IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS ENTERING OR LEAVING PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND CHECKING THE PAYMENT RECEIVED FROM SUCH PERSONS, ALSO THE NUMBER OF VOTERS POLLED AT ELECTIONS, WITH THE VOTES GIVEN BY EACH, WHICH APPARATUS, OR PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS, ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Patrick Auld at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 27th August 1877.
PATRICK AULD, of Frederick Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Mid-
dlesex.. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PERSONS
ENTERING OR LEAVING PUBLIC VEHICLES, AND CHECKING THE PAYMENT RECEIVED
FROM SUCH PERSONS, ALSO THE NUMBER OF VOTERS POLLED AT ELECTIONS, WITH
THE VOTES GIVEN BY EACH, WHICH APPARATUS, OR PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS, ARE
ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
My Invention has for its objects chiefly the provision of efficient means for
checking the receipts of the conductors of public vehicles and money takers at
public buildings and bridges, also for facilitating the counting of votes at elections,
and these objects are attained by the employment of the apparatus herein-after
described.
In carrying out my Invention as applied to vehicles making journeys which are
subdivided into stages, it consists of a combination of two spring steps so arranged
that each person entering or leaving the vehicle shall be necessitated to step upon
and press them down, the steps instantly resuming their normal position on the
pressure being removed. By means of a lever or a simple combination of levers
connecting the under side of each step with one or two perpendicular rods main-
tained in an upright position by guide rings or otherwise, and arranged so as always
to rise and fall exactly the same distance; when moved by the action of the steps
a recording apparatus herein-after described is thus set in motion each time a
passenger enters or leaves the vehicle.
This apparatus is constructed and arranged in the following manner, vizt. :-The
rod worked by one of the two steps, say, the upper for example, by means of a small
lever, with spring pawl attached to one end, or any other suitable means, turns; a
ratchet wheel one tooth each time the step is pressed upon. On the arbour of the
ratchet wheel is fixed a toother wheel which engages with another toothed wheel
forming part of a reel which thus receives rotatory motion so as to cause a strip of
paper to be wound upon it from another reel. Upon one side of the first-mentioned
wheel are a number of projecting knobs, which, as the wheel revolves, are caused

page_text: each in turn to bear upon and press down a spring with pricker attached, so that a
series of pricks in a straight line is made near one edge of the paper as it is wound
or moves from one reel to the other. The second rod, which is worked by the other
step, vizt., the lower step in the present example, sets in motion by means of an
arrangement precisely similar to that herein-before described for the first rod, a
wheel, on one side of which are a number of projecting knobs, alternately long and
short, and so arranged that as the wheel revolves each knob alternately hits and
misses one of two springs, with pricker attached, so placed that a zig-zag line of
pricks is made in the centre of the paper, moved by that part of the apparatus which
is connected with the upper step.
By means of the above apparatus it follows that every time a passenger enters a
vehicle, first the lower, and then the upper of the two steps is pressed down, thus
causing two pricks to be made in the strip of paper, the first made while the
strip of paper remains unmoved, the second as it is wound from one reel to the
other.
It is also evident that every time a passenger leaves the vehicle, first the upper
and then the lower of the two steps is pressed down, so causing two pricks to
be made in the paper, the first as it is wonnd from one reel to the other, the second
whilst it remains unmoved; therefore each entrance is indicated on the strip of
paper by two pricks in one direction, and each exit by two pricks in an opposite
direction.
In connection with the apparatus last herein-before described is arranged a
series of spring prickers, two for each station where a change of fare occurs, vizt.,
one to mark the arrival of the vehicle, the other its departure, which prickers are
so placed that by means of a key or handle turned by the conductor they are caused
to pierce the paper near the edge opposite to that on which the entrances and
éxits are recorded, so that the amount of fares taken may be readily checked.
In order to obviate the possibility of any improper use of the key indicating the
change of fare, the conductors may be changed at each stage, by which means the
services of an attendant at each station are dispensed with. As soon as the vehicle
arrives at the station the conductor waiting at that station immediately turns a
key, thus marking its arrival, and as soon as it is ready to start on the next stage
he takes the place of the conductor who accompanied the vehicle from the previous
station, handing him the key, with which he immediately indicates its departure,
and waits for the arrival of the next vehicle. It is therefore clear that as each key
always remains at its appropriated station no conductor has one in his possession
while on the journey, and by arranging that each key shall be different from the
others, the right pricker only can be acted on at each station.
The total number of passengers conveyed during any given time is recorded by
means of any suitable arrangement of counting gear, and dials, and pointers,
so that the total number of passengers conveyed may be seen at a glance at
any time.
The steps and the mechanism with which they are connected may be securely
framed together so as to form one apparatus, which, as in the case of tram cars, may
be easily removed from one end of the vehicle to the other, provision being made
that by means of a spring bolt the steps are automatically locked and unlocked
on their withdrawal from and their return to their proper position on the vehicle.
When my Invention is applied for recording votes at elections I employ cabinets
similar to those now in use in voting by ballot, but furnished with the apparatus
herein-before described. By this means the entrance of each voter is recorded on
the strip of paper by two pricks in one direction, and his exit by two pricks in an
opposite direction, the action of the apparatus being such that the paper is moved
each time a voter enters, and also when he leaves the cabinet. The recording
mechanism is so placed that the paper, as it moves from one reel to the other, passes
under a glazed aperture in the surface of the table, and a different portion of the
paper is thus exposed to the view of each voter in succession, upon which he records
his votes by means of the following arrangement:-On one side of the aperture on

page_text: the table are affixed the names of the candidates with the numbers of votes which
may be given to each; on the opposite side of the aperture are sliding knobs or
push pieces, to which spring prickers are attached, which knobs or push pieces bear
names and numbers corresponding to those affixed to the table in the other side of
the aperture. Each knob, when operated upon by the voter, produces on the strip
of paper, by means of the spring prickers. attached to it, a fac simile of the name
and numbers on that knot. On the voter leaving the cabinet the record of his votes
passes out of sight, and a blank portion of the paper again appears under the
glazed aperture.
This Invention may also be readily adapted in various ways to the checking of
money receipts generally, and to other similar purposes.