US2289213A - Train order delivery device - Google Patents

Description

y 1942- w. E. ROBERTSON Y 2,289,213

TRAIN ORDER DELIVERY DEVICE Filed Sept. 6, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. E. ROBERTSON TRAIN ORDER DELIVERY DEVICE July 7, 1942.

Filed Sept. 6, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENIOK zzz/zmem y 1942- w. E. ROBERTSON TRAIN ORDER DELIVERY DEVICE INVEWOR.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 6, 1940 BY yfze Iax/ lofienso/z auwfw Patented July 7, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRAIN ORDER DELIVERY DEVICE Wayne Earl Robertson, Westby, Wis. Application September 6, 1940, Serial No. 355,644

Claims.

Railroad trains are operated on written orders from the train dispatcher to the trainmen, delivered in person from time to time during each run. The average cost of stopping and starting a train is estimated at approximately five dollars ($5.00), the cost increasing with the speed and the weight of the train. The time lost in stopping for orders and getting up to speed again interferes not only with operating economy but also with schedules, and increases the chance of accident. The growing use of faster schedules has made it more and more desirable or necessary to deliver train orders without stopping, or even slowing down the train, and has also greatly increased the difiiculty of delivering the required number of orders to a train.

Each engineer and conductor, and sometimes the flagman on the rear end, must receive a separate order, and these men are unavoidably located at different places in the train. The engineers are further from the ground than the conductors or the flagman, and the two engineers on a double header are only about a locomotive length apart. These conditions have made the delivery of orders on a speeding train uncertain, difiicult and dangerous.

The principal object of this invention is to make the delivery of train orders certain, easy and safe. Generally speaking, this is accomplished by mounting each separate folded order on a looped cord hung on an order fork, to which the cord is hitched for ready detachment when the order strikes the trainmans hand as he passes. The supports for the forks, and therefore the orders, are arranged to hold the order in a definite relation to the window sill, for example, of the engineer's cab, or the car platform, as the case may be. The orders for the engineer are at difierent elevations from the orders for the conductor and fiagman, the order for the second engineer being above that for the first,

engineer and dropping to the a propriate position immediately after the first e gineer receives his order, and the order for the flagman at the rear end being above the order for the conductor, and dropping into position after the conductor receives his order.

The receipt of the order by the first engineer, or by the conductor, operates a trip or trigger supporting the companion order in raised position, and allows it to immediately drop into the appropriate position for receipt by the following engineer or the flagman. Thus each man merely holds his hand in the appropriate position, and

the orders are delivered to each in turn as the train speeds by the station. The orders are set on the supports in advance of the expected train, and no excitement or error of the station operator will cause a failure of delivery or injury to the man receiving the order.

Additional objects will become apparent from the following detailed description and from the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the disposition of my device with respect to a train;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the position of the order delivery arms after all except the last order has been removed;

Fig. 3 is a detailed perspective view of the order delivery device;

Fig. 4 is a partial end view of the upper delivery device showing'a method of attaching the second order delivery arm to the first order delivery arm;

Fig. 5 is a detailed illustration of my order delivery device, showing the position of the unit after the removal of a train order from the first delivery arm;

Fig. 6 is a detailed the base; and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of the staff.

Referring to Fig. 1, my assembled train order delivery device comprises a base, generally designated II, a staff [2, a staff extension l3, an upper order delivery unit generally designated I4, and a lower order delivery unit generally designated I6. The base II, shown more clearly in Fig. 6, consists of a pipe ll having a solid point l8 for ease of installation. The upper end of the base is provided with aligned grooves ID. A collar 2| is attached to the upper portion of the base in any desired manner, as by welding-its location on the base being such that the upper end of the pipe I! extends slightly beyond the upper portion of the collar 2|.

Two parallel vertically disposed flanges 22 are formed integrally with collar 21, and are provided with aligned openings 23 in their extremities. A cap 24 is also provided having internal and external dimensions approximately equal to those of the collar 2|. The cap carries a vertically disposed flange 26, adapted to be received between the vertically disposed flanges 22 on collar 2!, and is supported between the flanges 22 by a pin 27 passing through the openings 23 and a corresponding opening through the flange 26, in such manner that the cap 24 may be swung into closed position over the base to prevent the accumulation of foreign matter withperspective illustration of in the pipe N. If desired, the collar 2| and the cap 24 may be provided with coop'erating lugs 28 having openings formed therein to permit locking the cap in its closed position.

The base H is driven into the ground a suit able distance from the tracks, leaving only a small portion of the base extending above the level of the ground. The staff I2 i hollow and has an external diameter slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the base ll. Vertical adjustment of the staff is secured by providing a series of the vertically spaced aligned openings 29 in the lower portion of the staff l2, which are adapted to ,receive a key 3|, secured to the staff by a chain 32. The key 3| rests in the grooves H) in the upper portion of the base II when the staff I2 is inserted therein, so that the overall height of the staff I2 is controlled by the position of the key 3| in the staff l2. This construction also prevents rotation of the stall relative to the base, and permits its removal without difficulty.

The staiT extension l3 telescopes into the staff l2, which is provided with a thumb-screw 33 in its upper portion to hold the staff extension in an extended position. The upper train order delivery unit I4 is attached to the upper portion of the staff extension l3, and comprises a frame generally designated 34, a rotatable shaft 36 journaled in the frame generally designated 31, and a lower delivery arm, generally designated 38, associated with the shaft 36, and a trigger 39 movably associated with the frame 34.

Referring to Fig. 3, the frame 34 consists of two sections, a leg 4| of the left-hand section cooperating with leg 42 of the righthand section to define an opening having an inside diameter slightly less than the outside diameter of the staff extension |3. The frame may be attached to any portion of the staff extension l3 by inserting the extension in the opening defined by the legs 4| and 42, moving the frame to the desired position, and clamping the legs together with bolts 43, which extend through aligned openings in the legs 4| and 42.

The left section consists of five legs, each extending laterally from its adjacent legs. A leg 44 extends outwardly from the rear end of leg 4|; leg 46 extends rearwardly from the outer end of leg 44 parallel to leg 4|; leg 41 extends outwardly to the left from the rear end of leg 46 parallel to leg 44; and leg 48 extends inwardly from the outer end of leg 41 parallel to leg 4|. The inner ends of legs 4| and 4B are in substantially the same vertical plane.

The right-hand section comprises a leg 49 extending outwardly to the right from the rear end of leg 42, and leg extending rearwardly from the outer end of leg 49 parallel to legs 48, 49, 42 and 4|. Leg 52 extends outwardly to the right from the inner end of leg 42, substantially parallel to leg 49 of the same section. The outer portion of leg 49 is angularly disposed with respect to the vertical plane of the remaincler of the arm, as indicated at 53.

One arm 54 of the shaft 36 is journaled in the legs 46 and SI, and projects outwardly beyond arm 5|. The other arm 56 of the shaft 36 extends inwardly adjacent to leg 46 from the arm 54, and has a tube 51 attached to its extremity.

A collar 58 fits loosely over the projecting portion of the arm 54 of the shaft 35, and carries a permanently fixed laterally extending tubular extension 59 in which is fixed an arm 6|. The

34, an upper delivery arm,

r the leg 48.

outer section of the arm 6| has a tube 51', similar to tube 51, attached to its outer extremity.

The outermost position of the collar 58 on the shaft 36 is fixed by a pin 62 extending through a transverse opening in the shaft 36, and projecting laterally from the shaft in both directions. Relatively wide diametrically opposed grooves 63 are formed in the outer end of the collar 53, the projecting ends of the pin 62 lying within these grooves. The inner end of the collar 58 is in contact with the face of the frame leg 5|. By this construction it may be seen that I have provided a 10st motion linkage between the shaft 36 and the collar 5|l. The position and extent of the grooves 63, as well as the position of the pin 62 with respect to the leg 56 of the shaft 36 is such that the pin 62, acting against the edges of the grooves 93, will support the arm 6| at an angle of about 30 from the vertical when the arm 56 is substantially horizontal, and will allow the arm 56 to fall to a vertical position when the arm 6| falls to a horizontal position. A spring catch 64 is attached to the under side of the arm GI, and is positioned to engage the leg 53 of the frame 34 when the arm 6| is allowed to fall to a horizontal position.

The trigger 39 is formed with a closed loop at one end which engages the eye of an eye-bolt 65, attached to the inner portion of the frame leg 4|. The length of the trigger 99 is greater than the distance between the frame legs 4| and 48, and is moved to its operative position by placing the free end of the trigger on the upper portion of In this position the trigger 39 will prevent the downward movement of the arm 56 beyond an approximately horizontal position.

Order forks, generally designated 61, comprise an arm 69, to one end of which is clamped angularly extending resilient fingers 69. The clamp consists of two triangular shaped plates, designated H, which, in their assembled relation, define receiving openings for the end of the arm 58 and the fingers B9. The plates Il may be drawn together by bolts 12, thereby securing the parts of the order fork 61 in fixed relation. A flat spring 73 is secured to one of the plates H, as by a screw 14, and is shaped to remain normally in resilient contact with the plate. The tube 51 receives the end of the order fork arm 68, a thumb screw 16 being provided on the tube to retain the arm in position.

The lower order delivery unit I6 is generally similar to the upper unit previously described, but is normally attached to the staff l2 instead of to the staff extension l3. Furthermore, as the lost motion device for the upper delivery arm is not necessary on this unit, the collar 53, tubular section 59, and the arm 6| described in connection with the upper unit may be replaced by a leg 11 formed integrally with the shaft 36. The leg 11 should be disposed at an angle of greater than thirty but less than ninety degrees above the leg 56'. The catch 64 may also be eliminated from this unit, if desired.

The operation of my device may be best described in connection with a high-speed passenger train employing two locomotives, as both engineers, the conductor and the fiagman must receive orders. To attach the orders to the forks each end of a section of string 19 is tied to the order in a manner well known in the art, and the string, now forming a closed loop, is passed over notches 19 in the ends of the fingers 99, the order being located approximately midway between the extremities of the fingers 69. Both sections of the string 18 are drawn together, bowing the fingers 69, and are passed between the spring 73 and the plate H, the spring serving to hold the cord 18 taut.

The same process is performed for each fork, and when completed the forks may be secured in the tubes 51 and 51 by tightening the corresponding thumb screw.

The cords l8, attaching the orders to forks intended for attachment to the first or lower arms of each unit, should be cut sufficiently long to provide a loop extending beyond the spring clip 13. The upper unit I4 is placed in operative position by raising the arm 56 above the horizontal, placing the loop of the string 18 around the trigger 39, and placing the trigger 39 in position with its free end resting upon the upper edge of the frame leg 48. With the trigger in this position the lower arm 38 will be in a substantially horizontal position and the upper fork will be held in a raised position, but in the same quadrant with the lower fork. A lower unit I6 is prepared for operation in a similar manner.

The position of the lower unit It on the staff I2 is adjusted, either by moving the unit upon the staff or by changing the position of the key 3|, to bring the order into easy reach of the conductor. The upper unit I4 is generally clamped to the top of the staff extension l3, and is raised to about the level of a locomotive cab window by moving the staff extension [3 upwardly, its position being fixed by tightening the thumb screw 33.

To obtain the order the engineer on the first locomotive extends his arm from the cab window, his hand passing between the fingers 69 of the lower order fork of the upper unit. The looped cord 78 strikes his hand or forearm, and is pulled free of the resilient fingers 69 and the spring catch 73. The cord also pulls the trigger 39 free of the frame leg 48, thereby releasing the cord and the lower delivery arm 38. Practically all of the weight of the movable parts of the unit act to swing both delivery arms downwardly immediately with considerable velocity until the upper delivery arm 3'! strikes the frame leg 52. The spring catch 64 engages the arm 52 to prevent vertical movement or rebound of the delivery arm 31. The lower arm is not immediately checked in its downward movement, however, due to the lost motion device on delivery arm 31, and will continue to move downwardly until it reaches an approximately vertical position well out of the way of the engineer on the second locomotive and the mail pouch catcher. The upper arm 31 assumes a position substantially identical to that formerly assumed by the lower arm 38, and within easy reach of the engineer on the second locomotive.

It may be seen that if the train is moving at high rate of speed and the engineers are only about a locomotives length apart, the upper order fork must assume the horizontal position with considerable rapidity. This rapid movement is provided by the lost motion device, for the upper arm is in the same quadrant as the lower arm and as close to a horizontal position as practical, so that both arms exert close to the maximum possible rotative force on the shaft 36 the moment the trigger 39 is released.

The conductor of the train may reach from a vestibule window and easily secure the order held by the lower delivery arm of the lower unit, which that described for the upper unit. The lost motion device and catch, as previously mentioned, are not necessarily on this unit, as the distance between the conductor and the fiagman is usually sufficiently great to permit the second order delivery arm to assume its operative position in ample time. The lower unit is also generally lower than the mail pouch catcher.

Unless other orders are to be delivered to a subsequent train within a short time, the staff extension l3 may be retracted into the staff 12 and the entire assembly removed from the base II. This is desirable, as obstructions on a railway station platform are liable to constitute a safety hazard. It is, of course, unnecessary to employ all four order forks, and practically anycombination may be used. If, for example, orders are to be delivered only to the engineer and the conductor, only one arm of the upper and one arm of the lower unit need be employed. In this case it is immaterial which of the two: arms on each unit are used.

The foregoing description has been made for the purpose of illustration only, and as it is obvious that many modifications may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit of my invention I do not wish to limited to the precise details described except as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for delivering train orders, a frame, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, two order delivery arms carried by the shaft arranged at an angle to each other, with one fol-- lowing the other in rotation, means for holding the following arm in raised position while the leading arm is in order delivering position including a trigger, the trigger being directly actuated by the delivery of an order carried by the leading arm, means rigid with the frame to stop the second arm in order delivering position, and means to prevent rebound from that position, said means including a clip on the following arm disposed to engage a portion of the frame.

2. In an apparatus for delivering train orders, a base, a removable staff in said base including upper and lower sections adjustable with respect to each other, a frame adjustable along the lower section, a second frame carried by the upper section, a rotatable shaft carried by each frame, first and second order delivery arms carried by each shaft, order delivery forks attached to the arms, flexible members each attachable to an order associated with each order delivery fork, a movable trigger cooperating with the frame for temporarily holding each first arm in order delivering position and directly actuated by the corresponding flexible member, and a stop rigid with the frame to catch the second arm in order delivering position.

3. A train order delivery device including a frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, leading and following order delivery arms mounted in spaced relation on the shaft one above the other and arranged for rotation in substantially vertical planes, a movable trigger supported by the frame and cooperating therewith for holding the leading arm in order delivery position, and a looped order holding cord associated with the lower order delivery arm, the trigger being inserted in the looped order holding cord whereby delivery of an order directly actuates the trigger and releases the arms for rotation.

4. A train order delivery device including a will release the trigger 39'. in a manner similar to frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame,

a leading order delivery arm rigidly attached to the shaft and adapted to receive an order fork, a following order delivery arm adapted to receive another fork, means interconnecting the following arm to the shaft, said arms being angularly spaced from one another and arranged for rotation in substantially vertical planes, and a movable trigger interposable between the leading arm and the frame for supporting the leading arm for order delivery position and adapted for direct connection to the order holding cord associated with the leading arm, the connecting means between the following arm and the shaft including a lost motion device whereby restraint of the following arm in order delivery position will not immediately restrain movement of the leading arm.

5. In a train order delivery device, a frame, a horizontal shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a leading order delivery arm rigidly attached to the shaft, a following order delivery arm rotatably supported by the shaft, each of said arms being adapted to support an order fork, means movable with the shaft and engaging the following arm for defining a minimum angular displacement between the arms of less than 90, the maximum displacement between the arms being not less than 90 whereby downward rotation of the following arm may be abruptly stopped without immediately restraining rotation of the shaft.

6. A train order delivery device comprising a frame, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, upper and lower order delivery arms carried by the shaft, a removable flexible member associated with each of the arms and adapted for at tachment to an order, a trigger movably mounted directly on said frame and cooperable with the frame for holding the lower arm in order delivering position and the upper arm in raised position, the flexible member associated with the lower arm directly engaging the trigger whereby movement of the flexible member will release said trigger for releasing said arms for rotation, and means to stop the upper arm in order delivering position.

7. A train order delivery device comprising a frame, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, upper and lower order delivery arms carried by the shaft, said arms defining an angle, a holding device movably mounted directly on said frame and cooperable with the frame for holding the lower arm in order delivering position and the second upper arm in raised position, order holding means movable with each arm and including an easily removable flexible member for holding an order, the flexible member on the lower order supporting arm directly engaging said holding device whereby in the delivery of an order tension on said flexible member positively removes said holding device to allow rotation of said arms to bring said upper arm. into order delivery position.

8. In a train order delivery device. a frame, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, an order delivery arm attached to the shaft, a second order delivery arm carried by the shaft above the first arm but spaced therefrom and adapted to follow the first arm in rotation, a separate order holding device secured to each of said arms, the order holding devices being of the type employing a looped order holding cord, and a trigger movable directly on said frame and interposable between the first order delivery arm and the frame to retain said first order delivery arm in order delivery position, said trigger extending through a loop of the order holding cord associated with the lower delivery arm for releasing said trigger when said cord is removed from said order holding device.

9. In a train order delivery device, a frame, a rotatable shaft carried by the frame, an. order delivery arm attached to the shaft, a second order delivery arm attached to the shaft, said second order delivery arm carried by the shaft above the first arm but spaced both laterally and angularly therefrom and adapted to follow the first arm in rotation, an order holding device secured to each of said arms, the order holding devices being of the type employing a looped order holding cord, a movable trigger directly on said frame and interposable between the first order delivery arm and the frame to retain said first order delivery arm in order delivery position, the trigger extending through a loop of the order holding cord associated with the lower order delivery arm when the latter is in order holding position whereby removal of the order and cord directly releases the trigger from holding the first-named arm for rotation, a stop rigid with the frame for halting the second order delivery arm in order delivery position, and means associated with the arm and frame for preventing rebound of said second arm from the stop.

10. In an order holding device, a staff, an upper frame member on said staff, an upper shaft journaled on said frame, upper and lower order delivery arms mounted on the end portions of said shaft, respectively, one on each side of said staff, a lower frame on said staff, a lower shaft journaled on said lower frame, upper and lower delivery arms mounted on the end portions of said lower shaft, respectively, order forks carried by said arms, a trigger directly connected to each frame for engaging the corresponding lower arm for holding said arms in elevated position, a flexible order supporting member for each fork, the flexible members for the lower forks engaging said triggers for releasing the same when the corresponding flexible member is re leased, said lower arms being on one side of said staff and the upper arms on the other, whereby interference between the arms of the upper and lower frames are prevented.

WAYNE EARL ROBERTSON.

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