Patent GB-190013316-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Calculating Machines.
Inventor: RINSCHE FRANK CHARLES
Filed: 1900-07-24
Granted: 1900-10-27
Abstract: 13,316. Rinsche, F. C. July 24. Type-writers and like machines.-Relates to apparatus for adding sums of money and printing each item and the totals of all the items. The apparatus shown is adapted for decimal coinage, but it may be modified for English and other money. There are separate banks of keys for each denomination. Figs. 5, .6, 7 show respectively the front, middle, and back of the machine in side sectional elevation. For convenience they are placed as illustrated, but they should be considered as if the base plate 1 was a horizontal line. The spring keys 8, which control the movement of slide bars 32 actuating the adding and printing mechanism, are provided with notches 12, 13. When any key in .a bank is depressed, a pin 10 upon it strikes a pivoted plate 14 and releases a catch 18 so as to allow the notched plate 15 to slide forward under the influence of its spring 19. The plate 15 engages the notch 12 of the depressed key and the notches 13 of the other keys, locking them all in position. If a mistake has been made, depression of the handle 23<a >rocks forward the frame 23 and, by means of the projections 26, restores the plates 15 to normal position and releases the depressed keys. When an amount has been set up on the machine, the shaft 50 is rocked forward and back by means of an external handle, carrying with it a series of pairs of cranks 52. Each pair of cranks has between its members a crank 49 loose on the shaft 50 but connected frictionally to the cranks by spring-pressed balls in a race 53 ; the cranks 49 are connected, by pins and slots 48, to slide bars 32, controlled by the keys and move these bars forward until arrested by the keys ; the cranks 49 there remain stationary while the cranks 52 complete their forward movement, the friction balls in the races 53 travelling on tracks 51, forming extensions of the cranks 49. The arrest of the slides 32 is effected by the contact of stops 37 with the shank of the depressed key, the keys and projections being so spaced that the movement of the slide bar is proportional to the amount marked on the key-button. If no key in a bank is depressed, the corresponding slide bar remains stationary, locked by a catch 42, but such catch is released when a key is struck by the action of the notched locking-plate 15 on a bell-crank lever 44. The operating handle is mounted on the shaft 57 which is connected to the shaft 50 by links and cranks in such a way that some lost motion is allowed at the beginning and end of the reciprocation. In the return movement a tappet actuates the rocking-frame 23 so that all the locking plates 15 are pushed back and the depressed keys released and lifted to normal position by their return springs. If, however, it is desired to repeat the addition of the same amount, this tappet may be thrown out of action. 56, 62 are return springs for effecting the backward stroke of the parts during which the adding-counter is operated. A traversing bar moving with the cranks on the shafts 57, 50 carries a rack engaging a sector on the shaft 68 ; the consequent rocking of this shaft works the piston of a pivoted dash-pot and controls the movement of the parts. A notched disc 75 and double-reversing pawl 80 ensure a complete stroke of the actuating-handle in either direction. To transfer the movements of the slidebars 32 to the counting-wheels 85, slotted racks 39 are pivoted to them through the slots in which passes a transverse bar 122 carried by arms 116 pivoted at 115. The movement of a quadrant 106 in the forward stroke of the handle causes through special connecting-mechanism the bar 122 and arms 116 to rise just at the end of the stroke, throwing the racks 39 into gear with the wheel 88, and disengaging locking-pawls 118 by means of a pivoted flap 117. During the return stroke, the bar 122 being held up till nearly the end of the movement, the racks turn the wheels 88 and so the numbering-wheels 85 with which they are geared. "Carrying" is effected as follows :-At each forward stroke of the handle, the shaft 97 is given a complete rotation in one direction from the shaft 68 by means of a cam 98, segment lever 99, and pinion 100, which is geared by pawl and ratchet with the shaft, back movement being prevented by a pawl and ratchet and over-driving by a spring clip brake. Whenever a wheel 85 passes from 9 to 0, a pin 89 on the corresponding wheel 88 forces back a frame 94 in which a " carrying" pawl 92 for the wheel of next higher denomination is pivoted and engages it with the next tooth. Then when the shaft 97 rotates, in the next forward movement of the handle, a series of spirally-arranged pins 96 successively strike and force forward the frames 94 which have been displaced and " carry one " on their wheels. To " zeroize " the counter, an external handle 127 is pressed back and through levers 134, 135, and other mechanism, releases all the latches 42 of the slide bars 32 and throws all the racks 39 into engagement with their wheels 88. On now moving the actuating-handle forward, the wheels 88 will be turned in the direction opposite to the usual movement until one of the pins 89 on each wheel strikes its corresponding frame 94 and is arrested, the wheel 85 in gear with that wheel then showing zero. The handle 127 is returned to normal position before the actuating-handle to throw the racks 39 out of gear. The ends of the slide bars 32 carry plates for type-bars 140 ; the type-bar corresponding to the key depressed is brought over the spring hammer 144 (one hammer for each row of type) and under the transfer ribbon 168 ; a spring 141 runs over projections at the bottom of the type-bars as they are moved forward, and acts to return any one of them after the stroke of the hammer has raised it. The type-hammers 144 are each double-locked by pawls 150 and 157 respectively ; when any slide 32 moves forward, the pin 154 lifts the arm 153 and releases the pawl 150, and the pawls are so connected by lateral projections that all necessary ciphers and no more are printed. The shafts 145, 164 are geared to the shaft 68 by cranks and link mechanism so that, when the shaft 68 is rocked, the cross-bar 165, carried by arms on the shaft 164, is lowered into the teeth of racks 166 exactly to align the type, and then the cross-bar 162, carried by arms on the shaft 145, descends and releases the pawls 157. All the hammers 144, the pawls 150 of which have already been released, are then thrown up by springs 146 to take an impression. Two transfer ribbons 168, 216 are used for printing respectively the items and their total in different-coloured inks. The ribbons are fed in one direction or the other automatically between spools, which are driven by the action of a double pawl upon ratchetwheels on their spindles. This double pawl is carried by a crank disc held in one of two positions by a spring detent so that one of the pawls is in engagement with the ratchet on one spool, and the other is held out of action. A plate, reciprocated from the rocking shaft 68, carries the cam disc and pawl and effects the feed. When the ribbon has been completely wound off one spool, its tension under the continued action throws over the cam disc and reverses the action of the pawls. The paper strip is carried in a roll on a pivoted carriage which can be brought down into position or swung back ; it passes between a guide roller in sections and a platen roller which is rotated by a ratchet and escapement mechanism receiving motion from a rocking lever. The escapement mechanism may be thrown out of gear and the paper set by hand. A wide paper sheet may be used instead for printing columns of figures, the carriage being moved transversely by hand for a new column on a guide rail and adjusted by a projection on the handle taking into notches in the guide rail. By specially manipulating the parts in a manner somewhat similar to that employed in zeroizing the apparatus, the total may be printed and either left in the machine or not. The lever 127 is so connected with the frame carrying the transfer ribbons 168, 216, that when a total is struck, the latter is over the type-bars and the total appears in a different colour. The various parts of the mechanism are mounted in independent frames bolted together.