US1020419A - Time-recording device for electric trains. - Google Patents

Description

F. HEDLEY & J. S. DOYLE. TIME RECORDING DEVICE ECR ELECTRIC TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, 1910.

1,020.41 9. Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

E. HBDLEY & J. S. DOYLB. TIME RECORDING DEVICE EOE ELECTRIC TRAINS.

APPLIATION FILED MAY 17, 1910. 1,020,111 9. Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

2 SHEETS-'SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK HEDLEY, OF YONKERS, AND JAMES S. DOYLE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TIME-RECORDING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC TRAINS.

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that we, FRANK HEDLEY and Jamas S. DoYLn, both citizens of the United States, residing at Yonkers, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, and New York, in the county and State of New York, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Time-Recording Devices for Electric Trains and the Like, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the operation of electric railways it has been found that considerable power is wasted by unskilful or careless motormen, who fail to take full advantage of opportunities for t coasting, that is, allowing the train to run under its own momentum without taking current from the line, as for example down a slight grade, or on a level stretch of track, or in approaching a station. Various means have therefore been devised for keeping some sort of a check on the motormen, so that knowledge of their work may be gained, with the object of ascertaining who of them are exercising skill and care in handling their trains. In such case suitable rewards or bonuses can be offered to the motormen, based upon the power or current saved as determined by the information afforded by the registering devices.

In a prior patent granted to us Nov. 23, 1009, No. 940,810, we have described and 'claimed broadly means for recording the time or portion of a run spent in coasting, that is, running with current and brakes both off.7 In'general it is found that for determining the motorman`s saving or waste of power this coasting time is the most advantageous basis; but there are circumstances in which it is desirable to know other items as well, as for example to serve as a check on other records. For this purpose we have been lcd to devise our present invention, which has for its chief. object to provide apparatus for recording the sum of the time during which the train is taking current from the line, that is, the time of acceleration of the train, and the time.during which brakes are on, that is, the time of deceleration.

A further object is to provide apparatus for this purpose which shall be of theV simplest possible character and withal thoroughly reliable in operation.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features of construction Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 17, 1910.

`olf and the brakes released.

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

serial No. 561,798.

and combinations of elements hereinafter described.

A convenient and effective embodiment lof the invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a diagram showing the wiring of the system, and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of a portion of an electrically propelled carwith our apparatus installed therein.

The switch 1 in Fig. 1 is intended to represent any suitable controller by which the motor or motors of the car or train are controlled, and 2 is intended to represent a suit able brake-controller by which the brakes may be applied and released, these parts being also shown in Fig.. 2. According to our invention the connection of the recording device to these controllers, or, in general, the controlling instrumentalities of the car or train, is such that whenever the controlling instrumentalities are so manipulated by the motorman as either tofdeliver current to the motor or to apply the brakes the recording device will be set in operation and will continue in operation until the current is cut Or, stated otherwise, the arrangement is such that the recording device will record the sum of the time during which the current is on with the brakes off and the time during which the brakes are on with the current off. These times are in fact the periods of acceleration and deceleration since when the current is on, the train is being accelerated and when the brakes are on the speed of the train is being diminished or prevented from increasing.

The recording device may be of any suitable character, one form of the same being illustrated diagran'lmatically in the drawing. In this form the time-printing wheels 3, loose on the shaft 4 so as to rotate thereon, are suitably connected with a driving gear 5 also loose on the shaft but in mesh with a connecting gear 0 which isdriven by a gear 7 rigidly mounted on a shaft 8. The latter shaft is rotated by a bevel gear 9 in mesh with a bevel gear 10 whose shaft 11 is driven continuously by a clock. indicated diagrammatically at 1Q. The shaft 4 also carries a loosely mounted time-printing wheel 13 and a driving gear 14 therefor, and on the shaft 15, which supports the connect? ing gear 6, is an axially movable connecting gear 16 secured to a hub 17, the hub and the gear 16 being rotatable, as well as slidable, on the shaft 15. The gear 16 and its hub are normally held with the gear out of mesh with the driving gear 14 by a spring 17a but when the hub is pushed in the gear 16 meshes with 14 and also with a gear 18 fixed on the clocledriven shaft 8. 1t will therefore be seen that when the connecting gear is thus advanced into operative connection with the time-printing wheel 13 the latter will be rotated by the clock and that when the said connecting gear is retracted or disconnected by the spring 17a the wheel 13 will cease to turn. F or the purpose of advancing the gear y1G an armature lever Q0 is provided, with one end bearing on the hub 17 and the other end in the field of an electro-magnet 21, so that when the magnet is energized the lever will be actuated and the hub 17 advanced. Extending across the time-printing wheels is an ink-ribbon 2Q, and back of the ribbon is a platen or printing hammer 23, so that throwing the, hammer forward, by any suitable means not shown, will cause a time-imprint to be made on a card or strip of paper inserted between the hammer and the ribbon.

The energization of the electromagnet 21 can be put under the control of the electrical controlling instrumentalities of the train in a variety of ways, one of which will now be described. The magnet 21 may be energized from any suitable source of current, in the present instance a battery 22a, grounded at 22". The solenoid 24, whose core 25 controls one`circuit of magnet, Q1 and battery Q2, is energized whenever the controller 1 is in an on position, that is, when the train motor is taking current; a convenient arrangement for the purpose being to connect the solenoid, through a resistance 26, to the wire 27 which carries current to the train motor. It will therefore be seen that when the wire 27 is energized by elosingthe switch or controller 1 current will flow through the solenoid to ground 28. The core Q5 will then be lifted, bringing the bridge piece Q9, carried by the core, into engagement with the contacts 30, 31, and establishing a circuit as follows: ground 22h and battery 22a, wire 3Q, contact 30. bridge piece 29, contact 31, wire 33, wire 34 and magnet 21 to ground 35. The magnet 21 is thereby energized and the connecting gear 1G is brought into mesh with gears 18 and 14. The time printing wheel 13 is thus set in motion, and continues to move until the solenoid 24 is dee'nergized by cutting off the current at the controller 1; whereupon the core 25 drops, breaking the circuit at contacts 30, 31, den'ergizing the magnet, 21, and permitting the spring 17 to disconnect the gears 14, 16, 18, as already described. The above operations are of course repeated at each closing and opening of the switch 1, that is, whenever the current is thrown on and cut ofi" from the train motors, and it will therefore be seen that the time printing wheel 13 adds together the separate times during which the train motor or motors are taking current.

For the purposes of recording the sum of the times during which the brakes are on the following instruu'ientalities may be provided` in conjunction with the brake-cylinder 38. The piston 39, working in the brakecylinder, is connected by a rod 40 to a block 41.l sliding on a rod or guide 4Q and connected by a spring 43 to a bridge piece 44 sliding on the same rod and coperating with contacts 45, 46, the first of which is connected to wire 34 by a shunt wire .47, and the latter to the battery QQ by a shunt wire 48. Now suppose the brake controller 2 is manipulated to admit compressed air from the pipe 4S) (connected with the compressed air reservoir, not shown) through pipe 50 to the brake c vlinder 38 in rear of the piston. The

latter is thereby advanced, bringing the bridge piece 44 into engagement with the contacts 45, 4G, and establishing .the following circuit: ground 22h and battery 2Q, through wire 48, contact 46, bridge piece 44, Contact 45, wires 47 and 34, to magnet 21 and ground 35. The magnet Q1, being thus energized, actuates its armature lever E20, which throws the connecting gear 1G into mesh with gears 14 and 18. The time-printing wheel 13 is thus set in motion. 1When the controller 2 is turned back to off positionto release the brakes the air escaping' through pipe 50 permits the piston 39 tobe retracted in the usual way, thereby breaking thevcirlcuit by withdrawing the bridge piece 44 from engage.n ment with contacts 45, 46; whereupon magnet 21 is denergized, unless it should happen that the motorman should carelessly throw on the current by manipulation of the controller 1 before releasing the brakes, in which case the circuit first traced through the magnet 21, by way of contacts 30, 31, and wire 33, would keep the magnet energized and the time-printing wheel 13 in motion.

Now whenever the current is on or the brakes are on or both, the train is consuming power: and inasmuch as the timeprinting wheel 13 is in motion whenever and as long as the current or brakes or both are on it will be seen that the printing wheel takes account of the total time during which the train consumes power. As the train starts on a run a card or. slip of paper is inserted in the recording device and an imprint taken. Suppose, for example, that the imprint from wheel 13 is OQ, meaning two minutes, and that from the wheels 3 is A10 40. lVhen the train completes the round trip another record is taken on the same card or slip, reading, for instance, 57 and P12 04. Simple subtraction at once shows that in a run of one hour andv twenty-four minutes power was expended on the train, either in the motors or in thel brake shoes, for 55 minlmounted in any convenient position on the car, as for example in a suitable casing in the front vestibule, as in Fig. 2.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction and arrangement herein illustrated and described, but is capable of other embodiments without departure from its proper spirit and scope.

lVe claim:

1. lThe combination with the motorand brake-controlling instrumentalities of an electrically propelled vehicle, of a recording device having clock-driven mechanism for making time-records, and means associated with said controlling instrumentalities for setting said mechanism in operation whenever current is supplied to the propelling motor of the vehicle or the brakes are applied, whereby the said recording mechanism will sum up the periods of acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle.

2. The combination with the motorand brake-controlling instrumentalities of an electrically propelled vehicle, ot' a recording device having clock-driven mechanism for making time records, and electromagnetic means under the control of said controlling instrumentalities for putting the said clockdriven mechanism in operation whenever current is supplied to the propelling motor of the vehicle or the brakes are applied.

3. The combination with the motor-controller and the brake-controller of an electrically propelled vehicle, of a time-recording device, an armature controlling the timerecording device, an electromagnet arranged to actuate the armature to set the time-recording device in operation, and parallel circuits for the electromagnet to energize the same, one circuit being controlled by the motor-controller and the other by the brakecontroller.

4. The combination with a conductor for supplying current to a vehicle motor, of a controller in circuit with said conductor to open and close the circuit therethrough, a solenoid connected to said conductor'so as to be energized thereby when the Circuit thereof is closed, a circuit controlled by said solenoid, an electromagnet inthe circuit controlled by the solenoid, a time-recording device arranged to be set in operation whenever the electromagnet is energized, a brakecontroller, and means, dependent for operation upon manipulation of the brake-controller to throw on the brakes, for energizing the said electromagnet to set the time-recording device in operation independently of the said solenoid. r

5. The combination with the motorand brake-controllers of an electrically propelled vehicle, of a time-recording device, an electromagnet arranged to set the time-recording device in operation when the electromagnet is energized, a circuit :tor the electromagnet, having separated contacts, a solenoid under the control of the motor-controller, means actuated bythe solenoid 'for closing said circuit through the said contacts, and means, dependent for operation upon manipulation of the brake-controller to throw on the brakes, for establishing a shunt circuit around thel said contacts and through the electromagnet; whereby ythe electromagnet will be energized and the time-recording device set in operation whenever the'motor-controller is manipulated to deliver current for propelling the vehicle, and whenever the brake-controller is manipulated to throw on the brakes.

6. The combination with the controlling instrumentalities of an electrically propelled vehicle, of a time-recorder having continuously clock-driven means for recording the total time of a run or trip and having clockdriven recording means capable of intermittent operation, .and means for setting the inoperation wherever the vehicle `is taking' current from the source of power or the brakes are applied.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK HEDLEY. JAMES S. DOYLE. Witnesses: GEO. KEEGA'N, H. M. NoRRIs.

termittently operable recording means in

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