IMPROVEMENTS IN VOTE-COUNTING APPARATUS WORKED BY PNEUMATIC POWER FOR PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER MEETINGS.
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Peter Jensen at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 27th September 1877. A communication
from abroad by Charles Albert Mayrhofer, of Vienna, Austria, Engineer.
募
PETER JENSEN, of Chancery Lane, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN VOTE-COUNTING
APPARATUS WORKED BY PNEUMATIC POWER FOR PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER
MEETINGS.' [A communication from abroad by Charles Albert Mayrhofer, of Vienna,
Austria, Engineer.]
The object of this Invention is the construction of a vote-counting apparatus for
parliamentary and other purposes.
This apparatus is worked by pneumatic power. Every voter has two keys before
him. On depressing the button of one of them compressed air is forced out from a
vessel and driven into a pipe, by means of which a hollow elastic hermetically
closed vessel is blown out with air. In consequence of this, a rod attached to the
last-mentioned vessel with a cross piece rises; upon this cross piece studs are fixed
vertically, each of which is provided with a horizontal cross piece. One of these
cross pieces carries a stud, the point of which is directed upward, and the other a
atud, the point of which is directed downward. These studs are so arranged that
the one with the point directed downward prevents a ball in a tube from running
down until the before-mentioned rod with its cross piece is raised by the action of
the compressed air, in which case the ball is made free to run down through a
tube into a collecting hopper or other vessel.
By the rising of the rod with its cross piece the other stud with the point directed
upward is simultaneously raised, thus separating two balls from each other, so that
after the first ball has run down the other ball cannot follow it. Only then, when
by releasing of the button the rod has fallen to its former position, the second ball
is allowed to advance and to occupy the place of the first ball, where it is retained
until the button is depressed a second time.
The balls are collected in a vessel or hopper from which they pass one by one
through a pipe into a counting apparatus, which may be arranged in any of the

page_text: well-known methods, indicating by suitable gearings, dial plates, and pointers, the
number of the balls passed through the pipe.
The conduit pipe is provided with another branch pipe leading to a flat box, and
terminating into hollow hermetically closed vessels, which on depressing the button
of the key are blown out with air, so that pistons resting upon these vessels are
raised. The upper surface of this box forms a plate with as many holes as vessels
are arranged below it. Upon this plate a sheet of paper or other suitable material
is placed, and on this another plate provided with corresponding holes. The inner
surface of the cover of the box is lined with leather and damped with ink, so that
if the pistons are pressed upward, the paper sheet is marked, being pressed against
the ink cover. The sheet may also be perforated by dies or otherwise.
As it is sometimes desired not to know who has voted "pro," and who "contra,"
the following switch may be applied for this purpose. This consists of two discs,
one of which is fixed, the other may be rotated on its axis. All the conduit pipes
terminate into the upper movable disc. From the movable disc the same number
of pipes lead to the single apparatus; both the discs are smoothed at their contact
surfaces so that no air may escape; the discs are perforated with holes in such a
manner that in ordinary cases these holes occupy a certain determined position
relatively to each other, which position may be indicated by some mark. Now if
the voting shall take place, only the movable disc is to be rotated on whatever an
angle, and the number of the votes is precisely indicated without showing who has
voted "pro," and who "contra."
This Invention also relates to an apparatus for indicating whether a key has
been depressed two or more times consecutively. For this purpose a pipe branches
off from the main air-pipe and terminates into a hermetically closed vessel provided
with piston and piston rod, which are raised by depressing the button of the before-
mentioned key. The piston rod may be provided with a finger or lug engaging with
the studs of a wheel rotating with its axis; on this axis may be fixed a disc divided
into sectors differently colored. Each time when the key is depressed this disc
will rotate the distance between two of the studs of the wheel, so that according
to the number of depressions, the first, second, third, or other sector of the disc
will occupy a certain position.