IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO TRAM CARS AND OTHER PUBLIC VEHICLES FOR REGISTERING AND REGULATING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CONVEYED, PART OF WHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas William Ward, the younger,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1877
THOMAS WILLIAM WARD, the younger, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Colliery Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO TRAM CARS AND
OTHER PUBLIC VEHICLES FOR REGISTERING AND REGULATING THE NUMBER OF
PASSENGERS CONVEYED, PART OF WHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES."
This Invention relates chiefly to improvements in apparatus for registering the
number of passengers in tramway cars and other public vehicles, and for preventing
overcrowding of the same, but parts of such improvements are applicable to places
of public resort.
In carrying out my Invention as applied (for example) to a tram car of ordinary
construction, I employ at each end of the car two or more turnstiles or similar
appliances, through one of which all persons must pass on entering, and through the
other on leaving, such entrance and exit being at the end of the car furthest from
the motive power, and, by preference, the entrance on one side and the exit on the
other side of the car. On the shafts or axes of the turnstiles, I secure ratchet wheels
or their equivalents, to prevent them from being turned in the opposite direction to
that intended; a second shaft, provided with short arms which engage with and are
worked by the arms of the exit turnstile, is also provided with a similar number of
drop bolts or catches, which fit one at a time into a corresponding hole formed in
the floor, securely locking the turnstile till the bolt or catch is raised; the turnstile
can then be caused to revolve till the next bolt or catch drops into the before-
mentioned hole. Under the hole or cavity into which the bolt or catch drops, and
working vertically in it, is the releaser, which may be a separate piece, or simply
the end of a lever bent upwards. This lever can only be moved by the action of a
handle conveniently placed in conjunction with certain balls which are given to the
passengers at the time of collecting the fares. Where only one fare charged only
one size of ball is required; but where two or more fares are charged a similar
number of sizes of balls is desirable.
The method of working this arrangement where two fares are charged is as
follows:-The fares are represented by balls of two diameters, and two arrangements

page_text: of levers are connected with the handle and the releaser; a space is arranged
between the handle and the levers which prevents any action taking place, this
space corresponding in one lever to the size of the large ball, and in the other lever
to that of the smaller ball. Under the receptacle into which the balls are placed by
the passenger is a spout or slide, having a slit or portion cut away just sufficient to
allow the smaller ball to drop through; each ball is guided into the space above
mentioned, which it fills (or thereabouts), and on the handle being pressed the levers
actuate the releaser, and raising the bolt releases the turnstile for the passenger to
pass through, when the next bolt drops. This process must be repeated for each
passenger who leaves the car; counters may be attached to each lever, showing at
a glance the number of fares taken; but a more simple process consists in counting
the balls as they are taken from the box or receptacle into which they had
dropped.
In order to regulate the number of passengers, I transmit the motion of the turn-
stiles by means of bevel wheels and intermediate shafts and gearing to two or more
index screws, placed conveniently in some part of the car and working independently;
by preference, I fix these screws alongside and parallel to each other. Each screw
is provided with a travelling stop plate, having a hole threaded to suit the thread
ot the screw, and as they are prevented by suitable slides from revolving with the
screw, it follows that they are drawn to and fro, as the case may be, when the screw
is turned round. These stops cannot pass each other when they are brought together
by the action of the screws, and would therefore when in that position cause a
"lock" in the various parts.
The apparatus operates in the following manner :-Assuming that the vehicle is
intended to hold 50 persons, the stops are arranged at a distance of 50 threads of
the screw apart, and on the entrance of one person the movement of the turnstile is
communicated to the screw, and the stop on that screw is advanced one thread
towards the other, and so on till the proper number have passed through the turnstile,
when the stop coming in contact with the other locks the turnstile and prevents any
more entering; on a passenger leaving the other screw is moved, and the opposito
stop is moved back a thread, which allows the entrance turnstile to be moved once.
An arrangement of clutch or release motion prevents any movement of the corre-
sponding turnstiles at the opposite end of the car, which are also locked by an
arrangement of the draw bar or other suitable means.
In lieu of screws I sometimes employ an arrangement of suitable wheels on the
axes of the turnstiles, or connected therewith, having on their peripheries a given
number of teeth, which engage in an endless length of machine chain; this chain
has an excess of teeth in proportion to the number of passengers to be carried, such
excess of chain forming a loop, which is taken up link by link as the passengers
enter, till the full number have passed through, when the turnstile is locked. Pas-
sengers passing out reverse the action, and thus by this simple means there can
only be a given number of passengers admitted, and overcrowding is avoided.
The before-mentioned details may be modified to suit special arrangements und
purposes, without departing from the principle of the Invention.