A NEW OR IMPROVED NUMBERING REGISTER OR APPARATUS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "A NEW OR IMPROVED NUMBERING REGISTER OR APPARATUS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Gerard Sickels and John Hill Thorndike,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th August 1869.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED NUMBERING REGISTER OR APPARATUS,"
(being a communication to me from abroad by Gerard Sickels and John
Hill Thorndike, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of
America,) to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide an accurate and cheaply
constructed registering apparatus or device which may be adapted to be
carried in the pocket or may be made of a size to be applied to machines

page_text: of any description to register the revolutions of a shaft or other parts of
machines, and also to meters for measuring the flow of water, gas, or
other fluid.
The Invention consists in the application and employment of a series
of concentric rings within a case, and provided with notched down-
wardly projecting rims so arranged and operated by means of pawls
and cams that by imparting motion to the outer ring (to operate with
the centre ring the pawls must be on the outside of the rims) the series
of rings will be successively moved to register any desired number of
figures, the total amount of which will be indicated by figures on the
upper side of the rings, as exhibited through an opening in the top of
the case.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-Motion being imparted
in any suitable manner to the outer ring the latter will move once
round, registering the units until the figure 9 appears, when a spring
or pawl will be caused by à cam to engage with a notch in the next
inner ring, thus moving the latter the space of one figure, where it will
remain until again moved at the succeeding proper point, and so the
motion is transmitted similarly and successively from one ring to the
next inner one until the capacity of the rings is exhausted. Any
number of rings may be employed according to the extent of numbers
or figures it is desired to register.
The apparatus or device is very simple in its construction and
accurate in its operation and admits of being variously applied. It may
be made of a size to be carried in the vest pocket and at a small cost.
It may also be applied to register the revolutions of shafts or other
parts in machinery, and for various other analogous purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS: SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord;

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I, the said Bristow
Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED NUMBERING REGISTER OR APPARATUS," (being a
communication to me from abroad by Gerard Sickels and John Hill
Thorndike, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bristow Hunt, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, and on reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of this 'Invention is to provide an accurate and cheaply
constructed registering apparatus or device which may be adapted to he
carried in the pocket or may be made of a size to be applied to machines
of any description to register the revolutions of a shaft or other parts
of machines, and also to meters for measuring the flow of water, gas,.
or other fluid.
The Invention consists in the application and employment of a series
of concentric rings within a case, and provided with notched down-
wardly projecting rims so arranged and operated by means of pawls and
cams that by imparting motion to the outer ring (to operate with the
centre ring the pawls must be on the outside) the series of rings will be.
successively moved to register any desired number of figures, the total:
amount of which will be indicated by figures on the upper side of the
rings as exhibited through an opening in the top of the case.

page_text: Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "A New
or Improved Numbering Register or Apparatus," I will now proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may
be performed or carried into practical effect; and in order that the same
may
be distinctly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 represents a
plan, and Figure 2 a transverse vertical section of the improved register;
Figure 3 represents a similar section of the lower plate B; Figure 4, a
plan of the apparatus with its cover or top plate A removed; Figure 5, a
plan of the lower plate B; Figure 6, a sectional view on the line y, y,
Figure 5; and Figure 7 a detached view of the pawl or lever which
actuates the rings.
Referring to the Drawings, B represents the lower plate in which is a
series of grooves or recesses e, e, formed by means of the upwardly
projecting rims ff. One-tenth portion of each of the rims is set off
from the remaining portion as shewn at g, g, in Figure 5 so as to operate
as cams for a purpose herein-after described. In the bottom plate is
an opening or radial slot h (Figures 5 and 6) through which project the
free ends of curved springs i, i, attached to the under side of the plate B,
and extending to the height of the rims f,f, for the purpose of holding
the rims in place. c, c, represent a series of concentric rings provided
with downwardly projecting flanges or rims n, n, that move within the
grooves or recesses e, e, of the lower plate B, as seen in Figure 2. In
the lower edge of the rim of each of the rings c are ten notches or
openings, corresponding with which there are numbers or figures
representing units from one to ten on the upper surface of each ring, as
shewn in Figure 4. On the under side of each of the rings c and directly
beneath the space marked 9, 0, is attached a spring m (Figure 7) acting
as a pawl, the free end of which comes opposite the side of the notch
at the figure 0. The spring or pawl m is formed with a slight inward
projection, as shown at i, and is so arranged that as it passes by the cam
9 (Figure 5) it will be moved inwardly so as to engage with a
corresponding slot or opening in the next inner ring and move the
same along the distance of one-tenth part of its circumference or a space
equal to that between each figure, where it will remain until by the

page_text: .
revolution of the ring the spring is again brought into action. Instead
of the cams being made to .act laterally upon the springs or pawls m
they may be arranged to act vertically on the same. A (Figure 1)
represents the cover, consisting of a thin metal plate secured to the
bottom plate in any suitable manner. It is provided with an opening
large enough to expose a figure on each of the rings c so as to form the
proper combination of figures. As shewn in Figure 1 of the Drawings,
the outer ring represents units, the next one tens, the next hundreds,
and the inner one thousands, and motion is imparted to the outer ring.
By placing the opening in plate A on the opposite side the inner ring
would represent units, the next one tens, and so on, in which case
inotion would be imparted to the inner ring, and the interior arrangement
of springs would be correspondingly changed.
in
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-Motion being imparted
any suitable manner to the outer ring the latter will move once round,
registering the units until the number 9 appears, when the spring or
pawl m will be caused by the cam g to engage with the notch in the next
inner ring, thus moving the latter the space of one number, where it will
remain until again moved at the succeeding proper point, and so the
motion is transmitted similarly and successively from one ring to the
next inner one until the capacity of the rings is exhausted. Any
number of rings may be employed according to the extent of numbers
or figures it is desired to register. The apparatus or device is very
simple in its construction and accurate in its operation and admits of
being variously applied. It may be made of a size to be carried in the
vest pocket and at a small cost. It may also be applied to register the
revolutions of shafts or other parts in machinery and for various other
analogous purposes..
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
"A New or Improved Numbering Register or Apparatus," together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as the
Invention communicated to me by the said Gerard Sickels and John' Hill
Thorndike, the general construction and arrangement of apparatus sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings for the purposes herein set forth, at the same time I
wish it to be distinctly understood that what I especially claim is,-.

page_text: Firstly. The combination and arrangement of the springs i and plate B
with the notched rings c.
Secondly. The segmental cams 9 in combination with the rims f on
plate B.
And thirdly. The combination of the springs or pawls m with rings c
and cams g, all substantially as described and for the purposes herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.