Improvements in Adding Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Apr., 1890-Accepted, 21st June, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Adding Machines.
I, EZRA EDGAR WITTER, of Milford Centre, in the County of Union, and State
of Ohio, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement: -
My invention relates to that class of adding machinos that are provided with a
series of keys which operate through suitable mechanism upon counting wheels
which register the amount added up, and the invention has for its object the produc-
tion of a device that may be carried in the pocket and differs from others in use
in not being cumbersome and expensive.
Aly invention consists in certain features of novelty to be hereinafter fully described
and then particularly pointed out in the claims.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of my improved adding machine, showing
the cover partly raised. Fig. 2, is a plan view the cover being broken off. Fig. 3,
is a top view with the key-board removed. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the
swinging yoke and Fig. 5 is a detail of a part thereof.
The casing is constructed with sides, 1ª, bottom 1 and ends, 1°. The upper
edges of the sides are inclined from near one end to near the other end where they
provide bearings for a rotatable shaft 5, situated near the hinge connection 3, of
the lid with the casing. The lid is provided with sides 2ª, top, 2b and ends 2°, said
sides having their lower edges complementary to the upper edges of the sides
of the casing so that when the lid is closed a neat elongated box is the result.
6 is the inclined key-board or plate having down-turned edges 6 that are secured
on the inner sides of the casing. The hinge end of the casing is the back and the
other end is the front. The key-board inclines upwardly froin the front as shown
in Fig. 1, toward the back. In the drawings, nine key-levers 7, are shown, the
upper ends of which are screw-threaded and project through openings 6b in the key-
board 6. Keys or knobs 8 are screwed onto the upper ends of the levers 7 and by
them the throw of the levers may be regulated.
The shape of the key-levers is shown in Fig. 1. These levers are fulcrumed on
pintles 9 extending from side to side of the key-board just below its top. There
are five pintles shown, on the first or front one of which lever No. 1 is fulcrumed ;
on the second, levers Nos. 2 and 3; on the third, levers Nos. 4 and 5; on the next,
levers Nos. 6 and 7, and on the last, levers Nos. 8 and 9, so that on each of the
pintles excepting the first, there is a pair of levers. Between each of the levers of
each pair there is interposed a sleeve 10 to keep them apart. The numbers of the
levers are placed on the top of the keys as usual.
In the bottom of the casing is fitted a slide 11 having upwardly extending sides 11ª.
The rear end of this slide is provided with a spring catch 12 that engages with the
teeth of a ratchet wheel 13 fixed on the side of the registering wheel 14 that is
provided with the units and tens on its periphery as shown, said ratchet and registering
wheel being fixed on the shaft 5.
Fixed at 15 to the slide 11 is a spiral spring 15 which extends forward and is
secured by a tightening screw 16 that passes through the front of the casing and
engages in a perforation in the yoke piece 17 attached to the spring. This spring
removes the catch 12 from engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 13 by
drawing the slide forward. The lower ends of the key levers engage projections.or
pius 18 fixed to and extending from side to side of the slide, there being five projec-
tions or pins. When the keys are depressed, the catch 12 being pushed back and
operating the units-and-tens wheel through the ratchet wheel 13, will cause the
units-and-tens wheel to move a distance depending on the distance that the said
ratchet wheel is moved...

page_text: To the end that the catch will move the ratchet wheel a distance of one tooth
when key No. 1 is depressed; a distance of two teeth when key No. 2 is depressed;
a distance of three teeth when key No. 3 is depressed and so on. I make the levers
from 1 to 9 inclusive, of gradually increasing length and this increased length is
provided for by inclining the key-board from the front upwardly and fulcruming the
levers on the pintles that are arranged at or about, the saine distance below the
key-board. By this arrangement it will be seen that the ratchet wheel will be
moved a distance of a number of teeth corresponding with the number of the key
depressed.
When the tens have been exhausted; the hundreds-wheel 19, that is mounted
loosely on the shaft 5, alongside the units-and-tens wheel should be moved one
number higher and this is accomplished by means of the following mechanism :-
20 is a bracket at the rear end of the casing that' extends upwardly and is
provided with a detent 21 that engages the teeth 19 on the side of the hundreds
wheel.
This detent has a thumb-piece or handle 21" by means of which to draw the
detent out of engagement with the teeth of the hundreds-wheel.
22 is a U-shaped detent, one leg of which is journalled in the sides of the
bracket 20 and constitutes the pivot of the detent and the other leg constitutes
the detent proper that engages with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 13 to keep the
latter from retrograde movement. The detent end is engaged by the free end of a
spring 23 fixed at its other end to the bracket 20 to hold the detent in engagement
with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 13.
Mounted loosely on the pivot of the detent 22 is a swinging yoke 24 both arms of
which curve downwardly on the outer sides of the registering wheels. One arm
constitutes a pawl 25 that is bent or curved inwardly and upwardly so as to engage
the perpendicular faces of the teeth 19 of the hundreds wheel 19 and move said
hundreds wheel a distance of one tooth when it is elevated and rides over the inclined
faces of the teeth when depressed, the hundreds wheel being held from retrograde
movement by the detent 21 when the pawl 25 is out of engagement with the teeth.
26 is a pin projecting outwardly from the side of the units-and-tens wheel and
is so situated that when the tens have been exhausted it will. engage under the
lever 27 which is the other arm of the yoke 24, and raise said lever and consequently
the pawl 25 with it, thus moving the hundreds wheel one tooth or one number.
As the units-and-tens wheel continues to revolve the pin 26 passes into a recess 28
in the lower end of lever 27 and engages with a hook 29 projecting rearwardly from
the lever causing the lever and consequently the pawi 25 to be depressed and the
latter to be engaged under another tooth. The extreme end of the lever 27 is bent
out and at the commencement of the hook it is notched at 30 and this is done so that
the pin may pass under the lever and through the notch to permit the units-and-tens
wheel to further rotate.
When it is desired to reset the hundreds wheel back to number 1, a cord 31 wound
around the hub of said wheel is pulled slightly outward so as to press on the pawl-armı
of the yoke and draw the pawl out of engagement with the teeth, said cord extending
up from the inner side of the pawl-arm. Before the cord is pulled in this manner
the detent 21 should be drawn out of contact with the teeth of the hundreds wheel by
pulling on its thumb-piece 21°.
Clips 32 may be provided as shown for securing pen-holders and pencils in the lid.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an adding machine, the combination of a series of vertical key-levers of
gradually increasing throw, having free lower ends, a horizontal slide engaged by the
lower ends of said levers provided with a catch and the registering-wheels operated
by said catch, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. In an adding machine, the combination of a series of key-levers of gradually
increasing throw, an inclined key-board below which said levers are fulcrumed at or

page_text: about an equal distance from the top of the board, the keys screwed on to the upper
ends of said levers above the board, a slide operated by said levers and provided with
a catch and the registering wheels operated by said catch, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth.
3. In an adding machine, the combination of a series of key-levers of gradually
increasing throw, having freely swinging lower ends, a slide operated by said levers
and provided with a catch, projections on said slide with which the lower ends of the
levers engage, a spring for retracting the slide and the registering wheels operated
by said catch, substantially as set forth.
4. In an adding machine, the combination of a slide carrying a catch, means for
actuating said slide a spiral spring secured at one end to said slide, a tightening
device at the other end consisting of a yoke or nut and a screw passing through
the latter and the registering wheels operated by said catch, substantially as set
forth.
5. The combination in an adding machine of a series of vertical key-levers
numbered from one to nine respectively, and gradually elongated, an inclined key-board
through which the levers project, pintles below said board at or about the same
distance from the top of said key-board, said levers, excepting No. 1, being fulcrumed
on said pintles in pairs, with the lower ends projecting freely downward, a slide
operated by said levers and carrying a catch and registering wheels operated by
said catch, substantially as set forth.
6. In an adding machine, the combination with a pair of registering wheels, means
for actuating one of said wheels and means for actuating the other through the
medium of the latter consisting of a pin, a lover engaged by said pin and having
a recess, a hook on the lever engaged by said pin below the recess and a pawl
actuated by the lever, substantially as set forth.
7. In an adding machine, the combination with a units-and-tens wheel having
means of rotation and a pin projecting therefrom, of a lever engaged by said pin
to move the lever in one direction, a hook carried by the lever and engaged by
said pin to move the lever in the other direction, a pawl moved by said lever and a
hundreds wheel having teeth engaged by said pawl, substantially as set forth.
8. In an adding machine, the combination with a units-and-tens wheel, positive
means for rotating it, and a pin on the wheel, of a lever engaged by the pin for
moving the lever in one direction, a hook on the lever engaged by said pin to move
the lever in the opposite direction, a pawl moved by said lever, a hundreds wheel
having teeth engaged by the pawl and a detont engaging said teeth, substantially
as set forth.
9. In an
adding machine, the combination of a units-and-tens wheel having means
of rotation, a pin carried by the wheel, a hundreds wheel having a hub, a cord
attached to the hub, a lever engaged by said pin, a pawl operated by the lever and
engaging the teeth of the hundreds wheel said cord being adapted to engage said
pawl and release it from the teeth of the hundreds wheel and when pulled to bring
the hundreds wheel to zero and a detent also engaging the teeth of the hundreds
wheel, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
11
31
n
110ea
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.