US712612A - Ballot-marker. - Google Patents

Description

No. 7|2,6l2. Patented Nov. 4, I902.

T. C. SPELLING.

BALLOT MARKER.

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. 1 INVENTOR.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS CARL SPELLING, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

BALLOT- MARKER.

S C U T ON forming part of Letters Patent No. 712,612, dated November 4, 1902.

Application filed March 31, 1902. Serial No. 100,697. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS CARL SPELL- ING, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ballot-Markers, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ballot-markers, the object of my invention being to provide a convenient device for marking ballots in voting.

My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts for the above ends hereinafter fully specified, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a vertical section of a double-ended marker for marking a cross with pencil. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line A A of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of a single ended marker, showing the same attached to a support. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the latter at right angles to that of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the stem partly depressed. Fig. 6 is a similarview showing the stem wholly depressed, and Fig. 7 is a cross-section on the line B B of Fig. 3.

In some States of the Union it is required by law that the voter shall make a pencil cross opposite to the name of the candidate of his choice in order to cast his vote for said candidate. I have provided a mechanical means for making said cross, which means can be attached to a suitable support, which may be brought into register with that part of the ballot where the pencil-cross is to be marked. The support for the mechanical marker and the means for bringing it into register with the blank on the ballot form no part of my present invention, but is fully described and claimed in an application filed by me February 11, 1902, Serial No. 93,521. Suflice it to say for the present that 1 represents a support, upon which is secured a bracket 2, depending from an extension 3 of said support. Through said extension 3 slides vertically a stem 4:, which carries two studs 5 and (5, extending therefrom at right angles to each other, one above the other. The upper stud 5 works in a slot 7, formed in a plate 8, pivoted, as shown at 9, in the bracket 2, and the lower end of the plate 8 carries a pencil 11, adjustably secured therein by the screw 12. The stud 5 extends also in a slot 13 in said bracket, forming an additional guideway for the same. \Vhen the stem 4 is depressed against the pressure of a spring 10, the stud 5, movingin the slot 7,which is suitably curved for that purpose, causes the plate 8 to swing on its pivot, and thereby also causes the pencil carried by said plate to move across the paper, making a mark thereon. The stud 6 also moves in a slot 14, formed in a plate 15, swung by a pivot 16 at right angles to the swinging of the plate 8, said pivot 16 being mounted on a bracket 17 at right angles to the bracket 2. The slot 14 is so related to the slot 7 that the pin 6, moving in the slot 14, will cause the plate 15 to swing underneath its pivot only when the plate Sis swung out of the path of the plate 15. In like manner as the plate 8 said plate 15 carries a pencil 18, adjustably secured therein by a screw 19, so that as the plate 15 is swung the pencil 18 draws a line across the line marked by the pencil 11. The brackets 2 and 17 are each suitably slotted, as shown at 20 and 21, to permit the plate swinging on the other bracket to pass therethrough. \Vhen pressure is removed from the stem 4, so that it returns upward under the action of the spring 10, the parts will resume their original position, first the plate 8 swinging backward and then the plate 15 swinging backward to its original position.

In Fig. 1 is shown a device whereby this marker can be used detached from any support, it then being made double-ended, the stems 4 being bent at right angles, as shown at22, and passing out through the sides of a tubular holder 23 and working in slots 2% in said sides. Said tubular holder is provided with a foot 25 at each end, which will rest upon the paper to be marked. At one end I provide a device for indicating the number of candidates that have been voted for in any group. For this purpose to the stem of one of said marking devices I attach a pawl 26, made of spring metal and arranged to engage ratchet-teeth 27 on a wheel 28, mounted on an axle 29, secured in the sides of the tube and having on its periphery numbers 30, indicating the number of times the marker has been operated, said numbers appearing in succession through an opening 31 in the sides of the tube. When the voter is casting a plurality of votes of a group of candidates, he will use the marker having connected therewith the counter or indicator. When he is voting for only one candidate of a group, he will use the other end of the device.

I claim- 1. A marker comprising a tubular frame, a stem at each end movable in said frame, means for so moving said stems, a marking device at the end of each stem operated by the movement thereof, and a numbering device attached to one of. said stems and indicating the number of times it has been operated, substantially as described.

2. A marker comprising atubular frame, a 1

stem at each end movable in said frame, means for somoving said stems, a device earrying a pencil at each end of the frame,

- to be moved over a ballot-sheet or other paper upon which said frame stands, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witmesses.

THOMAS CARL SPELLING. Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, BESSIE GORFINKEL.

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