US154242A - Improvement in devices for operating car-doors - Google Patents

Description

UNITED 7 STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ABNER C. GOODELL, JR, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR OPERATIN G CAR-DOORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,242, dated August 18, 1874; application filed i May 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ABNER G. GooDELL,

Jr., of Salem, Essex county, Massachusetts,

, have invented an Improved Method of Operploy a driver only, a conductor being dis-' pensed with; and the purpose of my invention is to provide a mechanism for opening, closing, or looking the rear door of the car, which mechanism shall be operated by the driver,

either with his foot, leaving both hands 'free for other duty, or with one hand, as circumstances may render desirable; a further object of my invention being to enable the door to be opened and shut in the ordinary manner, or to be removed from the car altogether, without effect upon or from the said mechanism, and which mechanism I apply so as to be operated by a rod, or other equivalent arrangement, below the line of the seats in the car.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure 1, an elevation of the rear inner end of a street-railway car, with a portion of the sheathing removed and in Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same.

In these drawings, .A represents the inner rear end of a street-railway car, one of the corner-posts of which is shown at a, a door-post at a, the floor at b, the door-way at c, and the door at d, the latter traveling upon a horizontal rail, 6, by means of trundles f f, the whole being substantially in the manner now generally practiced in the construction of streetrailway cars.

In carrying out the object of my invention, in one practical manner in which it may be accomplished, I attach to the upper part of the door a curved or bow-shaped spring, B, whose opposite sides are of equal length and stress, this spring being securely fastened at its center to the door, and bearing upon each extremity an anti-friction roller or trundle, g or 9.

Furthermore, I dispose over the door at two horizontal bars or arms, h h of equal length, each being pivoted at its inner end to the door-frame, and centrally of the latter by a pivot, i, while to the free extremity of each bar I attach one end of a connecting rod or chain,

It or k, the opposite end of each rod being in turn attached to the free end of one of two additional .bars or levers, l or l, which are placed below the car and are pivoted at their inner ends to the under side of the car-floor, and centrally thereof, or the foundation of the same, by a pivot and a hanger or boss, W, the inner arm a of each lever being preferably much shorter than the outer arm 0. Below the inner ends of the leversl l, and midway of their fulcrums, I place a double wiper-cam,O,which is pivoted at its center to the hanger m this cam being mounted upon a horizontal rockshaft or long rod, 10, disposed below the car, one end of which is supported within the hanger m while the other extends to the forward end of the car and is supported thereat by a second hanger. To this last-named extrernity of the rock-shaft 19 I secure an upright bar or shipper, g, which protrudes through and rises above the car-platform to such a height as to be readily accessible to the foot of the driver, or to such a height as will enable him to readily seize and operate it by his hand. a

D in the accompanying drawings represents a coiled spring, one end of which is attached to one of the two arms h or h, and the other end to the upper part or roof-beam of the doorframe, the office of each spring being to return the two sets of levers to their normal, or idle, position, and to aid in bringing the shipper q to a vertical, or neutral, position, the cam U being at this time also neutral with respect to the two levers Z Z.

If the door is open, and the driver desires to close it, he tilts the shipper q in the direction the door is to travel, the result of which is that the end r of the cam O is elevated, the outer ends of the levers l and hare depressed, the lowering of the latter lever or arm h having the effect of first depressing the adjacent end of the spring B, and then of pushing the door before it to a certain extent, the completion of this movement of the door being effected by the spring. As the lover or arm h, in its descent, reaches an angle of thirty degrees with the horizon, or thereabout, it ceases to depress the spring, the latter having stored up sufiicient power to complete by its own relaxation the closing of the door.

If the door is to be open ed, the driver pushes the shipper q in a reverse direction to the first, the resultant action of the end 8 of the cam O, lever l, and arm h being precisely similar to that last explained.

In addition to the functions already performed by the spring B, it has the eli'ect of maintaining the rollers or trundles f firmly down upon the rail 0, thus insuring a smooth, equable movement of the door, and enabling it at all times to travel evenly and easily upon the rail.

Should it be found desirable to lock the door 01, the driver has only to maintain his pressure upon the shipper and compel the arm I or Z to remain in its depressed position, as this arm, which had previously advanced the door, now constitutes a stop in its return movement until the shipper is returned to its normal or neutral position.

By my construction and adaptation of parts, the door is entirely independent of the actuatin g mechanism, and may be opened and closed by hand without efl'ect upon or from such mechanism, or the door may, if desirable, be removed altogether from the car without disconnecting or removing the said mechanism.

The main purpose of my invention is to enable the driver of a car to open and close or to lock the rear door by the power of one foot, leaving his hands free for other duties. In effecting this result I dispose the actuating mechanismnot immediately connected with the door below, on, or in the floor of the car, or under the seat, thus concealing it from sight and enabling it to be operated by the drivers foot; or the said mechanism at both ends of the car may be connected by a rod passing overhead, and worked by hand or foot.

I do not herein confine myself to the precise construction or location of the mechanism as shown and described, as the details of such mechanism may be greatly varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim- 1. The combination of the arms h h, and mechanism for operating the same, with the car-door, the door being independent of and disconnected from said arms except when directly moved by them, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the door d, of the spring B for aiding the movement of the door, maintaining it firmly upon its'supporting-rail, and looking it when open or closed, substantially as and for purposes stated.

3. The combination of the levers ll, arms h h, rail 0, and trundles g g with the wiper-cam O and the shipper q, substantially as and for purposes set forth.

ABNER 0. GOODELL, JR. Witnesses:

F. CURTIS, W. E. BOARDMAN.

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