GB563514A - Improvements in or relating to means for effecting additive, totalising and like operations - Google Patents

Abstract

563,514. Electric totalizators. BELL PUNCH CO., Ltd., and WEBB, C. F. March 1, 1943, No. 3304. [Class 40 (i)] [Also in Group XIX] Actuating means for a counting or registering mechanism suitable for use in a totalizator installation comprises a plurality of impulse receiving devices each incorporating a movable member or stop adapted to be displaced on the actuation of the associated receiving device to release an external source of power to actuate the registering mechanism and effect the return of the stop member to its former position and an aggregating mechanism for producing in a common output a summation of the unit movements from the various devices. In Fig. 1, is shown the manner in which a single impulse receiving device is caused to operate ; the device comprises an electromagnet 1 with an armature 2 carrying a driving pawl 4 for a ratchet wheel 5. The wheel 5 is secured to the first sun-wheel 10 of a differential mechanism, the planet gear 12 of which carries a stop 18 co-operating with a toothed wheel 20 fixed to a shaft 22. The wheel 20 is connected by gearing 22, 24 to the second sun-wheel 14 of the differential mechanism. The shaft 22 is urged to rotate the sun-wheel 14 in a direction opposite to that of the sun-wheel 10 and for this purpose the shaft is connected by gearing 25,to a drum 27 and spring 28. A counter 30 is connected directly or indirectly to the shaft 22. When an impulse or a number of impulses is received, the ratchet wheel 5 and sun-wheel 10 is moved in step-by-step manner and the planet gear 12 will be displaced to release the toothed wheel 20, thereby permitting the shaft 22, under the action of the spring 28, to rotate and actuate the counter 30. At the same time the gearing 23, 24 rotates the sun-wheel 14 to cause the planet gear 12 and stop 18 to return to its normal position to arrest the toothed wheel 20 and the shaft 22. The wheel 20 is shown with ten teeth, but it may have only one tooth or two teeth depending on the value to be registered for each unit movement. A winding means may be associated with the shaft 32 to maintain the spring 28 wound up. In accordance with the invention an arrangement for registering at one station the impulses from several distant points is shown in Fig. 2. The output shaft 22 from the point A is connected by gearing 35, 36 to the sun-wheel 38 of a differential mechanism M and the output shaft from the point B is connected by gearing 39, 40 to the other sun-wheel 42. The output shafts from other points C and D are connected in a similar manner to a differential mechanism N. The planetary gears of the differentials M and N are connected by gears 48, 50 and 49, 51 to a differential P, the planet gear of which is'connected by a gear 55 to a gear 56 carried on an output shaft 58. The shaft 58 may be utilised to control the actuation of the counter 30 by a spring as described above, but as shown it is controlled by an electric motor 60 and a differential mechanism R with a stop arm 69. The output shaft 58 is connected to the sunwheel 62 while the other sun-wheel 64 is connected to a disc 65 in frictional contact with the spherical surface of a disc 80 adapted to be rotated by the motor 60. The stop arm 69 normally maintains the circuit to the motor open, but when the arm is displaced on the reception of impulses from one or more of the points A to D, the circuit is closed to start the motor and the disc 65 is rotated to actuate the counter 30, the arm 69 being returned to normal to break the circuit. In order to adjust the speed of operation of the counter to suit the speed at which impulses are being received, a variable speed transmission may be incorporated in the drive. In the form shown, the stop arm 69 is connected by a link 84 to a projection 85 on the motor casing which serves to tilt the motor about its pivotal supports 81, 82 to vary the transmission ratio between the discs 80 and 65.