IMPROVEMENTS IN CHECKING THE AMOUNTS TAKEN AS FARES BY CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, AND SUCH LIKE PUBLIC VEHICLES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Stewart Wallis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th February 1874.
I, ALEXANDER STEWART WALLIS, of Old Ford, in the County of
Middlesex, Accountant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHECKING THE AMOUNTS TAKEN AS FARES BY
CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, AND SUCH LIKE PUBLIC VEHICLES," to
be as follows :-
This Invention relates to improvements in checking the amounts
taken as fares by conductors of tramway cars, omnibuses, and such like
public vehicles.
According to my Invention as applied to tramway cars a locked
receptacle is provided at the end of the car at which passengers have to
alight for the reception of tickets, as herein-after described, which box has
provided underneath the aperture through which the tickets are inserted
a series of bent wires crossing one another, and opening with a spring

page_text: action as the tickets are inserted, the object of these wires being to
prevent any tickets being abstracted after once introduced.
It being necessary also in carrying out my Invention that the outside
passengers should be compelled to leave at the same end as the other
passengers a gate is provided at the upper end of the steps at each end
of the car so that one may be kept locked, thus shutting off the steps at
that end and compelling the passengers to descend at the other end.
This gate may be readily applied to the existing rail which surrounds the
tops of tramway cars, and should be made by preference to open and
close by sliding, thus practically taking up no extra room, and the lock
should be so constructed as to be self-fastening as the gate is drawn into
its place, thus requiring the application of the key by the conductor for
opening it only.
Each passenger on entering the car, or as soon as possible after having
taken his seat, has handed to him by the conductor a ticket bearing on
it the amount of his fare and the distance covered by such fare, which
ticket is snipped by the conductor before being handed to the passenger,
thus preventing the possibility of the ticket being used again without
detection. On leaving the car each passenger deposits the ticket
received in the said locked receptacle at the end of the car.
The conductor at the commencement of the day has handed to him a
certain number of tickets, and at the end of the day the number
remaining in his possession and the number in the locked receptacle
must together make up the total number received by him in the
morning, or he must himself make up the deficiency. This will ensure 2
his seeing that every passenger deposits the ticket in the locked
receptacle, and once in they cannot be abstracted. Moreover as each
ticket given out to the passengers has first to be snipped by the con-
ductor, he could not present them to his employers as unused tickets
even if by any means he could get any of them into his possession.
return of all tickets issued being thus ensured the amount taken by the
conductor during the day can be readily ascertained.
The
When desired each ticket handed to the conductor in the morning
may be stamped with the date of issue. It would also be advisable that
notices be printed on the tickets, and exhibited both within and without 3

page_text: the car to the effect that passengers must place the tickets issued to them
in the receptacle at the end of the car before alighting.
In applying my Invention to other descriptions of vehicles small
modifications which may be necessary may be effected without departing
from the principle of my Invention.