US1916769A - Automatic signaling mechanism for schools - Google Patents

Description

E. R. MERCER AUTOMATIC SIGNALING MECHANISM FOR SCHOOLS July 4, 1933.

Filed May .28, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l c I I July 4, 1933. E. R. MERCER AUTOMATIC SIGNALING MECHANISM FOR SCHOOLS Filed May 28, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 y 4, 1933- E. R. MERCER 1,916,769

AUTOMATIC SIGNALING MECHANISM FOR SCHOOLS Filed May 28, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 934 WWW U Figure 1 Patented July 4,. 1933 UNITED STATES i j i 1,915,7 9"

.snwann MERGER, or eInBoN, NEBRASKA Annemarie SIGNALING iiEcHnivIsi/i ron SCHOOLS Application filed May 28,

This invention relates to means for auto matically sounding audible signals used in schools for the purpose of indicatingclass' periodsand the general object of this invention is to provide av mechanism of this character which'can be applied to and used with almost any i'ionstriking clock.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which, while particularly designed for use in schools, can be applied to various other systems of signals for other purposes. r

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which is relatively simple, can be easily adapted to special uses, and which is positive and certain in its operation.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

hly invention is illustrated in the accomianying drawings, wh rein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a signal ing mechanism combined with the clock, the signalingniechanism being constructed in accordance with my invention;

.Figure 2 is a section on the Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a Figure 1;

Figure 1 is a line 22 of section onthe line 33 of sectioi'i on. the line 1l of Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 1; a i

F i ure 6 1s a fra mentar detailed elevas 4 tion of the contacting. fingers, the contact carrying wheel and allied parts;

Figure 7 1s a fragmentary section on the line 7-7 of Figure 6 through the contact wheel and the insulating bar supporting the contact fingers;

F1gure8 is a section on the llne 88 of.

' Figure 4;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary elevation of the ratchet wheel and the means for driving it; Figure 10 is a section on the line 1010 of Figure 1; v

Figure 11 is a fragmentary sectional view through the supporting shaft of the contact wheel and through a portion of the-frame. Referring particularly to Figui- e 1, 10 des ignates the frame of an ordinary non-strikesz. Serial No. 614,183. I y ingi'clock having an hour hand 11 and a minutehand 12. The gearing whereby this clock is driven-and the spring are not shown inasmuch as these parts are of the ordinary and usual construction. it he hour hand is J5 driven by the gear wheel 13 en'gaging'with the usual pinion 14;. So far the construction is that commonly found in clocks. My attachment includes, the supporting frame 15 upon which is mounted the shaft l6'carrying upon it the toothed wheel 17 which engages with the pinion 14. Thus this toothed wheel is driven from the pinion. I

Mounted upon the face of the toothed wheel are a plurality of lugs 18, whichlugs are riveted, bolted or otherwise attached to v the wheel as at 19 so that the lugs may be shifted" somewhat tofproperly adjust them. Pivotally mountedupon a, shaft20 above the wheel 17 is a downwardly extending curved finger 21 against which the lugsl18 successively strike as the wheel 17 moves in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1. Also mounted upon this shaft. 20 and operating in 21 is the straight conjunction with .the finger arm 22. Pivoted upon a shaft 23 -is an angular arm'24, theangular extremity .of which extends over the arm 22. This shaft carries upon it the upwardly bowed arm 25 which at its extremity is connected to a link 26 which in turn is connected to a plunger 27 or weight. When a lug 18 strikes the finger 21- it will lift this finger and 'coincidently lift the arm 22, which. will lift up .on the arm 24, causing the raising of the plunger weight 27 and as the finger 21 passes over the lug 18 and is released thereby, the plunger will drop. I have illustrated eight of these lugs V 18 but as many of theselugs may be used as desired and preferably the lugs are curved upon that face which strikes the finger 2l so as to readily lift it or exert a wedging effect upon this finger. y

The plunger weight 27 operates freely throughthe guides 28 attached tothe frame This fralne is "provided with lugs 29 whereby the frame may be supported on the same base as the clock frame 10. Pivotally supported below the weight 27- is a lever 30 O pivoted at 31, one end of this lever projecting into the path of movement of the weight 27 so that when'this weight 27 is allowed to drop, the rear end of the lever will be raised. A spring 32 acts to urge the weight engaging end of the lever upward. To the opposite end of the lever is connected a link 33.

Mounted upon a frame 34 disposed downward and to the right of the frame 15 is a detent 35 to which the lower end of the link 33 is pivotally connected. The free end of this detent 35 is formed with a hook-shaped or angular portion 36 which extends into a notch in one of the gear wheels of the signal controlling mechanism. lever 35 is pivotally mounted upon a shaft 37 and also mounted upon this shaft for coincident movement with the detent 35 is the stop arm 38 which is slightly curved or hookedat its extremity. Also mounted upon this shaft 37 forcoincident movement with lifting arm 39, the free end of which is somewhat curved toward the parts 35 and 38 is a the extremity ofthe arm 38. Rotatably mounted upon the frame 34 is a shaft 40. One end of this shaft rotates in a fixed hub or shaft section 400 rivetedto. the frame 34a and thus held from rotation. Loosely mounted upon. this shaft section 40a (see Figure 11) and ,insulated therefrom is a ratchet wheel. 41 formed with a relatively deep notch 42, within which the angular. extremity of the detent 35 normally engages. Alsomounted upon the same shaft 40, asthe ratchet wheel 41 is a toothed wheel 43. For the purpose This shaft is driven by the spring 45, one end of which is attached to the shaft and the other end of which is rigidly engaged with the frame 34 as at 46. Mounted upon the shaft 44,is the toothedwheel 47 and also mounted upon the shaft 44 is the ratchet wheel 48. The wheel 47 is loose upon the shaft 44 but is rotated therewith in the direction of the arrow by means. of the ratchet wheel 48 and a pawl 49 mounted upon the wheel 47. This permits the spring to be wound up from time to time. 'The wheel'47 engages a lantern wheel or pinion 50a mounted upon a shaft 50 carrying a gearwheel 51, this wheel 51 engaging a pmlon on the shaft 40 and thus driving this shaft 40 and driving the wheel 43.

The wheel engages with the lantern wheel or pinion 52 mounted upon a shaft 53, this shaft carrying upon it the, gear wheed 54. This gear wheel engages with the lantern wheel or pinion 55 mounted upon a governor shaft 56. The governor shaft carries upon it the dislr 55 carrying the two governor arms 58 pivoted thereto and weighted at their outer ends so that as the speed increases the arms will swing outward under centrifugal force. The arms 58 have angular extensions 59, which bear against a washer or disk 60 loosely surrounding the governor shaft in The outer end. of the I provide a shaft 44.

turn bearing against a coiled compression spring 61 mounted upon the governor shaft. The outer end of plurality of friction disks 62 which in turn bear against the outer element 34a of the frame 34. This is most clearly shown in Figure 3. Obviously as the speed increases the friction disks will act as a brake and thus the movement of the train of gearing will be kept uniform and constant at all times. I may say thatl have triedthe use of the usual flutter wheel for the purpose of controlling the action of the clock movement but have found that the flutter wheel is entirely too uncertain in its action and that it is necessaryto use a governor in order to secure the certainty of regulation which the governor supplies.

It will be seen that I have described means for driving the controlling wheel 17 which controls the operation of the detent 35 and that I have described means whereby the signal controlling wheel 41 may be operated when released by the detent 35.

The means for causing the sounding of a signal or signals at a-predetermined time is as follows v Mounted uponthe wheel41. are a pair of contacts 63 and 63a disposed relatively closely together (see Figure and disposed in spaced relation to this pair of contacts is a contact 64. The contact 63 and the Contact 64 are disposed so as to project outward from the surface of thewheel 41 as shown clearly in Figure 7. '1

Mounted upon a transverse bar 65 of insulating material as shown in Figure 7 are a pair of contact fingers 66 which are so adjusted that the tips of these fingers will just touch the contacts 63 but not touch the wheel 41. These contact fingers at their rear ends; are connected to a binding screw 67 having the usual binding nut 68' thereon. An adjusting screw 69 is provided whereby the fingers may be adjusted so as to bring'their tips in exactly the position to just touch the upper edges of the contacts 63. From one of the contacts 66, a conductor 70 extends to a battery 71 or other source of current and to the bell or other pole of this signalthe conductor 73 extends toabinding post 74 carried by the bar 65. From the other contact 66 a conductor 75 extends which includes a source of current 7 6, a bell 77 and a return conductor 78 coming back to the'binding post 74. Thus itwill be seen that each time the fingers 66' wipe across a contact 63 or the contact 64, a circuit will be closed through these bells or other sig nals 72 and 77. I

For the purpose of lifting the arm 25 'so as to prevent the actuation of the lever 30 and the release of the wheel 41, I have provided the vertical rod 79 which at its upper end is formed with the arm 80 which engages this SDIIIIO' bears a ainst a signal 72. From the other Figure 6.

beneath the arm as shown in Figure 1, the lower end of this arm 79 being conn-ectedto an angular lever 81 pivoted at 82 and opcrating over a notched bar88.

This bar on opposite ends is notched to engage out of the notches and when the lever is turned to the right in Figure 1, the mechanism is operated or on. When the lever is turned to the left hand end of the bar 83, the mechanism is inoff position. As before stated, the wheel 41 is loose uponthe shaft and is entirely insulated from the shaft. This wheel 41 is given a step by step movement by means of aninsulated pin 84 carried by the lantern wheel or pinion 52. It is to be understood that this pin 84 is to be entirely insulated from the pinion 52in any suitable manner. It will be seen that with this construction, the wheel 41 is rotated one step upon each complete rotation of the wheel 54 and that the wheel 41 is electrically engaged by contact finger 85 which extends from the binding post 74 as shown most clearly in V The wheel 54 with its shaft 53 and, of course, all the train of gearing connected thereto and driven by themotor spring is normallyhcld from rotation by the arm 38 which at its end is hook-shaped and engaged with the stop pin 86 carried by the wheel 54.

Projecting from the wheel 54 is a pin 87 which coacts with the curved arm 39 to lift the arm 38 from engagement with the pin 86 and hold the detent 36 off of the wheel 41 while the pin 84 is engaging the ratchet teeth of wheel 41. This curved arms!) lifts the detent on arm 36 out of the ,(leep notch 42 and also lifts this detent over each cog as the wheel is being moved one cog at atime. When the detent 86 lands between the teeth on the rim of the wheel, pin 86 fails toengagc with the hooked end of the arm /Vhen I pin 8'? comes up under the curved .arm 39, lift-s this curved arm n award and while the.

dctent 36 is above the teeth, the pin 84 which constitutes a tooth moves into the space between the teeth on wheel 41 and moves this wheel. another notch.

This movement continues until the deep notch 42 comes opposite the detent 86 where? upon thedetent drops into this deep notch and at the same time the hooked end of the arm 38 moves into position in front of the allow the phimger 27 enough slack to trip the detent 35 when the lever 30 is struck by the plunger. Furthermore, the straight arm 22 this lever 81 which may be sprung 1ng arm suficiently to stop the plunger from. striking the leve130 when the plunger drops; This happens when the cut-out lever 81 is placed at its oil position. It will-be obvious that the lever 81 can be turned to off or on position at any time during the day oiflii'ight without interfering with 'the correct ringing or requiring the apparatus to be reset. You can thus cut it out at 1: 30 P. M., leave it until 4:00 P. M., throw the lever 81 back to on and it will ring the 4: 08 bell just the same.

It will be seen that by changing the position of the lugs on the controlling wheel which operates the dropping of the weight or plunger, the bells may be caused to'ring at any desired intervals of time and it is obvious that these lugs might be made adjustable around the wheel so as to adapt the mechanism to any desired cycle of operations.

It will be seen that normally the contact fingers are disposed between the contacts on the contact wheel, as shownin Figure 6, and that almost immediately after the plunger drops, the fingers engage the first contact of the series and ring the bells that two minutes afterwards the fingers engage the second contact of the series and ring a second bell and that three minutes after this, a third or final bell rings.

The lugs 18 represent a forty-five minute schedule and can be rotated or oscillated to vary the time of tripping several minutes earlier or later as the case requires. WVith this construction these lugs are knife edged and thus the time can be regulated to the sec ond. T

One of my objects in using the weight or plunger 27 to release the detent 36 is that the action. is very quick and decided as it is only a matter of releasing this plunger and the tripping of this switch may be accomplished very quickly and very closely for the reasons above stated. Furthermore, by pro,- viding this releasable plunger, I can provide very simple means whereby the plunger may be shown lifted, so that its tripping finger n will be entirely out of the path of movement of the tripping finger 22.

o By using the twenty-four hour wheel as a I control element in this device, I eliminate any chance for the schedule to be thrown oil or interrupted in actual usage if the clock is kept running on time. I do away with any necessity of resetting the ringing mechanism after cutting oil for Saturday and Sunday of each week. Ringing on schedule will start at the exact time each day and will be kept up without further attention and winding the clock. r

It will be obvious that any number of bells or other signals may be operated by means of this mechanism or that as before described, the mechanism may be prevented from operating by the shifting of the lever to its off position.

1. A time controlled switch including a contact wheel, a motor therefor, fixed con tact fingers coacting with the contacts on the wheel, a detent holding the contact wheel and the motor from operation, and clock actuated means for momentarily lifting said detent andthen permitting the detent to again detainingly engage with the contact wheel after the contact wheel has made one complete revolution.

2. A time controlled switch including a contact wheel, a motor, gearing connecting the motor to the contact wheel and including a pinion engaging the contactwheel and giving it a step by step movement in one direction, the contact wheel'having a plurality of contacts thereon, contact fingers engageable. with said contacts, a detent normally holding the contact wheel from operation and holding the motor operated gears from opera-- tion, and clock actuated means for momentarily raising said detent out of engagement with the contact wheel to permit the contact wheel to make one full revolution, the detent after such full revolution of the contact wheel then detainingly engaging the contact wheel and stopping the action of the motor operated train of gears.

3. A time controlled switch including a contactwheel having a pair of contacts disposed in close relation to each other, and a contact angularly spaced from the firstnamed contacts, a pair of fixed contact fingers adapted to be engaged byv said contacts successively as the wheel is rotated, a motor, a train of gears driven by said motor and including a gear element giving a step by step rotation to the contact wheel, a detent engaging the contact wheel and when engaged with the contact wheel impeding the operation of the train of gears, clock actuated means for momentarily lifting said detent to permit the rotation of the contact wheel from said motor operated train of gears, and means for holding said detent out of operative engagement with the contact wheel u'ntilthe con tact wheel has made one complete rotation and the fingers are disposed between the first named pair of contacts and out of engage ment with either. 1

4. A time controlled switch including a contact wheel having a plurality-of contacts thereon, a motor, a train of gearing between the motor and the contact wheel to cause the rotation of the contact wheel, a contact finger. engaging successively with the contacts on the wheel, a detent normally preventing the rotation of the contact wheel, and clock actuated means for lifting said detent including a lever connected at one end to said detent, a plunger disposed to engage said lever when dropped, a clock. actuatedwheel, and means on said wheel for preventing the rotation of the contact wheel,

and clock actuated means for lifting said detent including a lever connected at one end to said detent, a plunger disposed to engage said lever when dropped, a clock actuated wheel, and, means on said clock actuated wheel for dropping said plunger at predeterm ned times to thus cause the retraction of the detent, including lugs on the wheel disposed at spaced intervals, a lifting arm for the plunger, and means actuated by said lugs for raising the lifting arm and then dropping it.

6. A time controlled switch including a contact wheel having a plurality of contacts thereon, a motor, a train of gearing between the motor and the contact wheel. to cause the rotation of the contact wheel, a contact finger engaging successively with the contacts on the wheel, a detent normally preventing therotation of the contact wheel, clock actuated means for lifting said detent including a lever connectedat one end to said detent, a plunger disposed to engage said leverwhen dropped, a clock actuated wheel, and means on said clock-actuated wheel for raising and successively releasing said plunger at predetermined times to thus cause the retraction of the detent, including lugs on the wheel. disposed at spaced intervals, a lifting arm for the plunger, a double armed lever having one of its arms extending into the path of movement of the lug, a double-armed lever having one of its arms connected to the plunger, the other arm of the first named lever engaging beneath the second arm of the second-named lever whereby to cause the lifting of the-plunger as the first'uiamed arm is struck by a lug and the dropping of the plunger when the firstnamed arm escapes from a lug.

7. A time controlled switch including a contact wheelhaving a plurality of contacts thereon, a motor, a train of gearing between the motor and the contact wheel to cause the rotation of the contact wheel, a contact finger engaging successively with the contacts on the wheel, a detent normally preventing the rotation of the contact wheel, clock actuated means for lifting said detent including a lever connected at one end to said detent, a,

plunger disposed to engage said lever when dropped, a clock actuated wheel, means on said wheel for raising and then successively releasing said plunger at predetermined times to thus cause the retraction of the detent, including lugs on the wheel disposed at spaced intervals, a lifting arm for the plunger, a double-armed lever having one of its arms extending into the path of movement of the lug, a double-armed lever having one of its arms connected to the plunger, the other armof the first-named lever engaging beneath the second arm of the second-named lever whereby to cause the lifting of the plunger as the first-named arm is struck by a lug and the dropping of the plunger when the first-named arm escapes from a lug, and means for holding the plungcr raised comprising a rod having a hook engaging beneath the plunger, and a manually operable lever shiftable to raise or lower said hook.

8. A time controlled swi ch of the character described, including a contact wheel having ratchet teeth and carrying a plurality of contacts, a pair of contact fingers engageable with said contacts, the contact wheel having a detent receiving notch, a spring motor, a train of earing operatively connected to the motor to be driven thereby, a governor operatively engaged by the train of gearing to control its movement, the train of gearing including a wheel, a one-toothed pinion carried by the wheel and engaging a ratchet tooth on the contact wheel once upon each complete rotation of the pinion, a pivoted detent having an angular end normally disposed in said notch of the contact wheel,

two arms carried by said detent and movable therewith, one of said arms having a hooked extremity, the last named gear wheel having a stop engaged by the hooked arm when the detent is in said notch, a second arm carried by the detent and having a curved end portion and a pin carried by the gear wheel and. engaging said last-named arm when the tooth on the pinion is about to engage a ratchet tooth to cause the lifting of the detent above the teeth of the contact wheel.

9. In a time controlled switch. mechanism of the character described, an insulated metallic contact wheel having thereon a pair of radially disposed metallic contacts projecting from one surface thereof and dis-' posed closely contiguous to each other, and having thereon a contact spaced a predetermined distance from the first named pair of contacts, a pair of metallic contact fingers mounted opposite said face and. engaging the crests of the metallic contacts on the wheel, clock controlled means causing the complete rotation of the contact wheel at predetermined 1 intervals, and manually operable means for controlling the rotation of the contact wheel.

10. A time controlled switch mechanism including a supporting frame, a wheel carried by the frame and engageable with the driving pinion for the hour hand of a clock, the wheel having a plurality of lugs spaced at predetermined intervals upon one face, a weighted plunger mounted upon the frame, means engaged at intervals by said lugs lifting said plunger and then dropping it, a motor driven contact wheel having spaced contacts thereon, contact fingers engageable with said contacts, a detent for preventing the rotation of said wheel, and means actuatedby a dropping of the plunger for lifting said detent and holding it lifted until the contact wheel has made a complete revolution.

1'! including a contact wheel carrying a pinrality of contacts, motor controlled means for-driving said contact wheel, a contact finger disposed to be engaged by said contacts of the contact wheel, a detent normally holding the contact wheel from operation under the action of said motor, clock actuated means acting to momentarily lift the detent from its detaining engagement with the wheel to.

permit the actuation of the wheel, means aclng automatically to shift the detent to a position where it will not prevent the move ment of'the contact wheel nder the action of the motor until said wheel has made one complete revolution, and manually operable means for preventing the release of said de-v tent by the clock actuated mechanism,

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

EDWARD R. MERCER.

A time controlled switch mechanism

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