There is, however, a particular case which here merits notice: it is the
case in which 0 is under the index of the dial from which the addition
is to be transmitted upwards. As in that case nothing is to be added, a
mechanical provision should be made to prevent the bolt from engaging in
the teeth of the wheel which acts upon the dial above: the wedge which
causes the bolt to be withdrawn, is thrown into such a position as to
render it impossible that the bolt should be shot, or that it should
enter between the teeth of the wheel, which in other cases it drives.
But inasmuch as the usual means of shooting the bolt would still act, a
strain would necessarily take place in the parts of the mechanism, owing
to the bolt not yielding to the usual impulse. A small shoulder is
therefore provided, which puts aside, in this case, the piece by which
the bolt is usually struck, and allows the striking implement to pass
without encountering the head of the bolt or any other obstruction. This
mechanism is brought into play in the scheme, fig. 1, in the cases of
all those dials in which 0 is under the index.
Such is a general description of the nature of the mechanism by which
the adding process, apart from the carriages, is effected. During the
first quarter of a turn, the bolts which drive the dials in the first,
third, and fifth rows, are caused to revolve, and to act upon these
dials, so long as they are permitted by the position of the several
wedges on the second, fourth, and sixth rows of dials, by which these
bolts are respectively withdrawn; and, during the third quarter of a
turn, the bolts which drive the dials of the second and fourth rows are
made to revolve and act upon these dials so long as the wedges on the
dials of the third and fifth rows, which withdraw them, permit. It will
hence be perceived, that, during the first and third quarters of a turn,
the process of addition is continually passing upwards through the
machinery; alternately from the even to the odd rows, and from the odd
to the even rows, counting downwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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