AN APPARATUS TO ASCERTAIN AND POINT. OUT THE FARES, AND EARNINGS, OR RECEIPTS OF PUBLIC VEHICLES AND THEIR CONDUCTORS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Joseph Curtis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
March 1862.
I, WILLIAM JOSEPH CURTIS, of 13, Tufnell Park Road, Holloway, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
APPARATUS TO ASCERTAIN AND POINT. OUT THE FARES, AND EARNINGS, OR RECEIPTS
OF PUBLIC VEHICLES AND THEIR CONDUCTORS," to be as follows:-
The principal purpose to which this apparatus will be applied, will be to
check the receipts of conductors of public omnibuses and drivers of cabs.
One mode of carrying out the Invention will be to connect a wheel or the
wheels of the carriage with a dial or indicator by means of an endless
chain passing round the nave of a wheel, and also over a, pulley fixed to a
shaft working the indicator, or any other suitable mode of connection may
be adopted, shewing to the passengers the space or distance the. carriage
passes over; connected with the indicator may be a cylinder or box, con-
taining a column of cards. or. tickets, which will move in exact agreement
with the indicator, the movement of which stops when the carriage stops,
which cards. or tickets will be marked or nicked by means of a punch
forming part of the machine in exact correspondence with the indicator,
when presented by the conductor to the passenger entering the carriage,
and may be again nicked or marked in exact conformity with the position of
the indicator when the passenger leaves the carriage, the two marks or nicks
will therefore shew the fare to be paid by the passenger, and that received by
the conductor or driver, the cards being then deposited in a box will be vouchers

page_text: shewing the earnings of the carriage; the cards may be nicked or marked by
the conductor if found desirable; the indicator may be of any desired form,
circular, curvilinear, or oblong, and the apparatus continuous or reciprocating.
As in the case of railway tickets the lowest card of the column is made use of,
and this is separated from the column in somewhat the same way as the blanks
in a coining press are successively placed under the die when the impression is
given to the blank by the conductor with one hand detaching the card from the
column, and then by depressing a punch working in a fixed guide cutting a nick
or mark on the card, the card thus marked is presented to the passenger by
the conductor, there is no occasion for the indicator to stop if the carriage
should be in motion when the passenger enters the carriage as the motion of
the indicator is so slow, and the punch instantaneous that it is equivalent to the
apparatus being at rest, the cards have a diagonal notch in the edge corres-
ponding with a guiding protection in the cylinder, which whilst the cards are in
column keep them in their places, and a corresponding projection in the marking
part of the apparatus being formed when the card is placed the second time in it,
(the punch which has not moved in its position,) nicks the card in exact con-
formity with the position of the dial, the card being thus twice nicked or
marked may be dropped by hand into a box, or may be made to drop by the
act of the second punch into the box or if it be found necessary after the card
marked a second time being presented to the passenger for his satisfaction, the
passenger may drop it into a box, or any other arrangement in detail may be
adopted. Another method may be adopted, the indicator moved by the wheel
being placed under or in connection with the seats; in this instance, as in a
steam engine indicator, it may be a cylinder, upon which a piece of paper is
fixed, the seats being detached and moveable are depressed slightly by the
passengers' weights, to the under side a pencil or marker being attached,
when the seat is depressed the pencil or marker is brought into contact with
the moving paper, which is marked as long as the seat is occupied, when the
seat is unoccupied the seat is raised by a spring or other means, the pencil
withdrawn from the paper, the paper being divided into divisions the mark
shews the distance the passenger has travelled, as by the cards in the first
instance; various arrangements in detail may be made, so that if desirable the
indicator and markers may be in sight, or an apparatus somewhat similar to a
gas indicator may be employed without the paper.
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