position effects closure of the spring and contact 10T. In this latter movement the transfer lever is held by a latch 104 until the transfer operation is completed whereupon a stud 106 on the drive gear 43 releases the latch. The read-out commutator comprises a collar 110 of insulating material with an inset plate 111 carrying commutator brushes 112, 113 for co-operation with conducting inserts 115 for the digits 0 to 9 and an insert 115C spanning half the circle of the brush travel. These inserts as well as the leads to the magnets AM, SM and the contacts TC, 10T and 9T are engaged by the spring ends of hollow plugs 119 in an insulated moulding 118. Construction of cards and circuit arrangements.-The cards may be of the usual form with the digits represented by single hole positions in columns, or alternatively the digits may be represented, as shown in Fig. 14, by one or two out of five positions per column in which case the cards may be half the width or have two fields in the width of the ordinary card. In the circuit arrangement using the ordinary cards coding relays are employed to resolve the digital or cardinal values into component values in accordance with the common factor. The relays may be operated singly and in combination according to a code as indicated in Fig. 12, or they may operate singly, using 4 as the common factor, as indicated in Fig. 12a. In one form, Fig. 11A, four coding relays a... d are provided for each amount column and are under the control of a pair of distributer units D. These relays control sets of contacts to select the multiples and singles components of the values which are entered into the corresponding accumulators under the control of the emitter SE. If a card has a subtraction control perforation the entries will correspond to the " 9s " complement. In order to show the true negative total provision is made by transferring a unit from the highest denomination to the lowest denomination. After the last card of a batch has been sensed and the entries therefrom completed a transmission or fusion cycle is initiated equivalent to two long cycles. During the first of these cycles the left hand digits of the partial products of the values in the multiple accumulator denominations by the common factor will be read out and transmitted to the appropriate denominations of the singles accumulator with the necessary carry compensation to the units denomination from the highest denomination under control of the emitter LE. During the second cycle the right hand digits will be transmitted so that the singles accumulator registers the total of the amounts entered. Thereafter a recording cycle under control of an emitter RE is initiated to operate the printing unit to print or punch the total. A reset key is then operated to restore the parts to normal for a further operation. For progressive totalling operations the circuit arrangement is modified so that only the multiples accumulator is reset. The component value record card, Fig. 14, has index positions E, D and C for the singles or remainders index positions B and A for the multiples, and an index position X for subtraction operations. Figs. 11a, 11b and 11c (not shown) illustrate the control circuits and the component entry selecting circuits controlled by the coding relays a ... d, Fig. 11A, for the ordinary cards and in which the cardinal values are resolved into components on a basis of a common factor 3. Figs. 11AA and 11cc (not shown) illustrate the analysing and coding circuits and the entry selecting circuits for ordinary cards and in which use is made of the common factor 4. Figs 15a and 15b (not shown) illustrate the circuits for the component value record cards of Fig. 14.