Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1891 — Automatic Time Recorder. [ARTICLE]

Automatic Time Recorder.

A device has been perfected for recording time automatically. It fills a want that has long existed in factories, shops and stores, where a faithful register of the time at which employes begin and leave their work is all-im-portant both to the employer and the employed. The method heretofore adopted, the employment of a special time-keeper, is open to the objection that it not only entails expense, but also gives rise to frequent disputes as to the accuracy of the time-keeper’s record. The new system practically makes every man his own time-keeper. Each workman is given a number, and when he goes to work he takes his key from the keyboard, inserts it in the keyhole of the recorder, turns it half way round, takes it out and passes in to his work. This action records on the paper ribbons within the machine the number of his key and the exact time of day. If it is desired to register when going out the workman holds down the lever on the outside of the recorder while registering, which prints a star in front of the record. It is said that one hundred men can thus register within five minutes, and the time of each employe can be read off at a glance, without a chance of a mistake. The slips of paper can be removed daily, twice a day or weekly and filed away and the workman’s time is practically in his own handwriting, but is entirely beyond his control. There is no possibility of one man registering for another, as a bell rings when each register is recorded, so that a man registering twice could be easily detected. An additional safeguard against abuse or tampering is that the recorder is supplied with a device by which the key, after a partial turn, is locked in and cannot be taken out until it registers. The machine is the most complete and effective apparatus yet devised for the purpose.