US1461322A - Amusment apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Jilly 10, 1923. 11161322 7 H F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS File d Dec. 3. 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Julyloflszs; 1,461,322

H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARA'iUS Filed Dec. 1921 '5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jaw July 10, 1923. 1,461,322

H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Filed Dec. 5. 1921 V s Sheets-Sheet 5 M A TTORNE Y5 July 10,1923.

' H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 NTO ' A TTORNE Y5 Jul 10, 1923. 1,461,322

' H. F. MAYNES AMUSEMENT APPARATUS I Filed Dec. 5. 1921 5 Shuts-Sheet 5 2 INVENTOR.

all mama e which it 1921, in which Patented July. 10, 1923.

UNITED STATES,

a -HYLA FREDERICK may concern: Be it knownthat I,' HYLA F. MA 'citizen' of the, siding'at State'of P tain new t, in which the are moving. Various effectscan be obtained. 'byvaryingf the relative movement of cars and tunnels.

It is an obj provide certain improved me ans for"sup-' porting and operating both tu Thus in th specific embodiments of the 'invention shown in the patent,v tunnel run upon trackways. the present invention means both cars and for moving the tunnel alone or both tunnel and cars by means radiating from a central point. It is a further object of this invention toprovide novelmeans for collapsing the tunnel, and raising its sides so that access may be had to th obj ctof the invention to providenewmeans for mounting cars or V a a trackway, so that they can attain high speeds and yet befree from the danger .of jumping the trackway5 either laterally or vertically. i

Certain preferred embodiments of the in-. vention are disclosed in th I drawingsand are 'describedin the following description. In thes drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus constructed in I accordance with thls invention" showing a.

trackway, cars upon the trackway and the movable tunnel in'collap sed condition); Fig. 2,..is a plan view ofthe same apparatus with the tunnel exten'ded'to completely. cover the trackway'and enclose the cars Fig.3 is a vertical section on an" enlarged scale taken on line 33 of Figl 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view taken; alonglin'e 4-4 of Fig. 3, and showing on still a larger scale -the Application filed December United States of America re i in f the county "of Tioga,

invented cer- 1 Improvements in.

hereby clearf e art to use the with the tunnel partly cars themselves F ect of'the present invention to nnel andcars.

According to 1 are provided 1 e cars. It is a furthera movable tunnel upon e accompanying the lower face of platform 6 upon a series of rollers 11.- Rotation of the.

MAYNES, or'e INEs-rnNNsYLvAmA. I

a, 1 2i. Serial 519,585.

partly in section, evlce inwhich b0 point;

dificati'on in ing another mo nel and cars are Fig.

F ig. 9 and form of d Fig. 12. Referring AMUSEMENT APrAaA'T s. I'

which b'oth tun f" operated from a i central. point but are also supported 1 10 a detail .view takenfonf showing thefcams fragmentary section taken along line 1g. 12 "is a vertical section mechanism whereby th'e tunfielis collapsed; of a modii I th; cars and f designates an annular trackway upon which,"v

ated

way and enclose lthfe ,cars, 'made' up of a 'serles' frames 17 en pporting the walls of T is-tunnel is supported,

about a central, bearingl8 and Thisjtunnel, is of U-shaped'supnorting.

bymeans of anannular rail 9 situated upon.

turntable is effecte I d by means '12 to-the shaft of which is connected a pin- '100 lapsed as follows: Atlthecenterfof the an d aturntable 4.

is supported.

ions 31 and 32. By means of ion 13 engaging an annular rack 14 on the lower face of the platform 6.

Radiating from the upper platform 5 are a series of rods or adjustable arms 15, the outer ends of which slidably engage apertured blocks 16 which are fastened to the U- shaped supports 17 which constitute the rigid and shape-defining members of the tunnel. connected by means of sleeves 18. The outer part is rigidly secured to one end of this sleeve while the inner part is slidably mounted therein for a purpose which will be described later. Secured to each sleeve is a bracket 19 in which a roller 21 is j ournaled This roller is designed to run upon an annular traclrway 22 within ant. concentric with the trackway 1 supported upon a series of standards 23. a

The inner ends of rods 15 are turned downwardly and are journaled within the lattorm 5, as s own in Figs. 3 and i. Se-

cured'to the lower ends of these extensions otthe two rods which support the ends of the tunnel are pinions 24. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 7 is a gear 25 driven by a motor 26 on platform 6 through beveled pinions 27 and pinion 28. One of the pinions 241 is operatively connected to gear 25 by means of one intermediate pinion 29 while the other pinion 2 1 isconnerted to the gear 25 by means of two intermediate pinthe train of tears just described and clearly shown in Fig. %L,,countercloclrwise rotation of gear 25 results in moving the arms 15 to collapse the tunnel while clockwise rotation of gear 25 has theopposite result.

The operation of this form of the device is as follows: Supposing that the apparatus is in the condition shown in Fig. 1 with the entire tunnel collapsed and occupying little less than one quadrant of the entire trackway. The traclrway is then open and the passengers may enter the cars without difficulty. The cars having been filled are started around the trackway. The motor 26 is then started and the tunnel extended until its two ends meet, as shown in Fig.2. This condition having been attained, stopped. (Automatic means may be employed for shutting off the current when the tunnel is completely extended.) Rotation of the tunnel as a. whole is then effected by means of motor 12. The necessity for making the arms 15 in two parts and slidably connected by means of a sleeve will be evident from a comparison of Figs. 1 and, 2. The distance between the traclrway 22 and the inner end of the rods 15 varies with the condition of the tunnel and some means forv allowing for this change must be provided. The sleeve 18 permits the necessary elongation and contraction,

e o m 95 de ice ho n i Fi 5- is The rods 15 are made in two parts motor 26 is e t c t that j t described. with h exception that the flat traokway is -replaced by an undulating trackway 33 and the annular trackway 22 by an undulating trackway 3d, the undulations ofthe two being coincident so that as the cars rise the tunnel likewise goes up with them. This form has necessitated a placing of joints 35 within rods 15.

In the form shown operated precisely as described above. Here,

in Fig. T the tunnel is however, the cars lnstead of being propelled by their own power are iovedby means of radial arms 36 secured .to a second turntable 37 and drivenby means of a motor 38 pinion 39 and annular rack .41. In this form of device the motor 12 which rotates the tunnel is placed heneaththe turntable 37 and is connected to the turntable '4. by means of a shaft 12 extending through the turntable 37.

Referring now toFigs. 8, 9, 10 and 11,9.

form of the device is shown in which both tunnel and cars are supported from and operated by a centrally located mechanism the whole being supportedupion a car 43. Secured to the platform 4A of this, car is a sleeve 45, at theupper end of which is -se-- v d6 to be described in detail later, Extending through this sleeve, .415 is a hollow shaft 46, to-the upper endof cured a cam member 47. From this arms d8 extend which is fixed aplatform platform a series of radial and support the tunnel 4:9.

r-otat edby means of a worm 52 which re? ceives itspower from a pulley 53, said pulley and pulley 59 noted below being I driven by any usual means. I I Journaled about the lower end of sleeve 45 is an annular rack member 5 1 from which radiate a. series of trussed arms 55 which V Secured to the lower end of shaft 46, is a worm 1 wheel 51v By means .of this device it is possible to dispense with all trackways and support and operate both tunnel and cars from a central point. As in the could be moved in one direction and the cars in another. The apparatus as shown in Fig.

9 is provided with means for doing more It 1s provided :with means forthan this. causing both tunnel and cars to. undulateyas the use of traclgways.

other device the tunnel in the device shown in 5, but without The periphery of cam member 1 6 is a camhaving three raised portions 61. Secured to extensions ofarms {l8 arerollsrs 62 designed to contact with the periphery of cam meme her d6 varying the movement otthe tunnel.

Thus. as the tunnel tral aris'fthe rollers fig'ride up upon portionsrevolves about the eeri and 3 a-undn ation the. uaael i movement, the arms 48 being pivoted to the 47 at 63. In order to maintain the 1 tunnel walls are maintained vertical as it cars and are pivoted at provided at their inner rollers 71 which make contact with a cam rises and falls.

The cam member 46 also causes the cars to undulate. The arms 55 which support the 68 "to the annular rack 54 are extended upwardly as at 69 and 72. This cam, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, is designed to complement the peripheral cam of member 46, so that as outwardly upon cam surfaces 61 the rollers 71 move inwardly upon the flattened surfaces of cam 72. Both tunnel and cars are therefore raised and lowered at the same point and at the same time. In order to maintain the cars in a vertical undulatory movement they are pivotally supported at 73 to the arms 55 and a second parallel arm 74 likewise pivoted to the car at one end and to a rigid arm carried by member 54 at the other. In order to prevent the tipping of the cars at any time should link 74 become disengaged, either during movement or loading, pins 75 are provided which would bear against arms 55 and serve as safety stops. They do not, however, interfere with the undulatory movement of the cars.

In order to remove the tunnel to enable the passengers to enter and leave the cars, means are provided for raising the outer side walls. The outer side walls of the tunnel 49 are reinforced by a series of annular rings 76. By means of a cable 77 operated by means of a drum or series of drums 78 mounted on the lower face of worm wheel 51, it is ossible to raise and lower these side walls when occasion demands it. i

In Figs. 12 and 13 novel means are shown for preventing either a car or tunnel from leaving the trackwa even at high speeds. A car 80 is shown, provided with a truck 81. The wheels 82 are in pairs and are mounted so that their axes are at an angle to each other. The rails 83 of the trackway are shown as square in cross section and mounted upon a diagram, so that the wheels run upon the upper and lower inclined faces; I

The wheels of the trucks supporting the tunnel are similarly mountedand rideupon the outer inclined faces of the rail. It is clear that such a car and such a tunnel can attain high speeds and yet make relatively.

and a rod 648 By these means the a novel coupling device.

rearward cross bars of the truck are proextremities with the .rollers 62 rideposition during thisfcar, a tunnel'adapted during loading and un-.

'tached to the tunnel, and m car and move relative without danger ofjumping the track; All

prlor constructions designed to attain this end haveemployed threerwheels in a set, one i to support thecar, one to prevent lateral dis accomplished this only two Wheels. t r a I In these Figs."12 and 13 I have also shown same result by the use of,

vided with sockets 84'comprising two sep rableblocksj87 "designed to seat one end of a-link 85,'this, link being provided at each endwith a ball 86. Such a joint permits perfect flexibility of movement, is simple and safe.

Although certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be clear that various modifications might be made without departing from the spiritof the invention which is,'of course, not limited to thestructural details shown.

.I claim: i

placement and- 0mm preventvertical dis- I placement; 5 Bythe devicetshown I have 75 The'forwardand 1. An amusement apparatus comprising a to enclose the car and move relative thereto, centrally of the apparatus for moving the tunnel. c,

2. An amusement apparatus comprising a car designed to traverse a substantially cir cular path, a tunnel car and move relative thereto, and arms radiating from the center of the path controlling the movement of the tunnel.

3. An amusement apparatus comprising a substantially circular trackway, ed to run upon said trackway, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car and move relative thereto, a turntable at the center of thetrackway, armsradiating from said turntable and attached to'the tunneL'and means for rotating the turntable to move the tunnel. i V

4. An amusement apparatus comprising a substantially circular trackway, a car adapted to run upon said trackway, a collaplsilole tunnel adapted to enclose the cal an move relative thereto, a turntable at the center of thetrackway, arms radiating from said turntable pivoted thereto and ateans for swinging the arms about their pivots to collapse and extend the tunnel;

adapted to enclose the I I a car'adapt A-n amusement-apparatus comprising a car designedto traverse a substantially circular path, a tunnel adapted to enclose the dia'ting from the. center vof the path controlling the movemen of the tunnel and the car.

car, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car and;

thereto,- and arms ra- 1 6. An amusement apparatus comprising a move relative thereto, means situated centrally of the apparatus for moving the tun nel and means for raising the side Walls of the tunnel to permit access to the ears.

7. An amusement apparatus comprising a car designed to traversee substantially circular path, a tunnel adapted to enclose the car and more relative thereto, arms radiat ing from the center of the path controlling In testimony whereof I aflix my signature,

HYLA FREDERICK MAYNES'.

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