In all business houses where large amounts of coin are handled and packaged daily, the use of mechanical devices for sorting, counting and packaging saves time and labour. Coin-counters simply sort mixed coins into denominations. The usual type of machine has a disk revolving in a hopper and the coins are carried by the disk to a rail finger from which they roll by gravity and are sorted by dropping through slots of various diameters into separate boxes. From I,000 to 12,000 coins can be separated in a minute, depending on whether the model is hand or motor operated. Coin-counting and packaging machines count the coins and deliver them into bags or wrappers, and, in specific cases, check pre-determined amounts into bags. One denomination of coin is dumped into the machine and a revolving disk throws the coins to the outer edge of the hopper, where they pass under a register which counts them.
In some models the coins fall through a stem into a tubular wrapper which the operator has previously placed there; other models wrap with continuous rolls of paper, fed down as the coins are counted; when the required number of coins are in place, they are carried over to the paper and tightly wrapped, the machine automatically locking off further passage of coins. Coin-counters and separators serve the dual purpose of counting and sorting coins of mixed denominations at the same operation. 'I he registering devices of some machines provide for a totalled sum in connection with each separate adding counter; others have a sub-total and a total register. Other coin-handling de vices are bag-loading machines ; proving and bagging machines which recount and bag coins that have been previously separated; continuous counting and bagging machines, which count and bag coins at a high rate of speed; counting machine heads, which handle one denomination at a time and handle metal tokens also; manual counters and packagers, which combine in one operation hand-counting and wrapping.
By means of the cylinder phonograph the time of a stenographer taking notes may be saved. The executive who uses this system speaks into the mouthpiece of a small machine which records his voice by engraving on a revolv ing wax cylinder. He may pause in his dictation, correct an error, and at any time listen back to what he has said. When the cylinder is full, a typist puts it in a transcribing machine placed alongside her typewriter, and the reproduction of what has been dictated is carried to her by receivers placed over her ears, she typing the words as she hears them. The engraved surface of a used cylinder is removed by a shaving machine so that it may be used again and again.
Phone Recorder—It is also possible—and several devices are available for the purpose—to record automatically an entire tele phone conversation. As the conversation proceeds, it is recorded on the wax cylinder of the device which is attached to the tele phone.
(q.v.).—One type of machine which has been on the market a comparatively short time is practically noiseless in operation, because the principle of pressure printing instead of percussion printing is utilized. Another is electrically powered and can be operated either from a direct or an alternating cur rent ; the keys are touched lightly—about one-quarter of an inch depression—and electricity takes up the burden. Portable type writers serve the need of the individual for a personal writing machine. Their construction embodies many features of stand ard office typewriters. The machine is usually secured to the bottom of the case in which it is carried, a permanent base being thus provided, making its use convenient under all conditions. The weight varies from 7 to 12 pounds. A wide selection of special keyboards and type arrangements for engineers, doctors, chemists and all those requiring special symbols and extra char acters is available.
Besides writing the perma nent and unchangeable amounts on cheques, thereby protecting, as far as it is mechanically possible, against losses from raised and forged cheques, these devices save time and labour in concerns which issue large quantities of payroll cheques and in banks and establishments which issue dividend cheques periodically. Pro tection is afforded by printing, by shredding or by perforating the amount, using acid ink in one or two colours. The amount is written in words, in figures or in words and figures. Certain models protect the payee's name as well, by "crimping" or shredding an un-inked design over it. After a cheque is inserted in the machine, the amount to be written is selected by slide levers set in vertical columns, by a hand-wheel or by an indicator on the dial, depending on the type of machine. Some models require one stroke of the operating handle for each word or number; others print the whole amount at one operation. In some models the amount is visible before and after printing, and in certain cases the name of the user is also printed. Repeated writing of the same amount on a number of cheques, without change of set-up, is a feature of some cheque writers. An inter esting development is the cheque writer with many combinations of foreign denominations for use in foreign banking.