US641622A - Mail-bag catcher and deliverer. - Google Patents

Description

No. 64|,622. Y Patented lan. i6, |900. E. G. BOUTH & J. P. SPANGLE.

MAIL BAG CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

I (Application led Ap'r. 13, 1899.) (No Model.) Y 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 64l,622. Patented lan. I6, |900. E. G. BGOTH &KJ. P. SPANG'LE. MAIL BAG CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

(Application led Apr. 13, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

rrnD STATES i .f IC@ EDVIN G. BOOTH AND JOHN P. SlEANGrLE, OF HOPEWELL CENTRE, NEW YORK.

MAIL-BAG CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent NO. 641,622, dated January 16, 1900.

Application iiled April 13, 1899. Serial No. 712,921. (No model.) l

T0 Cz/ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDWIN G. BOOTH and JOHN P. SPANGLE, citizens of the United States, residing at Hopewell Centre, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Mail- Bag Catcher and Deliverer, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to mail-bag catchers and deliverers.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for catching mail-bags by a train in motion and delivering the same from such train.

The invention consists in the combinations hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim. y

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mail-car and a receiving and delivering station, illustrating our invention. Fig. 2 is a plan showing the edge of the car and the receiving and delivering station as they appear after the train has passed the position shown in Fig. 1, the bag from the car-having been left on stationary holder and the bag from the stationary holder having been taken up by the catcher on the car. p Fig. 3 is a detail section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the delivering device in the car folded up within the opening of the car, so that the sliding door of the car may be closed. Fig. 4 is a detail section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1, showing the delivering device as folded inward to position for attendant to attach a mail-bag to the same, the dotted lines showing the same in Ithe position represented in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings for delivering a inail-bag. Fig. 5 is a perspective of the delivering device detached from the car.

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the catcher arranged at the station or point of delivery for the mail.

Our invention contemplates the use of a mail-bag having a bail or loop for sustaining the same.

According to our invention We arrange within the door or openingin the side of a mailcar the car catching and delivering device, consisting of a standard 1, a vibrating arm 2, pivotally connected with the standard, carrying at its outer extremity an elongated plate or holder 3. Through the medium of an arm 4, provided with a handle 5, the holder 3 may be swung entirely within the car, as shown in Fig. 4, and the arm maybe folded into position within the door-casing, as shown in' Fig. 3, thev arm being jointed, so that it may swing laterally to the position shown in full lines in said iigure. The arm 4, which normally swings in the same plane with the arm 2, is so jointed that it may be turned to a plane at right angles with that of the movement of arm 2. A notch oc in the standardl is provided, so that the arm may be swung to position shown in Fig. 3, and in this position and condition the arm 2 is locked or secured in vertical position. When in this position, a sliding door inside the lining 6 of the car may be closed. ln order to secure the bag on the holder 3 and prevent its being blown off the extremity thereof, we provide a spring catch or keeper 7 and for retaining a bag which has been picked up more securely purpose of this arrangement is to provide for depressing the pillar in case the track should settle or become depressed by a passing train. To this pillar we pivotally connect a pair of vibrating arms 11 11, each of which carries a holder 12, corresponding in form and character with the holder and catcher 3, connected with the car. 'These arms are suitably connected together, so as to be conveniently operated through the medium of a connectingrod 13, coupled with an operating-lever 14, pivoted to the post or pillar, as shown in Fig. 6. Through the operating-lever 14 the vibrating arms 11 and the holders 12 may be depressed or thrown down within the reach of an attendant for hanging a bag thereon or removing one therefrom. The uppermost holder is provided with a spring-keeper 15,

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analogous to and for the same purpose that the keeper 7 is provided for the holder connected with the car.

In operation a mail-bag to be delivered is hung upon the upper holder 12 at the station, as shown in Fig. l. As the car passes along in the direction indicated bythe arrow the inail-bag from the ear is caught on the lower holder l2 at the station and the inail-bag at the station is caught by the holder on the car, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. When the train is moving in the opposite direction, the mail-bags will obviously be arranged on the opposite ends of the holders 3 and 12.

It should be noted that according to ourinvention mail-bags may be caught and delivered with the same facility on a curve that is done in a straight course. It should also be noted that by the use of mailfbags provided with hails such as are contemplated by this invention the contents of the bag will be relieved to a considerable extent from the Violent shock due to the grasping of the bag around the middle thereof, as now practiced.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus, the combination of a mail-car having a passage through its side, a rigid or fixed pillar arranged in the passage, a holder attached to said pillar through horizontal pivots so as to swing in a vertical plane, a keeper attached to the holder, and an arm jointed to the holder so as to swing laterally when not in use, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we aiiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN G. BOOTH. JOHN P. SPANGLE.

Witnesses:

GEO. B. CHAPIN, GEO. N. WILLIAMS.

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