US2522671A - Gourdon - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 19, 1950 R. GOURDON VALUE INDEXING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 16, 1946 um Mm E WV m m o F BTLNN y \N A w I 1 NW Fw 1| m mw WW Q 0 w m m MN m mw N Q N QN Patented Sept. 19, 1950 VALUE INDEXING MECHANISM Robert Gourdon, Paris, France, assignor to Centre (Mecanique, Balistique, Armement), Paris, France Application March 16, 1946, Serial No. 654,835 In France January 27, 1945 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires January 27, 1965 dEtudes M. B. A.

17 Claims. 1

This invention relates to accounting machines and more especially to machines of this kind, in which computing or registering mechanisms are operated by depressing the keys of a keyboard.

It is particularly concerned with improvements in the means for transmitting movement from the keys to the computing or registering mechanisms, with a View to reducing the first cost of such machines, while at the same time facilitating the assembling of the parts.

With these and other objects in view I will now describe my invention with reference to the draw ings allixed to this specification and forming part thereof, which illustrate diagrammatically, by way of example, one embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are side elevations, partly in vertical section, of a machine embodying my invention, two keys and adjoining parts being shown in different positions in the two figures.

Fig. 3 is a partial top View of a pack of transmission bars.

Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical sections of the key mechanism, taken respectively along the lines IVIV, and V-V in Fig. 1.

As apparent in the drawings, operating mechanism according to my invention includes a series of keys I, mounted on the upper ends of key rods which may have, for instance, a cylindrical crosssection. Said key rods are longitudinally slotted at 2 (see Fig. 4) so as to afford passage for one arm of a rocking bell crank lever 3. This rocking lever is constituted by a suitably cut flat member, and one of its ends is received in the slot 2 of the key rod, while its other end, which is cut into the shape of a fiat rotula, engages a correspondingly shaped notch 4 in an arm 5 (see Figs. 1 and 2) fixed to a transmission bar 6.

All the key levers 3 of one row of keys are located in the same plane and are held laterally between two plates 1 and 8 (Figs. 4 and 5) provided with suitable recesses for the passage of the key rods as shown in Fig. 4. The bell crank levers 3 are apertured to receive balls 9 held in place in recesses It between the plates 7 and 8. The balls 51 form pivots for the levers 3.

The key mechanism proper with its two securing plates l' and 8 is preferably enclosed inside a casing constituted by the two cover plates I I and 12 made of sheet iron. These cover plates are provided with recesses (Figs. 4 and 5) for the passage of key locking bars l3 and [4.

The assembly is secured by connecting screws [5 or any equivalent means suitably arranged so as not to hinder the movement of the movable.

2 parts. This arrangement prevents any disengagement of the parts while ensuring the freedom of play required for their movement.

The fiat transmission bars 5 are assembled to form packs of nine bars standing on edge. Each bar carries on its forward end a flat, upwardly extending arm 5 serving for suspending the bar from the bell crank lever 3 of the key with which it is coordinated. While the fifth arm 5 of the row is straight, all other arms are offset at l6 so as to extend in the same plane as the fifth arm, viz. in the plane of the bell crank levers 3.

The rear end of each bar 6 is formed with a downwardly inclined cam face at I! and rests freely on a stationary supporting cylinder 18 (see Figs. 1 and 2). The rear end of the bar extends upwardly in the form of an arm l9 acting as a stop for the differential actuating mechanism 20 which need not be described in the present specification as it does not form part of this invention. A suitable form of such differential actuating mechanism is shown and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 654,836, which was filed in the U. S. Patent Oflice on March 16, 1946. The cylinder i8 is formed with lateral flanges 2| which hold the bars 6 together with the play required for allowing the sliding of one bar with reference to the others without any jamming. It should be noted that the play thus provided is sufiicient for the system of bars but that there is no substantial play allowed for any individual bar.

The bars 6 are constantly urged towards their inoperative positions by a roller 22 which spans the pack of bars 6 and together with a pair of arms 24 forms a composite bail. A spring 23 engages the ail ends of arms 24 and biases the bail counter-clockwise, carrying the roller 22 downward against the bars 5. The composite bail formed by arms 24 and roller 22 retains the vertical extensions [9 parallel, allowing a suitable limited play. The spring 23 is double-ended, having its center fixed to a support at 25 and hearing at its upper end against the arms 24 while its lower end bears against the rear ends of the bars 5 and holds them in contact with the cylinder it thereby preventing a moving bar displaced by a depressed key from carrying an adjacent bar with it.

The sliding bars l3 and M are housed along the plates 7 and 8 respectively inside suitable recesses provided in the cover plates II and I2. The bar I4 is guided by lugs 25 cut out of the cover plate l2 and folded inwardly as shown in Fig. 5. These companion bars [3 and M ensure on the one, hand, that when a key is depressed,

the other keys of the same row are locked, and, on the other hand, at the end of the recording operation, they urge the keys back into their inoperative positions.

To prevent any possibility of simultaneously depressing two adjacent keys, each key lever is provided with an extension 44 (Figs. 1 and 2) cooperating with a stud 32 on the adjacent key. Considering the two keys carrying the reference number I in Figs. 1 and 2, if the right hand key is first depressed, the corresponding extension 44 will move under the stud 32 on the left hand key, which prevents the latter from being depressed. If on the contrary the left hand key begins being depressed before the right hand key, its stud 32 will move into the path of the extension M on the right hand key so as to prevent the rotation of the corresponding lever 3 and consequently the depression of the right hand key. If both keys are simultaneously depressed, the operation is the same as in the preceding case, as the extension 44 of the lever 25 of one of them will meet the stud 32 on the other key.

It is easy to understand from the preceding description the operation of the key operated mechanism forming my invention.

When the key I is depressed, this causes a rocking movement of the associated key lever 3 the lower end of which moves to the left, carrying with it the transmission bar 6 corresponding to the depressed key. The right hand end of this bar rides up on the roller l8 and raises the stop member !9 which selects in the differential actuating mechanism 26 the numeral corresponding to the depressed key.

The articulation of the thin flat transmission bars 6 of each pack of the lower ends of the bell crank levers 3 by the tongue and notch connection at 4 renders unnecessary any separate articulation means. Likewise, the pivotal suspension of the bell crank levers 3 between the key plates '1 and 8 by means of the balls housed in depressions of these plates greatly reduces the cost and facilitates the assembly of the transmission mechanism all parts of which, including the stop arm, can be cut and shaped by stamping and punching.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a calculating machinehaving keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like,

the combination with a row of keys, of a transmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of thin fiat transmission members arranged in side by side relation beneath said row of keys, a housing for slidably supporting said row of keys and said transmission members, a plurality of pivotal levers mounted within said housing and each having one arm disposed in engageable relation with an associated key and a second arm of each lever being operatively connected with respective transmission bars, each of said levers being pivotally supported on a ball supported by opposite sides of said housing.

2. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of a transmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of flat bars arranged in side by side relation beneath and suspended from said row of keys for longitudinal and pivotal motion and each having an oiTset portion, said offset portions all lying in coplanar relation paralleling the row of keys, a housing fOr slidably supporting said keys, a plurality of levers each pivotally supported within said housing adjacent a respective key and each having an arm disposed to engage with an associated key and a second arm pivotally supporting the offset portion of respective transmission bars,

said levers being arranged in coplanar relation with each other and with said offset portions, a cam-shaped tail piece at one end of each bar, means engaged by each tail piece for elevating the same when the bar is longitudinally displaced, and a stop member carried by said tail piece and adapted to cooperate with said mechanism.

3. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of a trans mission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism com-prising a plurality of flat bars arranged in side by side relation beneath and suspended from said row of keys for longitudinal and pivotal motion and each having an offset portion, said offset portions all lying in coplanar relation paralleling the row of keys, a housing for slidably supporting said keys, a plurality of levers each pivotally supported within said housing adjacent a respective key and each having an arm disposed to engage with an associated key and a second arm pivotally supporting the offset portion of respective transmission bars, said levers being arranged in coplanar relation with each other and with said offset portions, a cam-shaped tail piece at one end of each bar, means engaged by each tail piece for elevating the same when the bar is longitudinally displaced, a stop member carried by said tail piece and adapted to cooperate with said mechanism, a pivotally mounted lever, a roller carried thereby and engageable with the tail piece of each transmission bar, and resilient means for urging said roller into contact with the tail piece of said bars whereby to aid in'returning the transmission bars to an unactuated position.

4. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of a transmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of flat bars arranged in side by side relation beneath and suspended from said row of keys for longitudinal and pivotal motion, and each having an offset portion, said offset portions all lying in coplanar relation paralleling the row of keys, a housing for slidably supporting said keys, a plurality of levers each pivotally supported within said housing adjacent a respective key and each having an arm disposed to engage with an associated key and a second arm pivotally supporting the offset portion of respective transmission bars, said levers being arranged in coplanar relation with each other and with said offset portions, a cam-shaped tail piece at one end of each bar, means engaged by each tail piece for elevating the same when the bar is longitudinally displaced, a pivotally mounted lever, a roller carried thereby and engageable with the tail piece of each transmission bar, and a leaf spring fixedly supported at a point intermediate the ends thereof and with its ends bearing respectively against said last mentioned lever and against the adjacent ends of the transmission bars.

5, In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of atransmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of transmission members, a plurality of rocking levers, each pivotally supported adjacent a respective key and having an arm engageable by its associated key and a second arm drivably connected with one of said transmission members, said keys including a stud positioned to be engaged by a projection on the rocking lever associated with an adjacent key whereby when a rocking lever is rotated due to the depression of its associated key it will engage said stud of an adjacent key to prevent a substantially simultaneous depression of both.

6. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanism and the like, key rods attached to said keys for movement thereby, means for supporting said key rods and keys including two opposed parallel plates having facing recesses for receiving said key rods, means for holding said plates together so as to retain the key rods between them, and means operatively connecting each key rod to said registering mechanism.

7. A calculating machine as claimed in claim 6, in which said plates are provided with additional recesses adjacent the recesses for receiving the key rods, and including bell crank levers pivotally mounted in said additional recesses, each key rod being operatively connected to one arm of the adjacent bell crank lever, said bell crank levers forming a portion of the means operatively connecting the key rods to the registering mechanism.

8. A calculating machine as claimed in claim 7, in which each of said bell crank levers has a downwardly depending arm moving between said plates, and in which said operative connecting means includes, for each bell crank lever, an upwardly projecting arm extending between said plates and connected to the downwardly depending arm of the bell crank lever by a flat rotula connection, said rotula connection lying between said plates in all positions of the bell crank lever.

9. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanisms and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of a transmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of flat bars arranged in side by side relation beneath said row of keys, means supporting said bars so as to permit longitudinal and pivotal movement of said said supporting means including a pivotal support for each bar operatively connected to one key for moving the bar longitudinally by operation of the key and a common support underlying all the bars and spaced from said pivotal supports, a downwardly extending cam portion on each bar adjacent said common support, said support being engaged by the cam portion when the bar is moved longitudinally by the key so as to elevate said cam portion, and means operatively connecting said registering mechanism to a portion of the bar elevated concurrently with said cam portion.

10. A calculating machine as claimed in claim in which said pivotal support for each bar includes a lever pivoted on a fixed support and having an arm pivotally connected to the bar, and in which said common support is a cylinder.

11. A calculating machine as claimed in claim 10, in which said cylinder is provided with flanges (ill at its ends for retaining all the bars in parallel relationship.

12. A calculating machine asclaimed in claim 9, including a return lever to be operated upon elevation of any of said bars, said return lever being pivoted on a fixed support and havingan arm in the form of a composite bail overlying said bars, the sides of said bail being effective to retain said bars in close parallel relation, and spring means acting on said return lever to bias said bars toward their idle positions.

. 13. The machine of claim 9, in which a doublewalled support is provided for each rowof keys, and said pivotal supports comprise bell crank levers controlled by the keys and pivoted on said double-walled support, an upwardly directed arm on the forward end of each bar, a circular notch in the top end of each arm and a circular disk at the end of each lever fitting into said notch and held therein by the supporting walls.

14. The machine of claim 9, in which a doublewalled support is provided for each row of keys, and said pivotal supports comprise bell crank levers supporting the bars and pivoted on said double-walled support by means of balls housed in recesses of said walls.

15. The machine of claim 9, in which a single spring engages all the bars above said cam portions so as to bias all the cam portions intoengagement with said common support.

16. In a calculating machine having keys for controlling registering mechanism and the like, the combination with a row of keys, of a transmission operated thereby and adapted to control said mechanism comprising a plurality of flat bars arranged on edge in closely parallel relation beneath said row of keys and having upstanding arm portions, certain of said arm portions being oiTset so that all of said arm portions lie in coplanar relation parallel to the row of keys, a housing for slidably supporting said keys, means supporting said bars for longitudinal and angular motion including a plurality of levers each pivotally supported within said housing adjacent a respective key and each having an arm disposed to engage an associated key and a second arm pivotally supporting the arm portion of a respective transmission bar, said levers being arranged in coplanar relation with each other and with said arm portions, and means operatively connecting the bars with said registering mechanism.

17. In a key-board operated accounting machine in combination, a machine frame, a plurality of computing mechanism units supported by said frame, a row of keys for each unit, a pack of flat, closely assembled transmission bars for each row of keys, means supporting said pack of bars on edge underneath its associated row of keys so as to permit longitudinal and pivotal movement of said bars, said supporting means including an operative connection between each individual bar and one key for moving the bar longitudinally by key action and a common support underneath all the bars of a pack, a downwardly inclined cam face and an upwardly directed stop arm at the end of each bar, whereby a pull exerted on a bar by its coordinated key causes the cam face to move along the support so as to cause a pivotal rising movement of the bar and o erative contact of said stop arm with the coordinated computing mechanism unit.

ROBERT GOURDON.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Re. 22,377 7 09,362 1,002,341 1,239,622 1,270,243 1,742,524 1,983,945

Name Date Potts Sept. 14, 1943 Schuman Sept. 16, 1902 Vincent Sept. 5, 1911 Rauchwetter Sept. 11, 1917 Stickney June 18, 1918 Gubelmann Jan. 7, 1930 Petter Dec. 11, 1934 Number 10 Number Name Date Racz July '27, 1937 Turck et a1 Dec. 10,1940 Gubelman Dec.. 31, 1940 Muller Jan. 16, 1945 Gubelmann May 22, 1945 Carlsen June 7, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Nov. 18, 1921 Germany Oct. 10, 1927 Germany July 23,1929

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