Patent GB-190717956-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Automatically Delivering Bills from Gas and other Meters.
Inventor: GALLAGHER RICHARD WILLIAM
Filed: 1907-08-07
Granted: 1908-06-25
Abstract: 17,956. Gallagher, R. W. Aug. 7. Receipts, checking and recording ; counting-apparatus.-In meters provided with means for recording the amount of the commodity consumed, the cost of the same at a given rate, and the date of taking the record, the recording-apparatus is constructed so that it can be secured to any meter by a detachable union. Several records are made, one being kept in the instrument, and the recording-wheels are advanced at intervals to record exact amounts. The apparatus is housed in a casing 4 attached to the meter and provided with a front wall 7 and a cover 9, both hinged to the bottom plate of the casing. Plates 15, 16, attached to the side walls, are secured together by vertical posts 17 upon which slide sleeves 18 attached to a movable plate 19 carrying the recording - apparatus. A record is made on opening the door 9, which is connected by a pin and slot to a rack 30 operating a loose pinion 34 carrying a spring pawl engaging in a notch in a disk fast on the shaft 35, motion in one direction only being allowed to the shaft 35 by a pawl and ratchet. The shaft 35 carries cranks connected by links 43 to the movable plate 19, the opening of the door thus serving to depress the recording-wheels, provided with perforating-pins, on to the record sheets, which are carried on rollers 47, 48, 49 and pass over the plate 16 between rollers 52. One of the sheets passes to a roller 59 driven from the rollers 52, and is retained in the apparatus. The cost and amount recording wheels are driven through gearing 73, 74, 75 by a shaft 67 connected to the hundreds' wheel of the meter by a detachable coupling 68. The wheel 75 drives the amount-recording wheels 88, 89, 90 through a wheel 86, Fig. 4, intermittent motion being communicated thereto as described in Specification No. 9652, A.D. 1905. The wheel 74 actuates a gear 80, which is loose on a shaft 81 and is connected to the loose units' cost-recording wheel 82 by a coiled spring 131, and intermittent motion is allowed by a pawl 134, Fig. 18, on the numeral disk engaging a ratchet 135 fast on the fixed shaft 81. The pawl is raised out of engagement with the ratchet by a pin thereon engaging in a slot 139 formed by projections on the wheel 80. The numeral wheel 82 is formed with twenty-five divisions showing the cost of gas in cents at 80 cents per thousand cubic feet. The transfer from the cents' wheel to the dollars' wheel 83 is accomplished by a ratchet 141, secured on the inner face of the wheel 83, and a cylindrical cam 142, Fig. 20, secured to the shaft 81 and provided with diametrically opposed recesses 143, 144, the former occupying the space of two teeth and the latter that of three teeth. As the wheel 82 is turned through twelve divisions, a pawl 145 pivoted to the wheel moves over the cam, but when twelve hundred feet of gas have passed through the meter the pawl drops through the space 143 and the dollars' wheel 83 is moved on one to show 1 dollar, 4 cents. Since the next movement of the pawl moves the wheel 83 on one more tooth, the numeral 1 is repeated on the wheel 83. The pawl is lifted away from the ratchet and for the remaining nine movements the pawl remains on the surface of the cam and then drops into the space 144, the numeral 2 being shown three times on the wheel 83. The tens of dollars' wheel 84 is advanced by a pawl falling into a deep notch in a wheel keyed on the shaft 81 and thereby engaging a ratchet on the wheel 84. The recording-wheels are set to zero by shafts 113, 116 rotated by the collector by means of a key when opposite holes in the plate 7. When the frame carrying the recording-wheels is lowered, re-setting wheels 112, 114 carried on a spring-depressed yoke 107, Figs. 10 and 12, move into engagement with gear-wheels 80, 115 connected with the costrecording wheels, and re-setting wheels 121 carried in a yoke 117, Fig. 12, engage with gears 122 connected with the amount-recording wheels. The re-setting wheels are loose on their respective shafts 113, 116 and are connected thereto by springs. The yokes are normally held out of gear by wedge-shaped pieces 109, Fig. 10, and 119, Fig. 4. The wheels are arrested at the zero position by a notch 163 formed in the wheel 80, Fig. 10, in which engages a pawl connected by a link 166 to a second pawl 164 engaging in a notch 165 in the recording-wheel 82, the pawls being normally held out of engagement by the wedge-shaped lower end of a bar 167 engaging a pin 168 on the link. The first wheel of the amount-recording wheels is provided with a forked spring-depressed pawl 169 adapted to engage with two disks as shown in Fig. 12. One arm 170 of the pawl is engaged by a bar depending from the casing. To the recording- wheels 83, 84, 89, 90, Figs. 4 and 12, are secured disks 174 provided with notches with which engage pawls 176 normally held out of engagement by arms 178 extending laterally in front of an arm on the shaft of the pawl 176 from a pawl of a lower denomination, so that when the latter pawl is withdrawn the higher pawl is also withdrawn. To rewind the collector to re-set the recorders to zero, a pivoted, spring-depressed arm prevents the return of the plate 19. After re-setting, the arm is removed by pressing in a rod 65, Fig. 4. A third set of wheels 91, 92, 93, Fig. 12, for recording the date is mounted on nested shafts provided at their ends with milled heads showing the date. The wheels may be set by hand or by a ratchet 179, Fig. 12, engaged by a pawl on the upward movement of the frame.