A NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REGIS- TERING, INDICATING, AND CHECKING THE NUMBERS AND FARES OF AND THE DISTANCES RIDDEN BY PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, OB OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Charles Davey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1872.
I, HENRY CHARLES DAVEY, of No. 54, Great Dover Street, in the
Borough of Southwark, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REGIS-
TERING, INDICATING, AND CHECKING THE NUMBERS AND FARES OF AND THE
DISTANCES RIDDEN BY PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN TRAMWAY CARS, OMNIBUSES, OB
OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as follows :-
-
This Invention is designed to prevent the possibility of fraud on the
part of conductors or other persons receiving the fares of passengers by
public vehicles. For this purpose I employ a system of tickets in con-
nection with an outer case fixed in some suitable position on or in the
omnibus, car, or other vehicle, in which case is made to revolve or slide
mechanically or automatically a drum or other suitably shaped box,
containing a number of chambers coinciding in quantity and arrange-
ment with a series of distances on the route travelled by the vehicle.
The outer case has an opening, preferably in the front, of about the
same size as one of the chambers of the revolving drum or sliding box,

page_text: which may be fitted with a lid to open and shut at the discretion of the
conductor.
The revolving drum or sliding box is so arranged in relation to the
outer case, that only one chamber at a time can be presented to the
opening in the said outer case, and that it can only be moved in one!
direction, namely that indicating the direction in which the vehicle is
travelling. Each of these chambers may be fitted with a lid made to
open automatically by means of springs on being brought under or
behind the opening in the outer case, or may be opened by the conductor
as preferred. Each of these chambers is also divided into three compart-1
ments, one of which contains tickets for outside passengers, another,
tickets for inside passengers, and the third which may be closed with the
exception of a suitably sized slot is for the reception of tickets given up
to the conductor by the passengers on alighting.
These tickets I prefer to be of metal, bone, or other durable material, 1
and to bear on them the names of the stations or distances before men-
tioned between which such tickets are issued, and such other distinctive
marks or colours as may be necessary.
I prefer that each omnibus, car, or other vehicle should be supplied
with one outer case and four inner revolving drums or sliding boxes, two :
for the outwards, and two for the return journey; but where such vehicle
does not start on its return journey immediately after reaching the
terminus at either end, one drum or sliding box may be made sufficient
by allowing the same to be revolved or slid in an opposite direction by
means of suitable mechanical contrivance.
ด
I will now explain the manner in which this apparatus may be used.
For convenience I will call each of the distances on the route by the
letters of the alphabet in their order, the first distance, and its corres-
ponding chamber in the drum or box being distinguished by the letter
A, the second by the letter B, and so on, it being understood that each a
of the chambers contains a certain number of the tickets above described.
On starting, chamber A is open to the conductor and a ticket therefrom
is delivered by him to each of the ascending passengers, inside or outside
as the case may be. On reaching distance B, chamber B is turned on
by the conductor or by automatic means provided for that purpose,
chamber A receding into the case beyond his reach and ascending pas-

page_text: sengers are supplied with tickets from B chamber. On reaching
distance C chamber C is turned on in like manner, and so on. Mean-
while the tickets given up by descending passengers are dropped into
the receiving box then open at the time of their alighting, thus it will
be seen that the tickets abstracted from the chambers corresponding
with the places of ascent will be found in the receiving boxes of the
chambers corresponding with the places of descent. On the drum being
removed and opened at either terminus, the tickets missing from each
chamber will be found in the several receiving chambers indicating the
places at which the passengers who received those tickets alighted, and
such tickets with the corresponding fares may then be registered in a
book suited to that purpose, thus the total amount due from the con-
ductor can be ascertained. Another set of tickets is then placed in the
drum or box, and the gear being reversed where requisite the vehicle is
ready for its backward journey.
To enable the passenger to have a check on his ticket and the fare he
has to pay I employ one or more dials, preferably with pointers moved
in unison with the revolving drum or sliding box, the name presented by
the dial as the point at which the passenger then is corresponding with
that on his ticket, and by looking round the dial to the place where
he intends to or is alighting he will see the amount of fare he has
to pay.
A further check upon the number of passengers conveyed may be
effected by any of the well known turnstile arrangements in connection
with the apparatus before described, but I prefer to effect such counting
by so arranging the steps leading to the vehicle that they shall give way
slightly under the weight of the ascending passenger and by suitable
mechanism shall each successively register a peculiar mark on or per-
foration in a sheet or strip of cardboard or paper kept in motion during
that operation by clockwork or otherwise; this will register the ascent.
To register the descent the relative positions of these marks will be
reversed. The said sheets or strips of card or paper are so arranged as to
correspond with the chamber of the drum or sliding box then presented
to the conductor, and are actuated in unison with it. The marks or per-
forations on each section of card or paper should agree with the number
of tickets abstracted from the corresponding chamber added to those
found in the receiving part thereof. When using this additional check,
I prefer that there are no seats for passengers on the box beside the

page_text: driver, or if so approachable only from behind, the object of this being
that every passenger shall pass the conductor.
In tramway cars, or such vehicles as do not deviate from their course
I prefer that the revolving drum or sliding box and the card or paper for
checking the ascents and descents should be actuated automatically by
the passage of the car over a certain portion of the rail, or by apparatus
in connection with one of the wlieels, or other suitable means, instead of
being moved by the conductor.