IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED IN PUBLIC CARRIAGES, AND THE DISTANCE EACH HAS TRAVELLED
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edmund Donisthorpe, junior, of No. 12,
•
Queen's Square, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edmund
Donisthorpe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 14th November 1870.
I, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE, junior, of No. 12, Queen's Square,
Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER
OF PASSENGERS CARRIED IN PUBLIC CARRIAGES, AND THE DISTANCE EACH HAS
TRAVELLED," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object "Improvements in Apparatus for
Registering the Number of Passengers Carried in Public Carriages, and
the Distance each has Travelled."
For this purpose each seat of the carriage is supported on springs in

page_text: The seats are each made of a width for one person, and elbow divisions
are placed between each. When any one of the seats is depressed it
causes by suitable mechanism a spiked wheel to bear against and
impress a strip of paper, which is caused to travel slowly past the wheel
whenever the carriage is travelling by means of a wheel running on the
ground, so that the paper shall be drawn forwards a given distance for
every mile the vehicle travels. A separate spiked wheel is provided for.
each seat, so that by inspecting the marks on the strip of paper the
number of passengers carried in the vehicle and the distance each has
travelled can readily be ascertained.
I prefer to arrange the apparatus in the following manner:- -A
projection on the under side of each seat is arranged to bear against and
turn a small elbow lever whenever the seat is depressed, and this elbow
lever is, by suitable connecting rods and levers, connected with a lever
carrying the spiked wheel in such manner as to cause the wheel to be
pressed against the travelling strip of paper whenever the seat is
depressed. The strip of paper is led over a roller, and is pressed against
it by other rollers above and below it. The rollers are covered with
elastic material, and the lowest roller has a toothed wheel upon it, which
by suitable gearing is connected with the axis of a wheel running on the
ground. It may either be one of the bearing wheels of the carriage or
an extra wheel provided for the purpose. The spiked wheel is caused to
bear against the strip of paper where it is led around the central roller,
and the elastic covering of the roller alows the spikes of the spiked
wheel to impress or perforate the paper whenever the spiked wheel is
pressed against it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Edmund Donisthorpe in the. Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDMUND DONISTHORPE, junior, of No. 12, Queen's Square, Leeds, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty- 3

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, Her
special licence that I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 REGISTERING
THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED IN PUBLIC CARRIAGES, AND THE DISTANCE
EACH HAS TRAVELLED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 per-
formed, 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 George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
registering the number of passengers carried in public carriages, and the
distance each has travelled.
For this purpose each seat of the carriage is supported on springs in
such manner that it shall be depressed when a person is sitting upon it.
The seats are each made of a width for one person, and elbow divisions
are placed between each. When any one of the seats is depressed it
causes by suitable mechanism a spiked wheel to bear against and
impress a strip of paper, which is caused to travel slowly past the wheel
whenever the carriage is travelling by means of a wheel running on the
ground, so that the paper shall be drawn forwards a given distance for
every mile the vehicle travels. A separate spiked wheel is provided for
each seat, so that by inspecting the marks on the strip of paper the
number of passengers carried in the vehicle, and the distance each has
travelled can readily be ascertained.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I have shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed the
arrangement of apparatus I prefer to employ.
Figure 1 is an end view, and Figure 2 a front view of the apparatus,
which may be fixed in any convenient part of the vehicle.
In Figures 1 and 2 A, A, are levers carrying spiked wheels, or it
might be perforating blades or other marking instruments. As many of
these levers are provided as there are seats in the vehicle to which the
apparatus is applied; these levers are by ordinary bell hanging appliances
connected to levers placed below the seats of the vehicle, which seats, as
before stated, are depressible. The levers are mounted on a pin carried
by two end frames B, which are tied together by cross ties C. D, D¹, are
rollers covered with vulcanized india-rubber. The lower roller D¹ turns
in fixed bearings in the frame, whilst the upper roller D is supported in
bearings which can rise and fall, and which are pressed downwards by the
spring E. F is a third roller, also covered with vulcanized india-rubber
and carried by a frame G, which is capable of swinging on a pin at G¹,
so that the roller F may be moved in and out from between the
rollers D, D; this allows of the paper upon which the register marks
are to be made being readily inserted between the rollers. The manner
in which the paper is passed between the rollers is clearly shewn by the
Drawing. His a catch for retaining the frame G when the roller F is
in its place between the rollers D, D¹; the frame G also carries a
roller K upon which is the roll of paper. The axes of the rollers D, D',
and F are at one of their ends geared together by toothed wheels, as
shewn, and the lower roller D at its opposite end has a bevil wheel upon
it, by which motion is transmitted to it by suitable gearing not shewn
in the Drawings from one or other of the ordinary running wheels of
the vehicle, or it might be from an additional wheel employed for the
purpose, and thus a continuous slow rotary motion is imparted to the
rollers D, D', and F when the vehicle is travelling, and the paper is
drawn forward between the rollers at a rate, say, of about 6 inches for
every mile travelled by the vehicle. When either one or other of the
seats of the vehicle is depressed by a passenger sitting down upon it the
lever A, which is coupled with that seat, is caused to turn on its axis
until the spiked wheel or other marking instrument carried by it bears
against the strip of paper where it passes around the central roller F,
and the wheel or marking instrument perforates or marks the paper so

page_text: long as it is in contact with it, and thus a record is kept of the number
of passengers who have travelled in the vehicle, and the distance each
has travelled.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the general combination or arrangement of apparatus substantially as
herein described for registering the number of passengers carried in
public carriages, and the distance cach has travelled.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.