Patent GB-750264-A (GB)
Title: Calculating machines
IPC: G06C21/02
Filed: 1954-01-22
Abstract: 750,264. Calculating-apparatus. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO. Jan. 22, 1954 [April 16, 1953], No. 1939/54. Class 106 (1). A calculating-machine includes an amount keyboard, an add-subtract totalizer, actuators for the totalizer, a subtract shifting mechanism adapted to shift the totalizer axially in relation to the actuators for a subtract operation, a subtract actuator for actuating the subtract shifting mechanism, a subtract conditioning mechanism for conditioning the subtract shift mechanism for such actuation, a subtract key adapted, when depressed, to render the subtract conditioning mechanism effective, a travelling record material carriage, a control device mounted in a predetermined columnar position on the travelling record material carriage, and a power-operated mechanism rendered effective by the control device, when the travelling record material carriage is in said columnar position, automatically also to render the subtract conditioning mechanism effective independently of the depression of the subtract key. In the machine described, which is of the type disclosed in Specification 732,760, certain machine functions, including subtraction, can be initiated by tabulating stops, but the initiation of subtraction is characterized in that the tabulating stop merely primes a mechanism which in turn renders the subtract conditioning mechanism effective, the primed mechanism deriving its energy for this operation from the main driving shaft. Totalizers.-For an "add" operation the " A " or upper totalizer pinions, 131, Fig. 2, are moved by racks 110 on levers 109 and for a "subtract" -operation shaft 124 is moved laterally, taking the totalizer with it, to engage an idler 134 with the rack 110, the idler having a central circumferential groove in it and driving the totalizer pinions negatively. A " B " or lower totalizer has a shaft 137, pinions 138 and idlers 139 which operate as for the A " totalizer. The lateral movement of the " A " totalizer is brought about by a stud on the shaft 124, Fig. 9, which engages with a cam slot in a pivoted cam plate 156 connected at 176 to a lever 158, downward movement of the lever 158 rocking the plate 156 and moving the shaft 124. At the commencement of each operation of the machine a lever 163 carrying studs 164, 165 is rocked anti-clockwise and then clockwise returning to its position as shown in Fig. 9, and when the machine is set for an " add " operation this rocking has no effect, the stud 164 passing over a surface 167 of the lever 158 and the stud 165 over a surface 166 of a lever 162 which is similar to the lever 158 and which controls the " B " totalizer, but when the machine is set for a " subtract " operation, the setting being either manual, by depression of the " Subtract " key 65, Fig. 1, or automatic by the carriage mechanism and resulting in an anticlockwise rocking of a shaft 168 and hence, by a lever 169 fixed to the shaft 168 and links 170, 171 carrying studs 172, 174, in a clockwise rocking of lever 158 about its pivot 176 and an anti-clockwise rocking of lever 162 about its pivot 176 and an anti-clockwise rocking of lever 162 about its pivot 177, the lever 163 on its anti-clockwise movement strikes the surfaces 178, 179 of the levers 158, 162 and moves the shafts 124, 137 to place both totalizers in their negative positions. At the conclusion of a " subtract " operation lever 169 is returned to its normal position by a spring 180. The automatic control of the " subtract " mechanism by the paper carriage may be over-ridden by depression of the " Reverse " key 69, Figs. 1, 5, which will convert the operation into one of " addition " even though the carriage mechanism demands a " subtraction." Carriage tabulating mechanism.-Fig. 3 shows a vertical elevation of the paper carriage viewed from the back, Fig. 7, a vertical side elevation of the paper carriage and Fig. 8 a vertical side elevation of a part of the paper carriage. As viewed in Fig. 3 the carriage moves from left to right until it is stopped by a tabulating stop, such as 407, Fig. 8, striking a pawl 403 pivoted at 404 to the frame of the machine. Near the end of a machine cycle, which is then performed and which may be initiated either automatically, as described below, or manually, a bail 398, Fig. 8, will be rocked to raise a roller 402 and rock the pawl 403 about its pivot 404 against the action of a spring 406 to allow the carriage to proceed. This releasing operation is performed with a speed sufficient to enable the pawl to be back in the position shown in Fig. 8 again to arrest the motion of the carriage before a second tabulating stop has passed. The drive for lifting the roller 402, Fig. 8, to release the carriage is obtained from the control shaft 86 of the machine, being transmitted by a member 387, Fig. 7, fixed to the control shaft 86, as a rocking, via a roller 385 integral with a member 382 pivoted to a shaft 366, Fig. 3, fixed to the machine frame, of a bail 378 joined to supports 377, 376, pivoted at 389 to the carriage, and then as a rocking of a support plate 400 by an arm 392 engaging a stud 397 on the plate 400, the plate 400 pivoting about a shaft 399 on the carriage and, together with a second support plate 401, supporting the bail 398. The arm 392 is under the control of a cam-shaped member 390 which pivots about 389 and which can be manually set in one of two positions by engaging a small stud 394 carried by it in one of two holes 395 in a spring strip 388 attached to the bail support 377. The position in which the member 390 is shown in Fig. 7 is a " non- tabulating " position, i.e. a position in which the carriage will not be released at the end of a machine cycle since, with the member 390 in this position, when the control shaft rocks first clockwise and then anti-clockwise the bail support 377 will rock about 389 carrying member 390 and arm 392, which is pivoted on the bail support 377, with it, but the shoulder 396 of the arm 392 will not engage the stud 397, the amount of rocking being too small, but when the member 390 is in the " tabulating " position the arm 392 will be so positioned that when the bail support 377 rocks anti-clockwise, as a result of the clockwise rocking of the control shaft 86, the arm 392 will slip beneath the stud 397 and on the second half of the machine cycle, when the bail support 377 is rocked clockwise, the shoulder 396 of the arm 392 will engage the stud 397 and rock the support plate 400 until the stud 397 is clear of the arm 392 which then returns to its initial position. When the carriage is returned to the right at the end of a line the tabulating stops, such as 407, Fig. 8, strike a bevel 408 on the pawl 403 and the carriage passes unimpeded until it is either stopped by a shaft 366 fixed to the machine frame or until the pawl 403 strikes a terminal stud, such as 409, Fig. 10c, which has a projection 410 that extends above the bevel 408 on the pawl 403, Fig. 8, and so does not raise the pawl to allow the carriage to pass. Carriage control of machine functions.-Each tabulating stop can, in addition to causing the motion of the carriage to be arrested by striking the pawl 403, Fig. 8, condition the machine for various functions, by carrying projections such as 424, Fig. 10d, which engage with cam levers on the machine frame, the actual function controlled being determined by the position of the projection on the tabulating stop in accordance with Fig. 10a. Fig. 13 shows a plan view of the controlling cam levers attached to the machine frame and Fig. 4, a plan view of the printing parts of the machine. Attached to the machine frame by screws 412, 413, Fig. 3, is a member 414 having a downward facing comb and which supports, on bolts 420, 421, five cam levers, only the outermost one, 450, of which is clearly visible in Fig. 3. Three of the cam levers 450, 450a, 1417, Fig. 13, are pivoted on the bolt 421, and two, 1419, 1418, on the bolt 420. Each has a shape similar to 450, Fig. 3, having a wedgeshaped projection 423 and a small central slot accommodating a guide pin 422, Fig. 13. Each of a series of control levers 415 to 419, Figs. 3, 4, 13, extends sufficiently far through a slot of the comb on the member 414 to be engaged by the appropriate cam lever, Fig. 13, upon the depression of that cam lever by the passage of a tabulating stop carrying a control projection. The five operations that can be controlled by the carriage will now be described in detail in the order of the positions of the control projections on the tabulating stops as in Fig. 10a. (1) Carriage control of "Subtract" mechanism. When the motion of the carriage is arrested by a tabulating stop carrying a control projection in the " subtract " position, the control projection depresses the cam lever 450, rocking it about its pivot 421, Figs. 3, 13, and causes the control lever 415 to be depressed. Depression of the control lever 415, Fig. 5, which is fixed to a bell-crank lever 451 having an end loose in an ear of a link 455, moves the link 455 forward to rock a lever 457a into a position to block downward movement of a lever 458a, thus preventing a total-taking operation by known means not described, and rocks a link 461, by a stud 460, clockwise about a stud 466 on a lever 467 fixed to a shaft 168 to place a recess 462 in the end of the link 461 over the end 463 of a lever 464. The mechanism is now " primed " for a " subtract " operation. During the first half of the machine cycle a plate 264 is rocked, pushing down a stud 472 on the lever 464, causing the end 463 of the lever to push the link 461 upwards and, by a spring 469 and the lever 467, to rock the shaft 168, Fig. 9, which positions both totalizers for subtraction as described under " Totalizers." (2) Carriage control of "Non-print." When a " non-print " tabulating stop is operating a lever 419, Fig. 11, is rocked anti-clockwise about a pivot 553 to pull downwardly via a seco