IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN OR ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Grothe, of the Patent Office, 67, Strand,
in the City of Westminster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
TRAVELLING IN OR ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES."
Scaled the 29th April 1870, and dated the 3rd November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Grothe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd November 1869.
I, ALBERT GROTHE, of the Patent Office, 67, Strand, in the City of
Westminster, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER
OF PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN OR ON PUBLIC CONVEYANCES," to be as follows :—
The improvements consist in furnishing omnibuses, railway carriages,
tramroad carriages, and public conveyances generally with a system of
indicator dials to be used as checks or tell-tales, capable of being worked
by a lever or series of levers put in motion by the hand or foot of the

page_text: conductor or other person in charge of the conveyance, as and when a
passenger enters and leaves the conveyance, and to provide for the
default of the conductor also, so constructing the apparatus that the
passengers may actuate or stop the lever or levers, and move into a
conspicuous position a tell-tale vane or disc to be provided for the
purpose. Further, in furnishing indicator dials in two or more sets or
series, one set consisting of any convenient number of dials (say, two),
and being used and worked to indicate and register the number of
persons in or upon the conveyance at any one time, the other set also
consisting of any number of dials (say, three), being used and worked
to register the total number of persons who have travelled in the con-
veyance during the journey, or during the day or other period as may be
desired, the two sets of dials above described being actuated together
and by means of one handle or lever working suitable gearing or
machinery.
The indicators dials may be made to show or be visible inside as well
as outside the conveyance, and so that the passengers can detect whether
the conductor has performed his duty by moving or changing the
numbers on one or both series. The movement of the numbers on the
dials may be performed by suitable gearing or machinery, and supplied
with a convenient handle, which when moved in one direction from a
given linc or centre may actuate both series of dials mentioned above
and cause the desired change of numbers, and when moved in the
opposite direction only work or actuate the first or one of the series.
When desired and when applied to railway carriages the apparatus is
supplemented by the addition of a tell-tale vane or disc so constructed
that it may be moved or shown by the passengers, so that in the event
of the conductor neglecting to work the indicators the passengers can
arrest and stop the machinery for actuating the dials, and cause such
tell-tale vane or disc to show itself on the outside or in other desired
position of the carriage, and so be observed at the next station, or
otherwise, when the omission to register on the conductor's part can be
rectified, the tell-tale vane or disc replaced, and the indicator dials
allowed to work again.
The apparatus may be formed wholly or partially of metal, and
supplied with convenient mechanical motion, consisting of gearing
properly proportioned, and the indicator dials may be made like a clock
face attached to said gearing, and made to revolve and show numbers

page_text: through suitable openings left or formed for the purpose. The apparatus
may be affixed to any convenient part of the conveyance, and, if needed,
be combined with any suitable bell-signalling apparatus for calling the
attention of the passengers to the actions of the conductor when making
or when about to make any change on the indicators.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Albert Grothe in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALBERT
GROTILE, of the Patent Office, 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Albert Grothe, Her special licence that I,
the said Albert Grothe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Albert Grothe, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, oxcrcise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN OR ON PUBLIC CON-
VEYANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Albert
Grothe, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the samo was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Albert Grothe, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-

page_text: Tell-tales for vehicles as at present in uso register the total number of
passengers travelling on a journey or during a given time.
Now these improvements consist in making a tell-tale or indicator for
registering the total number of passengers during the day or journey
or other period as may be desired, and in a mechanical controller on
the tell-tale always showing the number of passengers in the carriage
at the moment of examination. Both indicators are connected with
each other in such a manner that a difference between the numbers
shown by the controller and the real number of passengers in or on the
conveyance at that time gives a certain proof of the conductor's neglect
in marking the total number of passengers during a given period. The
apparatus is fastened in one of the panels or any place in the carringo
in view of the passengers. The machinery being covered up by metal
or wooden plates, two oval-shaped openings in the front and back cover
plate show the control numbers. A small door covers the numbers
of the tell-tale, which are not visible without opening such door.
Figure 1 in the accompanying Drawing shows the apparatus as
fastened in the panel, the small door being taken out. The handle of
the apparatus, which should be near the customary placo of the conductor,
must be turned a complete revolution by him when and as a passenger
enters or leaves the carriage, to the right in the first case, to the left in
the latter.
In the apparatus herein described the maximum number registered
by the controller is 59 and by the tell-tale 999. These numbers can,
however, casily be increased or diminished to any extent desired.
The handle Q is put on the square part of a shaft K, and held thereon
by a spring catching in a notch in the shaft. To remove the handle
again a button is pressed and the handle pulled at the same time. The
shaft K, Figure 3, thus participates in the movement of the handle
when turned round. Fixed on the shaft is a disc G provided at its
circumference with a dent or cog 9; this cog catches one of the ten
slots in the disc D at every rotation of the shaft K, and compels that
disc to revolve 36° or 1/10th of a complete revolution, leaving the slot
again when it is in the position marked h. The ordinary position of
the handle when in rest is with the button down. To prevent accidental
rotations the disc L is provided with a notch f, in which a spring &
catches after the end of each rotation. On the shaft E is fixed a disc H
of about the same construction as the disc G and having a cog i. This

page_text: cog make the disc J on the shaft F revolve by acting upon one of
the ve slots in that disc. The sixth corner II is closed, so that when
after part rotation this corner presents itself to the cog i the movement
is arrested, and the handle cannot be turned again in that direction.
Each rotation of the handle causes the disc D to make 10th of a com
plate revolution and ten rotations of the handle make the disc D revolve
once and the disc J 60°. 60 rotations of that handle would bring the
discs again exactly in the first position, but the closed corner H of
disc J will prevent the movement in that direction after the 59th
rotation of the handle. The handle being turned to the left will act
upon the two discs in the same manner, but in opposite directions. The
shafts E and F are provided with dial plates B, C, and B' and C³, the
first set at the front cover plate, the second at the back plate of the
apparatus. The dial plates B and B' on the shaft F bear the numbers
from 0 to 9 and serve to show the units on the controller, while those
on the shaft F (O and O') are only from 0 to 5, and shows the tens of
the control numbers. The ciphers on the front and back dial plates
are placed in such a position with regard to each other that the samo
numbers are visible at the same time in and outside the carriage.
Supposing that the dial plates are placed in order to show on both the
cipher 0 the rotation of the handle to the left will prove impossible,
while a revolution to the right will bring the cipher 1 of the units plate
before the right opening, two rotations will show 2, and so on up to 59 when
the movement is arrested. By turning to the left again 50, 58, and so
forth will become visible until the double 0 is again before the openings
in the cover plates and the movement thereby stopped. On the shaft K
is fastened a disc R with a spiral circumference forming a cog near R.
Close by it on the same shaft is another disc M, which is not fixed on
the shaft, and can turn independently from it. On this disc is fastened
a ratchet T, while a spring U clasps round the shaft K and may be
pressed more or less on it by an adjusting screw U', the inner side of
the spring where it is in contact with the shaft being covered with a
small sheet of leather or cloth. The other end of the spring forms a
cog which acts upon the ratchet by catching in the part c of it. When
the shaft K is turned to the right the spring will by its friction on
the shaft participate in that movement. The cog presses the ratchet
down to the disc R, and there it will be caught by the cog and cause
the disc M to revolve with the shaft. The spring cog being arrested
in its movements the shaft turns without being able to move that cog

page_text: by pressing it gently to the ratchet, and thus the latter will be held
on the disc R during the whole time the handle is turned to the right.
If on the contrary, the handle is turned to the left the spring cog will
lift the ratchet till it comes in contact with the stud d and hold it lifted
up the whole time of rotation in that direction. The disc R is then entirely
free from the ratchet and thus will turn round without moving the
disc M. The latter is eccentric to the shaft K; its occasional rotation
will move a lever N forwards and backwards, so that the finger N' catchics
one of the ten dents of a ratchet wheel o, and thus cause the latter to
make of a revolution at every rotation to the right of the handle.
The eccentricity of the discs is somewhat greater than the distanco
between two dents, so that always one (but only one) of these is moved
36° forward. On the shaft A' is also fixed a disc V of the same con-
struction as the disc H, serving to transmit the motion to another shaft F,
and thence by the same means on a third shaft G. V has to make
ten revolutions before F is once turned round, and in that time G will
only have made 1/10th of a complete rotation. By this arrangement it
results that one thousand rotations to the right would replace the dial
plates J, K, and L', in their original position, but the closed corner p
of the disc Y would oppose this 1000th rotation and arrest the apparatus
at 999. In order to oblige the conductor to make a completo revolution
of the handle a toothed wheel is fixed on the shaft K connected with
double oscillating ratchets 2', ', it being requisite to put the tell-talo
back again to 0 at the beginning of a trip or other period by means
not accessible to the conductor. The shafts G and F are not fastened
in the cover plates of the apparatus, but in separate journal bearings
as shown. These bearings are able to be moved to the left by means
of a key Q'in possession of the proprietor. This part of the apparatus
resembles a Chubb lock of suitable construction, the shafts G' and F¹
being held in their positions by a double-acting lever M and the different
dents and slots act upon cach other, and cause the rotation in due time
of the tens and hundreds plate. By introducing the key in the heyhole
R' and turning to the left the following takes place:-The portion 3
of the key lifts the lever M and so loosens the pins of the two studs
connected with the journal bearings, which pins were till then in the
notch of the lever M. The portion 1 moves the shaft of the hundreds
dial plate to the left, and a moment afterwards the portion 2 also moves
the shaft of the tens to the left. The shaft of the hundreds makes
more way than the shaft of the tens, so that when the further movement

page_text: is arrested for the hundreds by the notch V catching the pin which was
in it before the movements began, and for the tens by the notch B
equally catching the pins belonging to the stud for the tens there is
space enough between all of the slotted discs to allow of the shafts
turning without communicating the movement to cach other. The
buttons, W and W serve to turn the dial plates till the 0 is on the higher
parts of the plate again, which occurs when the points V and V' are
in the direction shown by the small arrows in the cover plate. The
main handle is now turned to the right till the 0 is visible again, and
then the tens and hundreds dial plates replaced in their original position
by turning the key to the right.
In witness whercof, I, the said Albert Grothe, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Thirtiest day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.