The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-01 00:00:00

DARING BURGLARY AT EPSOM

BANK.
CAPTURE OF TWO BURGLARS.

This morning at half-past 12 o'clock the: banking-
house of Messrs. Mangles, at Epsom, Surrey, was broken
into, and an immense quantity of silver, cheques, notes,
and gold, besides other property, was stolen therefrom.
Two men, since recognised as London thieves, were
stopped outside the town by a mounted patrol
of the V division, who suspected them from the
heavy burdens they were carrying, and drew his
en :lass, with which he threatened to cut them
down if they moved. The constable took them to
t he Epsom station-house, when Sergeant Kennedy, the
acting inspector for that district, had them strictly
seareibed, and a large quantity of money, principally
silo: r, was t aken from them, as well es other valuable
booty; they were then locked up and the property se-
cured. The acting inspector communicated by express
with Mr. Bicknell, the superintendent, who resides at
Wandsworth, and he immediately forwarded informa-
tion to the Police Commissioners.

MR. POWNALL'S OMNIBUS PAS-
SENGER INDEX.—(THIS DAY.)
By the courtesy of Mr. C. J. Pownali, a private
gentleman of fortune, we have, this afternoon, been
afforded an opportunity of witnessing, at the Free-
masons' Tavern, an extremely ingenious instrument,
invented and patented by him, by which the exact
number of persons who ride in an omnibus, during a
journey, are correctly registered, so as to operate as
a obeck against the conductor in charge of
the vehicle. Should this invention answer its
desired end, and we have little doubt it will,
the great desideratum of a check by om-
nibus proprietors and companies upon their con-
ductors will have been attained, and the former
consequently saved a great deal of money, of which
it is supposed they are daily defrauded under the
present system by such of their servants as are of a
dishonest turn. The reader will perceive that this is
a matter of considerable importance, and he will be
naturally desirous of knowing the means by which it
can be achieved. We shall therefore endeavour
to give a brief and intelligible description of Mr.
Pawners invention, so far as we cam do so in
popular language, and without the aid of diagrams.
Its principle consists in causing the entrance of every
person into or upon a carriage or other conveyance,
or into or upon any passage way, to complete an
electric circuit or connexion with a voltaic battery
suitably placed, and such completion of the circuit to
actuate a system of wheelwork and numbering index
connected therewith, whereby the feet of such en-
trance, and any number of entrances, will be unerringly
ascertained and registered. The machine by which
this is effected consists of a dial plate about six inches
square, with pointers and index, to which is attached
a voltaic battery. These are placed in a box below
the floor of the omnibus, close to the step by which
passengers ascend and descend to and from the inside
Beate. The steps both to the outside and inside of the
omnibus av so constructed on spriegs, that the weight
of a person getting into the veliicle, or upon the out-
side, brings the electric wires of the voltaic battery
into contact, 'so es to complete an electric circle or
connexion. TLe wires are coiled several times round
a piece of soft iron in the firm of a horse shoe, only
not so large, which piece of soft iron is mag-
netized immediately on the completion of the elec-
tric citrcult. The iron so magnetiz'd attracts
a piece of metal connected with two or three cog-
wiAtels immediately behind and in connexion wit&
the dial-plate and actuates them, and these wheels, in
their turn, move the hands on the dial-plate. An
apparatus such as we have briefly described being
placed below the flour of' the oranibti4 and the steps
to 'with the inside and outside being also constructed
as we have mentioned, the result is that the number of
porsons who travel in the vehicle ere unerringly
a4ceTtained and registered on the dial-plate.
The weight of a person stepping out or iota
an omnibus, or from the outside, sets the
machine in motion, and the dial counts
one, and so on according to the number of passengers
who get out and in. Of course a single passenger in
stepping into and out of the vehicle actuates the ma-
chine twice; the dial-plate, therefore, shows two fur
each person, 'out the number on the dial-plate being
divided by two gives the exact number of passengers
who have travelled during the journey or the day,
and so operates as an effectual check upon the con-
ductore.

It has been tightly supposed that any instrument
cof this tell-tale description which was visible or patent
t ) either the passengers or the conductors would be
(fable to be tampered with or injured ; and therefore
Mr. Pownall, the inventor, has wisely enclosed it
under 6 Brareah lock and key, so as to be accessible
only to the proprietors or their representatives pro-
prle authorised to inspect it.
We wore curious to know how the instrument dis-
tinguished threepenny from sixpenny riders, and we
f,u much to our amusement :awl surprise,
that it provided e 'ell for this desideratum.
Suppose an oronj us t:avels from the Bank
t Bayswater, and that its threepenny ride
either way erends to Che ri3g-cr. s., an agent
of the proprietors at either end of the full journey,
on VI) omnibus at rting, opens the box inclosing the
index and takes a note of the number to which the
hands print; on the vehicle reaching Chiring-cross,
the extent of the threepenny ride, another agent of
the proprietors, or the time-keeper, as it way be,
again 0; ens the box, and seeing the index pointing at
(say) 17, he counts the passengers remaining in or on
the omnibus, wk,ich may be 6: he then deducts 6
from 17, and the difference, 11, shows the number
of threepenny rides there have been. By an ingenious
arrangement, too, a person may stand ever so long on
the step of the vehic'e, or dance a jig on it if he likes,
but the index on his getting off will only count cne.
Such are few of the more obvious and general
features of Mr. Pownall's ingenious invention, as it
hai be( n exhibited to us to-thy, and we congratulate
omnibus proprietors atd companies on at least pos-
sessing an apparatus which will secure to them
intact every farthing of the profits of their trad-
ing concerns, and enable them to detect acts of
dishonesty on the part of their servants, at whose
mercy they have hitherto wholly been. So effective
does Mr. Pownall's invention seem that there appears
no way of esceping its recording finger unless the
conductor of an omibus can manage to lift his pas-
sengers out and in by the window or the door of the
vehicle.. Indeed, should that functionary himself
leave lis usual perch, and by the slightest chance,
stand on the step of the omnibus, the inexorable re-
gister will count one, and so mulct him in threepence
for Lis carelessness.