US474870A - William g - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

W. G. SPIEGEL. TIME LOCK FOR SAVINGS BANKS.

No. 474,870; Patented May 17, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. SPIEGEL, OF N EWV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO LEROY W. BALDlVIN, OF SAME PLACE.

TlME-LCK FOR SAVINGS-BANKS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 474,870, dated May 1'7, 1892.

Application filed June 16, 1891- Serial No. 396,429. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM G. SPIEGEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New (Case No. 2;) and I do hereby declarethe fol lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of mechanism by which a receptacle for coin or other things may be locked and remain locked until the expiration of a certain time before it can be opened.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical section on line 00 0:, of Fig. 2, showing a portion of a clock-case with the coin-receptacle and opening mechanism. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, a part of easing being broken away.

It is evident thatif atoy savings-bank could be made with a lock which could be set to open at a certain date it would be useful in enabling children to save up their money for a certain day, as Christmas or the Fourth of July. The great cost of the ordinary form of time-lock has heretofore prevented anything of the kind being applied to a toy bank, however, and the combination of such a bank with an ordinary clock has been out of the question, because the work of releasing the lock by any cheap mechanism would be sufficient to destroy the accuracy of the clockmovement, and consequently detract from its value as a time-keeper. To avoid these difficulties and disadvantages, I have hit upon the idea of employing the power exerted to wind up the clock to operate the lock instead of calling upon the power of the clock-spring to do this work. The clock-train merely stands guard over the lock and will not permit it to be opened until it (the clock-movement) has run down and been wound up a certain number of times, during which a certain nu mber of hours or days must have elapsed. After the clock has run down a certain number of times, determined by setting the intermediate mechanism, a further attempt to wind it up will release the lock and permit the door to open.

The above is my preferred principle of operation, though it would be possible to combine an ordinary toy savings-bank having a slot through which coins may be introduced and a door through which the accumulated coins may be removed, with a clock and a train of mechanism so arranged that the power stored up in the clock-spring should open the look at a predetermined time by simply reversing the action of the pawl-audratchet connection herein shown and described.

Referring to the mechanism shown in the drawings, A is a c1ockcase, which is divided by the partition B into a chamber a, in which the usual train of clock mechanism is contained, and a second chamber b, which serves as a receptacle for moneys of various kinds.

This partition is cut away at one end, as

shown in Fig. 2, to dial-wheel K.

In the clock-case proper is the clock-train O, which operates the handsbefore the clockface, over which the glass F is placed in the manner common and well understood.

S is the shaft to which one end of the clock mainspring X is attached, from which shaft the clock-train is driven and by which the spring is-wound up. On this mainspring-shaft is the flange or disk D,upon which is mounted the pawl E by the pivot c. This pawl is normally held against the stop H by the weighted end G or by the light spring G. The pawl E engages with the teeth of the starwheel I, when the shaft S is turned in the direction indicated by the arrow, turning the star-wheel one tooth for every revolution of the shaft in the direction of the arrow, but slipping by when turned in the opposite direction. On the same shaft as the star-wheel I and rigid therewith is the pinion i, which meshes with the teeth in the circumference of the dial-wheel K. On this wheel is mounted the pin or stop L, and the numbers 1 2 3 4., (50., are marked one for every two teeth on the circumference. The door R, opening into the chamber 1), has hinges T, and a spring-catch M, which snaps over a peg or projection P and locks the door when it is closed. When the catch M is forced down, as by pressure of the stop L, the lock is released and the spring N forces the door open.

permit the passage of the a revolution and causes it to pass two teeth- V is a slot, through which money may be deposited in the receptacle 1). The dial K revolves stiffly on the arbor 1c.

The method of operating my invention is as follows: The bank being open, the dial K is turned around until the figure indicating the number of days for which it is to be set comes opposite the peg P, the shaft S having first been turned, so that the pawl E will not interfere with the revolution of the star-wheel. The door then being closed locks itself and cannot be unlocked from the outside. Suppose the bank is set for ten days. Then every night when the clock is wound up the shaft S is given five revolutions, as is customary in cheap clocks, and the star-wheel I is turned one tooth at each revolution of the disk D, or five in all. This gives the pinion 1 a third of of the dial-wheel K. After the clock has run twenty-four hours and been wound up again ten times, during which time ten days must have elapsed,afu rther winding up of the clock will force the pin or stop L against the catch M and release the lock, so that the door will fly open and the contents of the bank may be removed.

Either the dial K or the star-wheel I are so mounted that while moved by pressure of the hand they will stay still where placed and not turn from external causes, such as simply moving the clock about. It is evident that the motion might be transmitted from any member of the clock-train other than the mainspring-shaft. without departing from the spirit of my invention in its broadest scope, and that any other adjustable train of mechanism and any other lock might be used, that the coin-receptacle might be placed at the back or top, instead of the side of the clock, &c.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a clock having its face exposed to view so as to tell time, a coinreceptacle in the clock-case, a door for said receptacle, a lock on said door, and mechanism whereby motion may be transmitted at the expiration of a predetermined period from a member of the clock-train to the lock, and the catch thereby automatically disengaged,substantially as described.

2. The combination of a closed receptacle, a door for said receptacle, a lock on said door, a clock-train, and an adjustable train of mechanism conveying motion from the shaft of the mainspring to the lock, whereby after the mainspring has run down a certain number of times or fraction of a time a further winding up of the spring will release the lock, substantially as described.

The combination of a..coin-receptacle, a door for said receptacle, a lock on said door, an adjustable dial-plate inclosed in the same casing with said receptacle, a projection on said dial -plate which operates the look, a clock-train, and gearing conveying motion directly from the main spring-shaft of said clocletrain to said dial, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a coin-receptacle, a door for said receptacle, a lock on said door, an adjustable dial-plate inclosed in the same casing with said receptacle, a projection on said dialplate which operates the look, a clock-train, and gearing conveying motion from the mainspring-shaftof said clock-train to said dial, two members of said gearing having a pawl-and-ratchet connection, whereby the dial is moved when the main shaft is turned backward to wind up the clock, but not when the shaft is turned forward to drive the clock-train, substantially as described.

5. The combination of aclosed receptacle, a door for said receptacle, a lock on said door, a clock-train, and an adjustable train of gearing conveying motion from the mainspringshaft. of said clock-train to said lock, two members of said train of gearing having a pawl-andratchet connection, whereby the gearing is moved when the mainspring-shaft is turned backward to wind up the clock, but not when the shaft is turned forward to drive the clock-train so that after the mainspring has run down a certain number of times a further winding up of the spring will release the lock, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM G. SPIEGEL.

Witnesses:

WARREN W. FOSTER, A. P. SMITH.

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