IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO APPARATUS FOR CHECKING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS ENTERING OR LEAVING TRAM CARS OR OTHER PUBLIC VEHICLES OR PLACES
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Daniel Busby at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 11th July 1878.
DANIEL BUSBY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND APPERTAINING TO APPARATUS FOR CHECKING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
ENTERING OR LEAVING TRAM CARS OR OTHER PUBLIC VEHICLES OR PLACES."
This Invention relates to that class of apparatus for checking the receipts of
conductors and collectors in which the public have to some extent to co-operate
with it in maintaining a strict check. It consists, first, in putting on the face of
a moveable plate or board a waybill with numbers commencing with 1, and going
up to the highest number that can be likely to be recorded in one trip, or if
there are two or more sets of prices, such as those for inside and for outside,
then two or more sets of numbers must be placed on the waybill. This waybill
is clipped or otherwise held to the said moveable board:
The moveable board is capable of a parallel motion in its box, moving directly
backward on being pressed, and has a spring or its equivalent, such as a weighted
lever, to bring it back to the normal when the pressure is removed.
The parallel motion arrangement I prefer is a stout rod rigidly secured to the
board, and projecting perpendicularly backward through a guide tube on the back.
On the back of the moveable board also I place two cams, one of which rings
a bell on the board being pressed back, the other moves an escapement one tooth
forward, which in turn moves a counting wheel, the figures of which are exposed
through a glass plate in the side of the box in which the moveable board slides.
In place of the bell other mechanisms producing a loud noise could be used, but
a bell or gong is best.
The counting wheel can also be varied at pleasure from a single wheel with
numbers enough for one trip to a train of wheels sufficient for a year's work, but
I prefer the first-mentioned single wheel.
It will be seen at once that other mechanical motions could be used in place
of cams, and any other will do that will be cheap, little likely to get out of order,
and that will without fail move the escapement so as to cause the counter to
Price 271

page_text: advance one division, and no more, for each stroke of the moveable board, and that
will ring the bell loud enough without injury.
The mode of action is as follows:-The conductor is required to press the board
back so as to ring the bell once for each person who enters the conveyance. As
however he has at the same time likewise to mark the lowest remaining figure
unmarked on the waybill, both objects are achieved at once by his stamping the
number with a stamp coloured with a permanent ink or dye; the stamping presses
back the board, rings the bell, and records one.
When he arrives at the end of the journey, the waybill is reversed and does for
the return trip; at the head office the waybill is exchanged for another, is counted
up, and examined to see whether it tallies with the counting wheel and with the
money handed in.
The counter being reset to zero or not, as the officials who keep the key may
prefer, the conductor starts on his next trip.
To prevent the board being pushed back by accident, a stout wire door is placed -
over it, with room between the meshes for the stamp to enter.