IMPROVEMENTS IN COUNTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING APPARATUS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sofus Emil Holten, of Gracechurch Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COUNTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 4th June 1872, and dated the 7th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sofus Emil Holten
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1871.
I, SOFUS EMIL HOLTEN, of Gracechurch Street, in the County,, of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN COUNTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING APPARATUS," to
be as follows:-
66
My Invention refers to and consists in mechanism for counting and.
indicating the number of strokes or revolutions or recurring changes of
revolving and other machinery, and is also applicable for signalling
purposes on railways and other places, and that either close by or at a
distance from the machinery, all as hereafter:described.

page_text: The mechanism consists of a drum or cylinder round which a card is
laid on which the indications are to be marked by a stationary pencil,
which card may easily be taken off and replaced by another as occasion
may require. The filled-up card may be "filed" or bound, thus forming
a.record. Or the cylinder itself is marked with numbered division lines
both circumferentially and longitudinally, and the position of a
stationary hand or pointer rélatively to these divisions indicates the
number of revolutions, strokes, or recurring changes of the machinery.
The cylinder is made to revolve and simultaneously to move longi-
tudinally along a feather on or groove in its spindle so as not to turn on
it. These movements are accomplished by clockwork and suitable
escapement in the following manner: I provide an armature or keeper
acted upon by an electro-magnet receiving a current from an electric
battery or a permanent magnetic current. To the outer end of this
armature I connect a suitable escapeinent acting upon an escapement
wheel on the cylinder spindle, but I prefer to use an escapement of a
peculiar construction consisting of a suspended swinging or pendulous
frame or rod at or near the point of suspension connected to the
armature in such a way as to receive a swinging or pendulous motion
from the same; the lower part of the swinging frame.carries two teeth,
one on each side of the escapement wheel, one of them being fixed to or
forming a part of the swinging frame, and the other being fixed to or
forming a part of a lever jointed to the swinging frame. The former I
'call the fixed and the latter the loose tooth. At each attraction the
fixed tooth-falls into a tooth space on the escapement wheel, and holds
it while the loose-tooth is.drawn out from an adjoining or other tooth
space. When the armature rises again the fixed tooth is drawn out of
the wheel, and the clockwork in connection therewith turns it one tooth
round, the loose tooth by means of a weight or spring being pushed into
a fresh tooth space and rising therewith, its travel being suitably
limited by means of stops. The escapement wheel is fixed on the
cylinder spindle, or it may be fixed on a spindle in gear with it. The
longitudinal movement of the cylinder is accomplished by an endless
screw or worm on the cylinder and gearing into a fixed rack.

page_text: Instead of being worked by clockwork the motion of the mechanism
may be accomplished by electric or other power.
The connection between the battery and the machinery or the electro-
magnet and the machinery, the movements of which are to be indicated,
may be done in any suitable or well-known manner that will readily
suggest itself to an electrician, so that an absolute electrical contact is
both made and broken at each stroke, or revolution intended to be
indicated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sofus Emil Holten in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SOFUS EMIL
HOLTEN, of Gracechurch Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Sofus Emil Holten, Her special licence
that I, the said Sofus Emil Holten, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as. I, the said Sofus Emil Holten, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make; use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention, for "IMPROVEMENTS' IN
COUNTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING APPARATUS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Sofus Emil Holten, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to

page_text: 1. "
f
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
i
☐ NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sofus Emil Holten, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same 5
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say
My Invention refers to and consists in mechanism for counting and 1
indicating the number of strokes or revolutions or recurring changes
of revolving and other machinery, and is also applicable for signalling
purposes on railways and other places, and that either close by or at a
distance from the machinery, all as hereafter described..
For this purpose I connect the mechanism hereafter to be described 1
to the machinery by means of electric, or.electro-magnetic, or. magnetic
power appliances.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation of an
apparatus constructed according to this Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of
the same; Fig. 3 is an end élevation with the clockwork removed in 2
order to shew the pencil. arrangement; and Fig. 4 is a separate view of
the escapement.
Figs. 5, 6, and 7, represent a modification of the apparatus.
I shall first describe my Invention with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The mechanism consists of a drum or cylinder A, round which a card is 2
laid having numbered division lines longitudinally and circumferentially,
-and-on which the indications are to be marked by a stationary pencil a,
which card may, easily be taken off and replaced by another as occasion
may require.
The filled-up card. may be "filed". or bound, thus
forming a record, Or the cylinder-A-itself-is-marked with numbered a
division lines both circumferentially and longitudinally, and the position
of the stationary hand or pointer a relatively to these divisions indicates
the number of revolutions, strokes, or recurring changes of the
machinery. The cylinder is made to revolve and simultaneously to
move longitudinally along a feather on or groove in its spindle B so as a
' not to turn on it.

page_text: These movements are accomplished by 'clockwork C and suitable
escapement in the following manner :-I provide an armature or keeper
D' acted upon by an electro-magnet S; S, as shewn, receiving a current
from an electric battery or a permanent magnetic current; T, T, are the
wires. To the outer end of this armature D, I connect a suitable
escapement acting upon an escapement wheel E on the cylinder spindle
B, but I prefer to use an escapement of a peculiar construction
consisting of a suspended swinging or pendulous frame F, Fig. 4, or rod
at or near the point of suspension x connected to the armature by means
of the army, in such a way as to receive a swinging or pendulous
motion from the same; the lower part of the swinging frame carries
two teeth c and d, one on each side of the escapement wheel, one of
theme being fixed to or forming a part of the swinging frame, and the
other being fixed to or in this case forming a part of the lever d jointed
to the swinging frame F. The former c I call the fixed, and the latter d
the loose tooth. At each attraction the fixed tooth c falls into a tooth
space on the escapement wheel E, and holds it while the loose tooth dis
drawn out from an adjoining or other tooth space. When the armature
rises again the fixed tooth c is drawn out of the wheel E, and the
clockwork in connection therewith turns it one tooth round the loose
tooth d by means of a weight, or in this case spring being pushed into
a fresh tooth space and rising therewith, its travel being suitably limited
by means of stops 9 and h. The escapement wheel E is fixed on the
cylinder spindle B, or it may be fixed on a spindle in gear with it.. The
longitudinal movement of the cylinder is accomplished by an endless
screw or worm G on the cylinder A and gearing into a rack H. The
latter is held in its working position in gear with the worm G by the
helical springs g¹ at the ends on the studs or standards h¹. On
depressing the lever or handle I the rack is drawn out of gear with the
worm G, thus allowing the cylinder to be pushed along its spindle as
required.
The pencil arrangement for this apparatus consists of the pencil a
held in the lever 6 which is jointed below and kept up to its work by the
spring which presses on the knob of the pencil a. The draw bar k
serves to draw back the pencil and lever b, and when back it may be

page_text: Instead of being worked by clockwork. the motion of the mechanism
may be accomplished by electric or other power. The connection
between the battery and the machinery or the electro-magnet and the
machinery, the movements of which are to be indicated may be done in
any suitable or well-known manner that will readily suggest itself to an
electrician.so that an absolute electrical contact is both made and broken
at each stroke or revolution intended to be indicated.
I connect the above-described or similar mechanism if desired to any
well-known revolving. speed indicator or counter.
}
Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are respectively front elevation, plan, and end
elevation, the latter partly in section, of a modification of the apparatus
herein before described. Whereas in the former the cylinder 'A: is made
to travel along its axis while the marking pencil is stationary; this
modification is the, reverse; namely, the cylinder A does not move along
its axis but the pencil-does; the cylinder at the same time revolves as
before, and the other parts of the mechanism may remain substantially
the same as. before described. A is the cylinder which is mounted on a
spindle Band made to revolve by means of clockwork C.. The same
escapement is shewn as in the first described arrangement, but any other
suitable and well-known escapement may be used. H' is the screw
which is made to revolve by means of wheel gearing as shewn. The
pitch, of this screw and the proportion of the gearing may be vaied so
long as the screw revolves once for every corresponding division line or
fraction or multiple of the same on the cylinder card or the cylinder
itself. The pencil a is attached to a nut G. fitting on the screw H, and
is made to travel alongside of the cylinder longitudinally.
Various well-known arrangements may be employed for this purpose,
and for the purpose of bringing the pencil back to the starting point,
the pencil may for instance be brought back by turning the screw H as
required, the outer end of it being for that purpose made square to fit a
key like a clock, thereby simultaneously winding up the clockwork, but
I-prefer-the-arrangement-here-shewn. The upper half G here really
-only forms the nut, the lower half having no screw thread but fitting the
outside diameter of the screw. The half nut G is jointed to the lower
half as shewn and held down on to the screw by means of a staple m, into
which a bolt fits which is drawn back with the pencil when required,
thus releasing the nut G and enabling it to fall back, or it may be done.
by other suitable means of fastening. The lower half slides in a groove

page_text: formed in the plate L. The whole of the carriage is thus detached from
the screw by turning the nut G back on its hinge, the carriage can then
be shifted freely by hand.
'
.
In order to shew at a glance the relative position of cylinder and
pencil the holder for the latter has a small pointer with a scale / fixed
between the screw and the cylinder or outside of the screw, and divided
off correspondingly to the divisions on the cylinder or card.
In order to explain my Invention as it may be applied to signalling
purposes on railways, I will take the case of a tunnel where it is desirable
for the signal man stationed against it to know exactly whether it is clear
or not. For this purpose I connect the telegraph wires of my apparatus to
magnetic or other well-known appliances at a lever which is placed
under one of the rails at one end of the tunnel. Such a lever M is
shewn on Fig 8. It turns on a fulcrum as shewn, and has a weight N or
a spring at one end and a pulley or wheel O at the other. Each wheel
P on one side of the train as it passes over this point depresses one end
of the lever, and this is instantly marked on the cylinder card of the
instrument while it may simultaneously sound an alarum. The number
of wheels thus indicated as having passed over a certain point will tell
the signal.man whether the whole or only part of a train has entered or
passed through the tunnel.
And having now described the nature of this Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, what I claim as my
improvements in counting, signalling, and indicating apparatus is,—
Firstly. The combination of a periodically revolving cylinder having
a motion along its axis and a stationary pencil or pointer (or a
longitudinally stationary periodically revolving cylinder, and a pencil or
pointer moving parallel with the axis of the cylinder), and electric or
magnetic or electro-magnetic appliances connected to revolving or
reciprocating machinery in order by a continuous line on the cylinder
card to indicate the recurrent changes or motion of the said machinery,
all substantially as set forth.
Secondly. The combination of the herein described or other escape-
ment arrangement with the revolving cylinder appliances as described.
Thirdly. The adaptation and application of instruments as described
to signalling on railways and other places generally and in combination
with the arrangement described with reference to Fig 8.

page_text: Fourthly. The combination of the revolving mechanism as described
with-any-well-known speed indicator. or counter:
In witness whereof, I, the said Sofus Emil Holten, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
SOFUS EMIL HOLTEN. (L.S.)