IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO STREET CARS OR OMNIBUSES TO REGISTER THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER COUNTING AND REGISTERING PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lee at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 5th February 1876. A. communication
from abroad by Joseph Thomas Pullon and William Sykes, both of Valparaiso.
WILLIAM LEE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVED APPARATUS
TO BE APPLIED TO STREET CARS OR OMNIBUSES TO REGISTER THE NUMBER OF
PASSENGERS CARRIED, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER
COUNTING AND REGISTERING PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Joseph
Thomas Pullon and William Sykes, both of Valparaiso.
This Invention is applicable principally to strect cars or omnibuses wherein the
inside fare is double that of the outside, or where both fares are alike, and is
intended to register the number of passengers either admitted inside or mounting
on to the roof, so as to act as a check upon the conductors of such vehicles and
prevent the misappropriation of fares.
It is also equally applicable for registering the number of persons entering any
public place of entertainment, such as gardens, theatres, or concert rooms, for
example, and that part which constitutes the counting mechanism may be also
applied for other mechanical counting purposes.
In applying this Invention to a street or tramway car, for example, having a
platform at the end, all, the edges of the platform are closed by a railing excepting
a space on one side sufficient for one person to pass at once. In front of this space
is a turnstile so formed and arranged that one-fourth of a turn shall give admission
to the stairs leading to the roof, and one-half turn shall give admission to the
interior. In this case (which is applicable where the inside fare is double the
outside) one-quarter turn will register one fare, and one-half turn two fares.
The turnstile by means of a double-acting capstan clutch and pawl drives a
"counter" (placed in any suitable visible position) by means of spur gearing, and a
shaft on which latter is keyed a worm herein-after referred to.
Underneath the capstan clutch there is a peculiar shaped four toothed ratchet
cam with pawl, the use of which is two-fold in the first instance to assist the
passengers in pushing round the turnstile, and secondly to prevent the "counter"
from being turned backwards.
The "counter" consists of a box carrying (say) four discs all turning loosely side
by side upon a central shaft or stud, but at a little distance apart from each other.
The edge or periphery of each disc carries the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0;
on one side of each disc are ten pins corresponding to the numbers, and on the other

page_text: side one pin only. The ten pins on one side of the first disc, gear with the worm
before named, so that each turn of the worm (which is equivalent to one-quarter
turn of the turnstile) gives one-tenth of a revolution to the first disc. The pin on
the back of this latter is so placed as to catch (once in each revolution) a hanging
tongue piece, the moment that the first disc leaves figure 9 to put up figure 0,
and as this tongue piece is in gear with the pins of the next disc it will move that
disc one-tenth of a revolution and cause it to show the figure 1, and thus by the
combination of the two discs the No. 10 is represented, and so on through tho
whole combination of discs which will commence to register 0001 and go on pro-
gressively to 9999. There is a provision made in the box to enable the inspector or
any other authorized person to introduce a wormed key and turn the discs all back
to "zero," the keyhole or opening for which can be stopped up in any suitable
manner, such as by the bolt of a good tumbler or other lock for instance, of which
the inspector alone has the key.