Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Transmitting and Checking Orders in Hotels, Restaurants, and like places.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Transmitting
and Checking Orders in Hotels, Restaurants, and like places.
I. WILLIAM RICKARD, of Maitland Street, Beeston Hill, Leeds, in the County of
York, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;-
The object of my invention is to provide apparatus whereby orders given in
hotels, restaurants, and like places may be transmitted and checked, in the order
in which they are received, without necessitating the transmission of the said
orders by word of mouth, thereby obviating the mistakes which often take place
between the receipt of an order given to a waiter and the execution and delivery
of the said order.
According to my invention, I provide a transmitting apparatus (hereafter termed
the transmitter), which is composed of a board having a series of buttons or levers
on same, which are marked with the names of the dishes or other communications
to be transmitted or checked. A receiving apparatus (hereafter termed the
receiver), is provided with a series of inclines or other receptacles for circular
checks or tokens, and at the lower end of these receptacles a releasing lever or
escapement is provided, which on being actuated releases the lowest token and
allows same to fall or run down a guide or channel. The releasing levers on the
receiver, are connected by means of wires with the buttons on the transmitter,
in such a manner that on a certain button being actuated, the corresponding
releasing lever is actuated, thereby causing the corresponding check to be released
and to travel down the guide.
The transmitter is placed in any convenient position in the dining or other
room where the orders are received, and the receiver is situated in the kitchen
or other place where the orders are executed, and on a waiter or other person
receiving an order, the said person actuates the button which is marked with the
said order, and thus releases a check in the receiver which passes to a tray or other
suitable receptacle in the kitchen. The cook then prepares the order, and the
check is placed on the plate which is forwarded by a lift or by other suitable means
to the dining room, where the waiter removes the check and hands the plate to the
customer. Where several dining rooms are situated in the same building and are
served from a single kitchen, the checks are of various colours so as to denote
the various rooms or bars, thus preventing the wrong dishes being removed
the lift passes the various floors.
as
The receiver is provided with a releasable cover which enables it to be removed
and thus to expose to view all the working parts, and in this manner the number
of checks in the apparatus can he at once ascertained.

page_text: If required the motions may be transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver
by pneumatic, electric, or other suitable means.
In cases where the kitchen is situated at a lower level than the bars or rooms
to be served, I may construct the receiver and transmitter in one apparatus, and
the checks as they are released are allowed to roll or fall down to the kitchen
where the orders are received. The transmitter and receiver could also be con-
structel in one apparatus for use in any situation, providing means were provided
for transmitting the checks when they are released.
Dated this 27th day of November 1897.
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Method of and in Apparatus for Transmitting
and Checking Orders in Hotels, Restaurants, and like places.
I. WILLIAM RICKARD, of Maitland Street, Beeston Hill, Leeds, in the County of
York, Manager, 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 apparatus whereby orders given in
hotels, restaurants, and like places may be transmitted and checked in the order
in which they are received, without necessitating the transmission of the said
orders by word of mouth, thereby obviating the mistakes which often occur
between the receipt of an order given to a waiter and the execution and delivery
of the said order.
According to my invention. I provide a transmitting apparatus (hereafter termed
the transmitter), which is composed of a board having a series of buttons or levers
on same, which are marked with the names of the dishes or other communications
to be transmitted or checked. A receiving apparatus (hereafter termed the
receiver), is provided with a series of receptacles for circular checks or tokens,
and at the lower end of these receptacles a releasing lever or escapement is pro-
vided, which on being actuated releases the lowest check and allows it to fall or run
down a guide or channel. The releasing levers on the receiver, are connected by
means of wires with the buttons on the transmitter, in such a manner that on a
certain button being actuated the corresponding releasing lever is actuated,
thereby causing the corresponding check to be released and to travel down the
guide.
The transmitter is placed in any convenient position in the dining or other
room where the orders are received, and the receiver is situated in the kitchen
or other place where the orders are executed, and on the waiter or other person
receiving an order, the said person actuates the button which is marked with the
said order, and thus releases a check in the receiver which passes to a tray or other
suitable receptacle in the kitchen. The cook then prepares the order, and the
check is placed on the plate which is forwarded by a lift or by other suitable means
to the dining room, where the waiter removes the check and hands the plate to the
customer. Where several dining rooms are situated in the same building and are
served from a single kitchen, the checks are of various colours so as to denote
the various rooms or bars, thus preventing the wrong dishes being removed
the lift passes the various floors.
as
In order that my invention may be more clearly understood, I will proceed to

page_text: describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which similar
letters refer to like parts in all the figures.
Figures 1 and 2 are front elevations of transmitters which may be situated in
separate rooms, and Figure 3 is a side elevation of the transmitter shewn in
Figure 1. Figures 4 and 5 are respectively front elevation and sectional side
elevation of the receiver, which is connected by wires with the transmitters illus-
trated in the first three figures. Figure 6 is a sectional side elevation of a combined
transmitter and receiver, and Figure 7 is a front elevation with the cover removed,
of a channel for conveying and distributing the checks.
Referring particularly to Figures 1 to 5, A, A are the boards of the transmitters,
and B and C are the butions which are carried in slides D. and the hacks of the
buttons B and C carry connections, which connect the buttons B and C with
wires E and F. G is a receptacle in the receiver illustrated at Figures 4 and 5,
for the purpose of holding a suitable number of checks H. and K is an inclined
base which supports the weight of the checks H. L is a releasing lever, which is
of such a form as to permit of the escape of only one check at a time, and the said
lever L is actuated by a slide M which is kept up by a spring N and by an
auxiliary spring P. The base of the slide M is connected to one of the buttons B
by means of one of the wires E. and each of the other buttons B, and also the
buttons C. are connected to similar check releasing mechanism to that described
and illustrated in the above example. The receiver shewn at Figures 4 and 5,
is composed of sets of receptacles G and releasing levers L, equal in number to
that of the total number of buttons B and C employed, a few of the numbers
marked on the buttons being repeated in the drawing on the receptacles G and
wires E and F, as examples of the connections between the parts of the transmitters
with those of the receiver. The front of the receiver is fitted with a glass door R,
so that the number of checks in any particular receptacle G may be ascertained at
a glance. The distributor shewn at Figure 7 may be situated at the base of the
receiver, the channels S leading the checks to the required shoot for delivery.
On an order being required to be transmitted, one of the buttons, say for
example No. 27, is actuated, thus pulling the wire E and depressing the slide M.
This action has the effect of turning the lever L on its fulcrum and so releasing the
lowest check H, which travelling down the channel S in the distributor. is carried
along the shoot to the required position where the order is executed in the manner
before described.
In the combined apparatus shewn at Figure 6, the buttons B are connected to
the releasing levers L. directly through the slides M, without the assistance of
the wires employed in the apparatus before described, and this combined apparatus
is especially suitable where the kitchen is situated at a lower level than the hars
or rooms to be served, as the checks on being released run down suitable channels
provided for the purpose.
If required the motions may be transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver
by pneumatic, electric, or other suitable means.
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. The combination of the receptacle G. checks H. and releasing lever I,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The combination of the receptacle G. checks H, releasing lever L, and the
slide M connected either directly to the button B or by means of a wire or other
connection, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. A receiver containing sets of checks denoting various orders or communica-
tions, the said checks being allowed to escape separately and to pass to the kitchen
by way of suitable channels or shoots by means of releasing levers actuated by
mechanical, electrical, or other convenient means, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.

page_text: 4. The particular arrangement, construction, and combination of the various
parts forming my invention with particular reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
of the accompanying drawings.
5. The particular arrangement, construction, and combination of the various
parts forming my invention with particular reference to Figure 6 of the accom-
panying drawings.
Dated this 27th dor of Arconart A T
1000
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.

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