Year: 1888

page_text: I, WILLIAM HARLEY WHITE, of 44 Dalry Road, in the city and county of
Edinburgh, Letterpress Printer do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be
as follows:-
This Invention has reference to and comprises a new or improved construction or
arrangement and combination of the parts of a machine or apparatus for the public
supply and delivery of newspapers, in a folded state, or other publications and like
articles, which require a large space or sectional division to be exposed to get delivery
of the article. And which is new and more convenient in construction and action for
the supply of such articles than has been possible or in practice by any of the auto-
matic delivery appliances heretofore in use.
The nature and novelty of the improved machine or apparatus consist all as
follows: As applied for the supply and delivery of newspapers for a penny, the
newspapers would be folded to a uniform size and laid into horizontal shelves, or angled
shelves, within a rectangular outer case fully wider than the length of the folded
newspaper and deeper from front to back than the width of the folded newspaper, with
close back and two ends and closed in front below, but open at the top where the
shelves would be carried and equally divided down from each other from the top. The
shelves would be fitted preferably on grooves at their ends, and with a spar up the
left front ends of the grooves to retain the shelves in their respective positions, and
the centre of each shelf would preferably have a small recess or hole formed in front
for the finger and thumb to take away the paper, as each shelf was exposed with the
paper lying on it, all as will hereinafter be explained.
A narrow box part of the same depth and width as the main box part, would be
fitted at the one side, preferably the right hand side, for containing the automatic
mechanism, and it might be with a small projecting box part in front, and the coin
receiving chamber above and box below, this part having a hinged door at the end
with lock and key for opening into this part to adjust the mechanism and collect the
money. A sliding vertical door or shutter would be fitted in front of the open shelves
at the top, preferably working freely in grooves or recesses for it at its end and on the
right hand end it would have secured to it a long edge escapement pacing vertical
ratchet or tooth rack bar, within the chamber of the actuating mechanism; and
divided or pitched under one arrangement into teeth on its under vertical edge half
the distance between each shelf. This escapement ratchet bar would project down into
the recessed box on the right hand side and be guided in its rising and falling action

page_text: by antifriction pulleys, and under this arrangement be held and actuated by a light
escapement vertical beam lever with arms at each end, having augled or escapement
pawls at their front ends taking into the ratchet teeth of the bar alternately as the
escapement beam lever is oscillated, allowing the ratchet bar and front shutter to fall
one tooth at each oscillation outwards and inwards of the upper arm of the escapement
lever, and inwards and outwards of the lower arm.
This escapement lever would be mounted on a stud and bush to oscillate in the
vertical plane of the ratchet bar; the bush being fitted in a slide bracket secured to a
part of the side frame of the box, having a removable screw or stop piece behind the
bush to hold the bush and the lever in its acting position and yet allow it to be removed
back when the ratchet and sliding shutter had to be closed up to the top and set ready
for action, for opening one shelf at a time downwards in front, when the ratchet lever
was oscillated as before stated and as will hereinafter be explained. The upper arm of
the escapement lever would have a back pressing stud acting against a light blade or
other spring, which would keep its front pawl arm always in action in the teeth of the
ratchet in its normal stopping position, to retain the shutter in position closing up all
the lower shelves except those above from which the papers had been already supplied
and removed. A small roller would be mounted on the front side of this upper armi,
which when pressed against the power of the said spring at the back by the action of
the penny, inserted as will hereinafter be described, would relieve the upper pawl from
the ratchet and engage the lower arm and pawl and allow the rack and shutter to drop
by their own weight one tooth and as soon as the penny had passed the roller, and
dropped into the receiving box, the spring would again press back the upper pawl and
remove the front door one whole division of the shelves of the shutter down, the
ratchet having moved one tooth at each oscillation by this spring lever escapement.
The before mentioned small box, would be fitted in front of this roller at one side with
the horizontal angled slit into which the penny is inserted, and the penny would drop
into a horizontal recess made for it at the inner ends of the angled slit and just in.
front of the roller of the escapement. In front of this horizontal recess at the bottom
of the projecting box a projecting stem and knob would be fitted. The inner end of
this stem when pressed in by the hand-knob would act against the penny inserted and
press it through the slit in front of the roller, so as to actuate the upper arm of the
escapement lever all as before described. But if a half-penny or smaller coin than a
penny had been inserted it would be pushed in past the roller and escapement lever
without moving it. A reacting blade or other spring would be fitted within the box against
the inner end of this spring knob to automatically press it out to its normal outward
position, with a stop on its inner end acting against its guide bracket or cover to retain
it in acting position; and instructions would be printed or otherwise indicated or
formed on the outer end of this projecting box, stating that by putting a penny in the
slit and firmly pressing in the knob a newspaper would be delivered. Instead of a
vertical beam lever escapement with duplex pawls being used to lower the vertical
rack bar and moving shutter, under another improved arrangement of escapement,
this would be effected by dividing the ratchet teeth of the rack of the shutter into
divisions equal to twice the distance between the shelves containing the newspapers,
and mounting two stepped horizontal ratchet wheels on one boss or eye, each the
depth of a shelf, and the periphery of each wheel is divided into fully as many equal
teeth and spaces as there are delivery shelves in the apparatus and fully wider in pitch
than the width of the teeth in the rack. The teeth in the upper wheel are formed in
the vertical plane of the spaces in the lower wheel, and vice versa the teeth of the lower
wheel in the plane of the spaces of the upper wheel, and these two wheels are mounted
by an eccentric bush on a short fixed vertical stud, so as to turn in a horizontal plane
with the teeth engaging into the rack on one side, and in the plane of the bottom of
the horizontal chamber receiving the penny, with a horizontal spring pawl lever
working between this chamber and the other side of the ratchet wheels. This pawl
lever has an inclined plane on it, on the side working into the chamber, and a fixed
blade spring acting on the other side, so as to press the inclined plane always into the
chamber against a fixed stud or other equivalent which will allow any smaller coin

page_text: than a penny to pass without moving the lever. The outer free end of this horizontal
spring lever has a ratchet pawl jointed or mounted on it, taking into the teeth of the
two ratchet wheels, and with a light blade spring retaining it into action in the teeth,
when the lever is pushed out by the penny, but allowing it to ride over the teeth in
the other direction when the lever is pressed in by its spring, each action of the pushing
in of the penny, turning the ratchet wheels one tooth at a time. In the normal
position of the parts with the shelves all full of newspapers and the shutter closed, the
rack of the shutter would be resting by one of its teeth, either on one tooth of the
upper ratchet wheel or the lower one, say the former, and as soon as a penny was
inserted into its chamber and the pushing spring bar pushed in, the penny would push
out the ratchet spring lever and turn the ratchet wheels one, tooth or division on their
axis, so that the rack would fall until the tooth that was resting on the ratchet tooth
of the upper wheel, would rest on the lower wheel, and lower the shutter to the extent
of one division of the shelves to deliver a paper from the first shelf. While the
insertion of a second penny would turn the ratchet wheels to the extent of another
tooth, and bring the ratchet tooth of the upper wheel under the plane of the rack, and
allow it to fall through the space of the under ratchet wheel, and the next tooth of the
ratchet to rest on the tooth of the upper ratchet wheel, and so lower the shutter and
open the second shelf for the delivery of the newspaper from it, and so on alternately
and successively until the shutter falls to the lowest shelf and delivers the last paper.
When the attendant comes to refill the shelves with the newspapers he turns the
eccentric bush of the ratchet wheels by a small handle secured on it for the purpose,
which takes the teeth of the wheels out of gear from the ratchet rack, which can then
be raised with the shutter to close up the front of the shelves, and by turning the
eccentric bush again bring the teeth of the ratchet wheels under the rack again for a
fresh descent and action of the shutter, all as hereinbefore described, by the insertion
of the pennies, stop pins being fitted on the plate carrying the ratchet wheels for the
turning of the hand lever of the eccentric bush to the two proper positions of the
ratchet wheels with their teeth in and out of gear. Other arrangements of escape-
ment levers might be adopted for moving the ratchet rack and shutter in an equivalent
manner.
When the shutter has reached its lowest position possible by the escapement, and
exposed the lowest shelf for the removal of the last paper in the case, it would come
down against a stop and bring down a plate or semaphore fixed on the shutter or the
rack over or opposite the slit for the pennies, stating that the case was empty or news-
papers all sold or shut the slit so that the pennies could not be inserted until the
attendant refilled and set the apparatus. In some cases when desired the pressing in
or weight of the penny may be made to release a catch to allow the outer pushing knob
and bar to be pressed in.
This new or improved automatic supply machine would also be very suitable for the
delivery of half-penny newspapers or other periodicals or articles on the insertion of a
half-penny by reducing the sizes, or modifying the construction of some of the
working parts. And instead of having a projecting box with the band knob and
money slit, in the front of the machine, this can be made flush with the right sido
of the machine, and the rack of the sliding shutter and the shelves shifted a little
back.
The main novel features of the invention are the application of the sliding shutter,
and the exposed shelves to an automatic delivery machine; the new ratchet and
escapement movements for intermittently lowering the rack and shutter on the
insertion of the penny, and pushing in of the spring knob; and the empty guard for
shutting the money slit; and the general combination of parts.
1000

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Public Automatic Supply and Delivery Machines.
I, WILLIAM HARLEY WHITE, of 44 Dalry Road, in the City and County of
Edinburgh, Letterpress Printer, 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 in writing reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention has reference to and comprises a new or improved construction,
or arrangement and combination of the parts, of a machine or apparatus
for the public supply and delivery of newspapers, in a folded state, or other
publications and like articles, which require a large space or sectional division to be
exposed to get delivery of the article." And which is new and more convenient in
construction and action for the supply of such articles than has been possible or in
practice by any of the automatic delivery appliances heretofore in use.
And in order that my said invention, and the manner of performing or carrying
the same into effect or practice may be properly understood, I have hereunto
appended an explanatory Sheet of Drawings, in which the same reference letters
are used to indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures where shown.
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation as taken on the irregular line 1-1 Figure 2,
of the new or improved machine for the public automatic supply of Newspapers,
periodicals or other articles; and Figure 2 is a front sectional elevation of this
machine as taken near the irregular line 2-2 Figure 3. While Figure. 3 is a
sectional plan of the machine as taken near the line 3-3 Figure 2.
Referring to these Drawings, the improved machine or apparatus consists all as
follows: Ås applied for the supply and delivery of newspapers for a penny, the
newspapers would be folded to a uniform size and laid into the spaces over each hori-
zontal shelf A¹ or it might be angled shelves, within a rectangular outer case A fully
wider than the length of the folded newspaper, and deeper from front to back than
the width of the folded newspaper, with close back and two ends and top and closed
in front below, but open in the top part in front of where the shelves A are
fitted and equally divided down from each other from the top. The shelves A¹ are
fitted preferably in grooves A" at their ends, and with a grooved guide spar A¹ up
the left front ends of the grooves to retain the shelves A¹ and front closing shutter A²
in their respective positions, and the centre of each shelf A¹ would preferably have a
small recess or hole a formed in front and out of the top of the shutter A² for the
finger and thumb to take away the paper, as each shelf A¹ was exposed with the paper
lying on it, all as will hereinafter be explained.
A narrow box part A³ of the same depth and width as the main box part A, is fitted
at the one side, preferably the right hand side, for containing the automatic
mechanism, and it might be with a small projecting box part in front, and the coin
receiving chamber B above and box B' below, this part having a hinged door A', at

page_text: the end with lock and key for opening into this part to adjust the mechanism and
collect the money. The sliding vertical door or shutter A2 is fitted in front of the
open shelves A at the top, preferably working freely in vertical grooves in the
guide A and at A in the right hand end of the box A. On the right hand end,
this shutter A² has secured to it a long edge escapement pacing vertical ratchet or
tooth rack bar C, within the chamber A³ of the actuating mechanism; and divided or
pitched into teeth on its inner vertical edge into twice the distance between each
shelf A¹. This escapement ratchet bar CC, projects down into the recessed box A³
on the right hand side and is guided in its rising and falling action by an antifriction
pulley C. Two stepped horizontal ratchet wheels C2, 3, are mounted each the
depth of a shelf A' on one boss or eye at C, and the periphery of each wheel (³, C³,
is divided into fully as many equal teeth c², c³, and spaces between them as there are
delivery shelves A¹ in the apparatus, and fully wider in pitch than the width of the
teeth of the rack C. The teeth 2 in the upper wheel C2 are formed in the vertical
plane of the spaces in the lower wheel C³, and vice versa the teeth of the lower
wheel C³ in the plane of the spaces of the upper wheel (2, and formed or screwed
together in this way by screws c¹¹. These two wheels C2 C3, are mounted by their
eye C, and an eccentric bush e on a short fixed vertical stud c', so as to turn in a
horizonal plane with the teeth c², c3 engaging into the rack Con one side, and in
nearly the plane of the bottom of the horizontal chamber B¹ receiving the penny,
with a horizontal spring pawl lever D), working between this chamber B¹ and the
other side of the ratchet wheels C2, C3. This pawl lever D is fulcrumed at its inner
end D1 and has an inclined plane D' on it, on the side working into the chamber B¹
for the penny acting on it horizontally as seen particularly in Figure 3, and against
the power of a fixed blade spring D acting on the other side of the lever D, so as
to press the inclined plane D', always into the chamber B' against a fixed stud or
other equivalent stop which will allow any smaller coin than a penny to pass without
moving the lever D. The outer free end of this horizontal spring lever D has two
ratchet pawls d d' jointed or mounted on it, taking into the teeth c² c³, of the
two ratchet wheels C2, C3, respectively, and having cach a light blade spring all
retaining it into action in the teeth, when the lever D, is pushed out by the penny,
but allows the ratchet pawls d d¹ to ride over the teeth in the other direction when
the lever D is pressed in by its spring D¹, each action of the pushing in of the
penny z, turning the ratchet wheels C2, C3, one tooth at a time. In the normal
position of the parts with the shelves A', all full of newspapers and the shutter
closed up to the top, the rack C C¹ of the shutter A2 would be resting by one of its
teeth C¹, either on one tooth c² of the upper ratchet wheel C2, or the tooth c³ of the
lower wheel C³, say the former, and as soon as a penny 2 was inserted into its slit B
and chamber B', and the pushing spring bar B2, pushed in, from the outside, the
penny z would push out the ratchet spring lever D, and turn the ratchet wheels (2, C³,
one tooth or division on their axis c so that the rack C, would fall until the tooth
that was resting on the ratchet tooth of the upper wheel C³, would rest on the tooth
of the lower wheel C³, and lower the shutter A, to the extent of one division of the
shelves A¹ to deliver a paper from the first shelf. While the insertion of a second
penny would turn the ratchet wheels to the extent of another tooth, and bring the
ratchet tooth of the upper wheel C2, under the plane of the rack (, and allow it to
fall through the space of the under ratchet wheel (³, and the next tooth C₁ of the
ratchet rack to rest on the tooth of the upper ratchet wheel C2, and so lower the
shutter A2 and open the second shelf A¹ for the delivery of the newspaper from it,
and so on alternately and successively until the shutter A2 falls to the lowest shelf A
and delivers the last paper.
When the attendant comes to refill the shelves A¹ with
the newspapers he turns the central eccentric bush e of the ratchet wheels (2, C³, by
a small handle c¹¹¹ secured on for the purpose to the position shown in dotted lines
Figure 3, which takes the teeth c², c³, of the wheels C³, C³, out of gear from the
teeth C³ of the ratchet rack C, C, which can then be raised with the shutter A³ to
close up
the front of the shelves A¹ again, and by turning the eccentric bush c again
bring the teeth of the ratchet wheels C2, C3, under the rack C again for a fresh

page_text: descent and action of the shutter A² intermittently and successively all as herein-
before described, by the insertion of the pennies z, stop pins e¹ being fitted on the
plate C carrying the ratchet wheels C2, C3, for the turning of the hand lever c¹ of
the eccentric bush c to the two proper positions of the ratchet wheels C2, C3, with
their teeth in and out of gear. Other arrangements of escapement levers might be
adopted for moving the ratchet rack and shutter in an equivalent manner.
When the shutter A' and rack C, C, have reached their lowest position possible by
the escapement, and exposed the lowest shelf A' for the removal of the last paper in
the case, the rack or shutter A2 would bring down a plate or semaphore e fixed
to it, over or into the slit at B" for the pennies, which plate or semaphore e would
state that the case was empty or the newspapers all sold, or shut the slit B altogether
so that the pennies could not be inserted until the attendant refilled and set the
apparatus. In some cases when desired the pressing in or weight of the penny may
be made to release a catch to allow the outer pushing knob and bar to be pressed in,
a spiral or other spring B³ being used to always draw out the pusher B² after it
had pressed forward the penny between the inclined plane D₁ of the lever D, and an
antifriction roller band the penny would then drop into the box b¹ for receiving it.
This new or improved automatic supply machine would also be very suitable for
the delivery of halfpenny newspapers or other periodicals or articles on the insertion
of a half-penny by reducing the sizes, or modifying the construction of soine of the
working parts. And instead of having a projecting box with the hand knob and money
slit, in the front of the machine, this can be made flush with the right side of the
machine, and the rack of the sliding shutter and the shelves shifted a little back.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The construction, arrangement and combination of the parts of an automatic
machine, for the public supply and delivery of Newspapers or other periodicals or
articles by the lowering of a sliding shutter automatically and intermittently actuated
by the insertion of a given coin or coins into a slit in the machine, substantially as
herein described, in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Second. In a public automatic supply and delivery machine, the construction or
combination of ratchet and escapement wheels for intermittently lowering a toothed
rack and sliding shutter on the insertion of a coin or coins, substantially as and in
the manner herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
Third. In a public automatic supply and delivery machine, the arrangement and
use of escapement wheels for stepping rack and eccentric centre for taking the
wheels into and out of gear with the sliding rack bar, substantially as herein
described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth. In a public automatic supply and delivery machine, the combination of
a guard for covering the coin slit, or indicating when the machine is empty,
substantially as herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
1 11
Cl T
1 1000