Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1872-05-01


of friend | send you a statement Of
what would call the practical workings
of my Patent Right for Voting ApPara-
tus. dated April 9. 1872. 1t is composed
of scales. tubes and balls Thus we sup.
pose 100 members in legislative body,
all can vote at once. First affix a bal
ance beam or scale 10 or IL feet long
Immediately over and above the speak
er's chair fastened to the wall. At each
end of said beam have coil Of spring
steel wire attached abou: 20 or % inches
in length, to which there must be long
strs sht stiff wire attached, hanging down
through the floor, being in case or spout
at the lower end of said wire, which being
some 2! or three feet above the base
ment floor, a little box fitting inside of
the case to catch the balls or ballots.
Secondly or three members gen.
orally sit at one desk. Each members
seat must be numbered, and each member
must have his balls numbered, and each
member must vote his own number bal.
lot or ball
Thirdly-Two tubes must be attached
to each desk, one marked AYE" the
other marked May" These tubes pass
down through the floor, and Immediately
diverge in different directions and inter
sect with other tubes Of Larger size, and
continue descending and running into
others, like small streams of water coming
together and making larger streams, and
eventually all the ayes come together and
empty themselves into this spout having
the wire attached to the end of the scale
beam and also the nays in like manner,
where they are weighed.
Fourthly-There must be plate fixed
permanently against the wall, one at each
side of the speaker. say about five feet
above the floor This plate should be
like the carpenter rule, or like ther
mometer, showing the degrees, and on
the stiff wire finger affixed termed an
indicator. As the balls roll into the
spout and lodge in its closely fitting box
each ball having equal weight-,hey
will draw one nick at the rule, as shown
by the finger pointing to it. The beam
E:Sy vibrate mp and down three or four
inches at each end Say four inches
down at one end would be four inches up
at the other end. All eyes could instant
ly behold the heavy end. and without
word being spoken all would know in
about one minute after the vote was
taken, whether the ayes or nays carried.
The next minute the two clerks would
look at the finger and see to what figure
it pointed, pencil it on paper, and each
hand to the speaker who could and would
announce the exact number of ayes and
nays, after which tie house could pro
ceed to business, and not lose 80 or 40
minutes in voting. as is often the case
by the living voice Again, this being
done. one of the clerks can signal re the
tive clerks, A aud B. in the basement,
who will proceed and draw a slide and
let all the ballots run out into a vessel
prepared for the purpose, and then shut
the slide. and do likewise with the nay
box. Then clerk B, having his printed
list of all the members as they and their
seats are numbered, being seated at his
table ready for action, when clerk A
takes up ballot and calls out Ga, and
while clerk B is hunting and marking
that number, clerk A is distributing said
Ga into its proper case. like the printer
distributing types, and thus in from one
to two honrs each and every member can
see his vote reported. There can be no
fraud practiced without detection. nor
error but can be corrected. would have
two colors of balls, one color always
me aning aye, and the other nay If a
member by being careless should drop
his ballot into aye while he meant nay,
the clerks in the basement would readily
notice it On the top of the tubes at the
desk have a pretty little cup with
spring Glide always shut. only when used
to vote, then shove the Glide aside, drop
in your ball, and it will close itself and
prevent any dirt getting into the tube.
The tubes may be lead pipes. gutta-
percha, vulcanized rubber, or any other
When the house adjourns,
those two clerks, A and B. in the base
ment will carry up and distribute to each
his ballots, 80 that when the
House assemblies next day, they are sup
piled with ballots. This system would
save four fifths or more of time in Legis
lative bodies, and is equal to large
amount of money.
II. 7. MCALISTER.