IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED IN OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cooke, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED
IN OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Sealed the 13th December 1867, and dated the 17th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cooke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
June 1867.
I, WILLIAM COOKE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Consulting
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
CARRIED IN OMNIBUSES AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to produce by automatic means or apparatus
entirely beyond the control of the conductors of vehicles plying for hire and
without giving the passengers trouble a diagram or register from which the
owner of a vehicle fitted with my Invention can ascertain with certainty
the exact number of passengers carried during a day or other longer or shorter
period. For this purpose I make use of three chief operating means or agents;
first, the motion of the vehicle itself; second, the weight of each passenger
when seated; and, third, the weight of each passenger whilst passing on to or
off from the vehicle.
In carrying my Invention into effect I take motion by a band or other
means from the hub of the wheel or from any other rotating part and convey

page_text: it to a drum or roller; this drum or roller carries or gives motion to a band of
paper or other fabric on which the diagram or register is to be made. The
said diagram or register is made by a number of pencils or blunt pointed pius,
one of which is in communication with each seat. When a passenger sits
down the seat or part thereof is depressed and the motion communicated to
the said pencil or pin or to the paper or fabric to make or break contact of
the pencil or pin and the paper or other fabric and so to make a line or
indellible mark either during the time the passenger is seated or when the
seat is unoccupied.
By preference I adopt the following means and arrangement of parts:-The
cushions of the seats are made air-tight, and each one is placed in communi-
cation with a small closed inflateable ball or vessel placed near the drum and
paper or fabric. When a passenger sits down the cushion of the seat
occupied is compressed and the air forced therefrom into the ball or vessel
which is thereby expanded; this raises the pencil or pin, which is balanced on
a fixed joint, from contact with the paper or fabric, and so leaves the said
paper or fabric in blank as long as the seat is occupied; the moment
however the seat is vacated contact takes place, and a line or mark is made
as long as the vehicle continues in motion. To provide a check so as to shew
that contact was made or broken by a new passenger and not simply by the
same passenger simply rising up and sitting down again I construct a
moveable step on to which every passenger must tread on mounting or leaving
the vehicle. The motion of the step is conveyed by compressed air, by a cord,
or other means to produce on the paper or other fabric above mentioned an
indellible mark, or to leave a blank in the line made by contact of the paper
or fabric and a pencil or point in communication with the said step. If at
the time contact of the pencil or point and the paper or fabric is made or
broken there is a mark or blank made or left by the moving of the seat it is
clear the passenger has left the vehicle even if the diagram shews that the
seat was taken immediately after being vacated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Cooke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COOKE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Consulting Engineer, send

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One'
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Cooke, Her special license that I, the said William Cooke, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Cooke, 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, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS
FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED IN OMNIBUSES AND OTHER
VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Cooke, 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 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Cooke, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
figures and letters thereon, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to produce by automatic means or apparatus
entirely beyond the control of the conductors of vehicles plying for hire and
without giving the passengers trouble a diagram or register from which the owner
of a vehicle fitted with my Invention can ascertain with certainty the exact
number of passengers carried during a longer or shorter period. For this
purpose I make use of three chief operating means or agents; first, the motion
of the vehicle itself; second, the weight of each passenger when seated;
and, third, the weight of each passenger whilst passing on to or off from the
vehicle.
In carrying my Invention into effect I take motion by a band, pitch chain,
excentric, or other means from the hub of the wheel or from any other rotating
part and convey it to a drum or roller; this drum or roller carries or gives
motion to a band of paper or other fabric, herein-after for convenience called
paper, on which the diagram or register is made. The said diagram or register
is made by a number of pencils or blunt pointed pius, herein-after called

page_text: tracers, brought closely together, each seat being in communication with one
independent tracer. When a passenger sits down the seat or part thereof is
depressed and motion communicated to the said tracer to make or break
contact of the tracer and the paper and thereby make a line or indelible
mark either during the time the passenger is seated or when the seat is un-
occupied. To provide a check so as to shew that contact of a tracer and the
paper was made or broken by a new passenger, and not simply by the same
passenger rising up and sitting down again, I construct vehicles to which
my Invention is applied with a moveable step ou to which every passenger
must tread on mounting or leaving the vehicle. The motion of the step is
conveyed by the compression or displacement of air, by a cord, or other means
to produce on the paper above mentioned an indelible mark or to leave a
blank in the line. If at the time contact of this tracer with the paper is
made or broken there is a mark or blank made or left by the tracer in com-
munication with any of the seats, by the moving of such seat it is evident the
passenger has left the vehicle, even if the diagram shews that the seat was
taken immediately after being vacated. If however no mark or blank is made
or left by the step tracer then the position of the passenger must be looked
for in connection with another seat; or if no indication is shewn then such
passenger must have been standing.
On the Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 is a representation drawn to about one-
half the size of a diagram or register such as would be produced in ordinary
working during a single journey by apparatus constructed according to my
Invention and hereafter described in an omnibus seated for sixteen persons
inside and sixteen persons outside. A, lines made from inside seats; B, lines
from outside seats; C, the line made from the moveable step. On looking at
this diagram it will be seen that the longitudinal lines begin and leave off
irregularly, that is to say, at the times the passengers had taken and vacated
their seats. It is proposed to supply new paper at the end of each double
journey; the longest line is the measure of the full length run. The most of
the lines are continuous for a considerable length, shewing that the passengers
occupied the same seats for the whole distance they travelled. In the line
marked 3 however it will be seen it terminates at a point opposite to which
no transverse line has been made, and that in line marked 4 a line commences
under similar circumstances, the information is thus given that the passenger
changed from seat 3 to seat 4. Every transverse line opposite to the end of a
longitudinal line indicates that a passenger has mounted or left the vehicle,
and as by the mechanism hereafter described each movement of the step
causes the paper to travel a short distance it will be obvious that if the

page_text: vehicle is standing an independent transverse line will be made by each
passenger mounting or leaving; indeed, this propelling of the paper by the
repeated movements of the moveable step is sufficient to produce an intelligible
diagram without taking motion from the wheel, although for greater security I
prefer to employ both.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the body of an omnibus at a line through
the inside seats fitted with my Invention, and Fig. 8 is a transverse section
drawn to a larger scale of one of the seats. In these views like letters denote
the same parts. a, seat spaces separated one from the other by elbow pieces b;
c, seat, cushion, and frame resting each one on collapsable springs d, and com-
pressible ball or vessel e. A pipe fis led away from each ball e as shewn to
a small apparatus here marked D placed in any out of the way locked up
corner of the machine containing mechanism, as hereafter will appear, for
making the diagram or register. The air expelled from e is forced through f
into other balls, which operate tracers A and B. g, the moveable step. Spring
supports and an air ball, such as are used in the seats just described, are
placed underneath this, and a r pipe conveys the displaced air to another
h
ball to operate the tracer c. Instead of employing air as the medium to convey
motion or power from the seats to the registering apparatus I may employ
other fluids, or wire cords passing over pullies, or other means.
Fig. 4 shews part of the apparatus in position under a moveable seat i,
which I employ when elastic fluids at pressure are used as means for con-
veying motion from the seats to the registering apparatus. In this system I
work a small air pump or bellows from the wheel or other part of the vehicle
and force air into a reservoir; from this reservoir I carry underneath each of
the seats a pipe fitted with three-way valve K. In the Drawing the seat is
not occupied, hence the opening from the reservoir is shut off; when the seat
is depressed by the weight of a person sitting on it the lever descends and
opens a passage through K, so that the compressed air passes by way of the
pipe m to the registering apparatus. The spring n serves to bring back into
the position shewu and to leave the registering apparatus in communication
through m with the atmosphere.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation drawn to about one half-full size of the apparatus
marked D in Fig. 1, and Figs. 6 and 7 are views in back and front elevation
of parts of Fig. 5. The same letters denote like parts. o, the band driven
by the wheel or other rotating portion of the vehicle and giving motion to the
pulley p on the shaft q, on which the worm is secured; drives the worm
wheel s secured on the diagonal shaft t, which shaft rests in the bearing u
supported by the framing v. On the upper end of t another worm w is fixed;

page_text: this gears with the worm wheel a loose on the shaft y, and causes the roller
to rotate; a¹ is another roller free to rotate on its axis supported by the
carrying piece b¹. The paper c¹ on which the diagram is made is drawn
through between these rollers as they rotate; a roll of paper of considerable
length can be used, and a portion cut off at the end of each double journey as
above proposed or at any longer or shorter period, or paper of the proper
length for a given time can be supplied. are the tubes marked f in Fig. 1,
these convey the air supplied by either of the systems above described into the
elastic or inflatable balls e¹; these balls are bere all shewn partly dis-
tended as if the seats were being taken; when fully distended by occupation
of the seats the springs f¹ are compressed, the rods g¹ pushed out, and the
bell cranks h¹ hung on the fixed centres released. The tracers pass
through slots in the outer ends of h¹, and when g¹ are pushed out and h¹
released the springs ¹ raise and bring j¹ up against the paper c¹. l¹ is a bed
of a hard substance, preferably glass, to resist the pressure of the tracers.
will be obvious that when any of the balls e¹ are not distended the tracer j'
connected therewith is not in contact with c¹. In all cases we prefer to use
so-called metallic paper and brass tracers.
It
The mechanism by which the checking or transverse tracer is operated is
shewn as follows:-m¹ is an elastic or inflatable ball supplied from a ball
under the movable step or through a three-way cock, such as is shewn by
Fig. 3. When this ball is inflated it raises the hinged piece n' to which
the rod o¹ is attached; the upper end of o¹ is connected to a lever p¹ on the
shaft y; the free end of p¹ is formed into a slot wherein the pin of one of the
levers of a bell crank q¹ works. This bell crank is hung on the fixed centre r¹,
its other lever being connected to a slide s¹ moving in guides t'. The tracer u¹
is carried by s', and moves laterally therewith each time the moveable step is
depressed, thereby producing the transverse marks above mentioned. When
by inflation of m¹ the lever p' is caused to rise the pallet v is made to act on
the periphery of a double ratchet wheel w³, the second teeth of which are
operated by the worm. In this way the roller is made to rotate at a
greater rate than that communicated to it from the vehicle, the paper is
thereby drawn through at an increased speed, thus causing a break in the
line, so that when a person leaves the vehicle and another enters it and takes
the seat just vacated such fact by the comparatively great length of the break
is made very evident.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and particularized
the same by details which I have found to answer well in practice, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the exact arrangements

page_text: herein described and shewn on the Drawings, neither do I confine myself to
giving motion to the mechanism which draws the paper through the re-
gistering apparatus from the wheel or other part of the vehicle, as clockwork,
falling weights, or other agents can be employed; neither do I confine myself
to the employment of air or other fluids as the connecting means, as wire
cords or chains could be used, so also could electricity, the circuit being
broken or made by contact effected on the depression of the seat or moveable
step; other mechanism or means than the moveable step could also be
employed to operate the parts which make the transverse marks, such as bars
standing across the entrance which require to be moved each time a passenger
enters or leaves the vehicle, so also could another marker than a tracer be
used, such as a stamp or punch; what I claim is, the employment of means or
apparatus arranged and operated as herein described and shewn on the
Drawings or equivalent means or apparatus for producing a diagram or
register, substantially of the character for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cooke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
20 In the presence of
JOHN T. KING,
Patent Agent,
⚫ Liverpool.
WILLIAM COOKE. (L.B.)