US713926A - Sales-register. - Google Patents

Description

No. 713,926. Patented Nov. l8, I902.

W. F. A. TUTTLEBEN.

SALES REGISTER.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\FILLIAM F. A. TOTTLEBEN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LIBEUS M. DENMAN AND STEPHEN B. BURWELL, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

SALES-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 713,926, dated November 18, 1 902.

Application filed March 3, 1902- Serial No. 96,503. (No model) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I,WILLIAM F. A. TOTTLE- BEN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of 5 Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Merchandise-Sales-Registering Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in registers, such as areadapted for usein connection with merchandise of various kinds for indicating and registering the sales of individual articles, so that the number of articles sold or the number in stock at any I5 time may be readily ascertained; and the object of the invention is to provide a device of this general character of a simple and inexpensive nature and more especially adapted for use in connection with cigars or other articles similarly packed in boxes and capable of registering each cigar or other article upon its removal from its box.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved registering device whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for 0 use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth. The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a plain view showing a registering device embodying my improvements and adapted for use in connection with four boxes of cigars, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken in the plane indicated byline CLCL in Fig. l and show- 0 ing certain features of construction of the actuating mechanism of the improved registering device. Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial section taken through one of the cigar-boxes and showing the means for holding the casing of the actuating mechanism to the box,the plane of the section being indicated by the line I) I) in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial end View of one of the cigar-boxes, showing the seal for preventing the disengagement of the casing from the box. Fig. 5 is a detached perspective View showing one of the means for securing the casing of the actuating mechanism to the cigar-box.

The improved registering. device when used, as herein shown, as a register for cigars may be used with a single box or with any number of cigar-boxes, the several parts being merely duplicated for each cigar-box, so that the number of cigars sold or removed from each box may be readily ascertained, the registering device of each box operating independently of that of each other box. The device is also made to some extent adjustable, so that it may be used in connection with boxes of different sizes, such as are ordinarily employed for containing different numbers of cigars.

As shown in the drawings, the device is designed for usein connection with four cigarboxes, there being two forward boxes at 0:, arranged end to end, and two rear boxes 00 00, also arranged end to end and behind the boxes as w.

Ordinarily cigars are packed in boxes in rows or tiers, one row or tier above another, and the number of rows or tiers difiering according to the number of cigars which are in the box. In this way a box of twenty-five cigars has its contents arranged in two tiers,

a box of fifty has its contents arranged in four tiers, and in a box of a hundred cigars the contents are arranged in eight tiers. Assuming there are thirteen cigars in each row or tier of a box, my improved registering device comprises a series of actuating mechanisms, one for each cigar in the tier or row, and these actuating mechanisms are adapted to be operated upon the removal of the corresponding cigar of the tier or row in the box in such a way as to actuate an indicating or 0 registering mechanism, as will be hereinafter explained. These actuating mechanisms are all exactly similar and are similarly mounted in each box, and for this reason a description of the parts connected with one of the cigarboxes will answer for those of the other boxes.

The actuating mechanisms of each box are mounted in a longitudinal series on an elongated frame or casing 1, which may be formed from sheet metalin rectangular cross-section, I0? as herein shown, and with a central hollow or chamber in which the moving parts of the actuating mechanisms are contained. The frame or casing 1 has at one end a hinge connection, as shown at 2, with a bearing block or piece 3 at the upper end of a post or upright4, the lower end of which is secured upon the bottom of the show-case in which the cigar-boxes are arranged or upon any other supporting means. The post or upright 4 is of a height such that the frame or casing is supported in line with the upper edge of the cigar-boxes, and the hinge member upon the frame or casing is arranged to extend across the top of the bearing-block 3, the end of the frame bearing against one side of said block when the frame is in horizontal position, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, so that said frame is held in a horizontal direction to permit it to rest upon the upper edges of the ends of the cigar-box.

Adjacent to the hinge connection of the frame or casingl the said frame carries a loop or slide 6, adjustable lengthwise along said frame or casing and provided upon its under side, as shown in Fig. 5, with pointed projections or studs 7 7, adapted to be pressed into the upper face of the cigar-box end to hold that end of the cigar-box to the frame or casing. At the opposite end of the frame or casing are two depending flanges 8 and 9, spaced apart from each other and adapted to take upon the outer and inner surfaces of. the op posite end of the cigar-box, as shown in Fig. 3, the outer plate or flange 8 being formed with perforations through which may be passed pins or tacks 10, as shown in Fig. 4, for securing that end of the cigar-box to the frame or casing. For preventing unauthorized removal of the device from the cigar-box when once in a place thereon a seal 12 of any preferred kind may be applied on the end of the box, one end of said seal being attached to the end of the frame or casing l and the other end thereof being extended down beyond the lower edge of the plate or flange 8 and attached to the end of the cigar-box, so that the frame or'casing cannot be removed from the cigar-box without breaking said seal.

13 indicates a shaft journaled in the frame or casing 1 and extended longitudinally and centrally within the interior hollow thereof. This shaft 13 is adapted to be actuated by either one of the series of actuating mechanisms above referred to in such a way that a partial rotative impulse is imparted to the shaft upon the removal of each cigar from the box..

Each of the actuating mechanisms comprises a ratchet wheel 14, fixed upon the shaft 13 and having its teeth adapted to be engaged by a spring-pressed dog or pawl 15, held on a disk or plate 16, loose upon the shaft 13, alongside of the ratchet-wheel, said dog or pawl being adapted to ride freely over the teeth of the ratchet-wheel when said disk or plate is turned in one direction, but being adapted to engage said teeth to impart a partial rotative movement to the shaft when the disk or plate 16 is turned in the opposite direction. Upon the disk or plate 16 1s secured a spiing 17, coiled around the shaft and having one end secured to the casing or frame 1, at the rear wall thereof, as shown at 18, while its forward end is extended through a "ertical slot or opening 19, formed in the front wall of the frame or casing, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The forward end of the spring in front of the frame or casing 1 is extended to form one part or member 20 of a downwardly bent or curved arm or finger, the other part or member 21 of which is formed of a separate piece or strip of sheet metal. Each of the members 20 and 21 of the arm or finger is adapted to overlap the other member, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and each member has at its extremity a bent integral loop 22, through which the other member of the arm or finger is passed and adapted for sliding movement in order to permit of lengthening or shortening said arm or finger. By this means it will be seen that the member 21 may be slid lengthwise over the member 20 in one direction in order to lengthen the arm or finger, so as to adapt the device for use in connection with deep cigar-boxes, such as are used for containing one hundred cigars, or said member 21 maybe slid in the other direction to shorten the arm or finger to adapt the device for use in shallow cigar-boxes, such as are used for containing twenty-five or fifty cigars. The extremity of each member 21 carries a curved cross-piece 23, adapted to rest upon a cigar in the box, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, and the arm or finger is pressed by the spring 17 down upon said cigar, so as to prevent the removal of the cigar from the box except by lifting the said finger or arm against the tension of said spring.

At the hinged end of the frame or casing 1 the shaft 13 carries a bevel gear-wheel 24, adapted when said casing or frame is in its lowered or horizontal position to mesh with a smilar bevel gear-wheel 25, carried on the forward end of a shaft 26, journaled in the bearing block or piece 3. From said block 3 the shaft 26 is extended rearwardly along the end of the cigar-box 00 behind the forward box x, and its rear end is inclosed and turns within a sleeve or hollow shaft 27, the forward end of which is journaled in a block or bearing-piece 3, similar to the forward block 3, but located at the end of the rear cigarbox 00. At said block 3 the sleeve 27 also has a bevel gear-wheel 25 in mesh with a wheel 24 on the shaft 13-of the frame or casing 1 for the said rear cigar-box.

The rear end of the sleeve 27 is held to turn in a bearing 28 behind the rear cigar-box x, and behind said bearing both said sleeve 27 and the shaft 26, which is passed through the sleeve, are provided with bevelgear- wheels 29 and 29 meshing with similar gears 30 and 31 upon the ends, respectively, of a sleeve 32 and shaft 33, incased in the hollow of said sleeve,

which latter has a hearing at 34, as shown in Fig. 1. There is a shaft 26 and sleeve 27 at each end of the series of boxes 00 and m, and from the gears at the rear ends of said shafts and sleeves the corresponding shafts and sleeves 33 and 32 are extended toward each other, being inclosed at their adjacent ends within a casing 35, provided with sight-apertures 36, at which are adapted to appear the numbers of the disks of the registers or counters, which may be of any preferred kind, there being, of course, an independent register or counter for each of the sleeves and shafts 32 and 33.

In the operation of the device when a cigar is removed from either of the boxes the arm or finger which rests upon such cigar must of course be raised against the tension of the corresponding coiled spring 17, a part of the upward movement of said arm or finger being imparted to the disk 16, with which the spring is connected, to turn said disk in a partial rotation upon shaft 13, whereby the dog 15 is caused to slip backward to the extent of one tooth over the peripheral surface of the ratchet-wheel 14. When the cigar has been removed from beneath the arm or finger of the actuating mechanism, the tension of the spring 17 is exerted to press the extremity of said arm or finger down upon the corresponding cigar in the next lower tier or row of the cigar-box, and owing to the connection of said spring with the plate or disk 16 said plate or disk will be returned to its forward position, the engagement of the dog 15 with the teeth of ratchet-wheel 14 serving toimpart a partial revolution to the shaft 13, which movement is in turn imparted through the gears and shafting above described to the corresponding register or counter in the casing 35.

When the device is employed upon deep cigar-boxes, the arms or fingers of the actuating mechanisms will be lengthened by sliding the members 21 along the members 20, so as to lengthen said arms or fingers to permit a greater movement thereof while swinging through the same angle. WVhen a box has been emptied of cigars, it may be readily removed by withdrawal of the tacks or pins 10 from the box end and breaking the seal 12, so as to permit of raising that end of the frame or casing 1, the pins 7 on the loop 6 being readily withdrawn from the opposite end of the box when the casing is lifted. Another box may then be placed in position and the casing lowered to a horizontal position above the same, whereupon the securing means may be reapplied, and the device then will be ready for use to register cigars removed from the fresh box. The loop 6 may be adjusted on the casing to accommodate the device to boxes of different lengths.

From the above description it will be seen that the improved registering device constructed according to my invention is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use, since it registers the removal of each cigar from the box and permits of readily ascertaining at any time the exact number of cigars in stock. It will also be obvious from the above description that the device is capable of considerable modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device herein set forth, nor do I wish to be understood as limiting myself to the employment of the improved registering device in connection with cigars exclusively, since it will be apparent that the device may also be used in connection with other articles of merchandise, especially such as are packed in boxes similarly to cigars.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A merchandise-registering device comprising a counter, a plurality of actuating mechanisms each comprising a movable arm adapted to rest upon an article, a part with which said arm has connection, means to move said part and the arm in one direction to press the arm upon the article on which it is rested and mechanism actuated when said arm and part are moved downward by said moving means for operating said counter from the actuating mechanisms, substantially as set forth.

2. A merchandise-registering device comprising a counter, a plurality of actuating mechanisms each comprising a movable arm having atits free end laterally-extended portions adapted to rest upon an article, a part with which said arm has connection, and means to move said part and the arm in one direction to press the free end of the arm upon the article on which it is rested, a shaft actuated from each of said actuating mechanisms when the arm and part are moved downward by said moving means and devices for operating the counter from said shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. A merchandise-registering device comprising a counter, a plurality of actuating mechanisms each comprising an extensible arm adapted to rest upon an article and means for operating said counter from said actuating mechanisms, substantially as set forth.

4. A merchandise-registering device comprising a counter, a plurality of actuating mechanisms, a casing hinged at one end and inclosing said actuating mechanisms and adapted when in a horizontal position to be extended across the top of a cigar-box or the like, means for holding the free end of said casing to a cigar-box or the like, a shaft extended through the casing and operated from said actuating mechanisms and means for operating the counter from said shaft, substantially as set forth.

1 5. A merchandise-registering device comprising a counter, a plurality of actuating IZO mechanisms, a casing hinged at one end and on which the actuating mechanisms are carried, a shaft journaled on the casing and driven from the actuatingmechanisms, means for operating the counter from said shaft and a loop mounted for sliding movement on the casing and having pins for engagement with the end of a cigar-box or the like, substantially as set forth.

6. A merchandise-registering device comprising an upwardly-extended bracket having a shaft bearing at its upper part, a shaft held to turn in said shaft-bearing and provided with a gear-wheel, a counter operatively connected with said shaft, a casing having hinged connection with said bracket and

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