US247459A - Speed-recorder - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

W. W. WYTHE.

SPEED RECORDER. No. 247,459. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. W. WYTHE.

SPEED RECORDER.

No. 247,459. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

WILLIAM Vt. W'YTHE, OF OCEAN GROVE, NEW JERSEY.

' SPEED-RECORDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,459, dated September 20, 1881,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM W. WYTHE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ocean Grove, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Speed-Recorders for Railway-Trains, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is designed as an improvement upon the machine patented to me July28, 1874, No. 153,470, and also patented February 24, 1875, No. 173,251, for speed-recorders for railway-trains.

My invention relates, first, to the means by which the motion of the train is communicated to the roller or drum which receives the chart or record; and, secondly, to the mechanism for moving the pencil over the ruled paper, whereby the diagonal lines produced are in the direction in which the train is moving, thus obviatin g confusion in reading the record, all as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 an end elevation, of the mechanism for actuating the drum. Fig. 3 is a section of the car-axle, with the machinery for transmitting the motion; and Fig. 4 is a plan of the entire recording part of the machine, looking downward, Fig. 5 being a partial elevation of the same.

In the several drawings similar letters refer to similar parts.

That part of my improvement which consists in the means of transmitting the motions of the car-axle to the recording mechanism is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

In Fig. 3, D is a section of the car-axle, upon which is bolted an eccentric or cam, h.

From any convenient part of the car-truck are suspended the rocking arms j j, to one extremity of which are pivoted the pawls t i. A disk, m m, is also attached'to the end of each arm, which presses upon a hemispherical disk of caoutchouc, which forms the side of an air-tight chamber, a n, which communicates with the recording-apparatus by flexible tubes 0 0, so that when the rubber disk is pushed in the air contained in the chamber is compressed, but when the arm retracts the air is extended again by its elasticity. It will be readily seen that when the axle moves in the (N0 model.)

direction of the arrow the chamber a will be operated, while the only effect on the other side is to lift the pawl 1', no motion beiugcommunicated to the chamber a. When the car is reversed the chamber n is operated, while a is at rest, thus allowing the direction of the car to be indicated by the recording mechanism.

Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively side and end elevations of the mechanism by which the compressed air from the chambers n it operates the drum A.

E E are air-chambers, connected by elastic tubes 0 o to the chambers a n beneath the car, and covered with elastic diaphragms p p. These diaphragms are pressed by the disks 1' r on the extremity of levers s 8, upon the other end of which are pawls t t, engaging the wheel w, which is the first of a train which connects with the drum A, and is designed to slow down the motion of the car to any convenient extent, so that the wheels constituting the train are in no way essential to the working of the machine, but may be varied according to the quantity of motion desired in the drum A. The essential feature of this part of the machine is the wheel to, with the teeth so formed that while it may be operated in either direction by the pawls t t it is prevented from being carried too far by inertia by the spring 00. By this mechanism the pressure of the air in the chambers n a, through the tubes 0 0, distends the elastic diaphragms p p, which re tract again when the pressure is removed, and operates the wheel w and the entire train, and thus not only is every movement of the car communicated to the drum, but the direction of the motion is also indicated, the drum r0 tating in one direction as the car advances and in the other'on the backward motion of the car.

The other part of my improvement relates to the mechanism for moving the pencil over the ruled paper, and is clearly set forth in Fig. 4, which gives a plan view of the complete ma chine.

A represents the drum or roller covered with the ruled chart, and B the clock-work for givin g movement to the pencil by the rack. These parts are common to the former machine patented to me, as before stated. The manner of producing the reciprocating movement of the rack, however, is novel, and is one of the parts which I wish particularly to specify.

0 is aspur-wheel riding loosely on the arbor of the center wheel of the clock and moving the rack, which is supported in a parallel plane above it by means of the pinion a,'which is of sufficient height to mesh with both, and which is journaled in a suitable bracket near the periphery of wheel 0. This bracket serves also as a guide for the rack-bar by means of the idle-wheel a, which holds it in gear with the pinion a.

c is a wheel with two teeth diametrically opposite each other, which is rigidly secured to the said arbor of the center wheel of the clock, just above wheel 0.

A detent, d, is pivoted to the upper surface of the loose wheel 0, and, by a suitable spring, is held in engagement with the teeth of the wheel 0, until at every half-revolution of the shaft or arbor the outer end of the detent strikes against the pin 0, which is secured in the frame-work at a suitable point, and by its consequent oscillation it is disengaged from the pinion c.

fis a drum located above the pinion a, and containing aspiral spring, around which is to be wound a chain or cord, 9, the outer end of which is fastened to a stud, g, on the rack-bar. The effect of this mechanism will be obvious. While the detent engages a tooth of the wheel 0 the rack will be carried forward by the movement of the clock, but when disengaged by the pin 0 it will he suddenly retracted by the spring, so that if the drum A is continuously in motion the pencil will describe a succession of diagonal and perpendicular lines like sawteeth, the diagonal representing the varying movements of the car, and the perpendicular being drawn every half-hour, in order to bring the pencil to the bottom of the paper, that a continuous record in the same direction may be made on the narrow strip of paper.

In the former machine the motion of the rack was a uniform reciprocating one, so that the pencil drew diagonals from right to left and from left to right, and it was ditficult to trace, after many lines were drawn, the direction, in which the car was moving. In the improved machine, if the car moves in one direction the diagonals (which alone are indicative) will be in the same direction, and thus prevent confusion of lines.

The foregoing description is sufficient to indicate the construction of the device, as also to describe the mode of its operation.

I am aware that prior to my invention compressed air has been used in connection with speed-recorders by releasinga detent or escapement and permitting movement to a train of wheels; but I am not aware of its use to produce the movement and also to indicate the direction of the prime mover.

WVhat I therefore claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a speed-recorder, the combination of axle D, having eccentric h, rocking arms j j, having pawls 'i i and disks m m, and chambers 'IHL', substantially as shown and described, said chambers being adapted to operate as set forth.

2. In a speed-recorder, the combination of chambers E E, levers s s, pawls t t, wheel w, and drum A, substantially as shown and described, whereby said drum may be rotated in either direction, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the loose spur-wheel O, the pinion c, rigidly secured upon the same shaft therewith, the spring-operated dctent d, pin e,pinion a, drum f, cord g, and the pencilcarryiug rack-bar, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM WV. IVYTHE.

Wi tnesses:

JENNIE L. WY'JHE, W. H. WYTHE.

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