GB976816A - Improvements in or relating to spacing stations for pneumatic tube carrier systems - Google Patents

Abstract

976,816. Pneumatic dispatch apparatus. LAMSON ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. April 25, 1963 [Feb. 23, 1962], No. 7135/62. Heading B8A. In a pneumatic tube carrier system, a spacer station 1, Fig. 1, adapted to receive carriers in succession and release them at predetermined time intervals, comprises a control switch 11 initiated by passage of a carrier into the station to control the immediate release of the carrier and associated with a timing means which controls the entry of a second carrier into the housing for despatch after a predetermined time interval. The station comprises angularly disposed entry and exit tubes 3, 4 and a transfer housing 5 pivoted at 7 for alternate alignment with the tubes 3, 4 by a solenoid device 12, 13 operating through a linkage 14. With the housing 5 in line with the tube 3, the carriers come to rest against a fixed stop 8 and engage the control switch 11 which operates the solenoid 12, 13 through a slow-acting relay. The housing 5 is thereby moved to a position aligned with the tube 4 for release of the carrier, a stop 9 on the housing moving into the path of the tube 3 to prevent entry of a further carrier. After the required time delay, controlled by a delay system (Fig. 4, not shown), the housing is returned into alignment with the tube 3 for receipt of the next carrier. Pairs of delay devices 1 may be incorporated in pneumatic carrier systems to prevent collisions when carriers from more than one source are required to enter a single line, as when transferring carriers from a first ring system to a second ring system. A duplicated time delay relay system (Fig. 6, not shown) controls the operations of the delay devices and is adapted to render one of the switches 10 ineffective until a predetermined time after the other has been operated. Further contacts associated with one of the switches 10 also prevent simultaneous release of carriers from both housings.