US476537A - Station-indicator - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

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(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2. R.. G. HOURTNEY. STATION INDICATOR.

No. 476,537. Patented June '7, 1892.

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rrEn STATES PATENT OEEICE.

RUDOLPH G. HOURTNEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STATION-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,537, dated June '7, 1892.

Application tiled March 17, 1890. Serial No. 344,129. (No model.)

To all 1072/077@ zit may concern:

Beit known that I, RUDOLPH G. HOURTNEY,

acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago,in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Street and Station Indicators, of which the following' is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide for automatically operating au indicator mechanism ior cars, and it is particularly adapted for use with the cable and elevated railways.

In carrying out the invention I provide the car with a rocking arm or leveror equivalent projection adapted to engage a stationary tripping device located beneath the carin the conduit of a cable railway or upon the roadbed of a surface road or upon the sills orties of an elevated roadway near the crossing and connect with said projection from the car a cable leading to the operating-leverot the indicator device within the car, whereby when the carin its progress reaches the tripping projection the indicator will be operated and by the usual appliances a sheet or placard will be presented to the view of the passengers bearing thereon the name of a street.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the body of a cable railway-car and a longitudinal section through the axles and conduit, taken in the plane of the slot and showing my improved operating mechanism applied. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the conduit and track-rails, showing the tripping projections in end elevation. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View showing the head of the slot-irons out away and the tripping projections applied to the inner sides of said irons and showing in section the lower end of a lever connected with the car and which is adapted to be operated by the trip. Fig. al is a plan view showing a bell-crank rocking lever with a cable and spring applied thereto and a portion of a bar used for supporting the lever. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bell-crank lever, showing a bent end thereof which is engaged by the tripping projections; and Fig. G is a detail plan view of one ofthe axles and showing the means for connecting one end of the supporting-bar thereto.

In the construction shown in Fig. l, A rep resents a car of Vusual construction and having an indicator B, also of usual construction, therein. These indicators as now generally nsed'have a series of sheets secured at one of their margins with link belts passed around rollers or to the periphery of a revolving drum operated, in some instances, by a ratchet and pawl manipulated with a cord or lever by the conductor or driver and in other instances by means of a positive gearing from the caraxle.

My invention has to do only with applying automatically a force to the indicator to move its parts and is well adapted to the manipulation of an indicator having a ratchet-andpawl mechanism and operating-lever, either sliding or pivoted.

C O represent the car-axles, and, as shown in the drawings, I support my operating mechanism upon said axles by means of a bar D, loosely secured to one of said axles by the clip E, as in Figs. l and 6. The opposite end of this bar rests on the other axle, and jourvnaled in said bar is an arm F, having the bellcrank members ff at one end thereof and a bent endF,wl1icl1is adapted to projectinto the conduit, or rather between the Z-rails forming the slot. To the armfI connect one end of the cable G, the other end of which Willbe carried around a sheave, as g, at the end of the car, and thence conducted upwardly and connected to an operating-lever of the indicator B. In order to guard the lower end of the lever F,I provide the plate H, which may be apertured for the passage 'of the lever and have a strengthening-plate I'I thereon. This guard-plate will travel edgewise in the slot, and its lower end may be apertured, as at H', to permit the free movement of the bent end F of the lever F.

The indicator mechanism is usually provided with a spring or weight, so that after it has been once operated it will be set for further operation by the action of the spring or weight, and hence no additional mechanism need be provided for turning the lever F to operative position, and the parts will be so set when in use that the bent end F will project at right angles to the slot. Secured in position to engage the bent end of the lever F are trip- ICO ping projections which will be located along the line of travel near to street-intersections, and in the present instance these tripping devices are leaf-springs I, whose ends are secured by the screws t' with the slot-rails J. In the form shown in the dra-wings these springs will yield to the passage ot' the gripshank; but-when the bent end F of the lever F comes in contact with either the one or the other of them the lever F will be rocked and its bell-crank membersff will be turned in the position indicated by the dotted lines, Fig. 4, and a pull on the cable will result, thus effecting the operation of the indicator, the movement of the opperating parts ot which will return the bell-crank lever to its original position, and thus put it in position to be engaged by the next trip.

1n some cases cable-railway ears are transferred to horse-car lines, and to provide for the lifting of thelower end of the-lever F out of the slot I connect the bell-crank member f by a spring O with the supporting-bar D. The free end of this bar projects beyond the axle of the ear and is there pivotally connected with a pivoted arm or lever K, whose forward end is connected t0 an operating-arm L. The arm L slides in a keeper Z, secured on the dash-board of the car, and the lever K is preferably pivotally con nected with a support t. When the cable is disconnected from the indicator, the resiliency of the spring O will turn the bent end F of the lever F in a position to be lifted out of the slot, and then bya downward thrust on the arm L the lever K will be rocked on its pivot and will lift the free end of the supporting-bar D, and with it the lever F, so as to raise the bent end of the latter out of the slot.

It will be understood that the construction hereinbefore described is intended to be illustrated only and that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention. The tripping projections may be located toward the bottom ot' the conduit, instead of on the sides of the slot-rails, and only one projection need be employed, unless the cars are to be turned at the end of the track. Instead of the bell-crank-lever arrangement, the pull on the operating-cable may be eieeted by other and equivalent means, such as a pivoted lever, having one ot its ends connected with said cable and the other end adapted to engage the tripping projection. The size and proportion of parts may be varied, and it may be found necessary to make the bell-crank members of the operating-lever longer, so as to give a greater sweep of movement and to provide for differences of gearing i-n the indicater.

I claiml. The combination, with a car having a Street or station indicator mechanism therein and a cable connected with the operative meehanism, of the indicator conducted beneath the car and having its other end secured with a crank-operating lever, said lever vertically positioned and adapted to rock in its bearings and having an end thereof projected to pass into the slot of a cable railway, and a yielding tripping projection secured in the conduit, substantially as described.

2. A means for operating indicators on ca ble railways, comprising, in combination with an indicator mechanism located in the car, a cable connected with the operative mechanism of the indicator conducted beneath the car and having its other end secured with an operating-lever, said lever being vertically positioned and adapted to rock in its bearings, and a guard-plate projected from the car into the slot and adapted to shield the operatinglever, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a car,a depending pivoted trip-rod, an obstructing device in the path of the trip-rod, means for moving the trip-rod at will out of the plane ofthe obstructing device while the car is in motion without disturbing or changing the indicators, street or station indicators adapted to be changed to display names, and a connection between the trip-rod and the street or station indicators to eiect their change as the trip-rod is swung, substantially as described.

4. A means for operatinga street or station indicator, comprising, in combination, a supportingbar having an end thereof pivotally connected with one of the axles and its opposite end projected to bear upon the other axle, and means under the controlot the driver for rocking said lever on its pivot whereby to elevate the supporting-bar, a crank-lever vertically positioned and adapted to rock inl a bearing on the supporting-bar,a cable conneetin g the crank member with the operating mechanism of the car, and the bent end of said crank-lever projecting to engage the tripping device located along the line ot" way, substantially as described.

5. In means for operating street or station indicators, the combination of a rocking bellcrank lever having one member connected by a tiexible medium with the operating mechanism of an indicator and having a bent end thereof projected through a slot in the track to engage a tripping projection located below said slot, and a spring adapted to turn said rocking lever, so as to permit the bent end thereof to be removed from the slot, substantially as described.

RUDOLPH G. HOURTNEY.

Titnessesz FREDERICK C. GOODWIN, N. M. BOND.

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