GB703909A - Improvements relating to driving connections for, and to, route, destination and display indicators - Google Patents

Abstract

703,909. Changing signs. STRAY, Ltd., D. A. Sept. 17, 1951 [June 16, 1950], No. 15119/51. Class 3(1) In a destination and information display indicator of the type in which two or more .separate roller blinds 17 are positioned in side-by-side relationship, each of two sets of rollers 14-16 and 14a-16a around which the ends of the respective blinds are wound being mounted coaxially for rotation about a common rotary driving shaft 6, 7 and each shaft passing through the bores of a set of rollers and being axially moved to make independent driving engagement with one blind roller at a time through pairs of co-operating elements 19, 20-22 one of each pair being associated with the driving shaft and the other with a roller the axial movement of the shafts being simultaneously effected by a preselector mechanism 1, each driven element of each pair 19, 20-22 is within the bore of and carried by a blind roller and one of the elements of each pair 19, 20-22, is depressable towards the shaft, or alternatively towards the roller by engagement with the other element, if the elements contact when the shaft is moved axially, the depressable element being returned by a spring 26. The two shafts 6, 7 are each mounted between a winding mechanism - 2 and the pre-selector mechanism 1 so that it can be moved axially and also rotated, and each carry three rollers 14, 15, 16 and 14a 15a, 16a respectively. The rollers are freely mounted on the shafts and respective pairs carry the indicator blind 17 between them. The shafts are arranged to be independently driven by the mechanism 2 each having a free-wheel or clutch arrangement to permit free rotation when it is not driven. The co-operating elements for driving the rollers each consists of an abutment 19 formed as a depression in the roller body which is engaged by a lever 20-22 on the shaft. The lever is pivoted in a slot in the shaft and is kept protruding from the shaft by the spring 26. The abutment on each roller and the corresponding lever are so positioned that for a given axial position of a shaft only one lever and abutment are in driving engagement. The shafts 6 or 7 are moved axially to drive any desired roller by means of the preselector mechanism 1. This consists of a shaft 11 which is rotated by a knob 12 and which is indexed in one of three positions by a spring-loaded plunger 31 engaging indents 29 in a collar 28. The shaft 11 carries two gear wheels 10, one of which engages a rack 9 on the shaft 6 and the other a similar rack on the shaft 7. These racks consist of a series of annular grooves in the shafts so that the rotation of the shafts are not interfered with. If during the axial movement of a shaft a lever 21 comes into contact with an abutment 19, the spring 26 allows the lever to retract into its slot to pass the abutment.