Improvements in Ticket Punches.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ticket Punches.
I, JOHN SMITH COMRIE, Civil Engineer, of 7, Great Winchester Street, in the
County of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My said invention has for its object the improvement of certain parts of ticket
punches manufactured, under various Patents numbered 14694 of 1886 19356
of 1890 and 15692 of 1894, by the Ticket Punch and Register Company Limited
of the above address, so as to render such parts more simple and durable, and
to add to these punches a device for sealing instead of securing with a lock the
covers of same, and to occult the present visible register so that it can only be
made visible when so desired.
My principal improvement consists in altering the mechanism to prevent the
punch being actuated without a ticket, so that the stop-piece to prevent same
comes as far back as possible in the punch-case, and as nearly as possible directly
under the thumb-piece of lever used in actuating the whole mechanism, which
I do by connecting the said stop-piece suitably with the movable plunger in the
ticket punch, so that it actuates same on the introduction of a ticket, combined
with a partial movement of the lever, the said stop-piece consisting of a hinged
lever, the free end of which rests normally immediately under the rear end of the
said punching lever, and is only free to move clear of same as hereinafter
described.
My next improvement consists in covering the sight orifice of the case with a
hinged shutter connected in such a way with the seal-piece that when the punch
is locked by the seal the said shutter is securely fixed over said sight orifice.
The locking or sealing arrangement consists of a sliding bar let into the back of
the punch-case, one end of which engages in a notch in the aforesaid register-
shutter when such is first closed by hand, and on the other end of this bar I
place a suitable receptacle for a seal, preferably of paper or lead, which must
first be pierced or destroyed before it be possible to press down with a suitable
knife-like pricker the springs which hold the said bar in its position when the
punch is locked by a suitable lever, the free end of which is bent or hooked,
working in a slot in said bar, which engages with the hasp of bell-cover and so
holds it shut, the bell-cover in its turn bolding down the hopper ditto, and thus
securing all covers of the case by which access can be obtained to the interior
of the instrument.
The aforesaid sealing device is so arranged that any damage done to the seal
by attempting to open unauthorisedly the punch is at once detected by the neces-
sary destruction of the special device printed on the said lead wafer or seal,
which lies in a suitable sinking in the plate attached to the bar which forms
the locking medium of the entire punch-case.
il: Olat day of January 1899.

page_text: I, JOHN SMITH COMRIE, of 7, Great Winchester Street, E.C., in the County of
London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in ticket punches such as described
in the Specifications of Letters Patent No. 14694 of 1886, 19356 of 1890 and
15692 of 1894, and has for its principal objects to simplify their construction
and render them more durable in operation and to provide a shutter for occulting
the register and an improved arrangement of lock and seal for securing the said
shutter and the bell and hopper covers of the ticket punch, in their closed
positions.
I will describe my invention by reference to the accompanying drawings
in which:-
.
Fig. 1 is a plan of one of my improved ticket punches with the covers detached.
Fig. 2 is a section on the crooked line 2-2 of Fig. 1 with certain parts omitted.
Fig. 3 is a view of the ticket-punch showing the side opposite to that represented
in Fig. 1.
.
Fig. 4 is a section of the locking device, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.
Fig. 5. represents two seals for use in the lock, and
Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a side and an end elevation of a key or device
for opening the lock.
Like letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
According to my present invention I connect the pivotted operating lever A to
the punch B, and provide the latter with a pin C in substantially the manner
described and illustrated in the before mentioned Specifications No. 1935690 and
15692. To the underside of the operating lever A I pivot an arm or blade D
which bears against the rear end of the pin C and is adapted to operate a
pirotted stop-piece E which, for this purpose, is pivotally connected to one
end of a bar F longitudinally movable in a groove g in the casing G, as shown in
Fig. 2. The opposite end of the bar F is provided with an inclined cam f, on
which the arm or blade D is caused to act as hereinafter described, and which is
held in contact with the free end of the said arm or blade, by a spring e secured to,
or acting upon, the stop-piece E. The stop piece E normally is situated beneath,
and in the path of, the heel a of the operating lever A near the thumb-piece a,
that is to say, a considerable distance away from the pivot a³, and therefore in
the position best adapted to present the necessary resistance to the pressure
exerted on the lever A when an attempt to operate the ticket-punch is made with-
out a ticket having been previously inserted in the ticket-slit gl. When the ticket-
punch is operated in the ordinary legitimate manner, that is to say, after a
ticket has been inserted in the slit g¹, the resistance presented by the said ticket,
to the advance of the pin C, prevents the forward movement of the arm or blade D,
which, through the descent of the operating lever A, is then caused to act on
the cam f and thereby, through the bar F, to move the stop-piece E out of the path
of the heel a so as to permit of the operating lever A being fully depressed for
completing the ticket-punching and registering operation.
The before mentioned shutter H is hinged at h to the casing G so that it may be
closed down over the sight orifice G¹, as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, in which
position it is capable of being locked by the arm i of a plate or bar I which is
mounted in the casing G so that it may be moved towards, and away from, the

page_text: shutter H. The shutter H is provided with a recess, or, preferably, as shown
in Figs. 2 and 3, with a projection with which the arm i engages, to lock the
said shutter in its closed position, and it is also provided with a spring h³ which
throws the shutter open as soon as the arm i is disengaged from it. The plate
or bar I is provided with a preferably circular recess for receiving a seal J
which may be formed of paper or lead and may have depicted on one of its faces,
a distinctive symbol or design such for example as either of those represented in
Fig. 5. while its other face may either bear another and different symbol or
design, or be left plain. The plate or bar I is provided with a slot extendings
across the bottom of the recess, and with this slot a series of spring-controlled
plungers engage when the said plate or bar I is in engagement with the
shutter H. The plate or bar I is fitted to slide beneath a cover plate G³ provided
with a slot g3 which is immediately over the slot 2, when the plate or bar I is
in its locking position, and the said plate or bar is in engagement with the tail
of a pivotted catch or hooked lever L so that when the locking plate or bar I is
in its locking position the said catch is adapted to engage with a hasp m on the
pivotted bell-cover M so as to retain this cover in its closed position, and thereby
also secure the cover of the hopper G³ (this hopper-cover is not represented in
the drawings) the bell-cover M being adapted to overlap a portion of, or otherwise
engage with, the said hopper-cover. When the ticket-punch is locked as last
described, it can only be opened by pressing the spring-controlled plungersk out
of engagement with the slot 22, by a suitable key or device such for example as
that (N) shown in Figs. 6 and 7, and then moving the plate or bar I outwards as
shown in Figs. 3 and 4. To enable any unauthorized opening of the ticket-punch
to be readily detected, one of the seals J is placed in the recess before the plate
or bar I is pushed in for locking the shutter H, the inscribed or symbol-bearing
face of the said seal (or either of such faces, if two be provided) being turned
downwards so that none but those in authority may know what the particular
device may be that is depicted upon the then-hidden face of the seal. When,
afterwards, it is desired to open the shutter H and hopper G³, the key or device N
(the end of which is suitably sharpened) is forced through the seal J and pressed
against the plungers k so as to move them out of the slot 2, when, by an edgewise
movement of the key or device N, the plate or bar I may be withdrawn as shown
in Figs. 3 and 4, and in dotted lines in Fig. 2.
To render the ticket-punch more secure against fraudulent use I prefer to provide
the lock-plate with a tooth o¹ in addition to the tooth o2 heretofore employed,
so that any attempt to withdraw the ticket before the punching operation is
completed and registered, will be frustrated by the operating lever A being locked
in its depressed position while the punch B still extends through the ticket.
As it sometimes happens that a conductor may require to transmit a ticket-punch
to the checking-office by another person, it is desirable that he should have a
means of locking the said ticket-punch so as to prevent it from being operated
by such messenger or by other persons, before it is delivered to the office, and,
for that purpose I provide a catch P which is pivotted at p to the casing G and
which normally occupies the position in which it is represented in full lines in
Fig. 2. When the conductor requires to lock the ticket punch as last described,
he passes a pin or piece of wire or the like through the hole g³ in the casing G
and, by means thereof, presses the catch P into the position in which it is shown
of
in dotted lines in Fig. 2 so that its free end lies in the path of the tooth
0 the driving pawl Q which therefore cannot then be depressed for operating the
punch. The subsequent unlocking of the ticket-punch can only be effected by
pressing the catch P, by means of a pin or the like, inserted through a hole
Fig. 2, into its normal position, and, as this hole is covered by the bell-cover M,
it is clear that such unlocking cannot, without detection, be done by unauthorized
5 persons, as it necessarily involves the destruction of the seal J.
In respects other than those herein before particularized the ticket-punch shown
in the accompanying drawings may be constructed substantially in the manner

page_text: illustrated in the drawings forming a part of my previous Specification
No. 1569294.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. In a ticket-punch the combination with the operating lever and a pin such
as C, of a pivotted arm or blade such as D), a cam-carrying-bar such as F and a
pivotted stop-piece such as E substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. In a ticket-punch; a lock having a recessed and slotted plate such as I and
constructed and operating substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
T