APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE MOTION OF VEHICLES AND CHECKING THE PAYMENTS RECEIVED FROM PASSENGERS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Murray at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 4th June 1877.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROBERT MURRAY, of Hull, in the County of York.
APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE MOTION OF VEHICLES AND CHECKING THE
PAYMENTS RECEIVED FROM PASSENGERS."
My Invention relates to apparatus to be applied to omnibuses, tram cars, cabs, or
other vehicles for recording the notion thereof, and checking the payments received
from passengers'; and it consists chiefly in the employment in combination with
gear driven from the wheels of the vehicle of apparatus which is brought, into
operation by the act of the passenger taking his seat, and maintained in operation
so long as the vehicle continues in motion and the passenger remains seated,
whereby the following particulars are recorded, vizt. :—
1st. The number of journeys made-per day.
2nd. The length of each journey.
3rd. The number of passengers per day.
4th. The distance which each passenger travels; whence may be ascertained,-
. 5th: The amount which each passenger should pay.
6th. The total amount which the conductor should pay at the end of the day.
In carrying out my Invention as applied for example to an omnibus, I arrange
on each side of the vehicle underneath the seats a longitudinal shaft, which is
driven by means of bevel wheels, worms, and worm wheels, and other gearing from
the running wheels of the vehicle, means being provided for reversing the motion of
the shafts at the termination of each journey. Each shaft carries a series of
recording drums or-cylinders, the number corresponding with that of the passengers
which the vehicle is capable of containing, which drums or cylinders are situate one
Dia 1

page_text: underneath or within each of a series of scats, into which the longitudinal seats are
divided. The upper portion of the seat (which forms the seat proper for each
passenger) is hinged at one end, say, for example, the rear end, or otherwise arranged
so as to be capable of a vertical motion, and the opposite end (the front end in the
example assumed) rests upon a weighted lever acted upon by a spring, which with
the aid of the weight tends to maintain the lever normally in a vertical position,
and carrying a pawl which engages with the teeth of a ratchet wheel mounted on a
transverse shaft, a detent being provided for preventing any motion of the shaft in
one direction.
Each transverse shaft carries also a pinion which engages with a longitudinal-
rack loosely fitted to the shaft, and embracing the corresponding drum-or cylinder
in such a manner that when the weighted lever is moved under the weight of the
passenger taking his seat the transverse shaft-will be operated by the pawl and
ratchet wheel, thereby imparting a slight longitudinal motion to the rack, and
thence along its shaft to-the drum or cylinder which the rack embraces, the drum
or cylinder which is mounted on the longitudinal shaft so as to turn with and also
be-capable of a sliding movement along the same simultaneously partaking of the
rotatory movement of the longitudinal shaft, which continues so long as the vehicle
is in motion,
Opposite each recording drum or cylinder there is provided a style or marker
carried by a hinged weighted lever, but maintained normally. (that. is to say when
the seat is unoccupied) out of contact with the drum or cylinder by a rod or detent,
which is arranged in connection with the operating weighted lever first mentioned
in such a manner that when the said lever is moved under the weight of the
passenger taking his seat, the weighted lever of the style or marker shall be released,
thereby allowing its weight to press the style or marker upon the recording drum
or cylinder. Each of these druins or cylinders is covered with a card or writing
surface capable of detachment at intervals, say, for example, at the close of cach
day, and having drawn thereon longitudinal lines at a distanco apart around the
drum or cylinder proportionate to the relation between the motion of the wheels of
the vehicle and that of the drum or cylinder, such lines representing the several
stages or stations, say, for example, the miles which form the starting and terminal
points corresponding to each unit of the fare.
It will thus be seen that when a seat is occupied and the vehicle is in motion,
the style or marker will by reason of the rotatory motion of the drum or cylinder
be caused to trace circumferential lines around the recording card; when however
the passenger rises from his seat for the purpose of alighting the style or marker is
thrown out of action by reason of its carrier being elevated by the return of the
operating weighted lever to its normal vertical position until the seat is again
occupied, when the drum or cylinder will be moved longitudinally to a sliort
distance, and the style or marker will commence describing a fresh arc, and so on in
succession.
The seats are secured by locks or otherwise so as to protect the apparatus from
all liability of being tampered with, and each system of recording apparatus is so
fitted as to admit of its being readily removed separately when required for the
purpose of detaching the cards from-the drums-or-cylinders.
In order to provide a-means of recording the distance travelled-when the vehicle
is unoccupied, and the.styles or inarkers are out of action, I employ an additional
-recording drum or cylinder driven from-the-running wheels of the vehicle, and a
_ supplementary style or marker-arranged-in connection with the same, and either
wholly or partially under the control of the driver, conductor, or other attendant, or
otherwise, the position of the style or marker being reversed by a suitable lever or
other gear on-the cominencement of each fresh journey.
Means may also be employed for recording the number of persons entering and
leaving the vehicle so as to provide a check upon the indications of the recording
drums or cylinders, which being controlled by the occupancy of the seats would be

page_text: liable to record a fresh occupant in the case of a passenger simply rising and
resuming his seat, and would not record the number of passengers standing during
the journey.
If desired a single recording apparatus may be employed for each side in lieu of
separate apparatus being used for each passenger.