US224385A - Recording ballot-box - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

J. G. H. BUCK. Recording Ballot-Box.

-Patented Feb. lO, 1880.

N.FETERs, PNOTO-LITHOGRAPMER. WASMINGYDN. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES G. H. BUCK, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

RECORDING BALLOT-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 224,385, dated February 10, 1880.

Application filed October 8, 1879. I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES G. H. BUCK, of the city and county of Dallas, and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Recording Ballot-Box; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to indicate accurately and instantly the result of an election; to prevent the possibility of riflin g the box of its ballots or of stnling it with fraudulent ones; to promote the convenience of the public by determining the result of the election immediately upon closing the polls; to curtail the expenses of election by dispensing with the services of vast numbers of men and they necessity of counting the votes; to reduce those sources of error and doubt which are inseparable from the old form of ballot-box and which occasion a great majority of contested elections, and to protect the voter more fully against the dominating influence of designing men, as well as his privilege of secret voting.

To these ends my improvement consists in a novel organization of recording mechanism, which will now be more fully described with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan view of the mechanism of the ballot-box removed from the box or case, and having in this view a portion of the upper cylinder broken away to show the devices beneath. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same parts shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the box, the view being taken at the end where the record appears through openings or windows in the box. Fig. 4 is a detail of the top cylinder of the device. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the box with a part of the lid broken away, and showing the place for the introduction of the voting-board F.

X represents the outside casing or inelosure of the ballot-box, which has at one end an opening, (see Fig. 5,) through which access is had to the mechanism within for depositing' and recording the votes. This mechanism embodies an independentorganization for each candidate to be voted for, arranged side by side; but as all of these organizations are exactly alike, I have, for the sake of simplicity, made the ballot-box narrower than it would be in practice, and have arranged only one train of mechanism therein. 0n a ro tary shaft, E, in said box (see Figs. I and 2) I arrange a wheel, A, being one of a set corresponding to the number of candidates. This wheel bears upon its periphery teeth from ten to one thousand, according to the number of votes to be polled, and has beside each tooth on its widened periphery a corresponding number for each tooth, graduated in tens, as 10, 20, 30, 40, Cnc., which show successively through the opening a in the box, as seen in Fig. 3. This wheel, then, is the tens-wheel-. e., a tooth moves one space for every ten votes-and it is operated by the shaft B of the units-wheel through a worm, B. D is the units-wheel, which is arranged upon the end of the shaft B, and is made in the form of a disk like a clock-face, having a smaller series of figures thereon, from I to l0, all of which figures show successively through the opening b in the box. (See Fig. 3.)

For actuating these wheels by the act of voting I have devised a peculiar mechanism. On the end of shaft B, opposite the unitswheel D, I place a wheel, K, having ten teeth corresponding to the numbers of the disk. When at rest the wheel is locked against turning by a stop-block, I, which slides vertically on a stud, c, so that when down'it passes between and locks the teeth, and when raised permits the wheel to be turned.

Before proceeding to explain more definitely how these devices are acted upon, I would state that my system of voting contemplates dispensing with printed tickets and substituting therefor a system of solid ballots or counters, which are dropped into the box of the candidate to be voted for; and for this purpose I make these ballots in such shape that the act of inserting them turns the recording devices heretofore described. Thus the ballots I make in the shape of metal blocks H, having two cam-surfaces and a socket adapted to fit on the end of a series of rods, L, which are attached to the slide F. This slide is a detachable board, which may be lifted oi` from the guide-rods J, and which is putin the hands of the voter. Now, these slides F being provided with a rod, L, for every candi- IOO date, whose name and the office for which 11e is running are plainly marked thereon, the voter takes the slide from the officer in charge and places upon the rods Lone or more ballots, I-I, the said ballot being fitted by its socket on the rod representing the candidate for whom he desires to vote. The voter then applies the slide to its guide-bars J and pushes it forward. y

Now follows the peculiar action of my device: Every candidate for whom the voter wishes to cast a ballot has his rod Il armed with a ballot or point, H, and the other can didates have upon their rods L no such point, and when the slide is pushed forward the points or ballots on the ends thereof serve to give motion to the mecha-nism belonging to the selected candidate, `while the mechan-4 ism belonging to the other candidate is undisturbed, for the reason that his corresponding rods Lhave no points, the slide F being made long enough to cover the several sets of mechanism of all the candidates. As the points H advance with the motion of the slide, the cam-edge y (shown in detail) lifts the lockingstop I to allow the units-wheel to be free to turn; then immediately the cam-edge a', (shownin detail,) acting horizontally, strikes one of the teeth of the wheel K and rotates the wheel-shaft and disk D one notch, thus recording one vote. As the rear end of the detachable point H passes, the stop drops back on thel wheel, and then, when the slide F is drawn back again, the point H is pulledoff and drops into the ballot-box, constituting a counter, which supplies concomitant proofof the vote.

It will thus be seen that these points H are to be supplied in numbers, and that they serve both to actuate the recording mechanism and to act by being deposited as a ballot in the fortunate candidates compartment.

In order to act as a further check against fraud, and for the purpose of purging thebox of any illegal ballots, I have arranged a second recording device above the first, which is operated simultaneously with it. This consists of a cylinder, C, (see Fig. 4,) bearing a spiral strip of paper, which is divided into equal spaces equal to the whole number ofV votes to be cast. This cylinder is arranged just above a needle, N, borne by the stopblock I, and is so arranged to move that for every vote it turns a new space to the point N, and as the latter rises with block I from the action ofcam-poi nt H said needle is made to puncture the space in the strip of paper immediately above it. In order to bring new spaces suecessively above the needle N a step-by-step motion of the cylinder, and also a longitudinal movement of the same, is required.

In supplying these movements I place upon the slide F a second cam, G, somewhat similar to H, having' an incline, t, Fig. 2, in a vertical plane, and an incline, s, Fig. l, in a horizontal plane. As this cam Gr moves forward with the slide in the act of voting its incline t lifts a stop, O, from olf a gear-wheel, P, while its incline s strikes a tooth of the gear-wheel and rotates it one space. This gear-wheel, it will be seen, is attached to a shaft, Q, carrying a worm, It, which worm engages with a wormwheel, S, on the shaft of the cylinder C to give it a rotary step-by-step motion.

In imparting the longitudinal movement of the cylinder necessitated by the pitch of the spiral folds ofthe strip of paper, the opposite end ofthe cylinder-shaft T is screw-threaded, and is made to revolve in a screw-threaded bearing.

Now, if a voter, after having voted, be found to have cast a vote without being entitled to the same, some means are required for enabling the oificers in charge to determine whom that man voted for. For this purpose cylinder (l is made long enough to extend above the needle-points N of all of the candidates, and a certain set of spiral rows of lspaces on this cylinder is devoted to each candidate. At the end of the cylinder is placed a circular row of gures, being, as shown, from l to 50, so that there may be one complete revolution of the cylinder for every fifty votes. There maybe, however, any greater number of figures in one spiral revolution, as l to 100, l to 1,000, Snc. Now, as each vote is, in thc order of voting, numbered, the act of voting brings a space ofthe set of spiral rows of each candidate over the needle-point, and that space will be punetured, and will be indicated at the end of the cylinder in the order of voting. Thus when the twenty-fifth voter. casts his ballot 11e makes a puncture on a horizontal line with the figure 25 at the end of the cylinder and in the set of spiral spaces belonging to the candidate whose needle-point is moved. Now, if after the election it be found that voter No. 25 (whose name is entered by the clerk opposite his number in the book of registration) was an illegal voter, it becomes an easy matter for the oiicers in charge to determine which candidate voter 25 cast his ballot for. Thus, referring to figure 25 at the end of the cylinder and tracing the horizontal spaces, if it be found that candidate No. 1 has no puncture in his space No. 25, and candidate No. 2 has, then it shows conclusively that voter 25 cast his ballot for candidate No. 2, and the ballotboX is purged by taking one vote from his amount.

In making use of my invention I do not confine it simply to its use as a ballot-box, but may employ the same principle in recording fares, games, or other registrations.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The point H, having the two cam-edges and y in different planes, combined with the Wheel K and locking-slide I, and adapted to lift the said locking-slide with one cam-edge and turn the wheel with the other, substantially as described, and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. In a ballot-box or recording device, the

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combination, with the graduated wheels, of a stop device locking one of said Wheels and a slide or carriage bearing a detachable point or end piece, which point or piece is adapted to lift the stop, rotate the wheel, and then be deposited as a ballot, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with aset of guides, J, and the recording mechanism, of a removable sliding board, F, carrying stem L, representing the different candidates, together with a set of detachable points, H, adapted to iit on said stem and operate upon the recording` device, as described.

4. The combination oi' a recording device 15 provided with numbers, a detachable ballotin g device adapted to operate said recording device and be then deposited in the box, and a check-cylinder operated by the movement of the balloting device to check the ballots by a 2o series of marks or punctures, as set forth.

JAMES GARLAND HARDXVICH BUCK.

Witnesses A. E. BOUCHE, I. M. LEWIS.

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