Posted 13 years ago
steve586
(1 item)
Confused about this item. Bought it at a Randsburg, Ca. antique shop. It works! pull the bottom "bell" handle and the counter advances. The top "IN" and "OUT" tab rotates. I believe this was what the conductor used on streetcars and/or trolley's to keep accurate count of passengers getting on and off at each stop. Has patent dates, but no company name or patent number. Might be called a fare or trip register. Anyone have any ideas what this is? Randsburg was a gold mining town and some Ghost Towns of the past had streetcars or trolleys.
it is a fare register, the IN/OUT informs the patrons where collection is done, in or outside the car. I just bought one myself, gong to set it up in a display, it works! Not this design.
mine looks like this but its not this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121038457405?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D121038457405%26_rdc%3D1
made by international register, still in business under a dufferent name.
In all likelihood a streetcar register first patented in a different version but with a patent that covered this, US Patent 222,522 issued December 9, 1879 to John Meaker of Chicago. You can check further for the old patents that match the stamp of patented dates at the US Patent and Trademark Office website, advanced search. You have to set the search field to all patents back to this period and search by date using "ISD/date" in format year in four digits month in two digits day of month two digits. Happy hunting.