This was a bill in equity for the infringement of letters patent No. 271,363, issued January 30, 1883, to James Ritty and John Birch for a 'cash register and indicator.'
The invention, as stated in the specification-
'Relates to an improvement in cash registers and indicators designed for the use of storekeepers and others as a means of accurately registering the total cash receipts for any given period of time,-as a day, for instance,-and for indicating to the customers that the amount paid has been registered by disclosing to their view such amounts upon figured tablets.
'The arrangements of the parts and operation of the machine are such that no tablet can be exhibited without its value being counted upon the registering mechanism, and whenever any tablet is disclosed it remains so until the machine is operated to disclose a second tablet.
'The novelty of our invention consists in the construction, combinations, and arrangements of the various parts, as will be herewith set forth and specifically claimed.'
The following drawing exhibits such particulars of the patent as are pertinent to this suit:
The material parts of the specifications are as follows:
'We provide any suitable box or case, A, ornamented as desired, and of the general shape indicated, though its shape and ornamentation may be varied infinitely. In this outer case is fitted a metal framework, consisting chiefly of two upright sides, b, united by a crossbar, C, and by the shafts and bars which support the operating mechanism.
'In the lower portion of the frame, and extending horizontally across it, is a rod or shaft, D, supported by and aiding to connect the sides, B, of the frame. Upon this shaft are hung a series of parallel keys, E, of metal, made heavier in the rear, so as to remain in and return to the position indicated in Fig. 1 by their gravity alone, without the use of springs or other devices. In the present instance twenty of these keys are shown, though any number may be employed. Each key has upon its front end, which extends through and projects from an opening in the front of the case or frame, a button, c, having marked upon it a figure to correspond with the value intended to be indicated and registered whenever that key is operated by depressing the button. In a machine with twenty keys the first button to the left would be numbered 5, the second 10, and the third 15, to represent five, ten, and fifteen cents, and so on progressively. As these buttons are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, it would make the machine unnecessarily wide to arrange the whole series side by side in one bank, so we have arranged them in two banks, the one above the other. * * * The rear end of each key is flattened and slotted at its outer end, so as to embrace vertical guide-pins, b, set in the bar, C, and which aid the shaft, D, in preventing lateral play or twist of the keys.
'Resting upon the flattened ends of the keys are vertical metal rods, F,-one for each key,-which pass and have vertical play through perforations in metal guide bars, G, extending across and supported by the sides, B. These rods may be any shape in cross section, though we prefer to make them square, with square perforations in the guide bars, G. The upper portion of each rod, just above the upper bar, G, is bent to form a knuckle or shoulder, d, upon its rear side, which has beveled or inclined operating faces, for a purpose to be presently explained.
'Suitably secured to the top of each rod is a tablet, H, of thin flat metal, and upon the face of each tablet is a number corresponding with the number upon the key over whose rear end the rod of that tablet rests.
'Thus the tablet of the rod resting upon the key whose button is marked '5' is likewise marked '5' and so on through the series. In order to get the tablets into as narrow a space as possible, and thus not make the machine wider than necessary, their stems are bent so that the tablets can overlap each other, as shown in Fig. 4, and yet each can be operated without interfering with another.
'In the upper portion of the case is a large horizontal opening extending across the front of the case, and covered with transparent glass, e (Fig. 1), and when the keys are in their normal position of rest, with the rods, F, resting upon their rear ends, all of the tablets are hidden from view below the lower edge of the opening, e; but when any key is pressed down by means of its button the rod of that key is raised, and its tablet exposed to view through the glass, e.