Patent GB-779005-A (GB)
Title: Combined computing machine and record card data processing system
IPC: G06C11/08
Filed: 1955-12-30
Abstract: 779,005. Statistical apparatus. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO. Dec. 30,1955 [Feb. 16, 1955; March 23, 1955], No. 37371/55. Class 106 (1). Apparatus for recording-on punched tape, in different programmes, data taken from a card reader and data taken from a keyboard controlled machine such as a cash-register comprises in combination a manually-settable cash-register 100, Fig. 1, for the registration of one class of data, a record card reading unit 99 for reading another class of data previously punched on the record cards, a punching unit 98 for recording both sorts of data on tape and a programing device adapted to coordinate the transmission of the data from both sources to the punching unit so that they are recorded on the tape in any desired programme. The invention is described with reference to apparatus for recording data related to sales of merchandise at the time the sales are made, the punched tape being used later for stock control or other statistical purposes. For the purpose of this invention each article for sale in a shop has attached thereto a tag in the form of a perforated record card. This carries identifying data relating to the article such as stock number, colour, size, &c. This data may require as many as twenty-five digits and in the present apparatus is to be read from the tag card and recorded on the tape as the shop assistant is setting up the cash regis - ter according to other data, e.g. price paid. Money amounts set up on the cashregister are added by the register and are called " additive " data. Other data such as a number identifying the selling assistant are not added and this sort of data is called " non- additive." Where the tag is lost or damaged it becomes necessary to set the corresponding data on the keyboard of the cash-register. This is also non-additive data. A frame of information, as shown in Fig. 3, is punched on the tape for each article sold. Interlocks are provided to enforce the proper operating sequences of the machine, thus, for example, although the keys of the cash register can be set up while the tag is being read, it cannot be operated until the reading operation is finished and then it is operated automatically. Cash register.-The cash register is of known construction and has a row of eight transaction keys 101, Fig. 4, for controlling the register according to the significance of the various entries, and a non-add key 102 for entering non- additive data. The amounts to be entered are set up by depressing the corresponding keys and these values are transmitted to totalizers when the cash register is operated by the closing of a contact. All the groups of keys (i.e. transaction, amount, clerk and control) actuate selector switches, certain of which control the selection of punches in the recorder to punch the data set up on the keys according to a predetermined code, and others which select a punching programme according to the significance of the data. The selector switches are shown in Figs. 7 and 9, four switches being associated with the transaction keys of row 1 (CRA, CRB, CRIal and CR1a2) and each of the rows 2 to 9 has two selector switches (CR2a1 to CR9a1 and CR2a2 to CR9a2). The selector switches each comprise an insulating base 171, Fig. 9, supporting a series of ten contact tags 170 which are connected in turn to a common conductor 172 by a wiper conductor 174 rotatable with a sleeve 178. The sleeves are rotated through gearing by the operation of the cash register in accordance with the setting of the corresponding keys., Plug board.-The digit contacts of the switches are connected to sections 202, 204 of a plug board 203, Fig. 13, mounted on the back frame of the cash register. The digit contacts of the programme selector switches CRA, CRB are connected to terminals in sections 207, 208 of the plug board 203. The section 209 of the plug board is connected to the eight punch selector magnets controlling the selection of the punches to make perforations in the eight channels 1 to 8 of the tape. Connections are made from selector switch terminals in sections 202 and 204 with punch selector terminals in section 209 according to the code to be punched. A further section 210 of the plug board has terminals connected to the banks of a stepping switch in the recorder which are used to set up the punching sequences and other controls in the four programmes I, II, III, IV. Plug board connectors are used to make connections between terminals in sections 207, 208 of the programme selector switches and terminals in section 210 which are related to the desired programme. By this means the selector switches CRA, CRB select the programme according to the significance of the data as indicated by the particular key which has been operated in row 1 of the cash register. Section 211 of the plug board has five terminals which are connected to the sensing means in the tag reader and these terminals are connected to terminals in section 209 to enable the reader to control the recorder to punch on the tape the data which is read. Terminals of sections 212, 213 connected to the control circuits of the tag reader 99 can be connected to terminals in section 210 to enable the reader to control certain steps in the punching programme. Tag reader.-This is adapted to read data from the punched tag cards and to control the recorder so as to reproduce this data on the tape. It forms the subject of Divisional Specification 779,006. The tag reader can also control the operation of the recorder 98 so that the operations of both these units are co-ordinated and the data from the tag and the data from the cash register are punched in proper relation. The tag reader is adapted to read twenty fivecolumns of a tag each column of which may be perforated in any of five positions. The tag detached from the goods sold is inserted in a tag shoot 400 formed by rear guide-plates 401, 402 and a transparent front cover-plate 403. The upper rear guide-plate 401 has twenty-five columns of holes 410, five holes in each, which allow the ends of sensing pins 411 to move into engagement with the tag. Each column of the sensing means comprises five pins 411 each in the form of a Bowden wire, the forward end being guided in holes in block 439 and the rear end guided in holes in block 441. Insulating pressure-rods 435 bear on the rear ends of the wires and are subject to springs 450 mounted on spindles 456. The spindles are conductors and a contact is provided on the arm of each spring so that when the sensing wire moves forward during a sensing operation the contact engages a parallel conductor rod 465. The rods 435 are normally held against movement under the action of springs 450 by levers 477, one for each column, which bear on a series of cams 472. Twenty-five cams are provided for the levers 477 and three for other controls. The cams are notched so that once during the rotation of shaft 483 the levers release the rods so that they bear on the sensing pins 411. Where a hole is present the pin passes through the tag into holes 415 in the front cover and the rod 435 is allowed a corresponding displacement so that the contact on the spring arm engages the conductor rod 465. Where there is no hole the sensing pin is prevented from axial movement and there is accordingly no contact between the associated spindle 456 and rod 465. As the shaft 483 rotates the cams 472 release the levers in sequence so as to sense the tag column by column. The shaft is rotated through gear by a one-revolution clutch so that it is driven in steps of one twenty-eighth of a revolution. If it is not necessary to read all twenty-five columns an " end of tag " cam is set to close contacts SC23al and prevent further tag reading. The five contact rods 465 are connected to the terminals in section 211 of the plug board 203 of the cash register which are in turn connected by jacks to terminals in the punch selecting section 209. A clutch which renders the motor 484 effective to move the cam-shaft 483 through one twenty-eighth of a revolution is tripped by a clutch solenoid. This solenoid is controlled by contacts in the punch unit so that the cam-shaft is advanced one step after each punching operation. Since the tape in the punch is moved forward in corresponding steps, the data is read from the tag column by column and transferred in the same, or different code to the columns of the tape. Punching mechanism.-The recording punch is of known type and includes nine punches for punching the rows of perforations across the tape-one for each of the eight channels on the tape which are used in combinations to encode data, and one for punching the feed holes. The punches which are to be operative in each punching cycle are selected by magnets energized through plug board connections from the tag reader and the cash register. Programming means.- The programming means comprises a stepping switch 706, Fig. 40, mounted on a supporting bracket secured to the base of the recorder and a plug board 708, Fig. 42, also secured to the recorder base. The stepping switch is an eight-bank twenty-position switch having a stepping magnet SS-1. The eight banks of the switch are used to obtain the necessary controls for four programmes, each programme being capable of providing up to eighteen steps in a punching sequence. Two banks of contacts are required for each programme; banks SS1A and SS1B being used for programme 1, SSIIA and SSIIB being used for programme II and so on. The plug board 708 has a section 719 the terminals of which are connected to the commons of the selector switches CR1a1/2 to CR9a1/2 related to rows 1 to 9 of the cash register. By suitably connecting terminals in section 719 to terminals in section 715 (connected to the first nineteen contacts of banks SS1A and SS1B) and desired number of the selector switches of the cash register can be made effective to control the recorder in