Improvements in Apparatus for Indicating and Registering Cash Payments.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 12th Mar., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Indicating and Registering Cash
Payments.
I, HENRY POTTIN, of 62, Rue St. Lazure, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineer, 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 simple and improved apparatus for allowing salesmen in a
store or shop to control operations at the cash-desk or pay-office. The said apparatus
stamps the bill that the customer himself hands over to the cashier, and registers
successively all the amounts received on a continuous paper band which unwinds
automatically in the interior of the apparatus. A certain number of the apparatuses
are fixed in different parts of the store or shop. Each salesman is provided with a
ticket or note-book the leaves of which are designed to be torn off, and bear an order
number which corresponds to such and such a salesman; so there are as many order
numbers as there are salesmen.
After each sale, the salesman goes to the nearest apparatus and acts on the knobs
or levers of the same which correspond to the pounds, shillings, pence, and half-
pence; he then tears a leaf out of his note-book, places the said leaf in an opening
or slot provided for that purpose in the apparatus, and moves down the operating
lever to its lowermost position whereby the continuous band of the register and also
the ticket are perforated with the sum corresponding to the figures indicated by the
knobs or levers which have just been acted upon, that is to say, to the amount of the
purchase made by the customer. The salesman then draws out the perforated ticket
and hands it over to the buyer, who then takes it, himself, to the pay-office and pays
his bill.
In order to be able to separately control the sales effected in the different depart-
ments of the store where the registering apparatuses are placed, the latter each bear
a different letter which is printed on the ticket after each sale or operation of the
apparatus. The cashier receives, therefore, from the hands of the customer, a
perforated ticket showing the amount of the purchase and the apparatus at which it
was registered.
At the end of the day, the cashier is in possession of all the tickets which have been
perforated by the several apparatuses, and it is only necessary to add up the amounts
marked on the tickets, and those registered on the continuous bands in order to have
an absolute and perfect control over the operations of the pay-office. In like manner,
by separately adding up the amounts marked on the tickets bearing the same
letters and the amounts marked on the continuous bands of the corresponding
apparatuses, the sales effected in the different departments of the store can be
perfectly controlled.
The apparatus is so arranged that only the salesman can operate it. For this
purpose, the handle of the operating lever can be separated from the said lever and.
is never left on the apparatus; each salesman therefore possesses a handle as well as
his ticket-book.

page_text: In the accompanying drawings :-
Figure 1 is a front elevation of apparatus for indicating and registering cash
payments constructed according to my invention:
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus as seen from the operating lever side,
the casing being cut away vertically:
Figure 3 is a general plan view, the casing being partly removed:
Figure 4 represents a vertical section of the registering device, properly so called,
the section being taken at a right angle to the axes of the rollers:
Figure 5 is a view of a detail of the said registering device:
Figure 6 is a detached view of a sector with its operating lever; and,
Figure 7 is a section on the line 1-2 of Figure 6.
The part of the casing a turned towards the salesman is in the form of a desk and
carries four graduated scales numbered from 0 to 9. Between the said scales
slots b, b (Figure 1) are made through the casing in which work the levers c, c
extending into the interior of the casing and fixed to the sectors d, d. The said
sectors are independent of each other and are all loosely mounted on the same hori-
zontal spindle A, fixed in the standards e of the apparatus. Each sector d carries
points on its periphery towards the rear, arranged in such a manner as to form in
relief the same figures as those shewn on the graduated scales. When the levers care.
moved, the sectors d are operated, and when the lever is set at a given figure on the
graduated scale, the corresponding point-figure of the sector is brought opposite the
registering roller hereinafter described.
Opposite the saine roller, and in line with the point-figures is permanently fixed
on one of the standards e, of the apparatus, a letter in points, which is marked on
all the tickets and which enables the cashier to control the different departments of
the store, as herein before described. This letter (A, for instance) is also to be seen
on the outside of each apparatus, as shewn in Figure 1.
The first outside scale of the desk of the apparatus, beginning from the left, corre-
sponds to the pounds, the second to the tens of shillings, the third to the shillings,
the fourth to the pence and the fifth to the half-pence.
I may have other superior units by adding other sectors and corresponding
levers.
On the arms of each of the sectors d is fixed a toothed sector f, having a smaller
radius but which is of the same angle as the segment carrying the point-figures.
The said toothed sector f is provided with semicircular recesses the number of which
is equal to that of the figures on the graduated scales. In the recesses of the toothed
sectorsenter rollers or stops g, carried by keys or flat springs h, fixed on the arms i,
all carried by the same cross bar j. The flat springs h tend to keep the rollers g in
the recesses of the toothed sectors f for the purpose of limiting the extent of move-
ment of the sectors d. The levers c, carry at the outside of the casing a, a pin or
indicator c which moves over the front of the graduated scale and which serves as a
pointer for the salesman.
On the spindle A of the sectors d is mounted the bell-crank operating lever k, the
arm of which, carrying a roller l, operates the registering device through a lever m.
The handle of the operating lever k is formed with a hand piece' n and a flat part n¹,
which fits into a recess in the thickness of the lever k, the flat part n¹ being shewn
in dotted lines in Figure 2. When the operating lever is moved down, it comes
against a wedge or inclined plane o, which thus limits its inovement. The said
inclined plane rests on a foot p and bears against a supporting plate g.
A slot o¹,
provided in the plate o, allows the latter to slide towards the right or left in order to
regulate the stroke of the operating lever k, and a screw o² allows of fixing the
inclined plane o, on the plate q, when once the stroke of the operating lever has been
suitably adjusted. A square or stop-piece may be fixed on the operating lever in
order to increase the variation of scope of the said lever. A spring brings the
operating lever back into its initial position after each operation.
The registering device (see Figure 4) comprises two brackets or frames 8, 8' in
which are mounted the spindles of the reels around which is wound, and from which

page_text: .
is unwound, the continuous paper band, the two brackets s, s¹ and consequently, the
reels themselves, oscillate upon a shaft B, journalled in bearings B₁ fixed to the back
plate a¹ of the casing. The said plate a¹, is hinged to and pivots on the bottom a²
of the casing, so that the whole of the registering device can be moved down into
the same horizontal plane as the said bottom a², for the purpose of renewing the
paper band. The brackets 8, 81 carry the spindles C, D and belonging respectively
to the drum C, carrying the paper roll, the roller D', on which the paper is wound
made of rubber in order to
after having been perforated, and the roller E¹, which
allow the point-figures of the sectors d, to pass through the paper when the said
roller is brought into contact with the sectors by the action of the operating
lever.
The lever m, herein before mentioned, is fixed to the shaft F, journalled in
bearings F¹, secured to the plate a¹, of the casing. The said shaft F is integral with
The cross-piece u
a crank arm t, connected by two pitmen t¹, to the cross-piece u.
is fixed on the two brackets 8, 8, and has a small arm u¹, to which are pivoted the
two pitmen t¹. The result of this arrangement is that when the lever m is moved
up, the cross-piece u is moved away from the shaft F', and, as the said cross-piece is
fixed to the brackets or frames 8, 81 which carry the roller E, the latter is brought
into contact with the sectors d, for the perforations to be made in the paper
band.
The lever m carries a pawl v, which actuates a ratchet-wheel vt fixed to the roller
or drum D¹. The said pawl v is formed with a pin or arm v², which abuts against a
roller ³, on the bracket or frame s, when the lever m is moved up.
With this arrangement, the pawl v can engage with another tooth of the ratchet
wheel, when the lever m returns to its initial position under the action of the
spring w.
During the perforation of the paper band, the ratchet wheel is held fixed by the
stop-pawl x, and, consequently, the paper band cannot, at that moment, be wound on
the drum D¹; it is only after the perforation has been made and at the moment
when the lever m is brought back to its lowermost position, and when the brackets 8, 81,
and the three rollers ¹, D¹ and E¹ are moved backward by the spring y, that
the paper band can be wound on the drum D¹.
At the upper part of the plate a¹ is fixed a latch or catch z, which allows of
closing the case when it has been opened for the renewal of the paper band, the
locking or closing being effected by means of a square key 2¹, only part of which is
shewn in the drawings.
Instead of this device, a movable rod or bolt may be used, which rod or bolt can
be fixed from the outside by means of a puzzle padlock.
The operation of the hereinbefore described registering apparatus is
follows:-
as
After each sale, the salesman brings the indicators c¹ of the levers c opposite the
figures corresponding to the amount of the sale, the corresponding point-figures
being brought, at the same time, opposite the rubber roller E¹. The salesman tears
a leaf out of his note-book and places the said leaf in a slit G provided for that
purpose in the case of the apparatus between two guides only one of which is
shewn in the drawings at H in Figure 2. He then acts on the handle n of the
operating lever k in order to move the same into its lowermost position. During
this operation, the roller of the arm k¹ of the operating lever k, has lifted the
lever m, and thus caused the shaft F to turn. This rotary movement has turned
the crank-arm t, which, through the pitmen t', has moved the cross-piece u away
from the shaft F, and caused the brackets 8, 81 to oscillate on the shaft B.. In this
movement the rubber roller E¹ has been brought against the point-figures and has
When
effected the perforation of the ticket as well as that of the paper band.
the salesman releases the operating lever, it is returned to its initial position by
the spring r. At the same time, the registering device is moved back by the
simultaneous action of the springs w and y, the drum D¹ has turned a part of a
revolution under the action of the pawl acting on the ratchet-wheel v¹, and the

page_text: paper band has been wound to a sufficient extent to allow a fresh part to be brought
opposite the point-figures for the next operation.
Before each operation, the salesman moves the levers c quickly to their uppermost
position, and then moves each of them to the position corresponding to the units
figure of the amount to be registered.
Figure 5 illustrates a device which allows of very easily removing the several
rollers C¹, D' and E¹ when the paper roller has to be changed. For this purpose,
the spindles C, D, E are cut away near one of their ends so as to form two parallel
flat faces. A thin plate 82, which slides on the bracket s is provided with slots
corresponding to the cut away parts of the spindles, and also, at the end of the slots,
with circular openings of the same diameter as that of the said spindles C, D, E, 80
that, by bringing the circular openings opposite the spindles, the bracket s¹, can be
drawn out, and then the different spindles can be easily removed.
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 I
claim is:-
1. An apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments which enables the
salesmen in a store or shop to control the operations of the cash desk or pay-office,
the said apparatus being essentially characterized by the combination of an
indicating device formed of rotary sectors carrying figures in relief formed of points,
with a standard carrying a letter formed of points fixed in position and intended to
denote the particular apparatus with an operating lever having a removable handle,
and with a registering device which can be let down and which has removable rollers,
substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.
2. An apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments which enables the
salesmen in a store or shop to control the operations of the cash desk or pay-office,
and which apparatus comprises an indicating device formed of rotary sectors d
carrying figures in relief formed of points, each of the said sectors being fixed to a
lever engaged in a slot or guide provided for that purpose in the case of the
apparatus, the end of the said lever moving in front of a graduated scale, substantially
as described, and for the purpose, specified.
3. An apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments having an indicating
device formed of rotary sectors d, fixed to levers c, the ends of which move in front
of graduated scales, in combination with an operating lever k, mounted on the
shaft A of the sectors d, the said lever having an arm carrying a roller and a
acting on the registering device through the medium of a lever m, substantially as
described and for the purpose specified.
4. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments the combination
with an operating lever k, having an arm ke', carrying a roller l, of a lever m, fixed to
an oscillating shaft F, journalled in fixed bearings on the back face of the casing, the 4
shaft F being integral with a crank arm t, connected by two pitmen with a cross-
piece u, fixed on the two brackets 8, 8¹ of the registering device properly so called,
substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
5. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments the combination
with an operating lever k, having an arm k¹, carrying a roller l, of a lever m fixed to 4
an oscillating shaft F, and carrying a pawl v, which operates the teeth of a ratchet-
wheel v¹, fixed to a drum D¹, of the registering device properly so called, the said
pawl having a pin or arm v², at right angles, which abuts against a roller v³, during
the upward movement of the lever m, substantially as described, and for the purpose
specified.
5
6. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments, the combination
with an operating lever k, having an arm k¹, carrying a roller l, and a lever m fixed
to an oscillating shaft F, of a registering device properly so called comprising two
brackets 8, 81, oscillating round a shaft B, fixed to the back plate a¹ of the casing,
the said plate being hinged to and pivoted on the bottom a² of the casing, in order 5
that the registering device may be turned down into the same horizontal plane as the

page_text: said bottom a², for the renewal of the roll of paper, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
7. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments, the combination
with an operating lever k, having an arm k¹, carrying a roller and a lever m, fixed
to an oscillating shaft F, of a registering device, properly so called, comprising two
brackets 8, 81, in which are journalled the spindles C, D, E, belonging respectively to
the drum C¹ carrying the roll of paper, the roller D', on which the paper is wound
after having been perforated and the rubber roller E¹, substantially as described, and
for the purpose specified.
8. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments the combination of
an indicating device formed of rotary sectors carrying figures in relief formed of
points, with a standard carrying a letter formed of points fixed in position, and
intended to denote the apparatus, substantially as described and for the purpose
specified.
9. In apparatus for indicating and registering cash payments, the combination of
an indicating device, with a registering and stamping device, and with an operating
lever having a removable handle, whereby the operation of the said apparatus is
rendered impossible to all except the salesmen themselves, substantially as
described.