IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND INDICATING THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED BY WHEELED VEHICLES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jackson Ashworth, of the City of Man-
chester, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR RECORDING AND INDICATING THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED BY WHEELED
VEHICLES."
Scaled the 11th April 1871, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord
Chancellor, and dated the 30th September 1870:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Jackson Ashworth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th September 1870.
rr
I, JOHN JACKSON ASHWORTH, of the City of Manchester, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVED Àpparatus
FOR RECORDING AND INDICATING THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED BY WHEELED VEHICLES;"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the construction of an apparatus or
arrangement of mechanism to indicate by dial plates the distance a
vehicle has run whilst carrying passengers and the amount of fare to
be paid for travelling such distance, and also to record and mark upon
paper or other suitable material the entire distance the vehicle has run

page_text: in a given period, in order that the proprietor may know how much
the driver has received in fares and also be able to ascertain the distance
the vehicle has run without carrying passengers..
Now this Invention consists of a framework in which is mounted a
toothed wheel revolving in bearings or upon a fixed stud. This toothed
wheel carries a drum, round which prepared metallic paper or other
suitable material may be affixed, and upon this material marks or lines.
are formed by stationary pencils which can be thrown in and out of
contact according to the number of passengers being carried, and thus
the proprietor obtains a record of the movements of the vehicle. The
indications of the distance travelled for the information of the passengers
is effected by revolving dial plates, such dial plates being fixed upon
spindles carrying toothed wheels and working in bearings at the
extremities of forked arms, which forked arms are mounted and arranged
upon fixed studs, and thus allow the toothed wheels simultaneously with
the recording pencils to be thrown in and out of gear with the drum
herein-before mentioned. Revolving motion is communicated to the
drum in proper proportion to the revolutions of the wheels of the vehicle
by means of a star wheel and intermediate worms and worm wheels,
such star wheel being actuated one tooth at a time by a catch mounted
upon a reciprocating rod caused to reciprocate by a projection or eccentric
formed upon the nave of one of the wheels of the vehicle to which the
apparatus is affixed.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said John 2
Jackson Ashworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JACKSON ASHWORTH, of the City of Manchester, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Jackson Ashworth, Her 3

page_text: special licence that I, the said John Jackson Ashworth, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Jackson
Ashworth, 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 vende, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND INDICATING THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED
BY WHEELED VEHICLES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the
said John Jackson Ashworth, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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
on or before the Thirteenth day of April next.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Jackson Ashworth, 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: -
The object of this Invention is the construction of an apparatus or
arrangement of mechanism to indicate by dial plate the distance a
vehicle has run whilst carrying passengers and the amount of fare to be
paid for travelling such distance, and also to record and mark upon
paper or other suitable material the entire distance the vehicle has run
in a given period, in order that the proprietor may know how much
the driver has received in fares and also be able to ascertain the vehicle
has run without carrying passengers.
Now this Invention consists of a framework in which is mounted a
toothed wheel revolving in bearings or upon a fixed stud. This toothed
wheel carries a drum round which prepared metallic paper or other
suitable material may be affixed and upon this material marks or lines
are formed by stationary pencils which can be thrown in and out of
contact according to the number of passengers being carried, and thus
the proprietor obtains a record of the movement of the vehicle. The
indications of the distance travelled for the information of the passenger
is effected by revolving dial plates, such dial plates being fixed upon
spindles carrying toothed wheels and working in bearings at the extre-
mities of forked arms, which forked arms are mounted and arranged
upon fixed studs and thus allow the toothed wheels simultaneously

page_text: with the recording pencils to be thrown in and out of gear with the drum
herein-before mentioned. Revolving motion is communicated to the
drum in proper proportion to the revolutions of the wheels of the vehicle
by means of a star wheel, and intermediate worms and worm wheels,
such star wheel being actuated one tooth at a time by a catch mounted
upon a reciprocating rod caused to reciprocate by a projection or eccentric
formed upon the nave of one of the wheels of the vehicle to which the
apparatus is affixed.
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood I have hereunto annexed a Drawing of an apparatus
constructed according to this Invention, drawn to a scale of about full
size, similar letters marked thereon being used to denote similar parts
throughout the several views.
Fig. 1 is a front view; Fig. 2, a back view; and Fig. 3 is a plan
of my apparatus. Figs. 4 and 5, represent respectively a left and right-
hand view of the same, and Fig. 6 is a view looking upwards from
beneath the apparatus. In all the views A. represents a metallic plate,
upon which is secured a stud B, upon which revolves the main toothed
wheel C herein-after called the driving wheel which is provided with a
sleeve D for carrying the drum E, and with a peg F projecting from its
side to take into one of a series of holes formed in the drum, such holes
being shewn dotted in Fig. and marked F¹ and thus such drum is caused
to revolve with the driving wheel C. Round the drum E prepared
metallic paper or other suitable material may be affixed, either by being
gummed or cemented to the surface of the drum or held in position by
suitable clips or in any other convenient manner, upon this paper or
other suitable material marks or lines are formed by the pencil or
marker G which is always held in contact with such drum by the action
of the spiral spring H but is moved laterally according to the number of
passengers being carried as herein-after explained. The pencil or marker G
is mounted at the extremity of a jointed arm I working upon the stud J
and such jointed arm has a projection K upon its under side which
takes into a cam groove L of suitable shape arranged in the cam M
which is turned by the indicating handle N according to the number
of passengers being carried, for instance, when a single passenger is
being carried such handle is turned pointing to the right, in which
case the pencil or marker G is brought by the action of the cam groove
acting upon the projection K near to the front edge of the drum

page_text: where it marks a line upon the prepared paper, as marked O in Fig. 4
according to the distance travelled by such single passenger, or in other
words, according to the proportion of the revolution of the drum. If, on
the other hand, more passengers are being carried, necessitating a higher
rate of fare, the indicating handle N would be turned to the left and
thus cause the pencil or marker G to move to near the back edge of
the drum where it would make its mark as indicated by the line P in
Fig. 4. If no passengers were being carried the indicating handle
should be turned midway between the right and left, when the pencil.
will then mark in the middle of the drum as indicated by the line Q
in Fig. 4. A record is thus obtained of the whole movements of
the vehicle during a given period, and by having the paper upon the
drum marked in divisions, the exact distance may be ascertained by the
proprietor, and he may also know whether single or double fares have
been obtained and thus have a complete check upon the driver.
To indicate the distance travelled during a single journey for the
information of the passenger or passengers, revolving dial plates are
employed affixed at the extremity of the spindles R, which carry toothed
wheels S, and are mounted in bearings at the extremities of the forked
arms T working upon the fixed studs U, the toothed wheels of which
spindles are capable of being thrown in and out of gear with the driving
wheel simultaneously with the movements of the recording pencil
according to the number of passengers being carried. This is performed
by having the forked arms resting in contact with the cam M, which
cam is cut away in certain parts of its circumference or periphery, so
that when the indicating handle is turned to the right or left the lower
extremity of the forked arm on the same side is caused to fall, and thus
bring its toothed wheel into gear with the driving wheel C, when the
spindle and dial plate will be caused to revolve and thus indicate the
distance travelled. The lowering of the forked arms is insured by the
action of the spiral springs V, which are connected at their upper
extremities to the spindles by the cords W passing through holes formed
in such spindles. These springs V also serve the purpose of bringing
the dial plates and spindles back to the starting point immediately the
toothed wheels S are lifted out of gear with the driving wheel C, the
cord having meanwhile become wound round the spindle whilst it was
in gear with the driving wheel, and consequently, as soon as it is released
the action of the spiral spring V will cause such cord to unwind itself,

page_text: thus bringing back the dial plate to its starting point again. The
necessary revolving motion may be communicated to the main driving
wheel C and drum in proper proportion to the revolution of the wheel of
the vehicle to which the apparatus is affixed by means of the reciprocating
bar X, upon which is mounted the spring catch Y, which catches upon
the teeth of the star wheel Z, and causes it to revolve one tooth at a
time, the proper action of such star wheel being insured by the appli-
cation of the spiral spring buffer a; this star wheel in its turn gives
motion to the worm b, and intermediate worm wheel c and worm d, which
latter gears direct into the driving wheel C. A method of imparting the
necessary reciprocating motion to the bar X is illustrated by Fig. 7,
which is drawn to a scale of about one inch and a half to the foot, and
in which e is a projection or eccentric formed upon the nave ƒ of the
wheel of the vehicle, which projection e works in contact with the
plate g suspended upon the arm / branching from the axletree ¹, and
connected at its other extremity by means of a connecting rod j to one
arm of a bell-crank lever k mounted upon the bolt of the ordinary
carriage spring m, the other arm of which is connected to the recipro-
cating bar X. The action of this motion is as follows:-As the nave.
f
of the wheel revolves the projection or eccentric formed upon it causes
the suspended plate to be pushed outwards, and thus oscillate the bell-
crank lever, the advantage of this arrangement being that its action is
not materially affected by the closing or opening of the carriage springs..
Fig. 8 represents a part of the outer casing in which.my apparatus
is enclosed, shewing the openings n through which the dial plates
indicate the distance the vehicle has run in a single journey, the upper
part of such openings shewing by means of the stationary index finger
or point o the amount of fare to be paid, and the lower stationary
index finger or pointer p indicating the distance travelled, the right
hand opening indicating single fares whilst the left hand refers to double
fares. The dial plate, which may be marked to suit any fares, being
shewn separately in Fig. 9. The recording drum cannot be tampered
with by the driver as it is locked up and enclosed inside the casing;
and in using this apparatus it would only be necessary for the driver
to turn the indicating handle when the passengers enter and leave the
vehicle, it being understood beforehand and a printed notice being
placed inside the vehicle requesting that payment must only be made in
accordance with the fare or distance indicated by the dial plates.

page_text: Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I claim,-
1st. The general arrangement and combination of mechanism for
recording upon paper or other suitable material the movements of the
vehicle during a given period for the information of the proprietor,, and
serving as a cheque upon the receipts of the driver, as herein-before
described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawing.
2nd. The use and application of revolving dial plates for indicating at
a glance the distance travelled by wheeled vehicles during a single
journey, and the amount of fare to be paid for travelling such distance
for the information of passengers, as and for the purposes described.
3rd. The use and application of a pencil or marker mounted and
arranged, substantially as and for the purpose described.
4th. The use and application to the purpose of recording the move-
ments of a vehicle of prepared metallic paper or other suitable material
affixed upon a drum, and operated upon by a stationary pencil or pencils
as and for the purpose described.
5th. The peculiar construction of cam movement for putting the
recording and indicating mechanism in and out of gear simultaneously,
as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jackson Ashworth, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twelfth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Agent,
71, Market St.,
Manchester.
J. J. ASHWORTH. (L.S.)