USRE15662E - A cobpobation op - Google Patents

Description

l.July 24,v 1923 c. H. vEEDl-:R

OPERATING DEVICE FOR VOTING MACHINE REGIsTERs, E'rc Original YFiled oct. 25 1919 l necticut,

12 forming a part hereof.

to return to Remue! July 24, 192.3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.CUnTIs IIUssnY VENDEN., or marroni), CONNECTICUT, AssIeNon To THE vEEDEn MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION or CONNECTICUT.

OPERTING .DVICE' OB VOTING-MACHINE REGISTERS, ETC?.

original No. 1,342,417@

Toallwwmitmaycomem: Be it known that I, CURTIS HUssnY Vrin'- DER, a` citizen of the United States, residing in the cit of Hartford,fin the State of Conave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Devices for Voting-Machine Registers, Etc., of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,

In-a voting machine there is a register lor counting device for each candidate and each question submitted and all of the registers or counting devices must be set to zero after` 15 each election in order that the machine mayy be in readiness for the`n`ext election. As there are usually many such registers to be set to zero and as it is impracticable, because of theV interlocking devices which prevent 90 the' free' manipulation of the voters operating device, t use the voters operating device for-the purpose of setting the registery to zero, it is usually necessary to disconnect the voters Operating device from the register and thereafter to eectthere-.setting of the register to z'ero by direct rotation of the number, wheels by theapplication of the fingers thereto. This operation of re-setting, as usually performed, requires a greatl deal of 5 time.y Furthermore, the construction. ofthe operatingl and disconnecting devices has been such that some of thejparts .are too Aflight and weak to withstandwrepeateduse satisfactorilyand 'l that-fthe `ldisconnected 3.5, gears do vnot always return to proper eny I gagement, with the result that the votingy l machine does-not/always operate accurately and :thatV the gears* ,are .frequently broken;`

'To' be used may be of any usual or suitable 1tcomprises aA series of number whee s a,

lThe object of this invention is y'so to improve 1 the operating and disconnecting devices as to permit a more rugged construction to be used, to permit the re-setting of each lregister to zero to be effected rapidly, and to cause the failure of the disconnected parts ment to be indlcated at the front of the machine so that the inspector may know, beforethe voting is commenced, whether the proper positionand engage-` dated. une 8, 1920, Serial No. 332,580, illedctober 23, 1919. Application tor y reissue led September 12, 1922. Serial No. 587,861.

main permanently in position and while normally in operating connection with the driving gear of the register, is disconnected therefrom by the` introduction from the rear face of the machine of a suitable implement,

by means of which the resetting of the regi lster can be effected readily and quickly. Furthermore, there is provided an indicator device which indicates at the front of the machine whetherthe voters operating device or knob is operatively connected with the register. The' invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which it is illustrated and in which- Figure 1 is a view partly yin vertical section andpartly in elevation of a portion of a voting machine including the register, the operating device and the intermedlate mechimplement by which the ,voters operating` device -or knob is disconnected from the reg-- ister and by which the register can be actuated in the re-setting operation.

Figure 4v is aview similar to Figure 3 frome-a point of view at right angles to that ofiFigureB.

Figures 5 and 6 are detail views, in elevation and on a -larger scale, of one of the 'fnumber wheels', withy its transmitting gears, c and of the transmitting pinion.

`The, register or "counting" devi with which thefimproved operating mech-anism is construction. As shown in the drawin mounted upon a yfixed shaft a and driven in the usual manner by a pinion a2 and transferringv devices a3 and a, all mounted on a fixed shaftor spindle a5. The gear a of each number wheel of lower denomination meshes with the toothedwheel as of the transmission pinion and the mutilated or single toothed memberA a* of the transmission pinion in turn co-opeates A'with the mutilated member a of the number Wheel.

lSet to zero in readiness for a subsequent election. As shown, the register or counting device has its two shafts a and as lmounted in the side walls b of a channel bar or o en casing, `the front .wall b of which ies against a late c which forms the frontror voters w l of the voting machine. A drivingv gear d, provided with a slotted driving a rture, as at d', has a bearing in the plate brand is held in pl-acevby a bracket d, being accessible for engagement by the voting knob from the front andhliy a re-setting implement from the rear.` otion is transmitted from the driving gear d to the pinion a of the register by gearin suited to the locking of the register. As s own, the gear d meshes with a pinion d which is mounted on a spindle d* secured to the plate d' and hasformed therewith a bevel gear 5 which meshes with a bevel geard" mounted on the shaft or spindle a5 andv having the pinion az of the register secured thereto. The voters knob or driver e, by which the register is actuated, has a shank e' which is mounted in the front wall c and ina bar c and. is provided as usual with a star wheel e2 for Y co-operation with the usual locking device (not shown)l by which the knob is limited to a single movement for each voter.

In order to permit the re-settin of the register from the rear of the votlng machine, itis necessary to disconnect the voters fered with b knob or ydriver from theregister, so that the re-settingof the register shall not be interthe lockingdevice which cooperates wit the knob. It has beeny usual to eect such disconnection by separating two of the gears of the-'train of 'gearing between the knob and the register, This increases the cost of construction, reduces the certaint of operation yand sometimes results in reakage of parts, through the failure of the separated gears to be brou htl into mesh properly after the re-setting as been effected. Moreover, it makes the operation of re-settin slow and. troublesome. In accordance kwit the present invention, however, the voters knob is rovided with a driving member e whic is mounted yieldingly in the shank of the knob, so that, althou it normally engages the driving gear as shown in Figure 1, it can be thrust out of such engagement by the introduction from the rear of a re-setting implement indicated at f. The driving member es is mounted in a slot e* formed in the inner` e end of the shank e' of the knob and is ,itself slotted, as at e", tol receive a pin es which retains the driving` member in place and limits itsmovement. The driving member is ,pressed forward by a Spring e", which is` When, however, the vote has been completed and the record taken and it isdesired to reset all of the registers of the voting machine to zero, ,the voting" machine is opened at the,

rear yand thevproper olcial introduces an implement f into each driving gear d in succession and rotates the gear so as to cause `all of the number wheels of the register to be re-set to zero. For convenience and rapidl operation the yre-setting implement may be held and driven by an ordinary small geared hand-drill. i It will beV understood that when the driving member ea has been thrust back by the introduction of the re-setting implement, its movement is limited and the resetting implement rotates against the end of the driving member Without entering the slot in the shank of the voters knob, so that the knob is undisturbed during the 're-settinlg operation. 1

n order that any possible failure of the driving membery to engage properly the driving gear, after the re-settn operation has been completed, may be in icated` and the knob rotated Asuliiciently to bring about such engagement, the driving member e3 ,is provided with an indicating device, such as the pin g, which is mounted' in the bore of the shank e" and in a central bore of the screw plug es, so that, when the driving member e is out of engagement with the driving gear d, the end of the pin g will be projected beyond the knob, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, thereby indicating to the inspector or other oflcial the fact thatthe drivingl member is not properly engaged with the driving gear.

It. will be understood that various changes in details of construction may be made to suit different conditions of use.

I claim as m invention:

1. The combination with a register, and gearing for operating thesame, including a gear having a 'driving aperture, of an operating knob supported in fixed position and a spring presse drivin member carried b the knob and normally 1n engagement with the driving aperture of said gear and movable out of s uch engagement by an implement introduced from the opposite side of the driving gear.

gearing for operating the same, including a. ment introduced from the opposite s ideof n gear having. drivin aperture, of an oper. vthe gear, and an indicator pin in operative ating knob l"supporte 1n` xed position, a connection with the driving member. 1'

gring" ressed driving memberfcarried by This specification signed this 2 day of i e kno and normally in engagement with September, 1922.

the driving apertureof said 'gear and movable out of Such engagement by: an limpley l CURTIS HUSSEY VEEDER.

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