IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS RECORDING THE PASSAGE OF VEHICLES OVER GIVEN PLACES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bezer, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS
RECORDING THE PASSAGE OF VEHICLES OVER GIVEN PLACES."
FOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bezer at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th May 1876.
HENRY BEZER, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE PASSAGE OF VEHICLES OVER
GIVEN PLACES."
The primary object of my Invention is to obtain an automatic record of the
times of the return of cabs to the yards so as to have an efficient check upon the
drivers and prevent their keeping out the cabs and horses beyond the time agreed
upon. The Invention is however also applicable to recording the number or the
times of vehicles passing over other places, toll bridges for example.
My Invention is carried out as follows:-At the place where the record is
required to be produced, the entrance of a cab yard for example, I place a lori-
zontal beam or lever extending across the entrance and projecting above the ground
line. This beam or lever is provided with pivots which have their bearings in
the end of a box sunk in the ground beneath the beam. Jointed to the beam is
a vertical rod which is connected to a recording apparatus such as that herein-after
lescribed. When a cab passes over the projecting surface of the beam it depresses
it and thereby pulls down this rod and acts on the recording apparatus. The
beam is governed by a balance weight, or by a spring of such power as would
necessitate more weight being placed upon the projecting surface of the beam than
the weight of a cab and driver to depress the projecting surface quite to the ground
level; therefore according to the greater or less weight passing over the beam
its depression and the pull upon the rod will be greater or less.
All four-wheeled cabs would to about an equal degree depress the beam twice
being to about the same extent with each pair of wheels, while all two-wheeled
cabs would to about an equal degree depress it once; and if with intent to deceive
or otherwise any other vehicle were passed over it the greater or less weight than
that of a cab would depress the beam to a greater or less extent.
Prine Bi 1

page_text: The vertical rod which is jointed to the beam as before described is connected
to clockwork which not only shows the time upon a dial so as to serve as a yard
clock, but also records time by means of a pencil or pen upon a moving strip of
paper guided between rollers at a given speed by a distinct arrangement of clock-
work, and upon this strip of paper another per or pencil connected with the vertical
rod rests to record the passage of a cab or other vehicle over the beam.
The strip of paper is marked off into divisions by longitudinal lines, say blue,
the spaces between which represent one hour (or other given time), that is to say,
the pencil connected with the time showing and recording clock work receives
from such clockwork a to-and-fro motion across the paper, and takes one hour to
travel from one blue line to another. The other pencil which is connected to the
vertical rod produces, when not acted upon by a passing vehicle, a longitudinal
line, say red, on the paper, but when the beam is depressed the pencil is thrown
across the paper and produces a transverse line the length of which depends upon
the extent of the depression of the beam and rod and therefore upon the weight
of the passing vehicle. The particular position of this transverse line upon the
paper and its length therefore show the time the vehicle passed over the beam
and also what description of vehicle it was. The strip of paper is moved forward
by its clockwork at a normal rate of, say, an inch in 4 hours, but in order to
record distinctly the passage of several cabs in quick succession each movement
across the paper of the pencil connected with the rod is made to release the
clockwork and produce for each such movement a quick travel of the paper at
the rate of, say, 5 inches per minute, or not less than 1/8th of an inch of paper
for each such movement.
The rod can be made so as to be capable of disconnection from the beam by a
key or other means in the hands of a responsible person for any portion of the day
for which no record is required or at the time when the cabs are going out.
Where it may be desired to record the exit as well as the entrance of vehicles,
this may be effected by having two additional beams one at each side of the beam
already described. Each of these beams will have a distinct pencil to mark on
the strip of paper and according to the mark first made so will the paper show
in which direction the vehicle was travelling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Bezer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th November
1876.
HENRY BEZER, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE PASSAGE OF VEHICLES OVER
GIVEN PLACES,"
The primary object of my Invention is to obtain an automatic record of the
times of the return of cabs to yards, so as to have an efficient check upon the
drivers and prevent their keeping out the cabs and horses beyond the time agreed
upon. The Invention is, however, also applicable to recording the number and the
times of vehicles passing over other places, toll bridges for example.
My Invention is carried out as follows:-At the place where the record is required
to be produced, the entrance of a cab yard for example, I place a horizontal beam
or lever extending across the entrance and projecting above the ground line. This
beam or lever is provided with pivots which have their bearings in the end of a
box sunk in the ground beneath the beam. Jointed to the beam or to an arm or
lever fixed thereto is a vertical rod which is connected to a recording apparatus
such as that herein-after described. When a cab passes over the projecting surface
of the beam it depresses it and thereby acts through this rod on the recording
apparatus. The beam is governed by a balance weight or by a spring of such power
in proportion to the leverage as would necessitate more weight being placed upon

page_text: the projecting surface of the beam than the weight of a cab and driver to depress
the projecting surface quite to the ground level; therefore according to the greater
or less weight passing over the beam its depression and the pull upon the rod will
be greater or less.
All four-wheeled cabs would to about an equal degree depress the beam twice at
each side being to about the same extent with each pair of wheels, while all two-
wheeled cabs would to about an equal degree dopress it once at each side, and if
with intent to deceive or otherwise any other vehicle were passed over it the
greater or less weight than that of a cab would depress the beam to a greater or
less extent.
The vertical rod which is jointed to the beam or to the arm or lever fixed
thereto, as before described, is connected to clockwork which not only shews the
time upon a dial so as to serve as a yard clock, but also records time by means of
a pencil or pen upon a moving strip of paper guided between rollers; and upon
this strip of paper another pen or pencil connected with the vertical rod rests to
record the passage of a cab or other vehicle over the beam.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 is a view partly in section of the hori
zontal beam herein-before described, and of the parts immediately connected there-
with. Figures 2 and 3 are front and side elevations on a larger scale of the
recording apparatus, and Figure 4 is a section through the line A-B of Figure 2.
u (Figure 1) is the road line of the entrance into, say, a cab yard; b is a box sunk in
the ground across the road line and flush therewith; c is a strong beam projecting
above the road line and extending across the saine; it is provided with pivots d, which
have their bearings in the ends of the box b; cis a vertical arm or lever fixed to the
beam cat one end; f is a rod pivoted at g and jointed at its lower end to the arm
e by a pin on the arm working in a slot i in the rod; the upper end of this rod
is connected with the recording apparatus as herein-after fully explained; j,j, are
springs bearing against the opposite sides of the arm e to govern the movement of
the said arm and of the beam c, the power of each of these springs in proportion to
the leverage being such that it will take more than the weight of a cab to depress
the beam c quite to the road level, while the extent of depression of the beam
and therefore the action upon the rod f will depend upon the greater or less weight
of the passing vehicle. It will be readily understood that when a cab or
vehicle having two wheels passes over the beam c in the direction of the arrow it
will first depress the left hand side of the beam, thereby moving the arm e to the
left, while the upper end of the rod f, which is pivoted at g, will move to the
right, that the cab will next depress the right hand side of the beam, thereby moving
the armi e and rod f to the reverse position, and that after the vehicle has passed
the parts will return to their normal or central position. Also that in the case of
a four-wheeled cab or vehicle the movements will be repeated a second time, the
extent of the movements in all cases depending upon the weight of the vehicle.
P'
Referring now to Figures 2, 3, and 4, the rod f carries at its upper end a pencil l,
the point of which is in contact with a strip of paper m passing over a roller n,
and between guide rollers which are not seen in the Figures. In contact with the
same strip of paper is another pencil o carried by a lever 2 which is pivoted at q,
and is moved by clockwork, as about to be explained. A fork on the lever
embraces a cam s on a spindle t, which is caused by the clockwork to make one
revolution per hour. During every revolution the cam s acting on the lever p
causes the pencil o to travel gradually across the paper m. It starts, say, from a
point at the right hand of the line marked 1 (Figure 2), and travels to a point at
an equal distance from and at the opposite side of the central point, occupying
exactly half an hour in this movement. It then cominences to travel backwards
over the same line until it reaches the [first point exactly as the hour is completed.
The paper is then by an automatic movement made to advance a quarter of an
inch or other suitable distance, when the pencil o having marked this quarter of an
inch on the paper by a longitudinal line will begin to draw another line across the
paper.

page_text: 2
The automatic movement just mentioned is effected as follows:-On the spindle t
is a snail u upon which one end of a lever v rests; the opposite end of this lever
carries a pin which works in a slotted arm w. As the lever vis gradually lifted
by the snail u during the revolution of the spindle ta projection on the arm w
presses upon a spring on a vertical rods, and this spring yielding allows the
projection to pass it. But at the end of every hour the snail u lets the lever v
drop suddenly, and the projection & in its return movement comes in contact with
the spring y, and as this spring cannot yield in that direction the rod z which
carries it is compelled to move on its pivot a. The effect of this movement of the
rod is that a pin b¹ thereon which entered a notch in the wheel c¹, and thereby
held the train of wheels c, d, which is connected with the roller n is released froin
the said notch, and the wheel c¹ then makes a revolution under the impulse of a
spring or weight, and is then again held by the pin b³, the train of wheels d', d',
transmitting the motion to the roller n so as to move the paper a quarter of an
inch or other required distance. The movements before described take place
regularly so long as the beam c is not acted upon by a passing vehicle, and the
pencil traces a longitudinal line on the paper to the extent of a quarter of an inch
at the end of every hour. But when a cab or other vehicle passes over the beam c
the following effect is produced:-The rod f bears near its upper end in a recess e¹
(see Figure 4) in a horizontal lever f¹ centred at g'. The tail of this lever bears
against the rod which carries the pin b₁ before described. It will be readily
understood that when the rod f is caused to move on its pivot y by the depression
of the beam c, as herein-before explained, it acts against the sides of the recess c
of the lever f¹, and thus pushes back this lever so that the tail h¹ pushes the rod z,
and thus shifts the pin out of the notch in the wheel c¹. This wheel is therefore
allowed to revolve under the influence of its spring, and impart through the train
of wheels d' a forward movement to the paper m; this takes place twice during the
passage of a two-wheeled cab, because the beam c is depressed twice, that is to say,
once at each side; while for a four-wheeled cab there are four such movenients, or two
for each pair of wheels; and each movement is marked on the paper by the pencil 6, or
if the cab is driven rapidly over the beam there might be only one forward move-
ment of the paper by a two-wheeled cab, and two for a four-wheeled cab, but the
record would be practically the same. The zig-zag line 2, 3, 4, 5, indicates a two-
wheeled cab or vehicle, and the zig-zag line 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 indicates a
four-wheeled vehicle. The length of these lines depends upon the weight of the
vehicle, and the direction of the first line made by each vehicle shews in which
direction such vehicle passed. The time at which the vehicle passed is shown by
the position of the longitudinal lines made by the pencil o; for instance, the line 14
starts from an incomplete transverse line, and shows that the vehicle passed during
the first half of the hour, and as the line is about 3/4ths completed it represents
about 3/4ths of that half hour, or say 22 minutes, so that the vehicle passed at
22 minutes past the hour. Again the line 15 starts from a fully completed
transverse line, and shows that the first half hour had been completed, and that
the pencil was on its way back to its starting point during the second half of the
hour, and as it was more than half way back it is clear that the vehicle passed
during the last quarter of the hour. By having the paper properly divided the
time will be shewn to the minute.
In order to prevent the spring or weight of the wheel c¹ being completely run
down by a wagon or other weight remaining on the beam c, and thereby keeping
the pin 6 out of, the notch in the wheel c', I employ a paul or click , which in its
normal position is held back by its tail j¹ coming against the rods, but when thic
rod is pushed by the tail of the lever 1 or by the projection x, as above
described, the paul moves into contact with the periphery of the wheel c¹ rendy
to enter the notch therein should the rods with its pin b¹ not have returned before
the said wheel has completed a revolution.
It will be evident that the arrangements for moving forward the strip of paper
may be variously modified, and that it might be moved continuously instead of

page_text: intermittently; but the arrangements herein-before described will be found to
answer well.
Also that the beam instead of being pivoted in the centre may be pivoted at one
side, as seen in Figure 5, in which case only one depression will be produced for
each pair of wheels, but entrances and exits could not be distinguished without
one or more additional beans.
The rod may be made so as to be capable of disconnection from the beam by a
key or other means in the hands of a responsible person for any portions of the
day for which no record is required or at the times when the cabs are going out.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improvements
in the Means or Apparatus for Recording the Passage of Vehicles over given
Places,"
First. The employment at the entrance of a cab yard or other required position
of a beam which is depressed by the vehicles which pass over it, such beam being
connected with apparatus for recording the passage of such vehicles, substantially as
hercin-before described.
Second. The combination with the said beam of springs or weights and a lever
to regulate or govern the depression of the beam according to the weight of the
passing vehicle, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third. The means or apparatus substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings for recording the passage of vehicles
over given places.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bezer, have hereunto set my hand and
scal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
Seventy-six.
HENRY BEZER. (L.S.)