US1112129A

US1112129A - Rural mail-box.

Info

Publication number: US1112129A
Application number: US71493012A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles N Galloway
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1912-08-13
Filing date: 1912-08-13
Publication date: 1914-09-29
Anticipated expiration: 1931-09-29

Description

O. N. GALLOWAY.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1912.

1,1 12,1 29. Petetttea Sept. 29, 1914.

j 2 BHEBTSSHEET l.

THE NORRIS PEIERS c0 FHOIO LHHOV. WASHINGTON, n 1..

O. N. GALLOWAY.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1912.

1,1 12,129. Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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RURAL MAIL-'13 ox.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application and August 13', 1912. SerialNo. 714,930.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES N. GALLO- WAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at N eersville, in the county of London, State I of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Rural Mail-Boxes;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. a

This invention has reference to new and useful improvements in carrying devices and has particular reference to a rural mail box.

The purpose of theinvention is to pro vide an efiiciently operative structure em bodyin'g a box or carrier movable along a wire track way for transporting mail, and parcels in rural districts, between a residence and road relatively distanced with re-' spect thereto. 1

The invention further resides in the novel actuating mechanism by which the opera tion of the drive parts. is arrestedat each end of the track way, and in which novel means is also providedfor starting the drive parts of the device.

WVith the above and other objectsin view, the invention consists of certain combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, it being a still further object of the invention to provide a devicewhich will not be likely to get out of working order.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a self pro-.

pelled mail box constructed in accordance with the invention and mounted upon a wire track way or aerial line supported upon suitable uprights or posts. Fig.2 isan end elevation thereof, Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional view of the mail box, more particularlyillustrating the drive connections, Fig. 4: is a similar view but looking in the opposite direction from that shown in Fig.3, Fig. 5 isa cross sectional view taken on the line 55 ofFig. 8, Fig.' 6 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 8, Fig. 7is an enlarged detail view of the oppositely operable drive mechanisms in a shiftedposition from that shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. '8 is a horizontal sectional view on theline 88 of'Fig. 4.

In illustrating the practical embodiment of the invention, there is shown apair of end uprights or posts 10 and an intermedi: ate-upright or post 11, any-number, of which.

may be employed according to the distance between theresidence andthe The intermediatepost'is provided with a-bracket arm12 upon. which is supported anaerial line or wire13, the extremities of which are connected to the posts or uprights 10 so that the latter members form abutments or. stops for the car to be hereinafter described, when the same reaches its desired limit of, travel. The casing ofthe mail box is indicated by Patented Sept, i

the numeral l-f-andisprovided at its ends, with doors 15 for gaining access to the in terior portion of the box which contains themail.- Each door is provided with suitable means for holding it in alocked position.

Itwill also be observed that the box is substantially rectangular in cross section but has its upper portion or top wall 17. arched A:

to provideja perfect drain surface'andl the:

box isdividedhorizontally-by a partition 18 forming upper and lower compartments. A pair of hangers 19 extend upwardly from the top of the box near the ends thereof-land II rotatablyi support grooved wheels .20 which travel; along the aerial line or wire and through "the instrumentality of shafts 21 carry sprocket wheels 22 around which an. endless 'drive chain 23 is engaged. i

A frame standard24 "s pivotally. mounted on a shaft. 26 whichfhas itsends journaled in lugs disposed on the intermediate portion of the partition 18, wthegstandard being adapted for longitudinal movement with re spect to the boxiThis standard rotatably, carries a transversely arranged shaft 27 on" which :a comparatively large sprocket wheel 28 is secured while an endless drive chain 29 is engaged around said sprocket 28and a sprocket, 30 mounted upon the extremity of one of the shafts21 forimparting rotation to the drive chain 23 to rotate thegroovedj wheels '20 and cause the box to move along the aerial line orwire. ciated with the sprocket wheel 28 and em bodies a substantiallyU-shaped bracketfil carrying averticalshaft 32 whichhas a pin ion 33 at its upper end meshing with a pinion 34 carried by the shaft 27 while the; r J

lower end ofthe shaft 32 carri'es a pinion 85 meshingwith' a pinion carried by a flexible'shaft 36 rotatably supportedin a 'hori-- zontal position and" carrying on its outer portion, a governor including a wheelhaving-weighted'spring arms 37 and a hub having a brake disk 38 connected'therewith to .slide on the shaft according .to the speed of rotation I of the: shaft 36; and *the aconsequent bending of the arms. An upright 39 rota \\l end poles said rod will be thrown in an optablysup-ports the outer end of the shaft 36 and has, a bracket arm 40 pivotally supporting a brake 'member or lever 41 controlled by a rod 42 pivoted thereto, the governor serving toregulate the speed of rotation 'of the shaft 36 and consequently that through one end of the casing, so that en-" of the drive chain and thereby controlling the velocity which the car will attain in moving :along the aerial line or wire. The rod-42 is horizontally disposed and passed gagementof said rod with one of the end postswill apply the brake lever to the disk and bring. the'motor to a stop.

' i'Ateach end-ofthe upper compartment formed by the partition wall 18 is a spiral spring "43' each of which is inelosed in a barrel or case 44, each of the latter being provided with a gear 45 and each set of such parts being each vro'tatably journaled upon '5 a shaft '46 transversely journaled within the casing. A gear 47 is disposed in mesh ,with each gear and a removable turning crank 48 is provided to engage said gear by which thespring maybe wound from the exterior of the box. Disposed in mesh with the gear 45 is a gear 49 with which is associated an escapement wheel 50 having adjacent to the standard, to be moved intoa pallet 51 cooperating therewith and pivotally'supported upon the support for the gear as shown at 52. The standard 24 also carries a cross arm 53 arranged to engage the pallets or pawls 51 upon opposite movement' of the standard26 to cause the pinion or gear 54 fixedly mounted on the shaft'27 engagement'with either of the gear wheels 49 to cause the reverse rotation of the shaft 27 and consequent opposite movement of the carrier or boxalong the track way. The

brake "lever 41 has. an oppositely extending rod 55 connected therewith, the same-being movably supported on the arm 40 and operating through the opposite end of the casing so that as the box strikes one of the posite' direction to cause movement of. the

brake lever and consequent application of the-brake, while opposite gearingof the 1 parts to move the ear in the opposite directlon Wlll result when the governor 1s released. The governor has of course been previously brought stationary upon thearrival of the box at the end of the wire or aerial line owing'to the fact that the brake lever'w'ill strike the friction disk and bring the motor'to a stop and it will thus be evident that continued operation of the device may be accomplished-by moving the brake or clutchout of operation and the car therebydirected toward-the road-way or the residenee'as the occasion may require.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be evident that I have provided a mail boX and carrier device which will greatly assist in the convenience in transporting mail to and from the road in rural districts where it usually is necessary to leave to mail at the road some distance from the residence and by this means, loss of mail and the inconvenience of traveling back and forth between the road and residence will be obviated.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

- 1. A mail box delivery apparatus embodying a. track wire, a receptacle, hangers carried by the receptacle adjacent each end thereof, shafts rotatably carried by the hangers, grooved rollers mounted on the shafts and engageable along the wire, drive sprockets carried by the shafts, chains connecting said sprockets, means for rotating the said shafts simultaneouslv and including a pivoted standard, a pinion rotatably carried by the standard, spring motors alternately intergearable with the pinion, means operated by the movement of the standard to cause one motor to be brought stationary and the other for operation at each end of the wire and means for controlling and arresting the speed of rotation of the pinion and its intergeared connection with the first named shafts.

2. A delivery apparatus comprising a track wire, a receptacle, wheels carried by the receptacle and engaging said wire, drive means carried by the receptacle, intergeared connections between the drive means and the wheels for driving the receptacle, a governor for regulating the speed of the intergeared connections and means connected to said governor and extending exteriorly of the receptacle whereby pressure against said means will actuate the governor to stop the driving means. v

3. The combination in a delivery apparatus including a traveling member, a driving mechanism therefor and a governor for regulating the drive mechanism and including a friction plate, of a lever pivoted intermediate of its end, a brake shoe at one end of said lever engageable with the friction plate, and slidably mounted rods connected to the lever on opposite sides of its pivot and extending outwardly of the ends of the traveling member.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature, in presenceof two witnesses.

CHARLEtj N. GALLOWAY.

lVitnesses:

Bnssm N. GALLowAY, L. IRENE BLOGKER.

five cents eachdby addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.