Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Registering, Indica- ting, and Counting Votes and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Aug., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Registering, Indica-
ting, and Counting Votes and the like.
We, ETIENNE GUILLEMIN, Engineer, and JULES CAUDERAY, Electrician, both of
Place du Flon, Lausanne, Switzerland, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to apparatus for use at deliberative meetings (parliaments,
town-councils, etc.) for automatically collecting, in a rapid and secure manner,
upon totalizing counting-devices which are placed near the president's seat, the
votes of the members of the meeting or their answer to the call. The invention
enables one to ascertain exactly the doubtful result of a vote by rising or remaining
seated; by taking care to avoid any unguarded looks between voters, the invention
may also be used for recording the results of a secret ballot in which the voters
would have to answer by "yes," no" or "I refrain."
"
The arrangement consists in the combination of a certain number of totalizing
counters (for instance a counter of the members present, a counter of the absentees,
a counter of the "ayes," and a counter of the " noes") with a device for collecting
the indications provided with an actuating device which may be operated by hand
or by means of any mechanical device. The said collecting-device is connected
with an electrical system including: a supply of electricity, registering electro-
magnets and suitable switches or commutators which are placed within reach of
every member of the meeting.
The arrangement may further include one or more electric alarm-bells.
We will now proceed to describe our invention, reference being made to the
accompanying drawings, in which we have shown by way of example, an automatic
scrutinizer which is provided with five totalizing counters and only one collecting
device. The latter is arranged so as to collect the signs of 23 commutators which
are placed within reach of as many voters, but the electrical connections are shown
for six only of the same, which is sufficient for understanding the system.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatuses which are intended to be placed
within reach of the president.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the same looking upward in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an elevation looking from right to left of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the whole arrangement.
Figure 5 is a plan view, and
Figure 6 a section of one of the commutators which are placed within reach of
every member of the meeting whose votes or answer to the call are to be collected.
Figure 7 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the alarm-bell.
Figure 8 shows a sheet of paper which is to be placed upon the collecting-device
shown in Figures 1 and 4.
In all the figures similar letters of reference refer to the same parts.
In the arrangement shown, the following problem is to be solved, viz. :-the
automatical indication at some predetermined place (for instance at the president's
bureau) 1st, of the number and names of the members present or absent, 2nd, of

page_text: the number of ayes and noes in case of a voting (the withdrawals being
recorded as presences).
Such problem is solved by means of the following apparatuses which constitute
the arrangement.
1. Every member of the meeting has within his reach a commutator formed of
a handle A which can be placed upon 4 different contacts BCDE. The said
handle A is connected electrically with a finger-key S forming a part of the
collecting-device which is placed near the president and each of the said four
finger-keys BCDE is connected with an electric line bede ending on one of the
poles of one of the registering electro-magnets GHI or K which are also placed
near the president. The other pole of each of the said electro-magnets is
connected with a supply of electricity L which is itself connected with the axis m
of the contact-arm M of the collecting-device, said arm being intended to be
placed, by every calling of the names or votes, successively upon all the keys a,
which produces each time, for one of the commutators, the closing of the circuit
above mentioned, this being effected by either one or the other of the electro-
magnets according as the handle of the commutator is placed upon the one or upon
the other of the keys BCDE when such closing is taking place. The motion of
the contact-arm M of the collecting-device may be effected either by hand or by
means of a suitable motor, for instance an electric motor, a starting device being
placed within reach of the president for starting the motor of the scrutinizer when
a call or a vote is to be taken, and the stopping is produced automatically when
the arm or hand Mf has passed over all the keys of the collector. In the example
shown the hand M is supposed to be moved by hand.
The collecting-device carries, internally to the contacts a, which are provided
on its circumference, a paper or cardboard disc P (Figure 8) which is pressed
between two discs Q (Figure 2) secured on the shaft m; on the projecting portion
of this disc there are printed, in sectors P¹ corresponding to the said keys aaa³ at
etc., the names of the members of the meeting to whom the commutators A¹ A² A³ A+
belong; the said disc bears further four concentric circles p1p3p, which may
for instance be of various colours, on which are written the indications: absent,
present, yes and no.
On the other hand the indicators G H I and K are provided with
arms ghi and k, each having a pointed end g¹¹ and the said arms being
placed under one of the circles p1 22 23 and 2 and being intended to engage in a
radial opening q in the fixed plates Q1 Q2 between which the disc P
The
passes.
arms ghi and k are acted upon by the electro-magnets GHI and K every time
the latter are put into circuit in the manner described above, and everything is
arranged so that when the handle A¹, for instance, is placed upon the contact B
which means "absent" and corresponds to the indicator G, the arm 9 of the
latter will make a hole in the disc P on the circle 7 and in the sector bearing the
name of the member of the meeting to whom the commutator A¹ belongs.
Each of the arms ghi and is further combined with a suitable
counter G¹H¹I¹K¹ so as to record every one of their oscillations, for instance by
moving, by means of a well-known click-device, the hands of a counter with dial's
of a well-known system, indicating the units and tens as shown in the drawing.
The automatic scrutinizer will thus give at the same time the nominal voting of
each member of the meeting, the number of "ayes," the number of noes" and the
number of withdrawals; the sum of these three indications must always be the
same as the number of members who are entitled to vote, which allows the result
of the ballot to be controlled very rapidly.
«
In order to ascertain the result of a vote by rising or remaining seated or by a
ballot, the sheet of paper bearing the names of the voters will be removed and
the levers ghi and k will act upon the counters G₁ H¹ I and K' only, their pointed
end working upon nothing. The number of “ ayes noes," withdrawals and
absences is thus obtained at once.
"" "
We think it preferable to use perforating points rather than rollers provided

page_text: with ink, the apparatus being liable to remain out of use for months, the ink would
dry up unless the apparatus is specially looked after. In case of inking rollers
the arm may have a continuous motion."
When the perforation is effected by means of a dry point the disc P is to be
moved whilst the hand M is not moving (without contact), which may be attained
in the following manner, viz.: The keys a are separated from one another by means
of a strip of insulating material m The motor is arranged so as to produce
successively the simultaneous rotation of the hand M and of the disc P through one
division (for instance from a¹ to a²) and so on, each time stopping for a moment
so as to leave the arm M upon every contact key. To this end the axis of tho
arm M bears a lever R with a pawl r (Figure 1) engaging into the teeth of a
ratchet M which is secured to the arm M, a counter-click or pawl keeping the
latter from going back. The lever R has a reciprocating motion which is imparted
to it by hand in the construction shown, but which may be produced by means of
any suitable motor.
The lever R bears a block which is arranged so as to act upon an inclines,
now in one direction now in the other, said inclines being secured upon a contact-
lever S which is pivoted at s' and serves to break or close the circuit conveying the
current from the supply of electricity L to the arm M. When the lever R
oscillates in the direction of the arrow 1, the click rotates the arm M, and the
block raises the lever S out of contact with the pieces, so that the circuit will
be broken while the hand M is revolving from an insulating piece m¹ to a contact-
piece a. And then when the block has gone over to the other side of the
inclined planes, the lever R is oscillated in the direction of the arrow 2. Its
click acts as a catch on the ratchet M' and consequently the arm M stands still;
but at the same time the block presses the lever S against the contact 3, which
closes the circuit of that one of the keys a upon which the hand M happens to be
at that particular time. Then the inclined plane s escapes again from the block³
and the lever S goes back to its normal position, in order that the circuit be
broken when the lever is again depressed in the direction of the arrow l.
The contact pieces a are arranged concentrically around the axis of the arm M
and the levers ghik are arranged so that their pointed ends g¹¹¹ and k¹, passing
through the radial opening 7 of the plates Q'Q², will record the indications on
one and the same radius of the corresponding circle, either at the "yes," or at the
no or at the "present" or at the "absent" section of the paper-disc P.
66
"7
the commutator will preferably
moreover
assume, as
shown
The keys BCD and E of the commutators, which are placed within reach of the
voters, will correspond, in the example chosen, to the words: absent, present,
yes, no;
in the Figures 5 and 6, the shape of a box N the cover n of which causes,
when closing, the hand A to go back to the key "absent" so that it will be easy
for the president to ascertain whether or not the commutator of an absent member
has been left inadvertently upon another key than the one corresponding to the
sign of his absence; for instance by means of an alarm-bell the knob of which is
placed within reach of the president. The circuit of such bell includes the keys n¹
When the boxes Ň are
and n² (Figure 6) of all the boxes N as shown in Figure 7.
closed the blocks 3 of their covers act upon the contact springs which connect
with one another the said keys n' and n of every one of the boxes N and break off
the circuit of the bell W in each box N; but should one of the boxes N remain
open, the circuit is set by means of its spring n between the keys n¹ and na
and if the president, after having requested all the members present to shut the
box of their commutator, acts upon the knob of the bell U, the latter will sound
when even one only of the said boxes N has remained open.
The arm A is provided with a spring a which tends to bring it back upon the
key B; it is placed over a cross-shaped spring A+ provided with a nose a+ pro-
jecting from the edge of the box N when the latter is open and which is lowered
by the closing of the cover n. The spring A+ is provided with projections cde by
which the arm A is caught when the latter is placed upon one of the keys CD or E,

page_text: which prevents the spring a from bringing it back when the voting is taking
place. But when the cover of the box is being shut, the lowering of the spring A
causes the arm A to be freed from the projections and to be restored automatically
to its position on the key B which corresponds to the indication "absent."
Dated this Third day of August 1897
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Registering, Indica-
ting, and Counting Votes and the like.
We, ETIENNE GUILLEMIN, Engineer, and JULES CAUDERAY, Electrician, both of
Place du Flon, Lausanne, Switzerland, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention relates to apparatus for use at deliberative meetings (parliaments,
town-councils, etc.) for automatically collecting, in a rapid and secure manner,
upon totalizing counting-devices which are placed near the president's seat, the
votes of the members of the meeting or their answer to the call. The invention
enables one to ascertain exactly the result of a vote which, if signified in the
common way by rising or remaining seated, might be doubtful. By taking care
to avoid any unguarded looks between voters, the invention may also be used for
recording the results of a secret ballot in which the voters would have to answer
by, yes," no" or "I refrain."
The arrangement consists in the combination of a certain number of totalizing
counters (for instance a counter of the members present, a counter of the absentees,
a counter of the "ayes" and a counter of the " noes") with a device for collecting
the indications provided with an actuating device which may be operated by hand
or by means of any mechanical device. The said collecting-device is connected
with an electrical system including: a supply of electricity, registering electro-
magnets and suitable switches or commutators which are placed within reach of
every member of the meeting.
The arrangement may further include one or more electric alarm-bells.
We will now proceed to describe our invention, reference being made to the
drawings accompanying our Provisional Specification, in which we have shown by
way of example, an automatic vote-recorder which is provided with four totalizing
counters and only one collecting device. The latter is arranged so as to put the
totalizing counters in communication with the different contacts respectively of 23
commutators which are placed within reach of as many voters, but the electrical
connections are shown for six only of the same, which is sufficient for understanding
the system.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus which are intended to be placed
within reach of the president.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the same looking upward in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an elevation looking from right to left of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the whole arrangement.
Figure 5 is a plan view, and
Figure 6 a section of one of the commutators which are placed within reach of
every member of the meeting whose votes or answer to the call are to be collected.

page_text: Figure 7 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the alarm-bell.
Figure 8 shows a sheet of paper which is to be placed upon the collecting-device
shown in Figures 1 and 4.
In the arrangement shown, the following problem is to be solved, ri.--the
automatic indication at some predetermined place (for instance at the president's
bureau) 1st, of the number and names of the members present or absent, 2nd, of
the number of "ayes" and noes in case of a voting (the abstentions being
recorded as presences").
<6
66
ور
Such problem is solved by means of the following apparatus which constitute
the arrangement.
1. Every member of the meeting has within his reach a commutator formed of
a handle A which can be placed upon 4 different contacts BCDE. The said
handle A is connected electrically with a contact plate a forming a part of the
collecting-device which is placed near the president and each of the said four
contacts BCDE is connected with an electric line bede connected to one of the
terminals of one of the registering electro-magnets GHI or K which are also placed
near the president. The other terminal of each of the said electro-magnets is
connected with a supply of electricity L which is itself connected with the contact-
arm of the collecting-device, said arm being intended to be placed, at every
calling of the names or votes, successively upon all the keys a, which produces
each time, for one of the commutators, the closing of the circuit above mentioned,
the current passing through either one or the other of the electro-magnets accord-
ing as the handle of the commutator is placed upon the one or upon the other of
the contacts BCDE when such closing is taking place. The motion of the
contact-arm M of the collecting-device may be effected either by hand or by means
of a suitable motor, for instance an electric motor, a starting-device being placed
within reach of the president for starting the motor of the vote recorder when a call
or a vote is to be taken, and the stopping is produced automatically when the arm
or hand M has passed over all the keys of the collector. In the example shown
the hand M is supposed to be moved by hand.
The collecting-device carries, internally to the contacts a, which are provided
on its circumference, a paper or cardboard disc P (Figure 8) which is pressed
between two discs Q (Figure 2) secured on the shaft m; on the projecting portion
of this disc there are printed, in sectors P¹ corresponding to the said keys a¹ a³ a³ a¹
etc., the names of the members of the meeting to whom the commutators A¹ A° A³ A'
belong; the said disc bears further four concentric circles p1 p³ p', which may
for instance be of various colours, on which are written the indications "absent,"
present," (or "I refrain ") "yes," and "no."
On the other hand the armatures of the electromagnets G H I and K are provided
with arms ghi and k, each having a pointed end gh and the said arms being
placed under one of the circles p³ ³ ³ and p¹ and being intended to engage in a
radial opening in the fixed plates Q1 Q2 between which the disc P passes. The
arms ghi and k are acted upon by the electro-magnets GHI and K every time
the latter are put into circuit in the manner described above, and everything is
arranged so that when the handle A', for instance, is placed upon the contact B
which means absent" and corresponds to the electro-magnet G, the arm g of the
latter will make a hole in the disc P on the circle p¹ and in the sector bearing the
name of the member of the meeting to whom the commutator A¹ belongs.
with a suitable
Each of the arms ghi and k is further combined
counter G'H'I'K' so as to record every one of their oscillations, for instance by
moving by means of a well-known click-device, the hands of a counter with dials
of a well-known system, indicating the units and tens as shown in the drawing.
The automatic scrutinizer will thus give at once the vote of each member of the
meeting against their respective names on the disc P, the number of "ayes," the
number of "noes' and the number of abstentions; the sum of these three indica-
"

page_text: tions must always be the same as the number of members who are present and
entitled to vote, which allows the result of the ballot to be controlled very
rapidly.
In order to ascertain the result of a vote otherwise determined by counting the
number of voters rising or remaining seated or by a ballot, the sheet of paper
bearing the names of the voters will be removed and the levers g h i and, will
act upon the counters G¹ H¹ I' and K¹ only, their pointed end working upon
nothing. The number of "ayes," noes,"
presences" and absences is thus
obtained at once.
"
" "
"
We think it preferable to use perforating points rather than rollers provided
with ink for the reason that, the apparatus being liable to remain out of use for
months, the ink would dry up unless the apparatus is specially looked after. In
case of inking rollers the arm may have a continuous motion but when the per-
foration is effected by means of a dry point the disc P is to be moved whilst the
circuit through the contact arm M is open, which may be attained in the following
manner; viz. The keys a are separated from one another by means of a strip of
insulating material m¹. The motor is arranged so as to produce intermittently
the simultaneous turning of the contact arm M and of the disc P through one
division (for instance from a¹ to a²) and so on, each time stopping for a moment
80, as to leave the arm M upon every contact key. To this end the axis of the
arm M bears a lever R with a pawl r (Figure 1) engaging into the teeth of a
ratchet M which is secured to the axis m of the arm A, a counter-click or pawl l
keeping the letter from going back. The lever R has a reciprocating motion
which is imparted to it by hand in the construction shown, but which may be
produced by means of any suitable motor.
The lever R bears a block which is arranged so as to act upon an incline s
now in one direction now in the other, said incline s being secured upon a contact-
lever S which is pivoted at s¹ and serves to break or close the circuit conveying the
current from the supply of electricity L to the arm M. When the lever R
oscillates in the direction of the arrow 1, the click rotates the arm M, and the
block raises the lever S out of contact with the pieces, so that the circuit will
be broken while the hand M is revolving from an insulating piece m¹ to a contact-
piece a. And then when the block has gone over to the other side of the
inclined planes, the lever R is oscillated in the direction of the arrow 2. The
click acts as a catch on the ratchet M and consequently the arm M stands still;
but at the same time the block presses the lever S against the contact s², which
closes the circuit of that one of the keys a upon which the hand M happens to be
at that particular time. Then the inclined plane s escapes again from the block r
and the lever S goes back to its normal position, in order that the circuit be
broken when the lever R is again oscillated in the direction of the arrow /.
The contact-pieces a are placed concentrically around the axis of the arm M
and the levers ghik are arranged so that their pointed ends gl hand k¹ passing
through the radial opening 7 of the plates QQ will record the indications on
one and the same radius of the corresponding circle, either at the "yes" or at the
""
رو
no or at the " present or at the absent" section of the paper-disc P.
$6
"
The keys BCD and E of the commutators, which are placed within reach of the
voters, will correspond, in the example chosen, to the words: absent," "present
(or "I refrain "), "yes," "no"; moreover the commutator will preferably assume as
shown in the Figures 5 and 6, the shape of a box N the cover n of which causes,
when closing, the hand A to go back to the key "absent" so that it will be easy
for the president to ascertain whether or not the commutator of an absent member
has been left inadvertently upon another key than the one corresponding to the
sign of his absence; for instance by means of an alarm-bell the knob of which is
placed within reach of the president. The circuit of such bell includes the keys n¹
and n (Figure 6) of all the boxes N as shown in Figure 7. When the boxes Ñ are
closed the blocks n³ of their covers act upon the contact springs n which connect

page_text: with one another the said keys n¹ and n³ of every one of the boxes N and break off
the circuit of the bell W in each box N; but should one of the boxes N remain
open, the circuit is completed by means of its spring n between the keys n¹ and n
and if the president, after having requested all the members present to shut the
box of their commutator, acts upon the knob of the bell U, the latter will sound
when even one only of the said boxes N has remained open.
The arm A is provided with a spring a² which tends to bring it back upon the
key B; it is placed over a cross-shaped spring A+ provided with a nose a+ pro-
jecting from the edge of the box N when the latter is open and which is lowered
by the closing of the cover n. The spring A+ is provided with projections cde by
which the arm A is caught when the latter is placed upon one of the keys CD or E,
which prevents the spring a from bringing it back when the voting is taking
place. But when the cover of the box is being shut, the lowering of the spring A+
causes the arm A to be freed from the projections and to be restored automatically
to its position on the key B which corresponds to the indication "absent."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:
-
First. An automatic apparatus for registering, indicating and counting votes,
comprising a device for collecting the indications, formed of a metallic hand
intended to be moved upon a series of contact-pieces which are isolated from one
another and which are each connected to the handle of a commutator placed
within reach of a member of the meeting, the metallic hand of the collecting-
device being electrically connected with any suitable supply of electricity and
with one of the poles of an electro-magnet the armature of which is combined, on
the one hand, with a lever intended to record suitable indications on a sheet of
paper, and, on the other hand, with a counter of any well-known system, the other
pole of the said electro-magnet being electrically connected with a contact-piece
of the commutator which is placed within reach of the member of the meeting
whose apparatus is to record his vote.
Second. In an apparatus of the kind or class herein before referred to, a
collecting-device the hand of which is pivoted in the centre of a series of contact-
pieces which are placed in a plane around its axis, in combination with recording
levers which are arranged so as to record the indications on one and the same
radius of the circle upon which the contact pieces are provided.
Third. In an apparatus of the kind or class hereinbefore referred to, levers g, h, i
and which are provided with pointed ends g, h, ¹ and k¹, and which are intended
to perforate a paper-disc P under the action of the electro-magnets GHI and K,
substantially as, and for the purposes, above specified.
Fourth. In an apparatus of the kind hereinbefore referred to, a hand M which
is combined with a ratchet-wheel M¹ a lever R having a block and a click_r,
and a lever S having a blocks which is intended to be acted upon in one or the
other direction by means of the block according as the lever R is oscillated
forwards or backwards, in combination with a contact against which the lever $
bears during one stroke of the lever R, and from which the said lever S is separated
in the other stroke of the said lever R, substantially as, and for the purposes,
above specified.
Fifth. In an apparatus of the kind or class herein before referred to, a commu-
tator having a handle which is intended to close the circuit of one of the
registering electro-magnets, in combination with a box containing a device which
is intended to restore automatically the handle to its rest position when the cover
is being shut, substantially as, and for the purposes, above specified.
Sixth. In an apparatus of the kind or class hereinbefore referred to, the com-
bination of the commutators having a handle, with the circuit of an electrical
alarm-bell which can only be closed when one, at least, of the boxes of the

page_text: said commutators is open, substantially as, and for the purposes, above
specified.
Dated the 25th day of April 1898.
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.