Improvements in Cash Registers.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Oct., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 26th July, 1894-Accepted, 20th Oct.,
1894
Improvements in Cash Registers.
I, ALFRED STEER, of 49 Norroy Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey
Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in cash registers and more particularly to
that class of registers in which a drum containing the register is turned on a vertical
axis against the resilience of a spring by the saleman to expose a blank on the
registry to him upon which he can enter the amount of the purchase, and then
returned by the resilience of the said spring to face the customer and shew the said
amount through a glass covered sight hole. A: cash register of this class is described
at length in the Specification of British Patent 4141 1892.
In carrying my present invention into effect, I provide three vertical cam faces
fast upon the top of the base upon which the drum turns and about the centre of
such base. A fork is pivotted upon the said drum in the horizontal plane or nearly
so, its two prongs engaging respectively with two of the cam surfaces above
mentioned. A ratchet wheel is mounted loose within the drum and is large enough
to serve as a surface upon which the register sheet rests and to which it is held in
any suitable way. The fork is continued radially outwards past its axis thereby
producing a spring finger or pawl which is adapted to slip over the teeth of
the ratchet wheel during the time that the drum is turned in one direction and to
This
engage with and turn the wheel when the drum is turned in the opposite one.
motion is imparted to the said spring finger by the special contours of the cams
aforesaid and the engagement of the fork with them.
To lock the wheel against being turned except by the finger above mentioned, I
provide a pivotted finger or detent controlled in one direction by a spring and in
the other by the third cam surface. Excepting when the wheel is to be moved
independently of the drum, the finger is held by the spring in engagement with a
circle of teeth on the wheel. Just before the said independent motion is necessary,
the third cam disengages the detent from the teeth; and keeps them disengaged
for the requisite time. Any suitable automatic device may be made use of to
steady the motion of the ratchet wheel.
There is also provided a curtain which automatically keeps the entry slot in the
drum cover closed at all times excepting when it is held in front of the saleman.
Dated this 26th day of October 1893.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cash Registers.
I, ALFRED STEER, of 49 Norroy Road, Putney, in the County of Surrey,
Commercial Traveller, 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 improvements in cash registers of the class described and
The
claimed in the Specification of my former Letters Patent No. 4141 of 1892.
fundamental feature of the cash register patented to me by the said Letters Patent

page_text: is a drum containing the register. (hereinafter referred to as the register sheet)
which is first turned by the salesman about a vertical axis against the resilience of a
spring for the purpose of exposing a blank on the register sheet to him, upon
which blank he can enter the amount of the purchase, and afterwards returned
by the said resilience, to face the customer and exhibit to him the amount of
the purchase so noted. The present invention is limited strictly to improvements
in the internal mechanism of the register and it is not pretended that it covers
the general principle or fundamental feature of the register.
Referring to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as part of this
Specification and read therewith,
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a cash register made according
to the present invention. It is shewn as presenting the register sheet to the
customer.
Figure 14 is a detail elevation of the disc moving and locking mechanism.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. The full lines
correspond with Figure 1: the dotted lines marked No. 2 shew the position of
the mechanism when the register sheet is pulled round to the salesman.
Figure 3 is a front elevation omitting the removable cover.
Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5 an inverted plan, of the toothed disc.
Figure 6 is a front elevation of the cash register.
L is the base of the register, and is fitted upon the top of the case of the
till is a detent fast upon the front of the case l. 3 is a catch pivotted
upon the till 1.
When the latter is pushed into the case, the front end of the
catch, being heavier than the rear end, engages with the detent to lock the till
in the case.
The catch is disengaged from the detent, each time that the drum is
turned, by a finger fast thereto and adapted to depress the said rear end of the
catch. is an abutment at the rear end of the catch 13. The finger engages
with this abutment after it has ridden up the incline of the said catch, to push the
till out of its case, as indicated by the dotted lines No. 2 2 of Figure 2.
16 is a
stop to limit the drop of the said rear end of the catch 1³. M is the drum. m is a
trunk projecting centrally from the under side of the drum and at an angle
therewith. Both trunk and drum are fast together. The bottom of this trunk is
of the same diameter as the top of the base and is supported just clear of it. As
the trunk is at an angle with the drum and vertical, it supports the drum in an
oblique position after the manner of a desk. m¹ is a cross bar from one side of the
trunk to the other and fast thereto and m² is a second cross bar from one side of
the base to the other and likewise fast to the latter. m³ is a vertical rod. It is
fast to the cross bar m¹ but turns freely in the cross bar m³ below. The finger 14
above mentioned is made fast to and projects laterally from its lower end.
m² is a
spiral spring. It surrounds the rod m³. One end of it is made fast to the said rod
and the other end to the base L or to some part projecting from it. N is an alarm
bell carried on the top of the cross-piece m'. ms is a disc inside the drum capable
of rotation therein about a central pivot n² and upon steadying pins m³. o is a
crown gear fast on the underside of the said disc, and 10 a ratchet wheel in its
periphery. m is the register sheet which is held fast down upon the disc by a
circular clip and screw nut m³. m³ is an open radial slot in the drum cover m¹0
through which the salesman can note an amount upon the register sheet. m" is a
glass panel through which the said noted amount can be shewn to the customer.
The drum cover is held to the drum by any suitable device. n¹ is a curtain pivotted
upon the central pivot n².
The above portions of the invention are not new and I therefore refrain, from
laying any claim.to.them.
The new mechanisms are those. which effect, the step-by-step rotation, of the
disc m² and the register sheet m² and the device which works the, curtain n'. They
are as follows. A fork is pivotted at the junction of its shank n³ with its
prongs n', n, upon a vertical pivot 7 carried by the trunk m. is a trigger
pivotted upon a horizontal pivot n fast to the trunk. As the salesman turns the

page_text: drum through half a circle so as to bring the register sheet from the front, where
it was facing the customer, to the rear so as to face himself, the prong n is engaged
by the cam o and turned on its pivot ne far enough to bring one of a pair of spring
fingers n, likewise carried by the drum, behind the next tooth of the ratchet
wheel no fast on the periphery of the disc m². o' is a stop on the base L. It
stands in the path of an abutment of moving with the drum, and its duty is to
prevent the salesman turning the drum through more than half a circle. During
the aforesaid engagement of the prong n' and the cam o, the trigger n' is engaged
by its cam o³ and disengaged from the locking gear o on the under side of the disc
and the prong n³ has been carried over the cam o* ready to be engaged by it during
the time the drum is being turned to the front again. Before he turns it to the
front again, the salesman puts the purchase money into the till (opened by the
finger as already described), locks the latter by pushing its catch over
the detent 12, and notes the amount of the purchase upon that portion of the
register sheet which is then opposite the slot m³. He next takes his hand off
the drum. The spring m turns it back to the front. As it does so, the
prong n is engaged by the cam o' and turned on its pivot n far enough to
make one of the fingers n' rotate the disc m³ the distance of one tooth, thereby
carrying the amount on the register sheet just noted by the salesman, past the
slot mand behind the glass panel m o is a returning spring for the
trigger n³. One corner of the curtain n' is connected to the fork by a stud o
on the latter engaging in a hole in the former. This engagement in combination
with the pivotting of the curtain aiready described, provides for it keeping the
slot me closed at all times excepting when the salesman has the register sheet m² in
front of him. 08, 08 are a pair of spring detents to prevent the disc m³ being turned
the wrong way. It will be noticed that there are two spring fingers n' and two
spring detents 08.
o is an abutment provided to prevent the spring m* returning the drum too far.
P, pl are two fixed pins projecting from the top of the base L and standing in the
path of the gong-trigger p². One of them engages the trigger and sounds the
gong, according to the direction in which the drum is turned.
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. The hereinbefore described combination of cams, fork, spring fingers, ratchet
wheel, trigger and locking gear, with a register sheet in a pivotted drum.
2. The hereinbefore described curtain and mechanism for operating it, in
combination with a register sheet in a pivotted drum having a slotted cover.
3. The hereinbefore described combination of cams, fork, spring fingers, ratchet,
trigger and locking gear, with a register sheet in a pivotted drum having a slotted
cover and a curtain adapted to keep the said slot closed excepting for a specified
use.
Dated this 26th day of July 1894.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.