Improvements in or connected with Indicating and Registering Apparatus for Meters and like Mechanisms.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Oct., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 22nd July, 1895-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1895
Improvements in or connected with Indicating and Registering
Apparatus for Meters and like Mechanisms.
A communication by PAUL MARIX, of 49 Rue le Peletier, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Engineer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester both in the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
1.
Counting apparatus or meters of all kinds, such as horal meters (clocks, time-
pieces, watches, etcetera volumetric meters (such as water, gas and the like) machines
for counting revolutions for electricity and the like, as well as registering apparatus
of all kinds, afford measurements of continuous working, that is to say, between
indefinite limits; for instance, the watch indicates the continuous passage of the
hours, minutes, and seconds; the gas meter shows in the same way the continuous
passage of cubic feet of gas, that is to say from the commencement of its starting to
work, up to the moment at which it is inspected.
When it is desired to obtain an account of the amount of the operations, or of
partial phases, that is to say between exactly determined limits, the amount was
obtained and checked hitherto in the following manner.
The operator notes down the amount indicated by the meter at the commencement
and at the end of the period, or of the operation which it is desired to measure, and
the desired result is obtained by means of subtraction.
It would appear preferable now when mechanical action is replacing more and
more individual action, to obtain this estimation of the amount by mechanical
means by allowing automatic action to come into play.
The chronograph follows out this idea to a certain extent, since it affords
mechanically the indication of the commencement and the end of given phases or
periods, but such indications cannot be obtained automatically, because the actions
of stopping, of returning to the starting point of the scale and again starting the
machine are connected with only one driving mechanism.
In order to realise the idea hereinbefore described, this invention has for its
object a mechanical arrangement or system which may be called the "block
control," because of its similarity to "the block system" on railways.
The "block control" has for its object to furnish mechanically, under conditions
which allow of automatic working, indications and measurements, as well as the
determination of the commencement of a phase or period, and of the end of partial
operations, the measurement of which is indicated by meters, and registering
apparatus of all kinds whilst working continuously.
The realisation of the "block control" is obtained by transforming the meters or
registering apparatuses and indicators of all sorts, into block or stop indicators if
they are only meant to indicate, and into block or stop registering devices if they
register partial operations.
For this purpose two separate operating or driving mechanisms which may be
called No. 1 and No. 2 are fitted to meters, and indicating or registering apparatus
of all kinds

page_text: The following is the object of these driving or operating mechanisms.
Mechanism No. 2 affords the means of determining the commencement of each
operation, either by marking this commencement on the registering apparatus, or
by returning the indicating mechanism, of the scale to its starting point by an
arrangement of cams, barrels, or drums or other suitable devices, in order to allow
each partial operation to be ascertained "ab ovo," and that coupled with a
simultaneous releasing or unlocking of the operating mechanism No. 1 if the latter
has been previously blocked.
"'
The second effect produced by the working of the operating mechanism No. 2
must be produced whilst in action, consequently without releasing or unblocking
the apparatus if the blocking has not been previously effected by manipulating the
operating mechanism No. 1. The operating mechanism No. 1 has for its effect to
block the measuring of the operation by blocking or disengaging the movement
which governs the mechanism of the meter or counting apparatus, the working of
which is thus rendered intermittent, or by blocking the marker which records or
marks down the measurements of the operation in registering apparatus which work
continuously.
To sum up, the action of the operating mechanism No. 1 is to block and that of
the mechanism No. 2 to indicate the commencement of each partial operation,
either without interrupting the continuous working of the apparatus or by
disengaging simultaneously the operating mechanism No. 1 if that be necessary.
The two mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 must be distinct in order to allow of these
effects being cbtained either automatically or by hand.
For certain checking apparatus they may be rendered if be desired alternative,
by exerting alternately one upon the other a blocking or an unblocking action, as
in the block-system on railways. In this case it is needless for mechanism No. 2
to indicate by a special mark the commencement of the operations, as the fact of
the alternation of the tracing, will of itself indicate this commencement.
They may also exert simultaneously the same blocking action on the actual
operations of which they check the measurement, or on supplementary operations.
They may also be connected with any suitable kind of bell, warning device or the
like.
The two mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 may be arranged directly on the meters
which then themselves become indicating block apparatus, or on supplementary
apparatus, operated from their gearing either directly or at a distance, such
supplementary apparatus then becoming the auxiliary indicating block apparatus
to the meters which work continuously.
In order to allow of what has been herein before stated being easily understood,
three examples will now be given which will show the action of the mechanisms
No. 1 and No. 2.
1st. On a clock (horal block indicator),
2nd. On a block registering device which works intermittently,
3rd. On a block registering device which works continuously.
(1) In a horal block apparatus the operating mechanism No. 1 blocks the
movement. The operating mechanism No. 2 sets the movement again in action
simultaneously returning to the zero or starting point, which is the commencement
of the scale, either the needles if they are movable, or the framework if that be
movable.
The actuation of mechanism No. 2 would return the indicating mechanism.to
zero, either whilst the apparatus is running if the mechanism No. 1 had not
previously blocked the movement, or by simultaneously releasing the movement in
the other case; so that the return to zero can never be effected without the
indicating mechanism continuing, or resuming at the same instant its movement,
starting from the initial poiut.
The returning to zero may be effected by the action of a lever on cams, or by the
movement of drums returning the pointer or pointers, or the frame, as the case may
be, backwards, or by means of any other suitable device; this invention being not

page_text: the method of returning to zero, but in the precise action of the operating
echanisms No. 1 and No. 2 on the movement under the conditions herein before
escribed.
...
In the same way the blocking and the re-starting may be effected by disengaging
r engaging gear on the principal movement, but in this case as in the preceding
one, the action of the mechanism No. 2 consists in simultaneously returning the
ndicating mechanism to zero at the moment of starting.
For instance in horal electric receivers, the mechanism No. 1 will block the
ipparatus by breaking the circuit, whilst mechanism No. 2 will unlock them,
by re-establishing the circuit but will simultaneously return the indicating
mechanism' to zero.
If the circuit has not been broken, the operating mechanism No. 2 must never-
theless return the marking device to zero whilst the machine is running. In this
example it is evident that the mechanism No. 1 and the mechanism No. 2
have inverse actions. It may be preferable in certain cases to make the action
alternative, nothing is easier by operating in a similar way to the block system,
where one mechanisin cannot be unblocked, except by operating the second.
In the same way the mechanisins No. 1 and No. 2 may also be connected with
bells, registering apparatus or the like, or be connected with the principal move-
ment, in order to actuate checking devices, supplementary marking or registering
devices at a distance, or the like which are also connected or thrown into gear
automatically on the mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 being operated at the com-
mencement, and checked at the end of the operations.
The operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 may at the same time as they block
the measurement of the operation, also block the operation itself, that is to say act
simultaneously on the block indicating mechanism and on the operations the
measurement of which it is desired to determine or ascertain.
In the preceding example, the electric horal receiver becomes by the addition
of the operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 a horal block indicator. It may
form in the same way a kilometric block indicator, a volumetric meter (for gas,
water or the like) an electric meter, and so forth, if the contacts, which cause the
indicating parts to work, instead of being formed by a generating clockwork, are
produced by the movement of the mechanism of a meter (for water, gas or the
like). The operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 may also be employed directly
on the meters or indicators hereinbefore named in order to furnish under the same
conditions as in the case of clock movements the measurement of partial operations,
such measurement being indicated" ab ovo."
(2) The action of the operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 on a block
registering device which works intermittently, will now be taken as a second
0 example.
5
It is assumed that a recording surface is placed on a revolving plate" turned
by a clockwork movement either directly, or by transmission from a distance,
together with a pointer or marker indicating the movement of the recording
surface.
The action of the operating mechanism No. 1 will be to block the mechanism,
revolving the plate 'either by stopping it, if it is driven direct or by throwing it'out
of gear if it is at a distance.
The operation of the mechanism No. 2 will be to unblock the movement, starting
it again, and simultaneously actuate the marker, stamp'or the like, in order to
50 register the operation and indicate its commencement.
As in the preceding case it is evident that the mechanism No. 2 may act on the
marker or stamp without having to start the movement again if the mechanism No. 1
has not stopped.
All the details hereinbefore mentioned for the preceding example are also
55 applicable to this case, the movement of the recording surface may be effected by
connecting with the movement of a horal electric or volumetric meter or the like
and the only difference from the preceding case, in which the operation at the

page_text: moment of being recorded effaces the inscription of the preceding operation, is that
in this case successive operations remain indicated on the recording surface with
their measurements inserted.
Instead of a revolving plate, the recording surface may be formed by the
unrolling of a band (of paper or the like) as in the Morse apparatus or by a
revolving drum, or by sheets of paper following one another in succession, or other
suitable device.
In all these cases the part formed by the operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2
remains the same, the mechanism No. 1 blocking by stopping or disconnecting the
movement of the registering apparatus carrying the recording surface.
The mechanism No. 2 operates the marker stamp or the like, in order to
indicate each commencement, and simultaneously to unblock the apparatus setting
it in action, if the operating mechanism No. 1 had previously stopped it.
(3) In this example there will be described the action of the operating
mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 on the recording surface, which latter has a continuous
movement.
Taking the case of a revolving plate like the one hereinbefore described, driven
by an ordinary clockwork movement effecting one revolution in twelve hours, the
operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 simply operate two markers or stamps
acting in the following maurer:
When mechanism No. 2 is set in action, the corresponding marker or stamp
indicates by a special inscription the commencement, and then registers the
movement during the duration of the operation.
When the mechanism No. 1 is set in action, it blocks the above mentioned
marker or stamp which ceases its action and another marker commences to act in
order to record the period of cessation.
Inversely when mechanism No. 2 again operates the first marker, it disconnects
the second marker which is displaced, and ceases to act. As in the preceding case
the operating mechanism No. 2 will impart each time it is operated a small move-
ment to the marker connected with it, in order that the commencement of each
partial operation may be inscribed on the recording surface, and that equally
where the partial operations succeed one another without periods of cessation being
inscribed by the mechanism No. 1.
By the use of block registering apparatus with continuous action, it is possible
to inscribe on a recording surface moved by horal mechanism, the course of partial
operations, and thus to register such partial operations (such as the consumption of
gas, water, electricity, duration of working of a machine, or the like) at the actual
hours when the apparatus is at work.
Instead of two markers the mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 may operate a
single marker or stamp by moving it in two different planes-horizontal or
vertical.
By all the preceding description it is clearly evident that the duty of the
mechanism No. is to block, either by arresting the movement of the clockwork,
or by actuating a marker or markers, whilst the duty of the mechanism No. 2 is
always a double one as it must operate at the same time both the unblocking, if
blocking has taken place, and the simultaneous indication of the commencement of
the operation.
Importance is the more attached to this definition of the parts of these two
operating mechanisms No. 1 and No. 2 seeing that it absolutely characterises the
novelty of this invention.
Dated this 19th day of October 1894.

page_text: !
mprovements in or
connected with Indicating anu
Apparatus for Meters and like Mechanisms.
communication by PAUL MARIX, of 49 Rue le Peletier, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Engineer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street, Manchester,
both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in the County of
Warwick and 31 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
and by the following
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
statement:-
Counting apparatus or meters of all kinds, such for instance as instruments for
measuring time (clocks, time-pieces, watches, etcetera), meters for measuring volume
(such as water, gas and the like meters), machines for counting revolutions and the
like, as well as registering apparatus of all kinds, are designed to effect measure:nents
of continuous working over indefinite periods; for instance, the watch indicates the
continuous passage of hours, minutes and seconds; the gas meter shows in the same
way the continuous passage of cubic feet of gas, that is to say, the volume passed
from the moment it is started to work, up to the moment at which it is inspected.
When it is desired to determine the amount of the operations, during a given phase
or period, the operator notes down the amount indicated by the meter at the
commencement and at the end of the phase or period, or of the operation which it
is desired to measure, and the desired result is obtained by means of subtraction.
Now that mechanical action is replacing more and more individual labour, it would
appear desirable to obtain this estimation of the amount automatically by mechanical
means. The chronograph follows out this idea to a certain extent since it indicates
mechanically the commencement and the end of given phases or periods, but such
indications cannot be obtained automatically because the actions of stopping, of
returning to zero, and of again starting the machine are dependent on only one
driving mechanism.
The researches of Mr. Marix, the communicator of this invention, have led him
to recognise that the automatic indicating aforesaid cannot be conveniently
obtained if the stopping, returning to zero, and re-starting of the machine necessary
for taking an indication and the measurement of any operation whatsoever, be
effected by more than two distinct mechanisms.
"
To carry out this system, ordinary measuring devices are specially changed into
block indicators or registers, so that a reading of the indication, or of the registering
of the measurement of partial operatious from the commencement, can be auto-
The
matically obtained. Owing to the similarity of the present system with the railway
system.
"block-system" this system may be called the "block control
block indicator-registers consist of measuring instruments or apparatus, such as
watches, clocks, gas and water meters, etcetera, controlled by two distinc
mechanisms, hereinafter referred to as Nos. 1 and 2, as will now be described.
The mechanism No. 2 (which checks or controls the working) has for its object
to automatically indicate or register by means of a marker partial operations, whilst
at the same time fixing the commencement of recording by bringing into action an
arrangement and recording this commencement on a dial, or the like, or by returning
to the commencement or zero of the scale the indicating parts so as to allow of cach
5 partial operation being read afresh, whether in course of work or by un-blocking
simultaneously the working of the mechanism No. 1, if it have been previously

page_text: blocked. The mechanism No. 1 (stop mechanism) has for its object to auto-
matically supply an indication or registration of the end of a partial operation by
>etting in action an arrangement which checks or stops the movement of the meters
and registering apparatus, the work of which is thus rendered intermittent.
In order that it may be clearly understood how ordinary indicating and registering
apparatuses are changed into block-apparatus on the present system this apparatus
may be classified under two headings.
First. Block indicator-registers with an intermittent motion having either their
own motor movement or'a transmitted' movement.
Second. Block registers with a non-intermittent or continuous motion.
The block indicator-registers will now be described and their mode of operation
explained.
By way of example there will be taken a time block indicator-register having its
own movement, said indicator register having for its object to give a determination
or account of the "time" which has expired during operations of variable duration.
This apparatus is made by changing a time-piece (such as a watch, clock etcetera)
into a block indicator-register.
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS.
SHEET 1.
The motor movement is similar to that of a time-piece with a balance movement
(such as is used for ship-clocks). On the 'minute arbor is frictionally mounted a
minute hand-made in one piece with a cam'a, of a heart shape, and with a disc b
having a pine. The hour hand is replaced by a disc d (Figure 5) the circumference
of which carries the hours, and said disc is frictionally fixed on an arbor e connected
to the minute arbor by'a train of wheels and is provided with a jumper mechanism,
which causes it to advance a 24th of a revolution at each complete turn of the
minute hand, that is to say at every hour.
The disc d is divided into 24 hours, and can only make one revolution every
24 hours. An aperture arranged in the dial plate in front of the disc d'exposes the
hours indicated on this disc one by one as the disc rotates.
The jumper mechanism is constructed in the following manner :
A lever pivoted at is engaged by a spring f" which constantly presses'it from
right to left. Said lever has at its free end a nose which constantly lies in the path
of the pin c.
A lever g is pivoted on the lever fand carries on one of its extremities
a weight g', forming a counterweight, which tends to constantly raise the other
extremity which is slightly hooked or forked. A wheel provided with 24 pins
projecting laterally from its rim is fitted on the arbor e and the forked end of the
lever g bears upwardly against these pins. A heart-shaped cam iis mounted on the
arbor e and is only movable with the disc d.
At each revolution of the minute hand-the pin c of the disc'b will encounter the
nose of the lever, forcing the latter back against the action of the spring, and
the lever g'carried by the lever f will thus slip under the pins of the wheel,
passing from pin to pin and engaging behind each owing to the action of the
counterweight g¹.
Each time the lever escapes from the pin c, it returns sharply to its normal
position under the action of the spring f. In this return movement said lever
draws the lever g with it, thus causing the latter to sharply push the pin wheel '/
and thus advance said wheel 4th of a revolution thereby advancing the hour disc
to the same extent.
In order to control the movement of the pin wheel and consequently of the
disc-d, so that-the numbers may be visible always at the centre of the aperture in
"the dial plate, a stop-catch is combined with the pin wheel h, which catch is formed

page_text: fa lever carrying at one end a small roller, which lever under the action
pring always presses its roller against and between two pins of the pin wheel.
The mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 act in the following manner :-
A lever pivoted at j' has its upper end terminated by an arm k which lies below
the button A of the mechanism l, and said lever j has another arm which carries a
small roller . A spindle arranged on the lever j passes through an opening in
the plate which carries the whole mechanism and is provided at its end with a
flexible arm A, the end of which lies a little above the balance m of the clock
movement. A spring n, furnished with a V-shaped tooth n¹ presses said tooth on
the spindle l. A pivoted lever o held up by a spring r and situated in the plane of the
Said lever o also.
lever carries at its free end a roller o¹, riding on the cam a.
carries a second roller o¹¹ riding on the cam i. A tooth p is formed on the lever o,
A lever q carrying at its end a
and lies in the plane of the roller k, of the lever j.
The button M of mechanism No. 2.
roller q', bears with said roller on the lever o.
acts directly on the lever q.
Behind the second plate of the frame is a disc S on which is placed a card to
receive the registering diagram. This disc S is operated directly from the barrel
of the motor train by means of an intermediate wheel S¹. This disc makes one.
revolution every 24 hours.
Fixed on the pivot spindle of the lever o, which passes through the two plates of
the frame is a marker t, for tracing the registering diagram. This marker moves.
with the lever o.
A barrel operates the clockwork in the ordinary manner, the minute mechanism
moving the minute finger along, and the hours being indicated, as before described,.
by a disc turning intermittingly and presenting the hours successively at the
aperture in the dial plate. The disc is operated in the manner described above.
When the button A is pressed by hand, the entire movement of the apparatus is
locked as shown in Figure 1. When the button M is pressed by hand the move-
ment is unlocked as shown in Figure 2 and consequently the apparatus is set going,.
and at the same time as will be hereinafter explained the indicating parts (being
the minute finger and the hour disc) are returned to the zero or commencement of
the scales and a short mark is made on the diagram card, independent of the normal
indicating line registered, and said short mark indicates the commencement of
registering a fresh period of work. The above motions are effected as follows:-
When the button A of mechanism No. 1 is pushed down by hand, the arm k
is depressed, causing the lever to swing on its pivot j. In its movement the
lever j draws with it the shaft and the flexible strip l, this latter then exerts au
oblique pressure on the balance m of the clock movement and thus locks the
movement. During its movement the shaft has passed from the right to the left
0 of the V-shaped tooth n', causing the spring n to spring up and down again. The
shaft and the strip are therefore retained in their former position by the tooth n¹
which now lies to the right of the shaft. On the strip being withdrawn from the
It need not
balance this balance will easily rebound and again resume its motion.
therefore be feared that the clock movement will remain stopped after the unlocking
5 of the balance, as would have taken place if the pressure were simply vertical instead
of oblique.
The mechanism No. 2 causes the apparatus to resume work with a return of the
hour disc and minute hand to the commencement or zero of the scales. For this
down-
purpose the button M is depressed by hand and thereby pushes the lever
50 ward so that the roller q' bears on the lever o which latter is also pushed downward.
The lever o in its descent returns the lever j to its first position. In fact the tooth p
on the lever o in its descent encounters the roller carried on an arm of the lever j
and owing to the inclined shape of said tooth returns the lever and therewith the
flexible strip ', carried on the spindle / which latter passes to the right side of the
55 V-shaped tooth n', the spring a yielding to allow the spindle to pass the tooth.
Thus the clock movement is unlocked and the whole again set to work.
Simultaneously with the above movements the two rollers o' and o" exert

page_text: pressure on the two heart-shaped cans a and i respectively and cause them to turn
until said rollers sit on the deep part of the cams. The minute finger and the hour
disc operated by said cams are thus returned to zero, or the commencement of the
scales. At the same time, the marker or pencil which moves with the pivot
spindle of the lever o, is lowered and marks on the diagram card a line indicating
the commencement of registering a fresh period of work. As soon as the mechanism
No. 2 is returned by releasing the button M the heart cams are liberated by the
spring, which returns the lever o to its first position. The marker or pencil e is
drawn upward simultaneously to the position of the normal registering line on the
diagram card.
c
In the above example the two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 are entirely distinct and
are controlled directly by operating. by hand either one or other of the push
buttons; they may however be controlled by the intermediation of a lever and
chain, if such he deemed necessary, to facilitate the work for which the apparatus
is intended; or the mechanisms may be controlled from a distance by combining
them with the arinature of electro-magnets.
In the aforesaid example, the diagram is represented by a simple disc on which a
pencil traces the record; but a cylindrical surface may be employed on which
graduated diagrams may be arranged whereon the pencil or marker t will record
the operations in a similar manner.
In order that the record may be traced to a larger scale, to facilitate the reading.
two connected cylinders may be employed on which the diagram band is wound in
the same way as a driving belt, thus obtaining a greater extent of recording surface;
there would then be larger scales on which the marking of the pencil would be
readily visible.
Finally, it be desired not to change the diagram paper too frequently the
diagram paper could be extended and wound on rollers in an analogous manner, to
that of the Morse telegraph apparatus.
The time block indicator-register which has just been described may instead of
being actunted by a winding up mechanism, receive its motion by means of
electricity from a clock placed at a distance like the known system of electric
clocks.
As a second example, a description will now be given of a block indicator-register
actuated by an electrical receiver instead of having its own motor movement, and
controlled by the two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2. This apparatus is composed
essentially as in the first instance of indicating and registering parts actuated by an
ordinary minute wheel having a suitable movement, which engages and disengages
with the meter wheels.
The parts are set to the commencement or zero of the scale and the start is marked
on the diagram card as in the previous example, by the action of the mechanism No. 2,
which at the same time sets the apparatus in operation. The stoppage is effected
by mechanism No. 1 with however the simple difference that instead of locking and
unlocking of the movement the parts are in this instance engaged and disengaged
with the principal movement.
This engagement and disengagement may be effected by any suitable transmitting
mechanism connecting the minute parts to the wheels of a clock or meter by means
of electricity, compressed air, water under pressure or any other motive force.
The following description is that of a block-indicator register giving, by means of
electricity, the indications of a meter placed at a distance.

page_text: It is composed of an electrical, mechanical, or other receiver (on the drawing
it is an electrical receiver) the movement of which in the present instance is
effected by electricity distributed to it by any distributor attached to the meter.
According as to whether the metre is for measuring time, volumé, kilometres, or
otherwise, the distributor of this meter will send currents to the receiver so as to
cause it to advance with a speed in proportion to the time, volume or kilometres
measured out during the partial operation under observation. The mechanism
controlling the receiver by means of the two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 uuder'the
condition stated in the commencement of the Specification, consists as follows:-
The unit or minute finger (supposing we are considering a time piece) is situated
on the arbor of the clockwork in the ordinary manner which need not be described
here. The hour finger moves over a small dial on the larger one, and is fixed on an
arbor e actuated by a jumper mechanism which causes it to advance a cog at each
complete revolution of the minute finger. This jumper movement the mechanism
of which it is not at all intended to claim, is analogous to that described in the
before described example and is shown on the drawing but a description of it is
not given here as it has nothing to do with the invention. The two fingers are each
connected with a heart-shaped cam a and i which move with them. The mechanism
No. 2 is formed of a push rod M which bears against a lever o, which a spring
tends to constantly raise. This lever carries three rollers o¹ o¹ and p; the two first
rollers o and o lie in the plane of the two cams a and i and exert a pressure on
said cams when the lever o is depressed by the push rod M.
or
This pressure has for its object to impart to the two cams a and i a rotation until
the two rollers o' and o" have moved to the deepest part of the two cams. This rotation
of the cams is transmitted to the fingers which are thus brought to the zero
commencement of the scales. At the same time the roller p encounters the lug k
of the electrical disengaging stop lever as will be seen later on, and this contact
has for its object to push the lever backwards and to thus close an electric
circuit.
The way in which the stoppage is produced by the mechanism No. 1 will now be
described.
The lever ends in a nose of a special form against which the push rod A bears
and carries moreover a pin passing through the movement franie plate under which
pin is pressed a V-shaped tooth n¹ carried by a spring n which tooth engages the
pin l. On the nose of the lever is fixed a curved piece m which passes behind
the plate and carries a contact m' adapted to bear on a binding screw m¹ of an
electric circuit the current of which actuates the electro magnet of the receiver.
This screw m is perfectly insulated electrically, and a current consequently can
only traverse the magnet when the curved piece m is in contact with it.
When the position of the lever j is such that the pin is situated to the right of
the V shaped tooth n'; contact takes place and the apparatus is in operation; but
if by pressure on the button A. the lever j swings so as to carry the pin / to the left
of the V-shaped hook n' the contact m' of the curved piece m is reinoved from the
screw m and the electric circuit being thus broken, the receiver is disengaged from
the meter, which imparts its impulse to it; the apparatus is thus stopped.
When however the roller p of the lever o turns the lever j to its first position,
as hereinbefore explained, the contact is re-established and thereby the indicating
devices are returned to the commencement or zero of the scales and the apparatus
simultaneously set to work.
The recorded diagram is obtained in the same manner as in the previously
described example there being in the present instance on the same arbór as that of
the unit finger a cylinders on the surface of which the paper marked with the
scales or graduations is suitably arranged. It is on this paper that the diagram is
registered. The pencil or marker t bears against said cylinder and may be moved
at right angles to the direction of rotation of the cylinder. For this purpose, the
pencil or marker t is pivoted at t' on a bracket fixed to the frame plate. A spring w
retains the pencil holder against a rod u which slides through a perforation or
R

page_text: socket in the plate and carries a little roller with which engages a cam v
formed on the lever o. A hole is made in the second plate to allow free passage to
the roller ul.
Under these conditions, each time the button M is operated the lever o is
depressed, the cam v moves past the roller ul and the pencil is drawn to the left by
the spring w drawing the rod u against the cam face and a short line is thus traced
on the diagram, thus indicating the commencement of a partial operation. As Sood
as the button M is released, the lever o under the action of the spring returns to
its normal position and the pencil is consequently pushed by the cam v back to its
original position. It must be understood that the diagram can just as well be
recorded on a disc as in the first described example or on a baud arranged as in a
Morse apparatus, etcetera.
It is also to be understood that the two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 can equally
well be controlled from a distance by the push buttons being operated by electro
magnets instead of being operated by hand. Finally that the mechanism for
returning to zero by means of heart-shaped cams can be replaced by springs or
other arrangements.
The minute mechanism of the block indicator-register, instead of being operated
or stopped and started by a force such as electricity, water, etcetera, may be simply
operated by a transmitting mechanism having meter wheels with a continuous
movement, and engagement and disengagement being made by means of a
transmitting mechanism, for example, or by geared wheels if the distance which
separates the lever indicator-register from the meter be not too great.
The apparatus just described in place of acting as a time block indicator can act
as a kilometric or volumetric (for gas, water, etcetera) block indicator-register, it
being sufficient that the contacts which drive the indicating parts be replaced by
the wheels of a gas meter, etcetera.
To sum up in a general manner :-
The mecbanism No. 1 checks or stops the movements either by locking the parts
as in the first described example or by disengaging the parts as in the second
example.
The mechanism No. 2 sets the parts in motion and simultaneously draws to zero
or commencement of the scale the fingers if they are movable or the dial if this is
movable and marks on the diagram card or band a mark indicating the start.
The function of the mechanism No. 2 is to return the indicating organs to zero
and to produce a starting mark on the diagram whilst the apparatus is working (the
movement not having been stopped by mechanism No. 1) and that in such a manner
that the drawing to zero or the indication of the start can never be effected by the
mechanism No. 2 without the indicating parts or the diagrams continuing or taking.
up, at the same stroke, their work to start from the zero of the scales and from the
said indicating mark of the start. The returning to zero can be effected by the
action of a lever on cams as has been hereinbefore described or by barrels adapted to
draw backwards the fingers, or the dials, or in any other usual method. This
invention does not consist in the manner of returning to zero, but rather in the.
precise triple action of the mechanisms 1 and 2 on the minute mechanism and on the
marker under the conditions indicated.
The two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 can be arranged on any measuring or counting
apparatus which will then come under the category of block-indicator-registers
described in the first example or they may be arranged on supplementary apparatuses.
without their own movement as described in the second example.
In all these cases it will be understood that as mechanisms 1 and 2 have inverse
actions, it may be advantageous or desirable in certain cases that the operating of the
two mechanisms should be compulsorily alternative. Nothing could be more simple
than the working of this apparatus on the principle of the block system of railways
where the operating of one mechanism can only be effected by operating another
mechanism to unlock the first.
The mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 could be also connected to bells or with separate

page_text: registering apparatus, so as to obtain results or means of control at a distance,
which bells or registering apparatus thus work in unison with the mechanisms Nos. 1
and 2 automatically at the commencement and at the end of the controlled
operations. The mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 could besides blocking the measurement
of the operation simultaneously block the operation itself, that is to say control the
block-indicator-register and the operations of which the measurement is being
taken.
By way of example the block indicator register could be used with telephones to
determine the duration of the conversation and the mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2
besides controlling the block indicator register could simultaneously therewith open
and close the telephone circuit.
Similarly in the application to cabs for the purpose of ascertaining the duration
of the hiring period, the mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 could at the same time operate
discs to indicate that the cab is engaged or for hire.
It is
The mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 can finally be controlled either manually by
handles, levers chains, etcetera, or from a distance by electro magnets.
evident that when simply indication or registration alone is required for the purpose
in view, parts of the block-indicator-register may be omitted, that is, either
the registration parts, or on the contrary the indicating parts, in such a manner
as to reduce the apparatus to either a simple block-indicator or to a simple block
register.
O
Finally as a third example.there will be given a description of a block register
SHEET 3.
With the apparatus previously described when a number of distinct operations
are recorded, the recording of the first operation is effected and the recording of
the second operation succeeds that of the first without any record being taken of
the extent of the interval between them.
As it
The communicator has designed means for applying the invention for the purpose
of automatically recording not only periods of work but also periods of rest.
is often necessary to know the extent of these intervals of rest corresponding not
only to such stopping, but also to other operations of any kind which may supple-
mentarily be effected during these intervals. It will be remembered that in the
block indicator register of this invention as already described the working of
the apparatus was controlled by two mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2, which stop it or set
it to work thus rendering the work intermittent. To record the periods of inaction,
it is necessary that the apparatus shall no longer work intermittently so that the
periods of work and of rest can be successively recorded.
For this purpose
the action of the mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 can be modified and this result obtained
without departing from the distinctive characteristic of this invention.
The mechanism No. 2 (M) will record by the marker t the periods of work with
an indication of their commencement as in the previous examples.
The mechanism No. 1 (A) instead of blocking the progress of the apparatus will
block the marker t by raising it in such manner that it will no longer record. The
mechanism No. 2 (M) at the commencement of a new operation will return the
marker t to the position in which it records both the recommencement and progress of
work. The recording will form the registration of the periods of work, the blanks
those of the periods of standstill.
Instead of raising the markert mechanism No. 1 (A) might block it, by moving
it laterally in the same plane so that it will then proceed to record by a separate
mark the period of standstill with the measurement of such period. Mechanisms
Nos. 1 (A) and 2 (M) could for this purpose control 2 devices a and m which would

page_text: be alternately blocked under the action of mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2, but the control
of the tracer must be always effected solely by two mechanisms, and no record of a
period of work or of rest should be effected without the simultaneous indication of
its commencement by a distinct mark.
Whether the diagram in question. be recorded on a continuous ribbon, drum,
rotating disc etcetera, or whether it has its own movement or a transmitted one,
etcetera, the method will always be the same,, the mechanisms 1 and 2 instead of
acting on the motor train will control the marker or markers in the manner
described,
All the methods which have been described relative to the block indicator
register for the control of mechanisms 1 and 2 and their working in unison with
other supplementary mechanisms, are equally applicable to apparatus working
continuously.
To carry out this part of the invention in a practical manner, a series of
arrangements have had to be combined which have also a novel character and
which will be now described in connection with a block register having supple-
mentary arrangements which secure regular work, which is absolutely indispensable
in the matter of control.
Figure
Figure 2 a plan of the apparatus,
Figure 3 a reduced view of the side opposite to the diagram.
Any kind of clockwork either with its own movement, or with an electrically
operated movement, is arranged in a casing which carries a drum.fixed on the arbor
of the minute mechanism.
For instance, let it be supposed that it is a time measuring block indicator
(although it might equally well be one for measuring the consumption of water,
gas, etcetera). The diagram paper is coiled on a sleeve fitted directly on the
drum sin such a way that it can be readily replaced when required.
The sleeve is held ou the drum either frictionally or by clips or in any other
way, so that it will rotate with the drum which itself is fitted directly on the arbor
aforesaid.
By this arrangement, the paper is easily changed and will work well and quickly
owing to the speed of movement given it, being the same as that of the minute
mechanism if the drum is on the minute wheel, etcetera. There will be no slip
during the travel of the paper, which is not the case when the paper is moved by
other kinds of rollers.
Whilst the drum is rotating, the paper is unrolled beneath a pencil, pen or
marker which is free in its holder so that it will constantly press on the paper with
an even pressure.
For this purpose the marker t is terminated by a vertical sleeve wherein the
pencil or pen can freely slide.
The marker is pivoted at t¹ and at its opposite extremity is a special sector u
provided with two notches ¹ u", a spring r having at its end a V-shaped tooth r¹
pressing its edge against this sector u.
Two electro magnets a and m with their pole pieces a¹ and m' are so arranged
that extensions of these pole pieces abut behind the marker t on each side of the
pivot . These electromagnets are connected respectively to a battery by the
screws p p for the entrance of the current and by a common screw for its exit.
The two buttons A and M are placed in circuit with the inflowing currents
at the two binding screws ppl whereby a current can be sent at will into the
electromagnets a or m. These two buttons A and M can be arranged at any
distance from the apparatus to allow of the apparatus being controlled at a
distance.
To compensate for the frictional action of the marker on the paper and

page_text: consequently on the movement which causes it to advance, a light weight may be
arranged on one end of the paper band, the weight being calculated to accelerate
the movement of the paper to an extent equal to the delay caused by the friction
of the pencil.
By having the roll of paper on a drum a quantity of graduated paper for a fixed
time can be used, for instance, for a week, for a month or even longer. But when
there is a large reserve of paper rolled on the drum, the diameter of the paper roll
decreases as the paper is unrolled and thereby the speed of advancement of the
paper is also reduced. It is thus necessary to remedy this inconvenience.
When the reserve is an ordinary one (a week for example) the above variations
in speed are so slight that no appreciable errors will occur but when a reserve of a
large number of rolls is used it is desirable to compensate, by specially graduating
the paper, the differences arising from variations in speed.
When the apparatus is in the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 of
Sheet 3 of the accompanying drawing in which the tooth has entered the notch u'
that is when the electro magnet. m has received a current from the button M of
mechanism No. 2, the marker t will have oscillated so as to lie in the plane for
tracing the working periods; when the pole piece ml draws the markert in the
above manner it causes it to slightly swing beyond the position indicated above,
but the tooth in pressing against the inclined edge of the notch u' to thoroughly
engage in said notch will draw the marker into its true position and this small
recoil movement has for its object to produce on the diagram a small projecting
line which very clearly marks the commencement of the work.
When two periods of work succeed without any intervals of rest, an indication
of the commencement of these successive working periods may be obtained by
a pressure at cach commencement on the mechanism No. 2 (M). When the
mechanism No. 1 is operated it is the electro magnet a which operates its pole
piece a causing the marker t to oscillate in a reverse direction to the movement
obtained by the electro magnet m and to thus draw the marker into the position
for indicating the standstill period of rest. In this case also, the tooth r¹ and the
notch serve as has been seen above, to determine the commencement of the
periods of rest by the sliding of the tooth on the inclined plane which exteriorally
borders the notch u¹.
:
In conclusion, in this apparatus where an unwinding diagram paper is employed,,
new combinations have been described.
1st, to easily exchange the daily, weekly, monthly etc. rollers,
2nd to directly place the roll of paper on the same axis as the minute hand,
3rd and finally, to allow the electro magnets to control the markers without
modifying, by the variation of their position, the regularity of the movement.
These are combinations which independently of the mechanisms Nos. and 2
characterise the block-register. It is however quite evident that though these
arrangements are supposed to be the best they might be varied.
All
For instance, drums might be employed with a single roll of paper, or two rollers
might work in connection so that the paper would be drawn like a pulley belt,
etcetera. The diagram also might be arranged on the flat on a rotating disc.
these arrangements or varieties of the diagram parts do not in any way however
modify the principle of this invention. In like manner in place of one marker
there could be two; and in place of being worked by electro magnets these markers
could be controlled by chains, cords, handles, etcetera.
An example will now be given of the employment of the block register just
described, assuming that the quantity of cubic meters passing through a gas meter
is to be registered, whilst a gas motor is at work, and during a given time. On the
clockwork of the gas meter an electric contact will be made at each revolution of
the wheel corresponding to a given number of cubic meters passed. The contact
pieces will be connected by a wire to the block register, the arbor of rotation of
which will advance a notch at each contact. The length of the paper band
unrolled will then indicate the quantity of cubic meters passed. If the mechanisms.

page_text: Nos. 1 and 2 work in unison with the gas motor, the lines recorded by the marker
will comprise for the line of work the cubic meters used during the period of work
and for the line of rest the cubic meters (if any) used during the time the motor is
at rest.
If the block device instead of recording quantity, record the time, the
mechanisms 1 and 2 will indicate the hours of work of the motor and those of its
standstill periods. In this latter case there can be simultaneously obtained a record
of the cubic meters of gas passed. It will suffice to connect the wires going to the
mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 to a wire going to the contacts of the meter. There can
thus be had a record on each of the lines of the diagram of the passage of the cubic
meters during these periods. It is the arrangement which furnishes the recording
of the commencements of work which will furnish the account of the cubic ineters.
In this latter case as in all the cases where the mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 will be
controlled by an electrical contact, it will be necessary to take care to add to these
contacts automatic interrupters so that the duration of the contact will never
falsify the indications of the apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
The apparatus herein before called "block-indicator-registers" having for its
object to automatically furnish the indication by reading from start, or the
registration with a record of the start, of partial operations, characterised by the
two distinct mechanisms Nos. 1 and 2 having for their object-
1st. In apparatus working intermittently the mechanism No. I to stop or check
the work of the minute parts or of the indicating parts of the apparatus. The
mechanism No. 2 to set them at work by simultaneously drawing the indicator
parts to the commencement of the scale or by simultaneously marking on the
diagram a distinctive mark indicative of the start, the mechanism No. 2 having to
produce these effects during the progress of the work, at a time when the mechanism
No. 1 has not been previously set in motion, the whole in such manner that the
setting to work of the apparatus cannot be realised without the indication or the
registration of the commencement of the operation and inversely that any indication
or registration of the start of an operation cannot be effected without the
simultaneous setting to work of the apparatus.
2nd. In apparatus working continuously the actuating of one or two marking
devices a and m separately tracing the period of standstill and of work with a
simultaneous recording of their respective starts, the whole as has been described.
Dated this 20th day of July 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.