US2346299A - Voting machine - Google Patents

Description

April 11, 1944- A. N. GUSTAVSON VOTING MACHINE I Filed. Aug. 22, 1939 sfm/so 2? FIG-E Patented Apr. 11, 1944 VOTING MACHINE Alvin N. Gustavson, Jamestown, N. Y., assignor to Automatic Voting Machine Corporation, a

' corporation of Delaware Application August 22, 1939, Serial No. 291,375

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in voting machines and more particularly to a device adapted to register the number of voters casting ballots on certain issues or for one or more candidates to certain offices.

In certain localities there are election laws concerning the nomination or election of candidates to local offices. These laws have application to the nomination of candidates to partake in political party conventions, election of members to boards of education, supervisors, etc. In substance, these laws require that a specified majority of voters must have balloted for one or more candidates for a given office before the candidates having the greatest number of votes can be declared elected. It is the purpose of these laws to determine the will of the majority of voters and, therefore, the majority is based not on the total number of votes received by one or all candidates, but rather on the total number of voters who have balloted for one or more of the candidates for a given oflice. The actual majority percentage may vary in different communities or in the nomination or election of candidates to different ofilces.

The present invention contemplates provision of a device applicable to a voting machine for the purpose of separately registering the number of voters who have cast'a ballot for any candidate for a given oifice when there is more than one candidate seeking election to said office. The device includes a counter mechanism separate from the mechanisms that register ballots for candidates to various ofiices. The device is so arranged and constituted that should a voter move one of the indicators into voting position and, before completing his ballot concerning other issues and candidates to other offices, return said indicator to non-voting position, no registration would have been made. However, if the indicator remains in voted position, the counter mechanism of the device will be advanced once simultaneously with the registration of the voters other choices.

Through use of the present invention, it is possible, following an election, to determine how many voters of those who balloted cast a ballot for one or more of the candidates to a given office. This may be illustrated by the assumption that the election laws require a, sixty percent majority of the voters who balloted to have indicated a preference for one or more of the candldates for a given office. For example, fifteen candidates are seeking election to a board of supervisors in which there is only five vacancies, and

one thousand voters have indicated their choice oi candidates for numerous other Offices. Of the thousand voters, seven hundred cast ballots for from one to five of the fifteen candidates seeking election to the board of supervisors. At the completion of the election, the counter mechanism of the present invention will disclose that seven hundred voters had balloted, thus satisfying the election requirement of a sixty percent majority. The five candidates receiving the greatest number of votes would, therefore, be elected to the board of supervisors. On the other hand, if at the close of the election, the counter mechanism indicated that only five hundred of the thousand voters had shown sufficient interest in the candidates for supervisors to vote for one or more, the election laws would not be satisfied and the vacancies on the board of supervisors could not be filled since the result was not representative of the preference of a sixty percent majority of actual voters.

The principal advantages and objects of the invention lie in the provision of a device that serves to eliminate the need of special elections by making possible the use of a voting machine at a general or primary election for special purposes. The invention also adapts a voting machine to meet the requirements of certain municipal election laws and its convenience of installation, adaptability for use in voting machines of different sizes, accuracy of operation and simplicity of construction constitute further advantages.

Other objects and advantages will be more fully understood from a consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, and in which Fig. l is a fragmentary front elevational view of a portion of the keyboard of a voting machine, parts thereof being broken away to illustrate the arrangement and position of one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional View taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 3;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View on a somewhat smaller scale, being taken substantially on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentaryvertical sectional view, being taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the counter mechanism of the device, parts being broken away to disclosecertain structural details;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front elevational view generally referred to as party rows and those in the other direction as ofiice rows.

In the present illustration it is assumed the vertical rows desig mate the ofiice and the horizontal rows the party,

although this is frequently reversed to meet the" election laws of certain communities. The indicators l l are mounted in the front wall [2 of the voting machine and each includes ashaft I tthat, to the rear of the wall l2, supports a key M. The key is U-shaped having arms l5 and El". Arm !6.is.secured to the. shaft..l'3.. Arm i5 mounts a pin: lathatsis-engageable;with a counter mechanisms The. portion. I9 thatconnects arms 16 and.

H. is. slotted. to.receive;one.end of a maininterlocking strap..2.l. This strap terminates. at its lower end inan enlargedportion 22 that projects into. amain. grouping channel. 23.. This. channel includes rollers. 24; between each pair. of whichis located thaneck-likeportion. 2.5 cf. two adjacent. straps 21.. Enlarged portions 22. are lo.-. cated. within. the channel and beneath the. rollers 2%.. When one of. the indicatorsll ismanipulated,

the. interlockingstrap 2|.is;raised causing the en-. larged portion. 22" to move upwardly between a.

pair. of. rollers,movingsaidrollers laterally apart andlimiting, to. a.predetermined. degree, further lateral displacement of'therollers upon the subsequent. raising; of. otherof said interlocking.

straps. Each. interlocking strap. 21,. at. a predetermined. place between its ends. is. formed.

with a ledge or shoulder 26. It Willbe understood that the rollers and maingrouping channel are conventional structureandr form nopart of the.

r s nt. nvent on.

Mounted; adjacent the side walls of. the voting ach n r r me memb rs. 1. h e e e s.

e P ov ded w ma rackets 8 th a i ably connected with the rear face of the wall I2. Suitablebearing means is provided. in the members 21 to supporttheends of a shaft29. The shaft is rotatable and. in the present disclosure. is. square in cross section. intermediate 33 extend. The member 30 is of sufiicient length to extend from therod 29 into-immediate proximity with-the interlocking straps Hand is adaptedto enclose all otthestraps 2| that relate to theindicators of: oneverticalrow or oifice group. The flange 32 is adapted to. rest ontheledges 26. of straps 2 l,,the tabs 3.3-assuming a position substantially as. indicated in the. drawing.

Adjacent one of the frame members 23', one.

end of an. arm 3 is fixed to the shaft 29.. The other endof this arm is fitted with apin 35 that pivotaily'mounts the upper end of astrap 31 and the lower end of asi raptt; Strap 31- is. formed A grouping member til is pro- ,joined'to. the central portion of a key 33.

with an ofiset portion 39 that brings it into alignment with the interlocking straps 2 I. The lower end of this strap terminates in a hook portion 4 l indicated in dotted line in Figure 3. The hook portion is engageable with the lower edge of a reset bar 42 that, as may be seen in the drawing, projects through suitable slots in all of the interlocking straps. The reset bar is standard to voting machines of the type'to' which the present invention is applicable.

The strap 38, adjacent its connection with arm 3'4, is formed with a curved portion to bring it into alignment with the row of interlocking straps 2|. The upper end of this strap is pivotally This key, for convenience in construction, is identical with key M. Key 43 is conveniently mounted on ly pivoted on the shaft; 5!.

a shaft M and includes an arm 46 that is provided with a laterally directed pin 41.

The pin 4'! projects into the open side of a vertically positioned channel. shaped casing 48 that substantially. encloses. and mounts one or more counter. mechanisms;.. As may. be. seen in the drawing, the. end. or. thepin' lies between a pair of connected disks) that are. slidably carried onashaft 5.1. Shaft. 5!.is supported by the side Wallsofithe casing lfl. One.of.the disks t9. carries a gear segment. 52; that,.when the disks aremovedlaterallyoft the. casing 28 along ishaft. 5.1., is engageable. with one. of the gears of a counter. 53. Rotation-.ofthedisks 49 is had by means of; a yoke 54.; This-yoke includes side members .55, theupper endsofswhichare suitably connected. The side-members arecentral- Disks Mare slotted and receivethe. portion that connects the side members..56.. The freeends. of the members 55 are pivotally joinedto parallel bars 57.. The upper ends of. these bars are. connected by a pin 58,. that. is, joined .to .one end, of;- a' strap 5%. The other. end. of. strap. 59--is. secured to. or may be made integral with a rod: 6-1. Therodt! is. joined to. aconventional curtain'release mechanism of the voting machine.

Inasmuch as the shaft-.129: extends substantially the full width. of" the: voting' machine, as many grouping'membersSfl as requiredimay be mount.- edthere'on. Each; groupingrmember isengaged w-iththe. interlocking straps ll i that are in turn connected withtheindicatorsaof one vertical row or. ofiice group.

Operation of the; structure is. as. follows: It

'- tion and. in. addition. the voters are; to indicate their preferencafor a candidate to fill avacancy inan ofil'ce; thatrcomes within the special requirement. hereinbeforetmentioned. The voter having cast his ballotfor the various candidates. may. cast. aballotfor. one of. the. candidates in the. vertical row. or. ofiice: grouplindicated at. A. i in Figural.

This ofiic'e. group of indicators is connected by. straps"2=l. with; the grouping; member 30 as already: described.

voted position. such: movement raises. the connected interlocking; strap;.,2l,. causing the ledge.

Zfijthereof to elevatethe end-of; the. grouping member 30 and rotate. shaft 29. in;.a. clockwise. direction as viewedinFigure 3. This movement of the. shaft iii-rotates. arm 34 causing. straps.

Pin 41: to move latterly. within-.thecounter cas- I If any onecithe indicators- H-in;the. ofiicesgroup A- is moved to ing 48. The disks 49 are thus latterly adjusted so that the gear segment 52 will be engageable with one of the gears of the counter 53. At this point it is brought out that the counter 48 has been set or conditioned for subsequent registering, but that should the voter wish to revoke his ballot and vote for another candidate, he may do so and the mechanism will unset or disable the counter. It is contemplated that on the return of a candidate indicator and attached strap to inoperative position, the parts connecting such strap with the counter will return by gravity or through the use of a conventional spring (not shown) to inoperative position. At such time as the voter has completed his ballot and operates a curtain release lever, the rod Si is raised causing strap 59 to rotate yoke 54. Inasmuch as gear segment 52 is connected through disks 49 with the yoke, said segment will engage one of the gears of the counter causing the total on the counter to b increased by one. It is to be noted that simultaneously with the movement of the strap 38, strap 31 moves upwardly so that the hook portion 4| is fully engaged with the lower edge of the reset bar 42. Completing operation of opening the curtains lowers the reset bar 42 and causes arm 31 to move downwardly to the position in Figure 3, simultaneously with resetting the interlocking straps 2|. This downwardly movement of the strap 31 moves arm 34 and causes shaft 29 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction. Thus the groupin m ber 30 is returned to original position with the flange 32 thereof resting on all of the ledges 26 of the straps 2 I grouped by said member.

If the voter has not balloted for one of the candidates in oflice group A, the mechanism that serves to operate the counter 53 will not function. It is evident that the present invention is not necessary when there is only one candidate in the special omce row A since the counter for the single candidate would signify the number of voters casting a ballot for him. The device is intended for use when there are more candidates than there are vacancies or ofiices to be filled and, through its use, it is possible to determine what percentage of the voters at a general election have indicated a preference for one or more of the candidates in the special oifice row A.

Although applicant has shown and described only one modification of the invention applicable to one type of voting machine, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the device may be modified insofar as such modifications is within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the hereunto annexed claims.

Having thus set forth my invention what I claim as new and for which I desire protection by Letters Patent is:

1. In a voting machine having indicator actuable straps provided with ledges that are disposed in the same horizontal plane when said straps are in an unoperated position, a counter, counter setting mechanism, an operative member connected with and adapted to move said counter setting mechanism into and out of counter setting position, said counter setting mechanism normally rendering said counter inoperative, arms on said member embracing and segregating a plurality of said straps, a flange on said member engaged with the ledges of all of the segregated straps, any one of said segregated straps being operable to move said member and said counter mechanism into operative position, and means for operating said counter when rendered operative by said setting mechanism.

2. In a voting machine having indicator actuable straps provided with ledges disposed in the same horizontal plane when said straps are in an unoperated position, a reset bar associated with and operable to move all of said straps into an unoperated position, a counter, a counter setting mechanism, an operative member connected with and adapted to move said setting mechanism into and out of counter setting position, said setting mechanism normally rendering said counter inoperative, arms on said member so spaced as to embrace and segregate a predetermined number of said straps, said member intermediate said arms being engaged with the ledges of the segregated straps, any one of said straps being operable to move said member and said mechanism into operative position, means connecting said member with said reset bar and operable by said reset bar to return said member and said mechanism to inoperative and non-setting position, and means for operating said counter when rendered operative by said setting mechanism.

ALVIN N. GUSTAVSON.

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