US1047120A - Sanitary device for telephone-mouthpieces. - Google Patents

Description

G. s. BENNETT. SANITARY, DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.16. 1911 1,047,120. Patented Dec. 10. 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1 Witn sses. Inventor,

G. S. BENNETT.

SANITARY DEVICE FORTBLBPHONE MOUTHPIEGES.

' APPLICATION FILED JANJG, 1911.

Patnted Dec. 10, 1912.

3 SHBETSBHEET 2.

Inv n r G. Beymeu.

G. S. BENNETT.

SANITARY DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECES.

APPLICATION FILED urns, 1911.

1,047, 1 20. Patented Dec. 10,1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ;()FFICE.

GEORGE SEXTON BENNETT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SANITARY DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE-MOUTHPIECES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen SEXTON BEN- NETT, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented anew and useful Sanitary Device for Telephone-Monthpieces, of which the following is a specification in such full and clear terms as will enable those skilled in the art to construct and use the same.

This invention relates to a sanitary appliance for telephon'es, and its object is to prevent the soiling of the telephone mouthpiece when speaking into the same.

Another object of the invention is to prevent the use of the telephone without changing the paper used to protect the mouthpiece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which will automatically prevent the user from speaking into the telephone without first setting the apparatus to shift the covering of the mouthpiece and to automatically shift said covering when the receiver is hung up.

Ituvill be understood by those familiar with telephones that it is common to provide a hook upon which the receiver is placed when the telephone is not in use. Upon most of the standard telephones this hook has come to be a fork upon which the receiver is'plaeed, with the ear-piece depending below the same.

It is also to be observed that it is at times necessary to call the attention of the operaton to the telephone being used by the movement of the hook, and this invention seeks to apply a tripp ng device to this hook without in any way interfering with the use of the hook in calling the attention of the operator, and at the same time to provide means whereby the paper is shifted over the receiver a given amount.

In the drawings in which the same numeral of reference is applied to the same portion throughout the several views. Figure 1 is a side elevation of the attachment; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the atlai-hment; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the attachment looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 1; Fig 4 is a vertical sectional view, of the operating gear wheel showing the position of the spring therein; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the operating gear wheel, a portion of the frame being broken away to show the spring contained there- Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

Application filed January 16, 1911. Serial No. 602,919.

in; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the paper feeding roll: Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the paper feeding roll showing the pawl which holds the roll from operat ing when it has been set; Fig. 8 is an 2nd elevation of the. paper feeding roll showing the pawl which operates said roll after the shield has been removed from in front of the telephone transmitter and the holding pawl released; Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a portion of the telephone standard showing the means for releasing the paperfeeding roll; Fig 1.0 is a plan view of the telephone standard showing the means for relea'sing the paper feeding roll; Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the attachment in place upon the telephone transmitter, showing a portion of said transi'nitter and standard; Fig. 12 is a plan view of the bracket used for holding the releasing cord; Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the bracket for holding the releasing cord; Fig. 14 is a side elevation of the apparatus'with a slightly modified form of operating means; Fig. 14- is a front view in elevation of the paper tension spring which also serves as a spring to place the proper amount of tension on the paper as it is passing under the feed roller, portions thereof being broken away to shorten the figure; Fig. '15 is a View of the forkwvhich passes over the upper end of the telephone standard; and Fig. 16 is a view of the clamp used to secure the operating spring to the telephone standard.

The numeral 1 represents the base of the paper holding apparatus over which extend forwardly four ears 2, 3, 4 and 5. The base 1 is provided with a central opening (3 which may be placed over the opening in the head of the ordinary desk telephone, the mouth piece holding said base in place as llustrated in Fig. 11. The two lopver ears 2 and 3 support a small roller 7 whi h has one end thereof projecting beyond the ears as shown at 8, for an object to he explained later. ln the rear of this small roller 7 is a large roller 9 also journaled in the same pair of ears. screws '10 and 11 being screwed into the journal 9' thereof in place. and preventing the spreading of said ears 2 and 3.

Below the large roih r 9 is pivoted a pro sure plate 12, said plate being pivoially socured to the ears 2 and 3 by means of a small rod 1 1. This plate 12 has upwardly extending ears ii at each end thereof. and each ear is provided with a finger 15 upon which bear the ends of a spring 16. This pressure plate bears upon the roller with sutficient pressure to prevent the paper from being pulled back too easily, and yet it permits the roller to slide another length of paper along when the receiver is hung up.

The large roller 9 is operated by means of a gear wheel 17 supported by a journal 18 above the ournal of the large roller. .This gear is provided with a spring 19 which tends to rotate the same in the opposite direction from the movement thereof by the lever 20 secured to the journal of said gear.

. This lever is prevented from moving more than a given distance by means of a stop '21 adjacent said. gear, and by means of the fin ger hold 22 at the lower end of the plate .2. The gear 17 is in mesh with a small gear 23 secured on the journal of the roller 9 and said journal also carries a ratchet-wheel J securcd thereto, while the roller has a pawl 26 pivoted thereto which is held in engagement with the ratchet-wheel by means of a spring 27, also secured to the end of the roller 9. At the opposite end of the roller 9 there-is a ratchet-wheel 28 secured rigidly to said roller. The ratchet-wheel is prevented fronrrotating when the receiver is oil the hook by means of a pawl 29 pivoted to the ear This pawl is held in engagement with said ratchet wheel by means of a spring 3 secured to the side plate 5 by means of a screw 31 and the pawl is prevented from moving upwardlymore than a given amount by means of a small car 32 projecting iii-- wardly from the ear 3. This pawl 29 is provided with a small hook 534 in which one end of a cord 35 is placed. This cord passes upwardly to a small roller 36 journaled on a backwardly extending car 37 at the top of the plate 1, and from here the cord extends downwardly and backwardly over a roller 38 ournaled onan arm 39, which is secured on the top of the telephone post. This last roller has a housinglO to prevent the cord from being easily displaced therefrom. When used in connection with the standard desk telephone instruments, the arm carrying the roller 38 is provided with an upwardly extending portion at) in which is formed a slot -11 to receivethe pivot pin of the telephone post.

It will. be noted inFig. 11 the edge of the roller 38 is in line with the axis of the pivot post of the movable piece of the telephone. The object of this is to permit the shifting of the mouth-piece in a vertical plane with out altering the length of the cord. The lower end of the cord is secured to a light fork :2 which is pivoted to a securing plate 43, the latter being held firmly on the re ceiver hook by means of a screw 44: passing below said hook. The rear end of the fork 42 is turned upwardly as shown at as, to prevent said fork from rising. more than a given amount. The fork is short enough so that it does not interfere with the 1n ovement of the telephone receiver hook by the fingers, and yet is long enough so that it readily engages the receiver when the same is placed upon the hook, and it then trips the pawl at the other end of the chaih.

At the top of the plate 1 the ears 4 and 5 are connected by means of a round bar 4-6, said bar also acting as the journal for a latch 47 which holds the journal 48 of the said latch having two cars 50 which pass into a slit 51 in said journal. This latch is also provided with a finger hold 52, and in order to prevent the latch from turning entirely around, the plate 4 is provided witha stop 53.

The paper roll is prevented from turning too rapidly and freely by means of an extension of the springs which bear upon the friction plate 12 at the bottom of the plate 1.

The apparatus above described is to prevent soiling the telephone mouthpiece and may be used for that purpose, but since changing the paper if they can conveniently to prevent the telephone from being used without at the same time setting the apparatus to change the paper automatically.

oted on an car 56 extending inwardly from the forwardly projecting ear 2. The shield comprises a skeleton ring 57, in which is placed a metal disk 58 for the purpose cl holding a sheet of paper to carry the tele phone number and instructions for the use of the sanitary device.

The disk58 is held in place in the-ring 57 by means of three small cars 59 which are the pivot point 60 a shield is provided with an arm 6 having a forwardly projecting finger 62 which is engaged by a pair of inwardly projecting arms on a plate (34-. The plate 64E is pivoted on the same journal as the friction roller 9, and it has upwardly extending arms 65 and 66 which are engaged by an inwardly projecting pin 67 on the finger lover.

The plate 64 has an are shaped slot 68 therein through which the extended end acting as a stop for the plate 64.

From the above description it will be seen that the operation of the device is as follows: The receiver being upon thehook, the pawl. at the end of the cord is prevented from engaging the adjacent ratchet-wheel, and. thus the spring operating on the large gear wheel is enabled to rotate the roller 9 until the linger lever reaches the stop at the upper end of its travel, and so long as the receiver is upon. the "hookfthe shield will remain in front of the mouth piece, said paper roll 49 from moving longitudinally,

many persons will use the telephone without.

do so, itbecomes necessary to provide means This means is the shield which is piv-' of the small roller 7 projects, said roller' bent over the edge of the disk 58. Below shield being of a metal heavy enough to prevent the user fronrtalking into the tele phone. When the receiver is removed from the hook, the cord is slackened allowing the pawl to engage the ratchet wheel at that end of the roller 9. The finger lever may then be operated to remove the shield from in front of the mouth-piece. In the operation of removing the shield from before the mouth-piece the roller 9 is charged with sufficient energy from the spring to rotate the same, and at the same time to pull a short length of paper from the paper feed roll.

\Vhen the telephone has been used a nunr ber of times, any paper hanging below may be readily detached and thrown away by being torn off across the back edge of the pressure plate, which may be serrated 'or sharpened in any desired manner.

It will be understood that while the paper used interferes with the use of the telephone in no my at all, the shield is intended to be of sutticient thickness and rigidity as to practically prevent the use of the telephone without setting the apparatus to place a fresh length of paper each time the telephone is used, thus avoiding the danger of infection to subsequent users of the telephone.

In Fig. 14 is shown a slightly modified form of the invention. Since it might be convenient to locate the spring setting device in a place where it might be conveniently touched by the hand in picking up the telephone, the setting device shown in that figure may be used.

Tn other respects the apparatus is substantially the same as is shown in the other views. in the place oi the finger operating handle at the side of the frame, the small pulley is placed upon the spring journal. and a cord is passed about the same and is secured thereto. This pulley has a pin 71 which acts as the means for moving the plate til the same as the pin on tl'ie't'orm of the invention shown in the preceding figures, and it is provided with another pin 72 to prevent l'hc spring tl'fllll rotating it more than the linger lever is rotaicd in the preceding l'igurcs. said pin coming against one of the arms of the plate it which acts a: a stop when the hodom ot' the slot (l8 strikes the screw 8. From thispullev the cord TI, is passed upwardly to a pulley Tl on a hackwardly rojecting car T5, and alter passing over said pull y. the c rd passe in l'ront. ol' the pulley us on an arm Ti secured todhe lop ol' the telephone post. the same as the pullcy on the other side thercot. This pulley is so placcd that. the point of contact or the cord lhercwiih is in line with the axis of the telephone hcad thus making the distance between the upper pulley and the lower pulley substantially the same at all times.

After passing through the lower pulley the cord is connected with one end of a fork spring 77 which is secured by means of the clamp 78 to the telephone post. T is spring stands normally the distance of about i of an inch in front of the telephone post, and

when the latter is picked up, the thumb -is placed upon the spring and pushes the firk' spring back, setting the paper operating mechanism and uncovering the mouthpiece.

The paper is fed through upon hanging up the receiver in the same manner as in the previous form of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what ventthe use of the telephone when'said' paper feeding mechanism has been set, and means to remove said shield from the tele; phone transmitter, substantially as described.

2.111 a sanitary device for telephone t 'ansmitters, a frame adapted to beattached to a telephone, a paper roll carried thereby, means to. feed a portion of paper across the mouthpiece of the telephone, a shield to prevent the use of said telephone when said paper feeding mechanism has been set, and manual means for removing said shield from in front of the telephone mouthpiece and setting the paper feeding mechanism when the telephone is to-he used, substantially as described.

5. Ina sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted to be attached to a telephone. a paper roll carried thereby, paper feeding mechanism adapted to carry a length of paper across the mouthpiece of the telephone. a shield to prevent the use of said-telcplmne withoutsetting said paper t'ccd mechanism. means to remove said shield l'rom in front of the mouthpiece, and means operated by the placement of the telephone receiver upon the hook supporting the same to release thc paper feeding mechanism to feed a length of paper across the mouthpiece and return the shield to its position in front ot' the mouthpiece. substam ially as described.

-l-. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters. a frame adapted to be attached to a telephone, a paper roll carried thereby, paper feeding mechanism adapted to carry a length of paper across the telephone lllfllllllliltltk a shield to prevent the use of said tclcphonc without setting said paper feeding mechanism. ma nnal means to remove aid shield lrom the mouthpiece and set the paper feeding mechanism, and means opcratcd hy the placement of the receiver upon its hook to release the paper feeding mechanism to feed a length of paper across said telephone mouthpiece and return the shield to its position in front of the same, substantially as described.

5. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted to be attached across the telephone mouthpiece and t e return of said shield in front of the same when the user is through with said telephone,

substantially as described.

6. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted to be attached to a telephone transmitter, a paper roll carried thereby, a paper feeding roll onv said frame, a spring actuated gear wheel, a finger lever to compress the spring in said gear .and preparesaid paper feeding roll for movement, a latch to release said paper feeding roll, and a fork upon which the telephone receiver is to be placed, and means connecting said fork and the roll holding latch to relcasethe roll when the telephone receiver is to be hung up, substantially as described.

7. In a sanitary device for telephone transmitters, a frame adapted to be attached to a telephone transmitter, a paper roll carried thereby a paper feeding roll carried by said frame, a pivoted shield to prevent the use of said. telephone, means to set the paper feeding roll for-movement and remove said shield from proximity to the mouthpiece of said telephone, and means connected with the support of the telephone receiver to release thepaper feed roll and feed a length of paper across the tltlllSIIlltlQl', substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of November A. D.

.1910, in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

GEORGE SEXTON BENNETT. Witnesses:

(ltnannns R. HoL'roN, C. GRIFFIN.

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