US3051379A - Party selecting mechanism for voting machine - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F- SHOUP EI'AL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 4? a F 2a 2 49' 97 INVENTORS,

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. sHouP EIAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 e Sheets-Sheet 2 mmvroxs. 4 AA/VSOM E al /0w BY [on/M0 ,4, m); m

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ETAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INV EN TORS.

AA/VSOM E .fl/OUP BY 5014/4/90 4. 5 1

Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ETAL PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS. AMA/30M E SHOUP Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP EIAL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 'Hl H I] II II II IN V EN TORS.

A TTOK/I/EX Aug. 28, 1962 R. F. SHOUP ET AL 3,051,379

PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS. FAA/$0M F. .S'HOUP Y 50/11/420 4. FOX, SE.

B i Q7 ATTOf/VEX United States Patent Ofitice 3,051,379 Patented Aug. 28, 1962 3,051,379 PARTY SELECTING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINE Ransom F. Shoup, Bryn Mawr, and Edward A. Fox, Sr.,

Morton, Pa., assignors to Shoup Research and Development Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 852,135 1 Claim. (Cl. 235-55) Our invention relates to a voting machine of the type disclosed in Patent No. 2,054,102 of September 15, 1936, and in other Shoup patents.

One object of the present invention is to produce an improved machine of the type set forth.

In some localities, the voter must declare to which party he adheres before he can enter the booth to vote and this is known as a declared primary. In other localities the voter can enter the voting booth and can select the party to which he adheres in secret and this is known as a selective primary.

It is, therefore, a further object of the invention to produce an improved voting machine which can be adapted for use in a declared or in a selective primary election, or for use in general elections by the addition, modification or removal of very few parts, in very little time and with very little skill.

A still further object is to produce an improved voting machine which can be instantly adapted for use by successive voters of different parties, by merely changing the position of a single pointer, and Without touching any other parts of the machine.

A still further object is to produce an improved party selecting mechanism which is fool-proof in the sense that, once the selecting mechanism has been set for the party declared by the voter, the voter can only vote for candidates of the party selected and the election officer cannot tamper with the setting of the party selecting mechanism.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic view of a voting machine provided with a party selecting mechanism of our invention, the parts being shown in curtain open, or non-voting, position, and only such parts of the conventional machine are shown as are necessary for locating and relating the invention.

FIG. 1-A shows the position of one of the spindle return members of FIG. 1, when a vote is cast.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, elevational view looking in the direction of line 2-2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 on FIG. 2 and showing the parts in a position to permit the closing of the curtain.

FIG. 3-A is similar to FIG. 3 but showing the parts in a position to prevent the closing of the curtain.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line 4-4 on FIG. 1 and, in solid lines, showing the position of the parts when the curtain is open.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the position of some of the parts of FIG. 4 after the curtain has been closed.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view looking in the direction of line 6-6 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line 7-7 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view taken on line 8-8 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 9-9 on FIG. 8 and showing details of an auxiliary lockout mechanism in the operative position thereof.

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 9 but showing the lock-out mechanism in the non-operative position thereof.

FIG. 11 is a skeletal perspective view of some of the linkage used to interconnect and actuate various parts.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing details of construction.

In FIG. 1 there are shown conventional voting spindles S which are accessible to the voter and which are adapted to be turned in vote-casting direction by keys, not shown. Associated with spindles S are butterfly cams C which, when rotated in vote casting direction, or in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, engage and raise spindle return members 10, 11, 12 and 13, as shown in FIG. 1-A. The machine illustrated also includes a latch 14 which corresponds to latch 30 of Shoup Patent No. 2,826,356 and main cam bar 16 which corresponds to cam bar 58 of Shoup Patent No. 2,329,005. Except as hereinafter pointed out, the structure and operation of these parts and of the curtain opening and closing mechanism form no part of the invention and are, therefore, not shown, nor described. It is suificient to say that latch 14 must be moved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 11, before the curtain can be closed and vice versa. For a disclosure of the structure and operation of the parts mentioned and of the voting machine generally, reference may be had to the Shoup patents mentioned in the other Shoup patents which are available in the Patent Office and which, by reference, are made a part of the present disclosure.

According to our invention, the curtain is closed by means of handle 20 which is accessible from outside of the machine and which is manipulated by the attending election ofiicer. Handle 20 is fixedly carried by stub shaft 22 which is journalled for rotation in end wall 24 of the machine and which also fixedly carries link 26 to one end 27 of which is pivoted the upper end of link 28, FIGS. 2 and 4. The lower end 29 of link 28 passes through hole 30 in the floor of the machine and engages one end of bell crank lever 31, the other end 32 of which engages slide latch 14. As will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4, moving handle 20 from the upper, solid line, to the lower, broken line position in FIG. 2, depresses links 27 and 28 and moves the end 32 of hell crank lever 31 and latch 14, to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1. It will be remembered that movement of latch 14 to the left must precede the closing of the voting booth curtain and vice versa and in that, manual operation of the machine, movement of latch 14 merely unlocks the curtain moving 7 mechanism. In automatic operation, movement of latch 14 releases the locking mechanism and energizes a motor, not shown, for closing, or opening, the curtain, depending upon the direction of movement of the latch. For the purpose of this disclosure, it is enough to say that, handle 20 must be moved from the solid to the broken line position, as viewed in FIG. 2, before the voting booth curtain can be closed and it must be moved back to its upper, solid line position before the curtain can be opened by the voter from Within the booth.

The party selecting mechanism includes stub shafts 40, 41, 42 and 43, etc., which are located near the lower ends of return spindles 10 to 13, respectively, and bell cranks 46, 47, 48 and 49, etc., the right hand ends of which, as viewed in FIG. 1, are fixedly secured to the respective stub shafts for joint rotation therewith. As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 1-A, the left hand ends of bell crank levers 46 to 49 overlap pins 50 on the lower ends of spindle return members 10 to 13 respectively, whereby, upward movement of a spindle return member must rotate its corresponding bell crank in clockwise. direction, or from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 1-A. Therefore, if a bell crank lever is immobilized, its corresponding spindle return member cannot be raised which, in turn means that the voting spindles associated with such return member cannot be turned in vote-casting direction. In order selectively' to immobilize one or more spindle return mem-' bers to immobilize the corresponding voting spindles, we provide a number of freely movable slides 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, etc., one for each of the eight to ten spindle return members, which are present in an average voting machine, and we selectively connect said slides to corresponding spindle return members, by means of connecting rods, such as rods 62, 64, etc. By this arrangement, rotation of a bell crank lever in clockwise direction by the upward movement of its spindle return member, must move the slide connected thereto to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1. Therefore, if a slide is prevented from moving to the left, its corresponding bell crank lever cannot rotate in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. l-A, its corresponding spindle return member cannot move up, and the voting spindles associated with said spindle return member cannot be used, and vice versa.

To immobilize the spindle return members assigned to all parties listed on the machine except the one which is assigned to the party to which the voter declares his adherence, we provide an index plate 66, which is provided with a notch 68 and which is rotatable in the direction of double headed arrow 69 to bring notch 68 into registration with one, or another, of slides 54 to 60 to permit movement to the left of one of said slides and to prevent leftward movement of the other slides. For example, and as will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 6, stub shaft 40 is connected by rod 62 to slide 54, but, since the solid portion of slide 54 abuts the laterally immovable index plate 66, slide 54 cannot move to the left and, therefore, bell crank lever 46 cannot be rotated, spindle return member 13 cannot be moved upwardly, and the voting spindles associated with return spindle member 13 cannot be turned in vote-casting direction. On the other hand, because slide 57, which is connected by rod 64 to bell crank lever 48 registers with, and is movable leftwardly through, notch 68, bell crank lever 48 can be rotated, its corresponding spindle return member 11 can be moved up and, therefore, the voting spindles S associated with spindle return member 11, can be moved in vote-casting direction. Obviously, by moving index plate 66 to cause notch 68 to move out of registration with slide 57 and into registration with slide 54, spindle return member 11 will be immobilized and spindle return member 13 will become available for use, and so on. By this arrangement, and when the voting is in a declared primary, as many slides will be connected, in the manner described, to the spindle return members assigned to as many parties as have candidatw on the ballot. Thus, if there are four parties, four slides will be connected to the four spindle return members which are assigned to the respective parties, and so on.

If the voting spindles associated with one spindle return member are not suflicient to accommodate all the candidates running on the ticket of a given party, two spindle return members can be interconnected for joint movement with one slide. For example, if it is desired to assign the voting spindles associated with two spindle return members, such as members 11 and 12, for use by one party, stub shafts 47 and 48, which are associated with said two spindles can be interconnected for joint movement by link 70, as shown in FIG. 1, and either of bell cranks 47 or 48 is connected by rod 62 or 64 to one of slides 54 to 60. By this arrangement, if notch 68 in index plate 66 registers with one of the slides referred to, any voting spindle associated with either of spindle return members 11 or 12, may be turned in vote casting direction and vice versa.

A party selecting mechanism embodying our invention also includes a second index plate 72 (FIG. 11) which is fixedly carried by the framework of the machine and is provided with holes 64', 55', 56, 57', 58, 59' and to be selectively engaged by pin 74 which is carried by arm 76, which is fixedly carried by, and is movable radially and laterally, with shaft 78. Shaft 78 fixedly carries index plate 66 and passes freely through index plate 72 and through bearings 88. By this arrangement said shaft is operative to rotate index plate 66, but is laterally slidable relative to index plates 66 and 72. Shaft 78 also fixedly carries a hub 82, and its left hand end extends beyond end wall 24 of the machine and carries handle 86 by which the shaft may be rotated about its axis and may be reciprocated laterally, or in the direction of double headed arrow 88 in FIGS. 1 and 6. Shaft 78 also carries a pointer 90 which is adapted to be moved relative to a third index plate 92 which carries indicia for designating various political parties. For example, when pointer 99 registers with D, it means that the machine is set up for use by voters of the Democratic party and, when the pointer registers with R, the machine is set up for use by voters of the Republican party, etc. By this arrangement, when a voter declares the party to which he adheres, the election oflicer turns handle 86 to bring pointer 90 into registration with the letter designating the selected party, and moves shaft 78 to the tight to insert pin 74 in one of openings 54 to 60'. If it is assumed that the voting spindles associated with spindle return member 11 are assigned for use by voters of the Democratic party, the rotation of shaft 78 to cause pointer 90 to register with letter D, also rotates index plate 66 to cause notch 68 to register with slide 57 which is connected by rod 64 to hell crank 48 of spindle return member 11. This, as previously explained, makes it possible to use the voting spindles associated with return member 11, While the remaining slides, which are connected to the spindle return members assigned to other parties, are immobilized by index plate 66 to prevent the use of any of the voting spindles associated with remaining spindle return members. In other words, a voter who declares that he is a Democrat, can only vote for a democratic candidate, and so on. Rotation of shaft 78 to the position set forth also causes the pin 74 to register with opening 57' in index plate 72 and lateral movement of shaft 78 to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 6 cause pin 74 to enter opening 57 to lock the machine until it is necessary to reset the machine for use by another party which is done by moving shaft 78 to the left until pin 74 clears index plate 72 to permit rotation of shaft 78 and pointer 90 to register with R to set the machine for use by voters of the Republican party and so on.

In order to insure that the machine remains locked in the position to which it is set while a voter is casting his vote, we provide link 96, the upper end of which is secured to link 26 and the lower end of which has a slot 98 which engages a fixed guide pin 100 carried by end wall 24 of the machine, and we so adjust hub 82 on shaft 78 that, when pin 74 is in opening 57, hub 82 will be spaced from end wall 24 of the machine, as shown in FIG. 3, and so that when pin 74 clears index plate 72, hub 82 will be in substantial abutment against end wall 24, in which position it registers with, and prevents downward movement of link 96, from the position of FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 5. It will be remembered that, to close the voting booth curtain, handle 20 must be moved downwardly to actuate link 28, bell crank lever 31, etc. But, as long as hub 82 is in the position of FIG. 3-A, link 96 cannot move down and, therefore, the curtain cannot be closed. This means that shaft 78 must be moved to the right, to move hub 82 to the position of FIG. 3 before link 96 can move down to permit movement of the handle downwardly, or in curtain closing direction. But, movement of shaft 78 to the right causes pin 74 to enter one of the openings in index plate 72 so that shaft 78, and index plate 66 carried thereby, cannot be further rotated to change the party after the curtain has been closed.

The arrangement described is fully satisfactory when the machine is set for automatic operation, that is, when the curtain is opened and closed mechanically and rapidly, as by an electric motor. But, when the curtain is opened and closed manually, any slide which has passed through notch 68 will still be to the left of index plate 66, as viewed in FIG. 2, and in the absence of extreme manufacturing precision, which is prohibitively expensive, a point in the movement of the curtain in closing direction may be reached at which the lower end of link 96 just barely clears hub 82 and pin 74 barely clears index plate 72. In this intermediate position, shaft 78 can be rotated accidentally, or deliberately, and, if the shaft is rotated, the slide to the left of index plate 66, as viewed in FIG. 2, and all associated parts will be damaged. If this happens, the voters will be deprived of their vote andit will reflect against the manufacturer of the machine. In order to guard against such a contingency, we provide link 102, one end 104 of which is pivoted to end wall 24 of the machine and the other end of which is normally biased downwardly by spring 106 to bring button 108 (FIG. 3) on link 102 into registration with the left side of hub 82, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3. Obviously, the presence of button 108 between hub 82 and end wall 24 will prevent leftward movement of shaft 78 regardless of the position of link 96 until after the curtain has been fully opened and all slides are to the right of index plate 66. To take button 108 out of registrati n with hub 82 and thus permit leftward movement of shaft 78 to reset the machine for use by another party, we connect the other end of link 102 with the upper end of rod 110, the lower end of which is connected to one end of bell crank lever 112, the other end of which is connected, by rod 114, to a shift bar 116, which is movable with slide latch 14. By this arrangement, when the voter opens the curtain, latch 14 will move to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, and shift bar 116 will pull rod 114 to the right to rotate bell crank lever 112 in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1. This rotation of bell crank lever 112 raises rod 110 which, in turn, raises link -2 and takes button 108 out of registration with hub 82 to permit leftward movement of shaft 78. When shift bar 116 is moved to the left, it ceases to pull on rod 114 and spring 106 rotates bell crank lever 112 in counterclockwise direction and moves button 108 into registration with hub 82.

Since the number of contending parties may be less than the number of holes 54' to 60' in index plate 72, we provide screws 122 which are movable relative to index plate 72 to prevent movement of arm 76 toward index plate 72 whenever the end 124 of arm 76 is in registration with any of screws 122. For example, if a screw 122, which corresponds to hole 57' is in the position of FIG. 9, pin 74 can enter opening 57 in plate 72. Conversely, if the same screw 122 is moved to the position of FIG. 10, arm 76 cannot come close enough for pin 74 to enter opening 57' and so on.

When the machine is to be used in a selective primary in which the voter may vote, regardless of party afliliation, plate 66 can be either removed from the machine, or it can be turned 180 to take it out of the way of slides 54 to 60. Alternately, all of the slide can be disconnected from the spindle return members by removing rods 62, 64, etc., or otherwise. Likewise, if desired, pin 74 can be removed, or retracted so as not to engage index plate 72. In any event, for use in a general election, the desired number of spindle return members will be connected by straps 125 to interlock 126 so that, when a voter casts a vote for one candidate for a given office for which only one candidate is to be chosen, all of the other spindle return members connected to said interlock will be immobilized. Interlock 126 is the same as inter- 6 look 42 of Shoup Patent No. 2,541,553, and is, therefore, not shown, nor described in detail.

When the machine is to be used in a general election, index plates 66 and 72 are again set aside in the manner above set forth; interlock 126 is disconnected, or is dispensed with, and the voting spindle return members are connected to conventional interlocks, such as interlock 42 of the Shoup patent just above mentioned.

A conventional machine is provided with about ten spindle return members with which ten columns of voting spindles are associated and, when the number of parties in any given primary is less than ten, only the spindle return members assigned to the respective parties are connected to corresponding slides 54 to 60 and the other spindle return members will be connected to interlock 126 whereby the spindle return members which are not assigned to any parties can be used for non-party voting or for voting on general questions.

When shaft 78 is to be locked against all motion, it is moved to the right, to engage pin 74 in a hole in index plate 72 and pin 128 is removed from opening 130 and is inserted in opening 132 (FIG. 6), where it prevents leftward movement of shaft 78 and, hence, disengagement of pin 72 from index plate 74. In this position, shaft 78 can neither be rotated nor moved laterally.

When the voter finishes voting, he closes a switch, or he moves a handle, which opens the curtain and resets the machine for the next voter. In so doing, the spindle return member which was raised to the position of FIG. 1, also moves back to the lower position shown in FIG. 1. In previous Shoup machines, parts corresponding to bell crank levers 4649 were pivoted to the lower ends of their respective spindle return members and downward movement of a spindle return member rotated its corre sponding bell crank back to its original position. But, connecting the bell crank levers and their associated parts to their respective spindle return members, increases the weight and the friction to be overcome when a voting spindle is turned in vote-casting direction. In other words, it makes the task of moving the voting keys more difficult than it would be if the rotation of a voting spindle in vote casting direction only raised a corresponding return member and nothing else. According to our invention, the ends of the bell crank levers merely overlap pins 50 so that they are rotated only in clockwise direction when the return members are raised and we provide means, which is operable upon opening of the curtain, to re-set the bell crank levers, or to rotate them in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1. As shown, this means includes comb bar 97 which reciprocates with latch 14 and the teeth 99 of which are engageable with the bell crank levers 46-49, as shown in FIG. 1A. It will be remembered that, when the curtain is closed, latch 14, and, hence, comb bar 97 move to the left so that teeth 99 of the comb bar Will be out of the way of bell crank levers. But, when the voter opens the curtain, latch 14 and comb bar 97 move to the right, as viewed in FIG. l-A and teeth 99 of the comb bar engage the respective bell crank levers and rotate them from the position of FIG. 1-A back to the position of FIG. 1. This counterclockwise rotation of the bell crank levers withdraws whichever slide 54-60 may have passed through notch 68 when the bell cranks were rotated in clockwise direction, out of said notch.

What we claim is:

A party selecting mechanism for a voting machine of the type which comprises a plurality of voting spindles rotatable in vote casting direction and vice versa, a curtain movable to a first closed and to a second open position, actuating means movable to a first position for moving said curtain to its first position, and to a second position for moving said curtain to its second position, said party selecting mechanism including a plurality of freely movable slides, means connecting said slides to said spindles, respectively, in such a manner that rotation of said spindles in vote casting direction moves the corresponding slides in one direction and vice versa, 3, rotatable obstructing plate located adjacent said slides to prevent movement thereof and hence rotation of the corresponding spindles, said obstructing plate having an opening therein large enough for the passage of a slide therethrough, a fixed plate having holes therein which correspond to said slides, a rotatable and laterally movable shaft slidable through both of said plates and operative to rotate said obstructing plate selectively to bring said opening in registration with one of said slides to permit movement thereof and, hence rotation of its corresponding spindle in vote-casting direction, a pin carried by said shaft, said shaft being movable to a first position in which said pin is inserted into one of said holes to prevent rotation of said shaft and said obstructing plate and into a second position in which said pin is withdrawn from said hole to permit rotation of said obstructing plate, an

arm carried by, and movable with said actuating means,

and a hub carried by, and movable with said shaft, said hub and said arm being so located that, when said shaft is in its second position, said hub obstructs'the movement of said arm and, hence, movement of said actuating means to its first position and whereby, when said actuating means is in its first position, said shaft cannot be moved to its second position, a second pivoted arm, means References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 982,736 McElroy Jan. 24, 1911 995,357 Lausterer June 13, 1911 1,158,647 Dean Nov. 2, 1915 1,194,337 Lausterer Aug. 8, 1916

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