Patent GB-190111086-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Voting-Machines.
Inventor: LUELLEN LAWRENCE WALTER
Filed: 1901-05-29
Granted: 1901-08-10
Abstract: 11,086. Luellen, L. W. May 29. Voting-apparatus.-Relates to a voting-machine contained by a portable folding booth, preferably formed of tubular parts. The end frame consists of posts 15, Figs. 3 and 4, and cross members 16 united by fittings 17. The voting-machine is supported by vertical bars 18. The side frames consist of uprights 19 and horizontal members united by fittings 22. A cross-member 23<1> is used to maintain the booth in its open position. The side frames have doors 24, 24', each consisting of a U-shaped piece of tubing connected to hinged sockets 26 and having stops or projections 27. The doors are preferably pivoted to the hinges, and have tongues which allow them to turn inwards, but not outwards, on the pivots. A floor or platform 14 is pivoted to one end of the booth, and beneath it is a pivoted cross-bar or support 32, to which levers 33, 35 are pivoted. When a person steps on the platform, these levers are operated, so as to act on vertical rods in the uprights 19 and connected by bell-crank levers with spring latches, so as to look the entrance door 24 and unlock the exit door 24'. When the person leaves the booth, the locking action is reversed. The voting-machine has a keyboard 46 arranged in vertical rows according to the political parties, and bearing the names of the candidates. The five rows of keys 49<1> to the left bear the names of the candidates of prominent political parties, while the row 49<11> may be for independent candidates and control the shuttera of openings 50, behind which move webs of paper P, Fig. 7, upon which voters may write the names of the desired candidates. A set of question keys 49<111>, Fig. 4, is arranged in two vertical rows corresponding to the answers " yes " and "no." The casing has inner transparent doors 47<b>, Fig. 7, with a key-actuated lock 47<c>, and an outer opaque door 47<d>. Each key has a head or finger piece 51, to which a piece of cardboard bearing the candidate's name may be secured by a frame and screws, and a shank. The keys 49', 49<111> each control a register R, indicating the total number of votes, and a web of paper P', Fig. 12, marked or perforated by a marking means or punch 59, preferably mounted independently of the key so as to slide in openings in a supporting-bar 60. Each punch has an enlargement with two openings to receive withdrawing-springs 63, 64 attached to the bar 60, the spring 63 being also connected to the actuating-lever 65 of the register R. The paper P<1> passes over a die-plate 59<1> in its passage from a roller 66, gripped by supporting spring side brackets 67, to a roller 68. The rollers 68 on the same horizontal row are carried by a common shaft 69 rotated when a person steps on to the platform 14, detents on a bar 70 engaging ratchet-wheels 72 having fixed non-return detents. This bar is connected by a pin and slot to a lever operated by a rod connected to the lever 35. The upper end of the bar is bent and connected by a pin and slot to the actuating-arm of a register for indicating the total number of voters who have entered the booth. The keys pressed by a voter are locked in their recording position by a spring-operated locking- strip 78 engaging the shoulder of the cam 58, the part of the strip for the keys 49<111> being connected by a pin and slot to the part of the strip for the other keys. To prevent more than one key in the same horizontal row from being operated, dogs 81, sliding in channels 82, are operated by a cam-faced partition 55, in a recessed part of the key, so as to lock the remaining keys. To lock certain rows of keys, when a person not having full franchise enters the booth, the corresponding end dogs are previously adjusted transversely by selective keys85, so as to bring their enlarged bevelled ends into the smaller recesses in a sliding locking-bar having two rows of recesses. This locking bar is operated by an angle lever engaging a recess at its bottom and projecting through an opening in the casing. The depressed keys are released by the action of pins 97, carried by a sleeve 96, on the locking-strips 78. The motion of the sleeve 96 is limited by a horizontal slot engaged by a stud secured to the upright 15. A stud on the sleeve engages a long slot in the lower hinge 26 which is connected to the upright by a spring. Another spring connects the upper hinge to the sleeve 96. The keys 49<11> operate registers, and control pivoted shutters 107 with which they have a pin-and-slot connection. The paper web P is operated similarly to the web P', and passes over a platen 108 opposite the opening. In order to lock all the keys at the end of the election, and enable the officers to read the totals, the locking-bar is operated by a cam consisting of three plates 117, 118, 119 having grooves engaged by a pin on the locking-bar and a roller in its grooved end. The cam is enclosed by a casing 120, and is operated by a band-lever 128. As the cam is operated, it forces a spring-pressed locking-pin 134 against a vertical pivoted bar 137, which engages the heads 87 of the rods 85 so as to bring the end dogs opposite the larger recesses in the locking-bar, which is then brought into locking position and retained there by the pin 134, which is shot into a locking-recess in the cam. The lever 128 also operates a lever 139 carrying a bolt to engage a socket secured to the outer door of the casing. The bolt is normally held down by a spring, and has a bevelled end so as automatically to engage the socket when the door is closed.