US1157244A - Mail-catcher. - Google Patents

Description

W. T. MERCER.

MAIL CATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18, 1914.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Q now H? o1 %1 elk/tonne;

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

allwhom it may concern. 7

f WILLIAM T. MERGER, or WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA;

MAIL-CATCHER.

I Be it known that LWILLI'AM TMERCER, acitizenfof the United States, residing at 3 Wilmington, in the county of New Hanover 1 and State of'North carolinayhaveinvented certainnew and useful Improvements in Mail-Catchers, of which the following s a specification.

' This inventlon relates to a mail catcher,

and the principal object of the invention is to provide an improved delivering and receiving mechanism by means of which mail compa'nying drawings whereine Figure 1 1s a top-plan viewjof devlce and track device, the car being shown sacks be received from a moving train and dellvered to a moving-train; the-catchmg' means being so;mounted that it may move tothe place of delivery a fter'catching the sack. l

Another object of the invention is to provide the train and the station with catching carriages'mounted upon tracksso that after the mail sacks have been caught, the car-- riages may travel to points where the sacks will be conveniently removed.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the carriages that they ma'yfmove freely upon the tracks; but will be prevented from having any vertical play while traveling along the tracks.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved deliveringarm for the 'trainethe delivering arm being a'djustably mounted so that it-may be moved-to. extend from the train to any extent desired.

Another object of the invention is'to so construct this delivering arm that the arm does nothave to be longitudinallyadjusted, but simply'needs to be moved in the arc of a circle to causeits free end to exten from the carthe desired amount.

1 This invention is illustrated in the ac the, train -"insection; Fig-r 2- is' a transverse sectional in'which a saok isdelivere'd to astation deview 'througha car and shows the manner vice and also the' manner in which a sack is taken up by the car device, the track device 7 and station device being shown in elevation; "Fig. as an enlargedfragmentary ne of the carriage, thesack-catchl'ng a r m belng shown in section; Fig: 4 is 'a vertical sectional view takenthroi'lg'h the center of Fig.

3; Figr5 is an'enlargedtop plan viewof .thedelivering arm'car'rie d'by the train; Fig. '6 is an enlarged view of the outer-endpor Specification of Letters Patent.

side of thecar by means of bolts 24.

tion of the catching arm of the carriage; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4 and shows a modified form of track and carriage; and

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the track and carriage of Fig. 7

The mail car 11 shown in Fig. 1 is provided with a door-way 12 in which there is ing formed in the crane arm and into one of the openings 17 formed in the rack 14.

Patented Oct. 19, 191 5. [Application filed February 18,1914. Serial No. 819,565.

' The tracks 18 and 19are carried by the V I car 11 and extend fromthe-door-way 12 in opposite directions toward the ends of the car- Carriages are mounted upon these tracks, one carriage being used in case the train is moving in one direction and the other carriage being used in case the train is moving in the opposite direction. These tracks may be formed as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, or maybe formed as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The track shown in Figs. 3 and l comprises the main supporting rail 20 which is carried by the-supporting beam 21' and the upper and lower rails 22 and 23 which are *i in the "form of metallic strips secured to the A guard strip 25 which'is carried by the support 26 extends downwardly and has its lower edge positioned in alinement' with the lower edge. of the r'ail22. This guard strip 25 engages the upper wheels of a carriage whichwill be described and assists in holding the carriage in place and prevents any I 95 danger of the mainsupporting wheel of the carriage from becoming derailed. The

outer-endportion of the guard strip 25 is provided with an opening 27 through which the upper wheel of the carriageis' intended to project and releasablyhold the carriage at the outer end of the track.

In "F igs.---7 and 8 the track comprises a sheet metal housing 28 which is provided with depending flanges 29 forming a-slot 30.

This housing takes the place of the main rail 20" shown inyFig. 4L and the lower rail 31 corresponds'with the lower rail 23 shown fin.

Fig. 4. In this formv it is not necessaryto provide the upper rail 22 since the inner wall 32' of the housing takes the place-of the rail 22. It should be noted that the outer wall seer the housingtakes the place of the p I guard 25. These tracks in both of the forms shown are secured to the outer face of the car wall and have their inner end portions curved in through the door-way) and held in placevby the braces 34;

' ;The track 35 which is mounted near the Irailroadftrack is supported by the post 36 andhas its end portions 37 38 curved away from therailroad track and leading into. houses 39 and 40, supported by means or posts 41. This station track 'may 'be formed as shown in Figs. 3 and-'4 ormay be formed as shown in Figs, 7 ,and S. I vThe deli've'ring arm 42 which extends from the upper end of'thestandard 43 is provided with upwardly inclined sack-supporting hooks544 which are similar in construction' to the hooks 4 5 carried byythe; crane arm 15 and ,shown' very clearly Fig." 5. From anin-.

spection of Fig. 5 it will be seen that each of these hooks comp'risesflan outer arm 46 ,whi'chextends .at right angles tjothe crane farm 1 1 and is then bent to form an arm 47 which extends .at an incline from. the outer and connected with. the crane arm.

I A carr1age49 is mounted uponeach tracks 18 and 1-9, and the carriage 5,0 is

mounted upon the track 35. These carriages areso mounted that when the mail sack is caught, the carriage .will travel along, its

track and move toflthe curved end ofvthe track so that the mail saclrmay beconveniently removed; In Figs. 8 and4 therehas been shown one form ofcarriagefand in Flgs. 7 and 8 there has been shown a modifiedform of carriage. These carriages whlle voperating in the same manner have been pro vided with modified constructions so that the carriages will accommodate themselves 1 to the modified' forms of tracks'shownin the.tw0 sets of figures.

In F igsV S and 4 vthe carriage comprises a .body' portion or plate 51 whichlhias its end w, portionsbent to form bearings '52 and 5 3," whichbearings cooperate with :the journalv brackets 54 and 55 to rotatab'ly support the. rollers'56' ands? These rollers extend through openings formedin the cplate' 51,

the upper roller 56- being of such size that when the carriage mountedupon oneuof the car tracks such as 19 reaches the outer end the track, the roller 'will extend through" the opening 27 and releasably hold the car-' riagein a set'position. The main support ing wheels": which are provided with grooved edges as shown in Fig.4 are mounted upon the main track QO and rotatably con 'nected with the plate 51 :by means of the axles 59'. Anarm 60 extends fromthe plate 51 and is provided with a telescoping outer end portion 61 which isheld in an adjusted position by means of theset screw;62. This permits the outer section 61 ofthe supportend ofthe arm 46 toward the crane arm 15' with its freeend, portion 48 curvedinwardly arm 64 beinggl provided with an abutment ing arm to be adjusted so that ithe catchr ing' arms may be extended the proper dis-f 'Itan'ce to "engagethem'ailsacks and remove them from the-holding devices. i The outer end of each of'these arms 61 is provided with fingers 63 and 64 which extendat right anglestothe arm 61, the Outerendofthe supporting rollers resting upon the bottom "of thehousing and bridging the slot 30 and carries upperguiding rollers '71 which engage the inner and outer walls 32 an d 33 of thehou'sing to prevent transverse movement .oftheibody portioninthe housing; A plate; 1

72-whichfis in the nature of ahanger bracket extends'downwardly from the body portion- 68 through the slot 30 and is provided-at its I -,h j lowerend with arms 7 3 with which-theguid 0ft e ing rollers 74 are rotatably connected; the

rollers j74 resting against the rail strip '31 and prevent the plate T2 from "binding 1; H against the sides of the flanges 29. The sack-j supporting arm 75 is secured to the plate 72 j beneath the housing'28'and has its outer end portion constructed in the same; manner as v the outer-'endiportion of the armsliown in '1 .Fig. 6; arm maybe providedfwith a telescoping outer-end -portion, or if-de'sired Q;

may be rigid;

In operating thismail :catcherpthei sack 76 which is'to'be delivered tothe: train is suspended from the arm 42 by placing its supporting eye 77 .over zone-of? the hooks 44.7

The mail sack-78 which is toibe delivered to the station is suspended fromthe crane arm 15,by-;passing;its' eye 79gover one 7 of the ;1;

hooks 45 carried by the crane arm 15. The

c'arriagefil) isplacedpas 'shownjin Fig. lat l the end of the track 35 with'the'fingers 6l3 7 and 64 extending i the direction in' which l the train is coming. 'It should be noted that fltheouter-end portion 61 of the arm carried by the carriage ;50im'ay be removed from theinner-gndportion and replaced with the. fingers extending in thefloppojsite directionif necessary -Thecarriage 49 is pushed u wardly from the interior ,of the'car and 7 h 4 travels along its supporting track until 1 it reaches the en'd'of' the-track and at this Point:

the. carriage will remain until themailsack :1; is gcaught. -Whenithe'train passes Athei eta -1 7 tiom the eyeofthegs'ack fti'isengaged' by the fingersofthe-'arm extendingfrom the carriage .49 {and the sack =will .:be removed. v The force of theblow -received will cause i h a l a r= 1 l l} along the-track? 19 and into the interior of the car'where the sack can be removed by thev mail clerk. When the eye of the sack 7 8 is engaged by the supporting hooks shown veryclearly v be provided with a plurality ofcarriages as in Fig. 5 prevents any danger oftheeyes binding since theinner ends of the arms 47 are curved as shown inFigi-5 and thus prevent the eyes of the mail sacks from being caught and causing either the carriages to be damaged or the eyes of the mail sacks to be broken. If desired the station track may shown in Fig.1, the sack-engaging arms thereof being designated by 81 and 82. This isprovidedso that more than one sack may be caught, or so that sacks maybe caught from successive trains without it being nec essary for the station master, to remove each sack as soon as delivered. In this form the mail clerk in the car 11 sets the crane arm 15 at the desired angle in order to engage the desired catching arm. It should be noted that the arms 50, 81, and 82 are of different lengths so that there will be no danger of the mail sack being caught by the wrong arm. When the mail sack is caught by the station device, the carriage moves into the housing at the end of the track. This housing may be provided with a suitable automatically closing door which will prevent the sack from being removed from the housing by an unauthorized person. The housing will. protect the sacks from the weather and prevent the mail in the sacks from .being injured by rain or snow and also prevent danger of the mail being stolen. It should be noted that if desired the train device may be provided with the form of track shown in Figs. 3 and 4 andthe station device provided with a-form of track shown in Figs. 7 and 8. It is, of course, obvious that the train device and the station device may be provided with either form desired or that both devices may be provided with the same type of track according to the wishes of the person constructing the mail catcher. It is thought, however, that it would be Copies of this patent may be obtained for better to provide the train device with the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 so that the upper wall 56 may enter the opening 27 and thus hold the carriage at the outer end of the track. The station device can be oper ated equally well with either form of track.

What is claimed is: 1. In a mail catcher a track comprising a main rail, upper and lower rails, and a guard extending in alinement with said it upper rail, and a carriage slidably connected with said track, said carriage including a body portion, main supporting: wheels mounted upon said main rail, a lower guiding roller engaging said lower rail, and an upper roller engaging said upper rail and the inner face of said guard.

2. In a mail catcher a track, and a catchcatching element comprising 'a carriage including a plate forming a body portion and having its upper'and lower end portions provided with pivot ears, guiding rollers ing element mounted upon said track, said rotatably mounted between said pivotears and extending through an opening formed in said plate, main supporting wheelsrotatably connected with said plate intermediate said guiding rollers.

3. In a. mail catcher a track comprising a mainrail, upper and lower guiding rails extending parallel to said main rail, a supporting strip extending above said upper guide rail, a depending guarding strip carried by said supporting strip and extending parallel to said upper guide rail, and a carriage provided with supporting wheels mounted upon the main rail of said track and having upper and lower guiding rollers engaging said guide railswith the upper guide rollersengaging said guard strip.

4. In a mail catcher a track comprising a main rail, guiding rails positioned above and below said main rail and extending parallel to the same, a supporting strip extending above said upper guide rail, and a guard strip carried by said supporting strip and extending parallel to said upper guide rail.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

S. R. ADAMS, W. J. SPOONER.

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

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