IMPROVEMENTS IN REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tatters, of Patmore Street, New Road,
Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 15th August 1871, and dated the 17th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tatters at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th February 1871.
I, WILLIAM TATTERS, of Patmore Street, New Road, Battersea, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the construction of apparatus composed
of a ratchet or toothed wheel keyed upon a screwed shaft which has
thereon a screw nut or traveller which works in a slotted tube with

page_text: indicator thereon, and on the end of the slotted tube a pointer and dial
plate or other indicator arrangement.
Assuming the registering apparatus to be applied to indicate the
number of times of use and the amount received from public water-
closets, the apparatus will be applied by fitting a pin or stud to the
top or side of the door, (hinge side by preference,) and having a slotted
plate gearing with the said pin or stud, this slotted plate is connected to
the axle of the ratchet or toothed wheel above-mentioned, and has a
spring pall which works into the ratchets or teeth of the said wheel, so
that the opening and closing of the door causes the ratchet wheel to
turn to the extent of one tooth or ratchet, thereby turning the screwed
shaft once, and shewing on the indicator at the end one use or one
penny, as the case may be, and also when the said ratchet or toothed
wheel has made one entire revolution, the pall having thus operation
on twenty-four teeth or ratchets, (if that be the number thereof which
is a convenient one, though any other regulated number may be used,)
the slide aforesaid will be moved to the extent of one thread of the
shaft, and the indicator pointer will indicate twenty-four times of use
of the watercloset, (or two shillings if a penny be the sum for each
use.)
In applying the apparatus to chairs for boot cleaning, I purpose to
construct the chair with jointed arms, so that on anyone seating himself
in the chair motion will be given to such arms which will cause either
the pin of the joints or one of the arms provided with a stud for the
purpose to act upon the apparatus in a manner similar to that just
described with regard to watercloset doors.
The apparatus can be applied to omnibus and cab doors, tramway
cars, theatre doors, and any other things or places where the registering
or indicating of the number of persons passing or entering, and the
amounts of money paid (if so arranged can be registered or indicated.
In order to check the ratchet wheel in coming back I should use
another pall applied either close to the ratchet wheel or at the other end
of the shaft.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Tatters in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TATTERS, of Patmore Street, New Road, Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for, Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Tatters, Her special licence
that I, the said William Tatters, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Tatters, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Tatters, executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Tatters, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
These improvements consist in the construction of apparatus com-
posed of a ratchet or toothed wheel worked by a pawl, the ratchet or
toothed wheel being keyed upon a screwed shaft which has thereon
a screw nut or traveller which works in a slotted tube with indicator
scale thereon, and on the end of which slotted tube a pointer and dial
plate or other indicator arrangement.
1

page_text: Assuming, for sake of exemplar, the registering apparatus to be
applied to indicate the number of times of use and the amount received
from public waterclosets, the apparatus will be applied by fitting a
pin or stud to the top or side of the door (hinged side by preference)
and having a slotted plate gearing with the said pin or stud. This
slotted plate is connected to the axle of the ratchet or toothed wheel
above mentioned, and has secured thereto a spring pawl which works
into the ratchets or teeth of the said wheel, so that the opening and
closing of the door causes the ratchet wheel to turn to the extent of
one tooth or ratchet, thereby turning the screw shaft one twenty-fourth
part of an entire revolution and showing on the indicator at the end one
use or one penny, as the case may be, and also when the said ratchet or
toothed wheel has made one entire revolution the pawl having thus
operated on the whole twenty-four teeth or ratchets (if that be the
number thereof, which is a convenient one though any other regulated
number may be used) the slide or traveller aforesaid will be moved to
the extent of one thread of the shaft which is preferred to be a Whit-
worth thread of twenty threads to the inch, though any other convenient
scale may be adopted, thus the indicator pointer will indicate twenty-
four times of use of the watercloset (or two shillings if a penny be the
sum for each use).
In applying the apparatus to chairs for boot cleaning I purpose to
construct the chair with jointed arms so that on any one seating himself
in the chair motion will be given to such arms which will cause either
the pin of the joints or one of the arms provided with a stud for the
purpose to act upon the apparatus in a manner similar to that just
described with regard to watercloset doors. As regards boot cleaning
or other chairs the apparatus may however be applied to the seats.
The apparatus can be applied to omnibuses and cab doors, tramway
cars, theatre doors, and any other things or places where the registering
or indicating of the number of persons passing, entering, or using the
same may be required, and the amounts of money paid (if so arranged)
can be registered or regulated.
In order to check the ratchet wheel in coming back I use another
pawl applied either close to the ratchet wheel or at the other end of
the shaft.

page_text: Indicators for cocks, taps, and valves, and water and gas meters can
be constructed on the same principle as that above described. Indeed
this principle is applicable to registering or indicating in general.
Having thus particularly described the nature of the said Invention,
I now proceed to fully and particularly describe and ascertain in what
manner the said Invention is to be performed or put in practice by
reference to the Drawings accompanying these Presents, as follows:—
Fig. 2*, view showing how the plunger works the ratchet wheel.
Fig. 3, sectional plan of apparatus attached to a chair or other article
requiring an indication of its motions.
Fig. 4, elevation of my apparatus attached to a weighing machine.
Fig. 5, elevation of apparatus attached to cocks for liquids so as
to measure the quantity of liquids taken from cask, pipe, or other
receptacle.
a, the ratchet wheel with pawl a¹. To check the backward motion of
this wheel another pawl is fixed to the box which contains my apparatus.
The spring c keeping the pawl on to the wheel.
In Fig. 1 my mechanism is shown attached to the frame of the door.
On the door is fixed a button or pin d which slides in a slot in the
plate e, by which arrangements when the door is opened, on the dial ƒ
is indicated one use, and when the door is closed the pawl advances
ready to indicate another use when the door is opened again. But in
order to prevent the door closing and indicating before another use
takes place a stop is placed on the top of the door frame, and a spring
bolt 6 is secured on the door. After the 24 uses or one complete
revolution of the ratchet wheel, and therefore of the dial f, the slide or
traveller g will be moved to the extent of one thread of the shaft h, and
the indicator pointer g¹ will indicate 24 uses or 24 pence.
shaft is preferred to be of 20 threads to the inch and will therefore after
the pointer g¹ has travelled one inch register 20 of the 24 times the use
of the watercloset.
This screw

page_text: A modification of my apparatus in indicated in Fig. 2 in which instead
of being fixed to the frame of the door, as in Fig. 1, it is attached to the
back of the door. The slotted plate and pin e, d, being dispensed with,
to the frame of the door a wedge j projects, and which when the
door is closed a plunger k, on which is fixed the pawl and spring, strikes
and actuates the ratchet wheel in a similar way to Fig. 1.
In Fig. 3 the apparatus is shown fixed to a chair arm or arms or
entrance or door. It is also applicable to omnibuses and tramways,
and so forth. The apparatus is similar to that shown in Fig. 1 cxcept
the slotted plate and pin, and by the action of the arms to which
is fixed the pawl which actuates the ratchet wheel, in turning the
quadrant it indicates one use or one penny, and the smaller pawl stops
the back action of the ratchet wheel.
In Fig. 4 my apparatus is shown applied to a weighing chair. In
this arrangement when a person sits on the chair for the purpose
of being weighed, before he can be weighed the attendant first slide
the rod or wedge (on which the weighing scale rests) before him,
which sliding action strikes the toothed wheel of my apparatus releasing
the weighing scale and moving the toothed wheel round the space of
one tooth, thus indicating one use or one penny.
Before the person
can get out of the chair the bar must be again brought back to its
original position thus making ready the apparatus for further use and
locking the scale as before. The pawl which strikes the ratchet wheel
is in form of an elbow joint and is attached to the slide bar working on
a pivot actuated by a spring, so that on the return of the slide bar this
pawl slides over the ratchet wheel and drops into the next tooth ready
for use.
The arrangement shown in Fig. 5 is for indicating or registering the
quantity of liquid taken from casks, cistern, pipe, or other receptacle.
The liquid contained in the cask, pipe, or receptacle m runs through
the cock n attached to the cask into the receptacle o which is made to
contain a certain quantity or measure of the liquid. Supposing that
the quantity of liquid in the receptacle is to be taken away the cock p³
is opened and by its action actuates the wheel r on the cock which
gears into the rack and pulls down the rod p which acts in a similar
manner on the rod p¹ which gears into the toothed wheel r¹ on the cock
attached to the cask m. When the cock is turned the action is reversed,
but in order that no liquid shall get into the receptacle till the cock is

page_text: completely turned off, the rod p is made with a slot in the side and at
the end of the rod p' a pin projects which slides in the slot, so that when
the cock is turned no action takes place till it rises the length of the
slot when the top rod is actuated. The registering apparatus is applied
to the rod p and registers as in the last described Figure.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same may be
performed or carried out in practice, I hereby declare that I claim the
Invention of "Improvements in Registering or Indicating Apparatus,"
as the same is described in the part of this Specification previous to the
description of the Drawings, it being understood that I do not claim
the mere mechanical details herein described except as used for the
purposes of said Invention, nor do I limit myself to the use of such
details.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tatters, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
WILLIAM TATTERS. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
21, Cockspur Street.