US1178332A - Mail-bag receiver. - Google Patents

Description

v MATHEWS..- MAIL BAG RECEIVER. VAPPLICAT-ION man SEPT-2?; 1915.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

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3140011 foz 0/144 MA THE FHOTD-UTHO bySACKETTA WlLH ELMS CORP. N Y

O. MATHEWS.

' MAIL BAG RECEIVER.

APPLICAT|0N FILED SEPT-27. 19215.

Patented Apr. 1916.

3' SHEETS,S,HEET 22' 314 1524 I fo'a Q/ Q' Waffi n wummw O. MATHEWS.

v MAIL BAG RECEIVER. APPLICATION FILED SEPTJZYI, x915.

Patented Apr. 4,1916.

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* Y -"ApplicationfiledSeptember27, 1915.. Seria1N'o.52;925.

-UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OMA. MATHEWS, OI GADSJjEN, ALABAMA;

MAIL-BAG RECEIVER.

To all whomit meyco ncem: h Beitknown-th'at LOMA MATHEWS, a c1t1- zen of the United-States, residing at Grads,

den in the county of .Etowa-h and. State of Alabama, have invented certain new' and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Receivers; and I 'do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, su'ch as will enable others skilled in the art to which it make and use the same.

8 "This invention relates to railway mail delivery, and-more especially to receivers; and the'object of the same is to produce-a' receptacle adapted for location alongside the track to receiv'ebags from the crane on v the mail'car and hold them until removed by an authorized person. I

' The invention comprises improvements in certain details of' structure-as more fully described in the following specification'and SllOWIlin 'the drawings whereln Figured is a? perspective view of, this. device set ready for the bag which is dia-- grammaticallysho'wn' as approaching. Fig.

2 1s an inner end elevation with the casing wall removed so'as to show the latchmgand tripping mechanism, that at one side being set and that at the'other side tripped. Fig.- 3 is a verticalzlongitudinal section through a device closed,v showing the catches on the farther door. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sec tion takenljustbeneath the pan. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinalsection of-a' slight and Fig. 6 is a perspective detail of the modification ingwhich' the pan is hinged,

modified form of buffer;

These receivers are commonly mounted on supports or seton the ground alongside the railway track T- 'and' in position where a mail bag B carried by a crane C which 1s swung outward from a moving mail car,

may be dropped into them; and ingeneral they receive the ha and become automatically'locked or'latc ed in closed position so that no-one can remove the bag except an authorized person who has the Government mail key; The purpose of the present invention is to construct such a receiver entirely of metal so treated that it is weatherproof, and to provide it with a movable buifer so that it will knock the bag-from the crane on a car moving in either direc- In the drawings which show the pre- Specification of Letters Patent.

appertains to Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

' tion, the numeral .1 designates a box-like receptacle open at the top and bottom and having in one side wall a suitable opening closed by a hinged door 2 which may. be locked -with the Government mail padlock 3 that can be opened only by the post ofiice key as braced as at-8 with the lower ends of the braces connected at 9 with theside bars,

and the buifer itself may carry'netting 10 or its equivalent. It is obvious that when this buffer isadjusted as seen in Fig. 1 and theapproaching, bag B strikes it, the bag will be stripped from the supporting hook on the crane O and dropped into the upper end of the receptacle. should be nicelymounted in the guides 4, it is quite possible that if the bag were moving in a direction the-opposite of the arrow, and struck. the buffer, the frame would slide in its guides until it came to rest in its oppo- 'site position before the bag were removed 'from the crane. It is my intention that the buffer shall be set by the operator who sets the receptacle in a manner to be described below. e l

The open top ,of the receptacle is closed by a pairofhinged doors or gates 11, each supported on a rod 12 extending longitudinally across it and through the end panels of thereceptacle, and on the inner faces of said panels near their upper edges are rests If the support 6 13" for supporting the inner edges of the gates when the latter are closed and holding them in inclined position. Spring catches 14 on the under side of said inner edges are adapted to automatically engage these rests and to, hold the gates closed, and these catches can .be disengaged only from the interior and therefore by the operator when he reaches through the main door 2. There fore after the device has acted to receive a bag it locks the same within itself so that it cannot be removed by an unauthorized person, but when the operator approaches with the Government mail key and opens a the main door to take out the bag he can reset the gates for subsequent operation, and then he again locks the door Q'before he goes away.

One end 'end of each rod 12 is a-cam 21 which may be weightedor-may .be acted-lonbyiaaspring 22, and in either case" its tendency is to throw the gate 11 closed. Pivoted beneath the cam is a latch 23 having a hook 24: at its lighter outer end adapted to engage the heel of the cam when the gate is thrown open. Sliding through a guide 25 between the two latches and held normally raised by a spring 26 is a bolt' 27 forming partof the trip mechanism, and to the head of the bolt are pivoted two. trip levers 28 whose bodies rest on stops 29- and whose outer and heavier ends stand under the inner heavier ends of the trip levers. Therefore when the bolt is drawn downward against the tension of its spring the trip levers are thrown upward and the latches are turned on their pivots so that their hooks are disengaged from the heels of the cams, after which the weight of the cams or the springs 22 will throw the gates closed, and their catches automatically engage the rests 13 to hold them closed.

Within the receptacle is a false bottom which may well be called a pan 30 as it is movablymoun'ted therein and supported by lever mechanism which approximates that supporting the pan of a scale, as seen in Fig.

i 4. That is to say, a Y-shaped lever 31 has the extremities of its arms pivotally supported as at 32 at one side of the base and the other extremity of its shank connected to a chain or wire 33 which leads upward and is attached .to the trip mechanism; while a V-shaped'lever 34 has the extremities of its arms pivotally supported at 35 within the opposite side of the base and its angle pivotally connected at 36 with the fork of the Y-shaped lever 31; and both arms of both members underlie flanges 37 dependin from the pan 30 as best seen in Fig. 3.

herefore the weight of thebag falling on this pan at any point is communicated by the lever mechanism to the wire 33 and the trip mechanism actuated.

In Fig; 5 is shown a slight modification wherein this lever mechanism is ,modified for the sake of simplicity and cheapness.

' Here the pan 410 is pivotally supported or hinged as at 42 within one side of the base,

panel of the receptacle is covered by a casing 20 which incloses the tripplng "mechanism best seen inFig. 2. Fast onthis I lever mechanism actuates the tripping mechanism so that the latches free the cams and the gates fly closed. Their catches hold them closed, and the bag is protected from weather and from being reached by an unauthorized person. The operator when he arrives can unlock the door 2 and remove the bag,'and he can-then reach in and unlatch the spring catches 14 and reset the gates forythe' reception of the next succeeding bag; and at'this time he will set the buffer at the correspondinglyproperside according to the direction of the next appreaching t'rain.

What I claim is:

1..In a mail bag receiver, thecombination with a receptacle having an'open top,

and means for closing it automatically when abag is dropped therein; of horizontalguides' across the ends of said top, a support in the shape of a frame twice the length of the width of said top. and whose side bars are slidably mounted in its guides, and a buffer rising rigidly from the center of said side bars.

2. In a mail bag receiver',the combination with an open-topped receptacle, and a buffer adjustably mounted so that it may be set over either edge thereof; of a pair of gates hingedly-moanted within the top of said receptacle, means for throwing them normally closed, latches engaging said means for holding the gates open, and tripping mechanism for said latches actuated by the dropping of a bag into the receptacle.

3. In a mail bag receiver, the combination with an open-toppedreceptacle, and a buffer adjustably mounted so that it may be set over either edge thereof; of a pair of gates hingedly mounted within the top of said receptacle. means for throwing them normally closed, latches engaging said means for holding the gates open, a pan movably mounted within the receptacle, mechanism for tripping said; latches, and connections between the pan and mechanism for actuating the latter when a bag falls on the pan.

4. In a mail bag receiver, the combination with a receptacle having an. open top, gates hinged therein-,wmeans for throwing them normally closed, and latches for resisting the action of said means; of a movable pan within the receptacle, lever-mechanism for supporting it, trip levers underlying said latches, a spring-raised bolt connected with said levers, and connections between said bolt and mechanism, for the purpose set forth.

I 5. In a mailbag receiver, the combination with an open-topped receptacle, a gate mounted in its top, a rod supporting the gate and journaled in the ends of the receptacle, a cam fast on one extremity of the rod, a pan within the'receptacle below the gate,

end lever mechanism for supporting.

the pan; of a pivoted latch weighted at one end and having a hook at its other end adapted to engage the heel of the cam xwhen the'gate .is open;

lying a stop and having one heavy end underlying the heavy en a trip lever over- (1 of said latch, and

- oMA MATHEWS.

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