US530347A - Voting-machine - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) QSheets-Sheet 1. J. MDUROT. VOTING MACHINE.

PatentedDeo. 4,1894.

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(No Mode l.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J MOUROT VOTING MACHINE.

No. 530,347. Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIEN MOUROT, OF MODES'IO, CALIFORNIA.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,347, dated December 4, 1894. Application fi ed November 14,1893. Serial No. 490,926. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ULIEN 'MOUROT, a citizen of the United States, residing atModesto, county of Stanislaus, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Voting Machines; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Myinvention relates to a machine by which votes may be cast for any number of persons, and the number of votes cast for each and all of the candidates are automatically registered and indicated.

It consists in certain details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view with a part broken away. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in the plane of one set of operating keys and pitmen, showing the connected parts. Fig.

4: is an enlarged perspective view of parts of the keys, pitmen and connected parts of the apparatus. Fig.5 shows the tool or instrnment for depressing the pitmen.

The objects of my invention are, first, to construct a machine which will automatically register the number of votes cast in favor of any or all candidates seeking election, at the same time indicating the number of electors who have cast their ballots; second, to so construct the machine that only the party voting will know for which candidates he has cast his ballot;'third, to render it impossible to tamper with the poll; fourth, to prevent an elector voting more than once forthe-same candidate, or to vote for more candidates than he is entitled to.

In order to convey a clear understanding of the device it will be necessary to state that this machine is intended for any style of voting, for any election, but is more particularly adapted to the style known as the Australian ballot system, and to this end in the place of written or printed ballots to be deposited within the ballot box, I employ a series of pitmen with operating keys and mechanism by which the pitmen are released at the proper time to enable the voter to depress them and thus cast his vote, said pitmen being then locked to prevent any further operation until the voter has left the booth and another one has entered. Simultaneously with the movement of any key and. pitman the pawl connected therewith acts upon a ratchetwheel and moves the tape upon which the vote is imprinted so as to indicate the number which has been cast.

It is designed to place one of these machines in each voting booth, and each booth is provided with a movable floor A mounted upon returning springs B so that when the voter steps upon the floor, it will be depressed, the springs yielding sufficiently for that purpose. Connected with this floor is a vertical rod C, the upper end of which is slotted and is connected with the meeting ends of the diverging arms D. The opposite ends of these arms D are connected with toggle levers E at their fulcrum points as shown in Fig. 1, so that the downward movement of the connecting rods C, acting through these levers, operates to depress their horizontal locking bars F which extend across the machine beneath the pitmen or key levers to be hereinafter described. The ends of the transverse bars F a're'connected with side bars F seeFigs. 1 and 2 so that they are all actuated simultaneously by the movement of the toggle levers E.

When a person desires to vote he will open the door, step upon the spring floor A of the booth, which may be made of any suitable material, and of suflicient size to insure its being stepped upon by any person who approaches the machine for the purpose of voting. When the voter steps upon this floor it acts through the connecting rod and knee levers as above described, to depress the looking bars, thus leaving the machine readyfor voting. At the same time it acts to ring a bell G, see Fig. 1 and thus indicate to the inspectorsthat some person has entered the booth to vote.

H H are pitmen or rods extending vertically downward in the machine, and having keys upon the upper ends, as shown at H. These keys and pitmen extend in lines across the machine see Fig. 2, there being as many of them as there are names to be voted, and preferably each line of keys represent the candidates of one party, which may all be voted at once as a straight ticket as hereinafter described. These names are printed or otherwise marked upon surfaces which are protected by a thick glass so that each name can be readily seen through the glass. Above the keys extend plates I which have holes made in them in line with each key, so that the voter may take a punch J, which is provided for the purpose, and by inserting it into any one of the holes he can press down the key and pitman beneath that hole, when released from the locking devices. when the pitman is thus depressed, it acts upon apawl L, and thus engaging the teeth of a ratchet wheel M rotates the latterand moves it forward one tooth. Upon the shaft of the ratchet wheel is a drum K, and to this drum is fastened the end of the tape N which is numbered from zero upward, the numbers being such a distance apart that the tape will be advanced one number by forwarding the movement of the ratchet one notch. At the end of the machine is a second drum K corresponding with each of the drums K, and upon these the tape extends from the drums K. These drums K are exposed at the end'of the machine through a thick plate glass a see Figs. 1 and 2 which has the names of the candidates printed in line with each drum, and corresponding with the names upon the top of the machine, and near the keys by which the drums are actuated. As the tapes are all numbered it is only necessary to look at any coil upon the drums K corresponding with any particular name to see how many votes have been cast for that candidate.

In order to prevent the voter from voting for more than one candidate for the same office, each pitman has an inclined projection P upon the front edge, and a corresponding slot or recess P on the back, so that when the pitman is pressed down it engages a notch on the locking bar Q, see Figs. 3 and t and moves this locking bar forward, so that it engages all the pitmen of the corresponding candidates which are in line one behind another as shown, and thus prevents any more of them being operated. The depressed pitman will remain in this position so long as the voter remains in the booth and the looking bar Q will enter a notch Q upon the rear edge of the pitman just above its notch P and directly opposite the inclined shoulders. When the voter leaves the booth the springs E raise the frame F which in turn forces the depressed pitman upwardly thereby bringing its shoulders or projections Q into engagement with the locking bar Q which will be moved backward thereby out of all of the notches P thus leaving any of the pitmen free to be depressed when the frame F shall be again depressed by the entrance of a voter into the booth.

If the voter desires to vote a straight ticket, it is done by pulling down the leverRwhich is labeled with the name of the ticket he wishes to vote. WVhen this lever is pulled down, it presses down the horizontal flat bar S, and this bar resting upon lugs orprojections T at the rear of each of the pitmen II, it will be manifest that the depression of this bar will simultaneously depress all the pitmen and actuate all the tapes which represent the candidates on that particular ticket, at the same time moving all the locking bars so as to retain the keys and pitmen in their depressed positions and prevent any further voting for those candidates, at the same time looking all the other pitmen in the machine, so that none of them can be operated. The bar S is connected by arms S with rocker arms S on the rocker shaft S so that when the lever R is pressed down to act on one end of the bar S, it acts through the arm S at that end, and this, engaging the corresponding rocker arm S turns the shaft S thus moving the rocker arm at the opposite end and through its connections depressing the opposite end of the bar S. The bar by which a straight ticket is thus voted, has a connecting rod U extending to the bottom of the machine, and carrying a pawl which engages the teeth of a ratchet wheel V carrying a drum, and a tape W extends from this drum to another drum V at the indicating end of the machine whereby all the straight tickets are registered and indicated.

If the voter desires to vote for any candi dates whose names do not appear on any of the tickets printed on the machine, he is en abled to do this by the following device: At the end of the machine opposite to the indicator is a continuous web of paper Z having printed upon it the name of every office to be voted for, at intervals of three and onehalf inches or other suitable distance, and in line with the names of the offices upon each of the tickets. This web of paper is delivered from a roll a passing thence up over a horizontal table I) at the top of the machine, thence down to another roller a upon which it is coiled. Between these rollers is a roller 0 having a roughened surface, such as coarse emery paper which is adapted to form contact on each side with the rollers a a, so that when this central roller is turned it will retate the other two simultaneously and will uncoil the web of paper from one, and coil it upon the other, the paper passing over the table at the top as before described. The shafts of these rollers CL a, are movable in slotted guides so as to adjust themselves to the varying amount of paper which is coiled upon them, and to keep them always in 0011- tact with the central driving roller, their shafts are connected by springs which draw them toward each other with a sufficient power to keep the rollers in contact with the driver. The shaft of the driving rollerchas a ratchet wheel at upon it. This is engaged by a reciprocating toothed rack e which is moved forward by the levers E when the voter enters the booth, and is lifted into ongagement' with the ratchet wheel when the lover or bail f is lifted as hereinafter described. The opposite end of this rack bar is connected with the adjacent pair of toggle or knee levers E so that when these levers are moved by the rising of the floor A when the voter leaves the booth, they will act through the rack bar to rotate the driving rollers c, and through it the drums aand a, if the rack bar has been raised to engage the ratchet wheel. This is done only when the voter desires to write upon the web of paper, and vote for some name not on the regular tickets. To do this he raises the lever arm or bail f to a vertical position. When in this position it will, by a connecting rod h and a rocker arm t', have raised the reciprocating rack bar 6 to engage with the teeth of the ratchet or gear 01-, so that it will be in readiness to move the connected parts and advance the paper whenever the voter leaves the booth. The raising of this lever arm f exposes a number of transverse bars or plates 9 situated beneath this bar, and covering the space on the web of paper beneath and adjacent to the names of the office to be filled. By turning up either of these plates and exposing the space, the voter may write the name of the person desired upon such space, and when he leaves the booth, the paper will be advanced so as to carry the name out of sight, and leave a fresh portion of the web exposed for the next voter. The turning back of this plate g acts through a lever a" to move the locking bar Q previously described so that the turning back of this plate g acts to lock all the pitmen of all the other tickets for that particular office.

If the voter desires, he can thus Write out his whole ticket by turning up the plates 9 successively to expose a space upon the web, corresponding with the name of the office which is imprinted thereon, andthis operation locks the corresponding pitmen of'the other corresponding tickets, but if he has already voted for someieandidate for that office,

by pressing down the key and pitman corresponding therewith, he will have locked the broad plate 9 which covers the voting space of the candidate for that particular office, and it cannot then be turned back to uncover the space below the name of the office which he has already voted for. This locking is effected by moving the bar Q to engage with the notch on the pitman H as before described, and this movement of the bar Q moves the lever '11, the upper end of which is moved back, or in the opposite direction, until it engages with a pin in upon the rotating journal of the plate g and thus prevents the latter from being connects the meeting ends of the levers E, and which is moved toward the right (in Fig. 1) whenever a person steps upon the platform A of the booth. The upper end of this rod Z is connected with a rocker arm n which is fixed to a bent rock-shaft 0. This shaft extends across the frame-work of the machine just behind the upper ends or angles of the levers if.

m is a swinging suspending rod through a loop in which the rod Z passes, as shown in Fig. 1.

The operation of this device will be as follows:When the floor of the booth is free and the parts take their normal position, the lower end of the rodZ will drop into the notch 19 of the bar F and when sufficient weight is placed upon the floor of the booth to move these parts to the right as previously described, the rod L will be moved with the bar F and will press the rocker arm n backward, thus turning the rock-shaft 0 so that it presses against the upper ends of all the levers i forcing them toward the left, and this draws the lower ends of all these levers toward the right, thus pulling back all the locking bars Q with which they are connected. This disengages all of these bars from the locking notches of the pitmen H, and also disengages the upper ends of the levers z" from the pins In which serve to lock the plates g as before described. As soon as this is accomplished, and while the bar F is still moving toward the right, the swinging link we remaining stationary, While the rod Z is still moving to the right, will disengage the lower end of the rod from the notch 19, andthis allows the rod Zto be thrown to the left by a spring 3 which thus returns the rod Z, the rocker-arm m and the-shaft 0 to their normal positions, leaving the locking bars Q and the levers 2" free to be moved and perform their functions as previously described.

H (Fig. 4) is one of two pitmen which are designed to actuate tapes and winding drn ms to indicate a vote upon any proposition which may be answered by Yes or No. These pitmen move in slots h in a plate H which is designed to slide transversely and is actuated by spurs H projecting from-the pitman H and bent to one side so as to actuate the sliding plate H in one direction whenever either of the pitmen is depressed. The depression of one of these pitmen to vote either Yes or No, thus moves the sliding plate H in the direction of the arrow, (see Fig. 4,) and the shoulder h in one corner of its slot it engages a corresponding notch h" in the pitman H which has not been depressed so as to lock it and prevent its being depressed. The voter having thus either Yes or No cannot depress the other pitmen.

The pitmen H are provided on their front edges with spurs or prongs H which are curved oppositely to the spurs or prongs H, the said spurs H being adapted to engage the plate H at h when the depressed pitman is moved upwardly by the locking frame F, the said spur H thereby moving the plate H in a direction opposite to the arrow and disengaging its shoulder h from the notch H of the other pitman; the spring 72, then returnin g the plate H to its normal position. These spurs H H are to the pitmen H what the shoulders P Q are to the pitmen H H.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A mechanical voting apparatus consistin g of tapes or carriers having successive nu mbers imprinted upon them, drums about which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen, and pawl and ratchet wheels whereby the depression of a lever acts to advance the numbered carrier a singlefigure and indicate an additional vote, and a locking mechanism to look all of the levers and render them inactive and provided with means for a single actuation by each voter to retract it and render the said levers active substantially as herein described.

2. A mechanical voting machine consisting of consecutively numbered tapes or carriers, drums upon which they are coiled, movable depression levers and intermediate mechanism whereby the tapes are advanced, a casing inclosing all of said parts and provided with apertures above and registering with the upper or free ends of said levers and through which an implement is introduced to depress either lever independently of any other, substantially as herein described.

3. A mechanical voting apparatus consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers and intermediate mechanism whereby the movement of any lever advances the tape which it controls, a locking mechanism whereby the lever is prevented from returning after the vote has been cast, a main locking mechanism for rendering all of the levers inactive and adapted to return the depressed lever to its normal position, and means for actuating the main locking mechanism a single time by the voter to render all of the levers active substantially as herein described.

4. A mechanical voting apparatus, consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, depression levers or pitmen and intermediate mechanism whereby any tape is advanced a single number by the depression of a pitman, locking bars slidable with relation to the pitmen, inclined faces upon the pitmen whereby the sliding bars are advanced when the pitmen are depressed, and notches in the pitmen which are engaged by the sliding bars to retain the pitmen in their depressed position after a vote has been cast the pitmen being provided with other notches into which the locking bar is moved by the depressed pitman to, render said non-depressed pitmen inactive, and a main locking frame below all of the pitmen and adapted to lock them against depression until released a single time by each voter; the return movement of i the locking frame restoring the depressed pitman and the locking bar to their normal positions, substantially as herein described.

5. A mechanical voting apparatus consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes with drums upon which they are coiled, a series of names indicating ofiices and candidates for each party, placed in line with each other, and each having its independent indicating tape, depression levers or pitmen and intervening mechanism whereby any tape is advanced a single number by the depression of a pitman, a lockin g bar extending through the apparatus and adapted to engage the pitmen controlling the tapes of all the candidates for any particular office, inclined faces upon opposite sides of the pitmen one of which inclined faces is adapted to engage said locking bar by the depression of any one of the pitmen, whereby the locking bar is moved to lock the depressed pitman, and prevent it-s again rising, and also to look all the other pitmen in the same line so that they cannot be depressed after the first one has been depressed and a vote indicated, the opposite inclined faces being adapted on the upward 5 movement of the depressed pitman to retract the locking bar from the notches of all of the pitmen, a locking frame engaging all of the pitmen and rendering them inactive, and means by which the said locking frame is movedawayfrom the said pitmen a single time by the voter to permit him to depress any desired pitman; the return movement of the locking frame restoring the depressed pitman to its normal position substantially as herein described.

6. A mechanical voting apparatus consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen and intermediate mechanism whereby the tapes are advanced by the depression of the corresponding pit man, a booth in which the apparatus is contained, having a vertically movable floor, a rod connected with said floor extending therefrom to the machine, locking bars by which all the pitmen are normally locked until the floor of the booth has been depressed, and levers actuated by the connecting rod whereby the movement of the floor serves to disengage the locking levers and free the pitmen or depression levers for use,substantially as herein described.

7. A mechanical voting apparatus 0OnSisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen and intermediate mechanism whereby the tapes are advanced by the movement of the corresponding pitmen, an inclosure within which the apparatus is contained having a vertically movable IIO floor, locking bars by which the pitmen are normally locked and prevented from being depressed, mechanism connecting the floor therewith and disengaging the locking bars when the floor is depressed, transversely moving levers actuated by the-depression of the floor, locking levers adapted to engage the pitmen when depressed and retain them in their depressed position, intermediate mechanism between the transversely moving levers and the locking bars whereby the latter are all retracted by the depression of the floor, so as to leave all the pitmen free to be actuated, substantially asherein described.

8. A mechanical voting apparatus consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen and intermediate mechanism whereby the depression of any pitman actuates a corresponding tape, a trans verse bar S, a rock-shaft with rocker-arms connected with said bar, and a leverR whereby the whole of the levers in any one series may be depressed by a single operation of the lever to vote a straight ticket, and locking bars actuated by the pitmen to lock the same in their depressed position, and to also lock all corresponding series of pitmen representing other candidates for the same offices so that they cannot be depressed, substantially as herein described.

9. A mechanical voting apparatus consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes, drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen and intermediate mechanism whereby the tapes are advanced a single number by each movement of the pitman, a web of paper having the names of the offices printed upon it in lines corresponding with the same offices in conjunction with the various tickets, drums from one of which the roll of paper' is uncoiled, and upon the other of which it is received, and an intermediate roll or mechanism whereby the drums are rotated simultaneously plates adapted to cover the writing spaces upon the web of paper, and mechanism whereby said plates are locked to prevent their being turned up to expose the paper, a lever or bail connected with the locking mechanism and adapted to disengage the same when it is turned up whereby the plates are released, substantially as herein described.

10. A mechanical voting apparatus, consisting of a series of consecutively numbered tapes and drums upon which they are coiled, depression levers or pitmen by the downward movement of which each corresponding tape is advanced a single number, a web of paper with drums from which it is uncoiled, and another upon which it is coiled, said web having printed upon it the names of the offices to be voted for, and in line with the corresponding names of regular tickets which are placed in the other parts of the machine, a pawl and ratchet mechanism whereby the web of paper is advanced a sufficient distance to expose a new surface to be written upon, covering plates and locking mechanism whereby these surfaces are protected, a bail or lever, the movement of which unlocks said plates to allow them to be turned up and expose the written surface beneath, and which also engages the pawl with the ratchet whereby the paper is advanced whenever the bail has been turned up, looking bars extending through the machine adapted to engage each of the pitmen representing the offices of the regular ticket, and also the plates which cover corresponding spaces upon the web of paper whereby when any office has once been voted for, the locking bars engage each of the other pitmen or corresponding plates and prevent anyfurthervoting for that office, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

7 JULIEN MOUROT.

Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, H. F, AscHEcIn

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