Registration of statistics.
Year: 1886

page_text: Registration of statistics.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
:
This invention relates to an improved method of and means for registering
statistical data, whereby the registration of facts connected with any enterprise or
operation shall be effected in such a complete, concise and exact manner, that a
most perfect oversight of every necessary detail shall be afforded, and that any
desired information may be gathered therefrom without difficulty or loss of time,
while the expense of effecting such registrations shall be comparatively small.
The collecting or registering sheet or band, which forms the essential basis of
the method, does not require any complicated mechanism for its action; the
numbering thereof, progressive, at will, affords without fear of error, the complex
result of an operation fixed by unity of measurement. The said sheets or bands
are varied in form and size according to the uses to which they are to be applied,
they are printed on thin but strong paper, in colors varied according to their
application,
The collecting sheets operate in boxes of very simple construction such as shown
at Fig. 33 a b, so that their maintenance causes no expense and the evidence of
the results is preserved in a compact space. Each account, operation, or class is
represented by a box; the boxes placed together maintain in evidence a given
work in its totality and in its details, which work in reality requires an enormous
number of registers and written documents and a considerable number of clerks
for effecting the actual operations. With these collecting sheets or bands everything
is presented to the eye without loss of time and without any searching operations
being required, Everything has a certain value, color, form, number, conventional
letter or cipher, everything explains in an instant, the condition of an account, of

page_text: a transport, description of article, of a production, of a work, either daily or
monthly or for a certain locality, &c. The collecting sheets are intended for
collecting the small figures lithographed in color which determine separately the
value of the given elementary statistics that are desired to be collected; these
figures are called enumerators.
The enumerators are of different kinds, their forms and their significations are
indicated in the accompanying drawings. The enumerators are themselves num-
bered on the back according to a continual progression; they are gummed and
form partial bands or strips of specially colored paper each having a thousand
numbers as shewn at Figs. 1 to 10 of the drawings. The bands of the enumerators
are preserved in boxes called "cases" as shewn at Fig. 32. These cases are of
different sizes and forms so that completed bands can be readily replaced by new
bands. The cases and the enumerators are placed against the walls of the offices
so as to be readily visible and accessible, and to occupy the least possible space.
The enumerators acquire their respective value according as they are raised out of
their cases and fixed on the collecting bands. Thus, for example, should it be
desired to represent the departure of seven carriages of the 1st class from the
station A, an official goes with the rule, Fig. 31, to the list of the enumerators for
the departure relative to carriages of the 1st class of the station A, he measures
with this rule seven units and he cuts off the band at that point. If this operation
is the first one that has been effected on that band of enumerators, the progressive
number 8 remaining for the first enumerator on the back of the band will shew
that 7 first class carriages have departed. Operating in the same manner on the
band of the enumerators for the arrival relative to 1st class carriages of the
station A, I will suppose 10 units to be removed. By this means we shall have
the indication of the movement of the 1st class carriages at the station A, the
result of which will be: arrival 10-departure-7, remaining, 3. This short
explanation of the manner of proceeding will give an idea of the method which
may be called "double registration" because the debit, "arrival," will have as its
credit, "departure," while the balance will be the "remainder." The base of the
method is as follows. There is no credit without debit." The taking of the
enumerators, marking a condition of quantity, finds its final solution by gumming
the enumerators upon the collecting bands established for each carriage of the
administration, or of foreign administrations, thus controlling the numerical indica-
tions upon the way-bills of the trains by means of the effective movement of the
carriages.
In examining this method it will be clearly seen that the arrival enumerators
pasted to the progressive number of the collecting band, determine the number of
journeys performed by each carriage, so that, without further investigation, the
work performed by each carriage and its stay at the stations are given. By means
of the small stamps Fig. 35, there will be given the day of arrival, whether the
carriage was loaded or empty, the initials of the operating official and the speed of
travel. Fig. 34 shews a series of roller stamps A, either of metal or of caoutchouc,
having upon them.various marks or ciphers that are impressed upon the enumerators
Fig. 12 for indicating the different tarifs to which the various descriptions of
merchandise are subject. Similar cipher stamps may also be used for stamping
the enumerators of the movements of the rolling stock (Figs. 1, 3, 9, 10) for
indicating the speed at which they travel. The boxes containing the collecting
bands have marked upon their lids the number of the vehicle to which they relate,
and have on the outer sides all the characteristic indications that relate to the
carriage itself from the date of its entrance into the service up to its destruction.
(See Model No 2a on the drawings.)
In addition to the journeys performed, the conditions of loading, the date and
the speed, the collecting bands may also be made to indicate the nature of the
service for which the carriage has been employed, that is to say, the number of
tons of goods and the number of animals it has transported at slow or quick speed;
whether it has transported cumbersome or compact merchandise, that is to say, one
7.7

page_text: has all the indications necessary for the service of the plant for judging of the
soundness of the different parts of the carriages and for serving as guide in their
construction or in their reform. Lastly by means of moveable colored plates,
Figs. 36 a b and 37 applicable on the upper part, the boxes enable, at once, the
general situation of all the rolling stock to be seen; that is to say, how many and
what carriages are under repair, how many and what carriages are beyond the
limits of the proprietary administration, how many are under-way upon the line.
for a fixed destination (delay of transport) and lastly, what carriages, what number,
and at what time they are stopping at the stations, and consequently are capable
of being used. The method also affords a record of the journey from the departure
to the arrival and also establishes other important matters, such as the axle-mileage
of the company's carriages and those of the different foreign companies; that is to
say, one obtains the axle-mileage of each category of carriage whether loaded or
empty, the axle-mileage per train, engine and driver, the total weights transported
on the different lines according to the variations of profile, the maximum and mean
composition of the trains and the places available to the public in the carriages of
each class. The whole of these operations, which are performed at the same time,
and which have for their object to establish the collective journeys performed by
each carriage, train, engine and driver at different speeds by the use of an apparatus
such as is shewn at Fig. 44, and which operations may appear to constitute an
enormous and complicated work constitute on the contrary, only a single one of the
large number of applications of which the said system of collecting bands and
enumerators is susceptible, with the greatest facility and simplicity.
Fig. 44 shews an apparatus serving to indicate the amount of mileage performed
by each vehicle, whether loaded or empty on travelling from one station to another
at various speeds.
+
The apparatus consists of a framing carrying a horizontal shaft A on which are
several drums T. Upon the periphery of each drum are divisions indicating the
distances between the stations of a certain line. A bar on which is a sliding
index B, is attached to the front of the framing so that the drums can rotate freely.
behind it. The shaft A carries a spur wheel I gearing with a pinion R which
imparts motion to two horizontal axes L which carry a number of toothed wheels S
corresponding to the number of different speeds at. which the trains run.
Above these wheels is placed a box or trough C containing as many grapho-
meters M as there are different speeds, that is to say, there is one graphometer for
each drum T and wheel S.
.
The box C is mounted on pivots P in the framing and can be turned upon these
by means of the handle U to an extent limited by the curved slot F through which
the bandle U passes. The graphometers M are each held in the box C in a slightly
raised position by a spring lever Z. They have at bottom a toothed wheel M₁ that
projects down through the box C, and which imparts motion to ordinary counter
mechanism within the graphometer. The wheel M¹ when the box C is canted over
by means of the handle U and the graphometer is lowered by the handle Z, is
made to gear with its corresponding wheel S, so that the rotation of the latter
actuates the counter of the graphometer, but when the box C is in the central
position shewn, the wheels M and S are out of gear, and the drums T can be
rotated without actuating the graphometers.
If now it be desired to register the travel of a vehicle that has run between
certain stations at a certain speed, the operator first brings the index B opposite
the drum corresponding to the graphometer that serves to register that particular
speed, he then turns the drum until the division thereon representing the station
of departure is opposite the index, after which he cants over the box C and by
means of the lever Z brings the wheel M¹ of the corresponding graphometer in gear
with the corresponding wheel S of the drum. Upon now turning the drum until
the division indicating the station of arrival is brought opposite the index B, this
motion will cause the counter mechanism of the graphometer to be actuated so as
to register the corresponding mileage performed at that particular speed,

page_text: Another of the numerous applications is that which relates the commercial
movements on railways and which determines the quantity of merchandise on the
departure and arrival in each station the category to which the transport belongs,
that is to say whether it is for the account of private individuals, for the various
services of the railways, or for the administrations of the government.
The enumerators Figs. 12 a b distinguished by the values of thousand, hundred,
ten and one, are taken from the respective boxes of the stations "departures" and
"arrivals" in quantity and in value which correspond to the indications which
result from the charging sheets (see model 1°) and which are controlled by this
system. These enumerators according to values, are applied to collecting sheets
Fig. 20, also arranged according to values of thousand, hundred, ten and one, and
for each of the classes for the administration, has the object of keeping in evidence,
the movement, and which I will assume to be 100. In addition, as will be seen
from the figure of the collecting bands, means are also provided for keeping
continually in evidence six different kinds into which it is desired to divide the
class itself by marking with a pencil one of the six numbers printed upon the
bands. Thus, for example, the class "combustibles may be subdivided into.
the following kinds:-coal, by striking out by means of pencil the number 1,,
charcoal, by striking out number 2, firewood by striking out number 3, lignite by
striking out number 4, peat by striking out number 5, briquets by striking out
number 6. The operation is finished by printing on the enumerators by means of
disc stamps the tariff and the date on which the movement takes place.
"
For the collection of quantities according to quality and tariff, the band cutting.
instrument shewn at Fig. 38 is employed and for grouping the same, the instru-
ment shewn at Fig. 39. The cutting apparatus shewn at Fig. 38 consists of a
table A at one end of which is fixed a bracket C in the forks of which is carried a
roller B upon which is wound the collecting band with the coupons, the roller
being made to revolve with a certain amount of resistance so as to deliver the
band as it is drawn off by the hand. The free end of the band is guided over a
rectangular opening in the table, where the coupons are cut off by a cutter
attached to the lever E, acting against a fixed cutter in the hole of the table, the
coupons being made to fall into the box D. The band is held by two springs
while the cut is being effected
The different descriptions of coupons collected in the box. D may be separated
from each other by rectangular division plates of lead or other material, dropped
into the box when one series of coupons has been completed.
For grouping the coupons taken from the boxes of the coupon bands after
having selected those of the same kind, there are arranged in the middle of a
table A Fig. 39 three metal forks that carry three rollers B capable of revolving
therein, of which the two lower ones bear with their weight upon the summary.
list passing beneath them. For this purpose the three forks are so arranged that
their mathematical centres correspond with the angles of an isosceles triangle, the
base of which is parallel to the surface of the table. The rollers B are covered
with an absorbent fabric, which takes up any gum that may exude from the edges
of the coupons that have been gummed to the collecting band. At one end of the
table is an opening beneath which is fitted an iron box E containing the roller from
which the paper band is unwound, while under the other end of the table is another.
box containing a roller D on which the paper band is wound again, this roller being
rotated by an endless cord F passing round a pulley on the axis of the roller and
round a second pulley G rotated by a crank or wheel.
The end of the band coming from the roller at E having been passed along the
table underneath the rollers B, and attached to the rollers D, the operator gums
the coupons on to the band, and by turning the wheel at G causes the band with the
coupons to pass first underneath the rollers B and then along the table to the
roller D where it is wound up. Thus it will be seen that with this system there
are indicated at every moment the quantity of merchandise and animals arriving
and departing from each station, the condition of the transports according to their

page_text: classes, and according as the work proceeds there is obtained the complete list of
100 parts of one and the same species, all being from the same point of departure,
for the same destination for one and the same administration, and for the same
tariff. By registering in a book intended for the "transports" in respect of the
movement of goods from one station to another, only the number attributed in
principle to the collecting band, it is possible to determine at once without arith-
metical operations, the quantity of ton-mileage, not for the merchandise without
distinction of classification, as is done at the present day, but according to species.
This operation succeeds completely as much for the regularisation of the retrans-
portation with a view of determining the locality of departure or the destination
of the goods, as for that which refers to the movement of importation and
exportation from or to any number of foreign stations (for instance, 10,000
stations), by making use for this purpose of the stamps shewn at Fig. 41.
The apparatus shewn at Fig. 40 serves for the registration of goods supplied to
different officials or other persons; it consists of a casing in which is a cylinder or
drum H revolving on a horizontal axis and divided longitudinally into a number
of circular compartments, which are marked with the letters of the alphabet, and
which are again divided circumferentially into a number of pigeon holes, one for
each official &c. whose name commences with the corresponding letter, and in these
pigeon holes are placed small loose boxes containing coupons constituting the
memorandum of the goods supplied. These pigeon-holes are enclosed by a
cylindrical cover, opening in segments upon hinges as indicated, so by rotating the
drum, any particular pigeon hole can be rendered accessible to the person sitting in
front of the casing.
>
Thus when supplying say 10 tons of steel to the engineer B, or 100 sleepers to
the superintendent R, an enumerator indicating the first quantity will be inserted
in a corresponding pigeon hole of the division B of the drum, while an enumerator
indicating the second quantity will be introduced in the division R.
Fig. 42 shews the apparatus for effecting additions and subtractions required in
the above described operations...
This apparatus is of well known construction and forms no part of my present
invention and need therefore not be further described.
From the above statement it may readily be shewn how it will be to the interest
of an administration, principally that of railways, to be able quickly and with
precision to ascertain the extent of movement in a station on a line or of a train,
the advantages or the losses resulting from the application of a tariff and the profit
that it may yield, the relative expenses of each transport, thus obtaining the means
of establishing at once the necessary modifications applicable for guaranteeing the
proper interests. It will not be necessary to expand further upon the advantages
to be obtained by the employment of this method of operating. The basis upon
which it rests, and the principal advantages have been stated and by means of
these explanations it will be readily seen that in the same manner as is here
indicated for registering in its smallest detail the work and the rolling stock, the
movement of goods in detail and collectively, this method may be applied to every
kind of statistics, especially to those relating to quantities and to values of all
kinds. By the same system of collecting bands, lists, sheets, tablets and
enumerators, printed or lithographed and having different forms, numbers and
colors, the following information may be arrived at. First the number of
passengers per class and per train without distinction of tariff according to mileage
from station to station, this being for the purpose of determining the number of
places in a train and on a line and to determine the composition of the trains
according to the actual wants; second, the movement of the trains, the stoppages
and the causes thereof all in detail for each train, for each station, for each day,
and also collectively; third, the traffic, the situations of the stations for the service
of the trains and the reserved compartments; fourth, the service of the vehicles
between the stations forming a circumscription fixed in advance; fifth, the
movement of the carriages in the stations, at the arrival, at the departure, in

page_text: transit, loaded, empty, per train, per line, per day, the statement in hours of the
stoppages of the carriages, separately, for each cause and for each vehicle and
consequently the means of properly utilising the rolling stock of other companies
which are in common service; sixth, the time which a rail, a sleeper or any
accessory of the permanent way has been in use, the controlling of its use per
locality, per quality of material, per derivation, &c; seventh, the condition of the
inventory of the manufacturing establishments, magasines, depôts &c according to
any determined quality or quantity, the movements of the debit and credit
accounts, the entrance and delivery of the material for consumption; eighth, the
composition in detail per individual and collectively per category of the work
of the operatives in industrial establishments and the workshops of railways,
separately according to the nature of work, the trade, the salary per day and
per week; ninth, the statistics of the aggregations of civil or military persons
belonging to any particular department for the communes are obtained; the
statement of births, marriages, families, ilnesses, emigrations, natural and violent
deaths, all of which may be classified according to the civil state, the sexes, the
causes, daily and collectively. Lastly, as regards the economical advantages to be
obtained by this system, it may be noted that in uniting in one and the same office
the statistics of the movement of the railways, the requisite officials will not
require to be greater in number than one individual for about every 25 miles of line
(at the average rate of six hours of work for every 24 hours), that is to say, a greatly
reduced expense, the more so that the documents necessary for this work are
limited to the train sheets or to an extract from the said sheets, to a list of the load
of passengers and of merchandise at the departure, similar to the models shewn on
the accompanying drawings.
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 herein described method of mechanical registration of statistics, whereby
such registration is effected without arithmetical calculations, and is made to
indicate at a glance at any time all the facts that have been registered.
2. The employment, for the purposes of mechanical registration, of collecting
sheets or bands serving for determining the different species, their value and their
sum total, such band, of whatever form serving to receive figures indicating
previously established values, quantities and other statistical matters, substantially
as herein described.
Dated this 16th day of Tau 1986