AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR GIVING ANSWERS TO SELECTED QUESTIONS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Parkes, of Stockport, in the County of Chester,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR GIVING
ANSWERS TO SELECTED QUESTIONS."
Sealed the 9th August 1867, and dated the 16th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Parkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
February 1867.
I, JAMES PARKES, of Stockport, in the County' of Chester, Gentleman; do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT'
FOR GIVING ANSWERS TO SELECTED QUESTIONS," to be as follows:-
This' Invention relates to the employment of a' novel mechanical device for
depositing in a drawer or other receptacle appropriate answers to selected
questions submitted for solution to the instrument, which I propose to call' the
scientific oracle:
The instrument may be described as consisting of an inclined race formed
of two guide bars, one of which is set rather higher than the other. This race
may be of any desired length and hinged to brackets'; on one of the bars is a
series of plates or pans with a raised flange at their lower edge. These plates
are held up in contact with the under face' of the bars by means of counter-
weights, and thus serve to close or nearly' close the space between' the bars.
The breadth of the space between these bars is graduated, the space between
the bars gradually increasing from the minimum in a line with the highest pan
to the maximum on a line with the lowest pan. In one end of the box of the

page_text: instrument above the race an opening is made to receive the questions and
answers, which are severally to be set out on the face of a metal disc graduated
in size to correspond to a given space in the race, so that when the discs are
discharged on to the race they will slide down and fall through their appropriate
spaces on to their respective pans below. If now a set of answers on discs
corresponding in number and size to the gauged spaces in the race are supplied
to the instrument they will severally find their way into their respective pans
and will remain suspended therein; the instrument will then be charged and
ready for use. If now a question on a prepared disc is admitted to the
instrument it will slide down the race, and finding an exit therefrom at the
determined place it will fall on to the appropriate answer suspended by the
plate or pan below, and the pan being now overweighted it will tip and
discharge its load. To receive the discs thus discharged an inclined trough
or shute is provided which will guide the two discs directly to a receptacle or
into a second trough or shute leading thereto.
In order to increase the mystery of this mode of answering questions it
may be desirable to discharge the question and answer discs into a drawer,
which when withdrawn from the instrument will be closed, and require
unfastening to give access to the question and answer; this I effect by
fitting a hinged lid to the drawer and jointing a catch thereto, which will take
on to a pin projecting from the edge of the drawer. As the drawer is put in
place a spring presser fitted to the casing will come in contact with the catch
and move it back clear of the pin; the hinged lid thus left free will now
come in contact with a fixed incline, which will raise it and allow the falling
discs to find their way into the drawer. In withdrawing the drawer or
receptacle the lid will close, and the spring presser will restore the catch to
its closed position. To prevent the rattling of the discs down the race from
arousing suspicion as to the nature of the mechanical contrivance employed
propose to set a bell in action so as to deaden the sound; this I may effect
by placing a swinging arm over the opening in the case to admit the discs,
and mounting on the fulcrum of the arm (within the case) a pulley which
being connected by a cord to an alarum apparatus will wind up the same
every time the swinging arm is raised to admit a disc and set it in motion.
To prevent the contrivance for opening the drawer lid being seen a hinged
leaf connected with a spring may be provided for closing the opening for
admitting the drawer by following up the motion of the receding drawer.
I

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Parkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
5 PARKES, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Parkes, Her special licence that I, the said James Parkes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Parkes, 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 "AN IMPROVED INSTRU-
MENT FOR GIVING ANSWERS TO SELECTED QUESTIONS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Parkes, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Parkes, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the employment of a novel mechanical device for
lepositing in a drawer or other receptacle appropriate answers to selected
uestions submitted for solution to the instrument, which I propose to call the
scientific oracle."
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the
strument, the side of the case in which it is fitted being removed to exhibit
he interior arrangement; Fig. 2 is an end elevation partly in section; Fig. 3
a sectional plan view taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and Figures 4, 5,
nd 6, are detached views to be hereafter specially referred to.

page_text: A, A, is a rectangular case closed on all sides, but having a sliding or hinged
side A', the removal or opening of which exposes the apparatus to view, as
shewn at Fig. 1. This case is fitted with two drawers; one to contain the
questions and answers when the instrument is not in use, and the other to act
as a receptacle for those discharged by the instrument. Fixed in the case A
is an inclined race formed of two straight metal guide bars B, B', which are
canted out of the level transversely and set on a steep incline longitudinally; the
bar B has a recess cut in its upper and inner edge from end to end, as shewn
best at Fig. 4, and the bar B₁ is set rather bigher than the bar B. This race
is intended to receive a series of metal discs bearing the questions and answers
prepared for the instrument, and its use is to distribute them on to plates or
pans provided to receive them; to enable the race to do this efficiently, the
longitudinal recess before mentioned is provided, which presents a supporting
shoulder to the sliding disc throughout its course, and the disc is thus kept in
the inclined position shewn at Fig. 4 and clear of the pans until its upper edge
is no longer supported by the bar B, when it falls between the bars on to the
pan intended to receive it; the race may be of any desired length. In the
Drawing the instrument is shewn as capable of holding a row of eight discs
at the same time, but when the race is longer it may receive an additional
number. Fixed to the under side of the bar B' are brackets which carrey a
longitudinal shaft C, and hung loosely on this shaft is a series of counterweight
levers D carrying plates or pans D' with a raised flange at their lower edge;
these plates are held up in contact with the under face of the bars by means
of the counterweight levers, and when in this position they serve to close or
nearly close the space between the bars. The breadth of the space between
the bars B; B', is graduated, the space gradually increasing from the minimum
in a line with the highest pan to the maximum on a line with the lowest pan.
In one end of the case of the instrument above the race a slit or opening A³
is made to receive the discs bearing the questions and answers, and allow of
their sliding down the race; these discs are graduated in size to correspond
to a given space in the race, so that when the discs are discharged on to the
race they will slide down and fall through their appropriate spaces on to their
respective pans below. If now a set of answers on discs corresponding in
number and size to the gauged spaces in the race are supplied to the instru-
ment, they will severally find their way into their respective pans, and will
remain suspended therein, their weight not being sufficient to overbalance their
pans; the instrument will then be charged and ready for use. If now a
question on a prepared disc is admitted to the instrument it will slide down the
race, and finding an exit therefrom at the determined place it will fall on to

page_text: the appropriate answer suspended by the plate or pan below, and the pan
being now overweighted it will tip into the dotted position of Fig. 4 and
discharge its load. To receive the discs thus discharged an inclined trough or
shute E is provided below the pans, which trough will guide the two discs into
a second trough or shute E' leading directly to a receptacle F, and the discs
will be deposited therein.
In order to increase the mystery to the uninitiated of this mode of
answering questions I prefer to discharge the discs bearing the questions
and answers into a drawer fitted with a lid, which when the drawer is with
drawn from the instrument will be closed and require unfastening to. give
access to the question and answer. The arrangement of the drawer with a
lid I have shewn at Fig. 1, and a mode of fastening it is illustrated at Figures
5 and 6. G is the lid hinged to the drawer F, and fitted with a spring catch a
at its under side; this catch takes on to a stud 6 projecting inwards from one
side of the drawer. The spring catch has a head which projects beyond the
lid, and as the drawer is put in place a spring presser c fitted to the case A
will come in contact with the catch, and press it back clear of the stud 6;
the hinged lid thus left free will now come in contact with a fixed incline d,
Fig. 2, which underrunning the lid will raise it sufficiently to allow the falling
discs to find their way into the drawer. In withdrawing the drawer or recep-
tacle the lid will close and the spring presser c will restore the catch a to its
closed position. To prevent the rattling of the discs down the race from
arousing suspicion as to the nature of the mechanical contrivance employed, I
propose, where the cost will admit of it, to set a bell in action so as to dealen
the sound; this I may effect by placing a swinging arm over the opening A*
formed in the case to admit the discs, and mounting on the fulcrum of the arm
(within the case) a pulley which being connected by a cord to an ordinary
alarum apparatus will wind up the same every time the swinging arm is raised
to admit a disc; the depression of the arm by releasing a catch will set the
alarum in action. This arrangement I have not shewn in the Drawing, as it
forms no part of my Invention to prevent the contrivance for opening the
drawer lid being seen, a hinged leaf connected with a spring may be provided
for closing the opening for admitting the drawer by following up the motion of
the receding drawer.
The questions and answers used with the above-described apparatus may be
instructive or simply amusing, or a combination of instruction and amusement,
and a question may have two or more answers, or an answer may serve for
two or more questions; moreover, the questions will not necessarily requiro
words for an answer, for a pictorial device will often serve the purpose; thus

page_text: for example, the enquiries as to the "greatest photographer" and the "natural
source of heat" may be answered by the words "the sun," or by a diagram
of that luminary. By the adoption of humorous or witty replies, either by
words or pictures, to enquiries apparently unprovocative of mirth great
amusement may be provided by the aid of the "scientific oracle," and as the
nature of the questions and replies may be indefinitely changed, all ages may
find amusement and interest in the working of the instrument.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Instru-
ment for Giving Answers to Selected Questions," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it, to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the means above described for gauging,
selecting, and depositing in a proper receptacle discs furnished with mottos or
devices for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Parkes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the 14th day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JAMES PARKES. (L.S.)