Patent GB-149522-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in computing and weighing scales
IPC: G01G19/40
Filed: 1919-08-07
Abstract: 149,522. White, A. E., (International Time Recording Co. of New York). Aug. 7, 1919. Computing-apparatus; indicating mechanism.- Relates to a weighing-scale wherein the total cost of the goods, or in a modification the weight thereof, is displayed on a series of co-axial disks, and comprises an apertured controlling-disk rotated in proportion to the weight of the goods and a sliding carrier bearing a number of plungers for engagement with the apertures in the disk, the apertures and the plungers being arranged after the manner of a vernier and by their engagement controlling through electrical means the setting of the indicating-disks. The goods on the scale-pan 10 are balanced by a spring 13, Fig. 1, and produce a proportional rotation of an apertured controlling- disk 16 by means of a rack 14. Slidable on bars 31, 32 is an annular carrier of insulating-material the lower portion 19 of which is shown in Fig. 6. The annular carrier supports a guide ring 21 of metal, and between the two are arranged three series of spring-pressed plungers 22, 23, 24 representing units, tens, and hundreds respectively, and insulated from the guide ring 21 except when metal buttons 26 make contact therewith. Each plunger is in electrical connexion with a corresponding fixed contact 29, Fig. 8, there being three series of such contacts, one series for each series of plungers. By turning a handle 43, Fig. 1, mounted on a shaft 45, the annular carrier 19 is moved towards the controlling-disk 16 and the plungers 22, 23, 24 are pushed out of electrical contact with the guide ring 21 except in the case of those plungers (such as 23, 24, in Fig. 6) that enter the apertures in the controlling-disk 16. The continued rotation of the handle 43 displaces a bar 47, Fig. 8, passing through three ratchet segments, such as 34 (one segment to each series of plungers 22 23, 24) and allows the segments to rotate under the influence of springs 46 until wipers 33 on the segments make contact with the particular contacts 29 that are connected with those plungers 23, 24, Fig. 6, engaging the apertures in the controlling-disk 16. An electrical circuit including an electro-magnet such as 35, Fig. 8, is thus completed for each operative plunger, and the segments 34 are arrested by pawls 36 attached to the armatures 59 of the electro-magnets. The segments 34 gear with indicating-disks 37 (units, tens, and hundreds) which thus display the total cost of the goods. The back of the controlling-disks 16 is serrated so that the plungers press the disk against a positioning-pin and set the disk accurately. In order to economize current, the armatures 59 after attraction by the electro-magnets are retained 'by catches 60, and a system of cams on the shaft 45 breaks the circuit, withdraws the carrier 19, and later releases the catches in readiness for a further operation. If desired, the controlling-disk 16 may be graduated so that the operator may read off the total cost through an aperture in the casing. By modifying the controlling-disk 16 the machine may be constructed to display the weight of the goods instead of the price. In a further modification the holes in the controlling-disk 16, and the plungers carried by the annular carrier 19, are replaced by electrical contacts, and a wipe contact touching the controlling-disk takes the place of the guide ring 21.