IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS TRAVELLING VARIOUS DISTANCES IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, OR ENTERING PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND THE DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF MONEY PAID BY SUCH PERSONS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Wright at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
March 1871.
I, EDWARD WRIGHT, of Cannon Street, in the City of London, Engi-
neer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS TRAVELLING
VARIOUS DISTANCES IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, OR ENTERING PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND
THE DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF MONEY PAID BY SUCH PERSONS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates especially to apparatus for counting or regis-
tering the number of passengers travelling by public vehicles, such as
omnibuses, and at the same time showing the fares or amounts of
money received by the conductors or persons in charge of such vehicles.
It consists of a frame or box of suitable size and shape containing
ratchet wheels, as many in number as there are different fares or classes
of fares payable in the particular vehicle to which it is applied, and
each such wheel counting or registering the number payable of one of

page_text: first division of such dial plate 2d., the second division 4ª., and so on,
for the whole number of such divisions. And sometimes I attach a bell
to the apparatus so that it shall be sounded upon any one of the knobs
or handles being pressed. Before another journey is commenced by
the omnibus or other public vehicle, the pointers or indices are returned
to a mark 0 at the commencement of the numbering by means of a
suitable key which may be retained by a person especially appointed for
the purpose.
This apparatus is also applicable to the purpose of numbering or
registering passengers or parcels passing or passed through the passage
of a railway station, theatre, or other building where varying amounts
have to be paid.
The accompanying Drawings are in illustration of some of the forms
which I adopt for the purpose of carrying out this Invention.
Figure 1 shows the apparatus constructed with four ratchet wheels
and knobs, the top of the frame or box being removed; Figure 2 shows
the same apparatus with the top of the frame or box replaced with four
dial plates and pointers.
Figure 3 shows an apparatus constructed according to my Invention,
but differently arranged, there being five dial plates and pointers instead
of four.
A, Figures 1 and 2, is a frame or box of suitable size and shape con-
taining ratchet wheels B, B, B, B, Figure 1, fixed upon the spindles
C, C, C, C. Upon one end of each of these spindles which is carried
through the cover of the box A, is fixed an index or pointer D, D, D, D,
Figure 2. Each index or pointer travels round a dial plate, as shewn,
upon which it is made to indicate the number of passengers paying
fares to the conductor or person in charge of the vehicle, and also (if
required) the amount of the fares so paid. Each of the ratchet
wheels B, B, B, B, Figure 1, is provided with a number of teeth equal
to the number of divisions upon the corresponding dial plate and a
ratchet E, E, E, E, and handle or knob F, F, F, F, Figure 1, is arranged
in such a manner that when the handle or knob is pressed the wheel
is moved forward one tooth. The handles and ratchets are returned to
their original position when the pressure is removed by the springs
G, G, G, G, and the ratchet wheels are prevented from moving back or

page_text: through the space of more than one tooth at a time by means of a
friction clutch or spring detent, as shewn at H, H, H, H.
Figure 3 shews another arrangement in which there are five ratchet
wheels, handles, dials, and indices.