IMPROVEMENTS IN MONEY TILLS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hookham, of Southwark Bridge Road,
in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MONEY TILLS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alfred Hookham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th June 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
HOOKHAM, of Southwark Bridge Road, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MONEY TILLS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first
Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Hookham, do hereby declare

page_text: 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,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention has for its object to provide a more effectual and at the
same time simple means of preventing systematic dishonesty on the part
of servants engaged in selling goods than is afforded by the tills at
present in use. For this purpose I provide the till with the usual bowl
like receptacles for containing coins to be given in change, and
according to my Invention I provide in addition thereto a number of
separate slits like ordinary money box slits for coins of various values,
leading through suitable conductors or shoots to separate compartments
in a locked receptacle, each shoot being provided with apparatus for
giving an audible and distinctive signal or signals indicating the
particular shoot into which the coin has been dropped, and consequently
the value of the coin so deposited in the locked receptacle (assuming that
a coin of the proper value has been dropped into the shoot), so that the
number of signals made during a day or other period will represent
(approximately) (in sixpences if that coin be made the basis in reckoning)
the amount of money taken or received for goods sold during that
period. Should however a coin of less than the proper value be dropped
into any shoot (as for instance a sixpence into the shilling shoot), it will
be conducted into the compartment intended to receive shillings only,
and the abstraction of sixpence will therefore be apparent on inspecting
the takings, besides which the total of the takings in the locked
receptacle will not tally with the number of signals made.
And in order that the improvements of my Invention may be more
fully understood, I have illustrated the same in the accompanying
Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan or top view of a till; Figures 2
and 3 are sectional elevations of the same taken on lines 1-1, 2-2,
Figure 1, respectively showing the conductors or shoots, the signalling
apparatus, and receptacle for the takings. Figure 4 comprises a face
view, end view, and transverse section of a conductor or shoot.
In the Drawings I have shown my improvements as applied to a till
constructed in the form of a movable box about 3 feet in height by 18
inches square, but it will be understood that it may be a fixture below a
bar, shop counter, or cashier's desk as usual.

page_text: two are supplied with shillings and sixpences as indicated to a fixed
amount, of say two pounds worth in all, which amount is known to the
proprietor and is always to be maintained. The large bowl is supplied
with coppers, of which it is not generally considered necessary to take
any account, and it is found convenient to exclude threepenny and
fourpenny pieces, which are usually put on one side. Change for
sovereigns may be kept counted behind the bar or counter apart as
usual.
A is the top plate of the till in which are four slits a, b, c, d, like
money box slits of a size to admit only one coin at a time of the value
indicated near each slit. These slits open into corresponding conductors
or shoots a¹, b, c, d, which lead into separate compartments a³, b³, c²,
ď, of the locked receptacle or drawer B below. In each conductor or
shoot is an apparatus for giving an audible signal which shall indicate to
the proprietor (who may be occupied at a little distance) the value of
the coin taken, and which has (or ought to have) been dropped into the
receptacle B thereby enabling a check to be kept by recording the
number of signals sounded. These signals are made by the coins in
their descent through the shoots coming into contact with a metal rod
or rods capable of giving an audible signal on being struck by the coin.
For this purpose I suspend across each shoot a rod or rods e of metal
similar to that of which the musical instruments called triangles are
made (cast steel). Each time a rod is struck the signal thereby given
represents the value of 6d. taken; consequently there is one rod to the
shoot for sixpences, two rods to the shoot for shillings, four rods to that
for florins, and five to that for half-crowns; the rods when more than one
is employed being struck in succession by the coin, and giving as many
distinct signals. The conductors or shoots are made of wood with a
passage of the form shown, coinciding in size to the corresponding slit in
the top plate A. Each rod e is about a foot in length more or less, and
passes transversely across the passage in a shoot in an opening f, made
therein of just sufficient size to prevent the rod touching the shoot when
suspended steadily. An enlargement of the passage in the shoot is
provided around each rod e, to allow of the coin after striking the rod
passing the same, and continuing its way downwards to the receptacle B.
A lining of felt or other soft material may be provided in each of these
shoots at to prevent noise. Each rod is suspended freely from both

page_text: ends by a thread g from a fixed point, so that when struck by a coin it
will vibrate and give out a ringing sound. It must not be in contact
with the shoot or any other part of the till. The open bowls for
containing the change are cut in blocks of wood or other suitable
material as usual, and are fixed in place so that the case in which the
rods e are mounted is entirely closed, and the said rods can only be
touched or struck by an object falling down the slits. The front or
sides of the case containing said rods may be pierced with
the sound more freely if necessary.
holes to emit
It has before been proposed to provide separate slits for coins of 1
different values, each furnished with a signal, and this I do not therefore
claim as of my Invention, as a single signal only is given in that case
whatever may be the value of the amount taken, and the double check
obtained by my Invention is not possible in that case. A closed
receptacle has also been used in connection with slits and a signal bell, 1
the said receptacle being divided into compartments to show the takings
at different periods by shifting the receptacle, coins of all values being
received in the same compartment.
According to my Invention the compartments of the closed receptacle
are for receiving and keeping separate the coins of various values as 2
before indicated, so that it is impossible to place a coin of inferior value
in any slit without its being detected on inspecting the closed receptacle,
the total amount in which, counting in sixpences, would moreover not
tally with the number of signals made.
The mode of operation is as follows:-A certain quantity of silver 2
change (shillings and sixpences) is placed at the beginning of the day in
the two bowl receptacles as before stated, to the amount of say two
pounds worth in all, and a suitable amount of coppers in the large bowl.
The amount of the silver should be maintained at all times, and when
the shillings and sixpences are exhausted a fresh supply may be placed 3
in the bowls for those coins in lieu of an equivilent amount in
half-crowns or florins taken from the other two bowls. For example a
customer purchases the value of sixpence, and tenders a florin, which
piece of money should be placed in the bowl for florins in exchange for
a shilling and two sixpences taken from the bowls containing those 3
coins. The shilling and one sixpence are to be given as change to the
customer, and the other sixpence is to be dropped into the slit a, down
which it will pass and sound one signal in its passage to the compart-

page_text: ment a for sixpences in the closed and locked receptacle B. Once
deposited therein no coin is again accessible to the attendant. Takings
for a larger amount up to say half-a-crown may be similarly dropped into
the drawer or receptacle. If coppers are tendered by the customer they
are dropped into the bowl for coppers, no signal being made, and if a
sixpence is tendered in payment of twopence the sixpence is dropped
into the slit a for sixpences, and change is given from the bowl for
coppers and similarly for larger sums, it not being considered necessary
to maintain a rigid check on amounts of less value than sixpence.
From the foregoing it will be evident that if the servant desires to
appropriate any money by dropping a shilling in the slit for half-crowns,
for instance, the said shilling will be found alone in the compartment
containing half-crowns, and the total amount in the receptacle B,
counting by sixpences, will not tally with the number of signals given,.
whereas if it is attempted to evade this by abstracting a half-crown from
the bowl for those coins, and dropping it into the proper slit d, and
placing the shilling in the bowl for shillings, the total amount of silver
change in the four bowls will be less by 18./6d. than the standard amount
required to be maintained therein, in which manner the embezzlement
of larger amounts may be detected.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is, providing a money till with
shoots or conductors for coins of different values leading into separate
closed compartments, and each furnished with one or more metallic bars
so applied as to be struck by the coins passing through, and produce an
audible and distinctive signal or signals, all substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth and illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hookham, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.