A counter device includes an outer annular dial which may be set to a desired detent position to indicate, for example, the number of copies required from a copying machine. A push button positioned at a null position within the annular dial may then be depressed to operate a control circuit initiating operation of the copying machine and simultaneously engage the counter mechanism of the counter device. The push button then moves incrementally to register with the setting on the annular dial, whereupon the counter device automatically terminates operation of the copying machine by opening the control circuit and simultaneously resets the push button to the null position. The internal mechanism of the counter device includes a ratchet and pawl operated by an external drive from the copying machine. The ratchet and pawl are advanced in incremental steps to register with the preset detent position of the annular dial. The ratchet is then released and returned to its initial or the null position. Release of the ratchet simultaneously operates a switch to terminate operation of the ratchet advance mechanism. The device also includes a setting which renders the advance and counting mechanism inoperative so that the push button will be maintained in a depressed position to command operation of the copying machine until manually released.

A mechanical counter has a linear scale, an indicator which can be set to a desired digit location on the scale, and a stop member which is movable along the scale and biased toward the high end of the scale. when a button is depressed to disengage a first pawl from a ratchet, the stop member moves along the scale until engaged by the indicator. A second pawl connected to a machine drive reciprocates so as to index the ratchet by one position for each operation of the machine. When the ratchet has been indexed back to a zero position, the machine stops. This is accomplished by a microswitch which is closed in response to movement of a disc which moves with the indexing of the ratchet, the disc having a notch which receives a follower of the microswitch when the stop member reaches the zero position.

A counting device including a click wheel operative integrally with a dial for setting the number of repetitive operations, the click wheel having teeth therearound, the number of which corresponds to the number of the repetitive operations; a ratchet wheel having a projection, the ratchet wheel being rotated to a starting position thereof by rotation of the click wheel; a feeding pawl for feeding the ratchet wheel in response to an external signal for every operation; a preventing structure for preventing the ratchet wheel from returning by pressure contact or engagement; and a start button integrally formed with a center shaft and a rotation preventing member of the center shaft, the start button being locked by the preventing structure for said ratchet wheel, and the rotation preventing member being engageable with the preventing structure; the engagement between the rotation preventing member and the preventing structure changing to open a switch as soon as the projection of the ratchet wheel releases the preventing structure; the start button closing the switch, when depressed after the ratchet wheel is reset to the starting position thereof, keeping the preventing structure in the releasing position thereof, and the starting button being kept in the depressed position and the ratchet wheel being prevented from returning by another engagement between the rotation preventing member and the preventing structure. This is a division of application Ser. No. 581,546, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,359, filed May 28, 1975, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 413,221 filed Nov. 6, 1973, now abandoned, which, in turn, is a division of application Ser. No. 258,820, filed June 1, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,512.

A presetting counter device comprising a ratchet wheel coupled to a cycle number setting dial and being stepwise rotatable for reducing the setting of the dial, an indexer engageable with the ratchet wheel in operative relation to the movement of a cyclically movable device to rotate the ratchet wheel stepwise by one pitch thereof at a time, a cycle repeating signal generator, a member movable with the ratchet wheel for actuating the signal generator and having a signal generator actuating portion with the same pitch angle as the ratchet wheel, and the ratchet wheel being adapted to be temporarily halted in the course of its stepwise rotation at a position where the signal generator is held actuated by the actuating member.

In a copier/duplicator machine, an improved control circuitry is provided for handling the situations involving the interruption of the machine operation. The circuitry includes means for detecting abnormal conditions such as jamming, or paper supply run out conditions during a copy run for a predetermined number of copies and means for maintaining the integrity of the counts of the copies being made according to a differentiated billing schedule notwithstanding the interruptions of the machine operation during the copy run. In addition, the circuitry includes means for detecting paper run out conditions artificially induced to tamper with the differential billing meters and means to stop the machine and condition the billing meters so that they are returned to higher billing mode.