US1549466A - Fare-collection system - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 11, 1925. 1,549,466

Y J. E. DoLDT FARE COLLECTI 0N SYSTEM Filed June 9,- 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet l mm1@ B @ET-@QQ Aug. l1, 1925.

J. E. DOLDT lFARE COLLECTION SYSTEM s sheets-shee't 2 Filed June .9, 1920 Aug. 1l, 1925.

J E. DoLDT FARE COLLECTION SYSTEM Filed June 9, 1920 3 SheetsgSheet 3 M; dal

TAX vez" Patented Aug. 11, 19,25.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. DOLDT, 0F PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR T0 THE DOLDT FARE HANDLING MACHINE CODIYANY, OF IORTIAND, -MAINE, A' CORPORATION OF MAINE.

FARE-COLLECTION SYSTEM.

Application, :i1-ea Imm 9, 1920." seria: No. 387,574.

T o all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, JOHN E.. Donor, a citizen of the United States, residing at Port-land, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fare-Collection Systems; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clea r, and exact description of the invention,' such as will en? able others skilled-in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present inventionrelates to apparatus employed in connection with a zone system of fare collection. .y

There are certainvobvious advantages in connection with the use of `a zone system upon railway systems handling' city and suburban traic in which the length of haul may vary markedly. Perhaps the most important advantage attendant upon this type of system is the fact that' it enables a charge to be made according to the distance which the. passenger travels so that the shorthaul passenger is not required to pay a fare suficient to cover the expense of handling the long haul passenger.

The present invention' i's more particular-.

ly adapted to form a partfof' that class of zone systems in which the fare of the pas-M senger is computed and paid upon leaving the car at the passengers destination, but may be employed in connection with5the collection of fares `when the passenger boards the car, as for example in the case of a short trip where the' travel of the' pastates the computationV and Icollection of the requisite fare according to' thenumber of zones through which the-passenger has or will travel to--his destination. A further object of the ini'fention-isA to provide a system which shall employ tokens or tickets indicating the zone at which the passenger boarded the car, these tickets being indestructible and capable of being used over and over for an indefinite period..

A still further object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus for distributing the proper tokens or tickets at each zone and for collecting these tokens in the proper receptacles at the point of destination.

VVith these objects in view the several features of the invention consist in the novel features of construction, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention Fig. l represents an elevation of the distributing and collecting apparatus designed to be actuated by a single operator; Flg. 2 is an elevation of the token distributing apparatus; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of 'the distributor shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the collecting apparatus; Fig. 5 is. a top planview .of the collecting apparatus shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a detail showing a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and. Fig.. 7 is a collective View of the vvarious tokens employed in the system. The present-*invention comprises a token distributing apparatus which contains tokens or tickets corresponding to the zones through which the route of the car passes. The distributing apparatus is actuated to causethe delivery of the proper token for the particular zone through which the car is passing and when each passenger boards the car a token is delivered corresponding to the zone in which the car is then located. The delivery of this token is recorded by a suitable mechanism in order that a record .may beke'ptof the total number of tokens delivered `within a given period. Associated with the token distributing mechanism is a token collecting mechanisminwhich the token is adapted to'be-depositedupon arrival at the destination of the passenger. According to the usual operation of the apparatus, the passenger, upon arriving at the destination, shows the conductor thetokenindicating the zone at which the car was boarded and the conductor then collects the proper fare for the zones through which the passenger has traveled, the zone token being thereafter deposited by the passenger in the collection apparatus. The collection 5 apparatus, in addition to containing at the end of the days run all of the zone tokens which have been deposited by passengers, indicates the number of zonesthrough which each passenger has traveled,-`together"with the number of passengers boarding and leaving-the carduring-v each trip. This not only facilita;es checking-the v,fares collected by the conductor but in addition a'ords an accurate indication of the volume of travel over any particular portion ofl the transportation system and the approximate time at which this travel took place.

wIn `the illustrated embodiment of the inventionV a token distributing apparatusis indicated generally at 10. This apparatus, as shown in Fig. 2, comprises'a series of tokenstacks 12 corresponding in number to the number of zones through Which the route of the carpasses. In the present construction" twelve-of-l these stacks are illusf trated. Each'of-thetoken stacks contains f al. pile-"ofmetal-tokens such as are indicated zit-'13 inA Fig, 7, the tokens in each'stack' indicatiiiga particular zone. These stacks are 'held attop and bottom between two revolvingrings 15 and: 1 6'. which are receivedin 1 annular. recesses formed intop and bottom plnteslflf and 18 connected by a centrally disposed post 19.4 "The base plate 18, as in'- dica'tedl clearly in ig. 2 is 'provided-'With a .tokenj .deliver-y' cup 20 Adependimg fr or'nbbe-ul "i neatlrs-the plate. -'When'ever a passenger boards: the car-,- a tokenl'is, ejected rin the bottom o thepile into'"the'"`cup20'bythe 40 personsoperatingl thef{distributing appa?,

tothepost 1 9.: "The lQWer'end' of the'lev'er 241=projects into' a'slo't formed' in a'sliding ejectorzplate 2G-whiclr i's adapted to engage 1 thebottom tokenof a pile and pusht-he coin sidewise into position above an opening 27.`

throughavhich the coin drops into the delivery"'cupT 2 0.' During the ejection of theV` token-froni'tlie' bottom of the pile it engages =`-=With the lower end o f a swinging arm 30 which-isconnected with any suitable 'form 241'h'as been actuated-'to' 'deliver a single initial: position through aspring 28 interf 'posedbetvveen the lever and the post v19 above the; f11lcrum of-the'lever. As will be evident,

the. upper! portion of' the lever projects,A through 'a slotfB-,fornied'in the upper head .accessible for manipulation by the operator.

In order to cause the delivery of a token corresponding to the zone through which the car is passing, the rings 15 and 16, together with the token stacks are revolved intermittently as the car` progresses throughout its route", thisrevolving` inovenaenuf'a yancing the stacks to present anevv stack in position for the delivery of tokens as each newr zone is entered. To: this end, eaclrfring isprovided With gear tee'th134-aiid35-Wh'ich are respectively engaged by driving pinions 36 and 37^mounted upon a post 39 .provided at its topwith anloperating handle H which is normally retained in the position shown in Figs. 2 and .3V by a.: spring pressed detent 45 engaging a. corrcspondingrecess formed in the underside' of thehandle. f Ihegears are so designedfthat onecompletezrotation of the handle' rotates thestacks'a suicient respond-ing.. .te-tha earnestness ring to Fig. 2v that. bottom ,QLeach stack is provided with a transverse slot; fljthrough which the ejector plate ZGJnaytpassand that only..wherethe,$tacksar, erorerlrila passage of "the car` int@ zone. .9 .the- .stacks are advanced to,.bring :stack jNo. 9, into [de` livery position. )and thMwffB@ PaSS'ngrS boarding thefca'r :nzone- 9 receivetokens correspondingly guiar-lied. .In orderv S to-.yapf

prise thejpassengers of thefde'liverv of the tokens and insurethat they .shall be takenprovide bythe passenger it is desirable to some forinof indication. Y A. l To this endabell mounted upon the shaft 18 through bracket A52 :,andyisprovided;\vitharotaryfstrikerjadaptedgto be ofregister 3T through 4an arm 32 and conf.. 55 necting-/link 33.' This register is desiffned tdrecordi'the totalnumbeoi tokens which vf aredeliveredtrg-passengers. After the. leverY operated from the lever 24 throughVa-rack arm 55 and connectedgears56and.5T.-, Thus upon each actuation. .pt the. leverl .24; to. ;deliver'a token ,to' the,cup.20the .bell isoper.V v,ated to indicatethe'facttotlie1 passengers, token from `the bottomjof the pile'it is re'- 60 turned,'togetherwi th the ejector plate, `to

tokens; is, aiiiarkei; token, ind1cated at; 60, Fig. 7, whichisfsonievrhat thickerthan the!z zone tokensql. and is .incapable o ffbein-g.-

ej ected through4 thel 4slotsetffifand. thebottorni:

of the stacks i marker f token .indicates to th-6.` .Operator that the pilel of tokensdn theY stack is exhausted and also shows in relation to the graduations upon the stack tubes the number 'of tokens in each stack that have been distributed. In addition, each stack is provided with a series of perforations or openings 62 through which the operator may observe the number of tokens remaining in the stacks. According to the usual practice the stacks of the delivery mechanism will be filled with the necessary number of tokens at the beginning of the days run and will not require replenishment until the car returns "at night.

When the passenger leaves the car, the operator inspects the zone token delivered to the passenger upon boarding thecar. With this information the number of zones through which the passenger has traveled is readily ascertained and the fare computed. For example, if the passenger boards the car in zone 3'and leaves the car in zone 8, a fare will be paid for travel through siX zones, which total number of zones includes the zones at which the car isl boarded and left, together with the zones through which the passenger traveled completely. After the fare has been computed and paid to the conductor, the passenger deposits his zone token in the collecting mechanism which then delivers the token to a numbered stack corresponding'to the ione through which the carmis then f passing.. The collecting mechanism is similar to the distributing mechanism in that it comprises a number of stacks corresponding .to thefzones through which thecar passes and isfoperatled byl the conductor' or otherl authorized person to presentfeach stack-` in` proper' position according to tliewz'one throughfwhich the car ispassmg. y

Referring to Figs. 4; and; 5 of the .drawings, the collecting `mechanismis indicated generally 'atf 65 as provided with a series of token stacks l67 heldat top and bottom between revolving rings 68Yand 69 which are journaled in top and bottom plates 70 and 71, respectively, connected by a centrally disposed vertical post 72. Each of the rings 68 and 69 is provided with gear teeth 74 and'75` which are engaged by gears 77 and 78 mounted upon an operating shaft 80 provided with a handle182 whichis journaled in extensions of theltop and, bottom plates 70 and 71 The collecting mechanism is provided with a suitably disposed tray 90 in which the tokens are deposited. The

traywis connected with an inclined delivery chute 91 which discharges the token into a. temporary deposit magazine 92 closed at its bottom by'a supporting plate 93. The inclined chute is provided with a ledge 94 along one side, which supports the token in an angular ,positionE with respect to the bottom of the chute which is provided With an elimination opening 96 through 4which coins or pieces of metal smaller than tokens will drop. This is due to the fact that coins smaller than the tokens lie in the groove formed between the ledge 94 and the opposite edge of the chute. collection in the deposit magazine are transferred by means under the control of the operator to the proper containing stack. To this end a transfer' arm 100 is fulcrumed upon the shaft 7 2, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and is provided with a curved end 101 adapted to engage behind the token and sweep the token over the supporting plate 93 in a curved path. Upon referring to Fig. 5 it will be observed that the curved face 103 of the transfer arm is designed to constantly press the token against the inner edge 104 of the curved track of which the plate 93 forms the bottom. This plate is provided with an elimination opening 105 (Fig. 6) through which a coin or article smaller than a token will drop and be removed from the machine, if such a metal article should traverse the complete length of the chute. During the passage along the curved track, by means of the transfer arm, the token,` as indicated in Fig. 6, engages a swinging finger 107, the lower end of which depends into the path of the token. This finger is connected through a shaft 108 with any form of registering device 109 Which keeps a record of the total number of tokens deposited and collected in the apparatus.

The tokens after- Upon referring to Fig. l it will be observed that the inclined chute 91 and receiving hopper 90 are conveniently supported upon a vertical post 110 which rises from the upper head 70 of the machine. After its passage by the swinging finger 107, the token is delivered to an opening 112 (Fig. 6) Which registers with the upper end of a token stack 67. It will be evident that through the instrumentality of the operating handle 82 and connected mechanism, the token stack which is positioned beneath the opening 112 at any given instant is numbered in accordance with the zone through which the car is then passing. In order to accomplish this the operator will move the handle of each apparatus one complete turn when the car passes from one Zone into the next.

It is desirable to employ some means for determining at the end or" the days run during which trips of the car the tokens were deposited, thus affording an accurate indication as to the number of passengers leaving the car in each zone during each. trip and affording a basis for computing the average length of haul, the time of day during which the greatest travel took place, and other facts which are essential in the computation of fares. To this end a stack or tube 115 is supported upon the upper head 70 and is filled with trip tokens such as are indicated at 116 in Fig. 7. These trip -tokens are delivered individually to the opening 112 and from there pass into a token stack each time that a new stack is --brought into position beneath the opening. To this end asliding delivery plate 118 is mounted upon the top of the head 70, as

Ashown in Fig. 5, and passes beneath the tube 115, engaging the bottom-most token and ejecting it at each transverse movement. This delivery plate is connected with the shaft throu'gh a gear 120 mounted upon the shaft and a cooperating gear 121 journaled upon the upper face of the head 70. The gear 121 is provided with an eccentrically disposed pin 122 which moves in a transverse slot 123 formed in the delivery plate 118, the construction being such that one complete reciproca-tion is imparted to the delivery plate for each complete rotation of the shaft 8() to advance the revolving stack turret one step. This` serves to initially4 deposit a trip token in each stack as it is brought into position beneath Vthe opening 112'and before the deposit therein of any zone tokens for that tiip. It will be evident that with this construction at the end of a days run each of the collecting stacks will contain a different series of zone tokens, each group being separated by a trip token, the number of zone tokens in each group indicating the number of passengers leaving the car in one trip and the'zonetokens in each stack indicating the total number ofpassengers leaving the car in that particular zone during the total number of runs for that particular stack. Aside romindicating the travel in the different zones the trip tokens are also an important check to prevent improper manipulation o the collecting device by the operator.

It is very desirable that some means be provided for facilitating the computation of fares by the conductor or other person in charge of the collecting apparatus. To this endthe present invention contemplates the employment of relatively movable members which indicate respectively zones and fares. In the simplest and most efficient form of the invention which has yet been devised, a stationary fare indicator is employed in conjiunction with the revoluble turret carrying the token tubes. As will be evidenced from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 4, the stationary lbottom plate 71 of the collecting mechanism is provided with two sets of indications upon its periphery, each set of indications regis-A tering with one 'of the tubes of the revoluble turret. In the specific form of the invention illustrated, the passenger will pay. a minimum fare of five cents for either one or two first zones traveled and thereafter an increased fare of two cents for each additional zone. When the car is passingthrough zone 1 with,- the stack numbered 1 in receiving position the relative arrangement of token vtubes and the upper set of fare indications will be as follows, the upper row ofiigures representing the numbers upon the token tubes and the lower row representing the fare amounts:

a 910.1112 1 253 i -5 e. ,'1 052523211917151311090705 A passenger'who leaves the' car in zone 8 shows the token to the conductor and then deposits it in the distributing mechanism where it is received' and segregatedV in tube The. relation Y 8. The conductor then looks under the' tubev bered 4 and referring to the position of theA token tube'numbered 4, could immediately.

determine that the fare to be paid'gwasv eleven cents, as indicated by the uppe'rfs'et of figures upon the rim ofthe bottom plate 71. The second set of figures uponthe bottom plate is arranged to increasenumerically. in the opposite direction from the upper set and is intended for computin the fares when the car is traveling in t e opposite direction, the computation being made in the same manner as above described, as will be clearly obvious to those skilled in the art.

In order to indicate to the passengersl the zone through which the car is traveling, the operating shafts upon both the collecting and distributing. mechanisms are provided with extensions 130 which operate through any suitable system of gearing, not shown, zone indicators 131 to show visually the zone through which the car isl then passing: It willA beevident that when each. of the 0p.-

eratin handles is rotated to advance a new,`

stack into position' the extension s'haftlSO will operatel the indicators to correspond to connection,- with fare apparatusactuistllyl :-1

catedV upon the moving dar, it should be ico understood that the invention as a Whole is not limited to such a use but can be embodied to advantage in elevated or subway systems whereV the distributing and collecting apparatus would b e located in the. several stations and operated ,by a person in the station, relieving the operators of the cars from all labor of such fare collection.

While it is preferred to employ the specific construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, it will be understood that this construction and arrangement is not essential except so far as specified in the claims, and may be changed or modified without departing from the broader features of the invention.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. Fare collection apparatus comprising distributing mechanism having a plurality of numbered tubes, permanent zone tokens contained in each tube and numbered in accordance with the tube, means for delivering a token to a passenger corresponding to the zone through which the car is passing, a collecting mechanism provided with a plurality of similarly marked tubes, and means for receiving and segregating the token in the tube corresponding to the zone through Which the car is passing.

2. A fare collection apparatus comprising means for delivering to a passenger a permanent zone token corresponding to the zone at which the car is boarded, and means including a series of receptacles marked in accordance with the different zones for receiving and depositing the permanent zone token when the passenger leaves the car.

3. A fare collection apparatus comprising a series of zone token delivery tubes and a series of zone token collecting tubes, means for causing the delivery of a permanent token according to the zone through which the car is passing, and means for causing the deposit of the permanent token in a collection tube corresponding to the zone through which the car is passing.

4. A fare collection apparatus comprising token distributing apparatus constructed and arranged to deliver to a passenger a permanent token corresponding to the zone through which the car is passing, and token collecting apparatus constructed and arranged to receive and deposit the permanent token according to the zone through which the car is passing When the token is deposited in the apparatus.

5. Fare collection apparatus comprising a plurality of tubes marked in accordance with the zones through which the car passes, a pile of permanent zone tokens contained in eachtube, a revoluble turret upon which the tubes are mounted, means for moving a token from one of the tubes to deliver it to a passenger, and means for shifting the position of the tubes to bring Successive tubes into-operative position with respect to the token moving means as the car passes from one zone to another.

6. Fare collection apparatus comprising a token distributing mechanism and a token collecting mechanism each provided with a plurality of similarly marked tubes, each tube being adapted to contain permanent tokens, and means for moving the tubes to bring successive tubes into operative position as the car passes from one zone to another.

7. A fare collection apparatus comprising a series of token containing tubes, a revoluble turret carrying the tubes, means for revolving the turret to bring successive tubes into operative position, a token receiving tray, and means for transferring tokens from the tray to a final collection tube which is located in operative position.

'8. Fare collection apparatus comprising a plurality' of token tubes, means for moving the tubes to bring a new tube into operative position when the car passes from one zone to another, and means for depositing a single trip token in the tube which is being moved into operative position.

9. A fare collection apparatus comprising a series of tubes adapted to contain zone tokens, a tube containing trip tokens, means for shifting the zone token tubes to bring successive tubes into operative position, and means connected therewith for simultaneously delivering a single trip token from the containing tube to the zone token tube Which is moved into operative position.

l0. A fare collection apparatus comprising a series 0f token containing tubes, a token deposit magazine, means for transferring tokens Jfrom the magazine to one of the tubes, and means for diverting coins or other articles of less diameter than the tokens from the apparatus prior to delivery to the containing tube.

11. A fare collection apparatus comprising a series of'token containing tubes, a de posit magazine, a transfer arm adapted to transfer a token from the magazine to one of the tubes, means for recording the number of tokens thus transferred, and means for diverting coins or other articles of less diameter than the tokens prior to engagement with the recording mechanism.

12. A fare collection apparatus comprisi rotation to the member to bring successive zone indications opposite different fare amounts.

14. A fare collection Vapparatus comprising a revoluble turretcarrying 'a plurality 10 of numbered tubes mounted upon the turret and carried therewith, a stationary dial supported in proximity to the turret having a series of fare amounts indicated thereon in predeterminedrelation to one another, and means for imparting a step by step rotation to the turret to bring successive numbered tubes opposite different fare amounts on the stationary dial.

JOHN E'. DOLDT.

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