IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED BY PUBLIC VEHICLES
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Cocker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th February
1860.
I, JAMES COCKER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Wire Drawer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR INDICATING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED BY PUBLIC VEHICLES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain mechanical means for indicating the
number of outside and inside passengers travelling by omnibuses, which
mechanism may also be applied either wholly or in part for the like purpose
to other vehicles. To accommodate outside passengers in ascending and
descending, two ladders are provided, the same being similarly constructed
with a fixed and moveable portion, but differing somewhat in their working.
These ladders are placed one on each side of the entrance into the omnibus,
and they reach from the roof to a broad platform attached to the end or back
of the omnibus at about one foot from the ground, the length of the platform
being the width of the vehicle. Grooves are formed on the inner face of the
side bars of each ladder to receive an endless chain, which forms. a covering for
the ladder steps. The rivets which connect the links together extend across

page_text: from one chain to the other, for the purpose of overlying or covering the rounds
or steps of the fixed or stationary ladder. The purpose of this chain is to prevent
more than one passenger being on a ladder at the same time. An opening is
made in the chain to expose a portion of the ladder to the tread of the pas-
senger. The ascent or descent of the passenger imparts motion to the chain, that
it may follow the movement of the passenger. The chain is intended to run
over toothed wheels or pullies, one placed immediately under the first step of
the ladder, and the other a little above the top step, and below the level of the
roof of the vehicle. When the opening of the endless chain of the ascending
ladder is drawn down to the foot thereof, it uncovers the first and second steps
from the bottom, which are intended to be occupied, one with each foot of the
passenger. On the withdrawal of the foot from the bottom step the endless
chain or ladder immediately rises, and discloses the third step for the use of
the passenger, and this operation is repeated until he reaches the roof of the
omnibus. The ascent of a second passenger is impossible, by the successive
covering of the steps by the travelling chain until the conductor has drawn it
down to expose the lower rounds or steps of the ladder as before. This chain
may be so weighted at top and back as to obviate the use of springs. The
descending ladder, when arranged for use, has the top cross bar of the endless
chain standing a little above the top step of the stationary ladder. When,
therefore, the passenger begins to descend, in the act of placing his foot on
the first step of the moveable ladder, he brings the top cross bar to the exact
level of the step of the stationary ladder. This operation being continued, the
passenger arrives at the foot of the ladder, thus covering the steps he has
passed, and preventing the descent of other passengers until he has reached
the bottom.
Various modes of indicating the ascent and descent of passengers may be
adopted. For example, the chain as it revolves over the two rollers, may work
against a check attached to a lever, and the lever may, by a pawl, work a
ratchet wheel connected with a counting apparatus or index.
For indicating passengers going into an omnibus two upright pillars are to
be fixed, one on each side of the doorway and opposite each other. On the
top of each pillar a collar is mounted loosely; to this collar three arms are
affixed, one of which is rigid, and the others hinged; surrounding the collar is
a fixed cam-shaped piece, through a slot in which the rigid arm works, always
remaining in a horizontal position. The normal position of the other two
arms is vertical, or nearly so, and these alternately fall from the perpendicular
to the horizontal position behind the passenger as he presses the horizontal

page_text: rigid arm before him, whether going in or coming out, and they thereby
prevent more than one person passing in or out at the same time. These
arms are borne up by the cam-shaped surface, over which they are moved, and
fall to the horizontal position by their own weight when brought opposite a
depression in the cam face. The reciprocating motion imparted to the collar
carrying the arms is used to drive an index or counter in one direction only,
and thus to indicate the number of inside passengers carried by the vehicle.