US1476403A - Signal for road crossings - Google Patents

Description

Dec; 4, 1923. 1,416,403

P. A. JOHNSON SIGNAL FOR ROAD CROSSINGS .9. Filed April 6, 1923 Dec. 4, 19235.

ersnr PETER A.-J'OHNSO.W, 03? LYLE, MIBTNESQTA.

SIGNAL FOE CRGSSING-S.

Application filed April 6,

To aZZ 107mmmcty concern:

Bait knownthat 1, PETER A. JOHNSON, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Lyle, in thecounty ofldower and State at llilinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signals for Road Crossings, of which the following is a specification. r

lll ly invention relates to danger signals for road crossings, and the object is to provide an audible signal device which will be automatically operated by an automobile or other vehicle approaching a road crossing. The device may be used at any dangerous crossing but is especially intended for use where a vehicle road crosses arailway track andis there tobe placed one device at each side of the road bed say about three hun dred'feet'trom the track so that-even a fast moving automobile may have time to slow up and even stop so that its occupants may look out for trains before crossing the railway track after the auto has caused the signal bell to ring.

l n the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a top or planviei'v of my signaling device. i i v fFigpQ is aside elevation of the device with one side of its framework removed as on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1 but showing shield 45 which is omitted in Figs. 1 and 6.

Fig, an a cross section on line in Fig.2. "I

Fig. 4 is a section online 14- in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a left hand side elevation of the adjacent portion of Fig. 2. V

Fig. 6 is the right hand end portion of Fig. 2 with its side closure or board 13 in place. Fig. 7 is a plan View of a piece of land having a railroad bed and rails and a public drive way crossing the railroad and provided with two of my alarm signal devices; the view also shows elements designating auto vehicles in position to operate the signals.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, each of the two devices used at a crossing for operation by vehicles running in opposite directions, being alike. I will describe only one of them in detail. Each device comprises a main channel or inclosure 10which may be made of concrete or other material. This channel is open at the top and adapted to be set in the road bed with its top edges flush with the top of the road,

1922. Serial No. 630,361.

as shown in F 2 and 7, wherell is the surface of the vehicle road. One end of the channel is closed by a wall 12, the other end is closed by the lower portion of an upright inclosure 13 which serves as a mechanism chamber containing an alarm bell 1%, and its clapper 15, all mounted in a mechanism frame secured by screws 18 and composed of two parallel plates 16-17, spacedand connected by frame bars 16 the clapper arm 15 is fixed to a rock shaft 19 which is engaged by a' spring 20 tending to throw the clapper against the bell. Extending downwardly from shaft 19 is a clapper operating lever 19 having a camclose above elbow 19*; said camis actuated by the end 27 of lever 28. The inclosure or housing 13 may be much varied in form and arrange ment. In the present drawing the main channel is shownas having a bottom extension 21 to which the housing is secured bya bolt 22, and a top cleat 23 crossing it and carrying a bracket 24 to which the housing is secured by a bolt 25. The housing has a removable side wall or door 13 secured in place'by screws 26 (see Fig. 6).

The lever 28 extends through an inverted channel 29 and is pivoted at 30 in a notch (not shown) in a block 31 securcdby a bolt 32 to the end wall 12 of the main chank nel. It is also pivoted at 33 to the side flanges 29 of the inverted or small channel. The top 29 of the small channel is beveled at 3% (see Fig. 3) so as not to injure the tires of vehicle wheels running across it to depress it from the position in Fig. 3 to that in Fig. 4.

Each time the small channel has been de pressed it is raised again by two springs 35 each of which has its middle portion formed with a loop 36 supported o, a pin 37 passed through the side walls of the main channel or hollow base at such height that the springs always have tension enough to raise the small channel to its limit, such limit being regulated by short springs 38 inserted through the sides of the base and engaging in vertical slots 39 in the sides of the small channel. Each of said sides is provided with a large clearance all-41 for the springs, which have their ones inserted as at 12 between the side wall and the top of the channel and is further held in proper position by v rtical guiding pins 4L3. The top 29 of the small channel ma-ytbe secured to the sides 29 by either screws or spikes 29 shown that the bell ded with several aperthe hearing of the hell. Said apertures a e pr tected from snow and rain by a shield l5.

In Fig. 7. dcsi' ates a railway tracl crossing a vehicle road 11. which may be paved between the lines 47 and graded to lines 48. 4:9 and are two automobiles or other vehicles each of which is shown as crossing one of my signal devices 10 and approaching: railway to cross it; the ve hicle is shown in position to have all tour of its wheels operate the signal while the vehicle 50 can operate the nal only ly its two outer wheels. In either case when the front wheel (or wheels) pass over the channel 29"- the sprin 's 35 will yield and let the channel sink to the bottom of the base channel. This causes pivot 33 to act on lever or arm 28 and swing it downward on its pivot 30, whereby the free end 27 of the arm 28 passes the elbow 19" of the clapper lever 19, swings it against the resistance of spring :20 and releases it to let the clapper make one stroke on the bell. When said frontwheel has passed over the channel 29 the latter is raised by the springs 85 and such raising causes the end 27 of arm 28 to swing upward and thereby actuate the clapper lever19 and thus give the bell a second stroke. In like manner the rear wheel (or wheels) in passing over the channel 29" cause the bell to receive two more strokes, or all together the bell is struck four times while the driver is p it in front of the apertures 414i, so that under all normal conditions the audible signal given by thehell will warn him of the dangerous cross'ng'. \Vhile I have shown the mechanism frame as composed of two parallel metal plates 17 and 16 secured together in siaced relation by frame bars or studs 16, 16 it is obvious that this is only one term of embodimentoi that part of the device. The same is true of the operation of he clapper though I have only shown the principle of having a spring 20 swinging the clapper toward the bell until a portion of the clapper arm stops aga nst the stud 16, while the momentum of the clapper causes the arm to spring so the clapper hits the bell one strike whereupon the arm springs the clapper slightly away from the bell to let the latter sound.

lVhat I claim is:

l. The combination with a railway track and a vehicle road crossing it, of a. signal comprisin a channel shaped base spaced some distance away from the railway track and laid in the vehicle road in transverse position thereof and. flush with the top of the road; a bell housin fixed upon one end of the channel and a bell and spring actuated clapper in the hell housing said clapper having; an operating lever with two reversely arranged cam faces,'a horizontally disposed single actuating arm having one end pivoted in the end of the base farthest from the bell housing and its other end extended into the lower part of the bell housing and there arranged to contact with the cam faces and ring the bell when the actuating arm is swung either up or down on its pivot, a horizontally disposed single bar titted loosely in the base channel andhaving pivoted connection with the actuating arm; springs tending at all times to raise the said bar partly above the base channel and means limiting said raising movement.

2. The structure specified in claim 1, in which the horizontal bar is an inverted channel with longitudinal slots in the middle of its side flanges, a horizontal pin extending through said slots and fitted in the sides of the base channel. bow-shaped springs one in each side of said slots and having each at its middle a circular loop encircling the pin, the ends of said spring being secured to the side flanges of the channel bar whereby the latter is held. elevated by the pin and the springs.

In testimony whereof I my signature.

PETER A. JOHNSON.

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