Improvements in Apparatus for Recording or Stamping Time and Date.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 16th June, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 16th Mar.. 1895-Accepted, 27th Apr., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Recording or Stamping Time
and Date.
ALBERT THOMAS HUGHES 106 St. Paul's Road Kennington Park in the County
of Surrey Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to the construction of apparatus for recording or stamping
time and date, such as used for marking documents with a permanent record of
the day and hour of their receipt or issue and for similar purposes. The object
of this invention is so to improve the construction of such apparatus as to give
greater strength to the same rendering the apparatus more durable and less liable
to become deranged. This is attained by adopting more compact constructions
for the several parts than had heretofore been done. Moreover the arrangements
are such that the apparatus is not liable to be tampered with. The moving parts
are all rigid in themselves and each made of a single piece.
The motive power for actuating this apparatus is an electric current controlled
by a clock in such a manner that the clock by closing the circuit at predetermined
periods (say once in each minute) causes an electro-magnet to operate as will
presently be described.
When the armature of the said electro-magnet is attracted it causes the lever
on which it is fixed to swing on its pivot and this motion is transmitted to the
following arrangement
A series of typewheels is provided in the apparatus, there may be for instance,
five, to mark the year, month, day, hour, and minute. They are so arranged in a
casing that when a sheet of paper or the like is laid over an aperture provided for
the purpose and a handle depressed, impression is taken from that type on each
wheel which faces the aperture.
The lever which carries the armature at one end is at the other fitted with a
pawl that gears with a toothed wheel firmly connected with the typewheel that
imarks the lowest division of time, say the minute wheel. When the current passes
the pawl is raised or withdrawn, when the current ceases, a spring brings the lever
and pawl back to their normal position and this forces the gear wheel one tooth
forward and shifts the typewheel by one division. Also firmly united with a
type wheel is a cam-disc or equivalent device and when the type wheel has made
one revolution carrying with it the cam-disc the latter depresses a lever which, by
a pawl shifts the next gear wheel, connected with say the hour wheel, by one
tooth.
The motion is transmitted throughout the series in a similar manner.
To ensure precision in the movements and to prevent that the type-wheels be
improperly shifted from without, a locking lever is provided on the hour-wheel
and on others if required. This locking lever carries a block or blocks engaging
with the gear wheel until it is, at the proper moment raised by a pin on one of the
wheels in the lower series next adjoining.
Below the levers last described may be placed a small bar carrying back springs
acting on the gear wheels preventing their accidental rotation.
The electro magnet is secured by four screws so arranged as to permit exact
adjustment. This secures certainty of action and economy of current. The
wheel which directly receives the impulse from the current (in the case above

page_text: indicated the minute wheel) is liable to shift during that fraction of time in
which its pawl is raised preparatory to acting on it. To prevent this I pivot, close
to the armature lever, a small stop lever having two arins. One arm is forked
and engages with a pin on the armature lever. When the armature lever swings
back, preparatory to shifting the typewheel, the free end of the stop is raised and
holds the gear wheel in place.
The springs which cause the return motion of the several levers, particularly
that for the armature lever may from time to time require adjustment. For this
I provide by fixing one end of the spring to a wire, band, or the like that runs
onto a small pulley fitted with a star wheel and catch, when the star wheel is
turned one step, it winds up a portion of the wire or the like and proportionately
tightens the spring, a suitably shaped key may serve for this operation.
The casing is so constructed that some of sides may be removed to allow access
to the mechanism but one of these movable sides holds all the others in place, and
is itself locked by any suitable means.
An ink ribbon is wound on suitable rollers and passes over the type, the rollers
for said ribbon are rotated off the handle that carries the pad by means of which.
the paper or the like is forced down on the type.
A stop is provided so that any excessive violence exerted in operating the
stamp may be taken up by the handle and stop and not transmitted to the other
parts.
31
100
ERNEST SALAMAN,
Pinner's Hall, Great Winchester Street, E.C., Agent for Applicant.
Improvements in Apparatus for Recording or Stamping Time
and Date.
I ALBERT THOMAS HUGHES of 106 St. Paul's Road Kennington Park in the
County of Surrey Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the construction of apparatus for recording or stamping
time and date for the purpose of marking documents with a permanent record of
the year month day of the month hour and minute of their receipt or issue and
for similar purposes and the object of this invention is to improve the construction
of such apparatus and to render the same stronger and more durable and less
liable to derangement.
This object I attain by a more compact arrangement of the several parts an!
by making the moving parts very rigid in themselves and each one from a single
piece of metal.
I also arrange the various parts in such a manner that the
apparatus cannot be tampered with.
That portion of the apparatus which records the time and day of the month is
automatically varied by means of an, electric current controlled by a clock in such
a manner that the clock by closing the circuit at predetermined periods once a
minute for example causes an electro magnet to attract an armature connected by
suitable levers ratchets and pawls or other suitable mechanism to a series of type
wheels round the peripheries of which are types denoting the days of the month
hours and minutes. Suitable type wheels operated by hand or mechanism are
provided to denote the year and month. A platten or pad depressed by hand or
other suitable means serves to impress the paper or other material to be stamped
an ink ribbon being interposed between the type wheels and the said material.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I will proceed.

page_text: Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
Fig. 3 is a view of one end of same.
Fig. 4 is a view of the opposite end of the same.
Figs. 5 6 7 and 8 are details hereinafter referred to.
The same letters denote the same parts in all the figures.
In the apparatus shewn are five type wheels a bede to the peripheries of which
are attached types shewing on wheel a the year on wheel & the months of the year
on wheel e the days of the month on wheel d the hours of the day from 1 to 24
or from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on wheel e the minutes or other subdivisions of
an hour.
I prefer to operate the apparatus by means of an electric current sent through
the electro-magnet coils at intervals of one minute in which case the type wheel e
is fitted with types numbered from 1 to 60 and is rotatel one sixtieth of a
revolution each time the current passes through the magnet coils. Assuming the
apparatus to be actuated by a current passing at intervals of one minute ff are
the electro magnet coils g g the pole pieces the armature attached to the short
arm of a lever i which oscillates about the centre or fulcrum j. To the long arm
of the said lever is pivoted a pawl k which engages with a ratchet wheel / having
60 teeth rotating on a shaft or spindle m carried in holes in the side frames of the
apparatus nn this ratchet wheel is secured to a spur wheel o which gears with a
similar wheel p rotating on a shaft or spindle the wheel p being attached to the
type wheel e.
When the current passes the pawl k slips backwards over the teeth of the ratchet
and when the circuit is broken the spring pulls the long arm of the lever i to the
right and the pawl k moves the ratchet 1 one tooth forward, which causes the
wheel o to turn the wheel p one sixtieth of a revolution thereby bringing the type
denoting the next minute under the platten or pad s.
To prevent the ratchet wheel being turned too far I affix to any convenient
portion of the apparatus a stop piece which limits the travel of the pawl'k when
acted on by the spring r. A light spring u keeps the pawl in contact with the
teeth of the ratchet wheel one end of the spring being fastened to the lever i and
the other end to the pawl k.
To prevent the wheel
from being moved backwards when the armature is
attracted provide a light flat spring (which is attached to a cross bar w) the
free end of which rests on the teeth of the wheel l.
To prevent tampering with the apparatus by moving the type wheel e by hand
I make the stop piece t of such shape as to prevent the pawl k from rising when in
contact therewith I provide also a lever a pivoted at y to any convenient part of
the apparatus. This lever is forked at one end and at the other end is a block or
wedge which approximately fits the space between two adjacent teeth of the
wheel o.
Normally the wedge is just clear of the teeth of the wheel o but when
the armature is attracted and removes the pawl k from contact with the stop
piece ta pinz on the lever i engaging with the forked end of the lever x causes the
said lever to oscillate on its pivot and the wedge or block enters the space between
two teeth of the wheel o and prevents the type wheel e from being moved while the
current is passing.
The above mechanism for operating and locking the minute wheel is clearly
shewn at Fig. 5.
To allow the oscillation of the lever i to be regulated I attach the magnet to a
cross bar A by means of screws B B which draw the cross piece of the magnet
against the adjusting screws CC (see Fig. 5).
The hour wheel is operated by the mechanism shewn at Fig. 7. Attached to

page_text: the ratchet wheel and rotating therewith is a cam D which acts on a pin E
attached to a lever F pivotted at G. To the free end of this lever is pivotted a
pawl H which engages with a wheel I having 24 teeth so that as the ratchet / and
minute wheel e make one complete revolution the lever F is depressed and at the
end of one complete revolution when the type on the minute wheel under the
platten changes from 59 to 0 the cam D releases the lever F which is thereupon
raised by the spring J and the wheel I moved forward one tooth. This wheel is
attached to a spur wheel d' gearing with a spur wheel having an equal number
of teeth attached to the hour wheel d. The rotation of these spur wheels causes
the type wheel d to change the hour under the platten.
The day type wheel c is actuated by similar mechanism to the hour wheel that is
to say a cam attached to the wheel I and rotating therewith depresses a lever
similar to the lever F and releases the same at midnight when a pawl attached to
the lever moves the day ratchet one tooth forward and by means of spur
wheels cc with equal numbers of teeth moves the type wheel c one day
forward.
The hour and day wheels are locked by means of the mechanism shewn at Fig. 6
in which K is a spring attached to the cross bar w. Lis a lever pivoted at N.
M is a spring to normally press the lever L towards the shaft m.
At the free end of the said lever is a wedge shaped piece L' which enters the
space between two teeth and also a V shaped piece L". A pin is fixed on the
minute feed wheel at or near the tooth which corresponds to the 59 minutes so that
as the type on the minute wheel moves from 59 to 0 the pin engages with the
piece Land lifts the lever L and allows the hour wheel to move forward one hour
the lever then falls and locks the hour wheel in its new position until the minute
wheel has made a revolution when the lever L is again lifted and so on.
The same device is used for locking the day wheel a pin on the hour feed wheel
lifting the locking lever once in twenty four hours that is to say at midnight.
The hour and day wheels are thus prevented from moving except at the proper
time.
A similar spring to that used for preventing backward motion of the hour wheel
is applied to the day wheel for the same purpose.
The platten s has attached thereto a pad s of indiarubber felt or other suitable
material which when the lever 1 to which the platten is attached is depressed the
said pad comes on to the type. P is an ink ribbon wound on rollers Q R whereof
the roller R is rotated by means of the ratchet T pivoted to the lever U each time
the lever is depressed thus moving the ribbon forward. Q' is a guide roller
over which the ink ribbon passes.
The top and ends of the case slide in grooves in the sides thereof the top of one
of the end plates being flush with the upper side of the top and is secured to the
side by a suitable lock. The top of the other end plate is flush with the underside
of the top plate which is preferably made in two pieces leaving an orifice between
them to allow of the document or the like to be stamped coming in contact with
the ink ribbon. Suitable stops are provided in the grooves on which the top slides
or on the underside of the top plate at that end of the side frames in which is the
end piece which only reaches the underside of the top plates so that when the
opposite end plate is in position and locked the mechanism cannot be tampered
with.
T
To adjust the tension of the spring I attach to one end thereof a chain which
is wound round a barrel the rotation of which is prevented by the ratchet and
pawl shewn in Fig. 1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
claim is :-
1. In apparatus for recording or stamping time and date the locking mechanism
L
1

page_text: 2. In apparatus for recording or stamping time and date the combination of type
wheels for impressing on documents the day hour and minute at which such
documents or the like were issued or received with a means for locking the said
type wheels and a means for rotating the said wheels all substantially as herein-
before described and for the purposes stated.
3. In apparatus for recording or stamping time and date the combination of type
wheels for impressing on documents and the like the day hour and minute at which
such documents were issued or received with means for rotating the said type
wheels actuated by an electro magnet substantially as hereinbefore specified.
4. In apparatus for recording time and date the method of securing the end and
top plates substantially as herein before specified.
5. The construction of apparatus for recording or stamping time and date
substantially as herein before specified and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of March 1895
ERNEST SALAMAN,
Pinner's Hall, Great Winchester Street, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
ERNEST SALAMAN,
Pinner's Hall, Great Winchester Street, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.