IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING OR CHECKING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS ENTERING TRAMCARS, OMNIBUSES, OR OTHER VEHICLES OR PLACES OF ENTERTAINMENT OR THE LIKE, AND THE FARE OR PRICE OF ADMISSION PAID
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Horne and Thomas Sigley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th August 1881.
ALEXANDER HORNE and THOMAS SIGLEY, both of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING
OR CHECKING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS ENTERING TRAMCARS, OMNIBUSES, OR
OTHER VEHICLES OR PLACES OF ENTERTAINMENT OR THE LIKE, AND THE FARE
OR PRICE OF ADMISSION PAID."
This Invention has for its object the construction of apparatus for checking the
entrance of persons to tramcars, omnibuses or other conveyances or places of enter-
tainment, which shall be at once cheap, simple, and not liable to get out of order.
We arrange at the bottom of the entrance a fixed metal chamber containing (say)
four pistons, pressed upwards by springs, carrying rollers or spheres at their extre-
inity, and working against a turntable carrying four double inclined planes or
V-teeth (resembling a "crown wheel ") and pivoting on a centre supported by a
footstep.
A fixed eccentric is carried by the chamber and 3 hinged arms (preferably formed
of tubing and arranged like a T) branch out from the turntable and carry rollers
running against the eccentric so arranged as to throw said arms in and out when
the obstructing arm is pushed by a passenger, the action being that of a turnstile.
A bracket fitted at a suitable height above carries the upper bearing of the turn-
stile, and the upright shaft carrying the before mentioned inclined-plane-table,
carries a small catch or pawl dropping into a toothed rack or segment attached to.
another inclined-plane-table carried on a bracket bearing, so that the entry only,
and not the exit, of a passenger shall move the indicator spindle, which carries a
roller or sphere running on the inclined surface of this upper table, his or her exit
(and consequently reversing the turnstile) only causing the pawl or catch to lift
from or ride over the rack and not move the indicator spindle.
To lock the machine, a nut having 4 notches is fitted at the bottom of the
upright or spindle, a spring step engaging with one of the notches and locking the
spindle, except when depressed by a passenger or person stepping on it, and thereby
freeing it from the nut and allowing the turnstile to move and the passenger to
pass through. We prefer to interpose friction spheres or rollers between the nut
and the spring chamber to reduce friction caused by the upward pressure of the
springs

page_text: It is obvious that the details of our Invention are capable of modification, and
instead of the dial or indicator shewing the number of passengers, it may register
the number of pence or other coin paid by the said passengers or other persons
passing the turnstile.
We prefer to arrange a semicircular horizontal bar or hand rail opposite and
close to the end of the turnstile arın to prevent (when this is not close against
the doorway) anyone surreptitiously entering without the dial shewing on indica-
tion of such action.