to be typed on the ticket.
Components of the system illustrated in Fig. 6, which correspond with those in Fig. I, are given like reference numbers. In the modification of Fig. 6 the various stages of selection of an individual storage unit are to be performed in the same manner as has been described with reference to Fig. 1. However, the entire selecting mechanism comprising different finder switch stages is shown collectively in the block 71 of Fig. 6.
The output circuits from-the final stage of selection switches are referenced 27 in Fig. 1. They are therefore given the same reference numeral 21 in Fig. 6 and show individual conductors to each of the responsive relays 29 in the individual storage units such as 58..
From the foregoing description of the modification shown in Fig. 6 it will be seen that either the signal for "rejection" or the signal for "allotment" is transmitted for selective actuation of one or the other of the solenoids 53, 52, depending upon whether or not the wiper 66 rests on segment 65 when the storage unit selecting relay 29 is operated. The motor magnet 67 does not operate if all available allotments have been exhausted. Therefore the "allot"-solenoid 52 will not operate when it is necessary to transmit the "rejection" signal for operation of solenoid 53, and vice versa. Furthermore, repeated Inquiries for allotments after they have been exhausted will all produce the reject signal, since the wiper 66 must remain standing on segment 65 until a reset signal is transmitted, or until a cancellation is to be registered.
When it is desired to reset the rotary switch for any individual storage unit, various well-known means may be employed. For example, a reset key 59 on the teleprinter may be made-to close contacts for impressing ground potential on the conductor 70 leading through contacts b of relay 29 and thence to the motor magnet 67. Thus, after response of relay 29 to the usual selecting signals, a single operation of key 59 operates to pulse the motor magnet 67 once for stepping the wiper G6 back onto the first of the interconnected segments 64. Further steps of the wiper 66 may then be taken by repeated operation of relay 29, the same as for making allotments, but in this case to obtain a starting registration of the full allotment quota, or for correcting the registration so as to give effect to a cancellation.
In the foregoing description of Fig. 6 it should be understood that I do not claim as my invention any of the individual components of rotary switches or teleprinter apparatus, but have simply described this modification as one wherein such components may be put together in a novel manner for accomplishing the inventive objects of my invention.
The keys 41 and 41d were described above as being useful for adjusting each storage unit to a certain capacity and for releasing balls one by one to take care of cancellations. Cancellations may also be taken care of by remote control and automatically as recorded on the teletype machine. Fig. 5 shows how thus may be done.
Two rods 13 and 74 extend through holes in the wall of each storage unit respectively, and in place of the keys 41 and 41 ca. These rods are pivotally attached to the ends of a toggle lever 15 and are actuated reciprocally by means of a linkage member 79, connected to a lever-arm 18 which is an extension-piece with respect to the armature 77 of a magnet 76. The magnet, when energized by a pulse which may be initiated by key-operation of the teletype machine, operates against the tension of a spring 80. The armature heel rests against a back-stop 81 when not attracted. Each magnet core is mounted on an iron heel-piece 82 and all of the latter are supported along a horizontal elbow-bar 83. When the armature 77 is pulled up, then rod 73 is withdrawn sufficiently to release a ball 40 so as to drop down the space of one ball diameter and is there momentarily arrested by the interjected rod 74. When the magnet 76 releases,, then the action of the rods 73 and 74 is reversed. The released ball drops out of the storage unit and the ball next above it (if any) is retained in place by the interjection of rod 13 beneath it.
According to techniques which are well known in the telephone switching art the use of the finder switches as hereinabove described may be extended so that if a special key is actuated on the teletype machine immediately preceding the typing of the final digit of the storage unit identification number, then the selection of a desired one of the magnets 16 would occur in place of selecting a magnet 29 for the same storage unit. Thus, a notice of cancellation may be registered on the teletype machine and taken care of by the storage unit affected, this operation being facilitated automatically just as well as in registering reservations that are to be made.
Other modifications may also be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as-will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
I claim:
1. In combination, a telegraph typewriter, a plurality of storage devices arranged and adapted to accumulate tokens each of which represents a unit of space to be reserved, each of said devices being appropriate to a specific group of said space units and of limited capacity, selecting means including circuit controlling elements operable by said typewriter concurrently with its own typing operations for subjecting a desired storage unit to control, and means operable upon seizure of that control for causing a token to be stored in said device, provided there is storage space therefor, and for causing a token to be rejected whenever seizure takes place after filling said storage space to capacity.
2. The combination according to claim 1 and including an answer-Back device operable upon seizure of a selected storage device to cause said typewriter to record either acceptance or rejection of a space unit reservation as determined by the storage or rejection of a token respectively.
3. In combination, a telegraph typewriter for printing tickets, a plurality of registers, selective means including circuit controlling elements operable jointly with and under control of said typewriter for selecting one of said registers to be operated and tested, the test being to determine its condition of having or not having registered all of a predetermined number of reservations of space units of a certain group, and means operative in response to said test to cause the typewriter to print one of two notations on a ticket, thereby to show respectively the allotment of a space unit and the rejection of a request therefor.
4. A selector in combination with a telegraphically controlled printing machine, said selector having a plurality of stages of finder switches and a plurality of controlling circuits therefor, each connected to an individual polarity-reversing switch, different character-printing elements of said machine constituting individual means for throwing respective ones of said reversing switches, thereby to control the operation of said finder switches, a plurality of responsive devices individual ones of which are arranged to be selected by said selector, said responsive devices when repeatedly selected having a limited capacity for producing a certain reaction, said devices being also arranged and adapted to produce a different reaction after said capacity is reached, and an answer-back system including two special character-printing elements on said machine. these elements being operable by any selected one of said responsive devices and in accordance with the determination of available or non-available storage capacity of the selected responsive device.
5. A system for making reservations, comprising a plurality of containers individually adjustable to receive a predetermined count of balls for storage therein, a reservoir from which balls are supplied to said containers, magnetic means selectively operable to transfer one ball at a time from said reservoir to a selected container, said means being operable after that container is filled to eject a ball therefrom while a ball is supplied thereto, a device for responding to the passage of a ball into said selected container and a second device for responding to the ejection of a ball from said selected container while disabling the- first said device.
6. A system according to claim 5 in combination with a ticket printing apparatus which is provided with a selector operable by the printing apparatus while printing characters on a ticket to control the selection and operation of said magnetic means, said apparatus including character-printing means forming portions of the two said responding devices.
7. A system for moving balls one by one from a reserve channel into a selected one of a plurality of storage holders, each holder having a limited storage capacity and having an outlet for ejection of a ball therefrom whenever a ball is moved into a full holder, said system comprising circuit-closing _ devices operable by the movement of said balls in and out of said holder respectively, and means for preventing a circuit closure by the injected ball operated device when a circuit closure is made by the ejected ball operated device.
8. A system in accordance with claim 7 and including means for changing the capacity of any desired storage holder.
9. A system in accordance with claim 7 and including means for releasing balls one by one from the bottom of each storage holder and for emptying the holder when desired.
10. In a system for issuing tickets corresponding to a predetermined number of space-unit reservations in each of a plurality of space-unit groups, a key-operated printer for typing characters successively on a ticket to be issued, circuits individually controlled by said printer in accordance with the typing of different characters, a plurality of storage elements subject to selection by means utilizing said circuits, said elements constituting means for testing the availability of space-units, each storage element being individual to a different group of space-units, means operative upon the selection and testing of a given storage element to store a token of space-unit reservation and to alter the condition of numerical space-unit representation of said storage element with respect to the remainder of available space-units, a special character-typing mechanism subject to control by said means when its operation is to store a token, and another special character-typing mechanism subject to control by said means when there is no remainder of available space-units, said mechanisms being operative to record on said ticket either that the reservation has been made or that it has been rejected.
11. In a system of the class described, a plurality of space-unit registers each appropriate to a different group of space-units to be reserved, a key-operated machine for typing characters on a strip of tickets to be issued, means including circuit controlling elements operable by said machine during a typing operation for selecting a register corresponding to a group in which a space-unit reservation is requested, as typed on said ticket, means in said register for responding to reservation requests in one of two ways depending upon whether a space-unit is available or not, and special typing mechanism in said machine subject to control by the selected register, when it has responded to a reservation request, for printing on said ticket strip one of two notations which show respectively the allotment of a space-unit and the rejection of a request therefor.
12. In combination, a ticket-issuing typewriter subject to both local and remote control, a plurality of storage elements to be selected, a selector including circuit elements controlled by and in conjunction with the operation of said typewriter during a typing operation for seizing control of a desired storage element in response to a given request for a reservation as typed on a ticket, successive responses being of one character, namely to store a token in the storage element and to test the same for its remainder capacity until a predetermined quota is filled, and subsequent responses being of a different character wherein the number of stored tokens remains unchanged, and means controlled by any seized storage element for causing said typewriter to print one of two appropriate symbols on said ticket., thereby to indicate which character of response is made in each case and whether a reservation request is accepted or rejected.
13. A system according to claim 12 in which each of said storage elements includes a pocket for holding a limited number of balls and means for causing a ball from a reserve supply to be injected into said pocket in response to each selection thereof.
14. In combination, a ticket-issuing typewriter subject to both local and remote control, a plurality of storage elements to be selected, said storage elements being constituted as numerical counters which are operable from a predetermined numerical setting subtractively to a zero setting, a selector including circuit elements controlled by and in conjunction with the operation of said typewriter for seizing control of a desired storage element in response to a given request for a reservation as typed on a ticket, successive responses being of one character, namely to drive the counter one step at a. ;time subtractively toward a zero setting until zero is reached, and of a different character, namely to close a "reject" circuit whenever selection of the storage element follows the setting of its counter to zero, and means controlled by any seized storage element for causing said typewriter to print one of two appropriate symbols on said ticket, thereby to indicate which character of response is made in each case and whether a reservation request is accepted or rejected, the last said means including solenoid-operated type keys and actuating circuits therefor, one of said circuits being said "reject" circuit.
15. In combination, a plurality of storage devices, each having a capacity for storing items up to a predetermined numerical limit, a two-way signaling system having terminal equipment at each of two intercommunicating stations, and subject to control by the terminal equipment thereat in response to signals transmitted from the other station, selective means for channeling a signal to any desired one of said devices, said signal being intended to effect a plus or minus alteration in the numerical value of the item stored therein, and structure included in each of said devices capable of initiating the proper one of two answer-back signals, one of which signifies that said numerical value has been altered, and the other of which signifies that the item stored in the selected device has reached a numerical limit, the functioning of said structure being automatically initiated upon reception of anyone of the first said signals.
16. In a signal transmission and storage System, a station having a plurality of signal storage units for storing the cumulative effects of signals pertaining to different categories of numerical items, means at said station responsive to such signals for selecting and quantitatively controlling a desired storage unit, the effect of each controlling signal being dependent upon the previous quantitative storage condition of the selected storage unit, and means for transmitting a check back signal from said station to another station thereby to report the registration of an increase in the quantity stored in the selected !nit in response to said controlling signal, or else to transmit a check back signal to report the failure to produce such a registration due to the prior storage of a quantity in said unit which is of limiting value.
RALPH W. BUMSTEAD.
REFERENCES CITED
The following references are of record in the file of this patent:
UNITED STATES PATENTS
Number Name Date
1,138,089 Crumpton May 4, 1915
1,996,013 Thompson June 26, 1931
2,099,754 Robinson Nov. 23, 1937
2,374,537 Goldsmith Apr. 24, 1945
2,446,037 Ammann et al. July 27, 1948
2,535,218 Marble Dec. 26, 1950