Improvements in Cash Tills and Fare Boxes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Apr., 1894--Accepted, 2nd Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cash Tills and Fare Boxes.
We, GEORGE WILLIAM GREEN, Boatbuilder, JOSEPH GERRISH BARRON,
Merchant, and CHARLES MARKELL, Merchant, all of North Sydney, near
Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to cash tills and fare boxes and has particular reference
to fare boxes for omnibuses and other public vehicles for which use special
precautions must be adopted to guard against possible robbery. In our apparatus
the fare receptacle or "till" is a self-contained apparatus complete in itself, and
it is capable of being employed in connection with designs of fare chutes,
inspection chambers, &c., other than those hereina'ter more particularly describe 1,
and might also be used alone or in conjunction with check mechanism as in a
cash till.
The chief feature of peculiarity in the invention is a tumbling pocket or false
receiver into which fares (tickets or cash) are placed, and from which the same are
spilled into the till at will. Mechanism is provided for automatically locking the
entrances to the till and certain other portions of the apparatus to prevent the
withdrawal of any portion of the contents.
The drawings annexed hereto are explanatory of the application of the invention
to a fare-box apparatus for an omnibus, in which it is required to provide means
for receiving fares outside as well as inside the vehicle, the receiving apparatus in
this case being duplicated.
Figure 1 is a vertical section through the apparatus complete;
Figure 2 a top plan;
Fig. 3 a transverse sectional elevation ;
Figure 4 longitudinal sectional elevation through the till;
Figure 5 top plan of the till with the cover removed,
Fig. 6a perspective view of the locking tray,
Figure 7 a sectional elevation of the whole apparatus with the till removed out
of the carrier ;
Figure 8 horizontal section on the level of the till carrier top;
Figure 9 fragment section illustrating the construction of the automatic doors
for locking the till when it is withdrawn from the till carrier.
The
Three cylindrical tumbling pockets are used in the apparatus illustrated, one
as an outside fare receiver, a second as an inside fare receiver, and a third in the
till. The space between the receivers and the till is divided into two chambers
with glass walls which chambers act as chutes and also as intermediate or inspecting
receptacles for the fares which have been spilled into them from the receiver.
fares are taken from these inspecting receptacles by the till pocket, which, in turn,
spills them into the till, from which they can be removed only by opening the
door, which is provided with a suitable lock, the key of which is kept by an
authorised person.
axes.
The tumbling pockets are formed in cylinders, the mouths being in the sides of
the cylinders, which are pivoted so as to be capable of revolution on their own:
Each cylinder is fitted with a clock spring which is inserted in a recess
in one end of it (the spring being indicated in the drawing by concentric circles),
or with a weight, draw-spring, or equivalent device which will tend to keep the
pockets in the closed position. In inserting the fare the payer rotates the receiver
until the mouth of the pocket becomes exposed and then throws the fare into the

page_text: pocket and allows the receiver to snap home to its normal closed position, upon
reaching which, or approximately so, the fare is spilled into the inspecting chamber,
where the 'bus conductor has an opportunity of scrutinising it before he passes it
into the till by operating the till tumbling pocket. The arrow in the left hand
portion of Figure 1 indicates the direction in which the pocket must be rotated to
expose the mouth, and the arrow in the right hand portion of the same figure
indicates the direction in which the spring tends to rotate the pocket to replace it
in its closed or normal position, the reverse of the direction in which it is rotated
to expose the mouth.
The same letters and figures of reference indicate corresponding and like parts
throughout the drawings.
Referring particularly to Figure 1,-1 are sheets of glass forming the chutes or
intermediate inspection chambers A and B; 2 are the pockets in the tumbling
cylinders; 3 pivots of the cylinders, 4 mouths of the pockets; 5 shields or aprons
which are slightly wider than the mouths of the pockets; 6 finger catches or lugs
which serve for rotating the tumbling cylinders in order to open the pockets,
and which may be secured on the bottom edges of the guard plates 7 as shewn in
the left-hand portion of Fig. 1, where the guard plate is shown attached to the
tumbling cylinder and the pocket is shewn in the normal or closed position, or,
alternatively, on the top edges of the guard plates 7, as shewn in the right hand
portion of the same figure where the finger piece is shown attached to the tumbling
cylinder and carries the said guard and the pocket is shewn open, ready to receive
a fare. Figure 1 shews the tumbling pocket in the till in its normal or closed
position, the arrow indicating the direction of rotation to open it; the latter
operation is performed by a rack bar 8 or an equivalent contrivance which passes
through a port 9 in the back of the till 10, and also through a port 12 in the back
of the till carrier 11, the ports being directly opposite one another. The tumbling
pocket in the till is formed like the receivers. 13 is a swinging plate or tray
provided with a spring hinge 24 which tends to keep it in the position indicated
by the dotted lines in Fig. 1; the full lines shew it in the position in which it is
when the till is inserted in the till carrier; it (13) is retained in the latter position
by a rod 14 fixed in the till carrier and entering a port 15 in the back of the till;
this rod depresses the tray or plate 13 by coming in contact with and running along
that portion of it marked 16; the tray or plate is thus held down and freedom
given the cylinder to rotate. The position in which the cylinder is shewn in
Figure 1 is the limit to which the spring can return it, further rotation being
prevented by a stop-piece 17. This stop-piece consists of a small block of metal
fastened to the side of the till; a portion of the edge of the cylinder is cut away,
as shewn in Figure 5, the piece 17 fitting the gap thus made, and in this way the
cylinder is given liberty to be rotated for that portion of its circumference in
which the gap is cut.
Sufficient clearance is left for the toe of the tray 13 to
enter the mouth of the pocket as shewn in Figure 1, thereby locking the cylinder
and preventing it from being rotated. As soon as the till is replaced in th
carrier, the rod 14 enters the port 15 and coming in contact with the part 13
depresses it, thus leaving the cylinder free to be rotated by the rack bar 8; the
edge of the cylinder is toothed or otherwise formed so as to be engaged by
the rack. In the drawings, a number of pins are shewn set in the bar, and the
cylinder is bored to receive these pins, the action in this construction being a true
rack action. The rack bar is made less in total length than the depth of the till
carrier, and the rod 14 is similarly made; the object in view is to insure that the
automatic door 19 (Fig. 9) will become locked before it could be approached by
passing the hand behind the till whilst it is being withdrawn. At the outer
end of the rack bar a handle-or hand piece is provided to enable the 'bus
conductor to operate the apparatus; the rack-bar must be made long enough to
pass through the front wall of the vehicle sufficiently to enable it to receive the
necessary travel. Whenever the situation of the fare-box is altered from that
which is adopted in the construction to which the apparatus illustrated has been

page_text: designed to be applied it will be necessary to make corresponding alterations in the
apparatus, but these being rearrangements of parts only will not require the
exercise of inventive skill.
The rack bar may be made to be withdrawable from the till (this is the preferre
arrangement), or it may be made incapable of being so withdrawn, as may be
desired; in the latter case, the handle may be made to screw on and off, or,
alternatively the hole 12 in the front wall of the vehicle through which it passes
is made sufficiently large to allow of the handle being passed through it.
When the
bar is made withdrawable, a safety door is provided to close the ports 9 and 15
automatically as soon as the bar 8 and the rod 14 are drawn out, in order to prevent
the insertion of any tool or instrument whereby the mechanism could be operated.
When the bar 8 is made non-withdrawable the automatic door is fitted to the
port 15 only. This door (see Fig. 9) is provided with attachments whereby it can
be reset from within when the door 18 of the till is open. The bottom or front
side of the till contains or is made as a door 18 through which the till can be
emptied and reset for future action. The door is secured by a hasp and padlock,
or other suitable lock, and is fastened in the carrier by a simple contrivance; the
method shewn is simple and effective, but any other suitable arrangement may be
adopted.
Figure 9 illustrates the detail of the automatic door by which the till is locked
up when being drawn out of the carrier. 19 is the automatic door or flap; 20 a
spring hinge of any convenient form operating to close the door or flap 19; 21 a
catch or snih for holding the door 19 open; 22 a latch for locking the door or
flap 19 when it is closed.
The catch 21 is placed opposite one of the ports in order that the rack-bar or
the rod 14 will upon being entered knock it away, thus leaving the door free to be
closed by the action of the spring hinge 20 and locked by the spring latch 22 as
soon as the rod and rack bar (or the former only if the latter is made non-with-
drawable, when, of course, the automatic door is fitted only to the port or hole
through which the rod 14 passes) are drawn out of the till by the till being drawn
out of the carrier. Once the till has been drawn out of the carrier, it cannot be
replaced or reset in it or the rod or rack-bar reinserted, until the door of the till
has been opened by the person having the possession of the keys; and the door 19
reset and caught back by the catch 21. As the cylinder is automatically locked
by the parts 13 and 17 as soon as the rod 14 is drawn out, it will be seen that
the till is then an entirely closed box, and cannot be robbed except by first
breaking it or taking it to pieces (a construction may be devised to guard as
completely as possible against such a contingency), or by picking the lock.
The till, separate from the fare receiving mechanism is complete in itself and
may be used in connection with other constructions of mechanism capable of
delivering fares onto the exposed top of the cylinder in the tili; or it may be
used alone or in combination with inspecting chambers and the like as a cash
receiver.
"
The construction of the tumbling pockets is such that a
" snake or other
picking instrument cannot be passed through them to manipulate the fares which
have been paid in. As regards the fares which have been passed into the till, this
security is doubled. The whole apparatus offers as complete security as possible
against robbery, for as soon as a fare is passed in it is at once secure and cannot
be withdrawn cither from the till itself or from the inspection chambers. The
shield or apron 5 being at least equal in width to the mouth of the pocket
completely blocks the entrance to the parts below; the clearance space is too
small to allow of a "snake or a picker being passed in.
"
In operation the tickets and coin which have been passed through the receiving
pockets at the head of the fare chutes pass down through those chutes and rest on
the part of the till cylinder which is exposed through the slot in the top of
the till, and whilst they are in this position they are examined by the 'bus
conductor, who, when satisfied as to their genuineness and sufficiency, pushes the

page_text: rack bar into the till thereby causing the cylindrical pocket to turn until its mouth
comes in position below the slot in the top of the till when the fares fall into it;
the cylinder is returned automatically by its spring to the position shewn in
Fig. 1, on attaining which, or approximately so, the fares fall into the body of
the till.
We do not limit ourselves specifically to the precise construction and arrange-
ment of parts set forth so long as the nature and principles of the invention are
retained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a cash or fare receiver, a pocket in which the payments are put and
which is made capable of being tumbled and reversed to spill or deliver such
payments into a closed chamber or chute, in combination substantially as described
with a close-fitting shield or apron at least equal in width to the mouth of the
pocket, for the purposes set forth.
2. In a cash or fare receiver, the combination of two tumbling pockets substan-
tially as set forth in the preceding claiming clause, one of which pockets is placed
at the entrance of the apparatus, and the other either at the foot of the
chamber into which the first delivers its charge, or in the till, substantially as
set forth.
3. In a cash till, a tumbling pocket (substantially as set forth in the first claiming
clause hereof) adapted to receive payments through an orifice in the top of the
till, in combination with a rack or other convenient mechanism for bringing the
mouth of the pocket opposite the said orifice, a spring by which the pocket is
returned to the "closed" position automatically, and a stop for preventing the
pocket over-running in the reversing, substantially as described.
4. In combination with mechanism as set forth in the next preceding
claiming clause, a spring plate or piece such as 13 for automatically locking the
receiving mechanism of the till, of the till carrier and a releasing rod such as 14
coacting with such plate by automatically depressing it when the till is set in the
carrier, and thereby giving liberty to act to the tumbling pocket, substantially as
described.
5. In a cash receptacle or till wherein the inlet is closed from within the till
by a door plate or other contrivance operated by a rack bar or equivalent device
passed into the till through a port or hole therein, a spring door for closing said
port or hole immediately the said rack bar is withdranu, and mechanism for
automatically locking the said door when closed and which mechanism is capable
of being manipulated from within the receptacle or till only, substantially as
described for the purposes set forth.
6. The combination of a till carrier in which are provided a fixed rod and r
rack-har free to slide but neither of which are withdrawable from the carrier,
till fitting into the carrier, ports or holes in the till through which the said rod and
rack bar pass, the former to unlock the receiving mechani-m, and the latter to
actuate it, mechanism acted upon by such rod and rack-bar substantially in the
manner and for the purposes described, and an automatic self-locking door (capable
of being reopened only from within the till) for closing the said ports or hole-
immediately the till is drawn out of the carrier sufficiently to free the rod and
rack before mentioned, substantially as described.
Dated this 2nd day of April 1894.
For the Applicants,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.