IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING VOTING BY BALLOT, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crittenden and. Thonias Wells, both of
Maidstone, in the County of Kent; for the Invention of "IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING VOTING BY BALLOT,
AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joliu Cruttenden and
Thomas Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their l'etition, on the 2nd April 1869.
.
We, JOHN (RUTTENDEN and THOMAS WELLS, both of Maidstone, in
the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING VOTING BY
BALLOT, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH," to be as follows:

page_text: the number of balls corresponding to the number of persons to be elected
may be employed.
The apparatus consists of one set or sets of revolving doors or turn-
stiles, through which the voter passes into a chamber to record his vote,
and then passes through another set or sets of revolving doors or turn-
stiles out of the chamber; these doors are connected by mechanism,
either under the flooring or enclosed in suitable casing above them, or
both, by which one entrance door as it is opened secures the exit door,
and when the voter has passed into the chamber the door by which he
entered also becomes secured and prevents his return, except by the
exit door. This is accomplished by fitting to the axles on which the
doors revolve a plate or disc. Each of such plates or discs has studs or
projections on it (preferably on the periphery), which come against the
end of a swivel plate forked at each end, and placed under the floor or
cased above, or both. As the entrance door is rotated the forked end
prevents its being opened beyond the required distance, at the same
time the stud on the opposite side of the disc pushes the corresponding
end of the plate to one side by acting on the other end of the fork, the
swivel plate moving on its centre; this movement causes the fork on
the other end of the plate to engage and hold fast the disc of the other
or exit door. Stops may be employed to act against the studs as well
as the forks to ensure their fixedness.
In some cases we mount a bevil wheel on the door axle, and by a
train of wheels in gear therewith and a dial or dials register the number
of persons that have passed in or out, and where this is not required
the internal arrangements of compartments can be used as a complete
voting apparatus without the revolving doors.
Inside the chamber we provide a series of open or close compart-
ments, which are provided with revolving drums or pockets, the axles
of which are in connection with wheelwork and dials, so that cach
movement of the drums is registered. A ball when placed in a pocket
or drum causes the drum to rotate a sufficient distance to bring a solid
portion against or by other means to fasten the hole or opening by
which the ball is inserted; the ball passes into an inclined shoot or tube
leading outside the chamber to be used again by other voters. Additional
mechanism is worked in connection with the door axle by a train of
wheels or levers leading to slides or bolts fitted to the boxes containing

page_text: the drums by which all the closed boxes shall be opened ready for the
next voter. We also provide compartments and drums with registering
apparatus, into which a voter can drop a ball or balls as neutral votes.
Over the compartments (which are of various colours) the names of the
candidates are posted, and each voter as he passes along in the chamber
drops the ball into one or other of them corresponding to the candidate's
name he chooses to vote for. Locked panels or doors are provided, by
which the dials are completely protected from the view of the voter,
and an extra entrance for officials to ascertain the result without
disturbing the revolving doors.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Cruttenden and Thomas Wells in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
CRUTTENDEN and THOMAS WELLS, both of Maidstone, in the County
of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us,
grant unto us, the said John Cruttenden and
Thomas Wells, Her special licence that we, the said John Cruttenden
and Thomas Wells, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Cruttenden and Thomas Wells, our
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 "Iк-
PROVED ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING VOTING BY BALLOT, AND
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Cruttenden
and Thomas Wells, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or one of our or their, or one of their hands and

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Cruttenden and Thomas
Wells, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention relates to certain arrangements and combinations of
apparatus for receiving and registering votes by ballot, whereby only the
number of balls corresponding to the number of persons to be elected
may be employed.
The apparatus consists of one set or sets of revolving doors or turnstiles,
through which the voter passes into a portable chamber to record his
vote, and then passes through another set or sets of revolving doors or
turnstiles out of the chamber; these doors are connected by mechanism,
either under the flooring or enclosed in suitable casing above, or both, by
which one entrance door as it is opened secures the exit door, and when
the voter has passed into the chamber the door by which he entered also
This
becomes secured and prevents his return, except by the exit door.
is accomplished by fitting to the axles on which the doors revolve a
plate or disc. Each of such plates or discs has studs or projections on it
(preferably on the periphery), which come against the end of a swivel
plate forked at each end and placed under the floor or cased above, or
both. As the entrance door is rotated the forked end prevents its being
opened beyond the required distance, at the same time the stud on the
opposite side of the disc pushes the corresponding end of the plate to
one side by acting on the other end of the fork, the swivel plate moving
on its centre; this movement causes the fork on the other end of the
plate to engage and hold fast the disc of the other or exit door. Stops
may be employed to act against the studs as well as the forks to ensure
their fixedness.
In some cases we mount a bevel wheel on the door axle by a train of
wheels in gear therewith, and a dial or dials register the number of
persons that have passed in or out,' and where this is not required the

page_text: internal arrangement of compartments can be used as a complete voting
apparatus without the revolving doors.
Inside the chamber we provide a series of open or close compartments,
which are provided with revolving drums or pockets, the axles of which
are in connection with wheelwork and dials, so that each movement of
the drums is registered. A ball when placed in a pocket or drum causes
the drum to rotate a sufficient distance to deposit the ball into an inclined
shoot and bring a solid portion against or by other means to fasten the
drum and prevent the registering of another ball by that drum while
that voter is present; the ball passes down the inclined shoot or tube
Addi-
leading outside the chamber to be used again by other voters.
tional mechanism is worked in connection with the door axle by a train
of wheels or levers leading to slides or bolts fitted to the drums, by which
all the closed drums shall be opened ready for the next voter. We also
provide compartments and drums with registering apparatus, into which
a voter can drop a ball or balls as neutral votes, and a similar drum and
registering apparatus to receive by a separate shoot any superfluous balls
beyond the first that may be put into the hole leading to a voting drum;
these drums are self-acting and register every ball that passes them.
Over the compartments (which are of various colours) the names of the
candidates are posted, and each voter as he passes along in the chamber
drops the ball into one or other of them corresponding to the candidate's
name he chooses to vote for. Locked panels or doors are provided by
which the dials and shoots are completely protected from the view of
the voter, and an extra entrance for officials to ascertain the result
without disturbing the revolving doors.
And in order that our Invention may be clearly understood we annex
the following description and the accompanying Drawings thereto.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the inside of a structure in which the
voting may take place; Figure 2 is a sectional plan, and Figure 3 a
sectional side elevation of the same shewing the arrangements of
mechanism and the combinations of apparatus for effecting the object
before referred to.
A, A, are doors or turnstiles through which the voter passes; the voter
enters at the part marked B in the direction indicated by the arrow.
The doors are in sets of four C, D, E, F, and H, I, J, K, and are

page_text: mounted or carried respectively upon a central pin or spindle, and as
either of the doors C, D, E, F, are pushed inwards to allow the voter to
pass in the spindle causes a plate or disc L fitted on it to turn a quarter
revolution in the same direction; this plate is provided with 4 stops
a, b, c, d, so that when the full distance of the quarter revolution is
travelled one of the stops comes against one leg e of a swivel plate M,
which is secured under the flooring and out of sight. This leg of the
swivel plate is brought into action by another of the stops acting against
the inside of the other leg f on the same end of the swivel plate,
and supposing the voter to have passed inside the door becomes secured
by the stop e, as just stated, and the voter when he wishes to leave can
only do so by the exit door at the other end of the structure. This exit
door H, I, J, K, is made in a similar manner to the entrance door, and
its spindle is furnished with a disc or plate L' to act upon and secure
the opposite end legs of the swivel plate M. The voter having been
provided with a corresponding number of balloting balls as there are
persons to be elected passes into the structure as before explained, and
when he gets inside he places the balls into one or more of the holes g, g,
in the face plate or board; these holes correspond with the names of the
candidates seeking election that are posted above, or he may place them
or any number of them into the neutral hole h, if he desires to do so.
In the view, Figure 1, we have shewn the structure as having the names
of 8 candidates posted in it, and there are 8 holes corresponding to them
and an additional hole h for the neutral votes only. Behind each of the
holes or tubes there is a drum k mounted on a spindle, so that it may
turn freely in one direction only by ratchet and pauls, and as the voter
places the ball or balls through the hole one only passes into the pocket
of the drum, causing it to rotate, depositing the ball in the shoot, and
registering its passage locks the drum by the lever pauls, and passes into
the shoot leading to a box or receiver outside the chamber to be used by
the next voter. The turning of the exit door a quarter of a revolution
causes a toothed wheel to move a corresponding distance, and by the
intermediate wheel m gearing into it and into the pinion na sliding
bar p, Figure 4, is moved a suitable distance so as to release holding
paul levers q from the stops with which the periphery of each of the
drums is furnished. The pinion n is fitted on a vertical spindle i; this
has a crank on it, which works in a slotted plate on the end of the
sliding bar p so as to draw it to and fro. Each of the drums is provided

page_text: with a dial and train of wheels, so that each time it moves the pointer or,
index is moved to indicate it. This dial and the parts connected with it
are to be under the charge of the returning officer, so that when the
time for voting has expired or the whole of the voters have attended and
registered their votes the returning officer can enter by another door and
read off the figures on the dials; the spindle of each door is also con-
nected with dial mechanism fitted outside the structure, so that the entry
and the exit of each voter are indicated accordingly. The way in which
we prefer to accomplish this is by carrying the door spindles above
the entry and exit doors, and by means of bevil gearing s, seen in
Figure 3, the dial mechanism is moved. The doors are only free to turn
in one direction, and when one door is free the other is secured, and
in order that a view of interior of the mechanism may be had as the
voter passes out we connect one end of a rod to the door mechanism,
which acts upon the laths or louvre boards t and throws them open, so
that an officer posted for the purpose may see the drums and shoots, and
detect any attempt at tampering with them without being able to see the
dial plates of the indicators. The louvre boards are closed by the action
of the entry door as the next voter pushes it open to pass in.
The
drums are divided into 8 parts, 4 of which are pockets and 4 blanks or
solid bodies, and as the voter is leaving the drums rotate an eighth of a
revolution, as before explained, and bring their solid portions behind the
holes or tubes and become locked by lever pauls, so that by no possible
chance can the drum be shifted; the drums which have been acted upon
are brought into position again by a rod in connection with the entry
door acting upon the stop pieces on the periphery of the drums.
Figure 5 is a view of a registering drum for the neutral or waste balls,
As the balls run down the shoot from the receiving drum it strikes
against the free end u of the balanced lever and this disengages the
opposite end from the pocket; the ball at the same time passes under the
free end and enters the pocket at the entrance, and its weight causes
the drum to rotate to bring the pocket in line with a delivery shoot w,
which leads to the box outside the structure. When the balanced lever
is struck by the ball it depresses that end and lifts the other out of the
pocket to enable the drum to turn, and on the recovery of its equilibrium
the opposite end enters the next pocket and retains it in that position
until the next ball strikes against the lever, when it acts in a similar

page_text: manner. An end view of the free end of the lever is represented in
Figure 6.
Figures 7 and 8 are views of another form of drum for receiving the
balls where there are no solid portions. In this construction, as well
as in the other, 2 delivering shoots are provided, so that when the first
ball is placed in one of the pockets its weight causes the drum to turn a
fixed distance and bring an opening in line with the hole or tube, so that
should the voter place another ball through the same hole it passes
through the back of the drum and runs down the shoot and becomes
registered as a neutral or waste ball. The drum is set in position again
for the next voter as the previous voter is leaving the structure. On
Sheet 2 we have shewn the interior of a room in which the structure is
erected. The voter having been duly examined by the officials sitting at
the table passes the barrier y and receives the required number of balls
from the person stationed at the entrance, and then enters the structure
by the passage B, pushing the door before him as he goes in. He then
deposits the ball or balls into the holes under the name or names of the
candidate or candidates he wishes to vote for, and passes out at the exit
door at the other end. In some cases we propose that the panels on
which the names are posted shall be painted in various colors, so that
cach candidate having a color of its own and by which he became
known shall be easily distinguished, and so persons who cannot read
may be enabled to vote for the party he has selected without being
influenced by others at the time of polling. We fit panels in the front
of the structure, so that the returning officer or other official may enter
at any time without shifting the position of either the entrance or exit
doors. There are other doors inside the structure, which are kept
securely locked, so that the mechanism can be got at without difficulty.
We do not confine ourselves to the employment of rotating doors, as in
some cases these may be dispensed with, and a ballotting apparatus
suitable for some purposes completed without them.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as
our Invention,-
First. The general construction and arrangements of mechanism for
facilitating voting by ballot, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Secondly. The means herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings of registering the votes of persons by the employment of a
heutral or waste drum or drums in combination with the other drums.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Cruttenden and Thomas
Wells, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second day
of October One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN CRUTTENDEN. (L.S.)
THOMAS WELLS.
(L.S.)