CHECKING AND REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, WILLIAM SANDS LAURIE, of Laurel Grove, Withington, near Manchester, and
in the County of Lancaster, Schoolmaster, do hereby declare the nature of iny
invention for CHECKING AND REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED
ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES, to be as follows:-
The Apparatus consists of a combination of the following contrivances, all or any
number of them, namely:-
1. A separate seat for each individual passenger turning on a swivel, and tilting
up, when not in use, by means of some self-acting device, such as a weight or
spring attached thereto.
2. A self-acting lock to retain such seat, when not in use, under the control of
the 'Bus guard or conductor; and further, a cord or electric wire, putting the
guard into communication with said lock, and enabling him to liberate the seat
when wanted for use.
3. A separate indicator for each seat, connected with it, by means of a system
of cords, weights, and pulleys, or by a wire or other electric conductor, for the
purpose of registering and showing how often the seat has been used.
4. An electric wire or other conductor, with self-acting attachments to all the
seats or any number of them, and thus connected with all or any of the indicators
aforesaid, so that by the action of the guard, the number of seats, occupied or
unoccupied at any particular moment, may be instantaneously registered; further,
an additional indicator to register the number of times, such check action has been
applied by the guard; and lastly, an alarum to give warning to passengers of such
check action having been applied.
5. Galvanic, Voltaic, Magnetic or other batteries to furnish the electric excitor
force required.
Dated this Fifth day of March 1884.

page_text: I, WILLIAM SANDS LAURIE of Laurel Grove, Withington, near Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Schoolmaster, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for CHECKING & REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED
ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The Apparatus consists of the combination of all or any number of the following
contrivances, namely,—
1. A separate seat for each passenger, the whole or any part thereof being made
to turn on a hinge or swivel, and by means of springs, weights, or other self-acting
contrivance, to tilt up when not in use. To the back of this moveable part of the
seat is attached a small projection or stop-catch, so hinged as to act upon an
obstruction in its path during the downward motion of the seat, but passing freely
over it during the reverse motion.
2. A lock is provided for each seat, this may be of the form of a common
door-latch, fixed end-opposite to the path of the stop-catch of the seat, so that
when it tilts up, the stop-catch, depressing the head of the latch, clears it and thus
locks itself; for the seat cannot now be pulled down, without first dipping the
head of the latch. This would be accomplished by the Guard pulling a cord
attached to its other end, or pressing the button of an electric arrangement,
consisting of a conductor and an artificial magnet placed beneath the latch.
3. One or more indicators to register the forward motions of the seats, as they
are pulled down to be occupied, and communicating with them by means of a wire
or other electric conductor. As any seat is pulled down, its stop-catch, after
having been freed from the lock, comes into contact with the spring or button of
the electric wire, thereby momentarily closing the circuit. The electric discharge
passes along the conductor to the indicator, which is thus made to register One,
for every forward motion of the seat. This electric arrangement for all the seats
is somewhat similar to the bell-ringing apparatus for the rooms of a house, there
being an indicator, instead of an alarum, at the end of the trunk conductor. The
Indicator consists of a small revolving cylinder in which a spring is coiled up.
The cylinder carries a toothed wheel on which a tiny lever acts as a stop-catch.
The free end of this lever is under the control of an artificial magnet, by means of
which every electric discharge is made to set free, one tooth of the wheel.
cylinder, carrying with it an index-finger, will make a proportionate movement
forward and register One more on the dial-plate. But it is to be understood, that,
while an electric arrangement may be in most cases the most convenient, yet the
communication between seats and indicator can be effected by other mechanical
means, such as by a system of weights and pulleys, or by a shaft passing under or
behind a row of seats, and carrying toothed wheels so placed as to be within reach
of the stop-catches of the seats, in order that, on the downward motion of any seat,
a definite part of the revolution of the shaft would be effected, which might be
thence transferred to the indicator by a simple train of wheels.
The
4. An additional electric conductor with branches to all the seats, each branch
having a break so placed that the stop-catch of its particular seat may, by pressing
a button, keep the circuit closed during all the time it is occupied. Each branch
conductor terminates in an artificial magnet controlling a small lever, which, on
every electric discharge, marks or punctures a piece of paper, this indicator being
after the pattern of a Morse telegraph instrument. A break in the trunk wire is
so placed as to be within handy reach of the Guard, who, on closing the circuit at

page_text: any station, will produce an instantaneous registration of the number of seats
occupied at the moment. This operation he will effect by means of a key, whose
measured turn will, besides closing the circuit, also sound an alarum to warn pas-
sengers; moved by the definite part of a revolution, a disc showing the names of the
stations; and wind the paper riband in front of the markers or perforators, so as
to present a fresh blank space before them, at every new station.
5. Some kind of storage or other battery to furnish the electric motor force
required.
In conclusion it is to be understood that the particular forms of the lock, the
indicators and the electric contrivances described above, are not essential to the
Invention, but may be varied or changed according to circumstances.
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 appliances described in paragraphs 1 and 3, constituting
an automatic apparatus for registering the number of passengers who have occupied
seats, and so providing a check upon the amount of fares collected, in the case
where one fixed charge is made for the whole or any part of a journey.
2. The combination of appliances described in paragraphs 1 and 2, constituting
a locking apparatus for preventing the confusion that would result from passengers
changing their seats.
3. The combination of appliances described in paragraphs 1 and 4 for extending
the principle to cars which carry passengers at uniform rates for separate stages.
Dated this twenty sixth day of November 1884.
WILLIAM SANDS LAURIE,