AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING FRAUD BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND OMNIBUSES, AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th June 1879. A communication from
abroad by William Frederick Ebbs, of Buffalo, New York, United States of
America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
FRAUD BY THE CONDUCTORS OF TRAMWAY CARS AND OMNIBUSES, AND FOR SIMILAR
PURPOSES." [A communication from abroad by William Frederick Ebbs, of Buffalo,
New York, United States of America.]
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus having for its chief object the
prevention of fraud on the part of the conductors or money takers of tram cars,
omnibuses, and similar public vehicles or conveyances.
In carrying the said Invention into practice, I provide a box, designed to be
carried upon the person of the conductor, into which box the amount of the fare is
to be deposited by the passenger. The money so deposited falls to a certain part
of the box, but cannot reach the bottom or general receptacle thereof until released
by a device under the control of the conductor, which is so arranged that when
operated to release a coin a record is made and a bell is sounded. The said box is
made with a general receptacle at the lower part thereof, into which all coins fall
when released by the conductor, and this receptacle is made of sufficient size to
contain all the money that could be taken during a journey or any arranged
number of journeys, as desired. Between this receptacle and the upper part of the
box a sliding plate or other suitable device is arranged upon which the coins fall
when dropped into the box by the passenger; this plate is connected with a knob
or handle outside the box in order that it may be operated by the conductor to
release the coins. A bell is provided within the box, perforations being made in
the latter so that the ringing of the bell may be clearly heard. The said sliding
plate or similar device is so arranged that when being operated it raises a hammer
which falls upon the bell when a coin is released. This plate is also connected with
a registering apparatus, of any suitable construction, which records a unit each time
the sliding plate is operated, so that the number of times this has taken place can
at any time be ascertained by the persons appointed to check the conductor's
receipts.
Instead of a sliding plate I may employ a plate or piece fixed on an axis by
means of which it may be inclined sufficiently to allow the coin to fall into the

page_text: general receptacle, the bell and registering mechanism being connected with the
said axis so that all operate simultaneously. The said general receptacle, the bell,
and the registering mechanism are all so arranged that they cannot be tampered
with by the conductor, whose duty it is simply to operate the handle or similar
connection of the sliding plate or other device whenever a fare is placed in the
upper part of the box by a passenger. It will be found convenient in most cases to
consider one penny as the unit and the conductor must operate the said plate or
other device which releases the coin as many times as there are pence in the fare
dropped into the box. For instance, if the fare should be threepence, upon the
passenger dropping that amount into the upper part of the box the conductor
moves his handle or other device once and the money immediately drops into the
general receptacle, the bell rings once, and one unit is recorded on the registering
mechanism. He must then operate his handle twice more, the bell rings twice
more, and two more units are recorded, which will agree with the money in the
lower part of the box or general receptacle.
The conductor is supplied with loose change at the commencement of his journey,
this change being kept in a bag or other receptacle quite distinct from the aforesaid
apparatus; and when a passenger has not the precise coin or coins representing the
fare to be paid, the conductor must give him such coins in exchange as will enable
the passenger to put into the apparatus the precise amount of his fare, which may
be either in one or more coins.
If desired the box may be provided with glass in one side so arranged that an
inspector travelling occasionlly to check the action of the conductor may see what
coins are dropped into the apparatus and whether there is any evidence of the same
having been tampered with in any way.
•
It will be obvious that the construction of the said apparatus may be varied
without departing from the essential principle of my Invention, which is to provide
an apparatus in which are combined a money receptacle, a bell, and registering
mechanism, all so arranged that the act of releasing the coin or coins from one part
of the box so that they enter the other part thereof, will cause the bell to ring and
a unit to be registered.