US1035523A - Mail-bag rack for mail-cars. - Google Patents

Description

D. H. BORGMEYER.

MAIL BAG RACK FOR MAIL CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.1, 1911.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

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DAVID E. BOBGKEYER, OF 8'1 CHARLES, MISSOURI.

MAIL-BAG nacx ron MAIL-cans.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

Application filed December 1, 1911. Serial No. 668,212.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I,'DAvin H. BOBGMEYER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of St. Charles, in the county 5 of St. Charles and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Racks for Mail-Cars, of which the followin is a full, clear, and exact description, re. erence being had to the t accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to racks or articulated hanger frames for supporting open mail bags or pouches while mail is being distributed and placed therein by postal employees, the rack to which my present invention pertains being of the kind utilized in railway mail cars.

The object of the resent invention is the 56 production of a folding bag rack that may be contracted into a small compass when not in use, and which includes foldable props or legs of novel construction.

The props or legs of my mail bag rack B5 are so designed and their parts so arranged relative to each other as to permit of their automatically assuming their serviceable positions when the rack is unfolded, and retaining their utility positions without fas- BO tening devices of any kind, and it is in such construction and arrangement that my improvement resides.

Figure I is an end, elevation of my mail bag rack. Fig. II is a front elevation of the B5 rack.

In the accompanying drawings: A designates an articulated hanger frame comprising a pair of links or side bars 1 having return hooks 1 and connected by hanger l0 rods 2, the latter beingequipped with any desirable number of hooks 3 from which mail bags may be suspended. The side bars of the frame A are hinged at their inner ends to brackets 4: that are secured to the 4 wall of a railway mail car to permit of the frame occupying the elevated position seen' in full lines,'Figs. I and II, and also being lowered into the position seen in dotted lines Fig. I.

The articulated hanger frame A is sustained in inclined serviceable position so as to present hanger rods in stepped arrangement by foldable props or toggle links having pivotal connection with the free ends of the return hooks of the side bars 1 of the hanger frame, and also having pivotal connection with the floor of the railway mail car. These toggles each comprise a lower link 5 pivoted to a foot iece 6 that is se cured to the car floor. T ey also each comprise an upper link 7 that is ivoted to a return hook on the side bar 0 the hanger frame and has pivotal connection 8 with the lower link ata distance from its lower end. Thenpper link 7 of each toggle is furnished with a hook extension 9 that projects beyond the pivot 8 and lies arallel with the lower link section 5. ThlS hook extension is in turn formed with a laterally extending hook 10 that abuts against and embraces the lower link when the two link sections are unfolded and adjusted into the positions they assume While supporting the hanger frame A.

When my mail bag rack has been in a folded condition and it is desired to place it in condition for service, it is only necessary to lift the hanger frame A from its lowered position, during which action the upper link sections 7 are first swun upwardly with said hanger frame, and t ereafter exert a pull upon the upper ends of the lower link sections to draw them outwardly until the two sections of each prop of the rack become alined with each other and occupy a common inclined lane beneath the hanger frame. Immediately after the link sections have assumed the relation mentioned, the twosections of each toggle gravitate forwardly, as permitted by the form of joint connecting them, until they have passed sli htly out of alinement with each other an become deadlocked, owing to their having passed a dead center.

It will be apparent that by the described construction I have produced a mail bag rack in which the toggle links move automatically to their locked supporting positions. when the hanger arm of the rack is elevated; and it will be understood that the rack may be readily and quickly folded by the simple act of pressing the pivotally connected ends of the lmk sections rearwardly to permit of the links assuming their folded positions. It will further be apparent that when the links move to their folded positions, the hanger frame presses against the links, as illustrated in dotted lines Fig. 1, and the entire rack maintains its folded condition without liability of assuming the action of any of its members.

The side bars of the hanger frame A are provided with the hooked or curved forward ends 1, to which the upper links 7 are pivoted. This construction is desirable, for the reason that it provides for the side bars of the hanger frame being se arated from the upper links when the rack is folded, and obviates the liability of apersons fingers becoming caught between the parts mentioned, if the hanger frame is held in the hand during the folding of the rack.

I claim A mail bag rack for mail cars comprising an articulated hanger frame having inclined side bars each formed with a return hook, stepped hanger rods connecting the side bars, bag hooks threaded on the hanger bars, side brackets adapted to be secured to the Wall of a, car and to Which the side bars are pivoted, foot pieces adapted to be secured to the floor of a car and foldable props each comprising a lower link pivoted at its inner end to a foot piece, and an upper link pivoted at its inner end to a hook of a side bar, and its outer end pivoted to the other end of the lower link and having a hook extension beyond the pivot of the links formed with a laterally extending hook.

DAVID H. BORGMEYER. In the presence ot FRANK KISTER, J. G. LAWLER.

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