US1292708A

US1292708A - Speed-controller.

Info

Publication number: US1292708A
Application number: US26602018A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas E Clark; Mark H Hovey
Original assignee: HARRY W BEGGS
Current assignee: HARRY W BEGGS
Priority date: 1918-12-09
Filing date: 1918-12-09
Publication date: 1919-01-28
Anticipated expiration: 1936-01-28

Description

T. E: CLARK & M. H. HOVEY.

SPEED CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILED DEC- 22. I915- RENEWED DEC- EL 1918- 1,292,?8. Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Z SHEETSSHEET l.

INVENTORS 5 wammmvyn ws- J22 H W Mi TORNEYS T. E CLARK & M. H. HOVEY.

SPEED CONTROLLEK APPLICATION FILED DEc.22, I916. RENEWED DEC. 9. 1918.

1,292,708. Patented Jan. 28,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTORS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. CLARK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, AND MARK H. HOVEY, OF MADISON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO HARRY W. BEGGS, OF VINCENNES, INDIANA.

SPEED-CONTROLLER.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Application filed December 22, 1916, Serial No. 138,343. Renewed December 9, 1918. Serial No. 266,020.

States, and residents of Detroit, in the county of \Vayne and State of Michigan, and Madison, in the county of Dane and State of Wisconsin, respectively, have in-.

vented a new and Improved Speed-Controller, of which the following is a specification.

This mechanism relates to ineans for preventing locomotives and other vehicles from exceeding any selected one of a number of predetermined speeds, and the object of this inventionis to provide a readily adjustable device which may indicate the highest selected speed at which the vehicle may travel and which will cause the application of air brakes when such speed is exceeded.

This invention is designed to control the speeds of railway vehicles and consists, in.

connection with any desired type of speed measurer which is provided with a member that moves through equal distances for equal increments in the speed of the vehicle, of a multiple-contact switch operated thereby, an indicator which may be manually positioned to designate the maximum speed permitted the wheel or may be positioned to render the entire control mechanism inoperative, and a series of circuits connecting respectively to a current source, to a valve in the air brake system normally held closed by an electromagnet, to the multiple contact switch and to the indicator, whereby the valve will be kept closed until the selected speed has been exceeded.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram showing this new speed controller installed for operation. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the indicator. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan of the multiple switch. Fig. 6 1s a front elevation and Fig. 7 a right side elevation of this multiple switch.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The speed controller shown in the drawings will be set by some supervising oflicial to limit the speed at which the engineer may run his locomotive or other motor vehicle. A speed measurer 5 which may be of any desired construction, of which that shown by the Boyer Patent No. 356,916, dated Febru-- ary 1, 1887, is a good example, will be employed to shift the bar 6 up and down. This a bar is mounted on a pin 7 carried by an insulated carriage 8 that is moved up and down by the instrument 5 according to the speed of the vehicle. The pin 7 extends through a slot 9 in the plate 10.

Carried by the bar 6 are a series of

contacts

12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18 adapted to engage the

contact bars

19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24, respectively, which bars are embedded 1n the plate 10 so that their surfaces are flush with the plate. The contacts on the bar 6 may be of any desired construction. In Fig. 5, one of them is shown in detail to consist of a sleeve 26 having a headed contact point 25 pressed against its contact bar by means of a spring 27. A screw 28 tensions the spring and a jam-nut 29 prevents the screw from turning. The sleeve is held in position by means of a set-screw 30.

The plate 10 carries a series of binding posts 32 which connect to their respective contact bars by means of Wires 33. Circuit wlres 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 connect to these binding posts while a circuit wire 40 connects to the post 15 carried by the bar 6. The wires 34 to 39 may be considered as connected directly to the bars 19 to 24, respectively. The bar 6 is normally at the bottom of the contact bars 19 to 24 and'rises as the speed increases, thereby opening the circuits between the wire 40 and the wires 39 to 34 inclusive consecutively.

The indicator shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 consists of a disk 45 of insulating material mounted in a cylinder 46 which has one end closed by means of the glass plate 48 having a hole 47 through which a key may be inserted, and the opposite end reinforced by means of a ring 49. Posts50 and screws 51 secure the disk 45 and rin 49 together. This disk 45 carries a series 0 binding posts 54 to 59 inclusive to which the wires 34 to 39 inclusive connect and the post 60 to which the wire 40 connects. A wire 62 connects the wire 40 to the battery 63 and a wire 64 connects the battery to a switch 65 which closes the circuit to the wire 66 and valve 67 so long as the train pipe system is supplied with air under pressure. When the vehicle is not in use and has no air pressure, the piston 68 will fall and cut out the battery. A wire 69 extends from the valve 67 to the post 70 which is mounted on a metal disk 72 on the insulated disk 45 of the indicator. The valve 67 is of any desired construction and releases the pressure of the air in the equalizer tank of the brake system when opened but is kept closed when current passes over the Wires 6669.

The shaft 73 of the indicator carries a spring 74 that causes the collar 75 to press against the disk 72. On the front end of the shaft is a nut 76, a slitted segment 77 of resilient metal and a hand 78. A series of contacts 79 extend through the insulation 45 into the path of the segment 77 and connect at their rear ends to the posts 54 to 60 inclusive by means of the small plates 80 shown in Fig. 4. The front end of the shaft 73 is formed to receive a proper key whereby it may be turned.

This device operates as follows: On the face of the disk 45, preferably at the ends of the posts 54 to 60 inclusive, are characters of any desired type, such as

l

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Off and No control. When the hand '78 points to No control, the segment 77 bridges the gap between the post 60 and wire and the post 70 and wire 69. This will result in the current passing directly at all times from the battery 63 to the valve 67 and the engineer may then drive the locomotive at any desired speed. When the pointer is turned to point Off, the circuit to the valve is broken and the valve remains open at all times.

When the hand 78 is set for the particular speed indicated by the character 4 on the disk 45, the

wires

36, 37, 38 and 39, their posts 56, 57, 58 and 59, and the contacts 79 connected to these posts will be in circuit with the slitted segment 77, plate 72, post 70 and wire 69' to the valve 67. Current will flow to each of the

bars

21, 22, 23 and 24, and so long as the predetermined speed is not exceeded, will flow by way of the contact points 25, bar 6 and wires 40and 62, battery 63, wire 64, switch 65, wire 66 to the valve 67, holding the valve closed. This condition exists so long asthe point 25 contacts with the bar 21, but when the speed of the vehicle becomes so great that the bar 6 is lifted by the instrument 5.until the circuit to the wire 36 is broken, that is, until the post 14 has been elevated above the bar 21, when the valve 67 will open and brakes will be applied. 3

It will be noticed in Fig. '2 that no matter aeeap'oe to which of the characters on the dial the hand 78 is pointing, the slitted member-77 engages with the contact post 79 under the hand and with all the contacts to the left thereof. The width of the segment 77 may, however, be reduced if desired, but it should always be wide enough to bridge between adjacent contacts 79,.

The engineer is always in full control and may vary the speed of the vehicle up to the predetermined limit unless the hand 7 8 points to No control, when there is no limit and the valve 67 is kept closed so long as pressure exists in the air brake system.

We claim:

1. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicator comprising a disk of insulating material and a contact member revolubly mounted thereon and con- ;sisting of a slitted segment of resilient metal,

a shaft revoluble in said disk and supporting the segment, a series of contact posts mount ed in said disk with which said segmentmay engage, and electric circuits connecting to said segment and said contacts.

2. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicator comprising a disk of insulating material and a contact member revolubly mounted thereon and consisting of a slitted segment of resilient metal, a shaft revoluble in said disk and supporting the segment, a series of contact posts mounted insaid disk with which said segment may engage, a series of binding posts mounted on said disk, a connector between one of the binding posts and said shaft, and a connector between each of the other binding posts and a. contact post.

8. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicator comprising a cylindrical shell and a transparent end therefor, a supporting disk mounted in the shell, a series of binding posts and stationary cfontac-ts extending from opposite sides of the disk, means to connect each post to a contact, a shaft mounted concentrically within the disk, a resilient contact member carried thereby on the side of the disk opposite said binding posts, and a spring on the shaft to force the resilient contact member into cngagement with the (1181! and stationary contacts.

THOMAS E. CLARK. MARK H. HOVEY.