US1406788A - Apparatus for trapping bank robbers - Google Patents

Description

F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPLlCATION FILED MAR, 12. 1921.

1,406,788. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F Wz n 772Q7Z/L INVENTOR WITNESSM ATTORNEY F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPucATlon FILED MAR, 12, 1921. 1,406,788. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- ez nmai'mlNvENToR WlTNESSzK ATTORNEY F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 12, 1921.

1 106,788 Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Ffiezkmann 'INVENTOR FREDERICK WEINMANN,

OF LANSING, MICHIGAN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

Application filed March 12, 1921. Serial No. 451,731.

7 '0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK WEINMANN, a citizen of the United States, residin at Lansing, in the county of Ingham and tate of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Trapping Bank Robbers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my present invention is' the provision of an apparatus for trapping daylight ba-nk robbers, the said apparatus being under the control of a-person in authority in a bank and being adapted when put in operation to preclude egress from the bank and at the same time permit ingress into the bank so that policemen may enter the bank with a view to arresting the robbers.

The invention also contemplates the provision of means whereby an alarm exterior of the bank may be sounded coincident with the putting into operation of the trapping apparatusi. e.,' the means for preventing egress from the bank.

To the attainment of the foregoing, the invention consists in the improvement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof Figure 1 is a general plan view illustrating a bank equipped with my improvement.

Figures 2 and ,3 are views of that door of the improvement hereinafter referred to as the ingress door.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views showing what will hereinafter be designated the egress door of the improvement and the locking mechanism that cooperates therewith.

Figure 7 is a detail view showing the means for automatically breaking the electric circuit of the locking means after the said means is put into operation, and this without disturbing the circuit including the electric bell which is the type of exterior signal preferably employed.v

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrative of the electrical circuits and connections.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings.

By particular reference to Figure 1 it will be observed that the bank 1 in addition to the usual furnishings is provided with an ingress door 2 and an egress door 3. These doors 2 and 3 are preferably arranged relatively to the'interior of the bank and the street door .4 in the manner illustrated, but

this is not of the essence of my invention, and I would therefore have it understood that it is within the purview of my invention to relatively arrange the doors 2 and 3 in any appropriate manner.

The ingress door 2 is preferably of the construction illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 wherein 5 is a door casing, 6 a turn stile, 7, 7 guard arms carried by one upright wall of the casing 5, 8 a ratchet disk fixed to the shaft of the turn stile 6, and 9 a pawl. The said pawl 9 is adapted to cooperate with the ratchet disk 8 in precluding retrograde rotation of the turn stile 6. In other words the teeth of the ratchet disk 8 and the pawl 9 are so relatively arranged that while a person can freely turn the turn stile and enter the bank at the side of the turn stile shaft remote from the guard arms 7, no person can turn the turn stile in the opposite direction. From this it follows that the guard arms 7 by cooperation with the arms or wings of the turn stile will preclude the escape of a robber or any other person through the door 2. The condition just described obtains normally and also when the exit door 3 is locked to prevent egress from the bank, and hence it will be appreciated that even when robbers are trapped in the bank there is nothing to prevent policemen from freely entering the bank through the door 2 with a view to putting the robbers under arrest.

The egress door 3 includes a casing 10, a turn stile 11, guard arms 12 for cooperation with the wings of the turn stile 11, a ratchet disk 13, and a pawl 14. The said pawl 14 normally rests out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet disk 13, and hence under normal conditions there is nothing to prevent the free rotation of the turn stile 11 by a person seeking to leave the bank. When.

however, a robbery has taken place and one of t the tellers or any other person in the bank desires to trap the robber or robbers it is the province of such person to release the pawl 14 and thereby engage said awl 1 1 with the disk 13, when the pawl wi l manifestly preclude the rotation of the turn stile 11 in the direction necessary to enable a v person to pass outwardly through the turn stile at the opposite side of the shaft thereof with reference to the guard arms 12.

The pawl 14 is backed by a spring 15, and i provided in one end with a notch 16. The said notch 16 is designed normally to receive a lateral arm 17 on the armature shaft 18 of an electric motor 19, and therefore the pawl 14 will normally be held out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet disk 13. When, however, the electric motor is energized as hereinafter described and the armature shaft 18 is turned, the arm 17 will be moved out of the notch 16 whereupon the pawl 14 will be pressed by the spring 15 into engagement with the teeth of the disk 13 so as to preclude the turning of the said disk 13 in the direction indicated by arrow.

At 20 is an electrical signal designed to be located in front of the bank or at any other desired point exteriorly thereof; the signal being preferably in the form of an electrical bell as illustrated in Figure 8. It will also be observed by reference to Figure 8 that my novel apparatus includes a normally open switch 21 the movable terminal of which is opposed to and operable by the heel of the pawl 14 when the said pawl 14 is released and is moved by its spring 15 into engagement with the teeth of the disk 13. The apparatus further includes a source of electric energy 22, a normally open switch 23, preferably, though not necessarily, of pedal type, and a circuit breaker made up of a dielectric disk 24 on the armature shaft 18 of the motor 19, a conductive peripheral strip 25 on, said disk 24, and spaced brushes 26 and 27 opposed to the periphery of the disk 24 and designed to be electricallyconnected normally by the said strip 25. In the preferred arrangement one of the electric circuits is from the plus pole of the source of energy 22 through a wire 28 with the electric motor 19 and from the said motor 19 through a wire 29 to the brush 27 and then by way of the strip 25, the brush 26, a wire 30, one terminal of the normally open pedal switch 23, the other terminal of the said pedal switch, and a wire 31 back to the negative pole of the source of energy 22. The signal or bell 20 is arranged in a parallel circuit as shown-i. e., one side of the bell is connected through a wire 32 with a wire 31, and the other side of the bell is connected through a wire 33 with the movable terminal of the switch 21.

When a robbery has taken place or when a teller or other person in authority is aware of the fact that robbers are in the bank it is the province of such person to step on and close the switch 23, whereupon the motor 19 will be energized and operated to release the pawl 14 in the manner and for the purpose before described. After the said pawl 14 is released from the armature shaft 18 of the bell 20 will be sounded until the switch 21 is opened by the resetting of the pawl 14 in engagement with the armature shaft 18 and the rearrangement of the strip 25 so as to bridge the space between the brushes 26 and 27; it being understood in this connection that the movable terminal of the switch 21 is resilient type.

When the egress door 3 is locked in the manner described to trap robbers in the bank, it will be apparent that free ingress to the bank may be had through the door 2 so that policemen can readily enter the bank for the arrest of the robbers, and this I consider a highly important feature of my invention.

Notwithstanding the practical advantages of my novel apparatus as described, it will be appreciated that the apparatus is inexpensive in construction especially when it is considered that the turn stiles may be of storm-door type, and that the apparatus is susceptible of being installed without undue expense.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

In apparatus for trapping bank robbers, the combination of a turn stile having a toothed disk, a pawl adapted in one position to cooperate with said disk and prevent turning of the turn stile, an electro-mechanical device adapted to normally hold the pawl out of engagement with the toothed disk, a normally open switch, and a source of electric energy arranged in a normally open circuit with said electro-mechanical device and the switch whereby when the switch is closed the electro-mechanical device will be energized and the pawl will be released for engagement with the toothed disk; the said electro-mechanical device being in the form of an electric motor with an arm on the armature shaft thereof to engage a notch in the pawl, and the armature shaft being equipped with a dielectric disk on which is a conductive strip, and the said strip being normally arranged in the motor circuit, whereby after energization of the motor to release the pawl the motor circuit will be automatically broken.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

FREDERICK WEINMANN.

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