US746572A - Voting-machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 746,572. PATENTED DEO.-8, 1903. N. PRINCE.

VOTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 21, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

- WITNESSES: IN VENTOH Napoleon Prince m: NO

' No. 746,572. PATENTED DEC. 8,- 1903..

N. PRINCE. VOTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 21, 1902. no MODEL. s SHEETS-SHEET a.

HHIHIHIIIIIIIIIIIIHIHHIHHHIHHHHIII!HIIIIHH IN VE N T01? I Napoleon Prznce m: mams vswsns r. nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn c 'fatented December 8, 1 903.

PATENT OFFICE.

NAPOLEON PRINCE, OF LORETTE, CANADA.

VOTINGV-MACHHNE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,572, dated De e b 8, 1903.

Application filed August 21,1902. Serial No. 120,510. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NAPOLEON PRINCE, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Lorette, in the county of Provencher, Province of Manitoba, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention seeks to provide a simple,

economically constructed, easily manipulated, and accurately-operating mechanism whereby a voter can intelligently and expeditiously indicate his choice of two or more candidates.

In its generic nature my invention comprehends a novel construction of parts particularly arranged whereby as one voters operating-slide is being manipulated the other slide or slides utilized for registering the vote will be temporarily held locked from movement and whereby to prevent a voter from voting formore than one candidate at a time, means being also included for preventing the repetition of the vote registered and which have a special arrangement whereby the tally or poll clerk can readily investigate the voters right to cast his vote.

In its morecomplete make-up my invention includes, in combination with the elements before referred to, a means for audibly indicating the registration of a vote, which includes a special gong mechanism adapted to be set into an operative condition by a single striker mechanism upon the voting movement of any one of the voting-slides, a registering mechanism of peculiar construction being also cocperatively combined with the voting-slides, the slide-controlling, and the alarm mechanisms.

My invention alsocomprehends certain details of construction and peculiar combination of parts, all of which will hereinafter be fully described, and particularly pointed out in the accompanying two sheets of drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved voting-machine with the screen applied and the. parts in a position for voting operation. Fig. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the'internal construction of my im- Fig. 3 is a perspective proved mechanism.

view illustrating my improved voting-machine with the registering-dials exposed and the top or cover member drawn back. Fig. i is a cross-section taken 'on the line 4 at of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail view illustrating, on an enlarged scale, the gong mechanism and the operating devices forming a part of the locking-detent mechanism for holding the slides to their depressed position. Fig. 6 is a detail plan view of the registering mechanism. Fig. 7 is a face view of the registeringdial. Fig. 8 is a face view of the registering mechanism hereinafter referred to. Figs. 9 and 10 are detail views hereinafter referred to.

In the practical construction of my invention the same comprises a casing 10, having an observation-window 11 in its front side adapted to be closed by the hinged cover 12, which latter is securable by a hasp and lock 13. The front of the casing is provided with two or more dial-plates 14:, one for each set of voting mechanisms, (two being shown in the drawings,) and each of the said dial--plates is inscribed with the annular spaces or dialsurfaces 15 and 16, each having concentric rows of inscribed numerals and arranged to indicate the total vote in tens, hundreds, and thousands, as best shown in Fig. '7. The casing is provided at its top with a solid or cross strip 17, which is provided with a series of openings (indicated by 17) adapted to accommodate a series of voters slides 18 and 19, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

2O designates a top hinged to the back of the casing and adapted to be secured, when closed down, by the hasp and lock device 13 after closing the door 12, and the said top 20 has openings 21, through which the upper ends of the voters slides project when the mechanism is in an operative condition. Thehinged top 20 is provided with card-holding members 22 for retaining the cards (indicated by 24) on which are indicated the names of the politicalparty or opposing candidates and the offices for which the candidates have been nominated, and it is obvious the labels or cards may be colored or otherwise differentiated from each other in such manner as is usually employed by different political parties to indicate their respective ballots.

.On its upper surface the member 17 has a longitudinal groove 25 to receive a lockingrod 26, adapted to be thrust through suitable openings in the protruding ends of the voters slides 18 and 19 and to be secured on one end of the casing by a lock 27, whereby the rod 26 may positively hold the series of voters slides against manipulation after the voting shall have ceased. Each voters slide 18 is arranged in vertical position near the front side of the casing to be movable in a vertical direction therein, and the said slides are normally maintained in their elevated position by a suitable spring device, which may be in the form of a coil-spring secured upon the base and suitably ineased in sockets on the lower ends of the slides 18 and 19. By arranging a separate spring for each slide it is evident that either slide may be depressed against the energy of its spring 28 without affecting the other slide.

Upon their rear edges the slides 18 and 19 have notches 30, whereby to form shoulders 31, adapted to be engaged by the locking-dogs 32, (see Fi 4,) the latter forming parts of the o ima locking mechanism, which is clerk. lhe locking dogs or pawls correspond in number to the voters slides with which they cooperate, and each dog or pawl 32 is pivoted, at 33, within the casing and is normally held by aspring 34 in a position to snap into engagement with the shoulders 31 of the slides 18 and 19 on aproper depression of the said slides, and the said locking-dogs are connected for simultaneous operation by means of flexible connections 35, secured to the arms 36 of a rock-shaft 37, the latter being arranged in a horizontal position and journaled in the casing, and the said rock-shaftis further provided with an arm 38, joined with a pull-rod 39, which extends rearwardly through the back of the casing and in the practical operation is disposed within convenient reach of the poll clerk.

in operation, so far as described, when one of the slides is depressed the dog 32 that cooperates therewith snaps into engagement with the shoulder 31 and prevents that slide from being again depressed, thus preventing the voter from repeating or registering more than one vote for one candidate. When the voter leaves the polling-place and another voter enters the same place to register his vote, the poll clerk by pulling the rod 39 thereby rocks the shaft 37 and withdraws the 9 dog or pawl that engages the depressed slide from a locked engagement therewith, and which slide is then restored to its normal position through the medium of its spring in'the manner clearly understood from the drawings. I

Each locking-dog is provided with a projection 32 and the projections of all of the dogs are arranged to cooperate with cranks 40, that project from a rock-shaft 40", upon which is mounted a yieldable striker 40, that extends upwardly and rearwardly and arranged to engage a gong 41, mounted on a short post 42 within the casing, the several parts being so arranged that when the dog 32 snaps into engagement with its coiiperating voters slide its projection will engage with its coincident crank member on the rock-shaft 40 and by reason thereof rock the shaft and cause the striker to engage and audibly register the depression of a slide. To provide for the return of the said pawl or dog 32 without affecting the alarm mechanism, the projection on the said pawl that engages with the rock-shaft that governs the alarm device is ofayieldable character, whereby it will freely pass over the crank member with which it cooperates without affecting the rock-shaft that controls the striker-arm, it being understood that each one of the pawls or dogs 32 is provided with a similar projection, and the shaft 40 has as many members as are locking-dogs.

The voters slides are furthermore provided with a recess forming a shoulder 43, and the slide 18 is provided with a stud 44 to engage the finger 45 on thehorizontal rock-shaft 46, the latter being journaled in suitable bearings in the casing to lie adjacent a series of voters slides therein. The rock-shaft 46 is also provided with a locking-finger 47, adapted to fit in a recess 48 of the slide 19, and to engage with a shoulder 48, formed by the said recess in the said slide 1.), whereby on the depression of the voters slide 18 to register a vote for one candidate the rockshaft 46 will be oscillated, so as to throw its finger 47 into engagement with the shoulder 48 on the slide 19 utilized for the other candidate, and thereby hold it from operation and prevent a voter when voting for one candidate to also vote for another candidate. In like manner the other voters slide 19 is adapted to set in operation the devices for lockingthe slide 18 when the slide 19 is depressed, which devices consist of the stud 49 on the slide 19, so positioned thereon to engage the arm 50, attached to a second horizontal rock-shaft 51, which has a locking-finger 52 to engage the shoulder 43 on the slide 18. It will be noticed that the locking mechanism actuated by one slide for locking the other slide in position on the depression of the firstnamed slide is wholly automatic in its operation andis entirelyindependentof the poll-clerks locking mechanism hereinbefore described.

Instead of using two shafts for effecting the alternate locking of the slides 18 and 19 a single shaft 46 need be employed, as indicated in the modified form in Fig. 10, and this shaft may have oppositely-projecting studs for interlocking with the notches in the two slides to hold the said slides from simultaneous movement, and the said shaft is held to rock in reverse directions. When the slide 18 is operated, the said shaft 46 effects a locking operation on the slide 19 in the same manner as is effected by the rock-shaft 46, before referred to; but when the slide 19 is operated the member on the shaft 46 for cooperating seams with the slide 18 engages with an intermediate detent, which is tripped in such manner as to lock the slide 18 from being depressed.

With each voters slide is associated aregistering mechanism operated by step movement on the successive depressions of the slide, and the said registering mechanism may be of any approved construction.

In the drawings I have shown each slide equipped with a feed-pawl 53, pivoted to the slide, as at 54, and adapted to be housed in the recess within the voters slide, as indicated by 55. Each registeringmechanism pawl is repressed by a spring 56, (see Fig. 8,) arranged to engage with the teeth of the feed-ratchet 58, mounted on the tubular shaft 59, suitably supported for the registering mechanism, and in the dial-plate 14. The tubular shaft is adapted to receive the short pointer 60, which traverses the tens-circle on one register-dial.

The ratchet-wheel 58 is provided at its rear side with a feed-finger 61 to engage with any one of a series of feed-pins 62 on one face of the gear-wheel 63,the latter being on a shaft 64, journaled in suitable bearings (Not shown.) The gear-wheel 63 is in the plane of the hundreds-wheel 65, so arranged that the two wheels 63 and 65 intermesh to cause them to rotate in opposite directions simultaneously and at uniform rates of speed. The hundreds-wheel is mounted on the tubular shaft 66, which passes through a shaft 59 of the tens-wheel or ratchet 58, and this tubular shaft receives the shaft 67 of the thousands- Wheel 68, and the shaft 66 of the hundredswheel carries a pointer 68 to traverse the circle containing the hundreds-scale on the dial,while the other shaft 67 of the thousands wheel carries the long pointer 67 to traverse the thousands-scale on the dial, and the said registering mechanism operates in a wellknown manner.

The tens-wheel 56 is held from turning backward by a pivoted check-pawl 71. The gearwheel 63 is prevented from turning too far by a cheek-spring 74, and the thousands-wheel 68 is frictionally engaged by a brake-spring 74V.

To facilitate the voting and render the same practically secret, the sides of the casing are provided with socket-brackets 75, adapted to receive the standards 76 of a screen device. (Best shown in Fig. 1.) The standards 76 have forwardly right-angle-extending arms 77, which are hinged thereto to fold fiatwise thereagainst, and to the said arm 77 and the upper ends of the standards 76 are connected the folda ble sides in the nature of flexible fan-like portions 78, which are adapted to close up when the member 77 is swung against the standards 76 and to provide for packing the screen. The cross or fence portion 79 is also formed of a flexible or plaited-like body adapted to fold together with the sections 79 closely upon each other, whereby the end sections of the screen can be compactly arranged for storing or shipping.

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

1. A voting-machine, comprising a series of individually-operable voters slides, each having an independent means for returning it to the normal position, an independent locking-detent for holding each slide to its depressed position, a poll-clerks releasing means common to all of the locking-detents, and a single alarm mechanism common to all of the voters slides, connected with and controlled by the independent movement of each slide-locking detent, as set forth.

2. In a voting-machine, the combination of the individually-operable voters slides, an independent spring for normally maintaining the slides in their raised position, a registering device for each slide, operated by the depression of its coincident slide, and a single alarm mechanism common to all of the slides, and intermediate connections joining the said mechanism with said slides, adapted to set in operation the alarm mechanism on the depression of the slide, and to be automatically disengaged from direct connection with the said slides as they return to their normal or raised position, as set forth.

6. In a voting-machine as described, the combination of the individuallyoperable slides, a locking-dog for automatically engaging the slides to lock them from a return movement when depressed, a single releasing mechanism connected with all of the lockingdogs, a single alarm mechanism for all of the slides, including an individual striker-operating member for cooperating with each dog, said striker members being arranged to have a fixed connection with the dogs on the slidelocking movement only, for the purposes described.

4. In a voting-machine as described, the combination of the individuallyoperable voters slides, a registering mechanism actuated by each slide, a rock-shaft having operative connection with the slides and provided with a locking-finger for each slide, said locking-fingersbeingdiiferentiallydisposed whereby as one slide is depressed,the locking-finger for the other slide will engage and lock said other slide from movement, means for rocking the finger-carrying shaft to release its fingers from the slides, an automatically-operable detent for each slide for locking the slides when depressed, an alarm mechanism includinga single striker, intermediate mechanism forjoining each detent with the striker, said mechanism including a special trip device for each detent for operating the striker only on the depression of a single voters slide, and to be automatically disconnected from the slides as they return to their normal position, as set forth.

5. In a voting-machine, as described, the combination with the voters slides 18 and 19, automatically movable to their elevated or normal positions, a pivoted spring-actuated pawl for each slide for interlocking with the ICC slides as they are depressed, a projection on each pawl yieldable in one direction, a single alarm mechanism, including a rock-shaft carrying a striker-arm, and a crank member for each locking-pawl, adapted to be engaged by the projection on the pawl and to rock the striker carrying shaft; when said pawl is spring-actuated to its locking position, and

remain inert as said pawl is returned to its unlocking position, and means for returning I) the said pawls to their normal position, as set; forth. I NAPOLEON PRINCE.

Witnesses:

L. DORAIS, JOSEPH LEOOMTE.

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