IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CONVEYED IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND THE DISTANCE BACH HAS TRAVELLED
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Latimer Olark, of 5, Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CONVEYED IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND
THE DISTANCE BACH HAS TRAVELLED.”
Sealed the 3rd February 1874, and dated the 5th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Latimer Olark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th August 1878.
I, JOSIAH LATIMER CLARK, of 5, Westminster Chambers, Victoria
Street, in the City of Westminster, Oivil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CONVEYED IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND THE
DISTANCE EACH HAS TRAVELLED," to be as follows:—
The object of this Invention is to record the number of passengers
conveyed in public vehicles, and the distance each has travelled. For

page_text: this purpose I employ a strip of chemically prepared paper, to which a
slow continuous travelling motion is imparted by clockwork or from one
of the wheels of the vehicle. Against the surface of the paper a row of
metallic points is caused to bear, there being one point for each seat in
the vehicle. The several seats are separated one from the other, and
each made depressible by the weight of a passenger setting upon it.
In connection with each seat is a contact making apparatus of any
ordinary construction, from which a wire is led to one or other of the
metallic points which bear against the paper.
When the seat is depressed by the weight of a person sitting upon it
that metallic point is by the contact apparatus coupled to a battery and
a current passed through it and through the chemically prepared paper,
whereby a line is produced upon the paper as it is caused to travel
slowly onwards, and the line continues to be marked upon the paper so
long as the seat is occupied. Thus the number of seats occupied at all
periods of the journey, and the distance travelled by each of the
passengers can readily be ascertained by inspecting.
To prevent the battery from being in continuous and useless operation,
I arrange for the clockwork to make contact with the battery at intervals
of about once in every minute.
In order to indicate whether the vehicle is in motion or stationary I
cause a contact to be made and marks to be produced on the paper by
the revolution of one of the wheels, or I employ a spring balanced bob
or pendulum, which by the movement of the vehicle is frequently
jerked against a stop, thereby making momentary contact with the
battery, and producing marks on the paper; when the vehicle is
stationary the bob remains out of contact, and no marks are produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Josiah Latimer Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAH
LATIMER CLARK, of 5, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, in the
City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Josiah Latimer Clark, Her special license
that I, the said Josiah Latimer Olark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Josiah Latimer Olark,
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 APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
CONVEYED IN PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND THE DISTANCE FACH HAS TRAVELLED," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Josiah Latimer Olark,
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 be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Josiah Latimer Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
The object of this Invention is to record the number of passengers
conveyed in publie vehicles, and the distance each has travelled. For
this purpose I employ a strip of chemically prepared paper to which a
slow continuous travelling motion is imparted by clockwork or from one
) of the wheels of the vehicle. Against the surface of the paper a row of
metallic points is caused to bear, there being one point for each seat in
the vehicle. The several seats are separated one from the other, and
each made depressable by the weight of a passenger sitting upon it.
In connection with each seat is a contact-making apparatus of any
3 ordinary construction, from which a wire is led to one or other of the
metallic points which bear against the paper.

page_text: When the seat is depressed by the weight of a person sitting upon it,
that metallic point is by the contact apparatus coupled to a battery and
a current passed through it and through the chemically prepared paper,
whereby a line is produced upon the paper as it is caused to travel
slowly onwards, and the line continues to be marked upon the paper so
long as the seat is occupied. Thus the number of seats occupied at all
periods of the journey and the distance trayelled by each of the pas-
sengers can readily be ascertained by inspecting.
To prevent the battery from being in continuous and useless operation
I arrange for the clockwork to make contact with the battery at intervals
of about once in every minute.
In order to indicate whether the vehicle is in motion or stationary, I
cause a contact to be made and marks to be produced on the paper by
the revolution of one of the wheels, or I employ a spring balanced bob
or pendulum, which by the movement of the vehicle is frequently jerked
against a stop, thereby making momentary contact with the battery and
producing marks on the paper. When the vehicle is stationary the bob
remains out of contact and no marks are produced.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
Figure 1 is a section of the contact making seat which I employ. It
consists of a wooden frame a carried by suitable bearers, and upon it is
placed a thin iron plate 6 which is turned down to a right angle along
one edge to form a flange, and screws passed through- this flange secure
the plate to the back of the frame. At the front of the seat the edge of
the plate is confined between the back bar of the frame and a rail which
is fixed to it, but there is freedom for the edge of the plate to play for
about an eighth of an inch; c is a cushion which the parts a and 6
support; d is a contact spring beneath the plate b. When the seat is
unoccupied the plate 6 rises as far as the upper rail which confines it
will admit, and then there is no contact between the plate 6 and the
spring d, but when the scat is occupied the plate yields to the weight of
the passenger, and contact is made; 6¹ and d, are wires passing from

page_text: the parts 6 and d, the way in which they are coupled is herein-after
described. The plate 6 should be stiff enough not to become permanently
bent or battered in use, and yet sufficiently flexible and elastic to make
and break contact with certainty.
Figure 2 is a section of the recording apparatus; e is a drum driven
by clockwork so as to cause it to wind up a strip of paper ƒ which it
draws from a bobbin g. The paper passes over a smooth metal block h
which by a wire h' is coupled with the battery as is herein-after described.
The paper is chemically prepared either with prussiate of potash, or in
other well known way, so that when traversed by an electric current it
becomes marked. As the paper passes over the block hit is pressed
upon by the metal points i, i, of which there is one corresponding with
each of the seats, and one over for the purpose of indicating when the
vehicle is travelling, as herein-after described. The points ; are of iron
if the paper be prepared with prussiate of potash, or if other pre-
parations be used they may be of platinum or other incorrodible metal.
All the points i are fixed by screws upon a slab of ebonite k, as is seen
in plan at Figure 8, and they are bent to give them greater flexibility.
Their ends lie in notches in the ebonite which serve to steady them
laterally and keep them equally spaced. The slab is capable of being
turned upon pivots /³ for the purpose of lifting the marking points to
admit of the paper being readily placed beneath them. Each point i is
connected by a wire spiral with a corresponding screw terminal 7,
Figure 4; wires P, P, also pass to these terminals from the iron
5 plates 6 of the seats of the vehicle.
The clockwork which actuates the naner may conveniently be such as

page_text: broken for the sake of avoiding an useless expenditure of battery
power.
The instrument which determines the indication when the vehicle is
travelling is shewn at Figure 6, it consists of a spring pendulum u with
a point at its lower end which is surrounded by a small metal ring v.
This ring is connected by a wire v¹ with the battery, and against the
sides of the ring the pendulum constantly makes contacts so long as the
vehicle oscillates in passing along the road, but the spring stem of the
pendulum is sufficiently stiff to cause it rapidly to come to rest when the
vehicle stops, and then the battery circuit through the pendulum is
broken.
A diagram of the battery connections is shewn at Figure 7.. 1 is the
battery cell from one pole of which a wire 2 passes. At 3 there is a
break in this wire which corresponds with the interval between the
springs and t in Figure 5, so that the current is able to pass this break
only at intervals of a minute. Beyond the point 3 the wire branches to
the iron plates of the several scats, and the break marked 4 in the
diagram cosrreponds with the intervals between the plates 6 and the
contact springs d of the seats.
From the contact springs & wires marked 5 in the diagram pass to the
points i which mark on the travelling paper, and from the block h
beneath the points the return wire 6 leads back to the other pole of the
battery; 7 is a wire which passes direct from the battery pole to the
pendulum instrument (Figure 6), and from the pendulum instrument a
wire 8 leads to a corresponding marking point i.
Figure 8 shews the paper ƒ and how it becomes marked by passing
beneath the points i, i. So long as a seat is occupied a line of do tsis
produced on the paper, each line of dots (numbered 1 to 50) corres-
ponding to its seat. The line numbered 51 shews the stoppages of the
vehicle; it is broken when a stoppage takes place. The battery I prefer
to use is that known as the Le Clanché, a single pint cell will serve well
for a vehicle with 12 seats. If the seats are more numerous a larger cell
may be employed, or better, two or more cells, each cell producing the
indications corresponding with say from twelve to twenty seats.
The machine above described is useful for producing and keeping
records for a variety of nurmoses

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim the combination of apparatus, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Latimer Clark, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and séventy-
four.