US1373495A - Burglar and fire alarm - Google Patents

Description

LE ROY S. FOLTZ.

BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM.

1L 2. 9 il 9% 5 S m Au d m m a P on m 4 m E F D E H N w T A C H P DI A 'l/VI/E/VTOR LQFO JFOLbz am y A ATTORNEYS mm m M n A LE ROY S. FOLTZ,

BURGLARVAND FIRE ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4,1919- 7 1,373,495., flw fillied Apr. 5, 1921.,

I a V K 2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

INVENTOR A TTORNEYS UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LE BOY STEWART FOL'DZyOF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO:

BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 4, 1919. Serial No. 274,879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, L ROY S. Forum, a

citizen of the United States, and aresident of FortCollins, in the county of Larimer and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burglar and the constructions, combinations and arrangements herem descrlbed and clalmed.

An object of my invention is to provide a burglar and fire alarm which is in the nature of an attachment to the ordinary telephone system, the burglar and fire alarm being so arranged to apprise the central oflice munities, any person then listening in hearing a separate warning signal between readily concealed at the points to bepro- Fig .51),

or a neighbors house of the presence of an intruder, without the knowledge of the intruder,"or in the presence of a fire.

Another object of the invention is to 'provide a burglar and fire alarm as described, including as one of the important features,

an automatically operating receiver hook elevator with a contact making device, for sending signals over the telephone line.

A further object of the invention is to provide a burglar and fire alarm as described, by means of which the particular callof the party whose premises are invaded or otherwise endangered, is sent over the line to neighboring telephones'in rural comrings and thus being apprised of the danger in the first partys premises.

Other objects and advantages Wlll appear in the following specification, reference being had .to the accompanying drawings in which: 6 I

Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the application of the burglar andfire alarm to' an ordinary common battery'telephone 1nstrument used in the city. v

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the appli cation of the burglar and fire alarm to a local battery-telephone used in rural districts.

callyoperating receiver hook elevator." Fig. 4 is a side elevation thereof, parts I being shown in section.

. 3 .is afront elevation of the automati-.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the contact surface gear; and Flg. 6 is a view of the reverse side of the gear 23, showing contact hereinafter described.

Byway of preface, it is desired to state.

that the burglar and fire alarm about to be described, operates to apprise'either the central or telephone operator at a central station, or some other persons, of the presence of an intruder or of some other abnormal condition in a protected premises, without sounding an alarm in thepremises thus protected, and consequently not alarmin the intruder and frightening him away. hose Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

duly authorized to do so, then apprehend the intruder 'or investigate the abnormal condition; the sounding of the alarm and the approach of the investigators having ta-' ken place altogether without the knowledge of the intruder, or any alarm being sounded on the endangered premises.

Now in carrying out my lnventioml svide parallel wires l'which are led througha window or at a door asillustrated in Fig. 1..

The contacts in Figs. 1 and-'2 of the drawings, will v in practice be so constructed that they may be tected, and may also consist of thermally alarm into operation upon the breaking out description, it will be understood that the wires 1 are trained overthe house if such is to be protected, with the contacts 2 at every point likely to be attacked by an intruder, whereupon on'f'closing one of the contacts 2, the alarm is set into operation, as will presently appear. v

Located in a branch 3 of one of the wires 1, is a control switch 4 which is moved over into the position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, to close the circuit with the exception of the portions thereof terminating at the contacts 2. A battery 5 is partly embraced by the 2 conventionally represented ofa fire-on the premises. ,Without further ranged and 4, to which attention is directed.

branch Une of the wires of the branch is connected to the positive pole of the battery, while the other wire of t e branch 3 is connected to a negative pole about mid-way of the battery.

One terminal of the motor 6 of the automatically operated receiver hook. elevator, is connected to the negative pole of the battery 5 by a wire 7. lhe reason for connecting one of the wires of the branch 3 to a negative pole about mid-way of the battery 5 is, to obtain a sufliciently low current for the operation of a relay 8 connected in series with the parallel wires 1.

The relay 8 includes a contact 9 against which the armature 10 of the relayis arto strike upon energization of the relay. When the armature 10 is thus attracted, current flows from the positive pole of the battery 5 through the contact 9, armature 10 and over the wires connected to the motor 6 of the receiver hook elevator.

A fewinitial turns of the motor 6, or rather of the shaft of the motor, serve to elevate the receiver hook 11 into the talking position. The construction of the receiver hook elevator is bestillustrated in Fi s. 3 Y ere it will be observed that the shaft 12 of the motor 6 carries a worm pinion 13 which is threaded into a worm socket 14: on the end of a square shaft 15.

Fitted over. the end of the square shaft 15 is the socket 16 of a plunger 17 which contacts the lower edge of the receiver hook 11,

.as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A spring 18 is located in the socket 16 aheadof the square shaft 15, as shown in Fig. 4. The spring 18 compresses to a I certain extent on the upward movement of the square shaft 15 and thus rovides a yielding connection between the p unger and the shaft. The shaft 17 carries a collar 17 which is arranged to engage terminals 17 b that are connected to theead wire of the local receiver and short clrcuit the receiver when the collar rises into engagement with the terminals,

. Brackets 19 fixedv on the base 20 of the receiverhook elevator, provide supports =or bearings for the respective shafts 12 and 15.

It will be readily understoodthat as stated before, a few initial turns of the motor 6 will cause the square shaft 15 to rise in the brackets 19 through the action of the worm pinion 13. in the-worm socket 14, and consequently cause the plunger 17 to lift the re ceiver hook 11 into the talking position.

Incidentally it'should. be understood that Figs.

17 in the extended position.

This be ng the case, th'ew'orm socket 14: has been lifted or forced out of threaded engagement wlth the. worm inion 13.- The connection between the wor socket 14 and 3 and 4 show the square shaft 15 and plunger the worm pinion 13 ishowevennot broken.

ravages The threads in the socket 14 terminate a short distance from. the open end of the socket, the bore of the socket being made smooth or threadless, as indicated at 21. This threadless portion of the bore of the socket 14 provides a recess which is occupied by the end of the worm pinion 13 when the threaded portion of the socket is turned completely out of engagement with the worm pinion 13. Upon resetting the device, the

shaft of the motor is simply counter ro square shaft 15 with the plunger 17, is lowthe transmitter circuit, and line when the motor 6 is in operation as just described. These impulses repeatedly short circuit the transmitter and as soon as thecentral operator answers the apparent call, she will receive a distinct and understandable signal, telling her that a condition exists on the premlsesfrom which the signal comes, which requires investigation.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the brushes 26 are joined with the wire connections of the transmitter 28 through wires 29. The arrangement of the telephone instrument connection, is on a well known order,

which is shown in Fig. 1. The rural telephone in Fig. 2 includes a local battery and when the motor 6 isoperated upon 0 osure of-one of the contacts 2, a magneto 30 operated by an extension of the motor shaft 12, sends a ringingcurrent over the main ine through the wires 31 connectedbetween the main line and the magneto. This ringing current is made to consist of a'certain signal that is produced by suitably spaced contacts 25,, occupying one-half of the circumference on the other side of the car 23.

A normally closed re a 32 is embraced in one of the wires? lea ing to the motor 6 from the armature 10 of the relay '8.

,Upon energization of the relay 8, current from the positive pole of the battery 5 flows overthe wire 3 to the contact 9, through the armature 10 and the windings of the relay the arrangement in Fig.2. being, however, slightly different from that- 32, through the motor 6 and back to the negative pole of the battery. 5. The relay 32 being energized, the armature of the relay is drawn down opening the portion of.

the tele hone circuit normally closed thereby. Wlth the exception of the inclusion of the relay 32 and t e ringing magneto 30,

the arrangement of the burglar alarm circuit in Fig. 2 is the same as that illustrated in Fig. 1, and operates in the Same manner.

;As formerly pointed out, the contacts on the gear 23in the arrangement of the rural telephone in Fig. 2, are so placed to alternately ring a certain signal and produce an alarm sound in the receiver at stated eriods. For example, if'an' alarm proceeds from a protected premises, thesignal on this premises will sound in the neighbormg houses along the line. The alarm is intended to sound in rapid succession and naturally "the neighbors will listen in, whereupon they would hear the special alarm signal produced by the contacts -25 on one side of the gear 23. The signal itself is conveyed to the telephone line by the second set of brushes 26 with which the wires 31 connect.

While the construction and arrangement of the burglar and fire alarm is thought to.

be fully understood from the foregoing description, a brief review thereof, together with an exposition of the advantages, is thought to be of value. In the normal position of the parts, the worm socket 14 is screwed completely down upon the worm pinion 13 so that the worm pinion is concealed in the socket. The plunger 17 will be in the lowermost,position,-wl1ile the weight of the receiver. on the hook 11 bears it down in contact with the end of the plunger 17. The wiresl are. ledover the premisesand one of the normally open contacts 2 .is located at every point which it is 'de sired to protect. The Imain or I control switch 4 is closed as shown in Figs. '1 and 2.

Should an intruder now open. a window.

or door as shown in Fig.1, the pair of contacts 2 located at this point will be moved into engagement and close the circuit. The relay 8 is energized attracting 'thearmature 10 into engagement with the contact 9 whereuponthe motor 6-.is .also energized;

The rotation of the motor shaft 12 unscrews the worm'pinion 13 from the socket 14.- and elevates the square shaft 15 so that the plun ger '17 presses the receiver hook 11 up into the talking position. At the same time, the

gear 23 is rotated by means ofthe pinion 22 on the motor shaft 1 2, and a seriesof impulses are sent over'the line, which when received by the central "operator, Willy-give her to understand that an abnormal'condi tion exists in the protected premises The central operator may then notify the-proper authorities. On the rural telephone line all of the bells of the neighbors on-that line repeatedly ring the call "of the home in trouble.

One of the principal advantages of alarm is, that no local alarm whatever is glven to warn the ntruder that he pr ises vice at an expense approximately equal to that of'another telephone instrument. The advantages derived from the use of the de- ViceQat-a comparatively low cost, will completely offset such cost and make the installation of the alarm popular. The ordinary use of the telephone is not interfered with in any way, whether the main or control switch 4. is open or closed. An in truders uncertain knowledge whether or not the premises he is about to enter is guarded with an alarm as described, which b gives no local indication of its presence, but

does sound the alarm at the central station, will make the profession of burglary more dangerous to those who practice it and will thus tend to decrease attempts at robbery. 1 While the construction and arrangement of the burglar alarm as illustrated in the accompanying drawing is that of a generally preferred form, obviously, modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the claims.

I claim: I 7

- 1. A burglar and fire alarm comprising in combination with an electrical circuit, a 0on tact arranged tobe closed, a contact carrying member arranged to be moved upon closure of said contact to move said contact carry ing member, contacts suitably arranged on one part of said carrying member to periodically send call signals over the 'ele'ctric'circuit from the'endangered premises, a telephone transmitter included in the aforesaid combination, and suitably arranged contacts '"in another part of said carrying'member to intermittently short circuit the transmitter between the aforesaid signal period, and issue a distinct warning in other receivers connected along said-electric circuits.

alarm, of a receiver hook, an operatively as- 2. The combination in a burglar andfire sociated electrical circuit with closable contacts, and an electro-motively and screwactuated plunger,extensible by operation of the motor nd r o lift the'hook Wh le j the receiver is on, upon energization of said 1 device by the closure of a contact. v

3. In a burglar and fire alarm,-a contact, a source of electrical energy, a relayin circuit with said source and said contact, to be energized upon closure 10f. said contact, and re- I 30 circuit with the motor,

ceiver hook elevating means including an extensible plunger adapted to engage the receiver hook to move it to the talking position and a motor arranged to be energized upon 5 energlzation of said relay, said motor being arranged to extend said plunger upon operation thereof.

4:. In a burglar and fire alarm, the combination with the receiver hook, of an extensible member for lifting the hook to the talking position, a motor arranged upon energizatiorr 0 move said extensible member, a source of electrical energy in circuit with the motor, a relay controlling the closure of said circuit throughthe motor, and a contact in circuit withsaid relay and a portion of said source of electrical energy, arranged upon closure to energize said relay to operate the motor. 5. In a burglar and fire alarm, the combination with a receiver hook and transmitter, of an extensible member arranged to lift the receiver hook to the talking position, a motor for moving said extensible member upon energization, a short circuiting device in connection with the transmitter and actuated upon operation of the motor to issue a warning to acentral station without producing local sounds, a source of electrical energy in a relay arranged to control said motor circuit, and a contact in circuit with a portion of said source of electrical energy and said relay, to energize said relay upon closure of the contact and render 36 the motor operative.

6. In a burglar and fire alarm, the combination with a receiver hook, of an extensible plunger engaging the receiver hook,-a noncircular shaft received by one end of the 40 plunger, a bracket supporting said shaft and holding it from turning, a motor including a motor shaft, a screw connection between the motor shaft and the non-circular shaft arranged to extend the non-circular shaft and the plunger upon rotation of the motor shaft, a source of electrical energy in circuit with the motor, a relay arranged upon energization to close the vmotor circuit, and a contact in circuit with a portion of said; electrical energy and said relay, to energize the relay upon closure of the contact and operate the motor. I c 7. In a burglar and fire alarm, means arranged to contact the receiver hook of a telephone. instrument, said means having a recess at the free end, a non-circular shaft proiecting into;- the recess, .a resilient member between the end of the shaft and the base of the recess, means supporting the non-circular shaft and holding it from turning, an internally threaded worm socket on the free end of the non-circular shaft, a portion of the threads in the socket being-removed to leave a smooth recess, a motor having a 05 motor shaft, and a worm pinion normally with a portion of screwed into the internally threaded socket, the worm pinion being adapted to unscrew from the socket and project the non-circular shaft and hook contacting means to the extended position and raise the receiver hook upon operation of the motor, the end of the worm pinion occupying said smooth portion of the worm socket at the end of said extendin movement, to be in position to again recelve the worm socket on counter-rotation of the motor shaft.

8. In combination with a telephone circuit including a plurality of receivers of other telephones, a local receiver hook and a transm tter, an extensible plunger arranged to lift the hook to the talking position, a motor having a connection with said plunger for extending the plunger on the initial rotation of the motor shaft, a short circuiting means in connection with the transmitter for producing sounds in the re-, ceivers of said other telephones on the continued operation of the motor, a source of electrical energy in circuit with the motor, a relay including a contact and an armature arranged to close the motor circuit upon energization of the relay, and a contact in circuit with the relay and a portion of the source of electrical energy, the relay being energized upon closure of the contact.

9. In a burglar and fire alarm, the combination with a telephone circuit including a receiver hook and a transmitter, a motor, an extensible plunger in contactQwith the receiver hook and arranged to raise the hook to the talking position upon operation of the motor, a short circuiting device in connection with the transmitter and actuated in the operation of the motor to issue a warning to a central station without making a local alarm, a source of electrical energy in circuit with the motor, a relay in circuit said source of electrical energy and arranged to. close the motor circuit upon energization of the relay, and, a 110 contact in the relay circuit, arranged to be closed upon the entrance of an intruder, to

energize said relay and render said motor operative and issue the warning without the knowledge of the intruder.

10. In a burglar and fire alarm, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver and transmitter, of means attached to the instrument for issuing a warning to a central station without disturbing the operating function of the telephone instrument, said means including an extensible member in contact with the receiver hook, a motor arranged upon operation to move the extensible member and raise said hook to the talking position, means for short circuiting the transmitter at regular periods actuated upon operation of the motor, a source of electrical energy for operating the motor, a relay controlling theclosure of the motor operating circuit, a contact controlthroughout the circumference of the gear to ling the operation of the. relay, and means sound an alarm, and other sets of contacts for short circuiting the receiver when the insulated on the other side of said member, 10 motor is in operation. occupying a part of the circumference of 11. In a burglar and fire alarm, a contact said member and arranged to produce a carrying member including a gear having ringing s1 nal.

sets of insulated signal contacts on one side L ROY STEWART FOLTZ.

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