USRE4246E - Improvement in registering ticket-punches - Google Patents

Description

I To all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUSTIN D. HOFFMAN, or GHICAGQTLLINOIS, AssIGNoR, BY MEsNE ASSIGN- MENTS, To JAMES n. sMAnL, 0E BUFFALO, NEW Tenir.

Bpecieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 100;@6, dated February 22, 1870 rcissuevNo. 4,246, dated January 31, 1871. I

Bc it known that I, AUSTIN D. HOFFMA" of the city of Chicago, in the county of C and State of Illinois, have invented au Alarm and Registering Punch for Railroad-Conduct;

ors, of which the following is a specification :j The object of my inventionl is .to provid?A improved vmeans which shall serve as a! check to prevent conductors on cars, omnibuses, and other conveyauces from making false returns and thus defrauding the 'company employing) them. A 'l 4A company may thus be defrauded in various ways, such, for instance, as .the appropriation by the conductor of cash fares collec by him, or bythe conductor colluding wit certain passengers, and omitting to perforate tickets held by them, whereby such passen:r gers are permitted to make several trips over the same route for the price of one fare. 'Io prevent this fraud conductors have been required to give to eachv passenger. from whom a cash fare is collected a ticket,.and to perfo-L j rate the same, by means of a punch, before its dellvery,-the conductor being charged with the number of tickets delivered tol him a credited with those returned unperi'orate `The neglect of the conductor to thus pefi rate and deliver a ticket to the passenger freer whom he has collected a fare would attract theflatteutionnf .the YpasseiLeers, and soepeijpr laterlead to detection. 'lhe perforated tic@ ets thusgiven to the lpassengers, being them gen crally thrown away iu the car or oth l vehicle, can. afterward be collected by the conductor, and delivered to other passengers at'- ter a pretended operation of perforatin g them:

' 1n the same Ina-nner a multiple-ride ticket in the possession ot' a .passenger in collusion with the conductor may be handed to the latter, who simply pretends to punch the same,

and then returnsit to the owner, which opcration can evidently bc repeated with thesame ticket any desired number of times.

Previous to my invention a locked box, a tached to one ofthe jaws of a punch, had bccn employed to receive the cuttings, which indicated, when counted, thc number ot fares received during the day.

My invention consists, first, in thc combinaeach time the former isfoperatcd, thereby calling thel attention of passengers to the conductor, and notifying them to be ready with their-fares, while a neglect of the Aconductor t0 operate the punch during the collection of a fare becomes manifest from the bel-l not ringing; second, in the arrangement, in a ticketpunch, of the bell and the mode of operating it; tl1ird,-in the combination, in a punch, of a box to receive the cuttings, and aregistering device, the contents of the former indicating the kinds of tickets and the portions thereof from which the cuttings were punched, and the latter showing the number of times the punch has been operated; fourth, in the coinbination,rin a punch, ofl a box to receive the cuttings, a registering device, and a bell, the latter heilig rung and a record made each time the punch is operated, whereby the conductor becomes chargeable with a fare each time the bell is rung, While the character ofthe cuttings in the box will indicate the number of cash fares received and the number of fares paid by tickets, and ythenature ofthe latter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is an elevation of my impro-ved punch. Fig. II is a section, showing an internal view-of the registering mechanism and the box for the cuttings. Fig. Ill is an elevation of the op jpcsite side .o t' the jaws from that shown in llalg. l. Fig. 1V is an'efevation'o'i thcgear'irrg of the registeringdevice detached from the case. Fig. Vis an end elevation of the4 punch with the bell in section.

Like letters of reference designate like parts in cach ofthe igures. 1

A I3 represent the two jaws of the punch,

jointed together at their ends at G, and hav ing a slot, w, formed in the jaw A, in whicln the tickets arc inserted preparatory to being punched. C I) arc, rcspcctivcl'tlie handles ot' the jaws A I3. I is the punch or perforating-rod attached to the jaw" B, andtitting and working through a hole in jaw A, and against a perforated stop-piece, a2, in the opposite side i ot' thc slot so as to perforate a'card placed in thc slot in thc usual manner. E is the box for the cuttings, attached to or formed with the jaw A, as shown, or 1n any other suitable ticket is being inserted.

` vided with a rim and two face-plates, which manner, so as to receive and hold the clippings as they are punched from the tickets. I1 is the heil, attached to one side ofthebox E, as shown in Fig. I. The bell-hammer is attached to abellcrank or T-shaped shank, j", which is pivoted lto the side of the j aw A at al, while the other arm of the lever or shank is jointed to the end-of a thrust-arm, H, the opposite endof which `is attached to the side of the jaw B by a pin, g, litting in a slot in the arm. In closing the jaws of the punch the arm H causes the bellhammer to oscillate and strike the bell, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. I, the slot in the arm permitting a slight play of the parts, thereby causing the bell to ring each time the jaws are closed. The, jaws are held apart, in their normal position, by means of a coiled coiled spring, Z, inserted in a socket in one jaw, and made to bear against the other, so as to prevent the punch I from projecting into the slot and obstructing the same when a The jaw B is `proform a suitable case and bearings for the registering mechanism, which is mounted on two journals, a b, that have their bearings in'the face-plates ot' the jaw. M is a ratchet-wheel, .fixed on journal Z1, and turned/one notch every time the jaws A B are opened by means ofa puiling-pawl, J, pivoted in or to the jaw A,and

extending into the case of jaw B, so as to en gage with wheel M, against which it is held by a' spring, k, as shown in Fig. Ii. s is a pinion, rigidly mounted on the journal b, so as to engage with and turn a wheel, V, which Y runs loosely on journal a, and carries with it -a pinion, t, that drives a lwheel, W, fitted loosely on journal b. A pinion, r, is attached to wheel W, and drives a wheel, p, rigidly mounted on journal a. On opposite sides of A the face plates ot' jaw B hands or pointers, l

n, are, ,respectively, attached to the ends of the `arborsb a. A dial, surrounding the index l, is marked to correspond with the number of teeth (twenty-fi ve) inwheei M, and will indicate the number of holes punched up to .twentylva as represented 'n Fig. III. The

dial of pointer n is graduat l so that the latl terfwill move over one space lduring each revolution of the index inthe ordinary manner of registering devices, said dial bein grepres'ented as numbered up to one thousand.' The case containing the registering mechanism is closed,

as shown, so as to be inaccessible to the conductor.

In using my improved punch, the person collecting the fares will be required to perforate a ticketfor each fare or passenger, either the ticket held by the passenger or the ticket given n to him by the collector in exchange for a cash fare. As the ringing of the bell necessarilyy by the register with the fare the same as if he had actually perforated the ticket. With mul- Atiple-ride tickets, however, while the collector would be charged with the number of fares in- ,dicated by the register, to which, of course, he

'has no access, yet hemight, by using the casilfare tickets a second time, falsely represent that more ot' said faresv were from multipleride tickets than was actually the case, which would reduce by so much the number ot cash fares that he is required to account for. The employment of the box E for receiving the punch-cuttings will, in such cases, expose this fraudyas the difference in the color or character ofthe cuttings of Ithe di'erent tickets enabies the numberof each kind oi' fare and tickets to be readily ascertained by assortiri and counting such cuttings, while the entire number must correspond with the number indicated by the register. y

NVhat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination, with a ticket-punch, oi' a bell, connected with the moving parts of the punch, so as tobe rung each time the latter is operated, substantially as and'for the purpose .hereinbefore set forth.

2. The arrangement, in a ticketlpnuch, of

thefjaw A, bell F, lbell-hammer c, bell-crank j; push-rod H, and 'jaw B, so as to operate as hereinbefore shown and described.

The combination, in a ticket-punch, of .the box E, for the cuttings, with a registering device, which shall 'indicate'the number 0i',

times the jaws are'actuated,substantially as hqreinbefdre set forth.A Y 1 54. rilhe combination, in a ticket-punch, of a bell, a registering device, and a box to receive tile cuttings, arranged so as to operate as here` ilibefore set forth. o

' AUSTIN l). HOFFMAN. ,.Witnesses:

G. L. GHAPIN, CHAs. W. ROGERS.

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