US1955013A - Vehicle operated light switch - Google Patents

Description

April 17, 1934. A. B. PARKER VEHICLE OPERATED LIGHT SWITCH Filed May 10, 1932 Ema/Mm H. B. Purl/er Patented Apr. 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to means for operating light switches and particularly to means whereby a light switch in a garage or in the yard of a garage may be automatically operated by a car driven over the operating mechanism of the switch, the general object being to provide mechanism of this character whereby a car driven over a plate disposed slightly above the ground of the yard or in any other suitable situation may be depressed by the wheels of a car and when d pressed will automatically light the garage and yard, the structure being further so made that the lights in the garage are kept lighted until the operator has turned on" the switch in the house or a switch located in some other convenient place.

A further object is to provide mechanism op erated, as before described, by said plate whereby after the owner has turned on the lights in the garage from the house, these lights will be automatically turned off as the car is driven out over the operating plate, leaving the automatic switch in position for the next approaching car.

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

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of my lighting system showing in dotted lines a house, a yard and the automatic switch;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View through the automatic switch mechanism;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view through the wheel operated mechanism taken at right angles to Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the automatic switch and the light circuit.

Referring to the drawing, designates a metal casing, though the casing might be constructed of any other suitable material and have other than a cylindrical form, which casing is sunk in the ground so that the upper end of the casing is practically level with the ground or floor. The upper end of this casing is partly closed by a cap 11, the lower end of the casing be ing closed by a cap 12 having a downwardly extending sleeve or nipple l3 closed at its lower end by a cap 14. These parts may be constructed in any suitable manner and of any suitable materials.

Disposed within the casing 10 and extending longitudinally therethrough is a spindle or rod 15 whose lower end extends into the nipple l3 and whose upper end extends out through a central opening 16 in the cap 5. The nipple may have 55 within it the Babbitt metal guide 17 for the lower end of the spindle 15. This spindle, as illustrated, is reduced in thickness at the end passing through the guide 17 and the nipple is of sufficient length as to permit the downward mov ment of the spindle l5. Mounted upon the spindie 15 adjacent its lower end is a set collar 18 and between this collar and the lower end 12 of the there is disposed the compression spring this spring resisting downward movement of rod or spindle l5. Disposed on a level with the ground is a plate 20 which i approximately oval in shape and apertured at its center or the passage of the spindle 17. This plate is dished upward or concave-convex, the convex face facing upward. to the cap 11 by rivets or in any other suitable manner.

Mounted upon the upper face of the spindle i5 is a second plate 21 which is also transversely concave-convex, as shown, and which is also somewhat oval in shape and conforms to the shape of the plate 20. Normally the plate 21 is disposed above the plate 20 but when the wheels of a car or other vehicle ride up on the plate 21, this plate is depressed against the plate 20. Mounted upon the upper end of the spindle 15 is a set collar 22 and between this collar and the cap 11 is a leather collar 23, this leather collar acting to prevent water from getting into the casing 10. Any other suitable means for this purpose might be used.

Also mounted upon the spindle l5 approximate- 1y midway of the casing 10 is a set or adjustable collar 24 and pivotally connected to this collar is the downwardly and laterally extending pawl 25. :1

Extending through the side wall of the casing 10 is a tubular housing 26 and disposed within this housing is a shaft 27, the inner end of the shaft carrying upon it the disk 28 provided with a plurality of outwardly projecting pins 29 constituting teeth with which the lower end of the pawl is adapted to engage. As illustrated, the lower end of the pawl 25 is recessed so as to engage over one of the pins 29 but, of course, this particular form of the lower end of the pawl may be changed to conform to the character of tooth carried by the disk 28.

The shaft 27 is mounted in bushings 30 carried by the tubular housing 26 but any other suitable bearing for the shaft may be provided. The outer end of this shaft 27 and the corresponding end of the housing 26 enters a box or casing 31 which is embedded in the ground or disposed in a suitable well or otherwise mounted below the level of the ground and having a housing 32 This plate 20 may be attached a which extends upward toward the ground level and opens into a casing 33. Preferably, the housing 32 simply consists of two pipes of sufiicient diameter as to permit the passage of a sprocket chain. Mounted upon the outer end of the shaft 2'7 is the sprocket wheel 34 and mounted within the housing or casing 33 is a sprocket wheel 35. A sprocket chain 36 extends over these sprocket wheels. The sprocket wheel 35 is mounted upon a shaft 37 and this shaft carries upon it a switch comprising a disk 38 of insulating material having a rim 39 of bronze or like conductive material.

Projecting laterally from one face of the bronze rim 39 is a finger or wiper 40 and contacting with this bronze rim 39 at all times is a spring contact 41 which is connected to the hot wire or live wire leading from a source of current. It will thus be seen that the bronze annulus 39 is at all times connected to a source of current. Disposed parallel to this disk is a plate 42 carrying upon it the two contacts 43 and 44, these being somewhat elongated contacts. These contacts are, of course, insulated from the base 42 and these contacts are connected by wires 45 and 46 to a yard lamp and garage lamp 4'7 and 48 and to a switch 49 respectively. Thus two circuits are provided, one including the yard lamp and the garage lamp 47 and 48 and the other including a source of current and the switch 49. These two circuits may be closed or opened within the house by means of the three-way switch 49.

It will be noted that the disk 28 is provided with four pins 29 and that the contacts 43 and 44 are disposed in diametrically opposite positions with relation to each other but extend circumferentially approximately through a quarter of a circle, and that the contact 41 is disposed at an angle of 90 to the beginning ends of the contacts 43 and 44.

In Figure 4, the vehicle operated switch and the three-way switch 49 are shown in the position they would have with the car out of the garage yard and with all the lights turned off. When the incoming car moves over the plate 21, the front wheel of the car will depress the plate 21 and rotate the switch disk 38 through a quarter turn in the direction of the arrow Figure 4.

This will carry the contact 40 beneath the contact 44, closing the circuit from the battery through contact 41, rim 42, contact 40, contact 44, wire 46, switch arm 49a through the lamps 4'7 and 48 back to the battery, energizing the yard and garage lights 4'7 and 48. The rear wheel of the car will again depress the plate 221 but the contact 40 is only carried further around on contact 44 without breaking the circuit. The car is run into the garage and the driver goes into the house and throws the three-way switch to the wire 45. This breaks the circuit and all lights are out. When the driver wishes to use the car again, he throws the switch arm 49a to the full line position in contact with wire 46 which again energizes the lamps 4'7 and 48. As he drives out of the yard, the plate 21 is depressed by the front wheels of the car, carrying contact 40 to a position in engagement with the contact 43. This again switches 01f the lights and the rear wheel carries contact 40 to the position shown in Figure 4 ready to again switch on the lights when the car returns.

If, after one car has moved the switch 38 to a position with contact 40 in engagement with contact 44 and lights are turned off at switch 49, a second car drives in, it will act to rotate disk 38 to carry contact 40 beneath contact 43 and as switch arm 49a has been thrown to engage wire 45, the second car will again energize the lamps 47 and 48 and these lamps will again be switched off by the driver of the second car when he shifts the arm 49a to the full line position in Figure 4. To open the circuit entirely and prevent any lighting of the lamps, any suitable or usual switch indicated at 50 may be used.

It will be seen that I have provided a casing 10 which is entirely closed at the upper end from the weather and so constructed that snow, ice or the like cannot, under ordinary circumstances, get beneath the plate 21 to prevent its being moved downward under the action of a car and that all the parts enclosed within the casing 10 are fully protected from moisture and accident.

I claim:-

A switch actuating device comprising a vertically disposed casing closed at its upper and lower ends, a vertically movable spindle disposed within the casing and extending out through the upper end thereof, an upwardly curved plate resting upon and carried by the upper end of the casing, a transversely curved tread plate carried on the upper end of the spindle and having the same curvature as the first named plate whereby when the tread plate is depressed, its whole surface will rest upon the plate beneath and be supported thereby, a pawl mounted upon the spindle and gravitationally depending therefrom, a ratchet disk mounted entirely within the casing, and housed thereby and disposed below and in the path of movement of the pawl, a spring housed within the casing and urging the spindle upward, and an adjustable collar on the spindle limiting the upward movement of the spindle, the upper end of the casing having a packing surrounding the spindle and against which the collar bears when the spindle is urged upward to thereby pre- 'vent the inlet of moisture to the interior of the casing.

ASA B. PARKER.

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