US982731A - Voting-machine lock-out for primary elections. - Google Patents

Description

W. J. LAUSTBRER. VOTING MACHINE LOOK-OUT. FOR PRIMARY ELECTIONS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1908.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

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.API'LiOATION TILED AUG. 18, 1908.

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WITNESSES;-

UNITED STAZlTEiEIENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. LAUSTERER, F JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNUR TO EMPIRE VOTING MACHINE COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER AND JAMES'I'OWN, NEW YORK, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

VOTING-MACHINE LOCK-OUT FOR PRIMARY ELECTIONS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

Application filed August 13, 1908. Serial Ito. 448,431.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. Lans- Tnnnn, citizen of the United States, residing at Jamestown, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented certain new and uscfiill Improvements in Voting-llrlachine Lock-Outs for Primary Elections, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in voting machines, said improvements being applied to a machine of the type described in the patentto lVilliam J. Lausterer, No. 820,802, issued May 15, 1906, and has for its object to provide a lookout that forms a permanent part of the machine, by means of which the keys of the machine may be locked out by party rows or in other combinations, so that the machine may be adapted for use in primary elections. The lockout is also capable of being rendered inert without being removed from the machine, so that the machine may otherwise be used in a general election. in prin'iary elections it will be understood that the primaries of all the parties are held at the same time and place and that one machine is adjusted to carry the names of all the candidates of all the parties. If the ordinary machine capable of use for general election were labeled with the names of the candidates of the various parties that participate in a primary election, any voter belonging to one party might vote for some of the candidates of one party and for other candidates of another iarty. This, however, is strictly forbidden by the primary election laws of many of the States, such laws providing that the voter must announce his party aililiations at the polls of the primary to the election officers before he will be allowed to vote, and then he will be allowed bythe election oflicers to vote only on the candidates of that particular party. It is understood, of course, that the object of the primary election is to select those candidates which will make up the party tickets in the regular election following thereafter. In order to restrict the voter to candidates of his own party in primary elections, I have devised certain additions to the machine the eii'ect of which is to permit the election olhcer to release the voting devices belonging to the candidates of but one party, at the same time holding looked all of the voting devices of all of the candidates of all the other parties.

The object of my invention is to restrict the successive voters in their operation of the machine to the particular parts of the machine which their party affiliat'ion entitles them to vote on.

The various features of the invention will be more particularly described in the specification andipointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation on the line 1, 1*, in Fig. 2. Fig. 1* represents a portion of the keyboard with the primary election ballot arranged thereon. Fig. 2 shows a vertical transverse section on the line 2", 2*, in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail of portion of one of the locking bars. Fig. t is a detail of one of the links connecting the interlocking straps to the locking barn Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of the end of the machine showing the levers for controlling the locking bars. Fig. 6 is a detail showing the connection between the levers and the locking bars. Fig. 7 is a detail of a portion of one of the controlling bars moved by one of the controlling levers.

In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts.

In Figs. 1" and 2 reference numeral 1 re fers to the casing of the machine, on which are mounted keys 60, similar to those shown in my previous patent above referred to. To each ofthese keys is connected an interlocking strap 2, having a wedge 3 fastened to the lower end thereof interlocking with the rollers 4: in the interlocking channel 5. These straps 2, 2, are slotted at 6 and are reset and locked by the resetting bar 7. Riveted. on each of the interlocking straps 2 is a plate 8 shown in Fig. 2, said plate having a slot 9 lying therein with an enlargement at the top for a purpose that will presently be described.

In the bottom of the machine I place a series of locking bars 10 10 etc, the drawings of this application showing a so ries of four of such bars. These bars 1O *10 etc, are all substantially alike and are referred to generally hereinafter as looking bars 10, the letters A, B, etc, being added in places to distinguish between pare ticular ones of the bars 10. Each of these bars has cut therein at the top a series of L shaped. slots 11, one for each otfice line of keys on the machine; connecting one or more of the plates 8 to one of the projections 12 forming part of the L shaped recess 11 is the link 13. This link has at its upper end a stud laby which it can engage with one or more of the plates 8. To effect this engagement the enlarged head of the stud 14 is passed through the enlargement of the slot 9' and drawn down into the narrow part of the slot, in which position the hole 15 in the lower part of the link 18 can engage with the projection 12 on the locking bar .10. Pivoted' on the locking bar 10 is a latch 16, one for each twooffice lines of keys; this latch is pivoted midway between two of the projections 12, 12, and is long enough to fill the opening between them when turned to horizontal position. It will be seen that the L shaped recesses are arranged in pairs with their openings toward each other, so that one latch fills the openings of two of them. After the links 13 have been engaged with the straps 2 by means of the studs 14' and the plates 8, the hole- 15 in the link is passed over the projection 12 on the lockingbar 10, and is then locked in place by the latch 16. The latch 16 is turned to horizontal position after one or more links 13 have been engaged with each of the proj ections- 12' with which projections the latch 16 cooperates to lock the links 13 in engagement therewith.

lien th' clocking bars 10 are drawn down it is obvious that they will pull down with them the links 1313 and the interlocking straps 22 that are engagedtherewith in the manner above described, and it is also obvious that when any one of the locking bars 10 is held down it will lock down all of the straps 2 engaged therewith and the keys 60 connected to said straps.

In a primary election the keys belong.- ing to the candidates of one party will all be engaged with one ofthe locking bars 10, and the keys belonging to the candidates of another party will likewise be engaged with another locking bar 10, and by releasing one of these locking bars 10 at a time and holding' the others locked, the voters may be restricted to voting on the keys of but one party at a time, it being understood that after the voter has announced his party afliliatio'nthe election ofiicers will unlock the keys of that party only and leave the keys of the other parties locked against voting operation.

The studs 141 are long enough to permit their engagement with two or more of the interlocking straps in one ofiice line. In some cases it is necessary to devote two or more party lines on the machine to the candidates of one party, and in such case two or more straps of an oflice line may be engaged by the stud 14. Thus the locking bar 10 in Fig. 2 may be engaged with all of the keys in party rows A, B, and C, and the bar 1O in Figs. 1 and 2 may be engaged with the keys'in party rows D and E, as the needs of the election may require, and if the arrangement of the ticket cannot otherwise be accomplished on the machine, the bar 1O may be connected to all of the keys in party row A and part of the keys in party row B and the bar 10 may be connected to the balance of the keys in party row B and all of the keys in party rows C and D. The connections between the keys and the bars 10 and 10 etc., may be made in any way demanded by the size and capacity of the machine and the number of candidates for each of the oflices. The mechanism by which the locking bars 10, are controlled will now be described :'These bars 102 10 etc., are mounted for a limited movement on the bell crank levers 1717,the long arms of which levers 1717 are connected to the bars 10*, 10 etc., the short arms of which are connected to bars 18. For each of the bars 10 and 10 etc., there is a pair of hell crank levers 17 -17 and one of the connecting bars 18. The bell crank levers are mounted on studs 19 supported in the brackets 20 at one end and the bracket 21 at the other end. This bracket 21 forms a guide for the vertical moving bars 10 and 10 etc., and has the arm 22 bent thereon on which arm the stud 19 is mounted. A similar bracket 21 guides the movement of the other ends of the bars 10 and 10 etc. hen the bar 18 moves longitudinally the bell cranks thereto are rocked causing the lifting of the bar A connected therewith. If the bar 18 is exceptionally long it may be stiifened or su sported at intermediate points by additiona bell cranks.

As shown in Fig. 3 the bar 10 has the recess 23 cut therein, which recess embraces the stud- 19. It has also the L shaped recess 24; cut therein, which recess is formed in part by the projection 25. This recess is for the purpose of locking the bar against lifting when it is desirable to lock the keys cont-rolled thereby.

The locking of the bar is accomplished in the following manner: Aisshown in Figs. 1 and 5, levers 26, 27, 28, and 29* are pivoted on the end of the casing of the voting inacliine. Each of these levers extends into the inside of the casing and has riveted to it therein a crank 30. From the crank 30 extends a link 31, which is in turn connected to a walking beam 32' pivoted at 33-. From the opposite end of the walking beam extends a link 34, which is in turn connected to the bell crank 35. The arrangement ot these parts is the same for all the levers or handles 26, 27,. 28, and 29, except that the links 34 vary in length for each of these levers so as to connect them with their bell cranks 35, all of which bell cranks are mounted on a single stud 36 carried in the bottom of the machine on a bracket 37. The movement of each of the levers 26, 27, 28, and 29 is limited by two studs 38 and 39. ()n making contact with the uppermost stud, the keys controlled by said lever 26 will be released for voting operation and, as I have shown in Fig. 5, in that position the name of the party will be exposed, which party-name will be concealed when the lever 26 makes contact with the lower stud. The same is true of each of the other levers 27, 28, and 29.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 6, when the lever 26 is raised the link 31 will be pushed down and the link 34 will be drawn up, causing the bell crank 35 to rock, drawing forward a controlling bar 40 connected thereto. One of these controlling bars 40 is provided for each locking bar 10. These controlling bars 40 have at suitable intervals thereon studs 41, 41, which studs normally engage in the recesses 24 of the bars 10, 10, with which they cooperate to hold them in locking position, or to release them as occasion may require. By drawing a controlling bar 40' forward the studs 41 will be brought into line with the vertical part of the recesses 24, permitting the bar A coimected thereto to be raised. The bars 1.0 are of course raised by the voting of the keys and after the bars lO-are raised the position of. the controlling bars 40 cannot be disturbed until the locking bars 10 have been restored to their lowest position. This result is secured in the following manner :-Each of the locking bars 10 is provided with a stud 42, which stud engages with the L shaped recess 42-3 in its companion controlling bar 40. The locking bar 10 cannot raise until the controlling bar 40 has moved forward enough to bring the vertical part of the recess 43 in line with the stud 42, in which position the studs 41 will be in line with the vertical part of the recesses 24. As the bar l0 rises it may move clear of the studs 41, but the stud 42 carried thereon cannot move clear of the recess 43, which recess is longer than the travel of the stud 42 and is closed at its upper end. In this way the return movement of the controlling bars 40 is prevented until after the locking bars 10", 10

etc, have been restored to their initial- 130- sition. This restoring of the locking bars is accomplished .by means of brackets 44 and 45 carried on the main resetting bar 7 of the machine, which brackets push the locking bars 10*, 10 etc., down as the machine is reset and hold them down until the resetting bar 7 is lifted. While in this position all of the levers 26, 27 28, and 29 may be simultaneously or separately placed in either locking or unlocking position. If necessary to prevent more than one of these being placed in unlocking position, I may secure such result by adding an interlock to prevent more than one of these levers being placed in unlocking position at the (same time. Such an interlock, however, constitutes no necessary part of this invention, as it has been found by experience that the machine works just as well in a primary election without the interlock as it does with it. The controlling bars 40 are slotted at 46, through which slots pass the studs 19, so that the studs 19 do not interfere with the endwise movement of the controlling bars 40.

Havingthus described my invention, what I claim as new and patentable is as follows 1. The combination in a voting machine of a plurality of indicators on the outside of the machine casing, a series of locking bars therefor, said bars being inside of the machine casing, means for connecting said indicators to said bars, thereby enabling said bars to lock said indicators, a separate controlling mechanism for each bar, with a handle mounted on the outside of the casing for operating said mechanism, said han dl'e operating through said controlling mechanism to lock or release the lockout bar controlled thereby, rendering inoperative or operative the keys controlled thereby.

The combination in a voting machine of keys, interlocking straps connected there to, said straps having slots therein, locking bars for locking said keys, said bars having L shaped recesses therein, links having a hole therein at one end for engaging with said L shaped recesses, and having a stud at the other end to engage with slots in one or more straps whereby said locking bar can lock said straps and their keys against movement.

3. The combination in a voting machine or a locking bar, L shaped recesses in the edge of said bar, said recesses being ar ranged symmetrically in pairs with a latch between the recesses of a pair capable of closing or opening both of said recesses.

4. The combination in a voting machine of a locking bar, L shaped recesses in the edge of said bar, latches for closing or opening said recesses.

5. The combination in a voting machine of a locking bar, of keys and interlocking straps connected there-to, connections between said locking bar and selected ones of the interlocking straps, a controlling bar for holding said locking bar in looking position, and means for moving said controlling bar to release said locking bar.

6. The combination in a voting machine oi. a plurality of indicators on the outsideof the machine casing, a series of lockout bars inside of the machine casing movable with the indicators to unlocking position,

means for connectin said indicators to said bars, thereby controlling said indicators through said bars, a separate controlling mechanism for each bar, with a handle therefor, mounted on the outside of the casing and connections between the levers and their respective bars whereby the movement of the lever will lock or release its bar.

7. The combination in a voting machine of a plurality of indicators, a series of lockout bars therefor, means for connecting said indicators to said bars, to control said indicators thereby, each of said bars being capable of movement to locking and unlocking position, with the indicators, controlled thereby, a separate controlling lever for each bar, and connections between each lever and, its bar whereby said lever may move its'bar to locking or unlocking posi tion.

8. A plurality of locking bars mounted side by side, and a plurality of controlling bars mounted adjacent thereto, one for each locking bar, said controlling bars being capable. of an endwise movement, said locking bars being capable of a sidewise movement, said locking bars being controlled in said movement by said controlling bars, means for moving said controlling bars endwise to release said locking bars for sidewise movement.

9." The combination in a voting machine of a-lo cking bar mounted for sidewise movement, a controlling bar therefor mounted for endwise movement, L shaped slots in the locking bar, studs on the controlling bar engaging therewith, said controlling bar and its studs holding said locking bar against movement when its studs engage with the horizontal part of the L shaped slots of the locking bar, but leaving said locking bar free to rise when engaging with the vertical part of said slots.

10. The combination in a voting machine of a locking bar mounted for sidewise movement, a controlling bar therefor mounted for endwise movement, L shaped slots in the locking bar, studs on the controlling bar engaging therewith, said controlling bar and its studs holding said locking bar against movement when its studs engage with the horizontal part of the L shaped slots of the locking bar,; but leaving said locking bar free to rise when engaging with the vertical part of said slots, means to prevent endwise movement of the controlling bar after the locking bar has been moved from normal position.

11. The combination in a voting machine of a series of locking bars, means for holding each of said locking bars in locking position, a pivoted handle for operating each of said holding means, a plate on which said handles are pivoted, a party name thereon adjacent to each of said handles each of said handles being shaped and positioned to conceal a party name when in its normal position and to expose said name when said handle is moved to release its locking bar.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM J. LAUSTERER. Witnesses ALEXANDER B. CORGILIUS, ETHEL (l. MILLER.

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