US2269386A

US2269386A - Traffic control time indicator

Info

Publication number: US2269386A
Application number: US375676A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bruce B Watts; Jr Ed Fackler
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1941-01-23
Filing date: 1941-01-23
Publication date: 1942-01-06
Anticipated expiration: 1959-01-06

Description

Jan. 6, 1942.

B. B. WATTS ETAL TRAFFIC CONTROL TIME INDICATOR Filed Jan. 23, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 6, 1942. 5, -1's r I 2,269,386

TRAFFIC CONTROL TIME INDICATOR Filed Jan. 23, 1941 2 SheetsSheet 2 Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE B...lfifflfifilliiifiiffifii:I...

Application January 23, 1941, Serial No. 375,676

11 Claims.

Various forms of trafllc light control meansv are.

commonly in use to-day, and, generally speaking, these traffic-control lights include one green or"go light, one red or stop" light, and an amber light which will indicate a coming change from green. to red, or vice versa.

It has been commonly found that vehicular and pedestrian traffic does not always start or stop promptly on the change of lights, and very often a vehicle or a pedestrian goes only as far as perhaps the middle of the light-controlled intersection at the time that the traffic light changes from green to red.

The primary object of our invention is, to provide an indicating means whereby the trafllc may be made of transparent material with the arrow opaque.

.Spaced apart from the uprights 4 are legs l2 which are hingedly secured to the base 2 by means of suitable hinges l4. At the end of the legs l2 remote from the base 2, we provide a suitable motor support IS on which a conventional constant speed motor I8 is supported.

The motor I8 is provided with an elongated shaft which extends outwardly therefrom, and on which is fixedly secured a friction disk 22, which disk is adapted to frictionally engage the transparent disk 8. An additional friction disk 24 is slidably positioned on the shaft 20 and is provided with an extended metallic core 26.

This core 26 is adapted to be inserted within a solenoid 28, which solenoid is adapted to pull the metallic core 26, and its associated friction readily become aware of the approximate length of time that the signal will remain with its instant light on before the light is automatically changed either from.;a signal to a stop or vice versa.

Another object of our invention is to provide an indicating means whereby waiting trafllc may accurately judge the moment when the light will change and-its turn to go will commence.

A further object of our invention is to provide a time indicating device to be used in conjunction with existing trailic lights, or to be used independently thereof, to indicate the elapsed portion of time and the remaining time before a trafllc light change.

disk 24, inwardly against the pressure of the coiled spring 30 at the time that the solenoid 28 is energized. The coil spring 30 is adjustable on the shaft 20 by means of the collar 32, the pressure of the coil spring being properly adjusted to afford a suflicient amount of tension to engagethe friction disk 24 against the transpar-,

ent disk 8 and to hold the latter against the friction disk 22 secured to the motor shaft. The

motor I8 is provided with a suitable ear 34 to A further object of our invention is to provide time indicating means for trafllc control lights 1 which may be adjusted to coordinate accurately with existing traffic control lights.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Our whole device is mounted on a base 2 to i which uprights 4 are attached to support, by means of suitable bearings, the shaft 6 on which the disk 8 is secured. The end of the. base 2 which carries the disk 8 is adapted to bepositioned suitably in front of the amber lens 9 of a conventional traflic signal, or any other source of light.. The diskt is provided with an indiwhich is hingedly secured a stop rod 36, which is provided at the end thereof remote from themotor [8 and the ear 34 with a V-shaped notch 38 in position to engage the crank-arm 40 of the shaft 6 when that crank-arm is in the position shown in Fig. 2 with the indicating arrow I0 pointing upwardly.

A support 42 upstanding from the base 2 is in position to slidably hold the stop-rod 36 in a proper position so that the V-shaped notch thereon may be moved into and. out of engagement with ,the crank-arm 40 as the motor I8 is moved to the right or to the left, as will be more fully described hereinafter. Attached to the stud 42 we provide a coil spring 44 which extends between the support 42 and one leg I 2, supporting the motor base 16 and the motor, the tension of this spring 44 being adapted to pullthe .legs l2, the motor support and motor, toward the support 42 and to maintain the V- shaped notch 38 in engagement with the crankarm 40 of the shaft 6.

On the side .of the motor l8 and motor base It. remote from the uprights 4, shaft 6 and disk 8, we provide two solenoids 46 and 48 properly po sitioned, above the base 2 by an upright 45, the solenoid 46 beingprovided with a conventional coil having electric leads 46a and 46b, which leads are adapted to be connected with the conventional tramc light green light circuit. The electric leads 48a and 48b from the solenoid 48 are adapted to be connected to conventional trafllc light red light circuit. These solenoids 46 and 48 are provided with adjusting screws 50, 52, respectively, so that the amount of travel of the solenoid cores 54 and 56, respectively, may be properly adjusted for purposes of synchronizing the rotation of the disk 8 with the predetermined period of time that the red or the green light of a conventional trafllc control'light is adjusted to be on.

The ends of the solenoid cores 54 and 56 are provided with the slotted portion into which hooks 58 and 68 extend. These hooks 58 and 68 are properly secured to the legs I2 under the motor base l6, so that at the time that either of the solenoids 46 or 48 is energized, the motor [8 and its assembled mechanisms will be pulled slightly away from the disk 8, and also the stop rod 88 will be pulled sufllciently away from the shaft 6 so that the V-shaped notch 38 will disengage the crank-arm 48, allowing the shaft 6 to revolve. We provide a flexible armature 62 extending across the two solenoids 46 and 48 and provided at its ends with contact points 64 and 68, which contact points are in position to make contact with the contacts 68 and 10, respectively. The contact 10 is electrically connected to a source of supply of electricity, and the contact 88 is electrically connected with an end of the winding of the solenoid 28, the other end of the solenoid winding being connected with the source of supply of electricity.

Operation In operation, our device may be positioned in front of the amber lens of a conventional traffic signal light (or any other source of light) which amber light is adjusted to be continually energized to provide a light which will pass through the transparent portion of the disk 8 or indicating media I 0. At the time that the reen light of the traffic control signal is energized, the solenoid 46 will be energized, and will pull the solenoid core 48 inwardly until it comes in contact with the adjustable stop 58, and the core 54 will pull against the hook 58, pulling the motor l8 and its elongated shaft 20 to a properly adjusted position for the friction disks 22 and 24 to engage the disk 8 and re'volve the latter at a predetermined speed. At the same time the stop rod 36 is moved so that the V-shaped notch 38 is taken out of engagement with the crank-arm 40 to allow the shaft 6 to rotate. At the time that the solenoid core 54 is pulled inwardly by the solenoid 46, contact is broken between the contact points 64 and 68, and thereby the solenoid 28 is deenergized and the coil spring 30 pushes the metallic core 26 ,and the friction disk 24 toward the motor and into engagement with the disk 8. The parts will remain in this condition as long as the green light is energized by its own conventional mech-- anism, the rotation of the disk 8 being adjusted by the adjusting screw 50 of solenoid 46 so that the disk 8 will make one revolution during the period of time the green light is energized.

After the green light has gone off," by operation of its own mechanism, an interval of a secnd or two is provided whereby the motor may be pulled back by the sprin 44 to properly engage the V-shaped notch 38 and the crank arm 48 and to adjust the indicating means on the disk 8 in the proper starting position,'if by chance it is rotated either slightly too far or not far enough. After that momentary interval, the red light of the traflic control light is energized by its own mechanism and by means of its connections 48a and 48b, the solenoid 48 is energized, and its core 56 will be pulled inwardly until its engagement with the end of the adjusting screw 52. By pulling inwardly the core 56, the hook 68 on the motor I8 is pulled, and simultaneously contact points 66 and 18 are pulled apart to deenergize the solenoid 28. After this has taken place, the operation will be the same as described above, and the motor through its assembled mechanism will rotate the disk 8 through the one revolution by means of its adjusted position, which has been predetermined by setting the adjusting screw 52 of the solenoid 48.

After the red cycle of the traffic light control is completed, the indicating means III on the disk 8 will again be pointing upwardly, and the mechanism is in position to proceed again on the green cycle of the trailic light mechanism after a momentary pause of one or two seconds.

We claim:

1. A traffic control time indicator including a revolving disc, having indicia thereon, said disc having the double function of mounting the indicator and also serving as a mechanically engaged part of the friction drive, a motor, magnetically controlled means engaging said motor with the said disc, and magnetic circuit makerbreaker means controlling the magnetic motor engaging means.

2. A traffic control time indicator including a revolving disc, having indicia thereon, a motor, a motor shaft, a friction disc secured on said shaft, a spring-pressed friction disc slidable on said motor shaft, and a solenoid adapted to retract the said slidable friction disc, the said friction discs positioned to engage the said revolving disc near the periphery thereof.

3. A traflic control time indicator including a motor, an elongated motor shaft, a friction disc fixed to said shaft, a friction disc slidable on said shaft, a rotatable indicator disc having its peripheral edge between said friction discs, and solenoid means controlling the engagement of said sliding friction disc with the said indicating disc.

4. A tramc control time indicator including a motor, an elongated motor shaft, a friction disc fixed to said shaft, a friction disc slidable on said shaft, a rotatable indicator disc having its periphery between said friction discs, and solenoid means controlling the engagement of the friction discs with the said indicating disc.

5. A traffic control time indicator including a motor, an elongated motor shaft, friction discs mounted on said shaft, an indicator disc having its periphery between said friction discs, and solenoid means controlling the time of engagement of the indicator disc with the said friction discs.

6. A traiiic control time indicator including a motor, an elongated motor shaft, friction discs mounted on said shaft, an indicator disc having its peripheral edge between said friction discs, and solenoid means attached to the trafilc control circuit regulating the time of contact between the indicator disc and the friction discs.

'7. A traflic control time indicator including a revolving indicator disc, a motor, an elongated motor shaft, a pair of friction discs on said shaft, one fixed and one slidable, a solenoid around one end of said shaft, a solenoid core affixed to the slidable friction disc, two solenoids positioned laterally of the motor and shaft, circuit breakers attached to said solenoids, and hooks attached laterally to said motor in position to be engaged by the solenoid cores, the two solenoids adapted to adjust the said friction discs in position to rotate the indicator disc at proper speed.

8. A traffic control time indicator including a rotatable indicator disk, an electricmotor, a movable support therefor, the motor having a shaft with fixed and slidable friction disks thereon in position to embrace the edge of the indicator disk, means for sliding the slidable disk at predetermined intervals for frictional contact with the indicator disk, and means for shifting the position of the motor and friction disks with respect to the position of the periphery of the in-' dicator disk.

9. A traific control time indicator including a rotatable indicator disk, an electric motor, a movable support therefor, the motor having a shaft with fixed and vslidable friction disks thereon in position to embrace the edge of the indicator disk, magnetic means for sliding the slidable disk at predetermined intervals for frictional contact with the indicator disk, and magnetic means for shifting the position of the motor and friction disks with respect to the position of the periphery of the indicator disk.

10. A traffic control time indicator including a rotatable indicator disk, a rotatable shaft on which said indicator disk is mounted, said shaft having a crank-arm thereon, a motor, a movable support on which said motor is mounted, a stop-rod hingedly connected with the motor and having a notch at one end in position to engage the crank-arm when the disk is in a certain predetermined position, a shaft driven by the motor, friction disks on said shaft in position to engage the opposite sides of the periphery of the indcating disk, magneticmeans for controlling one of said disks, and magnetic meansfor shifting the'position of the motor and the disks carried on the motor shaft.

'11. A traffic control time indicator including a. rotatable indicator disk, a rotatable shaft on which said indicator disk is mounted, said shaft having a crank-arm thereon, a motor, a movable support on which said motor is mounted, a stoprod hingedly connected with the motor and having a notch at one end in position to engage the crank-arm when the disk is in a certain predetermined position, a shaft driven by the motor, friction disks on said shaft in position to engage the opposite sides of the periphery of the indicating disk, magnetic means for controlling one of said disks, magnetic means for shifting the position of the motorand the disks carried on the motor shaft, and means connected with this i last-mentioned magnetic means for permitting any length interval, either the stop or go light which might be desired.

BRUCE B. WA'ITS. ED FACKLER, JR.