IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR TAKING AND REGISTERING VOTES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Coope Haddan, of 41, Treherne Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, and John Imray,
of 28, Great George Street, Westminster, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR
TAKING AND REGISTERING VOTES."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 15th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Coope Haddan
and John Imray at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th October 1870.
We, JOHN COOPE HADDAN, of 41, Treherne Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, and JOHN IMRAY, of 28, Great George
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, both do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR TAKING AND REGISTERING VOTES," to be as follows:-
-
.
Our Invention relates to farther improvements in apparatus for taking
and registering votes for which a Patent was granted to one of us, the
said John Coope Haddan, bearing date the 28th January 1870, No. 257.

page_text: In the Specification of the said Patent apparatus is described by means
of which the act of pulling down one handle or moving one exposed part
of the apparatus so as to register a vote locks all the other handles or
moveable parts.
One object of our farther improvements is such modification of the
said apparatus as enables a voter to give several votes successively, the
locking action being suspended until the desired number of votes is
given. This we effect by causing each of the handles or moveable parts
to act by a ratchet and pawl on a revolving or sliding stop common to
all the handles or moveable parts, in such a manner that it requires the
action of one or in succession of two, three, or any other desired number
of the handles or moveable parts to bring the stop into such a position
as to lock the remaining handles or moveable parts. The stop is set
beforehand so as to permit the desired number of votes to be given, and
it is counterweighted or acted on by a spring, so that when the handles
or moveable parts are released on the voter leaving the chamber it
returns to its original position ready for the action of a succeeding
voter.
In the Specification of the Patent above referred to the voting
chamber is described as divided by partitions so as to prevent a voter
from acting on more than one of the handles or moveable parts at one
time.
Another object of our farther improvements is to render such
partitioning of the chamber unnecessary and to prevent the voter
from acting on the handles or moveable parts except in succession.
This we effect by mounting in proximity to the handles or moveable
parts a set of sliding plates with notches and inclined slots so arranged
that when any one of the handles or moveable parts is acted on by a
voter it moves a sliding plate so as to lock all the other handles or
moveable parts until its own stroke is completed, and the corresponding
vote is registered, when it is itself locked, the other handles or moveable
parts being released. After a voter has left the chamber all the handles
or moveable parts on which he had acted are released, so as to be ready
for a succeeding voter. This releasing may be effected by mechanism
connected to the door of the chamber acting on the sliding plates.
In the Specification of the Patent above referred to it is stated that

page_text: electric or telegraphic apparatus may be employed for either registering
or the preventive purposes of the Invention.
Another object of our farther improvements is to effect this by
connecting the sliding or rotating parts above referred to or other
suitable moving parts with conductors so arranged that contact is made
or broken by their movement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Coope Haddan and John Imray in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
COOPE HADDAN, of 41, Treherne Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey,
Civil Engineer, and JOHN IMRay, of 28, Great George Street, West-
minster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Coope Haddan and John Imray,
Her special licence that we, the said John Coope Haddan and John
Imray, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said John Coope Haddan and John Imray, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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, exercise, 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 TAKING AND REGISTERING VOTES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Coope Haddan and John Imray, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Coope Haddan and John
Imray, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our Invention relates to farther improvements in apparatus for
taking and registering votes for which a Patent was granted to one of us,
the said John Coope Haddan, bearing date the 28th January 1870,
No. 257.
In the Specification of the said Patent apparatus is described by
means of which the act of pulling down one handle or moving one
exposed part of the apparatus so as to register a vote locks all the other
handles or moveable parts.
One object of our farther improvements is such modification of the
said apparatus as enables a voter to give several votes successively, the
locking action being suspended until the desired number of votes is
given. This we effect by causing each of the handles or moveable parts
to act by a ratchet and pawl on a revolving or sliding stop, common to
all the handles or moveable parts in such a manner that it requires the
action of one or in succession of two, three, or any other desired number
of the handles or moveable parts to bring the stop into such a position as
to lock the remaining handles or moveable parts. The stop is set before-
hand so as to permit the desired number of votes to be given, and it is
counterweighted or acted on by a spring, so that when the handles
or moveable parts are released on the voter leaving the chamber, it
returns to its original position ready for the action of a succeeding
voter.
In the Specification of the Patent above referred to the voting
chamber is described as divided by partitions so as to prevent a voter
from acting on more than one of the handles or moveable parts at one
time.
Another object of our farther improvements is to render such par-
titioning of the chamber unnecessary and to prevent the voter from
acting on the handles or moveable parts except in succession. This we
effect by mounting in proximity to the handles or moveable parts a set
of sliding plates with notches and inclined slots so arranged that when
any one of the handles or moveable parts is acted on by a voter, it moves
a sliding plate so as to lock all the other handles or moveable parts until

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a transverse section of a voting chamber fitted with
the improved apparatus; Fig. 2 represents an elevation of the chamber
with one face partially removed to shew the mechanism within; Fig. 3
represents a sectional plan; and Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 represent portions
of the mechanism to a larger scale, the same letters being used for
reference in these as in Figs. 1, 2, & 3. The chamber and apparatus
are represented as being made for five candidates, but it may be readily
understood that by removing parts or adding parts it might be fitted
for a smaller or greater number, the mode of constructing and operating
remaining similar to that which will now be described.
a is the portion of the chamber which the voter enters by the door a¹,
and which he leaves by the door a²; b¹, 62, 63, 64, 65, are fives handles
projecting from one side of the chamber through slots formed therein
so that they can be worked up or down. The handle 6 in Figs. 1 and 4
is represented at half stroke, the dotted lines in those Figures indicating
the extent of stroke. Each of the handles b¹, 62, 63, 64, b³, is fixed to a
segment c which is mounted on a shaft d, so that it can vibrate freely
thereon as on an axis, but without turning the shaft itself. Each
of the segments c has five notches u cut in the upper part of its arc,
and has also an inclined piece e fixed on its side with a notch at its
lower end. These inclined pieces e are fixed in different positions on the
respective segments c; thus, e being fixed on c, as in Fig. 4, corresponding

page_text: to e in Figs. 2 and 3, e² would be fixed on c² as much higher as the
distance from one of the notches to the next notch; for the piece e
would be fixed two notches higher than c', and so on successively. Each
segment c has a rod f jointed to it, and this rod is connected to the lever
of a counter g which may he made like the counters usually employed
to record the number of strokes made by a steam engine or other
machine, the object of each of the counters g being to record the number
of times the handle b with which it is connected is pulled down. Each
of the segments c has also a pawl mounted on it which takes into the
teeth of a ratchet wheel k fixed on the shaft d, so that when the handle b
is pulled down the pawl h turns the ratchet wheel with its shaft d
one tooth. The pawl has a tail which when the lever b is up bears
against a pin h¹ fixed in the framing, and thereby causes the upper end
of the pawl to stand clear of the teeth of the ratchet wheel. In front
of the segments c, there are five bars 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, mounted on the
framing either in guides or with slotted holes and pins passing through
them, as represented on the Drawings, so that they can slide freely to
and fro. The sliding bar has a roller m² mounted on it so as to bear
against the edge of the inclined piece e', and at other parts of its length
it has pins or stop pieces u' fixed on it, one corresponding to each of the
segments c³, c³, c¹, c³. In a similar manner the bar has a roller m²
bearing against the inclined piece e² and pins u² corresponding with the
other segments c¹, c³, c³, c³. All the sliding bars 7 extend to a segment
piece o, to which they are connected by pins working in slotted holes.
This segment piece o is mounted on a vertical axis and has attached to it
a lever handle o' acted on by a spiral spring o³. This lever handle o¹ is
jointed to a sliding bolt o³ which catches in the edge of the door a¹. The
shaft d has at some convenient place fixed on it a wheel or pulley d¹ from
which hangs a weight d², and on which there is a stop adjustable so as to
permit the wheel and shaft d to turn to the extent of one, two, or more
of the teeth on its ratchet wheels k according to the number of candidates
that are to be elected, or the number of votes that an clector is entitled
to give.
.
The operation of the mechanism is as follows:-The stop on the
wheel d¹ being set so as to permit the ratchet wheels to turn the desired
number of teeth and no more, and all the handles 6 standing at the

page_text: lowest extreme and bearing against suitable stops in the framing, and all
the counters g being set at zero, a voter enters the chamber a. Over
each of the handles is written the name of a candidate.
The voter.
selects one that he prefers, say the first, and pulls down the handle b
under the name. In pulling down this handle he raises the segment c',
the inclined piece e¹ bearing against the roller m¹ causes the bar to
slide longitudinally and the stops n¹ upon it to enter the notches n of all.
the other segments, and thus to lock all these segments, so that only
the one handle 6' can be pulled down at one time. At the same time
the pawl h catches a tooth of the ratchet wheel and turns that wheel
and the shaft d one tooth, raising the weight d². And by the same act
of pulling down the handle the connecting rod f¹ works the counter g¹
and moves its recording wheels so as to register one vote. When the
handle is pulled quite down, and the segment c¹ is therefore at the
upper extreme of its stroke, the notch in the inclined piece e¹ is presented
to the roller m¹. The bar & being connected to the segment o, which in
sliding it had pulled in opposition to the spring o is by the force of that
spring drawn back so that its roller m¹ enters the notch in e¹ and thus
prevents the segment c¹ from being depressed or the handle from
being raised. Thus the voter cannot record a second vote to the same
candidate. This sliding back of the bar relieves the other segments
from the stop pins in n and leaves their handles free to be worked by the
voter, such of them as he may select. The effect of each such working'
being to record a vote for the candidate proper to the handle worked
and to turn the shaft d to the extent of one of the ratchet teeth. When
the permitted number of votes have been given, so that the ratchet
wheels have been turned so many teeth round, the stop on the wheel d'
prevents the shaft d from being farther turned, and thus no other handles
can be depressed. The voter then leaves the chamber, such of the handles
as he has pushed down remaining down. The official in charge now
pulls the lever o¹ so as to open the door a¹ for the admission of another
voter by withdrawing the sliding bolt o³. The act of pulling this handle
to withdraw the bolt also moves the segment piece o and thereby causes
the bars 1, 1, 1, 1, 13, to slide longitudinally. By their sliding, all the
rollers m are withdrawn from the notches in e, and thus all the segments c
that had been raised by the previous voter are allowed to drop by their
weight, thereby raising again the handles b ready to be operated on
by the second voter. At the same time the segments c when they fall.

page_text: on being thus relieved bring the tails of their pawls h on the stops /',
and thus withdraw the pawls from the ratchet teeth of k leaving the
shaft d free to be turned back by the weight d² to its original position.
Thus, when the second voter enters the chamber everything is in the
same. state as when the first voter entered, except only as to the numbers.
recorded on the counters. For a third or any number of voters succes-
sively the operation is repeated.
↑
Although the resetting of the apparatus is represented and has been
described as being effected by the official pulling the handle o', it might
readily be effected by other means, as by the closing of the door a² after
the voter has left the chamber. In that case the rocking segment o
might be mounted at the other end of the chamber, and acted on by a
lever connected to the door a² or its hinge, its action on the sliding
bars being the same as that described. Apparatus like that described
instead of being on a large scale fitted to a special chamber might be
made on a small scale and enclosed in a box, and instead of lever
handles there might be knobs or keys that could be depressed by the
fingers; such a box being placed in a private room the voter could give
his votes in privacy, and after he has left the room the instrument could
be reset by the pull of a wire or rod from another apartment where the
official in charge could have no knowledge of the votes given. The
counters g being enclosed in a locked compartment, or covered by a
locked cover, there is no means of knowing how separate votes are given
but only the total result of many votes when the counters are exposed to
view. These counters as may readily be understood, might be placed at
a distance from the voting apartment, and instead of being worked as
by the rods f, might be worked by electricity, the pulling down of a
handle being made to make or break contact of conductors and thereby
to move the counter belonging to it one division, in a manner similar
to that by which electricity is made to convey messages by turning an
index a required number of divisions.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we would have it understood
that we do not confine ourselves to the details or proportions described
or represented on the Drawings, nor do we claim generally as our
Invention the mode of giving and recording votes by the pulling of
handles connected with counters, but what we do claim and desire to

page_text: have secured to us is, locking apparatus, substantially as described,
whereby the voter is prevented from giving more than one vote at a
time, and from giving more votes than a certain assigned number for
which the apparatus is set.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Imray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelth day of April, in the year of our
Lord 1871.
Witness,
ALEX. P. WRIGHT,
55, Millbank Street,
Westminster,
'
• S.W.
JOHN IMRAY. (L.S.)