US540665A

US540665A - Fare-receiver

Info

Publication number: US540665A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1895-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 1912-06-11

Description

S. G. HOUGHTON. FARE RECEIVER.

No. 540,665. Patented June 11,1895;

WWW/54w. Jfiww UNITED TATES STEPHEN C. HOUGHTON, OF sAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

FARE-RECEIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 1 a No. 540,665, dated June 11,1895.

I Application filed August 18, 1894. Serial No. 520,691. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it mayconaernn Be it known that I, STEPHEN O. HOUGHTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fare-Receivers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of boxes or receptacles for receiving coins, tickets, transfer checks, &c., in railway cars, whether deposited'by passengers or' by the conductor in charge of the car. l

The object of my invention is to provide a receptacle of a more convenient and accessible character than those hithereto used.

In cars crowded with passengers, it is often difficult to reach and deposit fares within the ordinary boxes, while more or less money, car tickets, &c., are lost in the process of transferring them from hand to hand through the car to the box.

My invention may be briefiy described as a box or boxes extending longitudinally along the car, provided with one or more slots or hoppers for the deposit of fares, tickets, &c., and having a movable bottom which can be locked in place, so that there is no access to the interior; but when unlocked and dropped will act as a chute down which all the contents are allowed to slide toward one end, or from. which the contents can be collected without difliculty. I

The details of my invention are fully set forth in the following description, which should be read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which the figure is a perspective of the interior of a street-railway car with my box in position and with the bottom of the box made in two sections and dropped for the recovery of the contents.

The drawing shows my invention as applied to a street railway car of the ordinary type, andArepresents my improved fare box, while B is a conventional representation of a fare register, supposed to be operated by means of an electrical current supplied by a concealed battery in the car.

The box A'extends longitudinally along the sengers.

side of the car and is preferably secured, as shown, near the base of the ventilating part of the car roof, where it is accessible, and yet does not interfere with the movements of pas- The box is provided witha movable bottom 0, shown in this case as made in two sections,in the form of trays; that is, with side pieces 1 to prevent the contents from falling out sidewise when the bottom is dropped. These bottom-trays are hinged or pivoted as shown at 2 to the box, and the free ends are provided with any suitable kind of lock or catch by which they can be secured in place, and opened by authorized persons. In the box, and at convenient intervals, are formed slots or hoppers 3, through which the fares, tickets, checks, &c., are dropped. These slots may be in the front of the box or in the top. The number of them will depend upon the length of the car. Whatever their numher and whether formed in the top or front of the box, one or more of them will always be accessible from any part of the car, and the inconvenience of getting forward to a single fare box, and the annoyance of passing up fares, are both done away with. When the bottom or bottoms are unlocked and their free ends lowered to any extent, an inclined chute is formed, down which the contents can slide to the person collecting, who can of course regulate the angle or inclination of such chute; and can thus, if he desires, collect the contents at different points, from the bottom.

I am aware that fixed inclined closed chutes have been placed longitudinally in railway cars for conducting coins to a receiving box. Such fixed chutes are however impracticable for paper tickets and transfer checks which are too light to slide in such a chute by gravity. They are moreover unsightly and clumsy in appearance,-are more or less in the way of passengers and are liable to clog. My box with its hinged bottom is entirely out of the way, and of course cannot clog because the hinged bottom does not becomea chute until it is lowered, at which time it is open and accessible throughout its extent.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- [0 whereby when its free end is lowered, said bottom may act as a chute, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have aftlxed my signature, in presence of two Witnesses, this iltli day of August, 1894.

STEPHEN G. IIOUGHTON.

Witnesses:

L. W. SEELY, M. R. BRYAN.