US1423285A - Vehicle signal - Google Patents

Description

H. A. WHITMAN.

VEHICLE SIGNAL. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, 1920.

1A23QQ85. 1 Patented July 18, 1922.

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H. A. WHITMAN.

VEHICLE SIGNAL.

,APPLICATION- FILED APR. 1, 1920. v 1,423fi85. Patented July '18, 1922.

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HEY A. WHITMAN, OF BING-HA'MTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SELINA J. WHIT- MAN, 0F BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

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Application filed April 1,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY A. VVHITMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle- Signals, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has to do with vehicle signals, the object of which is to indicate the contemplated movements or direction of travel of a vehicle to approaching or following traflic.

In the carrying out of my invention I preferably provide duplicating signalling means, one at the front and one at the rear of the vehicle, operated, however, by means common to both.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the vehicle having my invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the signal portion of my apparatus, thesection being taken on the plane indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 3;

Figure 3 is a sectional view at right angles to the section of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the signalling part;

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are horizontal sectional views on the lines 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Figures 8 and 9 are sectional views taken at right angles to each other of the manual operating part for the signal; and

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail view of the alarm device preferably associated with the signal to attract attention thereto{ Throughout the following detail descriptionand on the several figures of the drawings, similar parts are referred to by like reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, and first taking up in detail the signal portion of the apparatus, 1 indicates a casing which, as shown most clearly in Figure 4, may comprlse separable parts whereby to enable the as Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July is, 1922.

1920. Serial No. 370,443.

sembling of the mechanism within the same,

invention I prefer to provide a duplicate thereof mounted at the rear of the vehicle as indicated at 1', but since these signalling parts are identical it is-necessary to only describe one of. the same. The rear signal, it might be added, is placed in position for illumination by the tail lamp 5 as found'desirable.

A plurality of arms, usually termed semaphore arms, three of which are preferably employed in carrying out the present invention, designated 6, 7 and 8, respectively, are mounted upon the common axis consisting of a bolt 9 having nuts upon its extremity so as to hold the sections of the casing together. Each of these arms embodies some indicating means, which in the present embodiment maybe the word Stop on one, an index on the second pointing in one direction and a corresponding index upon the third pointing in the opposite direction, these intelligencies indicating to the traflic when in operative position whether the vehicle is about to stop or to turn to the right or left. The inner end of each arm is cut away to form a stop shoulder '10, which, when the arm is swung into its outward position from the casing, will abut against the stop 11 consisting of a bolt which is employed similarly to the axis 9 as a means for holding the casing sections together. A spring 12 wrapped around the axls 9 between each of the arms and having one end engaging with the shoulder 10 and its opposite end engaging with the stop 11 is designed to be placed under tension as the arm moves into its outward position so that when the signal is retracted or dropped sald springs will positively actuate the signal arms to overcome the drag of the actuatlng connecting members hereinafter referred to.

A spring buffer 13 is attached within the casing to receive the impact of the arms when they drop into their inoperative or normal position 'as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. Attached to each of the signal arms at one side of its pivot is a bar 14 to the end of which is connected an actuating cable 15, the three cables being preferably encased and extending to the actuating means arranged adjacent to the driver of the vehicle so as to be convenient for operation as re uired.

assing now to the actuating mechanism just referred to and referring particularly to Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings, the cables 15 pass into a casing 16 attached to the side of the vehicle in any desired manner at the position above mentioned. Each cable 15 has interposed in its length a spring 17 and is connected to one end of a pivoted lever 18 mounted upon the pivot means 19. A depressible bar 20 is attached to the opposite end of the lever 18, it being understood that there is one such bar 20 for each of the levers 18 or in other words for actuating each one of the signal arms. At one edge the depressible bar, which as shown in Fig. 8 extends through the top of the casing is notched as at 21, the movements of the bars being guided by the guide means 22. To the top of the casing 16 and within the same is slidably secured a latch member 23 for each of these bars 20, said latch members being slotted as at 24 to permit oftheir sliding movement and also further slotted as at 25 so as to accommodate the depressible bars 20. The latch members 23 also project from the casing 16 so as to enable their actuation and are spring actuated by the springs 26 engaging with their inner extremities to normally hold them in cooperative relation with respect to the depressible bars 20.

The duplicating signal 1 at the rear of the vehicle is operated by this same actuated mechanism and for this purpose each of the signalling arms of the rear signal is connected to the corresponding actuating element by cables .15 so that when one of the bars 20 is depressed, its lever 18 is rocked to thereby exert pull upon the connecting cables 15 and 15 which will shift the proper signal arms into the horizontal signalling position. as shown more clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The signal arm there depicted in this operative position indicates that the vehicle is to be brought to a stop and the arm is held in its posit-ion by the latch member 23 which automatically engages with the notched edge 21 of the depressed bar 20 so that the arm is held without attention on the part of the driver of the vehicle in this position until it no longer is desired for signalling purposes. At such time the driver at his convenience pushes inwardly upon the latch member oi the particular signalling arm thereby releasing the depressed bar 20 which permits the signal to drop under the actuation of its spring, in combination also with the slack taking up springs 17 for retraction into the casings of the respective signalling devices. It will be apparent that when about to turn to the right the driver will depress the intermediate bar 20 so as to bring the proper index carrying arm into its operative position, and so on.

While it is not essential for the operation of the signalling device as above described, it may be desirable at times to have some means for attracting attention to the signal displayed or about to be displayed, and for this purpose I have devised an alarm device which is automatically operated as an incident to the shifting of the signal arms into their signalling position. It will be obvious that said alarm device, so-called for the want of a better term, may consist of a visible or an illuminating element or an audible signal element, the latter being depicted in the drawings. A horn 27 suitably located upon the vehicle and provided with the proper source of electric current 28 and circuits 29 leadin to the signal casing so as to connect wit the circuit closing element 30 are disclosed in Fig. 2. The circuit closing means embodies a spring member 31 which maintains an open circuit until pressed into contact with its co-operating element 32 to close the circuit and sound the horn. Arran ed adjacent to the member 31 is an angle %ever 33 mounted upon the axis 34 and carrying a one-way acting pawl 35. This pawl has secured thereto a transversely arranged bar 36 which is of a sufiicient length to co-act with the three actuating bars 14 for the signalling arms. Each of these bars 14 is provided with a lateral extension 37 so that when any one of them is operated by the means hereinbefore described the shoulder 37' of the extension will engage with the bar 36 shifting the lever 33 into contact with the circuit closing element 31, thus sounding the signal. As the bar 36 escapes off the extension 37 the circuit is again opened, this being clearly shown in Fig. 10 and when the operated bar 14 again assumes its original position as the signal arm is dropped the one way acting paw 35 permits said extension 37 of the particular bar to pass the bar 36 without actuation of the signal closing lever.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a vehicle signal of the class described, the combination of a casing or housing made in sections, bolts extendingl transversely through said housing for olding said sections together, a plurality of signal arms mounted upon one of said bolts as a masses common axis for movement into signalling position, a stop shoulder on each of said arms arranged to engage with another of said bolts to limit into signalling mounted upon acting with said stop shoulders and said second mentioned bolt to yieldingly oppose the movement of said arms into signalling position, and means connected to each of said arms for shifting thesame into operative position.

In a vehicle signal of the class describe the combination of a casing or housing, a plurality of signal arms mounted spring means axis and cotherein for movement therefrom into si nalling position, an axis common to sald arms, a stop shoulder on each of said arms, a stop member with which the shoulders are adapted to impinge to limit movement of the arms, spring means mounted upon the common axis and co-actin with the shoulders and stop member to p ace the arms under tension when brought into signalling position, and co-acting means connected to each of said arms for shifting the same into operative position.

In testimony whereof I my signature.- HRY A. HITMAN.

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