US258585A

US258585A - Automatic cash-carrier

Info

Publication number: US258585A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1882-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 1899-05-30

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 'I W. S. LAMSON. AUTOMATIC CASH CARRIER No. 258,585.` t) Patented May 30,1882. 'It y n =f l \J I *L Q u to I j i Pq Q TR ,q w'x E S m w- `Q `Q 'wl: u Q Tb N. Q 4

-m w l \/\/|t E55E5 l IVIVEl-ltmlf- N, PETERS. Prwlwblhngnplmr. wnihingmn, n. C.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2; W. S. LAMSON.

AUTOMATIC CASH CARRIER No. 258,585, Patented May 30 l VE tmf UNTTED STATES PATENT Ormea.

WILLIAM S. LAMSCN, OF LOWELL, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAMSONT CASH CARRIER COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC CASH-CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,585, dated May 30, 1882.

Application iled August 29, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. LAMsoN, of

Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented 'certainnewl and useful Improvements in Automatic Cash-Carriers, of which the following is a specification. I My invention consists in means for raising the carriers to the ways, in means fordischarging said carriers from the elevators, in means for discharging the carriers from the returnways, and in means for adjusting the switchlevers to be operated by carriers ot ldiierent sizes.

In the accompanying drawings, on two sheets, Figure l is a view of one side of the interior of a store with cashier-s desk, counter, and inclined ways or tracks, (the upper way leading from stations of. salesmen to the cashiers desk and the lower way leading from the cashiers desk to the stations of salesmen, and being` providedy with switches,) also elevators, bridges, carriers, and boxes. Fig. 2 is a cross-section (vertical) ot' the elevator, showing the means of discharging the carrier upon the bridge. Fig. 3 is a larger oblique view of a part of the two ways, with an elevator, a bridge, a switch, and means of supporting said parts. Figs. 4 and 5 areplans of a part of the lower way and a switch, said switch being closed in Fig. 4 and open in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a part of the lower or return way, showing how the latches and levers ofthe switches are operated by the carriers. Fig. 7 isa plan of a modified form of the switch shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

A is a somewhat elevated cashiers desk. B is a counter. D is a way or track inclined slightly toward the desk, and passing the stations of the different salesmen employed at such counter, so that a spherical or other rolling carrier placed upon said way at any station will travel to said desk. The carriers used consist of hollow balls M M', so constructed that they may be opened and closed, and may receive and carry money or other small articles along said way D, and are or may be constructed like the carriers described in Letters Patent No. 243,451, granted by the United States, June 2S, A. D. 1881, to me. The way D, with its guards G H, to prevent 'the carriers from jumping off the ways, and

the strips F, of elastic material, inserted in grooves E in the ways D, are fully described in said patent. The way D being placed at some height, the carriers are raised by and dischargedfrom elevatorsLsomewhat as inthe patent named, but not, in the presentinstance, directly upon the way D, but upon what I call a bridge77 D, thc same being a short way constructed like the way D, but pivoted near the upper end, (at Dzin Fig. 3,) so that a carrier being discharged from an elevator upon the up per end ofL a bridge rolls down the bridge, the weight of the carrier bringing the front end that is, the end at the left in Figs. 1 and 3 down upon the way D, and is discharged from the bridge onto said way D. The object o f the bridgeis, byits greater incline,togive agreater impetus to the carrier, and in a vvery long store to have the way D more nearly horizontal, and also to prevent one carrier from being discharged upon or against another carrier which may be passing the elevator L. The elevator Lis unlike the one described in said patent, and is merely a frame having top, bottom, and two sides, containing a shelf, L', so pivoted to the sides that the end of the shelf farthest from the bridge shall be the heavier end, and so of its own weight, by dropping down upon the stop L2, keep said shelf in a horizontalpof sition. The shelf is provided with a depresf sion, L3, in its Lipper surface, which ts the bottom of the carrier and prevents the carrier from rolling oft' the shelf L when the latter is in a horizontal position.

The elevator L is guided by the vertical rods L4, passing through ears L5 on the sides of the frame of said elevator, and is raised by pulling the ring P attached to the cord O, and there by drawing down the movable pulley-block S, through which and through the fixed pulleyblock S passes another cord, O','one end of which cord O is secured to the top ot' the ele! vator, and the other end of which is secured to the ceiling of the store. The rods L4 also may be secured to the ceiling. When the elevator is raised until the shelf strikes the projection e D4 secured to the bridge the shelf is tilted and discharges the carrier onto the bridge. The elevator then descends ot' its own weight and the shelf assumes a horizontal position of its own weight, as above described. When the carrier has reached the cashiers desk and has been emptied of its contents it is returned (with the change, if there be any) to the salesman who sentit by the lower way, C. The lower way islike upper way, D, except that the former is of course inclined in the opposite direction, and is provided with drops or switches It, which enable one return-way to serve for several salesmen. Each switch It consists of a section of the track C, pivoted at C', between strips C, bolted near their ends at G2, to the sides of said track U in such a manner that the weight ofthe carrier as it reaches the front (the right in Figs. l and 3) end of the switch will cause said front end to drop and discharge the carrier below the way O into a box, H4, provided on the side next the switch with a vertical opening, H,just wide enough to admit the end ot' the switch. rIhe box H4 has an inclined bottom, H2, which causes the carrier thus discharged into it to roll to the front ot' the boxthat is, to the side of the box next the salesmanand the front of the box projects forward at the bottom, the projecting part being open at the top H, so that the carrier can be removed from said box. In this box the carrier remains until the salesman for whose use it is intended has occasion to eniploy it again. After th'e carrier drops from the lower end of the switch, as above described, the switch is again broughtinto position automatically by the weight ot' the upper end of said switch and of acounter-balanceor weight, R2, attached to said upper end. It this were all, the carriers would all be discharged into the first box. In order thateach salesman may receive back his own carrier (containing perhaps the change of the money sent by him to the cashier) the carriers vary in diameter, the carriers appropriated to the salesman whose station is nearest the desk being 'perhaps an eighth ot' an inch larger in diameter than the carriers belonging to the second station from said desk, and the carriers for each station being larger than the carriers for the station next below on the return-track C.

To preventtheswitchesfrom openingto drop a carrier before such carrier reaches its station a latch or lever, I, is pivoted at I to one of the strips U3 at each switch, and the end of said latch nearest the desk is bent over the rear or upper end of the switch R, so that said rear or upper end of the switch cannot rise, or, what amounts to the same, the lower end of said switch cannot fall.

On the same strip C3 with the latch I is se-v cured a post, l2, to which is pivoted, at la, the bent lever I4, one end of which lever I4 projects over the switch to the middle of the same, and the other end of which reaches down and enters freely a slot in the lower or front end ot' the latch I, so that a carrier of sufficient size will, when rolled along the switch, lift the upper end of the lever It and move the upper end of the latch I ott' from the upper end of the switch R, allowing the switch to be depressed by the weight of the carrier, as above described. In practice, however, the carrier, instead of striking the bent lever 14 directly, acts on a T-shaped piece, 15, secured to said lever ligand provided with a slot,I6, by means of which and of a screw, 17, passing through said slot, the piece can be raised or lowered slightly on said lever I. Now, by setting the pieces l5 successively nearer to the tops ofthe switches, as the switches are farther from the desk A, and by having as manydi'erent sizes of carriers as there are switches, it is evident that the largest carriers may be made to stop at the station or box nearest the desk, While smaller carriers will roll over the switch nearest the desk without striking the lever, which allows said switch to fall, and so each carrier will roll over the return-way until it comes to a lever, I4, on which the piece 15 hangs at a distance from the switch less than the diameter ot' said carrier, and the smallest carrier will reach the last box before being discharged. The form of switch shown in Fig. 7 I consider substantially like those above described.

In Fig. 7 the ball or carrier strikes the lever l14 on the side, and, in order that the carrier may not run any risk ot being thrown out of its course, a latch, I, is used on each side of the way, a screw, 115, having a rounded point, serving the same purpose as the adjustable piece l5-that is, heilig struck by the carrier and heilig adjusted by being turned ina screwthread eut in the lever l, and the lever being pivoted at l13 to the strip, instead of to a post at right angles to the strip.

The switches shown and described might be operated by any other form ot' carrier as well as by a spherical one-for instance, by a car or wagon-the switch in Fig. 7 being operated by a projection on the side, or one on each side ot' such car or wagon, and the switch in Fig. 6 by a. projection on the top ot' such car or wagon.

I claim as my inventionl. The elevator provided with a tilting shelf, L', having a depression, L3, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The elevator L, provided with a pivoted shelf, L, having a depression, L3, in combination with means for tilting said shelf, as and for the purpose specitied.

3. In combination with the way D, the pivoted bridge D', and a carrier, M M', adapted to travel on said bridge and to tilt the same, as and for the purpose described.

4. In combination with the pivotedbridge D', provided with a catch, D4, the elevator L, provided with the tilting shelf L', as and for the purpose described.

IOO

IIS

5. In combination with the way C, the piv- 7. The combination of the switch R and the 1o oted bridge D', and a carrier, M M', adapted box H4, provided. with an opening, H', as and to travel on said bridge and to tilt the same, for the purpose specified. as and for the purpose specified.

6. The way C, provided with switches R WILLIAM S. LAMSON. and means for allowing said switches to be opened by carriers M M' traveling thereon, in Witnesses: combination with said carriers, as and for the ALBERT M. MOORE, purpose described. KIRKLEY HYDE.