Improvements in and relating to Fare-indicating or Registering Apparatus.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Mar., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 7th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1897
[Communicated from abroad by HERMANN LANGE, of 10 Grindelhof, Hamburg,
in the Empire of Germany, Gentleman.]
Improvements in and relating to Fare-indicating or Registering
Apparatus.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for automatically indicating
or registering the fare due on a cab or other public conveyance, and the object of
the same is to afford an automatic progressive variation of the gyratory velocity of
the dial work in order to automatically vary the tariff during the time the vehicle
is on hire.
Such an adjustment of the tariff may be available if the highest tariff is to be
charged for the first mile or the first hour while a cab is hired by a passenger,
whereas during the following miles or hours the amounts to be charged are to be
successively decreased or, if on the other hand, the tariff shall be lowest for a drive
during the first hour or first mile, while the following services are to be charged
at progressively rising rates, as for example, on a journey without the town or
centre of communication, thus covering the fare for the return-passage of the
unoccupied cab.
The said object is obtained by means of a tariff-disc or cam fastened upon a
rotating shaft of the fare registering or indicating apparatus and provided on its
periphery with a certain number of steps according to the number of tariffs the
apparatus is adapted for, and a spring actuated lever bearing against the said tariff
disc or cam. This lever is vibrated through the medium of a continuously rotated
escapement wheel of the driving mechanism or clock work of the fare registering
or indicating apparatus owing to a pin or other projection of the lever which is
designed to properly engage with the said escapement wheel.
Through a suitable gearing the tariff disc or cam is caused to partake of the
motion of the said escapement wheel so that according to the step upon which the
vibrating lever meets at times, the amplitude of the latter will be greater or
smaller. This variation in the vibrating motion of the said lever is transmitted to
the dial work of the fare-registering or indicating apparatus by means of a pawl
engaging with the teeth of a ratchet wheel mounted on a shaft which is designed to
actuate the hand or figures of the dial plate.
From the foregoing it will be understood that the ratchet wheel of the dial work
is turned at a greater number of teeth-that is to say it is moved faster-when the
throw of the vibrating lever is greater, than when it is smaller and a higher step
of the tariff disc caused to limit the amplitude of the said lever. As the tariff disc
is moved with the driving or clockwork of the apparatus the several steps of the
former will come successively in the way of the vibrating lever and according to
the seuse of rotation of the tariff disc the dial work is moved progressively faster
or slower.

page_text: It is obvious that instead of a rotating tariff disc or cam a reciprocated stepped
disc or rod may be employed without departing from the nature of this present
invention.
Dated this 7th day of March 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to Fare-indicating or Registering
Apparatus.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for automatically indicating
or registering the fare due on a cab or other public conveyance, and the object of
the same is to afford an automatic progressive variation of the gyratory velocity of
the dial work in order to automatically vary the tariff during the time the vehicle
is on hire.
Such an adjustment of the tariff may be available if the highest tariff is to be
charged for the first mile or the first hour while a cab is hired by a passenger,
whereas during the following miles or hours the amounts to be charged are to be
successively decreased or, if ou the other hand, the tariff shall be lowest for a
drive during the first hour or first mile, while the following services are to be
charged at progressively rising rates, as for example, on a journey without the
town or centre of communication, thus covering the fare for the return-passage of
the unoccupied cab.
In carrying the said invention into practice I preferably make use of the
mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing and adapted to obtain the
object above stated by means of a tariff-disc or cam d fastened upon the rotating
shaft d' of the fare registering or indicating apparatus and provided on its periphery
with a certain number of steps according to the number of tariffs the apparatus is
adapted for, and a spring actuated lever b bearing against the said tariff disc or
cam by means of an arm b¹. This lever is vibrated through the medium of au
escapement wheel a continuously rotated by the shaft c of the driving mechanism
or clockwork of the fare registering or indicating apparatus owing to a pin 62 or
other projection of the lever b which is designed to properly engage with the said
escapement wheel a.
Through a suitable gear e also mounted on the shaft c and engaging a corre-
sponding gear d rigidly connected with the tariff disc or cam d¹ the latter is caused
to partake of the motion of the said escapement wheel so that according to the
step upon which the arm of the vibrating lever b influenced by the spring f
meets at times, the amplitude of the said lever b will be greater or smaller. This
variation in the vibrating motion of the lever b is transmitted upon the dial work,
of the fare-registering or indicating apparatus by means of a pawl & engaging with
the teeth of a ratchet wheel a' mounted on a shaft e which is designed to actuate
the hand or figures of the dial plate.
From the foregoing it will be understood that the ratchet wheel e¹ of the dial
work is turned through a greater number of teeth-that is to say it is moved
faster when the throw of the vibrating lever bis greater, than when it is smaller

page_text: and a higher step of the tariff disc d' caused to limit the amplitude of the lever b
or its arm b' respectively. As the tariff disc d' is moved with the driving-or
clockwork of the apparatus the several steps of the former will come successively in
the way of the arm b' of the vibrating lever b and according to the direction of
rotation of the tariff disc d' the shaft e and the dial work is moved progressively
faster or slower.
It is obvious that instead of a rotating tariff-disc or cam also a reciprocated
stepped disc or rod may be employed without departing from the nature of this
present invention.
As many changes might be made in the construction and relative arrangement
from the spirit of my invention, I would have it understood that I do not limit
myself to the exact construction shown and described but consider myself at
liberty to make such changes and alterations as fall within the scope of my
invention.
I am aware that prior to my said invention tariff-discs or cams have been used
in fare-indicating or registering apparatus but such tariff-discs or cams have been
applied in combination with a lever operated from without by the coachman.
In contradistinction to this the novelty of the hereindescribed improved fare-
indicating or registering apparatus consists in that the said tariff-disc or cam is
automatically operated by the medium of the driving mechanism or clockwork of
the apparatus during the time the vehicle is on hire.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The hereindescribed improved fare-indicating or registering apparatus, in which
the tariff-disc or cam which limits the amplitude of the vibrating lever influencing
the dial work, is automatically operated and adjusted by a suitable gearing actuated
by the driving mechanism or clock work of the fare-indicating or registering
apparatus, substantially as set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.