Improvements in Voting Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Mar., 1899-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Voting Machines.
I, FRANK WILLIAM PURCELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hills,
in the County of Rock and State of Minnesota, United States of America,
Gentleman, 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 furnish a voting machine for general elections or
for legislative bodies or other organizations of any character whatever in which a
large number of ballots will probably be cast and the accuracy of the result is of
special importance. In order to accomplish this purpose, each voter should be able
to cast his own vote with absolute certainty that it shall be recorded and tabulated
as cast, so that the aggregate number of votes cast for any candidate or for any
measure shall be a certainty without possible error or fraud. I attain these objects
by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-
Figure 1 is a top plan view of my invention in complete operative position.
Figure 2 is a top plan view with the cover of the box removed. Figure 3. is a
bottom plan of the cover and the parts attached, thereto. Figure 4 is a section of
Figure 2 on line a-a. Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the numeral-disks of
the total-tally mechanism, (see Figure 3,) the units wheel being turned face up,
that the numerals thereon may be seen. Figure 6 is a side elevation of said units
wheel. Figure 7 is a top plan of the total-tally mechanism with the lid removed.
Figure 8 is a side elevation of Figure 7 with the lid in an operative position.
Figure 9 is a perspective view of the lid of one of the total-tally boxes. Figure 10
is a perspective view of the knife. Figure 11 is a sectional view of the slide-
bar, showing certain other mechanism connected therewith. Figure 12 is a per-
spective view of my invention complete showing part of the casing broken away and
the lid removed. Figure 13 is a perspective view of the controlling-bar, hereinafter
designated by the numeral 36). Figure 14 is an end view of a portion of the
individual mechanism. Figure 15 is a side elevation of one of the individual
tallies showing certain parts of the internal mechanism in dotted lines.
The numeral 1 indicates the receptacle containing the operative parts of my
mechanism, said receptacle being divided into two compartments 2 and 3 by the
longitudinal partition 4, Figures 2 and 4. Compartment 2 contains two boxes 5
and 6, one at each end of said compartment, Figure 4. Said boxes 5 and 6 are
locked in position by the pins or bolts 5 and 6, which are passed down from the
top of the box through suitable apertures, which register with apertures in said
boxes, as shown in Figure 4. As is apparent, said bolts must be put in their
operative position before the lid is secured on the ballot-box. When the lid has
been secured in its place, said bolts cannot be removed without first removing
said lid. By this means the boxes 5 and 6 are kept securely closed, so that they
may in no way be interfered with during the process of voting and can only be
opened after the lid has been removed and the bolts have been sufficiently lifted
in their respective apertures. Upon a suitable support 7 in the center of said com-
partment is also rigidly mounted the plate or table 8, extending the entire length
of the box. Rotatably mounted in said table one at each end, are the friction-

page_text: rollers 9 and 10. The boxes 5 and 6 carry the spindles 11 and 12, respectively,
each adapted to carry a roll of paper. The tickets to be voted are printed in
consecutive order on a continuous roll of paper 13, which is received upon
spindle 11 in box 5. The paper is then passed from said cylinder 13 up over friction-
roller 9, longitudinally across table S, where it is voted upon, thence down over
friction roller 10, and is received upon spindle 12, forming the roll 14. Said
spindles 11 and 12 are provided with the longitudinal diametrical grooves 11*
and 12, respectively, into which is entered the end of the paper when it is desired
to roll the same upon said spindles. Spindle 11 is further provided with the
disk 15, fixedly mounted at one end. Upon the periphery of said disk friction is
applied by the spindle 16, the object of which is to give slight tension to the paper
as it is taken from the roll 13 to the roll 14 in the process of voting. Spindle 12
is provided with the ratchet-wheel 17, mounted similar to disk 15, the teeth of said
ratchet-wheel being acted upon by the spring 18. By this means that part of the
paper extending across the table where it is voted upon is always held taut. The
spindle 12 is rotated manually by means of the crank 27, suitably attached thereon.
At the upper end of compartment 2 is placed an automatically-consecutive
numbering machine 19, the handle 31 of which extends up through the lid of the
box. The lid of the box is securely fastened to the same, preferably
by means of screws. Said lid is divided into two parts or sections 20
and 21, with a space left between them when placed in operative
position. The inner edges of said parts terminate in the tongues 22.
This space between said sections conforms to the shape of slide-bar 24,
the tongues 22 working in the grooves 23, which prevents the slide-bar from being
lifted from its place between the two sections of the Tid and only permits it to have
a longitudinal movement. Said longitudinal movement of bar 24 is limited to the
desired extent by the blocks 25 and 26, rigidly attached to the under side
thereof in such a way as to abut against their respective ends of the box, when too
great a longitudinal movement is attempted. Hence when the lid is secured to
the box with slide-bar 24 in operative position said bar cannot be removed from its
position without first removing the lid of the box. A large part of the lid
section 21 is glass, so that practically all of table 8 or of the ticket spread
thereon is exposed to view. Parts of lid-section 20 are also made of glass, the
object of this being to expose to view the numbers registered by the individual
tallies and by the total tally.
In compartment 3 of the ballot box are located the candidates' automatic tallies.
For brevity, only two, 28 and 29, are here shown, as they are all alike; but the box
will be provided with any desired number. In said compartment 3 is also located the
bell 30 and mechanism for ringing the same and mechanism operating at the same
time to simultaneously release all the lids of the individual tallies, permitting them
to rise in position to be depressed, and thereby to register the votes cast, as will be
fully described hereinafter. The object of the ringing of the bell is to give notice
every time a ticket is voted. Secured to the under side of lid-section 20 in com-
partment of the ballot-box, Figure 3, is also located the mechanism for registering
the total tally, which mechanism is substantially the same as that employed in the
individual tallies.
"
The operation in voting is as follows: The person operating the mechanism
stands or sits at the end A of the ballot-box, which for convenience of description,
will be hereinafter designated as the "lower" end of the box and the other as the
upper" end. In this position the right hand is convenient to the crank 27
which is rotated till it brings the top of one of the tickets immediately under the
numbering machine 19, Figure 1. A downward stroke of the hand upon the
handle 31 of said machine will number the tickets. As previously stated, it numbers
then consecutively, beginning, of course, at "1." The voter then takes hold of the
handle 32 of the slide-bar 24 and pushes it to the upper end of the box. The lug 33
on the under side of said bar, Figure 3, comes in contact with the free end of the
pivoted lever 34, Figure 2, and moves it upwardly. This acts upon lever 35, which

page_text: in turn acts upon bar 36 through the mediation of pin 37, imparting to said bar a
downward movement. All of said bar, except a small portion at the upper end
thereof, lies in a groove in the side of partition 4, facing compartment 3 of the box,
the outer side of said bar being flush with the side of said partition. The over-
lying part of said groove is cut away at its upper end, and the upper end of said bar
above shoulder 38 is made correspondingly thick, so as to be flush with the top of
said partition 4. The length of the thickened part of said bar is slightly less than
that of the cut-away portion at the upper end of said groove, so that said bar may
have proper longitudinal play for the performance of its work. Bar 36 carries
on its side the pins 39, designed to engage with the catches 40 of the individual
tallies, so as to release their lids from their depressed position, leaving them
ready to again be depressed. Said bar 36 also carries the pivoted ratchet 41, which
is held in its operative position by spring 42, so that when bar 36 moves downwardly
the projection 43 of said ratchet-engages, one of the cogs of ratchet-wheel 44,
causing a partial revolution of the same. This causes another cog of the ratchet-
wheel to come in engagement with and impart motion to the bell-lever 45, causing
the bell-hammer 46 to move inwardly from the periphery of the bell. Said move-
ment is resisted by the spring 47, one end of which is suitably attached to said lever,
and when the point of the ratchet-cog has revolved sufficiently to move out of
engagement with the point of bell-lever 45, the spring instantly brings said lever
back into its normal position and delivers a stroke to the bell, causing it to ring.
Too free a movement of ratchet wheel 44 is prevented by means of the spring
actuated dog 48. The downward movement of the bar 36 is resisted by a spring 49
which is suitably secured in the lower end of the groove in which said bar works,
the object of said resistance being to always bring bar 36 back into its normal
position after it has been acted upon. It will be observed from Figures 1 and 2
that when the tickets are in proper position to be voted the name of each candidate
will always be opposite the same individual tally, which will be known as his
tally. The votor having now moved the slide 24 to its upward limit, and thereby
having rung the bell, as explained above, begins to move it downwardly, the first
effect of which is that projection 50 of plate 51, Figure 3, carried by said bar 24, is
brought into engagement with lever 52, which cooperates with lever 53 in such a
way as to communicate motion through the mediation of ratchet 54 and cog-
wheel 55" to the units wheel 55 of the total-tally mechanism, causing it to expose
the next greater unit to view through the small glass 56, Figure 1; but the full
operation of the tally-registers will be explained hereinafter. The ratchet 54 is
held in engagement with the cog-wheel 55" by the spring 57, while the lever 53
is brought back into its normal position by the spring 58 and lever 24 by the
rod-spring 59. Slide 24 is now moved downwardly till the pointer 60 of the
perforating-bar 61 is immediately opposite the name of the candidate to be voted
for. Downward pressure upon the handle 32 of said bar 24 will cause said handle
to move downward and will bring the perforating-points 62 into the paper, thereby
making a number of perforations immediately in front of the name of the lucky
candidate, while the other end at the point 63 will depress the lid of that candidate'
individual tally, which causes the units-wheel of said tally to sufficiently rotate to
expose to view through the units-hole in said lid the next greater number. The
ticket thus voted is then wound on the roll 14 by a proper rotation of the crank 27
and the operation described is ready to be repeated. Thus is will be observed that
the individual tally of each candidate automatically registers and shows the exact
number of votes he has received, while the total tally likewise shows the whole
number of votes cast.
The total tally and the number on the last ticket must always correspond.
Figure 11 is a section of the slide-bar 24, showing the means for operating the
perforating bar 61. Said bar 24 is provided at its center with the slot 64, in which
snugly fits stem 65, to the top of which is rigidly attached the handle 32, said
stem being somewhat longer than said slot, so as to permit an upward or downward
movement therein. Rigidly secured to the lower end of this stem is the perforating

page_text: bar 61. Said bar 61 when in its normal condition is held slightly above the ticket
to be voted, which is accomplished by means of the compression-springs 66, the
upper ends of which are suitably seated in the handle 32, with their lower ends
resting on bar 24.
When the polls are closed, the clerk of the election severs the tickets that have
been voted from those that have not been voted by moving the knife 67, Figure 10,
with slight downward pressure across the bottom of the last ticket voted, thereby
cutting the continuous roll in two. Slot 68, extending across the lower end of the
lid-section 21, permits the knife to be moved back and forth, the shank 67ª of knife
being received by said slot. The cross bar 69 of said knife prevents the same
from being withdrawn from the slot. The cutting point 70 is carried by said cross-
bar, being made integral therewith.
It now remains to fully explain the operation and construction of the tally
mechanism. As already explained, the mechanism of the total and that of the
individual tallies is exactly the same in principle. For sake of convenience and
economy of space the total tally disks are figures on their upper faces, while the
individual tallies are figures around their edges, Figs. 5 and 7.
be seen.
We begin with the total tally, as illustrated in Figure 5, which shows the
disks and wheels in the same position as they appear in Figure 3, except that
the wheel of tens, which is indicated by the numeral 71, is removed to one side away
from its operative position and is turned face up that the figures upon said face may
The cog-wheels 55ª, 71, and 72ª are rigidly secured to their respective
disks and are each provided with ten cogs, which correspond in number to the
Ten digits. By mechanism already pointed out and explained the downward move-
ment of slide-bar 24 in preparing to vote each ticket causes the cug-wheel 55 to
move forward one cog or one-tenth of a revolution and carries its disk 55, which is
the units-disk, with it, which rotation causes said disk to bring the next larger
number in view immediately under the small glass cover 56, Figure 1. Neither
one of the cog-wheels of the tally mechanism lies in the same plane with the
cog-wheel to which is imparts motion, as may be clearly seen from Figure 8, where
it will be observed that only one of the ten cogs on the units-wheel 73 and one on
the tens-wheel 74 extend sidewise a sufficient distance to come into the planes of
their adjacent cog-wheels and to properly mesh therewith, so as to impart a partial
1otation. Hence it is plain that the units-wheel must be moved forward ten cogs or
an entire revolution in order to move the tens-wheel forward one cog, and the
tens-wheel must like-wise move an entire revolution to move the hundreds-wheel
forward one cog or one-tenth of a revolution. As each cog is moved forward its
corresponding unit is exposed to view, the units-wheel moving an entire revolution
and numbering ten votes, when it will move the tens-wheel forward, so as to cause
it to expose to view the next greater number of tens. The same is true of the
tens-wheel in reference to the hundreds-wheel &c. Hence it will be seen that the
tally mechanism does its work with unerring accuracy.
The individual tallies are each provided with a lid 76. (Shown in Figures 8
and 9.) Said lid is held in operative position by the screw 77, which passes loosely
through the hole 78, allowing said lid to play thereon, and is firmly seated in
the tally-box. That said play may be more free the end of said lid is slightly
rounded at 79. Depending from said lid is the downwardly-extending arm 80,
rigidly attached thereto, provided with the cut-away portions 81 and 82 and
carrying the gravity-dog 83. Every time this lid 76 is depressed by the end 63 of
the perforating-bar 61, which is every time a name is perforated or voted for, said
gravity-dog 83 engages the units cog-wheel 73 and moves it forward one cog or
one-tenth of a revolution, bringing the proper figure into view, which may be
seen through hole 84 in said plate. (Also shown in Figures 1 and 2.) As already
explained, each revolution of the units-wheel will move the tens-wheel forward one
cog or one-tenth of a revolution and bring the proper figure on that wheel into
view immediately beneath the tens-hole 85 in said lid. The tens-wheel operates in
like manner on the hundreds-wheel &c. When the lid 76 is depressed, it is held in

page_text: that position by the inwardly-extending end 40°, Figure 8, of the spring-actuated
catch 40, which end drops into the groove 81 and remains there till released by
the downward movement of bar 36 through the mediation of pins 39. When such
movement of bar 36 takes place, the resistance of spring 40b, which operates to hold
said inwardly-extending end 40 in groove 81, (see also Figure 9,) is overcome
and said end 40 is moved sidewise out of the groove 81, and the lid is instantly
lifted by spring 86, suitably mounted in said tally-box and exerting a constant
upward pressure against said lid. To prevent lid 76 from rising too far the screw
or lug 87 (also shown in Figure 7) is so located on the inside of tally-box that
the lower side of groove 82 in depending arm 80 will contact therewith when it
has been lifted the proper height. The lower end of the bar 80 is rounded off
at 88 to permit it to easily pass said lug or screw 87 when the lid is put on
the box. The lower side of said lug is flattened, so as to present a sufficient
surface when the lower side of said groove comes in contact therewith.
Having thus fully described in detail a specific construction for the application
of my invention to practical use, it will yet be understood that I do not wish
to limit myself to the exact construction here shown, but desire protection in
all that comes within the spirit and scope of my invention.
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 voting machine, a reciprocating slide 24 carrying a stamper 61 and
having a lug 33 a series of levers 34 and 35 operated by said lug, a pawl and
ratchet mechanism and a bar 36 having a ratchet 41 held in operative position
by a spring 42 connecting said levers and ratchet mechanism, whereby a sounder
is operated, all combined as set forth.
2. In a voting machine, a reciprocating slide 24 provided with a stamper 61,
and a lug 33, a series of levers 34 and 35 operated by said lug, a slide connected
with the levers and having a tooth 43 on its other end, a pawl and ratchet
mechanism engaged by said tooth and a sounder operated by said pawl and ratchet
mechanism, all combined as set forth.
3. In a voting machine, a reciprocating slide carrying a stamper 61 and a
lug 33, levers 34 and 35 operated by said lug, and a device operated by said levers
and having lateral pins 59 and a spring-cover, whereby said spring-cover of the
tally is released, all combined as set forth.
4. In a voting machine, an individual tally having a spring-actuated cover 76
provided with a depending arm 80 having a notch 81, a catch engaging said
recess or notch when said arm is depressed and means to release the same after a
ballot has been cast, all combined as set forth.
5. In a voting machine, an individual tally having a spring-actuated cover 76
with a depending arm 80 provided with an upper recess 81 and a lower recess 82,
a catch engaging the upper recess when the cover is depressed and a stop 87
working in the other recess to limit the upward movement of the cover when
released, all combined as set forth.
6. In a voting machine, an individual tally having a spring actuated cover
provided with a depending arm, having recesses 81 and 82, a spring arm or
catch 40 having an extended end 40%, said catch or end engaging a recess 81
in said arm when depressed, and a stop 87 engaging recess 82 to limit the upward
movement of the cover when released, all combined as set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of March 1899
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.