Year: 1896

page_text: ALFRED SOAMES & CHARLES WILLIAM SCOTT CRAWLEY both of 16 Red Lion St. E.C.
Engineers. do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention has for its object the supply of electric current on the coin freed
principle, and consists of the following parts;
An arm carrying a pawl or other equivalent and moved by the current an amount
proportional to the strength of the current.
A clock or other equivalent which from time to time at certain intervals causes
the pawl to engage with a rack and moves the arm back to its zero position thus
moving the rack an amount proportional to the current flowing at the instant when
the pawl engages. This operation is repeated at predetermined.intervals until the
rack reaches the end of its travel when it automatically cuts the current off. The
distance moved by the rack is thus proportional to the total quantity of current
which has passed.
Starting with the rack in this position. A handle is provided by movement of
which the rack may be pushed back again a predetermined amount, equal to that
which it would be pushed forward when a total quantity of Electricity has passed
through the meter equal to that for which 1d. would be charged:
By any convenient mechanism such as is or may be used in ordinary coin freed
machines we only allow the movement of the handle to actuate the rack, once each
time a coin is inserted in the usual way; the rack can thus be pushed back a
distance depending on the number of pence inserted in the meter, the handle being
turned once every time a penny is inserted, and will then allow current to flow to
the value of such pence before breaking the circuit.
The circuit is normally made when not broken by the rack. Should the clock run
down it also breaks.the circuit till rewound, and we sometimes arrange the mechanism
so that the slot in which the pennies are inserted is closed unless the clock is fully
wound.
Instead of working on a rack we some times prefer to work on the periphery of a
wheel on which notches are cut or which is milled or otherwise made so that the
pawl or its equivalent may catch on it when actuated by the. clock as mentioned.
When the instrument is used as a lamp hour meter we some times prefer to make
the arm carrying the pawl moved by the current, move a slightly greater distance
than the normal amount for the first lamp..
Instead of moving the wheel back we sometimes move forward the stop by which
the current is broken. We sometimes do not work with one single wheel but may
gear down in any convenient ratio from the one mentioned to another which actuates
the cutting off gear. We may also wind the clock up whether a coin is inserted
or not, and when the rack or wheel Las been moved back as far as it will go it
may close the coin entrance and prevent any attempt to move it further.
The instrument may indicate on a dial how many pennyworth is available at any
time. We obtain the movement of the arm in any convenient way either electro

page_text: magnetically or by stretched wire or other well known means. We generally place
a stop to the moving arm so that it cannot be moved back beyond its zero position
and allow the clock to turn it through a spring arm which trips past when
the arm reaches the stop. If the first movement of the arm is less in proportion to
the current than the rest of the movement we may compensate for this by setting the
stop a little behind the zero position and vice versa.
We do not confine ourselves to the use of pennies but may adapt the meter to the
use of any other coins.
Instead of a clock, we sometimes prefer to use an electric motor or other electrical
device working at a constant speed.
We may also at the same time make the wheel register on a dial in the usual
way.
Dated this 24th day of December 1896.
ALFRED SOAMES
C. W. S. CRAWLEY.
We, ALFRED SOAMES, and CHARLES WILLIAM SCOTT CRAWLEY, both of 16 Red
Lion St., E.C., Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention has for its object the supply of electric current on the coin freed
principle, and consists of the following parts :-
An arm carrying a pawl or other equivalent and moved by the current an amount
proportional to the strength of the current.
A clock or other equivalent which from time to time or at certain intervals causes
the pawl' to engage with a rack and moves the arm back to its zero position thus
inoving the rack an amount proportional to the current flowing at the instant when
the pawl engages. This operation is repeated at predetermined intervals until the
rack reaches the end of its travel when it automatically cuts the current off. The
distance moved by the rack is thus proportional to the total quantity of current which
has passed.
Starting with the rack in this position, a handle is provided by movement of which
the rack inay be pushed back again a predetermined amount, equal to that which it
would be pushed forward when a total quantity of electricity has passed through the
meter equal to that for which Id. would be charged:
By any convenient mechanism such as is or may be used in ordinary coin freed
machines we only allow the movement of the handle to actuate the rack, once each
time a coin is inserted in the usual way; the rack can thus be pushed back a distance
depending on the number of pence inserted in the meter; the handle being turned
once every time a penny is inserted, and will then allow current to flow to the value
of such pence before breaking the circuit.
The oircuit is normally made when not broken by the rack. Should the clock run
down it also breaks the circuit till rewound, and we sometimes arrange the mechanism
so that the slot in which the pennies are inserted is closed unless the clock is fully
wound.
Instead of working on a rack we sometimes prefer to work on the periphery of a
a wheel on which notches are cut or which is milled or otherwise made so that the
pawl or its equivalent may catch on it when actuated by the clock as mentioned.
Instead of moving the wheel back we sometimes move forward the stop by which

page_text: the current 18 broken. We sometime
may
gear down in any convenient ratio from the one mentioned to another which actuates
the cutting off gear. We may also wind the clock up, whether a coin is inserted or
not, and when the rack or wheel has been moved back as far as it will go it may close
the coin entrance and prevent any attempt to move it further.
The instrument may indicate on a dial how many pennyworth is available at any
time. We obtain the movement of the arm in any convenient way either electro-
magnetically or by stretched wire or other well known means. We generally place
a stop to the moving arm so that it cannot be moved back beyond the zero position
and allow the clock, to turn it through a spring arm which trips past when the arm
reaches the stop.
We do not confine ourselves to the use of pennies but may adapt the meter to the
use of any other coins.
Instead of the clock we sometimes prefer to use an electric motor. or other electrical
device working at a constant speed, we may also at the same time make the wheel
register on a dial in the usual way.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 a plan of an apparatus constructed
according to this invention the case being removed to show the working parts.
a is a toothed wheel or circular rack and b is a lever pivotted at band carrying at
one end a pawl 6 and at the other a magnet & having a projecting core. This
magnet may either be an electro-magnet as shown to be energised by the current or
a permanent magnet. c is a coil on the consumers circuit fixed to the frame of the
machine and surrounding the core. b, the arrangement therefore acts as a solenoid
the core band with it the lever b being moved a distance dependent on the amount
of current being used.
d is a lever carrying the coin receiver d', a rack d and a weight d. This lever
is pivotted at d to the stem e of the pull handle e'. The rack d is only in gear with
the wheel a when a coin is is the receiver d' so over-powering the weight d³.
If the handle be now pulled the wheel a is turned until the trip.lever d' on the
coin receiver coming into contact with the stop f frees the coin whereupon the
weight d throws the rack out of gear. e is a pin on the stem e which when
the handle is pulled comes into contact with the lever g pivotted at g¹ and carrying a
conducting plate whereby the contacts à à in consumers circuit are connected is
a catch engaging with a pin g on the lever. 33 are contacts in the consumers
circuit and is an arm fixed to the stem e which closes the circuit through these
contacts the circuit being broken at this point when the handle is pulled or held out.
is a clock whose hand in its revolution comes against the pawl 62 causes it to
engage with the wheel a which is thus turned' backwards by the clock until the
lever.b comes against the stop and the tail of the pawl which is a spring escapes
from the hand. The lever b thereupon moves back again through a distance
dependent on the strength of the current at that time. After a certain interval the
hand again engages with the pawl and turns the wheel a back and so on until the
pin a comes against the catch e thus freeing the lever g which is drawn back by its
spring breaking the circuit.
m is an arm fixed to the catch and acted on by the main spring when the latter
by unwinding has attained a certain size. When this takes place the epring comes
against the arin and trips the catch & so that when the clock has nearly run down the
circuit is broken.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our'said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A meter in which a part is moved in one direction through a certain distance
on the insertion of a coin and is moved back again by a clock or the like through a
distance-dependent on the strength of current passing...
2. The combination of a rack or toothed wheel, a lever moved in one direction by

page_text: a solenoid on the consumer's circuit and in the other by a clock or the like, and a
pawl on the lever engaging with the wheel or rack.
3. The combination with the subject matter of the preceding claims of means
whereby the rack, wheel or other part on reaching the end of its travel breaks the
consumer's circuit.
4. The combination with the subject matter of the preceding claims of means
whereby the clock when run down or nearly so breaks the consumer's circuit.
5. Prepaid electric meters substantially as described and shown in the drawings.
Dated this 95th day of Datahor 1807
ALFRED SO AMES
C. W. S. CRAWLEY.