US1001311A - Street-indicator. - Google Patents

Description

W'-"D. SEAL E.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION rum) FE11.23,1911.

Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

a. inflamed STATES wI LmM; DANIEL SEALE, offitoNrREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

PATENT s'rnnnninmcn'ron.

To whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I; lVILLL-nr DANIEL SnnLga citizen of the United States, now mslding'at Montreah Province ofQuebec,

6; Domin1on of Cana Indicators; and I do hereby declare that" the 'j'tion thereof. 1 i v 'llhis invention relates to street indicators n a, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Street-- following is a full, clear, and exact descripwhichare ada ted to be placed inthe interior of ar vehic eso that a name indicating a occupants of the vehicle.

Heretofore dlihculty has been experienced in preventing sagging between the carrylng spools of the ribbon bearing the'street names and also in bringing the street name to its propel-indicating position when a, greater amount ofribbon is wound upon one spool and while elaborate' mechanism, has been devised which overcomes this defect to some 'extentvthe" difiiculty is still present when I the indicator is used with ,acarmaking a, 2

long mm. the name bearing ribbon being necessarily extended in length to accommodate the names of the numerous cross- .stlfeets andone of the objects of my invention is to provide a simple "mechanism "whereby the desired street namemay readily brought into its proper indicating 85 whe reby the indicator when placed at the position irrespective of the length of the ribbon and also to prevent sagging of the latter between the carrying spools. s

A further object is to provide means frort of the interior of the car, may be operated from the rear vestibule'during thecomplete run 'ofthe latter one adjustment nly being necessary when the car starts on its return run.

A further object is. to simplify the general construction. of indicators and toprovide readily removable parts therefor.

QFoffullv comprehension however of my invention reference must be had to the ac oompan'yin'g drawings formlng a part of .this specification in which similar reference cliaracterw-indicate the same parts and w erein:

, Figural is a longitudinal sectional view ofa car with my improved indicator aplied thereto and shown in side elevation: ig.2 is a face view of the indicator proper partly broken away to expose the interior thereof: Fig. 3 isa transverse section there- I of taken on line A A i i'l 2 Serial No. 610,188.

, l is a longitudinal section of a-sprocket-fw eel casing included in my invention? i'g; is a perspective view of a. chain ghiding bracket and Fig. .6 is a perspective view of aicotter included in my improved mechanism.

To illustrate the adaption qrmjy im roved' street indicator I havesho'wii it ie d to a street railway car as'in Fig. '1. p l

.The indicator proper; which will" be presen ly described, is preferablyfsitliatedat the front of the interior of are near-{the top and in such position thatitsindicating face is in full view of the occupants arias car.

The indicator proper-"consistsoffapair of sp'oolsbtand c rotatabl'y supported within a casin, q d by trunnions e restingfliipon brackets f and secured in placebyst rapsg so that when it is desired the-" spoolsmay'be readily removed by displacing tlieflstra s,

'the said spools being so dis osed Within ation to each other that arlbbon h liearing the names of streets thereon andfsuitably attached to the spools ma be wotind from one spool to the otherjancljvice verse according to the direction in which the car is traveling. The front side io-fthe'casin is hinged to the main body and has a glass covered opening j therein expdsin'g the pdr- .tion of the ribbon h which bears the name of thestrefet then being indicated tli'ehinged side i of the casing allowin'g'areadjaiccess to the interior of the latterF-fora pur'ose which will be apparent from the "followin The means I prefer to employ to operate the spools comprise a pair of sprocketwheels 15 one of which is loosely mounted upon-"each trunnion at one end of the sp oolsfthe trnnr nions being extended forthis pnrpose. An endless sprocket chain l is passed overthe sprocket wheels "and extends 'throughvan aperture min the bottom off-K the'easin'g d from which it passes thro'tigh 'apipe to the underside ofythe floor of the car fl and thence to thelrear vestibule from where the indicator is operated as will *be "presently described. An idler 0 supported adjacent to the aperture fmg guides the*ch'ain" there5 throughand tends to holdthedlattei"'firmly in position upon the sprocket-wheels;

In the operation 'of theyiaaicamrydae of v the sprocket-Wheels only is rigidly sediired to its trunnion, the other remai-niiighloosa so that when the chain'--*l is iopc1ated;*iinly' one of the spools receives direct movement therefrom the other having movement 1ml Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 1911, l Ap lication filed February 23,4911. i

parted thereto by the action of the ribbon as it winds upon the spool directly con- I nected to the chain.

To alternately attach the sprocket-wheels to their trunnions a collar 7) is formed integrally with each of the sprockehwheels and has diametrically opposite holes 9 therein adapted to register with a hole 1* bored through its trunnion while a cotter s is adapted to be'inserted through the regise tering holes of the sprocket-wheel it is desired to, rigidly/connect to its trunnion. The legs of the cotter I employ are outwardly bent at a point 1? adjacent to their ends which latter are turned inwardly into contact with each other thus forming a pointwhich facilitates the insertion of the cotter, the outwardly bent portion yieldingly re- I sisting withdrawal thereof. By so forming the cotter I obtain the advantage of the yielding resistance without the disadvanhtage of flared ends which have heretofore made it difiicult to insert the cotter.

By the means just described the ribbon is prevented from sagging between the spools and a smooth surface, clearly dis laying eneath the desired street name is exposed the opening j in the front of the casing.

This feature overcomes the defect experiv enced when both spools are operatively connected to the chain atthe same time when,

before the transverse center of the ribbon passes from one spool to the other the latter spool takes up theribbon more slowly than the former delivers the same due to the greater diameter of such spool while, as will be apparent, when one spool only is connected directly to the operating means the loose spool will deliver the ribbon at the same speed as it is taken up by the first spool.

To further maintain the tension of the ribbo'nI provide a device consisting preferably of a bow spring u secured at its center to the casing, and adjacent to one end of the spools, the ends of the springs extending toward the spools and carrying rollers 'v which bear upon and yieldingly resist the rotation of the spools toward one another.

In the present invention the portion of the ribbon directly beneath the opening 7' and bearing the name of the street then being indicated is always maintained parallel with the sides of the casing so that the name.

can be plainly seen and this is accomplished by means of a pair of brackets '20 secured to the rear of the casing near the opposite ends of the spool at a point opposite the opening 7' and extend toward the front of the casing where they are formed with branching arms an adapted to rotatively support a pair of rollers y over which the ribbon passes and isheld thereby in its properposition parallel with the sides of the casing, whereas without this support the ribbon would slant from 'throlig 'h a pipe 2 to a casin one spool to the other as one became larger and the other. correspondingly smaller due to the displacement of theribbon from one to the other.

As before mentioned the indicator is operated from the rear vestibule of the car by means of the chain Z.which extends alongthe bottom of the car from the front to thefiiear and passes upwardly therefrom 3 secured to the frame of the car and wlthin which is rotativel'y supported a'sprocket-wheel 4 over which the chain passes such'sprocket-wheel bieingicohnected with a crank arm 5. outside the casing" by means of which the desired movement is imparted to the spools. The top 15 of the casing 3 is removablein the axial liiie. of the sprocket-wheel whereby the latter may be readily removed.

- The casing 3 is gradually reduced in size from the top to the bottom where it is formed with an inverted cup-like flange 6 fitting lover the top of the pipe 2, the chain being uided into the latter by a pair of idlers carried by the casing adjacent to the top of the pipe.

Situated at intervals along the bottom of the car is a series of brackets 9 each carrying a pair of idlers over which the chain passes, the idlers 10' of the intermediate brackets being vertically arranged with relation to one another, while the idlers 12 of the brackets adjacent to the lower ends of the pipes n and. 2 are disposed diag nally to one another (see Figs. 1 and 5) s that,

the two portions of the chain are held apart as they enter the said pipes and do not interfere with one another.

' Operation: When the car starts on its run the indicator is in readiness, that is to say one of the sprocket wheels is fixed to its trunnion, the other loose and the ribbon set toindicate the first street. As the car proceeds the ribbonis moved by the crank arm 5 to successively bring the names of the streets into view beneath the opening until the end of the run is reached- To bring the street names into view in reverse order when the car is returning the cotter which has secured one. sprocket-wheel upon its trunnion on the outward runis removed from this sprocket-wheel and appliedto the.

other so that when the crank arm is operated in an opposite direction the movement of the ribbon is reversed.

.If it is desired aconta-iner 25 may be placed within the casing d and havela number of cotters therein to behandy in case it is necessary to replace the cotterthen in use while a suitably connected light 26 may also be applied to the casing.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In a car the combination-with a street indicator comprising a casing, a pair of spools within the and having trunnions, a ribbon Wound upon the spools, sprocket-Wheels normally loosely mounted upon the said trunnions and means for" alternately connecting each spr( )cket-Wl1eel to 1tS t111I1I11()l1, of on, operating device for the indlcator COII'lPl'lSlIlg' a casing, a hand operated sprocket-wheel supported within the casing and an endless chain connecting the hand operated sprocket-Wheel mentioned sprocketqvheels.

2. In a car the comb nation with a street indicator at the front of the car and comprising a casing a pair of spools Within the casing, and having trunnions, a ribbon wound upon the spools, spr0cket-'\vl1eels normally loosely mounted upon the said trunnions, a cotter, adapted to alternately connect each sprocket-Wheel to its trunnion and a hollow upright communicating with the interior of the casing and extending therefrom to the underside of the cer,-0f an with the first-' ing thehand operated sprocketavheel with the first mentioned sprocket-wheels, such chain passing through the hollow uprights and being supported by the said brackets.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM DANIED SEALE.

Witnesses:

ALEX. CURRIE, STANLEY C. KING.

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