AN IMPROVED TURNSTILE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES TO SHEW OR INDICATE THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS THAT HAVE BEEN CARRIED
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Cocker at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the 30th January
1863.
I JAMES COCKER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED TURNSTILE
ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES TO SHEW OR INDICATE
THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS THAT HAVE BEEN CARRIED," to be as follows:-
The descriptions herein-after contained of the modifications or arrangements
necessary in applying my improved turnstile to the entrance into, and to, or in
the passage or way on to the top of an omnibus or other vehicle for public
use, are such that the two modes in which the said turnstile may be used are
shewn, and such descriptions sufficiently explain the construction and mode of
action of the same to enable a skilled workman to adopt the said turnstile for
use at the entrances into parks, gardens, theatres, public buildings, and other
places. At the entrance into an omnibus or other vehicle for public use I
suspend from the "canopy" or from any other part of the carriage near to the
door of the same an oblong or other frame of such form that it will practically
entirely prevent ingress and egress of passengers either over, under, or by the
sides thereof, but will allow them to pass when it is moved as a turnstile as
herein-after mentioned. The lower part of the said frame or turnstile runs in
a horizontal position across the entrance, and to obtain ingress or egress such
frame or stile must make half a revolution, that is, the horizontal part must
be moved from front to back of the passenger entering or leaving, and such

page_text: movement being communicated to self-acting arrangements of indices or other
registering apparatus will indicate the number of persons that may have
passed. For convenience of the passengers, where the vehicle has a small
platform, the lower part of the frame or stile is made to slide backwards and
forwards a short distance outwards from the omnibus and inwards towards
the centre of the same, or the said lower part of the frame or stile is made of
covered spiral or other spring, or of any other flexible material, the ends of
which may have slides thereon, or they may be attached to the frame, so that
when the conductor of the vehicle moves the stile or frame half a revolution as
above mentioned to allow a passenger to pass through the said passenger shall
stand between the sides of the frame or stile and thus have and leave sufficient
room or space for the person, and for convenient turning of the apparatus, but
the length of the slide and the size of the circle described by the flexible and
lower part of the frame must be such that only one passenger can pass during
the half revolution. On the top of the frame or stile there is a ratchet wheel
and pawl either of which may be secured to the frame or stile or to the
omnibus to allow it (the frame or stile) to be turned in one direction only,
and there is also a catch if desired placed under the control of the conductor,
so that the said frame or stile can only be turned when he so wishes it. In
the passage or way on to the top of an omnibus or other vehicle for public
use, say at the top of a staircase or ladder, I let or sink into the foot boards
the parts necessary for supporting a frame or turnstile, consisting of two
vertical standards attached at the bottom to a ring as well as of other parts..
This ring is of or about the same diameter as the distance between the vertical
standards, and it is made flush with or sunk under the level of the foot boards
and has friction rollers or their equivalents thereto attached to allow it to be
easily turned round. A ratchet wheel and pawl is also employed to allow it
to be turned in one direction only, as in the suspended stile or frame herein-
before described, and the registering apparatus is coupled to receive the
movements in similar manner. The vertical standards have broad cross pieces
on the top thereof to prevent passengers from passing without moving the
frame or stile a balf revolution. These cross pieces have slide ways formed
therein and the horizontal slide in like manner to the suspended arrangement
passes from one to the other, and has one of its ends in either way, or there is
or are a horizontal flexible connection or connections passing from the one
cross piece to the other; when a passenger desires to pass, he or she, as the case
may be, stands on the foot boards within the ring before mentioned, and takes
hold of the cross pieces and moves them as well as the standards, the ring, and
other parts, all which are secured together a half revolution, so that the hori-

page_text: zontal slide or flexible part which was in front of the passenger is moved
behind him or her and is thus left ready for the next passenger, for it is only
necessary to move the horizontal slide, or bend the flexible bar the other way,
to make the stile ready and suitable for parties desiring to pass in either
direction.