US349522A - Cash-register - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model,)

W. G. SOHIOKNER.

CASH REGISTER.

No. 849,522. Patented Sept. 21, 1886.

IIGr.3.

I m W214 Z: M22 W 2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model) W. G. SGHIOKNER;

CASH REGISTER.

No. 349,522. Patented Sept. 21,1886.

FIG-.6.

FIG. 5k.

NITED STATES PATENT Orifice..

WILLIAM GEORGE SCHICKNER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,522, dated September 21, 1886.

Application filed OetJber 13, 1885. Serial No. 179,775.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GEORGE SoHIoKNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casl1-Registers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to. the accompanying drawings.

My invention comprises certain peculiar details in the construction of cash-registers, the advantages of said improvements and their method of operation being hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved cash-register, one of the keys of the same being shown depressed, so as to elevate a tablet and initiate the opening of the money drawer or till. Fig. 2 is a plan of a portion of the register. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the locking device of the drawer. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of a portion of the register. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of the slotted plate that guides the front ends of the keys, the latter being sec tioned. Fig. 6 is an enlarged section of the slotted guide at the rear ends of the keys, a tablet-stem being seen supported on a lifter, and one of the keys being shown in its normal position. Fig. 7 is an enlarged section of the resetting mechanism. Fig. 8 is a plan of one of the double-ended springs. Fig. 9 is a section of the rear portion of the register, taken in the plane of one of the bell-cranks.

A represents the outer ease or cabinet of the register, which case may be perfectly plain or highly ornamental, according to the demands of the trade or the taste of the purchaser, a sliding drawer or till, A, being fitted in said case to receive money, and a pair of windows, A A, being provided to permit the elevated tablets being seen. Furthermore, this case has a lid, a, which closes against and is fastened to the lock-rail a, (seen in Figs. 1 and 5,) said lid being provided with side pieces or wing, to, extending down about as far as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, in order that the opening of said lid may a'lford access to the arbors g h of the disks. Fitted within this case are two end plates, B B, that support the operative parts of the register, a shaft,

0, being attached to each of said shields.

(No model.)

0, being attached near the front of said plates to serve as a bearing for the upper and lower bank of keys 0 and C, whose outer ends carry buttons or knobs a, which latter are numbered to agree with the tablets operated by said keys. The keys protrude through the vertical slots (Z of a plate, D, as more clearly seen in Fig.5, the lower portion of said plate being covered by a strip, J.

Attached to each key, in the rear of plate D, are shields E, that prevent obstructions of any kind being passed through the slots (1 into the operative parts of the register, a spring,

free ends of these springs bear against feedpawls F, pivoted to the keys at f, which pivots must be located in front of the bearing 0, in order that the depression of the buttons 0 will impart the effective or feed stroke to said pawls.

g and h represent shafts having at one end square arbors g and 7t, (seen in Fig. 2,) which shafts carry, respectively, the primary disks G- and secondary disks H. These disks may be simple disks, as seen in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, or. wheels, as represented in Fig. 7 but in either event their hubs must have a ratchet-shaped groove, 2', extending the entire length thereof, said groove being adapted to receive the chamfered end of a plug, I, which latter is capable of reciprocating within a small chamber, J, made transversely in. a disk-shaft. Fitted within this chamber is a spring, j, that forces said plug I outwardly. Furthermore, the disks G and H have respectively ratchetteeth G and H, the former being adapted to receive the feed-pawls F, while the latter are driven by spurs K, projecting from the primary disks. disks may be numbered in any convenient manner 5 but in Fig. 2 one disk is shown pro vided with the numerals 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18, because said disk is supposed to be operated The The peripheries of both sets of every time two cents are deposited in the IOO - plate is fixed immovably, and has at its lower edgespindles 0'0, (seenin Figs. 2and 4,) which spindles carry bell-cranks l 1 whose front ends are connected by a rod, 1), which normally rests upon the keys of the register, as seen in Fig. (5. p are springs, that maintain this rod and its connected bell-cranks in their normal position. In addition to this red the bellcranks are united by a rest-bar, Q, the front edge of which, q, is preferably flattened, as seen in Fig. 6, and each of said cranks is furnished with a depending arm, RR, having rollers r r journaled in the lower ends thereof, said arms being adapted to play within slots 8 of a partition, S, beneath which latter slides the drawer A. This partition has another slot, 8, to permit vertical play of a drop-catch, T, carried by a bar, U, whose front end, as seen in Fig. 3, is attached to the rod while its rear end is connected to the grating O. The upper portion of this catch is slotted longitudinally at 1, to engage over a pin, a, of said bar U, for the purpose of allowing sufficient vertical play of said catch, the lower end of the latter being beveled, to ride freely over a notch, a, in the back of the drawer or till. This drop-catch is also seen in Fig. 1, but in said illustration the bar U has been omitted to avoid confusion in the drawings. It is to be understood, however, that said catch is located at a point about equidistant from the bell-cranks P I".

V V are guides traversed by the straight stems w of customary tablets W, which latter are numbered and arranged in the usual manner.

Xis a bell or gong whose hammer xis operated by contact with either of the bell-cranks, according to the end of the machine to which said gong may be applied.

Y is a spring that holds the hammer :0 out of contact with the gong.

Z is a curved plate inclosing the operative parts of the register, said plate being slotted at z z to permit inspection of the two sets of dials after the lid a is unlocked and opened. \Vhen the registeris in its normal position, the rear or heavier extremities of all the keys rest on the lower ends of the slots 0 of plate 0, as seen at the key 0 in Fig. 1, and each of the lifters N is supported by a key. Furthermore, the tablet-stems 10 rest on the free ends of these lifters, as shown by the two stems at the right of Fig. 4. This depressed position of the rear ends of all the keys leaves the springs 12 at liberty to pull down the connecting-bar p and compel it to rest upon said keys, as seen in Fig. 6, which act swings the bellcranks]? P upon their respective bearings 0 o, and brings their arms R It about to the vertical position represented in Figs. 3 and 9, thereby permitting the drawerAto be shoved back into the case as far as it will go. As the drawer is shoved in, the drop-catch T rides up theinclined notch a of the former, on account of the slot t in said catch, and then instantly descendsin front of this notched end piece of said drawer. It is evident that the drawer is now securely locked and cannot be opened until said catch is intentionally elevated; and as this can be done only by operating one of the keys, thus exposing a tablet to view and ring ,ing the gong, it is apparent the drawer is not its attached bar U, thereby causing the drop- I catch T to clear the notch of the drawer, and as' the belleranks PP are attached to this rod 1) it is evident said cranks are so turned on their bearings o o as to cause the arms R R to swing forward. Consequently the rollers r r are brought in contact with the back of drawer A, thereby initiating the opening of the latter. the catch T being free to drop down behind said back as soon as the drawer is pulled out beyond the slot 8'. Reference to Fig. 3 shows there is some little clearance between the inner end of the closed drawer and the roller 1-, which arrangement enables the catch T to be lifted above the notch a before said roller commences to act against said drawer. As the arms R R swing forward, it is evident the shorter or upper arms of the bell-cranks must swing rearwardly and cause the rest-bar Q to recede from the plate or grating O, as seen in Fig. 1, which recession'of said bar ailords sufficient room for the rear end of the key (Y, and the free end of its lifter N to be raised to the top of the appropriate slot 0 of said grating, and as the tablet-stem w rests on the free end of said lifter the tablet W is exposed at the windows AA, while the remaining tablets preserve their normal or depressed position. Simultaneous with this elevation of the tablet the feed-pawl F turns the disk G around the distance of one tooth, and thereby exposes at the slot 2 a number that corresponds with the number on said tablet, the sprin M in serving to retain the dial in its new position. As soon as pressure is removed from the button 0', the rear end of key 0 instantly drops to the bottom of the slot 0 of grating O,on account of the pull exerted by the springs 12 against the IIO rod 92, which latter rests upon said key, as previously explained. This prompt descent of the free end of the key, and the equallyprompt turning of the bell-cranks P P',causes the shorter arm of said cranks to swing forward and bring the rest-bar Q in under the lifter N before the latter has had time to drop, as seen in Fig. 6, which instantaneous arrest of the lifter is facilitated by making it somewhat longer than its operating-key. As the lifter is arrested by the rest-bar, and as the tablet-stem is supported upon said lifter, it is apparent that the tablet \V will remain exposed until said bar swings away from the grating O, which will take place the moment another key is operated. Therefore the instant the rear end of any other key is elevated said bar swings rearwardly, as previously described, and there being nothing new to support the free end of the lifter, the latter falls to the bottom of slot 0, accompanied with the tablet-stem. This ready descent of the lifter and stem is facilitated by squaring off or flattening the face of the rest-bar, as shown at q, Fig. (5. At every complete revolution of the primary disk G its spur K comes in contact with the ratchet ll of the secondary disk H, and thereby turns the latter a distance of one tooth,the double-ended spring Mm Mmserving to retain each of said disks against accidental shifting.

Reference to Figs. 1 and 7 shows that the disk G turns in the direction of the arrow, thereby causing the inclined side of the groove i to gradually come in contact with the beveled end of plug I, and thus force the latter back into the chamber J of the shaft Consequently the disk turns freely and smoothly around said shaft; but when it is desired to reset the disks, or, in other words, to bring all of their zeros or other starting-points in line with each other, a key is applied to the arher 9 of the shalt, and the latter is then turned in the direction of the arrow thereon. As soon as the plug 1 is thus brought opposite the ratchet-groove 1', the spring 3 advances said plug and causes it to engage with said groove, as shown. Owing to this bearing of the plug against the straightside of the ratchet-groove, a positive lock is now afforded between the shaft and dial, and the latter can then be turned until its starting point is directly under the slot or other sight-opening .c' of the register. hen it is understood that each disk, both of the primary and secondary series, is provided with a similar ratchet-groove for the engage ment of a separate p]ug,it will be apparent that all the disks can be reset in a few minutes, the secondary disks being operated by applying the same key to the arbor h of the shaft h. Finally, if two or more keys should be simultaneously depressed for the purpose of showing a combination of numbers on the tablets, all of the lifters and stems operated by said keys would be arrested by and be supported on the restbar Q, and would remain in this position until another key should be operated, and then said lifters and stems would drop at the same instant.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, in a caslrregister, of a shaft, 0, a series ofkeys,0 O,pivoted thereon, the tablets XV \V, having rods 20 w, the shaft or, carrying lifters N N, the fixed guide O, having slots 0, the rear ends of said keys traversing said slots 0 and operating said lifters and tablet-rods, the shaft j), and the pair of bellcranks I P, pivoted thereon and carrying the rest-bar Q, the pull-pawls F pivoted on said keys in front of their fulcrum c, the shaft g, and the disks G, having ratchet-teeth G and spurs K, the shaft h, and the secondary disks H H mounted thereon, the said pawls F and spurs K operating the disks G G and H H", respectively, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a cash-register, of keys 0 C. shaft 0, pull-pawls F, primary disks G G, secondary disks H H, shafts g h, spurs K, lifters N, shaft 91, fixed slotted guide 0 0, pivoted bell-cranks P 1, rod j), arms R R, rollers 9' r, notched drawer A a, slotted gravitating catch T t, and straighttablet-rod w, for the purpose speci lied.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig nature in presence of two witnesses.

ll'llililAill GEORGE SCIIICKNER.

\Vitnesses:

JAMES H. LAYMAN, SAML. S. CARPENTER,

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