US521638A - oleal - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J.P.0LBAL. CASH REGISTER.

Patented June 19,1894.

(No Model.) -3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. P. CLEAL.

CASH REGISTER. No. 521,638. Patented June 19, 1894.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 3. VJ. P. CLEAL.

CASH REGISTER.

(No Model.)

No. 521,638. Patented June 19, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH P. OLEAL, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent No. 521,638, dated 51111619, 1894.

Application filed April 14, 1893. Renewed April 30, 1894. Serial No. 509.592, (No model.)

le @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. CLEAL, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county 0f Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cash-Registers, of which the followingis a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of machines in which the record or register of the values of the operated keys is preserved by means of a series of counters, preferably in the form of balls, which are moved from a supply-compartment to a registering-compartment by the operation of the machine, and my invention has for its object the improvement of the construction of this class of machines whereby fraudulent manipulation of them is more effectually prevented. Its novelty will be hereinafter set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a side elevation of such a machine, with the casing removed; Fig. 2 a top view looking at the machine in the direction of the arrow in Fig. l; Fig. 3 a vertical section Fig. 4 a detail view of the rear side of the grooved guideplate at the rear of the machine; and Fig. 5 a sectional detail of the grooved registering board.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the ligures.

The operating keys of the machine consist of levers A hung upon a fulcrum rod B and provided upon their front ends with the usual numbered finger-buttons C. The rear upturned ends D of these key-levers are provided at their upper ends with cups or pockets E which it in channels F upon the rear side of the rear frame-plate E of the machine and by which the rear ends of the keys are guided in their vertical movements, Fig. a. Extending from front to rear of the machine is a series of inclined tubes G, open at both ends, and one overlying each of the key levers A. These are the supply-compartments in which are kept the supply of counters I-I. Located above these tubes G, and forming substantially the entire top of the machine, is a board or plate I, inclined toward the front of the machine, and provided with a series of longitudinal grooves J, one immediately over and corresponding with each of the supply tubesG. This grooved board I is covered by a glass plate K, located at such distance above the board as to permit free travel of the balls H in the grooves and at the same time prevent their being displaced from their respective grooves, each groove, with the overlying glass plate, thus forming adistinct receptacle. The supply-tubes G communicate with the respective groovesJ by the channels F upon the rear frame-plate F and openings L in said plate at the upper ends of said channels and co-incident with the grooves J in the board I. As seen in Fig. 3 the rearmost ball Hin each of the supply-tubes G normally rests in the cup E upon the upper end of the corresponding key-lever. When the front end of the lever is depressed said ball will be carried upward in said cup, the walls of the channel F preventing its escape therefrom, until the cup is brought opposite the opening L at the upper end of the channel, whereupon the ball will escape from the cup and roll forward in the corresponding groove J in the top-board I. The forward edges of the vertical eXtensions D of the key levers are curved in the arc of a circle struck from the fulcrum of the keys, as is also the rear side of the plate F having the channels F, so that when any key is operated and the ball which is in its pocket E is lifted the forward edge of the extension f D of the key prevents the escape of the remaining balls from the supply-tube. When the key is released, in the mannerhereinafter described, and returns to normal position, the rearmost ball in the supply-tube will enter the cup E, ready for the next operation' of the key.

The grooves J in the board I are assigned different values according to the respective keys with which they co-operate, and to enable the amount registered by the balls in each groove to be ascertained without the necessity of counting the balls, the grooves are preferably provided with registering numbers, the number opposite the rearmost ball in any groove indicating the amount registered by the number of balls in said groove.

The registering grooves J communicate at IOO their forward ends with the forward ends of the supply-tubes G, but the passage of the balls from the grooves to the tubes is normally prevented by pivoted arresting plates M, one opposite the end of each groove and provided at its rear end with a depending flange against which the balls in the groove rest. By pressing down the front end of any one of these plates and tilting up its rear end tlie balls in the groove will be allowed to escape and will roll down into the corresponding supply-tube G. When the machine is within the casing these plates are all locked in the position shown by a hinged bar of the casing, which is itself controlled by a lock whose key may be kept in the possession of the proprietor, so that the clerk or operator cannot manipulate the plates M to release the balls from the registering grooves.

The extensions D of the key-levers are provided on their rear sides with ears N to which are pivoted the lower ends of indicator-rods O passed through apertures in a guide-plate P and carrying at their upper ends indicating tablets Q bearing numbers corresponding to those upon the respective keys. Each of the key levers A is also provided upon its under side, about midway of its length, with a pendent plate R. These plates R co-operate with the rear arms S of a series of bellcranks strung upon a rod T and extending entirely across the machine, one beneath each key and co-operating with its plate R. A series of springs U connected to the upper ends of the front arms V of the bell-cranks tend to rock them forward, but the engagement of their rear arms S with the plates R upon the keys, when thelatter are in normal position, holds them from movement. When any key is operated, and its plate R thereby lifted until its lower end clears the upper end of the arm S of its co-operatin g bell-crank, the spring U connected to such bell-crank will immediately rock the bell-crank slightly forward, until it engages and rests against a crossbarWof a rocking-frame X hung upon the rod T. This movement of the bell-crank carries the upper end of its arm S beneath the lower end of the plate R of the operated key, and when the latter is released it is supported in elevated position by the arm S, and its connected indicating tablet Q held exposed to view at the usual window in the casing of the machine. By means of a lever Y fast at its lower end to the swinging frame X and projecting at its upper end through an opening in the casing, into position to be grasped by the operator, the frame X may be rocked and the cross-bar W thrown upward to carry back to normal position all of the bell-cranks which are out of such position, and thereby release all of the operated keys and permit them to return to normal position. Thismuch of the machine is old, and not of my invention, but as so constructed the machine has been found defective and impracticable as a reliable register, by reason of the fact that the balls H are liable to escape from the registering grooves J, so that an inaccurate registry will be preserved. The openings or notches L in the upper edge of the plate Fare not so deep as the registering grooves J, Fig. 5, and it is intended that the plate F will arrest the balls and prevent their escape from the grooves in case the front end of the machine should be tilted upward by accident or design; but the openings L must necessarily be of sufcient size to permit the ready passage of the balls from the cups E of the operating keys to the grooves, when the keys are operated, and suoli being the case it has been possible to cause the balls to escape from the grooves through these openings by shaking the machine, if they would not do so by siinply lifting its front end. When the balls escaped from the grooves in this manner they would either drop down inside the casing of the machine, or if the rear end of any key were at the time in elevated position the rearmost ball in the corresponding groove would enter the cup E in said key and when the key was released and returned to normal position the ball would be carried downward in the cup and become the rearmost ball in the row in the supply-tube G. Tn this manner, after the clerk had operated a key and caused it to lift a ball H and deliver it into the proper groove, lie could, by tilting the front end of the machine upward and perhaps shaking it, cause said ball to roll backward and re-enter the cup E ot' the key, and then release the key and cause it to carry the ball down with it, thus indicating the value of the operated key to the customer and bystanders but preserving no record of it. My invention is intended to overcome these defects by providing means for automatically closing the openings L or rear ends of the registering grooves whenever the front of the machine is lifted and thereby preventing escape of the balls from the rear ends of the grooves. The means I have provided consists of a plate Z located transversely across the rear ends of the registering grooves, beneath the same and immediately in front of the plate F and so supported and actuated that whenever the front end of the machine is lifted the plate Z will be automatically moved into or through a suitable slot or passage Z across the grooves J andin front of the openings L in the plate F. The plate Z is supported at each end, and intermediately if desired, by forwardly extending arms A which are fast upon a rock-shaft B mounted in suitable bearings C upon the under side of the board I. Fast upon the right hand end of the rock-shaft B, Fig. l, is a pendent arm D which carries a weight E', the arm D and weight E of course being within the casing of the machine, where they are inaccessible and hidden from view. It will be seen that whenever the front end of the machine is tilted upward the weight E will hold the rock-shaft B in normal position and prevent its turning with the machine, so that the IOO IIO

downward movement of the rear end of the machine Will cause the plate Z to interpose between the rear ends of the registering grooves J and the openings L. The operation may perhaps be more readily understood by assuming that when the front end of the machine is tilted upward the Weight E swings rearward (as it may actually do to some extent) and thereby swings the plate Z upward across the grooves.

Instead ot a single plate Z it is evident that a series of separate plates fast upon the rockshaft B, one cofoperating with each of the registering grooves, may be employed if desired. So, too, the plate Z may be supported and actuated in other ways Without departing from my invention, so long as it operates automatically to close the rear ends of the registering grooves and prevent escape of the balls when the front end of the machine is lifted.

I-Iaving thus fully described my invention, I claiml. In a machine such as described, the com bination, with the board or plate having the registering grooves J, of the automatically operating plate Z normally out ofthe path of the balls and co-operating with said grooves in the manner described to prevent escape of the balls therefrom when the machineis tilted.

2. In a machine such as described, the combination, with the board or plate having the registering grooves J, of the rock-shaft B', the Weight E connected thereto, and the plate Z carried by said shaft and co-operating with the grooves J in the manner described to prevent escape of the balls.

3. The combination of the forwardly-inclined board I provided With the registering grooves J, the rearwardly-inclined supplytubes G, the plate F provided with the channels F and openings L connecting the tubes G and registering grooves J, the operating keys A provided With the upward extensions D having the cups E, the rock-shaft B', the Weight E connected thereto, and the plate Z carried by the rock-shaft and co-operating with the grooves J in the manner described to prevent escape of the balls.

JOSEPH P. CLEAL.

Witnesses:

PEARL N. SIGLER, JOHN M. BUCKLES.

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