US1083197A - Means for transmitting train-orders. - Google Patents

Description

E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS APPLIOATION FILED APR. 26, 1913.

' Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS. APPLICATION FILED .APRLZG, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH Cu.,\vAsHlNaTON, u. c.

E. W. DEAN. MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN ORDERS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHBBTS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PMNOOIAPH C0., WASHINIOTONI D. C.

UNITED ST as r ERNEST W. DEAN, 0F HARRINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 WILLIAM T. BENNETT, OF LAUREL, DELAWARE.

MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING TRAIN-ORDERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Application filed April 26, 1913. Serial No. 763,862.

the engineer, conductor or brakeman of a train without the necessity of the station messenger or tower-operator handling the orders to the engineer or other trainmen without materially reducing speed of the train.

A further object is to provide an order holder or carrier which may be turned into or out of operative position by means actuated at a distance from the holder itself, as for instance, by means actuated within the tower or station, thus obviating the necessity of the operator leaving the tower or station in order to attend to the orders.

A still further object is to provide means for readily attaching and detaching an order case from the support or holder and supporting such case in such position that it may be easily caught by the trainmen.

A further object is to provide means for indicating either night or day the position of the arm supporting the order so that there will be no danger of the trainman striking his hand or arm against the projecting order support.

A still further object is to provide holder supporting arms so arranged as to yield laterally upon impact thus preventing any danger or accident occurring by an operator striking against one of these arms.

Still another object is to provide a receiving basket disposed adjacent to the order holder or support and adapted to receive messages dropped from the moving train.

A still further object is the provision of a case adapted to be used with my device and adapted to be clipped upon a cord or like flexible connection, the clip having a peculiar form adapted to securely engage the case with the cord.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my train order supporting mechanism, illustrated in conjunction with a tower, the tower being broken away in order to show the means whereby the train order support is shifted into or out of operative position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the train order support and the actuating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 2. Fig. A is a detail perspective view of the manner in which the flexible connections are attached to the rotatable frame upon which the train order support is mounted. Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view of the standard carrying the train order supporting arms,

the standard being moved from engagement with the post. Fig. 6 is a perspective detail view of one of the cases in which the train orders are carried.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawing by the same reference characters.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A designates a switch-operating tower, station, or like structure, and B the track passing the station. Disposed alongside of the track is a platform 2 of any suitable construction and shown as having steps 3 leading up to it. Rigidly mounted upon the upper face of the platform is an upwardly eX tending post 4 having hinge members 5 and 6 attached to it and extending out therefrom. Supported upon these hinge members is a rotatable frame composed of a post 7, a relatively short vertical brace 8 having at the upper end the brace 9 and extending to the post 7, and the brace 10 which is attached to the lower end of the brace 8 eX- tends beneath the post 7 and projects out beyond the same. This brace or arm 10 is provided with a socket for the reception of a standard 11. The vertical member 8 is provided with hinge elements in the form of leaves 12 which co-act with the hinge elements 5 and 6, and pivoting these elements together is the pintle 13. The upper end of the post 7 is provided with the signal vane 14 which is preferably painted red, and also carried upon the post 7 and directly in line with the signal vane is a lamp housing 15, wherein an ordinary red signal lamp may be placed. This housing is supported by means of a bracket 16 or in any other suitable manner to the post 7.

The standard 11 is illustrated in detail in Fig. 5. At its lower end the standard is many sided and tapering so that it may be inserted in the socket 17 formed in the brace 10, or supporting arm. The lower end of the standard 11 is notched as at 18 and pivoted to the under side of the supporting arm or brace 10 is a latch 19 which projects out beyond the arm or brace 10 and is adapted to be turned into and out of engagement with the notch 18. Preferably a guide 20 is attached to the extremity of the supporting arm 10 and extends down and beneath the latch 19.

The rear face of the standard 11 intermediate its ends and just below the lamp 15, is provided with a bowed strip 21, this strip being formed with a keyhole slot, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The enlarged portion of the keyhole extends downward. Disposed upon the post 7 and projecting out therefrom is an angular latch 22 whose extremity is reduced and then widened so that the extremity can be slipped into the enlarged opening of the keyhole slot and so that this extremity will lock with the walls of the keyhole slot when the standard 11 is pushed downward. It will be seen that by means of the latch 19 and the latch 22 the slot 11 is held in a vertical position. but that these latches permit the standard to be readily removed whenever desired.

Attached to the upper end of the standard are the ears 23. These ears are angular and extend upward and rearward and pivoted between them is an arm 2 1, the rear end of the arm being relatively large. This arm is cleft at its end as at 25. Mounted upon the arm is a guide 26 formed of a metal rod, the forward end of which is upwardly and then downwardly bent to form a hump 27, The rear end of this rod is downwardly bent and extends through the rear end of the arm 24: and is then inwardly bent as at 28 to form a limiting stop.

Projecting from the face of the standard 11 is an arm 29. Preferably this arm is pivotally mounted upon the standard for movement in a horizontal plane. As illustrated, the arm is supported by means of angle irons 30 attached to the standard and through these angle irons and through the rear end of the arm passes a pintle 31. This permits the arm to have movement in a horizontal plane and to resiliently resist this movement I have provided the springs 32,.

located one on each side of the arms. These springs will permit the arm to yield but will act to hold the arm in a position perpendicular to the face of the standard, 11.

Disposed immediately upon the upper end of the standard 11 and attached to the outer face thereof is a cord-clip 33 composed of a plurality of coils of wire, these coils being resilient. Disposed upon the standard'll above the arm 29 is another spring clip 34 constructed in the same manner as the spring clip 33, and another spring clip 34 is disposed on the extremity of the arm 29. In supporting an order case upon the arm 24 a cord is passed over the notched end 25 of the arm and the cord is inserted between two of the coils of the clip 33 and between two of the coils of the clip 34 or 3 the cord being thus extended inward in the form of a triangle or a square. Carried upon the cord is another case, as will belater described. The under side of the arm 29 is also provided with a spring clip 35 composed of tightly coiled resilient wire and the front face of the standard 11 is provided with the spring- clips 36 and 37 one disposed immediately beneath the butt end of the arm 29 while the other is disposed above the lower end of the standard. Here again in order to support an order case a cord or other flexible connection is used which is in serted between the spring coils of the several clips.

Mounted upon the guide 26 is a counterweight 38 which is adapted to be shifted forward and backward upon the guide 26. When it is shifted forward upon the guide it will cause the forward end of the arm 24 to descend and when it is shifted to the rear of the arm will cause the rear end of the arm to descend. Projecting out from the side of the post 7 is an arm 39 carrying the projecting ears 40 between which is pivoted the arm 41 which extends for ward. Mounted upon the extremity of this arm is a basket 42 adapted to receive messages, orders, etc., dropped by the trainmen. A spring at as illustrated in Fig. 3 will hold the arm 41 in its proper position but this spring will permit the arm to yield upon an impact in either direction. It will be seen that this basket-carrying arm is disposed in such position to the order supporting arms that messages may be readily dropped into the basket by the time that the orders are being taken off from the order-supporting arm, as will be later explained.

In order to provide means for turning the frame composed of the parts 8, 9, 10, 7 and 11 from a position extending parallel to the track to a position extending transverse to the track I provide within the tower or like structure an actuating lever designated 45. This lever is shown as pivoted upon a bracket 16 mounted upon the floor of the tower and as being provided at its'lower end with oppositely projecting arms 47. Rods 48 extend from these arms the rods being preferably provided with turn-buckles. To the lower ends of the rods are attached chains 49 which extend under pulleys 50 and from these pulleys the chains 49 extend over pulleys 51 beneath the track B and around pulleys 52 mounted in any suitable manner upon a support 53. The chains 49 then pass upward and over pulleys 54 mounted upon the front edge of the platform 2 and then the chains pass over the top face of the platform to pulleys 55. Here the chains diverge, one of the chains passes around a pulley 56 and then returns upon itself and is attached to the end of a transverse bar 57, said bar being attached to the under face of the brace 10. The other chain after passing around the pulleys 55 extends around the pulley 58 and then back and is attached to the end of the arm 57. It will be noted that both of the chains are crossed. By this construction a direct actuation of the frame may be secured by shifting the lever 45 in one direction or the other. When the lever is drawn into the position shown in Fig. 2 the order support will be shifted outward or into a position transverse to the track. When, however, the lever 45 is shifted outward the frame supporting the standard 11 will be rotated upon the pintle 13 in a direction parallel to the track.

The means devised by me for supporting orders comprises a case illustrated in Fig. 6 and designated 59. This case may be made of any suitable material but is preferably of paraflined pasteboard, or like relatively light material rendered water-proof 'to prevent any danger to the orders. Preferably the case is cylindrical and closed at its ends by means of caps 60. Attached to the sides of the case are the clips 61. Each clip is composed of a strip of metal bent at one end into nearly a complete circle to receive a cord 64. The other end of the clip is bent over to form a lip 62 which engages the free edge of the portion 63 of the clip which is bent over as before stated. The resilient lip 62 bearing against the free end of the portion 63 will prevent any danger of the clip becoming detached from the cord 64, and accidentally removed. Furthermore the clips will engage the cord with such strength as to support the case in any desired position on the cord.

The operation'of my invention is as fol lows: In the usual handling of train orders the tower operator, station master, or other person, carries the order out to the train and hands the order to the engineer and often also, has to hand an order to the conductor or brakeman of the train, who is usually, if the train is a freight train in the caboose at the rear end of the train. If it is a very long freight train it will be plain that considerable time will be wasted by the operator waiting for the caboose to come along so that he can hand the order to the brakeman. W'ith my device the uppermost case which is designated 59 in Fig. 1 is intended to hold orders for the engineer while the lowermost case 59 is intended to hold the orders for the conductor, brakeman, etc. As the train passes the station the engineer puts his arm out and passes it through the loop formed by the flexible connection 61 and withdraws the cord from disengagement with the cord clips. As soon as the cord has been disengaged the counterweight 38 will throw the arm 24 upward and out of the way, in the position shown in Fig. 5. The same operation is applied to removing the case 59', only here the case is supported at a lower level and is therefore convenient for the conductor or brakeman 011 the caboose.

It is to be particularly pointed out that the arm 29 is supported immediately opposite the opening of the lamp housing so that at night not only will the engineer be warned by the fact that an order is waiting for him but also the light will show the position of the arm 29 so that the engineer Wlll know that he is to raise his arm somewhat above the light in' order to engage the case 59 and the conductor or brakeman will know that he must place his arm so that it will pass below the light and in position to engage the case 59*.

It will be obvious that once the orders are in position the tower operator need only turn the supporting frame into a position transverse to the track in order to warn the engineer of the presence of the orders and in order for the engineer to receive these orders. At the time the engineer or brakeman receives the orders it is an easy matter to drop messages or other orders into the basket 42. These orders may be placed within the case 59, as previously described. The cases can be suspended by means of the loop. In the natural course of events the case will strike the basket 42 and will be readily dropped or be drawn from the trainmans fingers.

By making the post 11 detachable from the standard 7 and from the base 10, it is possible for the station master or tower operator to remove the post at any time and prevent the unauthorized use of the order transmitting mechanism so as to avoid intermeddling with the mechanism by mischievous persons.

It is to be noted that by arranging the cord holding device at the extremity of the standard and by having the cord holding clips extending downward along the post, the cord 61 is supported in the form of a triangle so as to form a triangular loop through which the trainman or engineer may readily pass his arm so as to detach the loop from the clips. There are no objects to catch this loop and prevent its detachment and therefore no danger of the trainman being hurt in detaching the order holder.

It is to be noted that the lever 45 moves over a rack and that a latching device is provided whereby the lever may be held in either of its adjusted positions, thus locking the order supporting arm either in a position parallel to the frame or transverse thereto.

Hy invention is simple, effective and adds very much to the convenience of operators.

lVhile I have illustrated the invention as applied to a single track road, it is obvious that it may be applied to a double track road, there being two sets of order supporting frames mounted in conjunction with each track.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a vertical standard held from axial rotation, an order supporting arm pivotally mounted upon the standard for movement in a horizontal plane, and resilient means holdingthe order supporting arm in a normal position but permitting the arm to yield in a horizontal plane.

2. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a standard held from axial rotation, an order supporting arm and mounted thereon, a receiving basket, a pivoted arm supporting said basket and movable in a horizontal plane, and means for holding the said arm in a normally projected position but permitting the arm to yield horizontally.

In a train order receiving mechanism, a supporting frame pivoted for movement in a horizontal plane, means for rotatably shifting said frame. from a position parallel to a track to a position transverse to the track, means for looking said frame in either position, a vertical standard supported. on the frame, an upper arm pivoted to the standard for movement in a vertical plane, a lower arm pivoted to the standard for movement in a horizontal plane, cord engaging clips mounted on the standard beiow said arms, means on the ends of the arms for engaging a cord, and order holders having flexible connections adapted to be en gaged by said clips to thereby support an order holder in an inwardly and downwardly inclined position.

at. In a train order receiving mechanism, a platform, a frame pivot-ally supported upon the platform for movement in a horizontal plane, mechanism for rotatably shifting said frame from a position parallel to the track to a position transverse thereto, a detachable standard mounted on the frame, and pivoted order supporting devices mounted upon said standard.

5. In a train order receiving mechanism, aplatform supported beside a track, a frame pivotally supported on said platform for movement in a horizontal plane, train order supporting devices mounted on said frame, transversely extending arms on said frame, an actuating lever disposed across the track, flexible connections attached to the actuating lever and to the frame, and pulley over which said flexible connections pass.

6. In a train order receiving device, a platform mounted beside a track, a frame pivotally mounted upon said platform for movement in a horizontal plane, a vertical standard detachably mounted upon said frame, order supporting arms on said standard, and means for rotatably shifting the said frame from a position parallel to the track to a position at right angles thereto. 7

7. In a train order receiving device, a platform mounted beside a track, a frame pivotally mounted on said platform for movement in a horizontal plane, means for rotatably shifting said frame from a position parallel to the track to a position at right angles thereto, a post forming part of the frame, a signal vane extending from said post, a signal lantern mounted upon said post, a vertical standard supported on the frame and disposed adjacent to the lantern, and an order supporting arm mounted upon said standard in line with said lantern.

8. In a train order receiving mechanism, a platform mounted beside a track,-a post extending upward from the platform, a frau'e pivotally mounted upon said platform for movement in a horizontal plane, the post forming part of said frame, a lower brace also forming a part of said frame and extending up beyond the post and formed in its extremity with a socket, a standard having a lower end adapted to fit in said socket, means on said brace for locking the standard in said socket, means for looking the standard to the post, and train order supporting arms mounted on the'standard.

9. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a frame pivotally mounted for movement in a horizontal plane and includ ing a vertically disposed post and a brace extending out beyond the lower end of the post and formed with a socket, a detachable standard having a tapered lower end fitting in said socket and formed with a notch, a latch pivoted to the brace and adapted to engage the notch, a bowed strip on the inhole slot, a tongue projecting out from the standard and formed with a notched head adapted to be inserted within the key-hole slotand to lock the upper portion of the standard and post, and a train order sup- 1 porting arm mounted on the standard.

nerface of the standard formed with a key 10. In a mechanism for receiving train orders, a platform mounted on one side of a track, a frame rotatably mounted upon the platform for movement in a horizontal plane, train order supporting arms carley guiding said flexible connections beneath the track and onto the platform, the pulleys on the platforms over which the flexible connections pass, and flexible connections at their ends being attached to the opposite ends of the arms on the frame whereby to actuate the frame.

- 11. In a train order receiving mechanism, a frame pivoted for movement in a horizontal plane and disposed beside a track,- means for rotatably shifting said frame into a position parallel to or transverse of the track, a standard carried by the frame, a train copies of this patent may be obtained for order carrying arm pivoted at the upper end of the standard, a shiftable weight carried upon the arm shiftable from a position forward of the pivotal point to a position rearward of the pivotal point thereof, and cord engaging means on the arm and cord engaging means mounted on the standard in spaced relation and below said arm.

12. The combination with a train order receiving mechanism including a standard and order supporting arms, of a case for containing orders, a cord to which said case is attached, spring clips mounted upon said case and embodying each a resilient loop surrounding the cord, and a tongue folded over and adapted to engage the bill of said loop to hold it closed.

In testimony whereof I afi'ix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST w. DEAN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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