US424993A - Telephone toll-box and connection-register - Google Patents

Description

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C. E. MOCLUER. TELEPHONE TOLL BOX AND CONNECTION REGISTER. No. 424,993.

Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

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' G. E. MOGLUER. TELEPHONE TOLL BOX AND GONNEGTION REGISTER.

Patented Apr. '8, 1890.

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G. E.,M0GLUER. TELEPHONE TO LL BOX AND CONNEUTION REGISTER. No. 424,993. PatentedApr. 8, 189,0.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES E. MOOLUER, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

TELEPHONE TOLL-BOX AND CONNECTION-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,998, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed May 28, 1889. $eria1 No. 312,475. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. MCCLUER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico, State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Telephone Toll-Box and Connection- Register, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention is designed to obviate the necessity of telephone patrons having to make fixed annual, quarterly, or monthly payments for their telephone service; or, as is necessary in the ordinary toll system, of requiring a record to be kept by the central-office operators of the connections ordered from each station. The fixed rental system requiring, as it does, regular payments at stated intervals without any reference whatever to the amount of usage of the telephone lines and instruments, is unjust to both the subscribers and the corporations or individuals furnishing the telephone facilities, in that the subscribers are unequally taxed and the owners of the telephone plant are often inadequately remunerated. A subscriber who utilizes his telephone but seldom often pays for his moderate service a larger compensation than others who use their telephones with the utmost frequency, and the proprietors of the telephone systems receive as compensation from large users not infrequently less remuneration than they do from other subscribers or customers who make but a limited use of the telephone facilities afforded them.

In cases where a toll system has been adopted, either in lieu of or in connection with a fixed rental system, it is either necessary for the telephone proprietors to require a record of connections to be kept by their employs or they must trust to the honesty of their patrons. The first alternative is expensive, troublesome, and provocative of disputes, and the latter very apt to result in loss to the proprietors.

My toll-box is intended to remedy the defects and injustice of both the fixed rental and ordinary toll systems by providing asimple and reliable means for enabling each tele phone customer to pay for or record his con nections as ordered, insuring to the telephone company a proper remuneration for the service rendered, or providing a correct and reliable record of connections made for each station that company and customer alike can accept as just, thus avoiding disputes.

There are two telephone-exchange systems in use at the present time, one known as the Law system, the other as the magneto system. The former is economically applicable only to telephone-exchanges consisting of lines of moderate length, because of the necessityof providing a special wire in addition to the usual subscribers wire commonly denominated a call wire, its use being practically restricted to the direct transmission of calls or orders for connections without any preliminary signal being given to the centraloffice operators, while the magneto system requires the provision of only the direct or subscribers wires, over which it is necessary to send a current of electricity from a voltaic battery, or, preferably, from a magneto-generator, in order to attract the attention of the central-office operator by an audible or visual signal as a preliminary to the transmission over the same wire of an oral order for a connection. My device is thus necessarily applied somewhat differently to these two systems. I will therefore describe them separately in connection with Plates Nos. 1, 2, and 3.

Plates Nos. 1 and 2 represent my device as applied to a Law-system call-bell alone, While Plate No. 3 represents it as applied to both a Law system and a magneto call-bell.

Plate No. 1, Figure 1, represents an ordinary Law system call-bell with the front removed, and showing only as much of the usual appointments as is necessary to an intelligible description of my invention. Figs. 2, 3, and 4, Plate 2, are designed to illustrate the device adopted to prevent the withdrawal of a coin or token after having been used to secure a connection. Figs. 5 and 6, Plate 2, illustrate the action of the automatic stop designed to cause the coin or token to bridge over or close a break in the call-wire circuit. Figs..6 and 7, Plate 2, are intended to make plain the manner in which the coin or token is caused to announce its release from the automatic stop by making a cross between the call-wire and the director subthorized persons.

scribers wire and the means afforded the central-ollice operator for removing the cross by tripping the coin or token into the money compartment or till. Fig. 8, Plate 8, illustrates the device employed to prevent the re moval of the front of the bell-box by unau- Fig. 9, Plate 3, shows the application of my device to the Law switch of a Law system call-bell, while Fig. 10, same plate, illustrates its application to the phonehook of a magneto call-bell.

The same parts in the various figures are lettered alike.

Recurring new to Plate No. 1, Fig. 1, A represents a flat chute or tube just large enough to allow a coin or token of a designated thickness, diameter, and shape to pass through it readily, the tube being provided with openings in its edges and sides, as indicated. B is an escutcheon rigidly attached to the end of the chute or tube A, and to the side of the box and provided with a slit or opening suitable for the admission of the coin or token into the chute or tube A. C is a support for the light metal back-stop D. E is a stationary contact-spring, through which the call-wire is grounded by the coin or token when arrested at the automatic stop F, and G is a movable contact-piece attached to but insulated from the phone-hook II, to which the call-wire is connected. II is the phonehook, with its retractile spring Q, tending to raise it. I is a stationary contact-piece at one side of the cross-stop J, to which the call-wire is connected, while 0 is a movable contact piece connected to the private line at the same stop J, normally extending through the opening K in chute or tube A, but permanently attached to and therefore movable with the armature L, which is attached to a spring M at one end, but free to move at the other. N N are two spools of a small electroanagnet, whose ot'fice it is to attract the armature L and withdraw the contact-piece 0 from the opening K in the chute or tube A.

In Fig. 1, Plate 1, the dotted line to the left, numbered 1, represents the ground-wire connected to stationary contact E. The middle dotted line, numbered 2, represents the call-wire attached to stationarycontact I and connected thence to movable contact G, while the dotted line to the right, numbered 3, shows the subscribers wire connected to movable contact 0 and continued through the spools of the magnet N to stationarycontact E.

In Fig. 9, Plate 3, the dotted lines represent the call-wire attached to movable arm or contact G, and the grouml-wire connected to stationary contact E.

In Fig. 10, Plate 3, the dotted lines represent one end of the n'lagneto armature-coil connected to movable contact G, while stationary contact E is connected to line or to earth.

P is the cash-box or money-till forming the final receptacle for the coin or token.

S represents the holes in the sides and top of the box for the insertion ol. the dowelpins in the box-front, represented at S, Fig. 8.

T is the division-piece separating the money box or till from the compartment in which are located the other devices, and Q is the retractile spring attached to the phone-hook.

I will now explain the manner in which the toll-box is used.

Any one desiring to use the telephones must first, as is universally required in Lawsystem exchanges, remove .the hand-phone from its hook, which is represented in its normal position at II, Fig. The weight of the hand-phone being removed from thehook allows the retractile spring Q to raise it to the position shown at H in Fig. (3. This upward movement of the phone-hook throws the movable contact G of automatic stop F from its normalposition, as in Fig. 5,in which it entirely clears the chute or tube A into the position. represented in Fig. (i,when itreaches entirely across the opening in the chute or tube A. A coin or token now placed in the slit in the escutcheon B, as in Fig. 2, and allowed to pass down the tube A, brushes aside the light-backstop D, as illustrated at R, Fig. 2, but is arrested in its descent at automatic stop F by stationary contact E and the movable contact G, its periphery touching each contact through the openings in the tube A, as represented by the dotted circle at E, F, and G, Fig. 1. Here it will remain as long as the phone-hook .lil is held in the position indicated in Fig. 6; but the moment the telephone is restored to its normal position on the hook the latter is depressed by its weight and assumes its normal position, as illustrated, in Fig. 5, thus withdrawing the movable contact G from the opening at automatic stop F in the chute A, releasing the coin or token and allowing it to continue its descent under the influence of gravity. It, however, encounters another obstacle in its passage through the chute or tube A at the cross-stop J, Fig.1, where it comes into contact with stationary contactpoint I and movable contact 0, resting against each of them by its periphery, as it did at the au tomatic stop F. Ilere it remains until the electromagnct N is energized by a current of electricity, when the armature L is attracted by the poles of the electro-magnet N, and the movable contact-point O is withdrawn from its normal position across the tube A at the orifice K, thus removing the last obstacle from the path of the coin or token and allowing it to fall finally into the money box or till 1.

As is well known to all Law-system experts, the call-wircs in the tap or leg system are normally open, while in the metalliccircuit call-wire systems the call-box connections are merely cutout of circuit. In

the former or tap system the depression of the call-wire lever closes the call-wire circuit to that particular station by throwing the callwire to earth, while in the metallic-circuit IIO system the depression of the call-wire lever merely loops the bell-box connections, including, of course, the telephone and transmitter, into the call-wire circuit. Hence in order to apply my device to the tap system it is only necessary to insert the stationary and movable contacts E and G, Fig. 1, in the callwire circuit between the usual ground-plate and the earth, while for the metallic-circuit system they can be introduced at any point in the bell-box call-wire loop. It will consequently be necessary in either case to bridge over the break in the continuity of the circuit at the automatic stop F between the contacts E and G by a conducting-body, such as a coin or a metallic token, extending from one to the other through the openings in the tube A. WVithout thus electrically bridging over the space between the stationary and movable contacts E and G, the call-wire will remain inoperative as far as that station is concerned, and it will be utterly impossible for the person desiring to use the telephone to reach the ear of the central-ofiice operator and make his wants known; but the moment this break in the circuit is closed by the contact of the edges of the metallic coin or token with the two contact-pieces E and G, the callwire circuit will be closed and rendered operative, and an order for a connection can be heard by the central-office operator. At the cross-stop J the coin or token also electrically bridges the space between stationary contactpiece I and movable contact-piece O, and the call-wire being connected to one, and the private line or subscribers direct line to the other, through the spring M andarmature L, thus creates a cross or an electrical contact between the two and enables the central-office operator to hear in her call-wire headphone anything passing over the private line.

To fully understandwhat follows, reference must now be made to United States Patent No. 402,264, issued to C. E. McOluer, the present applicant, April 30, 1889, for an improvement in multiple switch-boards, as that device is utilized to announce to the centraloffice operator instantly and unmistakably when the phoneis replaced upon the hook at the close of a conversation and the. coin or token is allowed to drop from the automatic stop F to the cross-stop J, as the moment the coin bridges over the space between the contactpieces I and O and forms a cross between the call-wire and the subscribers line the central-office operator instantly hears in her call-wire head-phone the peculiar ticking due to the induced current passing over the subscribers line from the induction-coil connected, up with the flexible cords and connecting-plugs, as is fully explained in the specification and drawings of Patent No.

. 402,264, alluded to above, such specification and drawings being made, as far as may be necessary, a part of this specification. Hearing in her call-wire head-phone the multiple test indication line in use, the central-office operator knows at once that the coin or token is crossing the private line with her call-wire, and she at once disconnects the two stations and applies her calling-battery plug The two spools of the electro-magnet N, being connected in the private-line circuit in series with the callbell magnet, are energized by thebattery-current and the armature L is attracted thereby,

the movable contact-point O withdrawnfrom theorifice K in the chute or tube A, and the coin, having fulfilled its mission, is allowed to drop into the locked till or cash-compartment P. Thus as long as the coin or token is allowed to remain at the automatic stop F, by reason of the user refraining from replacing the phone on the hook H, so long will it continue to bridge over or close the break in the call-wire circuit, and so long will the user be able to repeat his order for a connection; but the phone once replaced upon the hook, or the'hook once depressed, the coin is released and moves onto the cross-stop J, rendering the insertion of another coin or token necessary before another order for a connection can be transmitted to the ear of the central-office operator, this fact being rendered apparent to her at once by the ticking from the multiple test induction-coil, which she hears only when the coin or token is resting on the cross-stop J. If, now, she receives from the same toll-station another order for a con nection, she at once complies, but if after having made one connection in obedience to an order from a given toll-station, another order is given from the same toll-station for another connection with another and entirely different station, without her having received the indication that the coin used for the transmission of the former order has been released by the depression of the phone-hook and al- Thisis a light curved strip, preferably of hard metal, loosely hung to a support (J in such a manner that in its normal position it hangs close to and covers an opening made in the edge of the tube'A, Figs. 1 and 4, a part of the edge of the chute being cut away, as into the toll-station line and sends an electrical impulse out on the wire.

dicated. 'This swinging piece D is readily pushed aside by a descending coin or token, as represented at B, Fig. 2; butif an attempt is made to withdraw the coin or tokenby means of a thread attached to it thebaclc stop D effectually prevents its withdrawal by its lower end engaging with the edge of the coin or token and closing up the chute, as shown at R,.Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is designed to show the device adopted to prevent the front of the box being removed by unauthorized persons. S represents dowelpins attached to the box front, and so located as to fit into the holes in the bell-shelf and side pieces S, Fig. 1. The lower end of the frontof the bell-box proper extends to the middle of the thickness of the partition T, dividing the till 1 from the upper part of the box, and attached to it by screws is an angleshaped piece of metal U, which fits against the under side of the partition '1. Attached to this end of the angular piece of metal U is a metal hook V, which engages with a screweye \V, screwed into the partition '1, inside the till P. The front to the till is attached to the side piece by hinges and closes down upon the angular metal U, and is locked in that position, thus effectually preventing the removal of the front to the toll-box without first gaining access to the money box or till P.

\Ve will now turn to Plate No. 3, in which Fig. 9 represents a modified form of my tollbox device for Law system stations to be used whenever it is desired, either for the sake of simplicity or because of the non-use or absence of the McCluer multiple test to dispense with the cross-stop represented at J, Fig. 1, Plate No. 1, and described above. Fig. 10 illustrates my device applied to a magneto call bell.

Looking now at Fig. 9, Plate No. 3, A represents the flat chute or tube; B, the escutchcon; 0, the support for the back-stop D; E, the stationary contact of the automatic stop F, and G the movable contact of the same step; but movable contact G, instead of being attached to the phone-hook, as in the various figures in Plates Nos. 1 and 2, is attached to the call-wire lever 11 and moves with it. Attached rigidly to the arm of movable contact G is another arm, carrying at its .end movable dead-stop Z, so adjusted with reference to the openings in the edges of the tube A that when the call-wire leverll is in its normal position,as represented by the solid lines, it will arrest a coin or token passing through the tube A. llere the coin will remain until the call-wire lever is depressed for the purpose of ordering a connection, when the upward and lateral movement of the dead-stop arm throws the attached dead-stop Z away from the opening inthe tube A, as indicated by the dotted lines, and allows the coin to continue its descent. At the same time, however, the movable contact G, influenced by the downward motion of the external end of the call-wire lever 11, is simultaneously moved toward the opening in the edge of the tube at automatic stop 1 its movement being so adjusted and timed with reference to the movement of the dead-stop Z that the coin just released by the deadstop Z is again arrested at the automatic stop F by engaging with the contacts E and G, contact G having assumed the position indicated by the dotted lines. Here the coin or token will remain as long as the call-wire lever is held in the depressed position indicated by the dotted lines; but the instant the call-wire lever is released and the retractile spring Q causes it to resume its normal position, as represented by the solid lines, the coin is released and under the influence of gravity finally drops into the receptacle P. In using a toll-box fitted up in this manner it will of course be necessary for the user to hold the call-wire lever down until assured by the central-ofiice operator, in the usual manner, that his order has been heard and is understood, else he will be compelled to insert another coin or token before he can repeat his order. A different coin or token will therefore be required for each order, the office of the coin or token being to close the call-wire circuit between the stationary and movable contactpoints E and G, as heretofore explained in connection with figures in Plates 1. and 2.

Fig. 10, Plate No. 3, illustrates the application of my toll-box device to a magneto callbell box. The parts lettered A, B, O, D, E, and F are identical with those similarly lettered in the other figures. G and II are, however, diiferently arranged. G, the movable contact to automatic stop F, is in the form of an arm attached to but insulated from the phon e-hook II, as represented, in such a manner that when the phone is on the hook and the hook is depressed the movable contact G assumes the position indicated by the solid lines, closing up the opening in the tube A and holding the coin or token at the automatic stop 1 but immediately the phone is removed from the hook the phone-hook lever II and movable contactarm G assumes the position indicated by the dotted lines and the coin or token is released and drops into the till P. While in the magneto call-be1l the coin or token is intended to close up a break in a circuit between the stationary and movable contacts E and G, as it does in the Law-system toll-box, that break in the circuit, is in the magneto-generator circuit between one end of the armaturecoil and the push-button or automatic shunt, so that the generator-circuit will be open, and therefore inoperative unless the open or break in the continuity of the generator or armature circuit is bridged over or closed by the metal coin or token. Unless the space between the stationary contact E and the movable contact G is thus closed by an electrical conductor, the magneto will not ring, and the user consequently cannot call up either the central office or another station.

The front of the magneto toll-box and the door of the money box or till are attached and secured from unauthorized opening in the manner explained above in connection with Fig. 8, Plate No. 2. I

Having thus described the scope of my va rious devices, I claim as my invention, for which I desire to secure Letters Patent 1. In combination with a telephone bell-box, an escutcheon, and chute or tube, a curved tongue or strip 1), swinging loosely in front IIO of an opening in the edge of the tube A, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In combination with a telephone call-bell box, an escutcheomandachute or tube, stationary and movable electrical contact-springs arranged within openings in the edges and sides of the chute or tube, the movable contactsprings being attached to and moving with a switch-lever, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In combination with a Law system telephone call-bell, an escutcheon and tube, a stationary contact-piece I in electrical connection with the call-Wire, and a movable armature L, supporting the contact-piece O, in electrical connection with the subscribers wire, the two contacts so adjusted with relation to each other as to be capable of being electrically connected through openings in the tube A by ametallic coin or token inserted in the tube, With an electro-inagnet N arranged to operate the movable contact-piece O, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. In connection with a telephone toll-box and call-bell, a front to the bell-box furnished with dowel-pins S to fit into the holes S and a metal piece U, bent at right angles and secured at one end to the inside surface otthe box front and the other end passing beneath the partition '1, and secured to it by a hook V, engaging with the screw-eye W, with a separate hinged front to the money compartment or till P, closing down upon the rightangled metal piece U, and secured by lock and key, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In combination with an escutcheon and a coin tube or chute, fixed and adjustable electrodes arranged within apertures made in the sides and edges of the tube, with a switchlever attached to and operating the adjustable electrodes, substantially as described.

CHARLES E. MCCLUER.

lVitnesses:

TM. R. PARRY, DAVID LAIRD.

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