Patent GB-190817332-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Taximeters.
Inventor: BOULT ALFRED JULIUS
Filed: 1908-08-18
Granted: 1909-08-18
Abstract: 17,332. Boult, A. J., [Galiardy, B.]. Aug. 18. Fares, registering &c.-Relates to a taxameter capable of giving a registration according to timedistance at one tariff, a similar registration at a second tariff, or a registration according to distance only, and consists primarily in the construction of the mixed-drive, minimum-fare, and zeroizing devices. A ratchet-wheel 20 is loosely mounted co-axially with a vehicle-driven wheel 12 and a clock-driven ratchet-wheel 3. The wheel 20 carries a pawl 21 to engage the wheel 3, and may itself be engaged by a pawl 13 mounted on the wheel 12. The widths of the pawls are so chosen that in the first flag position the wheel 20 is disengaged as shown, in the second and third positions it is slid into complete driving-connexion with both wheels 3, 12, while in the fourth flag position the pawl 21 does not reach the clock-driven wheel 3 and the wheel is driven therefore according to distance only, by the pawl 13. The rotation of the wheel 20 is caused, by means of pins 22 thereon and an arm 25, to rock a shaft 26 provided with an arm 27, Fig. 3, which carries a lever 28. On one extremity of this lever is a pin 29 which engages the ratchet-wheel 36 of the pence drum 37 and when transfer takes place also actuates the ratchetwheel 42<1> of the shillings drum 42. Transfer is obtained by the provision of deep notches 41 at the required intervals on the ratchet-wheel 36. To prevent registration until the minimum fare has been worked off, a masking toothed sector 33 is arranged as shown and must be rotated by the pin 29 to the necessary extent before the pin can drop into engagement with the ratchet-wheel 36. When the flag shaft 19 is returned to the zeroizing position, the retaining pawls 31 are disengaged by means of a cam 30, which depresses one end of the lever 28 and so causes the pin 29 to rise and lift the pawls. A similar arrangement is adopted for the extras' drum 67, which is adjusted by the driver by means of a trigger and shaft 60. The sector is returned to zero by the release of the pawl 34 due to the action of the cam 35. The return of the shillings and 'extras' drums and the sector is effected by springs, but in the case of the pence drum the following arrangement is adopted. A crank 38, Fig. 6, on the pence drum terminates in a pin which works freely within a circular opening in a cam-plate 49. This plate is shaped at 53 to coact with a fixed pin 52, and is controlled by a spring 51 and an arm 46 attached to a spring-controlled shaft 45. When the shaft 19 is returned to the free position the cam 47 releases the arm 46, and the plate, moving into the dotted position, carries with it the crank 38 owing to the engagement of the pin with the notch 50. Totalizers 18, 40, 55, and 70 may be provided for registering the distance run, the fares as registered by the pence drum, the number of hirings, and the extra payments. The numbers on the fare drums are duplicated to indicate simultaneously in two directions at right-angles, namely to the driver and to the passenger. The particular tariff in operation is shown by means of a slide 59 operated by a cam 58 on the shaft 19. The change from one tariff to the other is effected by change-speed gearing adjusted by means of a cam 8. The cam shaft 19 is locked in any one of its four positions by means of a spring-controlled lever 711, which has a tooth engaging with a notched ring 72 on the cam shaft.