Improvements in Registering Apparatus for Use in Connection with Telephones.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1887
Specification Accepted, 13th Jan., 1888
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Registering Apparatus for Use in Connection
with Telephones.
I, CHARLES WITTENBERG of Indianapolis, in the County of Marion, State of
Indiana, United States of America, Merchant, 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 an improvement in that class of telephone registers in
which the act of registering the number of times that the telephone is used, is
performed jointly by the person using the telephone at a subscriber's station, and the
operator at the exchange station.
The object of my improvement is to provide means whereby the mechanism
which actuates the register shall be set preparatory to carrying the register forward
one point, by means of an electro-magnet controlled by the operator at the exchange,
and shall then be operated to carry the register forward by the movement of the
switch lever by which the subscriber connects his telephone with the line, the
arrangement being such that the switch-lever, which forms also a support for the
telephone receiver, has a movement entirely independent of the registering mechanism,
so that the exchange may be called any number of times without affecting the
register until the actuating mechanism has been set by the operator at the exchange ;
the weight of the receiver when hung up then operating to carry the register
forward one point, all as hereinafter fully described.
The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of a telephone with my register attached.
Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same, with the side of the register case
removed.
The register is of the step-by-step form and may be constructed in any well known
manner. The register shown consists of a disk A, bearing on its periphery a series
of numbers in regular numerical succession, and mounted on a short shaft b, so as to
turn and expose the numbers in succession through the opening c in the register
Secured to disk A so as to turn therewith, is a ratchet wheel d.
The ratchet wheel d and disk A, are turned step by step, by the reciprocating
case B.

page_text: movement of the actuating bar e, which is secured to the case B, so as to slide thereon,
by studs ff, and carries a pawl which engages the ratchet wheel.
D is an electro-magnet mounted in the electric circuit connecting the telephone at
a subscriber's station, to which the register is attached, with the exchange station.
To the upper end of bar e, is secured an armature i for magnet D. On the lower
end of bar e are formed projecting lugs 1, 1. H is a short plate having projecting
lugs m, m, which are arranged to engage the lugs 1, on bar e. Plate His notched at
one edge to receive the switch-lever S which is of the usual form found in the "Bell"
telephone, the outer end forming a support for the telephone receiver I, and the plate
sliding in case B, up and down with each movement of the switch-lever.
The operation of my device is as follows.
When the receiver I is in position on the switch-lever, the lugs m, m, on plate H,
engage the lugs on bar e, and prevent the bar from moving upward.
l
When the
user of the telephone at the subscriber's station removes the receiver I from the
switch-lever S, the outer end of the lever automatically moves upward, and
the telephone is thereby put in the line circuit with the exchange in the usual well
known manner.
The upward movement of the switch-lever carries plate H upward also, and
removes lugs m from engagement with lugs 1, thereby freeing bar d. If the operator
at the exchange finds that the connection desired by the subscriber cannot be made,
he so informs the subscriber who then hangs up his receiver, returning the switch-
lever and plate H to their former position and the register is not actuated.
If the operator at the exchange finds that the desired connection can be made, he
first makes a connection of the subscriber's line with the "call circuit," or other
strong electric circuit, at the exchange, thereby sending a strong electric impulse
through the subscriber's line and energizing the electro-magnet, which at once draws
bar e upward, thus moving the pawl h, over one tooth of the ratchet wheel d and
bringing lugs L, up against lugs m.
The connection desired by the subscriber is now made, the bar e being held in its
new position after the strong current through the magnet has ceased, by the pawl and
ratchet wheel. After the subscriber has ceased talking, he hangs up his receiver on
the switch-lever, and the weight of the receiver draws the switch-lever, plate H, and
bar e, downward, thus overcoming the resistance of the ratchet wheel, and turning
the register disk forward one point.
It will be observed that the movements of the switch-lever can have no effect on
the registering mechanism, except when the actuating bar e has been drawn upward
and set by the operator at the exchange station, and the actuating bar cannot be
drawn up and set, by said operator until the subscriber has first removed his receiver
from his switch-lever. It is thus impossible for either party to operate the register
without the concurrent action of the other.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is;
1st. That improvement in telephone registers which consists in the combination
with the actuating mechanism of the register, of an electro-magnet arranged in the
telephone line current, a movable part of the telephone apparatus, as the switch-
lever, by which the telephone is connected with the line, and intermediate mechanism
connecting said movable part with the actuating mechanism of the register, whereby
said actuating mechanism is moved in one direction by said electro-magnet, and
moved in the opposite direction by the movement of said movable part of the
telephone apparatus, and the carrying forward of the register becomes the result of
the concurrent action of the user of the telephone at the subscriber's station and the
operator at the exchange station, substantially as specified.
2nd. In a telephone register, the combination with a telephone apparatus, and
a step-by-step registering mechanismn, of an actuating bar arranged to have a
reciprocating movement whereby said registering mechanism is actuated, an

page_text: electro-magnet arranged to attract and move said actuating bar in one direction, and a
movable part of the telephone apparatus, as the switch-lever, arranged to move the
actuating bar in the opposite direction, substantially as specified.
3rd. In a telephone register, the revolvable indicating disk, the ratchet wheel
arranged to revolve with said disk, the sliding actuating bar carrying a pawl arranged
to engage said ratchet wheel, an electro-magnet arranged to attract and move said
actuating bar, and thereby set the pawl preparatory to carrying the register forward
one point, the telephone receiver, the lever arranged to support the telephone
receiver, and intermediate mechanism connecting said lever and said actuating bar,
all combined and arranged to co-operate as specified whereby the registering
mechanism is set by the action of the electro-magnet, and the register is carried
forward one point by the weight of the telephone receiver.
4th. The combination with an electric circuit, two or more stations located in said
circuit, and a telephone apparatus, also located in said circuit, of a registering
mechanism also connected with said electric circuit and located at one of said
stations and adapted to be operated from the other stations, substantially as
specified.
CHARLES WITTENBERG.
Wm. P. Thompson & Co.,
6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Patent Agents.