Patent GB-577330-A (GB)
Abstract: 577,330. Calculating - apparatus. BROIDO, D. Feb. 3, 1944, No. 2011. [Class 106 (i)] A machine for the four rules comprises a products register and a multiplier or quotient register, physical representations of partial products and means for entering selected partial products into the products register a carriage being shiftable into denominational and digital positions. Carriage mechanism. The set-up mechanism for the multiplicand or'divisor is mounted on a carriage shiftable transversely of the machine along rails 12, 13, 14, Figs. 2 4. The carriage is spring-pressed to the right and can assume any of nine digital positions inside any one of six denominational positions, whereby partial product plates 64, 72 set up by multiplicand setup levers 58 may be adjusted relatively to sensing pins 65, 73 according to the denomination and digit of the multiplier in a manner more fully described below. For step by step tabulation to the right, depression of a shift lever 18 rocks a pawl 31, Fig. 4, counterclockwise out of engagement with a rack 32 and the carriage shifts half a step to the right until a forward extension 35 of the pawl 31 engages a second rack 36. Release of the lever 18 restores the pawl 31 to complete the step. If the lever 18 is depressed to full extent to rock the pawl 31 against the action of a spring- pressed pawl 37 until the extension 35 clears the rack 36, the carriage may be moved any distance between fixed stops to the right or left. As described below, tabulation step by step to the right takes place automatically during multiplication. ' A digital shift lever 40 can be rocked into any one angular position 1-9 indicated on the carriage cover at 45, Fig. 1, the lever being held in set position by a spring detent. A face cam 49, Fig. 4 (and Fig. 6, not shown) co-operates with a roller fixed to the carriage to shift the carriage to the left relatively to the denominational shift lever 18 a distance of <1>/9 of the pitch of the rack 32 when the lever 40 is in position 2, <2>/9 in position 3, ... and <8>/9 in position 9. A number indicating the digital position appears in an aperture 56 corresponding to the denominational position. Setting-up mechanism. The multiplicand or divisor is set up by knobs 58 on bails 59, Fig. 2, held in set position by spring detents and having strips 61 bearing numerals 0-9 visible through apertures 62. Each bail carries ten plates 64 representing the tens of the partial products 0-9 while a link 67 rocks a sector 71 carrying ten plates 72 representing the units of the partial products, the plate 64 being displaced one denominational position to the left of the plates 72. The plates have notches proportional in depth to the digit. represented (Figs. 19, 20, not shown) and after being positioned denominationally and digitally as already described co-operate with sensing pins 65, 73 which therefore move differential amounts to enter the partial products into the products register. The setting levers 58 may be restored individually or collectively by a restoring lever 78 which rocks the shaft 41 clockwise, whereby bushes 79 restore the bails 59, the lever 78 returning under spring action or its own weight. Feeler mechanism. The sensing pins 65, 73 are slidably mounted and spring-urged away from the plates 64, 72. In each denomination, a double-pronged feeler 83 is pivoted at 84 to a. gear sector 85 rotatable on a shaft 86. A bail 87 has a pin 88 engaging a slot in the gear sector 85 and is connected to the gear sector by a spring 89. A restoring bar 92, biassed counterclockwise, is rocked twice in each cycle by a cam 94. Each feeler 83 is connected by a link 99 to a frame 101 rocked by a cam 104. In the first half of a cycle, the upper prong of the feeler 83 is aligned with the sensing pin 65 and the gear sector 85 rocks counterclockwise differentially until the sensing pin contacts the appropriate notch in the tens product plate 64 and the sector 85 is restored, while in the second half of the cycle, the lower prong is aligned with the pin 73 to reciprocate the gear sector 85 according to the value of the units partial product. As the carriage moves across the machine, some of the sensing pins 65, 73 are clear of the carriage. The gear sectors 85 associated with these pins have each a downward extension 105 normally engaged by a latch 106, Fig. 2A (and Fig. 5, not shown), which is released by a knock-out plate 113, Fig. 2, rocking a spring-pressed rocker 109 and link 108 when the carriage comes opposite the corresponding sensing pins. The spaces adjacent the side plates of the carriage are filled by fixed plates rendering the sensing pins opposite inoperative. Products register. The products register comprises numeral wheels 114 fixed to pinions 119 located by spring-pressed pawls 126. Digits are entered additively or subtractively according to whether pinions 133 or 139 mounted in frames 130 or 134, respectively, Fig. 11, are brought into mesh with the gear sectors 85 during their return movement. The frames 130, 134 are rocked by links 142, 157 under the control of cams 148, 162 splined to a shaft 149 by lugs 152, 153, Fig. 3A, according to whether a sliding key 154 is shifted to the right or left in a keyway in the shaft 149. When not splined to the shaft, cams 148, 162 are restrained from frictional rotation by spring detents 166. Carry-over. When returning to home position, the gear sectors 85 are normally arrested by the turned-over end of the carry pawl 182 of next-lower denomination, Figs. 2A, 16, but when a carry pawl is rocked counterclockwise by a one-tooth pinion 120, it is held by a latch 184 until the gear sector 85 of next higher denomination returns to original position and is pulled one step further, to effect carry-over, by the spring 89, when the sector releases the latch 184. Intermediate carry, i.e. carry because of carry in a lower denomination, is effected by the cam 94 rocking the bail 87 slightly counterclockwise as the pinions 133 or 139 are disengaging the gear sectors, the carry taking place at the end of the full cycle. Towards the end of a revolution of the cams 148 or 162, abutments 173 on plates 169 or 170, loosely mounted on the hubs of the cams and lightly biassed clockwise by springs 171, are engaged by pawls 174, Fig. 11, with a strong clockwise bias and the plates 169 or 170 are retarded to hold the register wheels in mesh with the gear sectors so that the intermediate carry-over is effected. If there is no change from additive to subtractive operations or vice versa, pins 172 on the cams 148 or 162 engage the plates to force them past the pawls 174 so as to restore control of the register wheels to the cams 148, 162. If, however, a handle 230 be rocked from + to - or vice versa, a cam 248 rocks a shaft 175 and the pawls 174 counterclockwise, whereby the plates 169 or 170 are released and assume clockwise positions and the register wheels are disengaged from the gear sectors prior to the new calculation. Zeroising. When a lever 251, Figs. 1, 10, is rocked through a quarter-turn, it drives a ratchet-wheel 258 secured to a four-lobed cam 269 and a mutilated gear 264. The cam 269 rocks an arm 270 linked to an arm on the shaft 175 which is thereby rocked early in the movement of the lever 251 to demesh the register wheels 114. During this time, the mutilated part of the gear 264 is opposite a gear 265, but immediately after, the drive becomes operative through gears 265, 267, 268 to the shaft 115. A comb bar 122 lies in a keyway in the shaft 115 and is spring-pressed against a cam bearing 116 (Fig. 7, not shown). When the shaft 115 is rotated, the comb bar 122 is forced to the right and picks up zero lugs on the numeral wheels to restore them to zero. Multiplier (Quotient) register. Numeral wheels 189, Fig. 2, are driven through gears 196 by a driver 204 having nine teeth of different lengths. The driver 204 is slidably but not rotatably mounted on a flat shaft 205 and moves with the carriage denominationally and digitally so that when the shaft 205 is rotated, the appropriate number is entered into the appropriate wheel of the multiplier register. The register is cleared in the same manner as the products register by a lever 274. Driving and operating means. The mainshaft 149 may be driven by hand or by motor in one direction only. With the handle 228 set for additive or negative operations, the key 154 is shifted to the right or left respectively by a face cam 234 (Fig. 13, not shown), clutch fork, grooved disc 240, Fig. 3A, and plate 241, whereby a gear 216 or 217 (Fig. 3, not shown), is splined to the shaft 149 to drive the multiplier register positively or negatively. A pin 244 on the plate 241 projects, in the additive position, into the path of a rocker 245 (Fig. 14, not shown), and just before the end of a revolution of the mainshaft, the rocker 245 is rocked to tabulate the carriage one step to the right. In the subtractive position, the pin 244 is withdrawn and automatic tabulation does not occur. Division. Successive digits of the quotient are estimated and as tabulation is not automatic, the estimations can be corrected by trial and error. Addition and subtraction are performed in the initial position of the carriage. Modifications. The tens and units of partial products of each set-up digit may be arranged on a single plate (Fig. 22, not shown). To avoid overlapping, the plates associated with the even denominations (units, hundreds, &c.) are arranged on the shaft 70 and the odd denominations (tens, thousands, &c.) on the bails 58. The carriage shift may be reversed. The digital and denominational shift mechanisms and set-up mechanism may be operated by keys. Factors may be set up by punched cards.