A NEW OR. IMPROVED. APPARATUS, ARRANGEMENT, OR METHOD FOR GIVING, RECEIVING, AND TAKING - VOTES BY BALLOT
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jeremiah Briggs; of High Holborn; in the County.
of Middlesex, Solicitor, for the Invention of "A NEW OR. IMPROVED.
APPARATUS, ARRANGEMENT, OR METHOD FOR GIVING, RECEIVING, AND TAKING -
VOTES BY BALLOT."
Sealed the 18th June 1872, and dated the 3rd May 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Jeremiah Briggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 3rd May 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEREMIAḤ'
BRIGGS, of High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Solicitor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
Apparatus, ARRANGEMENT, OR METHOD FOR GIVING, RECEIVING, AND Taking" -
VOTES BY BALLOT," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me,
'my executors, administrators, and assigns; Her Royal Letters Patent for
..

page_text: i
the same, and have made solemn declaration that I am the true and first
Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jeremiah Briggs, do hereby <leclare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement :-
"
The object of my Invention is to produce an arrangement, apparatus,
or method for giving, receiving, and taking votes by ballot at elections,
which shall insure perfect secrecy and security to the voter as to how or
for whom he has voted, at the same time making the act of voting an
open or public one, and capable of being checked as to the number of
votes given, thus preventing both error and fraud.
The means by which I propose to attain the said object of my
Invention are as follows:-
At one end or side of a booth or room I fix a framework or voting-
stand or table on a platform, three feet (more or less) above the floor,
or on the floor, somewhat similar to a double wash-hand stand
having therein two holes of convenient size, and an efficient screen
to prevent the mode of voting being seen by any one except the
voter. In front of this framework and opposite the voter I place
two boxes, or a long table with two boxes thereunder for receiving the
voting and waste balls, having two holes in their lids or upper parts; over
these two boxes is the table or table top, in front or at and about which
sit the presiding officer and assistants, also the candidates for election or
their agents. The tops of this table and the two boxes are placed at a
lower level than the voting table on the platform, so that the voter may
be visible to all present. The holes may be formed through the table or
table top, and the balls be received in boxes, bags, or bins, under or on
the side of the table or table top. Each of the holes in the framework
or voting stand or table is connected to the opposite or corresponding
holes in the boxes, bags, or bins by a flexible sleeve or pipe, through
which the balls pass from the voting stand to their receptacles.
any
These sleeves or pipes are of different colors, and may be made of
suitable materials, provided the colors of the balls cannot be dis-
tinguished through them, and that portion of it near the boxes is
sufficiently thin and flexible to enable the presiding officers to ascertain,

page_text: feel, and count the number of balls which the voter has passed down
each sleeve, and thus to prevent error or fraud in voting. For this
purpose one or more jointed stops or moveable bars or blocks are placed
over and upon the said sleeves, near their junction with the holes in the
boxes, so as to detain the balls there until they are found correct, and
when so the stop bars are raised and the balls are allowed to fall through
the holes into the boxes or receptacles below; the sleeves to be per-
fectly secured at both ends.
In cases of error or fraud the balls are returned by pushing them back
up the sleeves to the voter to be corrected. I place two stop bars on
each of the sleeves for the more certain mode of ascertaining the
number of balls passing through each sleeve, but one bar may be
sufficient.
When a voter or his qualification is objected to, I provide for each
such voter two small bags of the same colors as the said sleeves, into
which the voter is directed to place the balls as he would have dropped
them into the sleeves; the two bags with their contents, being ascer-
tained by the presiding officers to be correct without seeing them, and
then such bags are tied up, sealed, and labelled with the number on the
register and each such voter's name, I put into a separate box or other
secure receptacle to await a scrutiny or dealt with according to law.
In order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and
more easily carried out in practice, I now proceed to explain the same
more in detail with the aid of the accompanying Drawing, where the
same index letters refer to the same parts in the several Figures where
thaw an
Fig. 1 is a plan view of my improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is a side
view; Fig. 3, an end view; and Fig. 4, an isometrical perspective view
).of the same.
1
a is the framework or voting table erected on the platform c; a³, the
holes therein, through which the voter drops the balls into the sleeves;
b is the screen to prevent the mode of voting being seen; 6' are two
doors in the said screen by which the voter enters on one side of the
3 platform c, and after voting retires on the other side; dare two boxes
placed under the table for receiving the balls after voting; dare the

page_text: holes therein through which the balls pass from the sleeves into the said
boxes; e is the table or table top upon which the stop bars fare fixed or
placed; are the sleeves through which the balls pass from the holes a¹
to the boxes d; his the box where the bags are placed which contain
the balls of the disputed votes; ³, the hole or opening in the said box.
The balls may be made of india-rubber, ivory, wood, or other suitable
substance, and must be all of the same size, substance, and material,
like billiard or bagatelle balls, under the control and direction of the
.returning officer as ordered by law; and each candidate may have his
own color or name thereon to distinguish the same as regulated by law,
and each candidate's agent or the presiding officers may give up the
same to the voter, one for each candidate, by the hand or otherwise.
.
1
Having thus fully described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the mode of carrying out the same in practice, I wish it
to be understood that, without binding myself to the precise forms and 1
dimensions of the several parts described herein or shewn upon the
Drawing, I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters
Patent, the apparatus or arrangement substantially as described herein
and shewn upon the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jeremiah Briggs, have hereunto set 2
my hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.