IM- PROVEMENTS IN MONEY TILLS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Robson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th August
1863.
I, JAMES ROBSON, junior, of South Shields, in the County of Durham,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MONEY TILLS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to detect the extraction by fraud or other-
wise, of any money that may have been placed in money tills.
The manner in which I carry my Invention into practical effect is in com-
bining a locked till with an open till or a drawer or box divided into two
principal compartments, one till or compartment having a locked lid or cover
with slits formed in its casing or cover to receive the coins, and the key of the
same being kept by the master or principal, and the other till being left open
or accessible to the attendant or shopman. The open till or compartment is
for the purpose of giving change and always contains a predetermined sum of
money, its operation being as follows:-If a purchaser give one shilling in
payment for an article of the cost of nine pence, the attendant puts tho
shilling into the open till or compartment and removes twelve pence. He then
drops nine pence into the locked till or compartment, and gives the remaining
three pence as change to the purchaser, so that the amount in the open till
or compartment always remains the same, but should any money be removed
from the open till or compartment, the master or principal can detect the
deficiency. The same method would be employed with a coin of a higher or
ower value.

page_text: In another arrangement I use, instead of a locked up till, an open till with
a receptacle for putting the money into; the said receptacle is suspended by a
rod to a spring balance, and placed in a locked case inaccessible to the atten-
dants. The rod has upon it a rack which gears into and works a small
pinion wheel fixed to the end of an arm or pointer, and raises or lowers the
said arm or pointer upon a weight or coin being put into or taken, out of
the receptacle, and a ratchet wheel is made to revolvo loosely on the same axle
as the pinion wheel, when acted upon by the click. At the other or outer end
of the arm a click is attached, which, on a weight or coin being placed in
the receptacle passes over the teeth of the ratchet wheel without moving it,
but on the contrary, when a weight or coiu has been extracted from the
receptacle the action is reversed, and the rod being drawn up by a spring
attached to the top of the case, causes the arm, by means of the click,
which now works into the teeth of the ratchet wheel, to turn the ratchet wheel
round while another click attached to the outer case holds the ratchet
wheel in its place and prevents its going back on the arm or pointer being
again removed onward. A pin is placed near the edge of the ratchet
wheel and revolves with it, acting against a stop fixed in the case. On the
removal of a weight or coin from the receptacle the ratchet wheel, by tho
action before described, carries the pin away from the stop, and thereby shows
that a weight or coin has been removed, the pin being always set against the
stop at the commencement of the business. Another compartment or open
till is used for giving change, and contains the predetermined sum of money
berein-before described. The suspended receptacle is enclosed in a case, and
has, in the front of the said case a hinged door or fall down flap, and for the
purposo of fixing the receptacle when the door is open, a curved spring is
attached to the bottom of the door or flap, and presses against the receptacle
when open, and is again released on the door being closed.