US1032785A - Street and station indicator. - Google Patents

Description

H. U. SHIPMAN. STREET AND STATION INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED JULY 19,1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

I I z 1 r r 1 1 I 1 1 I Ir r COLUMBIA I'LANOGRAPH cu.. WASHINGTON. I) c.

HAROLD CLIFFORD SHIIEMAN, 10F COBALT, ONTARIO, CANADA.

STREET AND STATION TNDIGATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 19 12.

Application filed July 19, 1911. Serial No. 639,439.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, HAROLD Cnirronn SI-IIIMAN, of the town of Cobalt, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Street and Station Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This inventlon relates to lmprovements in street and station indicators of the type adapted to indicate the station or stopping places of an electric railway or other car or moving vehicle and the objects of the invention are to provide a simple and effective form of device for this purpose which will be exceedingly compact and may be readily operated and adjusted.

Other objects are to enable the belt on which are printed or mounted the names of the station, to be mounted in very small space and also to enable slack in such belts, to be readily taken up.

Another object is to provide an instrumentality of the class specified, which from an operative standpoint will in usage possess a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness and which, structurally considered will be of the greatest possible simplicity, being composed of but a few parts, all adapted for being made at a minimum of cost and individually so formed as to be capable of being readily assembled in a neat and compact arrangement for accomplishing the purpose intended.

Other-objects and advantages will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter, and with these and other ends in view, this invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of parts and arrangement of elements hereinafter more explicitly set forth as an exemplification of the underlying principles in volved in the invention.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and may be comprehensible to others skilled in the art, drawings illus trating a convenient means of'carrying out the same are pointed out as a part of this specificatlon, and whlle the controlling prm-l ciples of the invention may be otherwise applied by modifications falling within the scope of the claims, the hereinafter disclosed embodiment is that which will ordinarily be preferably employed in practice and is regarded as representing substantial improvements over the many obvious or implied variations of the same. .In such drawings it is to be noted that likenumerals refer to corresponding parts throughout all the figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 *is anz' elevation partially .in section of an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a cross -sec tion on the line 2-2 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of the operating mechanism. Fig. 4 is a section through one of the pulleys on which the 'belt is mounted. Fig. '5 is a perspective view of the belt tightening means. Fig. 6 is an elevation of an alternative form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings A is a casing constructed of suitable material such as sheet metal or wood and of such size and shape as to properly contain and support the working parts.

B represents an indicating belt on which are printed or mounted the names of the streets or stations at which the car will in its ordinary course stop; each of said names occupies substantially the same space and one of said names is adapted to be displayed through a window 10 provided in the side of the casing. The indicating belt is support ed from a plurality of shafts C mounted within the casing and suitably journaled therein; as illustrated four shafts are provided and they extend vertically in the cars ing. Eachshaft carries one or more center pulleys 11 and end pulleys 1-2 and 13. The center pulley 11 is formed at each end with beveled flanges 14 and 15 adapted to center the belt on the pulley while the pulleys 12 and 13 have beveled flanges 16 on their inner end only adapted to retain the belt in outermost position. The belt 13 is wound about the pulleys in the manner indicated the portion in front of the window extending substantially horizontally. To keep the belts from contacting at the rear side, a pulley 40 may be provided on the case adapted to engage and hold the outermost turn of the belt. The pulleys may be conveniently attached to their respective shafts by means of transversely extending bolts 17 having their heads and the nutscountersunk whereby they will not project outwardly to catch the surface of the belt.

Actuation of the belt in the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 is effected through the medium of a reciprocable dog D which extends through the casing and has a hook shaped end 17 adapted to engage the side teeth 17" of a ratchet wheel 18 mounted on one of the shafts C, said. dog also having a projection 17 to engage the teeth 17 on top of ratchet. The dog itself is connected to one arm of a belt crank lever 19, the

opposite arm being connected to a cord 20 or the like by which it may be operated. This cord conveniently extends to a position in the car by which it may be operated by either the motorman or conductor. The bell crank lever 19 may be conveniently supported from a bracket 21 on the side of the casing. To return the dog to original position a lever 22 is provided which is centrally pivoted to a bracket 23 and has one end pivotally connected to the dog D while the other end is connected to a tension spring 24, which spring has the opposite end connected to the side of the casing and is adapted to return the dog to normal position when moved therefrom. In order to take up any slack of the belt simultaneously at opposite ends thereof the bearing blocks 25 of one of the shafts are made movable as illustrated. These bearing blocks are formed with tongues 26 which fit into suitable grooves 27 provided in a guideway 28 in which the block 25 is mounted. The block at the top of the shaft is provided with a screw threaded adjusting shaft 29 which extends through the side of the casing and may be provided with a milled head 30 by which it may be turned. It is retained in adjusted position through the medium of a pivoted dog 31 adapted to engage a ratchet wheel 32 on the shaft 29. The shaft 29 also carries a beveled gear 33 which meshes with a like gear 34 provided on a vertically extending shaft 35 which is supported from brackets 36. The opposite end of this shaft carries a beveled gear 37 which meshes with a beveled gear 38 mounted on a transversely extending shaft 39' which is screw threaded and engaged with a perforation provided in the lower block 25. It will beseen that when the shaft 29 is turned it will also turn the shaft 30 and thus the shaft C will be moved in a direction at right angles to itself. In using the device the casing is mounted in an appropriate position in a car from which it can be seen. by the passengers therein. The conductor or motorman of the car will then actuate the indicating belt to correspond with the movement of the car.

In the alternative form shown in Fig. 6 the belt is adapted to be actuated from an electric motor E connected to one of the shaftslC and included in an electric circuit 40 which circuit includes a source of power 41 such as a storage battery which may be charged from the source which drives the car and a switch 42 located in .the car ad jacent to the position of the motorman. The motor should be of low speed, and if desired a switch might be provided both at the front and at the back of the car.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention, within the scope of the claims, constructed without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specifl cation and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is z 1. In a street and station indicator and in combination a plurality of shafts each shaft carrying a central pulley and end pulleys, said central pulley having beveled flanges on opposite ends adapted to center the belt and said end pulleys having beveled flanges on the inner'ends only adapted to retain the belt in outermost position, an indicating belt mounted on said pulleys in such a way as to display a horizontally extending frontao-rtion, a casing supporting the shafts and having a window through which a portion of the indicating belt may be observed and means for actuating one of the shafts.

2. In a street and station indicator and in combination, a plurality of shafts, each shaft carrying a central pulley and end pulleys, said central pulley having beveled flanges on opposite ends and said end pulley having beveled flanges on the inner ends only and an indicating belt mounted on said pulleys, said belt being so threaded on the pulleys as to provide three horizontal strips at the front side of the casing, the

belt being threaded diagonally from the lowest pulley on one side to the uppermost pulley on the other side at the rear, a casing supporting the shafts and having a window through which a portion of the indicating belt may be observed and means for actuating one of the shafts.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

HAROLD CLIFFORD SHIPMAN.

Witnesses GEO. MrroHELL, H. P. 'MCGINNES.

Copies ofthis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washingtoml). 0.! I

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