US344430A - Signal-box for fire-telegraph and other circuits - Google Patents

Description

(No Model;)

J. 0. WILSON.

SIGNAL BOX FOR. FIRE TELEGRAPH AND OTHER GIRGUITS.

No. 344,430. Patented June 29, 1886.

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STATES JOHN CORNELIUS \VILSON, OF BOSTON,

MUNICIPAL SIGNAL COMPANY, OF

SIGNAL-BOX FOR FlRE-TELEG To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, J OHN CORNELIUS WIL- soN, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in 5 Signal-Boxes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relating to a signal-box, such as employed for fire-alarm and police-district systems, hasfor its object to prevent tampering with the boxes by unauthorized persons; audit consists, mainly,in the combination, with the startinglever of the motor adapted to be I operated from the outside of an inclosing-case for the said motor, ofa locking device for the said lever, adapted to be disengaged therefrom by a suitable key, and means to retain the said key when inserted for the purpose of releasing the lever,so that it cannot subsequently be removed without opening the inclosingcase or outer box for the motor, which is itself provided with a lock of any usual construction. The door of the box co-operates with the locking device for the starting-lever, holding it in operative position while the said door is closed,and when the said door is opened the said locking device is disengaged from the starting-lever, so that it may operate freely. The inclosing case or box is shown in this in stance as used in connection with a multiplesignal apparatus invented by me and forming the subject of another application for Letters Patent, the said apparatus having a dial and 5 pointer by which a signal-controlling device may be placed in proper position to give any desired signal, it being normally held in one particular position when the outer box forming the subject of the present invention is closed, so that a person provided with a key for unlocking the starting-lever may send the signal for which the pointer is thus set, but cannot send the other signals, which can only be sent when the door of the box is opened by a person having a key that will operate to unlock the said door. Thus in a police system the citizens will be provided with keys for releasing the starting-lever, and thus sending the normal signal and number of the box or station, and the said key will be retained in the box, so as to indicate who operated it,

PATENT union.

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PORTSMOUTH, NEYV HAMPSHIRE.

RAPH AND OTHER CIRCUITS.

Patent No. 344,430, dated June 29, 1886.

Serial No. 92,632}. No model.)

and can be released only when a policeman or other authorized person having a key to the door of the box arrives and opens the box, the said person then being able to move the pointer, and thus send any of the signals that the box is capable of producing.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a signalbox embodying this invention, the door being shown as open; and Fig. 2, a vertical section thereof showing the locking device for the starting-lever in position to lock the saidlever, the door of the boxbeing closed.

The signaling mechanism a,or motor for operating a break-wheel and connected parts, is inclosed in a strong metal case or outer box, b, having in one side a curved slot, 0, through which is extended the knob or handle d for the operating-lever, by which the mechanism at is set in motion to send its signal, the said lever c releasing or winding the mainspring of the mechanical motor, carrying the break- Wheel in any usual manner. In order to start the motor, the said lever, with its knob, is to be pulled downward to the end of the slot 0 and then released, when it will return under thev action of the mainspring of the motor to the position with the knob at top of the slot 0, as shown in the drawings. Thisdownward movement of the knob d is normally resisted by a locking device, shown as a lever, f, pivoted at 2 upon the inside of the box I), it being shown as provided at its upper end with a yielding projection, h, longitudinally movable in a short tube, 1', attached to the said lockinglever, the said projection or bolth being pressed outward by a spring, h, inclosed in the said tube 6, and being engaged by the door D of the box when closed, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus holding the end of the locking-leverf in 0 engagement with the starting-lever e, and thus preventing the latter from being moved. \Vhen, however, it is desired to start'the motor so as to send a signal, the locking device f may be disengaged from the lever e by means of a key inserted through the keyhole 7c, the said key being rotated in the direction of the arrow 3, Fig. 2, and the end of the said key striking the lower end of thelever f and turning it on its pivot 2, so as to disengage its up too per end from the end of the starting-lever e, the spring h then yielding, and the projection h entering the tubei as the said lever f is thus.

turned. A suitable shoulder, 4, on thelever f,and preferably also a stop-pin, 5,0n the;

being turned back sufficiently to .enable an). be removed from the key-hole, so that when- Io the key has once been inserted and turned to release the starting-lever e the said key cannot be removed so long as the door D of the box remains closed, and is thus retained to indicate the party who operated..:the signal.

When, however, the door D is opened, the

stop m or locking device for the key is removed from the path of the key, so that the latter can be.turned back and removedfrom.

the key-hole,- and at; the same timethe projection hat the upper end of the leverf is dis engaged, permitting. the said lever to turn freely in thedirection to release the starting lever c, it being moved by a light spring, it, not sufficient to overcome the spring h" when 2 5 the dooris closed. A stop, 6, limits the movement of the .1ever..-f under. the actionof the spring .n, whilethestop 5 for thekeyalso serves to limit themovement of the leverf toward the leverewhen notwinengagement o therewith.

The inner. box, a, containing. the signaling mechanism, is shown as providedwith apoint-l er, P-, operated by a knob, 0, the movement of the saidpointer controlling a series. of. diff 61%.

5 ent signaling-surfaceaas described inianother application tiled by me foramultiple signalbox, so that when the door D is opened the i said pointer may be turned in order to send.

in any desiredone of. a large number of dif 4o ferent signalsin addition to the signal indicatingthenumber of the box whenthe leverw e is operated by the knob d, the said lever. beingfree tomove when the doorD is open.

It is not-intended that. the persons. .operat-.

preventthe door D from beingclosed, except whenthe said knob andpointer. arein one. normal position, the door -D being provided.

with a recess, 7, to receive the knobwhen in the said normal position..

The-.leverf may be. provided with one or: more .teethor projections, 17, to prevent the key from being, turned back. and withdrawn after ithasbeen turned tounlock the lever. e. The knobd may have a curved guard to cover the slots.

I claim- 1. In a signal apparatus, the combination of the outer box and starting-lever adapted to be'operated from the outside of the box with a locking device for the said start ing-lever adapted to be operated to unlock the lever by a key inserted from the outside of the:box,substantially as described.

2. Thebox and. starting-lever adapted to be operated from the outside of the box, combined with the locking device for the said lever, adapted to be operated by a key inserted from the outside of the box, and the stops preventing the withdrawal of the key, substantially-asandfor the purpose described.

3. The box and its movable door, combined with the starting-lever and locking device therefor, adapted to be operated by a key from the outside of the box, the said door co-operating with the locking device andkey, substantially as described.

. 4. The box having a movable door and the starting-lever, combined with the locking-leyerf and yielding projection 71. thereon, substantially as described.

5. The box and-its movable door provided with the yielding key engaging projection m, combined with the starting-lever and its locking device,-said locking device being disengaged: by a keyfrom theoutside of the box, substantially as described.

6. A signal box having a movable door and transmitting mechanism, the operation of which is controlled by a key inserted from theoutside ofthe box while the door is closed, and a locking device for the said key operated by the movement of the door preventing the withdrawal oi the key when the door is closed and releasingor unlocking said key when. the door is open, substantially as described.

7. A signal-box, a' door to close the same, andv a. multiple signal-transmitter having a movable pointer and a co-operating dial normally concealed by the door, the pointer being normally set to cause the transmitter to senda-predetermined signal, but accessible when the door is opened to be turned to enable other besides the predetermined signal to behsent, combinedwith a motor mechanism toroperate the said signal transmitter and send the signal normally set by the pointer while the said signal-transmitter remains unexposed, and to send other signals when the signal-transmitter is exposed and its condition changed, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN CORNELIUS WILSON.

Witnesses:

J os. P. LIVERMQRE, W. H. SIGs'roN.

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