US1647380A - Direction signal - Google Patents

Description

Nov. l, 1927.

S. MCC. TERWILLIGER DIRECTION SIGNAL Filed Nv. 9, 192s ET AL Patented Nov. 1, 1927. l

`yr vil) TES PArurfor A sunny Macolin TERWILLIGER AND WILLIAM TELL snvnivnn, or' lnos Attentats, f Y

Application f'le'd November v9, i926; lSeria11475-329.

l This invention frelates to 'direction signals ot-thefmanually operated type vvand 1s ,particularlydirected to a signal device whichis especially adaptable Vfor association with l5 road vehicles and more particularly with standard types of-motor vehicles.

Traic laws of many States and common practice fhaveresulted lin a certain accepted method -oi'f manually indicating 'contem- V plated rightgor left. turns or stops, this methodrequiring the :driver to extend his arm and hand outwardly `from the vehicle, in a `horizontal direction fto indicate a contemplated left turn, more or less 'upwardly to indicate ka contemplated rightturn, 4and moreor less downwardly to indicate -a contemplated stop. ,It is for this reason desirable that a direction ysignal Amechanism ,include a vsemaphore indicating =member 2o formed in simulation o a hand. Signal devices having this ygeneral character of indieating. arm have heretofore been made,

but-,even ythough Apainted ,a light colorare distinctly visible and attract attention -only when viewed from a relatively vshort distance inthe daytime, and are-practically invisible at night vunless provided with some meansof illumination. lt is now generally recognized that a signal lwhich is illumi- .30 nated ywill be ,more yvisible in the -daytime aswell as at nightand it -is a lgeneral i practiceto illuminate the `indicating means of such devices by means :of a lamp enclosed therein and projecting Lits rays directly through a colored glass or lens, butin every instance of this kind, in orderV that such lamp and its iilament be lvnot.' objectionably visible, it is vnecessary that 'the yglass or lens be of relatively dark color `or not 4fully transparent. f

By experiments, we have found that a very superior degree of visibilitymay be had by means of `indirect illumination, with :the mechanism arranged to :produce `an illuminated .outline of the indicatingfelement, ythat by reason 'of such .indirect illumination we may vfully utilizea pure `White light and at the same time entirely eliminate glare and all. vpossibility of `viewingithe source yolsaid illumination, and that We ycan dispense with the glass or lens usually employed.

Therefore, it is .an object of thepresentv invention `to provide a signal device having acsignal ,element illuminated in outline Vby indirect illumination.

A further object is to provide a lsignal device having semaphiore'lsignal memberjin simulation-otra. human arm andhand with the hand portiony thereof :illuminated in -out; line by :indirect illumination. l f u l Another lobject is` to .providean illumi nated signal member `having the source of illumination `rhid, from -view by an opaque memberlof .a shape corresponding ,to ithat "of,v the idesired signal .and vproviding reflecting 6 5 surfaces Cadjacent-fthe .-marginail edges .of said opaque member. l o l Another yobject vis .to 4 provide a counter` balanced signal arm. v. "Various other ob-'ccts and advantages will be more fully apparent rom'the following description of the accompanying drawing .which Jformsa. 4vpart of ,this disclosure, .and

which ,illustrates ya preferred .orm of embodiment :of the invention.`

ytOthe drawings: g

Fig. lis a plansection through a portion of the windshield-and Vinstrument-4bcardof a-:motor vehicle, :showing the signal device of rthe lpresent invention associated there- 80 with, .a :portiony of the. signal arm being shown in the section.

Fig. '2 is affront elevation yshowing ythe signal .arm ,in "upright position, certain por-v tionsof'the'device being shown insection.

Fig. i3 fis.an edge elevation, partly inv section, as indicated Abyline 3-3 of Fig. 2.

eis-an enlarged detailsection taken The signal device lillustrated inthe draw# ing, includesafsignaliarm .A 4which 4is rotatably jounnale'd lon the outer fend of a Vsupporting rbracliet preferably secured to the windshield frameof a Vmotor vehicle, and` a 'suitableoperatingdevice B preferably se- 95` cured to the instrument-board ina location convenient Afor operation by the driver. The 4,signal l,arm A is adapted to be rotated from a normal vnon-s'i'ggnalling position,y as shown iin Fig. fl, to various `:signaling positions and `when in normal position .the -signaling zportion loi' the arm A fis; screened from view fwfithin la U-,shaped shield -C lwhich is open iatiits sides :and top to permit the sig@ nalarm v,to swing freely upwards and out- Wartlly. i

The bracket lfengages the rear lwall 3 of the shield :CV and both are secured tothe frame 2 :bygscrews-or ybolts e, the front, wall 5 oit ithefshield havingfsuitable apertures 6 .bracket arm 7 Vformed therein in 'alignmentr with said screws to permit of the insertion of a screwdriver to engage the screws during instal-v which is slidablv guided a toothed rack -8 ar` ranged to engage a pinion 9 secured to the Vsignal arm A and enclosed .within a hollow boss 10cformed on the outer end of the While it is `realized' that the signal arm Amay be made of any suitable material and in various manners, the preferred construction herein illustrated consistsl of two sheet metal members 11-11a forming opposite sides of the arm, saidV members being joined together at their peripheral meeting edges vby welding or by other suitable means. flhe pinion 9, previously referred to, is formed on a tubular hub 12 secured in the signal arm A (see Fig. 3) and the signal arm A is rotatably secured to the bracket arm by a hollow pivot bolt 13 which passes through said hub 12 and is secured to said bracket arm by a nut 14. f

The means for reciprocatingthe rack 8 to operate the signal arm, comprises a rod 15 secured in the inner end of said rack, with its opposite end connected to a flexible wire or cable 16 enclosed in a conduit guide 17 leading to the operating device B.

As shown in Fig. 1, the signal arm Al is in ai non-signaling position 4within the shield C, when not in use, Athis normal position of the signal arm being also indicated in F fg. 2 by the dotted outline 33.

By a suitable operation of the device B the wire 16 will be pushed into the conduit 17 and will Vpropel the rack 8 outwardly and this outward travel of said rack will by reason of its toothed engagement with the pinion 9 cause the signal arm A to be swung upwardly to the position shown in 'full lines in Fig. 2, to signal a contemplated right turn.l ln al similar manner the signal arm A may be swung approximately one-half of a revolution to a horizontal position, as indicated in Fig. 2 by the dotted outline 34, to signal a contemplated left turn, or rotated approximately three-quarters of a revolution to a downward position as indicated in Fig. 2 by the dotted outline 35, to signal a contemplated stop.

For the purpose of providing illumination for the signal arm, there is provided an electric'lamp bulb 36 mounted within the hand port-ion thereof, as will be hereinafter explained, one Yterminal of said lamp being grounded, as indicated at 37 in Fig. 1and the other terminal thereof being connected to a circuit wire 38. "Said circuit wire38 extends through an opening in the front wall ofthe signal arm and leads to the axis thereof where it passes rearwardly through the tubular pivot bolt 13 for connection in series with the operating device B and the battery 43 ofthe vehicle, said battery being grounded as indicated at 44.

f As previously mentioned, the lsignal element is contoured to represent an open hand andis preferably Vformed of two sheet metal members 1l-11. Closely adjacent the outer margin .of this hand-shaped signal element the members 11---11EL are each bent inwardly at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to provide opposite 'reflecting surfaces 155-45?. the reflecting surface 45 facing forwardly and the reflecting surface 45a facing rearwardly so that the signal will be equally visible from both the front and rear of the vehicle;

Y rlhe palm portion of the members 11-11a are cut away to provide a hollow interior defined in'extent by the inner edges 46 of said members.- Extending forwardly at spaced intervals from the inner edge 46 of the membervll is a series of ears 47 having their outer ends bent parallel to the plane of the hand, and extending rearwardly from the inner edge of the member 11a is a similar' series ofv companion ears 48. These respective series of ears support front and rear cover plates 49-50, the front plate 49 being Vpreferably secured to the ears 47 by spot welding and the plate 50being secured to the ears 48 by-screws 51 so as to beconveniently removed for access tothe interior of the signal element. Each of the cover plates is contoured similar to the exterior shane ofthe hand portions of the members 11-11'UL but are of a reduced .size so as to leave an open space between their peripheral edges and the respective reflecting surfaces 45-45a, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

rlhearm member 11 also has arelatively y narrow bridge 52 which supports the lamp 36, said bridge having a half round central portion forming one-half of a lamp socket, the other half thereof being formed of a strap member' 53. @ne end of the member has a talig 54 engaging in an aperture 55 in the bridge 52 while its opposite end is' the angled reflecting surfaces` 45 and 45 and the interior surfaces of the hand, in a light color (preferably white) so as to be highly refiective, thus to take full advantage of the maximum illumination a-Eorded by the lamp. v

fige-17,380

The light rays emanating fromV the lamp will be projected onto the angled reflecting surfaces and vthence outwardly in opposite directions, as indicated in Fig. 4 of the 5 drawing, through the open space between ,said reflecting surfaces and the marginal edges of the cover plates 49-50, to thus produce a signal element illuminated in outline by indirect illumination, with said outline contoured in simulation of a human hand. In a signal element of this character'the lamp is hid from view by the opaque cover plates and the available value of the lightl rays are not diminished by having to pass through colored glass or lenses.

' It is further to be noted that the end of the arm A extends beyond its point of pivot-al securance to the bracket, in adirection iopposite that of the hand portion, and that this extended portion is weighted by suitable material 57 so as to counterbalance the signal arm A` and render it easy to be operated by the flexible wire or cable 16.

While the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described is f'ully capable of fulfilling all of the objects primarily stated, it

is to be understood that we do not wishtov f from view, said plate being contoured to correspond to the shape of the desired signal symbol and of slightly smaller size than the outer periphery of said reflecting surface and spaced therefrom to provide a light pas- I sage outlining the symbol.

2. In' a signal element provided with indirect illumination, the combination of: a hollow body having front and rear peripheral reflecting surfaces angled inwardly and contoured to define the shape of the desired signal symbol; a source of illumination within said hollow body; and front and rear i cover plates obscuring said source from view, each plate being contoured to correspond to the shape of the desired signal symbol and of slightly smaller size than the outer periphery of the adjacent reflecting surface and spaced therefrom to, provide a light passage outlining the symbol.

3. In a signal element provided with indirect illumination, the combination of: a hol- 'low body having a peripheral light passage contoured to define the shapefof the desired signal symbol; an angled reflecting surface adjacent said'passage and coinci'dently con-` etY toured; anda source of illumination within c said body, the walls of the body being opaque f so as to hide said source from View.

4. -In a signal element provided with indirect illumination, the combination of: a hol low body'having a peripheral reflecting surface angled inwardly and contoured'in simu-l lation Vof a human hand; a source of-illumination within said hollow body; and a cover plate obscuring said source from View, said plate vbeing contoured in simulation of a human hand and of slightly smaller size than the outer periphery of said reflecting surface and spacedtherefrom to provide a light passageoutlining the hand-shaped signal. 5. In a signal element provided with indirect illumination, the combination of: a

hollow body having front and rear periph- Veral'reflecting surfaces, each angled inwardly and contoured in simulation of a human hand; a source of illumination within `said hollow body; and front and rear cover plates obscuring saidV source from View, eachcover plate being contoured n simulation of a human hand and of slightly smaller size than the outer periphery of the adjacent reflecting surface and spaced therefrom to provide a light passage outlining the handshaped signal.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands at Glendale, California, this 3rd day of November, 1926.

sEnLY Macolin TERWILLIGER. WILLIAM TELL sEvENER.

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