Improvements in Telephonic Apparatus.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Feb., 1892-Accepted, 26th Mar., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM GRAY, of 250, Lawrence Street,
Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America, Machinist.]
Improvements in Telephonic Apparatus.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of my invention is to provide a simple, compact and comparatively
inexpensive device or apparatus that is adapted for use at a telephone call station
and by means of which the fact of the payment of a specified toll for the use of a
telephone may be automatically signaled to the central office, and a further
object is to provide devices that will facilitate the sending of the sound signals
that denote the payment of the prescribed toll at the pay station.
To this end my invention consists in the combination of the tubular coin channel
and the bell or equivalent sounding device with a part projecting into the coin
channel more or less in the path of movement of a falling coin; and it further
consists in details of the several parts making up the apparatus as a whole and in
their combination as more particularly hereinafter described and pointed out in the
claims.
Referring to the drawings:
Figure 1 is a view in vertical section through the signal apparatus shown in side
view and in connection with the transmitter and telephone.
Figure 2 is a detail view of a signal bell and tube with parts cut away in
section to show construction.
Figure 3 is a detail view of a single signal apparatus.
Figure 4 is a detail view in side elevation of a signal device illustrating it as
used in combination with a plural number of bells.
Figure 5 is a detail view in side elevation of a set of telephone instruments
with parts cut away to show construction and illustrating a different form of
transmitter and telephone from that shown in Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a detail view in side elevation of a set of telephone instruments
with parts cut away to show construction and showing a transmitter arranged
within the battery box.
In the within views the connecting wires extending from the battery to the bells
and to the several other parts are not all shown for the reason that they form no part
of the within invention and are of any well known construction, my invention
being easily and directly applicable in most cases to the ordinary forms of apparatus
without requiring any rewiring or rearrangement of connecting wires.
In prior apparatus for the collection of toll for the use of a telephone the coin
of whatever size or value required has usually been made the agent for unlocking
a signal device that has to be separately operated after it has been unlocked; in
other forms the coin is deposited on a shelf and moved into contact with the
electrical devices that by such contact operate to sound the signal. My within
nvention differs from such prior structures in providing means whereby the coin is
simply dropped into a channel and itself operates to sound the signal used without
requiring anything further on the part of the one paying the toll.
In order to avoid a description of a more or less complicated device my
nvention is shown as embodied in its simplest forms in the accompanying drawings
where the letter a denotes the transmitter of a telephone that commonly makes
TD
017

page_text: one of the set of instruments usually found on the backboard or cabinet in common
use in the telephone service. The several devices are connected up in the usual
manner, the transmitter a being of any usual and convenient form. The letter
denotes the signal box that is preferably secured near the transmitter so that the
sound of the signal may be readily conveyed to it. Within the box is a bell e
or like signal sounding device that may give a musical note when struck, or any
other sound that can be heard and conveyed through the transmitter. The bell
in the form of device illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is secured within the signal
box with the sounding shell turned outwards so that its edges project into the
tubular coin channel d in case it is intended to have the signal consist of two
blows upon the tell. In case but a single blow is intended to be struck the
position of the bell can be reversed or the position of the coin channel changed so
as to carry the coin away from the lower edge of the bell after it has struck the
top edge.
The coin channel d is a flat tube having a slot and projecting at e through the
cover of the box and having an offset part d' into which a coin after it has
struck the edge of the bell rebounds and falls toward the money drawer for
into the bottom of the signal box. In case a second signal is to be sounded
the shape of the coin channel is so arranged that the coin after rebounding from
the edge falls on to the edge c² and from there drops to the bottom of the box.
In order to prevent a coin of any except the proper denomination required
being used, the under side of the coin channel is cut away at g, the opening being
of such a size that any other coin except the right one will fall through the
bottom wall of the tube.
In order to make sure that this coin that is not of the proper denomination
shall not strike the signal the guard h is provided extending in such position as to
prevent the coin by any accident from being thrown against the bell as it drops
into the bottom of the box.
In case several signals are to be sounded in succession, either of different tones
or different in kind the tubular channel is so shaped, as shown in Fig. 4, that
the coin after striking the upper signal i rebounds therefrom into the channel d
and continues to fall until it encounters the signal device . It is obvious that
any desired number of these signals may be used in succession. The side wall of
the tubular channel is cut away in such instance at k so as to allow the bell or
other signal sounding device to either project into the channel or cause a coin in
falling to certainly strike against the signal. The coin channel is preferably made
of thin metal easily cut and formed to shape, and the whole forms an extremely
simple and inexpensive signal device, a coin acting directly as the hammer or
signal striking mechanism without requiring any other mechanism whatever.
There is preferably provided a deflector mounted opposite the signal and
terminating nearly opposite the usual position of the transmitter so that the sound
of the signal will be surely thrown against the diaphragm of the transmitter and.
that the operator at the central office can readily hear the signal caused by the
dropping in of the coin.
All parts of the telephone apparatus are left in their usual condition that is,
unlocked and free of access so that a person can call the central office, ascertain
whether the desired connection can be made with the station desired to be com-
municated with, and can then at the direction of the operator at the central
office drop a coin of the denomination required to pay the toll for local or for
out of town service into the proper place. The operator at the central office
can distinctly hear the sound caused by the striking of the coin against the bell
and can then put the person in telephonic communication with the desired place.
In case it is desired to have the interval between the strokes graduated as to
time it can be done by providing a pocket in the wall of the tube just opposite
and below the first signal device, as illustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 4, and so
sloping the lower wall of the pocket that the coin will take a certain time in
rolling out before it continues its fall in the coin channel. It is preferred that

page_text: the coin shall in each instance strike the signal device with its edge and the
roin channel is formed of a size and outline with that object in view.
It is obvious that my within invention is not limited to any particular shape and
outline, or method of constructing the tubular coin channel, nor is it limited to
any kind or form of bell or signal device as various forms of coin channels and of
bells may be used in various combinations as to number and arranged as to size
and tone without the exercise of invention.
In the several apparatus shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the letter m denotes a
telephone, n the call bell on the hook of which the telephone is hung when not
in use; o denotes the transmitter and the battery box. These parts being of
usual form and construction connected up in the ordinary manner. In addition to
these parts there is provided a signal box within which is arranged a suitable
signal sounding device that in this instance consists of the coin chutes or
channels s and bells t arranged in such position that a coin dropped through the
channels will come in contact with the bells causing the latter to sound. It is.
immaterial, however, whether this particular form of device is used to produce
the sound so long as the signal is sounded at the station and in hearing of the
user of the telephone.
Within the signal box 7 there is arranged a transmitter a in proper position
to receive the sound of the signal that denotes the payment of a toll.
In the form shown in Fig. 5 two transmitters are employed one into which the
sound of the voice is thrown and the other enclosed within the signal box, the
object of this being to provide for the certain sending of the signal that denotes
the payment of the toll, and this is done by enclosing this transmitter in the
same box where the signal sounding device is located, and connecting it into
the circuit.
The same general object can be attained and the transmitter within the signal
box may be used for the transmission of speech by providing a trumpet v so that
it projects from the opening through the wall of the signal box directly over the
front of the transmitter. When the transmitter is located within the box it is
certain to convey the sound of the signals.
In case the apparatus used includes a deflector that extends from the signal
box and terminates nearly opposite the adjustable transmitter (such as is shown
in Fig. 1 of the drawings) the transmitter is liable to be moved out of a position
in front of the upper end of the deflector and for that reason to some extent
interfere with the clear transmission of the signal that is sounded within the box.
The object of the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 is to provide
a form of apparatus in which the transmitter is not movable and for that reason
a greater certainty in the sending of the signal is attained, although the first
described form operates very successfully.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In combination with the sound receiving and transmitting part of a telephone
apparatus, a coin channel and guide, and a signal sounding device having a part
located in the path of movement of the falling coin, all substantially as described.
2. In combination with the sound receiving and transmitting part of a telephone
apparatus, the signal device consisting of a coin guide with one wall cut away
adjacent to the several signal devices, and the plural number of signal devices
cach having a sounding part located in the path of movement of a falling coin,
all substantially as described.
3. In combination with a transmitter for telephone service, a coin channel or
guide having a part of one wall cut away adjacent to the bell and the bell with a
part located in the path of movement of the coin, all substantially as described.
4. In combination with a transmitter for telephone service, a tubular coin
channel having an opening through the wall of the channel for the passage of a

page_text: coin smaller than the one normally adapted for the channel, and a hell having
a part located in the path of movement of a coin, all substantially as described.
5. In combination with a transmitter for telephone service, a tubular coin
channel having an opening through the wall of the channel for the passage of a
coin smaller than the one normally adapted for the channel, a bell having a part
located in the path of movement of a coin, and the guard protecting the signal
device, all substantially as described.
6. In combination with a transmitter for telephone service, the tubular coin
channel having openings on one side and offset portions forming sockets on the
opposite side, and a plural number of sounding devices each having a part located
in the path of movement of the coin, all substantially as described.
7. In combination in a telephone pay station, the automatic signal sounding
device, and the transmitter located within the signal box, all substantially as
described.
8. In combination with a telephone pay station, a box containing a signal
sounding device, the signal sounding device, the transmitter located within the signal
box, and the mouth piece connected at an opening through the signal box opposite
the transmitter, all substantially as described.
9. In a telephone pay station, in combination, a signal box, a transmitter located
and covered within the box, a coin channel having an opening for the reception
of a coin and a bell having a part projecting into the path of movement of a
falling coin, all substantially as described.
Dated this 92wd dor of Wal 1805
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.