US625244A - Delivering and receiving mechanism for parcels - Google Patents

Description

No. 625,244. Patented Nay l6, I899.

w. BRITAIN, In.

DELIVERING AND RECEIVING MECHANISM FOR PARCELS.

(Application filed Aug. 19, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

Patented May-l6, I899. W. BRITAIN, In. DELIVERING AND RECEIVING MECHANISM FOR PARCELS.

(Application filed Aug. 19, 1898.)

2 Shear-Sheet 2.

r 1., IIII I I 7/57/47- (No Model.)

UNITED STATES \VILLIAM BRITAIN, J R.,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

DELIVERING AND RECEIVING MECHANISM FOR PARCELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,244, dated May 16, 1899.

' Application filed August 19,1898. Serial No. 689,034. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BRITAIN, Jr., manufacturer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Muswell Hill, London, Middlesex county, England, have invented certain new Improvements in Delivering and Receiving Mechanism for Parcels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is to enable parcels of the most fragile description to be safely deposited at any prearranged spot by a railway-train traveling at any speed and likewise to enable a railway-train traveling at any speed to receive parcels from a fixed structure with equal safety.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a railroad-car fitted with this mechanism. Fig. 2 is a seetional plan view thereof. Figs. 3 to 7 are detail views of parts, and Figs. 8 to 14 show further details of the construction and modifications thereof hereinafter more particularly referred to.

I will first describe the mechanism necessary for delivering parcels from a train in motion onto a fixed platform or into a net. The other mechanism is then practically the same thing reversed.

Along one side of a railway-carriage, by preference next the floor, I make a-reoess A of a size suitable to take the parcels to be dealt with, wide enough in plan to entirely conceal the parcel at the front end B of the carriage, and diminishing to nothing at or near the back end 0 of the carriage, with rails or runners D of any suitable description or any other attachment to guide the parcel along the recess and keep it from leaving the carriage until it arrives at the required position.

Near the back end 0 of the carriage and geared in any suitable manner to the wheels or wheel-axle E of the carriage I make a f usee F, consisting of a spiral groove around a cone, the spiral starting exactly at the apex and increasing in radius by equal amounts through equal angles until it reaches the base, the number of revolutions being arranged so that the length of cord or the like G necessary to fill the spiral will just measure from the apex of the cone to the forward end of the recess A, and I gear the fusee F to the carriagewheels in such position that when they are in motion together the maximum radius of the spiral has the same linear velocity as the tires of the wheels. Then I make a suitable connection between the parcel H to be delivered and one end of a cord, strap, chain, or other flexible band G and place the parcel H in the recess A at the front end B of the carriage. Then at orbya fixed point J on the line above, below, or at one side of the carriage I (by preference automatically) connect the other end of the cord G to the apex of the spiral of the fusee F, which immediately begins Winding up the cord, drawing the parcel with increasing speed toward the rear end 0 of the carriage until the spiral is full. The parcel has then reached the end of the recess A and is moving at the same speed compared to the carriage as thecarriage is compared to the earth, but in the opposite direction, so that compared to any fixed structure the parcel is stationary. The cord then detaches itself from the parcel, and the parcel being now projected beyond the side of the carriage drops onto a platform or net placed to receive it. The fusee F is then ungeared from the carriage-wheels and the cord G unwound and set ready for the next delivery.

. I do not confine myself to any particular mechanism for gearing the cord to the fusee and forattaching it to and detaching it from the parcel, but the following is suitable: One end of cord G carries a ring or loop g, and on the back of the parcel H is a hook or dog it to receive said loop. The other end of the cord G is passed loosely up a hollow spindle or tube 9' and is knotted over or otherwise fastened to or above a washer g capable of revolving on the upper end of tube g, thus permitting this end of the cord to revolve when the fusee engages the cord. The tube g is held suspended by a lever-gear g and catch 9 the latter hooked upon a hook g, which lies in the path of the projection J, so as to be struck thereby and moved to release the catch 9 and lever-gear g and so permit the tube 9 to fall and bring the cord within the path of the hook-like end g of the spiral on the fusee. At the base of the fusee is a part disk f. The rodv f carries a finger f which is upheld by the disk f and only per- I mits the lever-gear g to fall when the disk f is in such position that it no longer upholds the finger f the fusee being then in proper rotary position to grasp the cord G. As the cord G is wound up it draws the parcel H along the recess A until it is at or near the rear end of the recess, when the cord will be brought into such a position that it makes an increasing angle with the parcel until it slips oi the hook or dog It, leaving the parcel II free to leave the recess A.

K is a clutch, and K a lever ending in a handle K for engaging the fusee to and disengaging it from the wheel-axle.

I will now describe the necessary apparatus for collecting when the parcel is to be received through the roof of the carriage, which I consider the best place to receive it, although it must be understood that similar mechanism .may be worked on either side of the carriage or even, if necessary, below.

I make a fusee L as before, not geared to the carriage-wheels, but so arranged that it can be automatically so gearedfor instance, by a clutch M. This I place at the front end of the carriage near the roof and wind the necessary length of cord N around to fill it and make the end of the cord (from the large part of the fusee L) to terminate in a ring or other suitable attachment 1]., Fig. 14, to stand above the carriage-roof, supported in a suitable collapsible structure O, so that when the ring is pulled backward it collapses the support 0 and is released. At the position where the parcel H is to be taken I erect a structure over the line, carrying a longitudinal trammel P to hold the parcel H in such a way that a hook or other projection h, attached under the parcel, may project below through the entire length of the trammel P, and I place the parcel II in the back end of the tramm'el, (as the train goes,) with the hook below it, the point of the hook pointing backward. hen the train passes, the ring n, projecting above the front end of the carriage, catches on the hook h on the parcel H and is detached fromits support, which in falling gears the fusee .to the carriage-wheels, which causes the fusee to start paying out the cord N at the same speed as the carriage is traveling and continues to pay out the cord N, or rather allows it to be drawn out,with diminishing velocity until the fusee is empty. The parcel has then attained the same speed as the train and slides out of the trammel P and dropsthrough an orifice Q in the roof of the carriage at the rear end, where it may be revceived in a net R or hang on the cord, as deat its end a hook 0 When the plate 0 is raised, as in full lines in Fig. 13, the hook 0 supports the arm 1/ hinged to the fusee L, and maintains said arm 1 against the pressure of the spring M so that the block M at the end of arm M does not come in contact with the friction-pulley M". This pulley M, with the block M constitutes the clutch M before referred to. When the ring it becomes engaged to the hook on the parcel, the pressure of the latter turns the plate 0 into the position shownin dotted lines in Fig. 13, so as to withdraw the hook O permitting the arm M to move so that'its block M engages the friction clutch-pulley M and is carried around therewith, thus revolving the fusee L.

In the foregoing description it is assumed that to each parcel delivered one will be col' lected, or thereabout. Otherwise the carriage might have to start loaded with the necessary fittings to attach to the parcels to be delivered or might become crowded with them if all the work were collecting.

I have described the fusee constructed in what I consider the best manner for the purpose; but circumstances may arise where a modification is desirablesu-ch, forinstance, as the employment of a thick strap to take the place of the cord and to be wound around a small spindle and held between suitable guides, so that the strap itself as it is wound forms a continuously-increasing disk and so makes the necessary spiral as it is required, or, again, a chain may be used in the same Way, and if the thickness of the chain is not enough to produce a suificiently rapid in crease inradius it may be fitted with projec-- tions along one or both sides to produce'the necessary increase. In fact,-any chain,strap, or cord may be provided with projections to produce the efiect of thickening, providing the spindle is properly designed to receive it. Figs. 1O, 11, and 12 show such a strap G to be wound upon a central boss G of the shape of the commencing part of a spiral and mounted between two plates G G in-order to retain the strap in one plane while it is wound on the boss G Along'the strap G are fixed, by rivets G blocks G6 of such shape, Fig. 12, that when wound up with the strap they cause the latter to follow a spiral course.

In the event of usinga modification of this description I should make the spindle to stand still until the time arrived to start the parcel and then gear it to the wheels as quickly as the weight of the parts permitted. To do this, it is desirable to have means for automatically operating this from under the car. If G is the shaft carrying the reel formed by too IlO

the plates G G and boss G and G is a bev- On the sleeve G9 is also the beveled wheel G, which by the movement of said sleeve may be brought into or from engagement with beveled wheel G On the lever G is a downwardly-directed finger G, which at the appropriate m'oment meets the oblique bar G fixed in the track, and is moved thereby, so as to rock the lever G and bring the wheels G and G into engagement in order that the strap G may be wound up by the rotary movement derived from the car-axle E.

I claim as my invention in a parcel delivering or receiving mechanism 1. The combination with a railroad-car of means for moving a parcel from rest and uniformly accelerating said motion until it approximates to the speed of the car.

2. The combination with a railroad-car of means for moving a parcel from rest and uniformly accelerating said motion until it approximates to the speed of the car, the direction of movement of said parcel being rectilinear and at an acute angle to the direction of movement of the car.

3. The combination with a railroad-car of means for moving a parcel from rest in said car and for accelerating said motion at a rate automatically determined by the speed of the car so that it approximates within a given distance to the speed of the car but in a direction contrary to the direction of movement of the car and then delivering said parcel from the car.

4. The combination with a railroad-car of a trammel adapted to guide a parcel in a direction substantially longitudinal to the car, and means for engaging a parcel in the trammel, moving it from rest with a rectilinear motion uniformly accelerated at a rate automatically determined by the speed of the car so that it is finally discharged from the tram mel at a speed equal to the speed of movement of the car.

5. The combination with a railroad-car of a trammel adapted to guide a parcel in a direction substantially longitudinal to the car, a rotary fusee having a spiral groove commencing at its apex, means for connecting the fusee with the car-wheels to be revolved therewith a cord means for engaging the cord to the fusee at the apex thereof, and an attachment for connecting the cord to the par-- cel. .v

6. The combination with a railroad-car of a trammel extending from the front end of the car toward the rear end thereof forming a recess tapering rearward in the car, a ro= tary fusee having a spiral groove, a cord, means for engaging the cord to the fusee at the apex thereof and an attachment for connecting the cord to the parcel.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

WV. BRITAIN; JR.

YVitnesses:

R. HADDAN, A. E. METHUISH.

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