AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING FRAUD BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING FRAUD
BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES."-A Com-
munication from abroad by Charles Gordon Imlay, of Philadelphia,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd January 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
FRAUD BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES," a com-
munication, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to determine the number of fares

page_text: The said Invention consists principally in the combination of an
alarm box and an inclined tube or trough extending longitudinally
through the street car for the admission of balls of certain size, which
balls are to roll through the tube or trough into the alarm box and
sound the bell therein for each fare collected by the conductor as herein- 5
after more fully set forth.
I construct my improved apparatus with an inclined tube supported
in suitable brackets within a street railway or tramway car, which tube
may pass through the car and extend over the conductor's platform.
This end of the tube is closed, and the other end opens into a box 1
containing a bell, and called an alarm box, the key of which should be
in the keeping of the company.
Openings with intervals between them are made in the said tube,
which openings may be cup shaped, and are of a size adapted to the size
of certain balls to be used.
A tube may extend also across the car to receive balls representing
the collection of half fares.
The first-named tube may be made cylindrical, and composed of
alternate sections of glass and metal, the openings being made in the
glass sections, but I do not confine myself either to the shape or material
of the tube, as it may be made of any material or combination of
materials desired, and of any desired shape. It may be made three
sided with a longitudinal slot in the top or upper side for the admission
of the balls, or a simple trough may be used.
In the construction of this tube or trough I prefer to make certain
parts thereof of glass or other suitable transparent material, so that
passengers can see the balls as they pass through the same.
For every fare collected the conductor is required to drop a ball into
one or the other of the openings into the tube. The ball will follow the
tube by its own gravity, and roll into the alarm box, sounding the bell
therein as it strikes the same.
If one passenger settles the fare for himself and others an alarm is
sounded for each by tubing balls for all.
This improved apparatus is simple, cheap, and durable, and answers
fully the purpose for which it is intended, namely, to prevent fraud by
the conductors of tramway cars or similar vehicles.
]

page_text: A registering apparatus may be arranged within the alarm box to
register the balls as they drop therein.
Balls of two sizes, or of the same size, and of two colours, may be
used to denote full and half fares.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the-21st July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING FRAUD BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAM-
WAY CARS AND SIMILAR VEHICLES," a communication to me from abroad
by Charles Gordon Imlay, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
The object of this Invention is to determine the number of fares
collected by conductors of tramway or street cars and similar vehicles ;.
and the nature of the said Invention consists principally in the com-
bination of an alarm box and an inclined tube or trough extending
longitudinally through the vehicle for the admission of balls of certain
size, which balls are to roll through the tube or trough into the alarm
box and sound the bell therein for each farc collected by the conductor,
as herein-after more fully set forth.
a longitudinal section of the same.
A represents an inclined tube supported in suitable brackets within a
street railway or tramway car, which tube may pass through the car
and extend over the conductor's platform. This end of the tube is
closed, and the other end opens into a box B containing a bell C, and 2
called an alarm box, the key of which should be in the keeping of the
company.
Openings a with intervals between them are made in the tube A,
which openings may be cup shaped, and are of a size adapted to the size
of certain balls to be used.
A tubo may extend also across the car to receive balls representing
the collection of half fares.
In the Drawing the tube A is shown cylindrical, and composed of
alternate sections of glass and metal, and the openings a are made in
the glass sections; but I do not confine myself either to the shape or 3
material of the tube, as it may be made of any material or combination
of materials desired, and of any desired shape. It may be made three
sided with a longitudinal slot in the top or upper side for the admission
of the balls, or a simple trough may be used.

page_text: In the construction of the tube or trough I prefer to make certain
parts thereof of glass or other suitable transparent material, so that
passengers can see the balls as they pass through the same.
For every fare collected the conductor is required to drop a ball into
one or the other opening into the tube. The ball will follow the tube
by.its own gravity, and roll into the alarm box, sounding the bell therein
as it strikes the same.
If one passenger settles the fare for himself and others an alarm is
sounded for each by tubing balls for all.
This device is simple, cheap, and durable, and answers fully the
purpose for which it is intended, namely, to prevent fraud by the
conductors of tramway cars or similar vehicles.
A registering apparatus may be arranged within the alarm box to
register the balls as they drop therein.
Balls of two sizes, or of the same size, and of two colors may be used
to denote full and half fares.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, the combination of the tube A
made-in sections of glass and metal and adapted to be extended in an
inclined position along the vehicle and having openings a in its side at
suitable intervals with the box B and alarm C therein, so that as balls
are dropped into the openings they will gravitate to the box and sound
the alarm, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
C
Witness,
HY. JA. Noone."
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)