US292911A - Postal-bag rack - Google Patents

Description

' Y (No Model.) Z'Shets-Sheet 1.

0.11.- HARRISON.

POSTAL'BAGRA'GVK. I

Patented Pgbl 5,4884.

N. PETERS, Plwlo-Lilhugmphcr, Washingtun, n. c.

(No Model.) I 2 S.heets-Sheet 2';

0 R. HARRISON.

. POSTAL BAG RAGKQ m a M j Win/asses;

A i UNITnn STATES PATENT Gr mes.

onannns n. I-IARRISON,OF FOND. DU LAC, Wisconsin.

POSTAL- BAG RACK.

SPECIFICATIQN forming'part of Letters Patent No. 292,911, dated February 5, 1881 Application filed December 5, 1683. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES 11. IIARRL son, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fond du Lac, in the county of Fond 'du Lac and State of lVisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Postal-Bag Racks, of which the following is a specification.

I have heretofore invented and patented apparatus for distributing mail, consisting, substantially, of metallic bag-racks, and my invention now relates to improvements in these postal-bag racks, in which sections are made movable, and swung open from either side thereof by means of casters in conjunction with lihklfinges and shunts, and in which mortised hook-shanks operate in conjunction with pins or pegs in the rack-rods; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to provide convenient passage ways through the line of racks by detachable swinging sections;

second, to relieve and turn the casters into the curved track of the swinging sections; and, third, to provide a uniform and secure opening to the mouths of the bags. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is atop view of the apparatus with one section swung open and another closed,- the dotted lines 2 2 showing the lines or tracks of movement. swinging sections with its parts; Fig. 3, a section of the swinging rack. Fig. at is a front view of the rack-rod provided with the pins or pegs and hooks; and Fig. 5, a vertical crosssection of the mortised hook, the pin, and rack-rod. I

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout the views. e

The platform A supports the movable rack section, and is mounted upon casters a a,.and hinged by means of slotted eyes (I d with hingebolts 0 c. This hinge belt or pin is firmly driven into or attached to the floor of the room at the outer corners of the platform or movable section A. The link or eye (Z is affixed to and on a plane with the platform at either outer corner thereof, and when engaged with the pin e on either corner forms a hinge, upon which turns the movable rack-section, opening to the right or left, as its hinge may be Fig. 2 is aground plan of the adjusted; but the casters a a, being heavily loaded, will have a tendency to a straight line in their movement forward, and must cramp, if the hinge or pivot d e be rigid in its action. The casters must be guided in the curved track 2 2 required by the swing of thesection. I accomplish this by means of the slotted form of the hinge-bolt e in the eye and a movement of the section laterally with reference to the line 2 2, so that the pressure .of the cramped casters crowds the rack-section laterally, and so moves the socket of the caster-shank (which is affixed to the bottom of the platform A) to one side, thus turning and guiding the casterwheels in the curved track. When closing the movable section, the pressure of the cast ers throws the platform away. front the fixedrack m to the limit of the slot (1, which would cause the section to overlap the fixed rack at the corner or face diagonally opposite the hinge. I meet this difficulty and throw the platform back to place by means of the cam or curved block f, affixed to the platform A at the outsides of the swinging section, and when closing this cam meets and slides over the block or stop 9, which is affixed firmly to the floor near the outside corner of the fixed rack 00. This engagement of the cam f with the stop g throws the moving section back to its place when closed.

The further improvement is to prevent the of the jarring and increasing weight of the mail-bags while being filled; and it consists of affixing to the rack-rods y at proper intervals pegs or pins 0, which may be small screws with round heads passed into and through the rod on its front face, leaving the head projecting, as shown in Figs. at and 5. A transverse mortise b, large enough to allow the pin or screw-head O to pass freely through it, is ,cut in the shank of the hook at the lower partof its ring, so that by turning the hook upward it will slide on the rod over the pin through the mortise. its perpendicular position, it isheld to place by the pins 0, and prevented from working or slipping on the rod, and so narrowing or closing the mouth of the bag.

Having thus shown the nature and construcor ellipse of the hinge-eye cl, allowing a play hooks B slipping toward each other by reason Vhen the hook is dropped to tion of my improvements, I claim as my inl of the hook B, having a mortise, b, in its shank, vention and desire to secure by Letters Patand ring, with the pins or pegs O in the rack ent rod 7 substantially as shown, for the purpose I 5 1. In a postal-bag rack, the combination of specified. 5 a movable section or sections opening either 4:. The hook B, having in its ring and shank Way, with the fixed rack-sections m m, substanthe transverse mortiseb,substantially as shown,

tially as and for the purposes set forth. for the purpose specified.

2. The combination ina movable rack-sccp 7 T tion, of the platform A, casters a a, elliptic CHARLES HARRISON 1o hinge-eye d, pivot e, cam f, and block sub- Witncsses:

stantially as shown, for the purpose specified. J. COLEMAN,

3, The combination, in a postal-bag rack, KENJAMIN STILXCHAN.

Images