US1333649A - Clock-operated control device - Google Patents

Description

H. WILCOX'. CLOCK OPERATED CONTROL DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-2|, 1916.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l v WITNESS H. WlLCOX.

CLOCK 0PERATED CONTROL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2I, 19l6.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig. 6.

WITNESS INVENTOR. M Q I M7171; I: Y.

UN T D sT TEs PATENT oF Io 1, I

a VHENRY WILoox, or NEWARK, NEW JEnsnY, AssreNoR TOJFRANK iamnson, or

, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. p

i, CLOCK-OPERATED CONTROL DEVICE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WILoox, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clock- Operated Control Devices, of which the following is a specification;

The objects of this invention are to pro vide an improved device adapted to be con trolled by a clock for operating suitable mechanismto effect a'desired result at a given time; to secure simplicity, ease of manipulation and freedom from Wear and getting out of order to enable the device to be readily set for any given time; to provide an adjustment whereby the clock maybe caused to operate the drafts at substantially the time for which it is set; to

minimize the strainon the clock Works; to

particularly adapt the device to opening the drafts ofa furnace; to enable the deviceto be applied to furnaces in different ways, and thus, adapted to various-"kinds of furnaces; to provide improved means for holding the fire-pot door open; to readily 'remove'said means when the clock releases the other 1 drafts ofthe furnace; to this end to obtain along leverage upon saidv door-holding means; to operate'said means without any additionalstrain on the'clock works and to obtain other advantages and results as may be brought out in the following description. Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the same, parts throughout the several views, V Figure 1 is a plan of the clockcontrolled tripping mechanisms; 4 I 1 Fig. 2 is a side viewof the same Fig. 3 is a central vertical'section of the same ' Fig. 4 is a side view of a furnace showing my improved control device in connection therewith; .1 I

.Fig. 5 is awfront view of the furnace 'shownin- Fig. 1- with the, chain controlling the chimney draft broken away in part, and Fig. 6'is a perspective view of the firepot door holding means.- I t Inthe specific embodimentl'of the invention illustrated said drawings the reference numeral 1 indicates a casing adapted to .incloser and support clock works of Specification of Letters Ifatent. Patented 313 15 16, 1920, Application filed August 21, 1916. Serial No 115,954.

suitable construction; said casing being provided with an open front to expose'the'face of the clock and'said front having a door 3 for closing the same to exclude dust and dirt. At the bottom and back of the cas- 1ng 1s secured a bracket 4 which extends rearwardly and then upwardly inspaced relation to theback of the casing. Also at the bottom of the casing and depending a,

post and secure the said clamping means at whatever position to whichit is turned upon the post. Below the socketed upper end depend a plurality of ears' 8- which are separated so as to take over a suitable support such as a damper bar of a furnace; and a clamping screw 9 through one of these ears is adapted to firmly secure the clamping .ieans upon saidflbar. Obviously, in this manner, the clamping means may be secured at any desired position upon the damper bar and the clock casing'maybe turned to any'position upon the'clamping means de sired.

the shaft 11 andfca'rrying at, its front end the hour hand 20; It will be understood that the relation ofthe various gears and mechanismsare such that thehour hand 20 will be. given but one revolution to twelve revolutions of theminute hand as is usual in clocks. -V' I Also in mesh-With the pinion 15 is another gear wheel 21 corresponding in diameter to the gear-wheel 18 upon the hour-hand supporting-sleeve 19; so that both said" gear wheels will make exactly the same number of revolutions in a' given time. This last frame of the clock works.

described gear wheel'il is upon the front endofa shaft 22 which projects rearwardly through the frame 17 of the clock works and through a" sleeve '23 which is fast with re spect to and extends rearwardly from the p The outer side of this sleeve provides an exterior cylindrical bearing for purposes hereinafter described, and terminates at its outer or free end in a radial flange 24. The'shait't 22 projects beyond the sleeve 23, and upon this projecting end is a cam 25, which obviously will be rotated once for each revolution of the hour hand.

Rotatah'ly mounted upon the exterior bearing portion of the sleeve 23 between the radial flange 2% and the "frame of the clock works is a plate :26 prevented from displacement by means of the said flange. This plate may be manually rotated to any position desired, and to hold it in such position a pin 27 provided at the top of the casing adapted to "he inserted in any one of the plurality of holes 28 arranged in an annular series in the face otsaid plate. Preferably the plate is provided with at least twelve holes 28 evenly spaced and representing the 5 twelve hours into which the clock face is usually divided. As many intermediate holes to represent the half or quarter hours and so forth may be provided between each two of these twelve holes as desired, and preferably raised figures from one to twelve are integrally formed on the front 02E said plate adjacentfthe twelve holes in consecutive order; When the pin 27 is inserted in any one hole it holds the plate 26 against rotatingand indicates the time at which the device will operate.

In practice, in order to cause the mechanisms to trip at the exact time indicated by the pin in one of the holes, an adjustment is necessarybetween positions of the plate and the cam above mentioned. Fl his adjustment,

is perhaps most readily made l y shifting the position of the pin "cirouinierentially ot the clock easing. In carrying out this fea-' tureol my invention the pin is carried in a bracket 29 which 1s a dpistable oirc'uinffen entially of the casing and may be clamped in its adjusted position. This bracket coin-- prises 'a foot poition30 having a slot '31 extending oi reum'fereii'ti all 'y the clock casing, an d h avi n also a pair of irpw ardly extending lugs 32 on opposite sides of the slot 'silitably recessed to slidahly receive the pin 2'7 in a direction transverse to the slot and substantially perpendicular to the setting plate.

Screws 33 extending through the slot 31 into a I I 1 the casing may he loosened to shift the bracket and tightened to retam the bracket in its shifted or adjusted position. Obvi ously, by this means, the hracketmay be 7 moved with the pin in one way or the other astound necessary or desirable.

Upon the back or the plate 26 is a cam lever 34 which extends diametrically of the platepast its center and is hingedat one end, as by ears 35, 35, to swing in a plane perpendicular to the plate. This cam lever is so formed that the cam-25 will lie beneath the san'l'e and rotate without swinging the lever except at desired intervals. ln the specific arrangement shown, the cam is disk shaped providing a flat surface against which the free end of the cam lever may engage. At one radial part of the dish a raised portion is provided over which the free end of the cam lever must ride as the cam is retated, thus causing the lever to swing away from the plate. Obviously, by turning the plate 26 the cam lever carried upon it will be brought into diflerent positions,so that it will be engaged by the cairn sooner or later, and by arranging the numbered holes 28 around the inarginof the plate in proper relation, the cam lever 3% can be brought into proper position to .be swung at a'given hour or half hour by setting the plate 26 with the pin 27 in the hole corres iiondiug "to said hour 'or half hour.

As positioned for "illustrative purposes, the clock indicates about twelve oclook, that is midday or midnight, and the plate 26 is set with the pin 27 in the hole marked with six, indicating tliemeehanism will operate at six 'ocloc k. 4 i cam at this time (12 oelock) extends straight down, and for the setting of the plate (6 oclock) the cam lever stands straight up and down with the free end up. As the clock continues to run, the cam is ro'tated'a'nd as the hour of six is approached the "radially pro ecting side of the :cam a ppreaches an upward position and engages the upper end of the cam lever which is.

swung to its maximum amplitude as the clock indicates the hour er six, after which the earn passes and allows the lever to resiuneits normal position. Obviously with the plate set for another time than six de le 3k the same operation would occur at that time instead of at six oelock.

Of course the cam lever 31 could by its iv-ringing movement operat any suitable kind or member, but I have shown it operating a trip lever 36 "stai'i'di'i'ig substaiit'ially upright and preferably fulerumed to "swing in a vertical ihtne perpeiidieirlar to the plate 26. This lever is 'slloivn carried by the in i right portionof the bracket -land he l nor madly in engagement by a helical spring 3? with thecam lever 3st at 'a' point opposite the end of the shaftflil, so as to be operated thereby regardless "of what position the plate 26 is turned to. Thelowerend at this trip lever 36' has a ydownwardly facing sh'oulden38 adapted to take over a shoulder 39 of a releasrn lever a0 pivoted horizontally to the brac et l opposite, the lower end of the releasing lever andadapted to hold at its other end something to be released at the given time, said trip lever-V thus preventing the end of thereleasing lever which underlies said shoulder from swinging upward until-the shoulder is disengaged.

It will, be noted thatthe bracket 4 is of channeled construction, with. opposite substantially parallel side portions, and that the releasing lever is pivoted between said side portions so that one arm projects whilethe other arm lies between the side portionsof the bracket and is protected or guarded thereby. Furthermore, the bracket and its side portions continue upward and the trip lever 36 and its spring 37 are in closed between said side port-ions. This insures that in hooking a chain over the releas ing lever 40, as hereinafterdescribed, it will not be wrongly done, even in the dark- It should also be noted that the shoulder 31) has curved guide portions 64, 65 on the inner rounded end of the releasing lever extending oppositely from its opposite ends, which serve to guide the trip lever intoengagement with said shoulder. That is. to say, when the releasing lever hangs downward it isnecessary only to pushits outer end up ward causing the lower guide-edge 64 to ride over the end of the trip lever until the shoulder 39 is reached; and if the releasing. lever should be thrown uptoo far, the trip lever will merely engage the upper guide edge '65 and beguided to the shoulder 39 as the lever drops back into proper position.

Oneuse to which my'clook-operated control device is well adapted isthe openingof furnace drafts at the desired hour in the morning to warm the house, and I have shown it applied to such use in Figsj4 and In said figures, the reference numeral 41 indicates a furnace having a damper bar 42 pivoted as at 43 with a weight 44 tending to normally swing the bar so thatone end, in this disclosure the rear end, is down damper 47 may beraised or opened and the front damper 48' lowered or shut as the weighted end of the bar raised and vice versa, as is common. I have shown my control device :in Figs. 4 and 5 mounted upon the opposite end 'of', the bar 42 from the wveiglit 44, or front end of said bar, and

holding the same downward by a chain 49, extending from a lower fixed pipe or-the like to the end of thei'eleasing lever which is opposite or away from the: trip lever 36.

Obviously, when the cam 25 swings the cam lever 34 to disengage the trip lever 36 the releasing lever 40 lets the. chain 49 slipofl', and the weight -44tipsthe bar 2 and operates thefurnace drafts to start up .thefire.

As a' feature of the present inventionl from thexlcft, the T-heac 55 is preferably on the other; side of the shank.

provide a door prop 50 which, while it is desired to damper the fire off is arranged we to hold thefire-pot door 51 open but which will be removed automatically as the damper bar swings to open the other, drafts. This door prop consists preferablyof anintegral piece of wire or the like bent into the desired shape as illustrated more particuwhich is a loop 53 by means of which a ment'against the inside of the door while the T-head rests upon the top of the door and abuts at one end the front of the furnaceobvlously preventlng the door from closing. For removing the prop the looped end of the shank is drawn upwardly which causes the prop to swing on the T-head as 'a fulcrum thus drawing the retaining portion 56 upward andremoving it from behind the door which may thus close, it being observed that the long leverage obtained by the greater length of the shank permit- 7 ting this to be done without theapplication of a great deal of force. I In order that the propmay be used upon doors opening both from the right and made to project, substantially as far one side of the shank as it does the other side,

and for ease in manufacture this is obtained by bending the'wire transversely to both the shank and retaining portion 56 as at 57 forthe desired length offloneside of the, T head, and'then returning the wire backwardly upon itself and extending it as far Obviously on one side of the shank there will-be two strands ofthe wire formingthe T -head,v

and by'separating these somewhat, "as

shown, a two point engagement willbe obtained upon the top of the door when'this side of theprop extends forwardly, and for obtaining a two" point engagement with the door when the other end of the T-head projects forwardly, the shank may be bent laterally in a plane of the T-head as at'58.

providing a rest separated from the T-head. V

Preferably this rest is adjacent the retaining portion 56 and upon the opposite side thereof from the T-head, although it might be otherwise if desired.

Itwill be understood, in operation, that larly in Fig. 6. Described in detail, it com 'prise'sa shank portion 52' at oneend of -ohainor other flexible member 54 may connect it to the damper bar. At its other end the prop is positioned horizontally at' the top of the door with its retaining portion 56 holding the door open against thetendency of a spring '59 to close it. For illustrative purposes a hook 60 is shown on one end of the spring engaging the knob 61 of the door, and a chain 62 is shown at the other end of the spring secured to a fixed part of the furnace such as the pipe 63. The loop 53 of the prop is connected by the chain 54 to the front end of the damper bar 42, or end which rises when the clock-operated means releases it. Thus, the upward movement of the bar i2 will swing the prop upwardly and remove the retaining portion 56 from behind the door at which time the spring 59 will draw the door closed. Pret Gbviously' various modifications and changes may be made in the manufacture of my improved 'cilock operated control device, without departing "from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish 'to be understood as limiting myself except as required 'by the following claims when construed in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

' 1. In aclock operated control device, the combination of a rotary'eam, clock means for turning said cam, a setting plate adapted 'to turn on substantially the same axial line as said cam, upon a stationary hub independent of the rotation of the cam, means for holding said setting plate from turning, and a cam lever on said setting plate adapted to be swung by said cam.- V

2. In aclock operatedcontrol device, the combination of a rotary cam, clock means for turningsaid cam, a rotary plate concentric with said cam for setting the device to act at a given time, a cam leveron said setting plate adapted to be engaged and swung hysaid cam, a trip lever one end of which is always in engagement with said cam lever, andnieans adapted to be released "by said trip lever.

3. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a rotary cam, clock 'inea ns forturning saidfcam, a rotary (plate concentric with said cam for setting the device to act at a given time, acain lever on said set ting rplate adapted to be engaged and swung by said cam, a trip lever one end of which is always in engagementwith said cam lever, and a releasing lever adapted to he engaged by the trip'lever and released when the cam lever is swung by the cam.

4:. In a clock operated control device, the combination with a casing, a rotary'cam,

clock means contained within said casing for rotating said cam, a rotary plate concentric with said cam for setting the device to act at a given time, a cam lever on said plate adapted to be e igaged and swung by said cam, a bracket fixed to said casing and extending adjacent said cam lever, and means supported by said bracket adapted to be operated by said cam lever.

5. In a clock operated-control device, the combination of a rotary cam, clock means for turning said earn, a rotary plate for setting the device to act at a given time, a setting pin for holding the plate set at any desired time, a bracket for mounting said pin, said bracket being adjustable in a direction transverse to the length of thepin, and means for holding the bracket in ad jnsted position.

6. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a rotary ca-1n, clock means for turning said earn, a rotary plate for setting the device to act at a given time, a setting pin for holding the plate set at any desired time, an adjustable bracket providing bearings forsaid pin and having a slot transverse to the pin, and a screw in said slot for holding the bracket in adjnsted position.

7 In a clock operated control device, the

' combination of a rotary cam, clock means for turning said cam, a rotary plate for setting the device to act at a given time, a setting pin for holding the plate set at any desired time, a bracket having a slot transverse to the pin, and a pairofspaced-screws in said slot for retaining said pin substantially perpendicular to the plate a lltimes and for clamping the bracket in adjusted position.

8. In a clock operated control device, the

combination with means for mounting the same, and 'a fixed bracket thereon with spaced side portions, wot a releasing lever pivoted on saldbraeket with one arm pro- "ectin therefrom and the other arm. be-

tween "said side portions, a trip lever for holdlng said releasing lever, and means for tripping said trip lever at predetermined times.

9. In a clockboperated control device, the

combination with means for mounting the same, and a fixed bracket thereon with spaced side portions,i'of a releasing lever pivoted 011 said bracket with one arm proj'ecting therefrom and the other arm be tween said side portions, a spring-con trolled trip lever for said releasing lever also between the side portions of the bracket, and means for tripping saidt'rip lever at predetermined times.

10. In a clock operated control device, the combination of a releasing lever having a supporting arm and an engaging shoulder with curved :guide edges extending in opposite directions from'the opposite ends of said i In testimony whereof I have signed this shoulder, a spring-controlled trip lever for specification in the presence of two subengaging said shoulder, both said guard scribing Witnesses. 7 surfaces being adapted toguide the trip HENRY WILCOX. 5 lever into engagement with said shoulder, Witnesses: r

and means for tripping said trip lever at HOWARD P. KING,

predetermined times. MILDRED E. BROOKS.

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