IMPROVEMENTS IN RECKONING, COUNTING, OR CALCULATING APPARATUS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th May.
1867. A communication from abroad by Charles Denis Labrousse, of
Paris, France.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RECKONING, COUNTING, OR CALCULATING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is based upon the following principles:-1st, that the
reckoning of a salesman having much business can be obtained only by means of
rapid and economical processes. 2ndly, that the senses of sight and hearing
should mutually control each other. 3rdly, that a central cashier should
always be acquainted with the movements of those whose operations he
centralizes. 4thly, that an apparatus to be worked by a person little accus-
tomed to it and with rapid manipulation, serving to add receipts or expenses
(money or goods), having a correct movement or action, and made quickly
and cheaply has not yet been introduced. 5thly, that existing apparatus
require instruction and apprenticeship on the part of those who are to work
them. 6thly, at sporting meetings and matches, the engagements to which.
they give rise require that a person may find the counterpart of his engage-
ment or stake either directly or through an agent, but if on the contrary
an evident system which would leave unknown neither the means of regu-.
lating nor the mode of working, and which had no uncertain chances for

page_text: those managing or using it was offered to the public admitted to follow in a
permanent manner the rise or fall of each competitor, the engagements could
be as it were capitalized, and those entering into engagements would, without
treating separately, become counterparts of each other. For this purpose
several modes of reckoning or calculating might be employed, but the
modes hitherto adopted receive by means of the present Invention a new
application.
The apparatus which forms the subject of this Invention will be fully
understood by the accompanying Drawings, and the following description
thereof:-
A mechanical table (see Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Drawings),
composed of one or several panels A, A¹, A³, carries counters or adding or
reckoning appliances C, C³, C³, Figure 8, in as great a number as is required,
one for each variety and one for recapitulation, whence there is a double
check. The table is placed in a frame D mounted on legs or supports E
which move on rollers F, F. The upper part of the frame has a piece H to
indicate the object of the table. The panels or board may be composed of
elements carrying the pins and fixed points which the counters or reckoners
require. The panels are pierced with holes or openings allowing the Figures
carried by the counters or reckoners to be seen. The counters or reckoners
are decimals, duodecimals, or otherwise, according to the units employed;
their subdivision changes with the system of numeration employed. The
wheels, bands, or slides of which they are composed can be worked from
behind so as to leave the totals unknown to the markers. A hook or key,
Figure 5, is used to work the apparatus. The hook is formed with a point
which is introduced through holes o in the movable wheel of the arrangement
shown in Figure 3.. The counter or reckoner preferred is composed of a pair
of wheels a and b, the wheel a being movable and b being fixed. The
movable wheel a is formed with the holes o for working it, and turns on a
fixed axis c with its nave f and with its teeth d, d, forming stops for the
springs. The fixed wheel b bears the Figures 1, 2, 3, and so on, serving as
indicators to the markers; it is furnished with a stop g placed in an invariable
position and with a nave h keyed to the fixed spindle or axle. Movement is
communicated from one wheel to the other by a double spring lever j (sed
Figure 3), or as seen in Figure 6, by an appliance with pins (aiguilles) the
movement of which is regulated by a spring m and an excentric n. In the
first case all the wheels turn in the same direction, and gear or engage
according to the system of numeration employed. In the second case the
even wheels turn in a contrary direction to the odd wheels, and the number of

page_text: surfaces is diminished. The springs vary in power, length, and consequently
in the noise they make according to the position of each wheel.
The working of this mechanical table is very simple:-To operate on one of
the panels which are appropriated to a special use it suffices to introduce the
hook B into the eye or hole o of the movable wheel a of the reckoner c, for
example, and to mark or indicate on the latter the desired figure. The
recapitulative reckoner can be worked by straps, cranks, springs, or otherwise
at the same time as one of the reckoners, for marking, but to have double
control or check, and for economy it is preferred to have a double operation
of registering by series and by recapitulation, thus the mechanical reckoning
table or board presents by its constitution a quadruple control.
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings represent a portable board ready to act
for a race of 5 competitors; it bears the movable indications.
Figures 3 and 4 represent two views of a reckoning apparatus for adding
monetary value such as pence, shillings, and pounds. The plate or frame
carries with it the pins of the wheels, but it may be of one piece, and then the
reckoners have movable frames on which are set out the fixed points.