US1413748A - Signaling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

D. B. LOVEJOY.

SIGNALING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED luuafzs, 191s.

Patented Apr.

' Y INVENTORI 4% ATTORNEY DIMMITT it. LOVEJQY, on FRENEAU, NEW JnasE srenALiNe APPARAT S;

Application filed June 26,

' T aZZ whom'it may concern:

Be it known that l, DIMMITT R. LovnJoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Freneau, Monmouth County, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Signaling Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact specification.v

This invention relates to improvements in signaling apparatus of the non-interfering, successive type, such as. are employed for sending signals from any one of a plurality of sending stations to a main or receiving station, and the same has for its object to provide an apparatus of this type which will be efficient and reliable in its operation.

Further, said invention has for its object to provide an apparatus of this character which will consist of but few parts, and which will be simple in its construction and inexpensive to manufacture. 7

Further, said inventionhas for its object to provide an apparatus of this character comprising signal transmitting mechanism, and means for controlling the operation thereof.

Further, said invention has for its object to provide an apparatus of this character comprising signal transmitting mechanism, movable means adapted in its operative position to prevent the actuation thereof, and electro-magnetically controlled means for normally holding said movable means in its inoperative position and maintaining the same in said position during the actuation of the transmitting mechanism.

Further, said invention has for its object to provide an apparatus of this character comprising signal transmitting mechanism, and means including a compoundwound electro-magnet to control the operation of the transmitting mechanism.

Further, said invention has for its object to provide an apparatus of this character comprising means for permitting communication between any one ofthe sending stations and the receiving station, without danger of interference from any of the others of the sending stations.

Other objects will in part be obvious, and V in part be pointed out hereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid object and ends my invention consists in the novel details of construction, and in the combination, connection and arrangement of parts Specifieation of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, 1922.,

1918.- Serial no. 241,909.

hereinafter more fully. described-and then pointed out'in the claim's.

Referringto the accompanying drawing, illustrating, indiagrammatic form,a signaling apparatus embodying my invention,'the box transmission mechanism, which may be of any approvedtype, is shown as compris-' ing a transmitter wheel 10 adapted to be driven by a gear train 11 When the operating lever 12 has been pulled-and released, in the usual manner. 7 13 and 14 in'dicateelectrical contacts interposed inthe'signaling circuit and normally maintained in; closed position by reason of the engagement of the con'tact 13 with the periphery of thetran'smitter wheel 10. As the transmitteriwheel 10 rotates, the recesses 15 formed' there'in will permit the contact 13 successively to move out of and into contact with the contact 14 to open and closethe signaling'circuit .in the well-knOwrfinanner. It is of course understood, that the recesses 15 are'arra-nged to correspond to the number'of. the box. The escapement 16 of the box transmission mechanism, which controls the speed of operation of the gear'train"1l,"carries,an

arm 17. Pivotally supported adjacent the free end of the arm 17, is ale ver '18 having a projection 19 at one end thereof adapted to be moved into or out of engagement with the free'end of the arm 17, whereby to prevent or permit. the actuation of the ratchet escapement 16 and the gear train 11 con,- trolled thereby. In order to insure that the projection 19 Willengage the end offlthe arm 17 at one or the o'ther of the sides thereof, the projection 19 and the arm 17 are provided with co-acting knife-edges, as shown. I The lever 18 is so mounted and arranged, as for example byweighting its Jmally held in its raised position and adapted to be actuated to control the movementof the lever'18 as hereinafter described.

Adjacent its upper'end, the rod 21" is provided with a pin 22, upon which rests the free end of a pivotally supportedarmatrue 23, of a compound electro-ma'gnet 24; I having a low resistance winding 25 connectv other end, that it normally tends to occupy f t ed in series with the normally closed contacts 13, 14, and a high resistance winding 26 connected in shunt with the normally closed contacts 13, 14:. fin adjustable stop 27 is provided to limit the downward movement of the armature 23. A spring 28 has one of. its ends connected to the armature 23 and its other end connected to a pin 29 carried by the rod 21. At its lower end the rod 21 carries: a pawl 30 which engages the teeth of the gear wheel 31 forming partof a gear train 32 comprising means for retarding the actuation thereof, as, for example, a pinion 33 carrying vanes 34.

35 indicates a telegraph key comprising a contact 36 and a lever 37 normally held in engagement withthe contact 36 by means of a spring 38.

One of the conductors 39 of the signaling circuit is connected to the contact 1 1, and the other conductor 40 of said circuit is connected to the lever 37 of the telegraph key 35. Afconductor 4&1 connects the contact 36 of the telegraph key 35 to one end of the series winding 25 of the electro-magnet 24:, and the other end of the series winding is connected to the contact 13 by a conductor 42. I The ends of the shunt winding 26 are connected to the conductors 39 and 42, by

the conductors'l3 and M respectively.

It is, of course, understoodthat a plurality of signaling apparatus may be interposed in series in the signaling circuit at diti'erent stations, as is the common practice, and that the construction and wiring conections oi each such apparatus is the same as that above described.

Under normal conditions the telegraph key 35 isclosed and the contacts 13 and 1 1 are in contact'witli one another, as hereinabove described, and, therefore, there will be a continuous flow of current through the "following. path z-conductor 4:0, lever 37, contact 36, conductor 4L1, series winding 25 of the electro-magnet 2 1, conductor 42, contacts 13 and 14, and conductor39. No current will flow through the shunt winding 26 of the electro-magnet 24: as the same is short-circuited by the normally engaged con tacts 13 and l l. 7 The current flowing through the series winding energizes the electro-magnet 24 thereby holding its armature 23 in its raised position. The spring 28 will hold the rod 21 in its raised position in which position the pin 20,. carried thereby and engaging the weighted end of: the lever 18, will hold thelever18 in its inoperative position with the projection 19 at its other end out of engagement with the end of the arm 17, carried by the ratchetescapement 16.

The operation is as follows When a signalis to be sent, the operating lever 12 of the box transmission mechanism is pulled and released, thereby actuating the tact will drop into the recess and out of engagement with the contact 14, thereby breakthe signaling circuit at this point, and compelling the current to flow through the following path at the signaling station conductor &0, lever 37, contact 36,- conductor 41, series winding 25, conductor 42, conductor 44, shunt winding 26, conductor 43, and conductor 39. At all other stations in the signaling circuit the current will continue to How through its normal path, in which it passes through the series windings only of the several electro-magnets. Owing to the high resistance of the shunt winding through which the current now flows at the sending station, the strength of the current flowing through the signaling circuit will be greatly decreased, but, owing to the fact that the current at the sending station now flows through both the series winding 25 lso and the shunt winding 26, the energization of the electro-magnet 24 will be suilicient to hold the armature 23 at the sending station in its raised position. The rod 21 will there fore be held in its raised position, and the pin 20 carried thereby will hold the leve 18 in its inoperative position. The series winding 25 of the elect-ro-magnet 24 is so proportioned and constructed that, when the current of decreased strength flows therethrough, the electro-magnet 24c will not be energized sufliciently to retain its armature 23 in its raised position, and, consequently, at every station on the circuit, other than the sending station, thearmature 23 will drop from its normally raised position until it engages the stop 27. As the armature 23, at QiLCll'OYE the other stations, drops, the rod 21 will move downwardly and the lever 18 will thereupon be permitted to assume its operative position with the projection 19 engaging the end of the arm 17 carried by the ratchet escapement 16, thereby, preventing the actuation of the same and of the gear train 11 controlled thereby. The downward movement of the rod 21. will also cause the pawl 30 to ride over'the teeth of: the gear wheel '31 and to engage with a tooth below that one with which it engaged, when the rod 21 was in its raised position.

As the transmitter wheel 10 atthe sendin'g station continues to rotate, the contact 13 will ride out of the first of the recesses 15 and will again come into contact with the contact 14, thereby "short circuiting' the shunt winding 26 of the, electro-magnet-2 l at the sendingstationand permittingthe full, normal strength of current to again flow through the signaling circuit. This change in the strength of the current will have no effect with respect to the sending station, as the armature 23, and its co-acting parts, were maintained in their normal positions when the strength of the current was reduced; At each of theother stations on the circuit, however, as soon as the current flowing therethrough assumes its full strength, the armature 23 isimmediately attracted and raised to its normal position. As the armature 23 thus moves to its normal position, it tends to raise the rod 21 to its normal position by means of the'spring 28, but the upward movement of the rod 21 is retarded by reason of the fact that the pawl 30 is in engagement with a tooth of the gear wheel 31 of the retarding gear train 32. The rod 21, therefore, has a slow upward movement and before it can rise sufficiently to move the lever 18 out of locking engagement with the arm 17 of the ratchet escapement 16, the contact 13 at the sending station will have dropped into the next succeeding one of the recesses 15 of the transmitter wheel 10, whereupon the strength of the current in the circuit will again be decreased, as abovedescribed, as a result of which the armature 23 at each of the other stations will again drop, and the rod 21 will move from its partially raised position to its lowermost position. This op eration of the apparatus at the stations other than the sending station is repeated as the contacts 13 and 1e atthe sending station make and break contactwith one another during the rotation of the transmitter wheel 10. The retarding gear train 32 is preferably so constructed, and the operation thereof is so timed, thatthe time required by the rod 21 to rise from its lowermost position to a position in which it will render the lever 18 inoperative will beat least equal to the time required for one complete rotation of the transmitter wheel 10. This will insure that no station on the circuit can interfere with a sending station.

\Vhen "the transmitter wheel 10 at the sending station comes to rest, after having sent the signal one or more times, in the usual manner, the engagement of the contact 13with the contact 14% again permits the full strength of current to flow through the circuit. The armature 23 at each of the other stations will be'attracted to its raised position, and the rod 21 at each of said stations'will now be permitted to be drawn upwardly to its normal position by the spring 28, whereupon the ,pin 20 carried thereby will cause the'lever 18 to assume its inoperative position, and a signal may then be sent from any one of the stations'in the circuit.

If, during the sending of a signal from one of the stations on the circuit, the operating lever 12 at any other station is pulled and released, the transmission mechanism atqsaid other-station can not operate, as the lever {18 has moved into its operative or looking position, as above described, but

after the signal from the sending station has beencompleted, the locking lever 18 at said other station will be moved to occupy itsinoperative position, and, vas soon as this occurs, the transmission ,7 mechanism at said other station will thereupon be free to op-. erateto send a signal. e

f. Ifthe fire chief, or' any other authorized person,.wishes to communicate withheadquarters, he can do so by means of the telegraph key 35 without danger of interference from any one of these'nding stations on the circuit. .Upon depressing the lever 37, at the beginning of the message, the signaling circuit is broken between the lever 37 and contact36 and the armature 23 at each stationdrops, thus causing the lever 18 to lock the transmission mechanism ateach station against operation, as above described. During the sending of the message the in terval of time between the letters or words transmitted will not be sufficient to permit the bars 21 at the several stations to rise sufficiently to cause the levers 18 to move to their unlocking positions, and therefore, the

sending of the message cannot be interfered comprising a signal transmiting mechanism, means movable into and out of operative relation to said transmitting mechanism to control the actuation thereof, means responsive to an electriccurrent for normally holding said movable means in its ,inopera- I tive position and adapted to permitsaid 1 movable means to assume its operative position when the current strength is decreased below a predetermined value, and

means co-acting with said holding means to maintain said movable means in its inoperative position when the current strength is so decreased, substantially as specified.

2. An apparatus of the class described comprising a signal transmitting mocha nism provided with a normally closed make and break device, electro-magnetic means comprising a C 01l 1n series wlth said make and ;break device, and a coil in parallel with said make and break device and in series with said first-named coil, and means controlled by said electro-magnetic means controlling the operation ofsaid transmitting mechanism, substantially as fied.

An apparatus of the class described comprisin a signal transmitting mechanism provided with a normally closed make and break device, electro-magnetic means comprising a low resistance coil in series with said make and break device, and a high resistance coil in parallel with said make and break device and in series with said low resistance coil and means controlled" by specisaid electro-magnetic means for controlling the operation of said transmitting mechanism, substantially as. specified.

Signed at the city of New York, in the county and State of New York this 5th day of June, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen.

DiMMiTT n. LOVEJOY.

Witnesses: V

V CONRAD A. DIETELRICI-I,

WVILLIAM PJJoNEs.

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