Electrical counting mechanism
AssigneeVeeder Industries Inc.
InventorsDonald W. Fleischer, Einar Asmundsson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical counting device with a rotary counter, a rotary drive assembly having a driven rotor with a verge for indexing the counter in stepwise fashion and a coaxial drive rotor in frictional engagement with the driven rotor, a coil torsion spring biasing the drive rotor in one angular direction and a tension wire conductor extending angularly about a drum of the drive rotor and connected to be heated and thereby lengthened with an electrical current to index the counter a first one-half count with the torsion spring and a remaining one-half count with the tension wire upon subsequent cooling and contraction thereof.
Claims4
In an electrical counting device having a rotary counter and electrical indexing means for indexing the rotary counting in stepwise fashion comprising drive means mounted for predetermined oscillation in opposite operative directions thereof for indexing the counter, spring means biasing the drive means in one operative direction thereof, and electrical actuating means operable upon energization thereof to actuate the drive means in the opposite operative direction thereof against the bias of the spring means, the improvement wherein the electrical actuating means comprises an elongated tension wire conductor having a first fixed end and a second end connected to the drive means to retain the drive means against oscillation in its said one operative direction by the spring means, and electrical connection means connected to the conductor wire for conducting an electrical current through the wire to heat and thereby lengthen the wire for oscillating the drive means in its said one operative direction by the spring means and, upon subsequent cooling of the wire for oscillating the drive means in its opposite operative direction by the tension wire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.