US1061498A - Mail-bag collecting and delivering apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

E. S. PRIDDY. MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

.APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 28, 1012.

' Patented May 13, 1913.

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E. S. PRIDDY.

MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING-APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 28, 1912.

Patented May 13, 1913.

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E. S. PRIDDY.

MAIL BAG COLLECTING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 28, 1912. Patented May 13, 1913.

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UNITED srarns PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN S. PRIDDY, OF GOTI-IENBURG, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTERN MAIL TRANSFER COMPANY, INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13,1913.

Application filed August 28, 1912. Serial No. 717,639.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN S. PRIDDY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Gothenburg, in the county of Dawson and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Collecting and Delivering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to mail bag receiving and delivering apparatus, and has for its particular object the provision of simple and novel means whereby mail bags may be delivered from fast moving trains without delaying or otherwise injuring the contents of the bag.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide means for delivering a bag to a station simultaneously upon the operation of receiving one from the station.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the above stated character which will be comparatively cheap and inexpensive to manufacture, durable and readily manipulated, and one which in its use will require no change in either the mail cars or the mail pouches.

WVith these and other objects in view as will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts will be more fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a portion of a car showing the car carrying the receiving and delivering apparatus operatively positioned with respect to the receiving and delivering apparatus, which latter is suitably positioned along the side of the road bed adjacent the track thereof; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view showing the relative arrangement of said mechanism; Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal-sectional view of the bag locking means; Fig. 5 is a sectional plan taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional elevation showing the pivotal connection between the car carrying mechanism and the wall of the car; Fig. 7 is a detail vertical sectional view of the bag receiving and holding mechanism located adjacent the car track; Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 9 is a modified form of the bag receiving and holding mechanism; and Fig. 10 is a detail transverse sectional view through the sliding sleeve thereof.

Similar characters of reference are used to denote like parts throughout the accompanying drawing and in the annexed specification.

The apparatus is designed for use in con nection with a car shown at A in Fig. 1 of the drawings, said car being of the type usually employed in the railway mail service, it being provided in its sides with the usual doorway B through which the collecting and delivering mechanism carried by the car is adapted to be projected for collooting and delivering mail bags therefrom.

By reference to Fig. 1. it will be noted that the collecting and delivering mechanism carried by the car consists of a laterally extending supporting arm 0, which latter has its inner terminal ends pivotally connected to the inner face of the car wall. This arm G comprises a main and central horizontally extending arm 1 and a braced arm 9 arranged above and in parallel spaced relation to the arm 1, the inner terminal ends of said arms being pivotally connected as shown at 3, in Fig. (3 of the drawings, to the forward ends of a link 4-, the latter having its rear ends pivotally connected, as shown at 5, to the wall (3 of the car A. It is to be understood that any well known form of pivotal connection between these parts may be used, and in this instance I have shown them to be of the ball bearing type of hinge or pivotal connection. The forward end of this braced arm 2 extends downwardly and is secured to the upper portion of the arm 1 at a point adjacent its forward end. The forward end of the arm 1 is bifurcated to provide an arm 7 which is disposed below and in spaced relation thereto, said arm 7 projecting forwardly and formed into spaced vertically disposed arms 8 and 9.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 5 of the drawings, it will be seen that the forward end of the arm 8 is cut away on opposite sides to provide longitudinally extending recesses 10. trrauged upon the arm 8 is a locking plate 11 which is pivotally secured thereto through the medium of a bolt 19 passing through the forward portion of the arm 1 and the rear portion of the arm 8. Connected to the rear end of this locking plate 11 is a coil spring 13, the other or free end of said spring being suitably connected to the supporting arm 1. This spring is to hold the locking plate 10 in alineinent with the arm 8 for a purpose that will presently appear, however, I desire it to be understood that the use of the spring 13 is not absolutely essential to the operation of the .ClGVlCGu The forward end of the arm 1 terminates in an upwardly projecting and vertically disposed arm 14 to which is secured a guide 15 through which a latch pin 16 is adapted to slide, the latter being pivotally connected at its upper end, as shown at 17, to a trip arm 18, which latter projects forwardly into the path of a trip carried by the bag receiving and holding mechanism, to be presently described, and has its rear end pivotally connected to the upper terminal end of the member 14. A spring 19 is connected to the guide 15 and to the trip arm 18 which serves to force the latch pin 16 downwardly through an aperture 20 formed in the locking plate 11, into the recess 21 formed in the upper face of the arm 8, whereby the locking plate 11 may be held in longitudinal alinement with the arm 8 for a purpose that will presently appear. The lower arm 9 projects forwardly slightly in advance of the arm 8, and is provided upon its upper terminal end with a pair of spaced parallel receiving arms 22. These arms are fixed transversely of the arm 9, and are adapted to be arranged in parallel relation to the car when the car carrying mechanism is arranged in operative position, as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be' understood, however, that these receiving arms may be made to converge slightly from their outer ends toward the intermediate or central portions thereof, whereby the momentum of'the bag supporting means will be greatly reduced gradually as the same enters and passes along in between the said receiving arms. By reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be clearly seen that the intermediate portions of these receiving arms 22 are bent downwardly and disposed in a plane below that of the terminal portions of the arm, as clearly shown at 23. The rear end portion of the arm 1 is provided with a suitable handle 24, whereby the supporting arm C may be swung inwardly through the car door and positioned along side of the car wall in an inoperative position, as shown by dotted lines in Big. 2 of the drawings. The supporting arm C is adapted to be held in its extended or operative position by suitable means, such as a latch 25 which is pivoted intermediate its ends, as shown at 26, to the side of the door casing. The upper end of this latch 25 is bent outwardly and upwardly and is adapted to engage under and over the projecting arm 1, whereby the latter may be held securely against the door casing in its projected or operative position- When it is desired to move the supporting arm to an inward position, the latch 25 is moved from its vertical to a horizontal position, whereby the arm may be readily and easily swung inwardly of the door-way B. The arm 7 of the supporting arm O is provided with suitable securing means, and in this instance is shown to be in the form of a hook 27 adapted to engage an eye 28 secured to the inner face OI the side wall of the car,

whereby the supporting arm 0 may be se-' curely held within the car in its inoperative position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

Suitably arranged along the road bed of the railroad track is a ,mail bag receiving and holding mechanism D which is shown to consist of a suitably formed base 29, which in this instance is shown to be of cement. EX- tending upwardlv from the central portion of the base 29 is a vertical standard or post 30 which is suitably braced to the base 29 by braces 31. The .upper end of the standard 30 is provided with a trip 32 which is formed of upper and lower spaced arms which are connected at their ends by suitably formed curved portions 33, it being understood that the approach from the ends of the trip 32 toward the center thereof is to be gradual so as to allow of easy and free riding movement of the trip arm thereover. Projecting laterally from the upper end of the standard 30 in a plane beneath and adjacent the arm 8 and to a point slightly in rear of the forward end of the arm 8 is a supporting arm 34 which is adapted to support a pair of spaced bag receiving arms 35. These arms, like the arms 22, are bent downwardly at their intermediate portions and disposed in a plane beneath their terminal ends, as shown at 36.

Projecting laterally from the upper end of the standard 30 and in a plane below that of the arm 34 is a supporting bracket 37 suitably secured to the standard 30. This bracket has its opposite sides cut away toprovide oppositely disposed recesses 38. Pivotally arranged upon this bracket 37 is a locking plate 39, similar to the plate 11, and has one end provided with an aperture 40 through which a latch pin 41 is adapted to pass and into engagement with a recess 42 formed in the laterally extending bracket 37. This latch pin 31 is vertically movable through a suitable guide 43 and has its upper end connected to an eccentric link 44 which has its upper terminal ends pivotally connected eccentrically at 45 to a cam actuated trip 46, the latter being pivotally connected to a bracket 47 extending up vertically from the upper' end of the standard 30. By reference to Fig. 8 of the drawings,

it will be noted that the cam actuated trip 46 is provided with trip shoulders 48 which are adapted to be engaged by the trip arm 18, whereby the cam actuated trip may be partially revolved to release the latch pin 41 from the locking plate 39.

It is to be understood that the mail bags used in connection with this device are to be provided with suspension chains a9 which are preferably covered with leather and are provided on their terminal ends with a spherical head or ball 50. The chains 4.9 are adapted to be placed in the recesses 10 and 38 of the respective mechanisms, and are adapted to be held in said recesses through the medium of the locking plates 11 and 39 respectively, as shown by full and dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 8. The forward ends of these locking plates are bifurcated to provide parallel spaced locking arms 51, whereby the suspension chains 4L9, after having been seated within the recesses 10 and 38 of the respective parts, may be securely held therein by swinging the looking plates into alinement with their respective supporting arms where they can be conveniently latched and heldin such position until such time when they will be released during the catching and delivering of the bags. It will be apparent from Fig. 1 that the balls 50 secured to the upper ends of the chains 49 support the mail bags in position upon their respective arms or supports and are adapted to be transferred from the latter to the receiving arms 22 and 35 respectively, during which operation the balls 50 of the supporting chains 49 will slide inwardly from the terminal ends of the said receiving arms to the central or intermediate portion thereof where the balls will slide downwardly upon that portion of the receiving arms intermediate their ends where it will be obvious that the bags will be securely held upon their receiving arms against accidental displacement or disengagement therefrom during the movement of the train, or otherwise.

In the operation of the device and by reference particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the bags E and F to be delivered and received are suspended from their respective supports, as clearly shown. Now assuming the car A to be moving in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, the trip or arm 18 will come into engagement with the trip 32 upon the standard 30 and gradually ride up thereon, raising the latch pin 16 from its engagement with the locking plate 11 whereby the latter may be free to move laterally when the chain 49 of the bag E has moved inwardly between the receiving arms 35 to their inner terminal ends or against the arm 34. \Vhen the chain 49 reaches its limit of inward movement between the receiving arms 35 the locking plate 11 will move laterally upon its pivot 12 thus allowing the ball 50 to drop downwardly upon the parallel spaced receiving arms 35, the momentum of the bag carrying ball 50 upon the arms 35 toward its central or intermediate portion until the ball 50 seats within the depressed portion of the arms 35 where it will be securely held and retained against accidental disen gagement from these arms 35. Immediately after the releasing of the bag 19 and by the continuation of the trip arm 18 through its path of movement it will move into engagement with one of the trip shoulders 48 on the cam actuated trip all whereby the latch pin {t1 will be released from engage ment with the locking plate 39 thus permitting the receiving arms 22 carried by the supporting arm (1 to receive the chain 49 and disengage the ball 50 from its support, the ball 50 in this instance, like the previously described operation will slide inwardly of the receiving arms 22 until it drops into the depressed portion of the arms 22 at the central or intermediate portion thereof. From this it will be seen that I have provided a novel means of delivering and catching mail bags from fast moving trains. It is to be understood of course that when the mail car is moving in the opposite direction to that just described, the bags to be delivered and received will be arranged just oppositely to that described heretofore, and the method of catching and delivering the mail bags will be done in a manner just opposite to that described in the foregoing, as will be obvious by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

It may be found necessary to use a form of bag receiving and holding mechanism as shown in lfiigs. 9 and 10 whereby any and all shock incident to the receiving and holding of the mail bags may be readily absorbed or taken care of without liability of injury to the mail bags or to the apparatus. In this form of bag receiving and holding mechanism the mechanism supported upon the upper end of the standard 30 is suitably secured to a sliding sleeve 52 which latter may be formed of a plurality of plates secured together by suitable means such as screws 53. Each of these plates provided with anti-friction rollers 54: suitably secured therein and adapted to engage and roll upon a square horizontally disposed track which is supported at opposite ends by suitble standards 50 which may be anchored in any convenient. term of base, as shown at 57. Arranged on the opposite terminal ends of the track 55 are shock absorbing devices 58 which are shown to embody a coil spring 59 arranged between the standards 56 and a collar (30 which latter is adapted to be engaged by the ends of the sliding sleeve 52.

By a construction such as just described it will be apparent that when the mechanism carried by the car delivers a mail bag to the receiving arms carried by the sliding sleeve 52, the latter will slide freely along the rack 55 until it comes into engagement with one of the shock absorbers 58 which will arrest the motion of the bag receiving and holding mechanism in an easy and safe manner.

From the foregoing taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, that while I have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I consider the device shown to be merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new is:

1. In a mail bag collecting and delivering apparatus, the combination with a movable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, a bag delivering mechanism formed on the upper arm section, a bag collecting mechanism formed on the lower arm sect-ion, and means to lock said bag delivering mechanism in position; of an additional bag delivering and collecting mechanism mounted on a stationary object and adapted to cooperate with the aforesaid delivering and collecting mechanisms, additional means carried on said stationary object to retain said last mentioned delivering means in locked position, and means cooperating with the locking means on both the stationary and movable objects to simultaneously dispose the same to their unlocked positions.

2. In a bag delivering and collecting ap paratus the combination with a movable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, said upper arm section being provided with recesses on opposite sides thereof, a locking plate pivotally carried on said latter arm sect-ion to cooperate therewith in retaining a bag in position to be delivered, means to retain said plate in its locked position, and a bag collecting means carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag delivering and collecting means carried on a stationary object, and adapted to cooperate respectively with the aforesaid collecting and delivering means, and means on the stationary object to temporarily release the locking means for the plate on said movable object.

3. In a bag delivering and collecting apparatus, the combination with a movable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end'of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sec tions, said upper arm section being provided with recesses on opposite sides thereof, a locking plate pivotally carried on said latter arm section to cooperate therewith, in retaining a bag in position to be delivered, means to retain said plate in its locked position, and a bag collecting means carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag delivering and collecting means carried on a stationary object and adapted to cooperate respectively with the aforesaid collecting and delivering means, additional locking means for the last mentioned delivering mechanism, and means carried on said stationary object adapted to cooperate with the lock ing means on both the movable and stationary objects to temporarily dispose the same to their released positions.

4-. In a bag delivering and collecting apparatus, the combination with a movable object, an arm extending laterally therefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, the upper arm section being recessed on opposite sides thereof, a plate pivotally carried on the upper face of said upper arm section and centrally recessed to provide arms for cooperation with the aforesaid recesses in said upper arm section, means to normally retain said plate in longitudinal alinement with the upper arm section, means to lock said plate in the last mentioned position, and a bag delivering mechanism carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag delivering and collecting mechanism carried on a stationary object and adapted for cooperation with the aforesaid collecting and delivering mechanism, and means on the stationary object for releasing the locking means for the plate on the upper arm section.

In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car, of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting arm adapted to be pro jected from the ear, bag supporting means carried by the forward end of said arm, a catch detachably engaging said last men tioned means, and bag receiving and holding mechanism including a trip adapted to engage said catch to deliver and receive the bags.

(S. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car, of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting arm adapted to be projected from the car, the forward end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower supporting arms, bag receiving means carried by the lower of said arms, the upper arm being recessed on opposite sides, a locking plate pivotally mounted upon said upper arm and bifurcated at its forward end to provide parallel spaced arms adapted to close the recesses in said upper arm, a spring actuated catch adapted to engage and hold said locking plate in an operative position, and bag receiving and holding mechanism arranged adjacent to the car and adapted to cooperate with said catch to deliver and receive the bags.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car, of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising a supporting arm adapted to be projected from the car, the forward end of said arm being formed with spaced vertically disposed arms, the lower of said arms being provided with bag receiving means, the upper arm being recessed on opposite sides, a locking plate pivoted intermediate its ends upon said upper arm and having its forward end bifurcated to provide parallel disposed locking arms for said recesses, the rear end of said locking plate being provided with a spring adapted to normally hold said plate in alinement with the arm, a spring actuated latch pin adapted to engage and hold the said locking plate in alinement with said recessed arm, a trip arm pivotally connected to the upper end of said latch pin and projected forwardly therefrom, and bag receiving and holding mechanism arranged in the path of movement of said trip arm and adapted to cooperate with the catch to deliver and catch the bags.

8. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a car, of bag collecting and delivering mechanism comprising bag supporting means, means adapted to lockingly engage said means, a spring pressed trip arm pivotally connected to said last mentioned means, bag receiving and holding mechanism arranged adjacent the car comprising bag supporting means, a latch pin adapted to lockingly engage said last named means, and a cam actuated trip connected to said latch pin, a trip, said trip and the cam actuated trip adapted to be en gaged by said trip arm for the purpose set forth.

9. In an appa 'atus of the class described, the combination with a movable object, an arm carried thereon extending laterally therefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, said upper arm section being recessed 011 opposite sides thereof, a plate pivotally carried on said upper arm section and also recessed longitudinally to provide a pair of arms adapted for cooperation with the aforesaid recesses, means to yieldingly retain said pivoted plate in longitudinal alinement; with the upper arm section, a latch member also carried on said laterally extending arm adapted to lock said pivoted plate in the last mentioned position, a trip lever having connection with said latch member, and a bag collecting mechanism carried on the lower arm section; of an additional bag collecting and delivering mechanism carried on a stationary object and adapted for cooperation with the aforesaid collecting and delivering mechanism, and means on said stationary object adapted to cooperate with said trip lever to temporarily release the aforesaid locking means.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a movable object, an arm carried thereon and extending laterally therefrom, the outer end of said arm being bifurcated to form upper and lower arm sections, the upper arm section being recessed on opposite sides thereof, a plate pivotally carried on said upper arm section and recessed centrally to provide a pair of arms, the arms of said plate being adapted to cooperate with the uppc arms of said reccsses to form a bag delivering meclmnism, means to yieldingly retain said plate in longitudinal alinement with the upper arm section, a latch member also carried by said first mentioned arm to lock said plate in the last mentioned position, a trip lever having connection with said latch member, and a bag collecting mechanism carried on the lower arm section; of an additional lmg delivering and collecting mechanism carried on a stationary object, means also carried on said stationary object to lock the bag delivering mechanism thereon, and means carried on said stationary object adapted for cooperation with the aforesaid trip lever and the last mentioned locking means to simultaneously release the locking means on said stationary and movable objects.

In testimony whereof I hereunto attix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ED'WIN S. PRIDDY.

\Vitnesses A. D. Danny, \V. A. MASON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, I). C.

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