US655777A

US655777A - Electrical sign and signal and apparatus for operating same.

Info

Publication number: US655777A
Application number: US73169999A
Authority: US
Inventors: Anatole Heiny
Original assignee: DOMINIQUE G LUCIEN; JOSEPH E ARTIGUES
Current assignee: DOMINIQUE G LUCIEN; JOSEPH E ARTIGUES
Priority date: 1899-09-26
Filing date: 1899-09-26
Publication date: 1900-08-14
Anticipated expiration: 1917-08-14

Description

No. 655,777. Patented Aug. I4, I900.

A. HEINY. I ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SIGNAL AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SAME.

(Application filed Sept. 26, 1899.) (No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 655,777. Patented Aug. l4, I900.

A. HEI'NYJ' ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SIGNAL AND.AP-PABATUS FOR' OPERATING SAME.

(Application filed Sept. 26, 1899.)

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A. HEINY.

ELECTRICAL. SIGN AND SIGNAL'AND APPARATUSFOR OPERATING SAME."

(Application filed Sept. 26, 1899.)

(No Model.) 6 ShaatsSheet 3.

Nu. 655,777. I Patented Aug. 14, I900.

' A. HEINY. ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SIGNAL AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SAME.

(Application filed Sept. 26, 1899.) (No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet. 4,

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No. 655,777. Patented Aug. I4, I900. A. HEINY. ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SIGNAL AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SAME.

' Application filed Sept. 26, 1899.

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(No Model.)

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No. 655,777. Patented Aug. [4, I900.

. A. HEINY. ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SIGNAL AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SAME.

(Application filed Sept. 26 1899.) (No Model.)

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UNrrrt STATES 4 'ATENT Face.

- ANAToLE HEINY, or sAN rnAncrsoo, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR or TWO- THIRDS TO JOSEPH E. ARTIGUES AND DOMINIQUE e. LUCIEN, or

SAME PL'AcE;

ELECTRICAL SIGN AND SlGNAL AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SAME;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,777, dated August 14:, 1900.

7 Application filed September 26, 1899. $e1'ial No. 731,699. (No model.)

to for Operating; the Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric signboards and signals of that kind or description which consist in a number of incandescent 15 lamps fixed to a board or a skeleton framework in certain arbitrary lines or rows at intervals apart and separately connected in open circuit with a source of electric energy through circuit-closing devices, whereby any given letter of the alphabet or numeral or character'can be made to appear in outline brilliantly illuminated by closing the circuits of certain lamps and leaving the others in darkness. In the present construction of electric apparatus of this character, so far as I am aware, as many of these boards or frames as there are letters or characters to be produced for the complete sign or signal are arranged in one or more rows, and each one of the boards or frames is connected with the electric generator through an individual circuit-closing keyboard, and in the complete apparatus every board or division of the sign or signal requires a separate keyboard, so that there are at least twenty-six individual keyboards required where all the letters of the alphabet are employed and as many more keyboards in addition thereto as there are additional characters or numerals to be displayed. It

will be obvious, therefore, that any means whereby the number of keyboards is reduced without decreasing or limiting the number of separate frames in the signal-board will not only materially reduce the initial cost of con- 5 struction, but will render the apparatus more easily and quickly operated and less liable to get out of order.

To such end chiefly this invention has for its object to provide a construction of signboard or letter-forming frame composed of incandescent lights in certain spaced lines or rows connected together in separate series of one, two, or more lights, whereby any letter of the alphabet or numerals or various arbitrary characters may be formed at will with a minimum number of circuits, and all the circuits of all the individual signals or letter-forming frames that compose the complete signalboard are operative from a single keyboard. I attain these objects andproduce an electric sign and signal apparatus through the medium of the construction and combination of parts and mechanism described and explained at length in the following specification, in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a sign or signal board composed of twenty-seven separate panels or letter-forming frames, some of the lights being illuminated to form certain letters and characters in each panel. Fig. 2 is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, taken through a panel at one of the lights and showing the bulb surrounded by a cylindrical shield to isolate and concentrate the rays of light from each bulb, so as to prevent interference and prodpce a clear sharp outline of the letter or character. Fig. 3 is a cross-section at 00 m, Fig. 2. Fig. at is a front view, on an enlarged scale, of the first five panels in a sign or signal board composed of three rows of panels, showing the arrangement of the lamps in separate groups or series on each panel, with some of them illuminated to form different letters of the alphabet, the shaded circles indicating the illuminated lamps. In the first, second, and third panels all the lamps are shown as they are arranged in nine rows and connected in groups to produce any letter of the alphabet; but in the remaining panels only those lamps which are brouglitinto play to form a given letter, as D, E,and soon,arerepresentedin the remaining panels of the figure. Fig. 5 is a rear view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the panels, showing the arrangement of the lamps in separate groups or series of one, two, or more lamps each and the separate conductoperated by the key.

ing-strips that connect together the lamps in such separate series. Fig. 6 is an end View of a panel looking at the bottom edge and showing the lamps and their shields on the front face and the binding-posts where the conducting-strips terminate on the rear side. Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the stationary rack on which are mounted the two sets of movable and stationary contacts that connect the individual groups or series of conductingstrips of each panel with the electric generater in proper circuits to form the selected letters or characters in each panel. In this figure is represented also the traveling truck or carriage containing the circuit-closing meclr anism, which is operated from a single keyboard. Fig. Sis a plan or top view, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the stationary rack. "his view shows a portion of one end of the rack broken away between the front and rear sides to reduce the dimensions of the figure. Fig. 9 is an elevation taken principally in longitudinal section, so as to show the front and rear ends of the rack, the movable truck mounted on it, and the mechanism for giving step-by-step intermittent move ment to the carriage. Fig. 10 is a front view, in detail and partly in eross-section, of Fig. 9. Figs. 11 and 11 represent in top view and side View, respectively, the movable contacts that constitute the terminals of the condueting strips or wires of the groups of lamps on each panel. Figs. 12 and 12 are similar details of the stationary contacts which the movable contacts last-mentioned are caused to engage electrically to complete the circuit. Fig. 13 is a plan or top view of the keyboard. Fig. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of the keyboard. Fig. 15 is a side View, on an enlarged scale, of the end of the key-lever and the rocking circuit-closing segment which is Fig. 16 is an inverted plan of a portion of the end of the key-lever. Fig. 17 is a front view in detail of the rocking segment and the contact-springs engaging with it in alternate manner when oper ated by the key-lever. Fig. 18 is a top view of the upper set of the last-mentioned contact-springs, and Fig. 1.) a similar view of the lower set of contacts.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, of the drawings, each panel or letter-forming frame a will be seen to consist of seventy-one in candescent lamps Z), fixed in sockets in a nu mber of lines or rows across the face of a panel or a frame, which may be either a solid board or a skeleton frame, and connected electricallyin a number of separate groups or series byconducting-strips c 0, extending generally in a perpendicular direction up and down the panel, at the top and bottom of which these conductors terminate at binding-posts designated by the numerals 1" to 31),inclusive, in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings.

By the peculiar manner of grouping and connecting the seventy-one lamps, as illustrated herein, any letter of the alphabet and a number of different characters can be pro duced on each panel with a minimum number of electric circuits and always with a less number of circuits than there are lamps used to form the letter or character. Thus, for example, to form the letter A only the conductors that terminate at the

bindingposts

11, 13, 7, 1t, and 3 at the top of the panel and the binding-

posts

37, 26, 2S, and 56 at the bottom are brought into play to illuminate the fifteen lamps in the nine horizontal rows, and only the nine circuits designated by the above-mentioned numbers require to be closed on the dynamo or generator in order to produce the letter A, and in like manner the letter B is formed by illuminating three lamps in the top row, two in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth and seventh rows by closing the current on the conductingstrips that terminate at the top binding-

posts

2, 4, 5, 6, and 12 at the top of the panel and 24:, 26, 30, and 38 at the bottom, by which the seven teen lamps to produce the letter 13 are operated with only nine circuits. 13y throwing into circuit with a suitable generator these conducting-strips c 0 through the medium of wires connected to the strips at their binding-posts various letters, numbers, and characters are formed on the panel, the different combinations of lamps obtained by bringing into action certain ones of the condueting strips being made to form a given letter or character in illuminated outline on the panels in required order along the signboard to produce words, compose sentences, or to display a secret signal in letters or n umbers in any arbitrary arrangement.

The insulated coi'iducting-wires from the binding-posts of all the panels are carried in several cables from the panels to a convenient location at greater or less distance from the sign, where the operating apparatus may be placed.

Each cable containing all the wires from the binding-posts of one panel is laid transversely across or through a stationary rack or frame, Figs. 7, 'S, S), and 10, on which are circuit-closing springs of two kinds arranged in separate sets in parallel rows g 71 in close relation to each other, to one row of which, herein termed the movable contacts, the wires of one panel are permanently connected, so that each wire of the cable has for a terminal at least one of these movable contacts, while the other contact-springs of the row It, herein termed the stationary contacts, and which are directly opposite and in line with the Ilrstanentioned contacts, are connected into the circuit which includes the dynamo or generator, the conducting-strips and filaments of the incandescent lamps on the panel, and the wires and movable contacts last mentioned. Thus the circuit through each individual conducting-strip being normally open at the contacts g h, the lamps in that circuit are lighted only when the movable contact is set into engagement with a stationary contact.

To form any one of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet on each panel independently of the others, the contacts 9 h for each panel are arranged on the rack in as many separate sets as there are letters, figures, or characters to be produced in the same panel, and each one of these sets is composed of as many contactsprings as there are separate conductingstrips in the panel required to produce the letter or character.

One panel and its connections and contacts on the stationary rack of the apparatus is an exact duplicate of the others, and a description of the arrangement and the operation with respect to one will apply to all.

The cables 61 are laid transversely across the stationary rack in rows one behind the other, with an interval between one and the next, leaving sufficient space for the set of circuit-closing contacts 9 h in front of each cable. These last-named parts extend in a double row, the stationary contacts being in front of the movable ones, and the two rows are divided into a number of separate groups corresponding in number with the letters, figures, and characters to be formed by the various combinations of lamps on the panel.

In the present construction of apparatus the first group of contact-springs in the first row on the right-hand side of the plan Fig. 8 and at the right-hand end of the elevation Fig. 7 constitutes the terminals of all the wires leading from those conducting-strips on the panel to which are connected the fifteen lamps employed to form the letter A, and to the movable contacts in this first grou p those wires which are connected with the

strips

3, 7, 11, 13, and 14: at the top of the panel and 26, 28, 36, and 37 at the bottom of the panel-nine in all-are taken from the cable d and attached each to a separate contact g. In like manner the wires leading from the binding-

posts

2, 4, 5, 6, and 12 and 18 at the top and 24, 28, 30, and 38 at the bottom of the panel, which produce the letter B, are taken from the cable leading from the same panel and attached to nine contactsprings composing the second group in the same row along the front of the rack. The third group of contact-springs are made the terminals in the same manner of the wires that are connected to the conducting-

strips

2, 5, 12, 17, 24, 30, and 36, which produce the letter G, and so on throughout the remaining groups in the same line extending across the rack. Each letter or character has its separate set of contactsprings, to which are connected by proper wires taken from the cable those ones of the binding-posts at the top and bottom of the panel that are called into action to produce the given letter.

The second cable in the rack and the groups of contact-springs composing the second row of terminals belonging to the second panel of the signal are a counterpart of those in the first row. These cables and contact-springs are disposed in regular order one behind the other from front to rear of the frame in such manner that all the groups of contact-springs that are combined to produce the same letter or sign in all the panels are located in the same line, one behind the other, as will be understood from Figs. 7 and 8, where the several separate groups of contacts that operate to form the various letters or characters on the different panels throughout the whole number composing the signal-board are designated by the letters A, B, O, and so on across the rack.

To form any given letter or character upon the first panel, it is only necessary to close the movable contacts upon the stationary contacts in that group of the first cable which is connected with the conducting-strips of that panel to form the required letter or character, and so on, for every other panel of the board.

The construction of the movable and the stationary contact-springs is shown in Figs. 9, 11,11, 12, and 12 The movable contacts 9 g of each group are mounted on the end of an arm or plate g, depending from a swinging pivotal point 9 on the rack and movable in a limited vertical are from that center toward the stationary contacts h h which are mounted on a stationary support h. The last-mentioned contacts secured to the stationary support h are formed of a strip of sheet metal bent to a fluted shape and attached to the support by a screw 77/ at the bottom of each fiuting, so as to produce curved projecting members standing at intervals apart horizontally across the support. These members have the quality of yielding laterally and also longitudinally or in the general direction of their length, in which direction also the extent of the movement is restricted by a short helical spring h placed within each projecting member and attached, respectively, to the stationary support and to the outer end of the member. The object of this construction isto cause the contacts 9 to be closely gripped in the jaws formed by the fluted strips and at the same time allow the contacts 9 to be readily drawn out and released when the connection between the two sets of contacts is to be broken.

The strips h are connected in circuit with the dynamo bya suitable conductor attached to one end of each strip, and the contacts 9 are provided with binding-posts g to connect to them the wires from the cable d.

The pivoted plate g is connected to a vertically-movable slide-bar or cross-head 7t by links in and a toggle so attached to the plate g below its hinge that the upward movement of the cross-head will throw the contacts 9 into the jaws 72, or the reverse movement will withdraw them and break the circuits. Each cross-head is confined in guides kibetween which it is moved upward through the medium of an electromagnet m, acting on the cross-head 7-5 from above to attract the cross-head. As many of these electromagnets are arranged in a row above the crossheads as there are different groups contained in the row of contact-springs extending across the rack, it being understood that each group of contacts 9 is operated bya separate swinging plate and cross-head. A complete signal apparatus of this kind capable of forming all the letters of the alphabet on every panel will have at least twenty-six separate groups of contact-springs g 72, for each panel, and as many additional groups also as there are other characters provided in the system, so that the number of eleetromagnets m in the row is determined by the number of separate groups of contacts gin the row on the frame beneath. Each of the last-mentioned magnets is energized or thrown in and out of circuit with a local battery at will by means of a circuit making and breaking key, and the whole number of these keys is arranged in a portable frame lil, like a type-writing apparatus, as shown in Figs. 13 and l t, to be placed on a table or other support for convenience in operating the keys.

Figs. 15 to 19, inclusive, illustrate the construction of the levers and the circuit making and breaking devices of one of the keys. The levers M are fulerumed at the front of the frame on the rod m passed through eyes formed on the ends of the levers, their outer free ends playing in slots m in the front of a box in which are two sets of contacts P R and circuit-closing segments S, arranged in line with each key-lever. The circuit-closers P in the lower row are spring-jaws, each provided with a binding-post P on the outside of the box, but those of the upper set R are part of a continuous plate or strip 1%, having a single binding-post A wire P from the post of each contact P connects that terminal with the windings of one of the electroi'nagnets m on the truck, the whole sets of magnets being connected electrically and individually in this manner with the lower contacts P. The free end of each keylever is faced with a conducting-strip m connected with one side of a local battery TV through a wire at, and the other side of the battery is carried to a ground V. The rocking segment S is pivoted at S to the front of the box between the upper and lower contactsprings P R and is provided with three radial contact points or fingers S S S one standing outward horizontally and the others at right angles, one above and the other be low the pivotin such close relation to the are described by the end of the key-lever that both in the downstroke and also in the upstroke of that lever the metal-covered point hi is brought against the middle finger S with a wiping movement and with a suflicient degree of pressure to throw the lower finger S into the contact P below. A spring m brings up the keylever when pressure is taken off, and in the movement upward the end of the key having passed under the fingers S on the downstroke comes in contact with it on the upstroke, and thereby rocks the segment on its pivot in the opposite direction. 'lheeffectof thisistodrawthelowerfinger S of the segment out of the contact P and throw the upper fingers S" into the contact R. The segment S is balanced on its pivot by helical springs S in such manner that when the key-lever comes to rest the segment is brought into position clear of the upper and lower contacts in line with its middle finger S, standinghorizontally outward beyond the line of the pivot and underneath the end of the key-lever. The lower contacts P being connected individually with the set of magnets m on the truck in the manner already described, it is only necessary to depress the proper lever among those composing the keyboard in order to energize any given magnet in the set, and as each magnet by acting on the cross-head immediately beneath it will actuate that particular gron p of movable contact-springs to which the cross-head is connected it will be evident that the contacts g in any one of the groups or divisions A B (J, and so on, in that row of contacts over which the truck may be brought to rest will be actuated and thrown into engagement with the stationary spring-jaws 7L simply by depressing the key that will energize the particular one of the magnets standing over the group.

The levers M are provided with lingerpicces hi bearing the letters and characters contained in the keyboard, and the magnets m on the movable truck, corresponding in number with those letters and characters, are connected electrically from one side of the spool-windings with the lower contacts P by the insulated wires P, as already described, and from the other side with a ground V, so that the current from the local battery of the keyboard is thrown upon the magnet when the end of the key-lever in its downstroke makes contact with the middle finger S of the rocking segment and throws the lower linger S into the contact-spring P.

The construction of the movable truck and the mechanism for shifting it along the stationary rack from front to rear are illustrated in Figs. 7 to 10, inclusive. 'i is the body of the truck'or carriage, and 15 shows flanged wheels supporting it on rails T arranged at intervals apart between and over the groups or divisions of the several rows of circuit-closers in the rack below. T is a sprocket-chain at each end of the stationary frame, having its ends '6 '6 attached to the carriage T, and thence running forwardly and reamvardly to and around four sets of sprocket-wheels T T on the ends of the frame. Around these sprocket-wheels the chains return under the bottom of the frame in such manner that by power applied to one of these wheels the carriage can be moved along the track and shifted in its position from one to another of the rows of circuit-closers g h.

In the course of the operation whereby the ICO apparatus is made to display letters or characters on all or several panels, beginning with the first panel on the extreme left of the signal-board and proceeding to the right, to produce the desired sentence or signal the carriage stands at rest or is brought to position in the first part of the operation so as to be at rest over the first row of contacts 9 h at the front end of the rack. The proper lever in the keyboard M to produce the first letter or character of the signal is then depressed to throw the current on the magnet m, connected with that key electrically, and the cross-head 70 below is drawn up and held in that position by virtue of the toggle connecting the pivoted plate g with the cross-head. In that position the plate g remains holding the circuit-closers g in electrical contact with the springs h, by virtue of which the current from the dynamo is maintained on all the lamps of the first panel which are in circuit with the circuitclosers g in the first group. The key-lever then being immediately released flies upward, reversing the movement of the rocking segment S and throwing the current from the local battery upon the upper contacts B, when the upper finger S of the rocking segment is set into .that contact by the upstroke of the key-lever. Through these last-mentioned contacts R S the local battery is thrown upon an electromagnet Y, connected by a wire y from the binding-post R, the other side of the magnet-windings being carried by a wire to a ground to complete the circuit. The magnet y is part of a releasing mechanism that operates as often as the magnet is energized in this mannor to release the carriage T and allow it to move backward on the rails the distance of another row of circuit-closing contacts in the rack. The motive power to run the carriage back at this timeis composed of adrum Z on the shaft of one set of sprocket-wheels and a rope Z, laid on the drum and passing over a sheave Z above and having a weight Z attached to the end of sufficient mass to turn the sprocketwheels and move the carriage through the medium of the connecting sprocket-chains. The extent of this backward movement is determined by a stop-wheel U on one of the sprocket-wheel shafts and a stop-lever U, acted on by the magnet and having a tooth to engage the notches of the stop-wheel. As often as the current is thrown on the magnet 31 the stop-wheel is released and allowed to turn the distance between one notch and the next, thereby causing the descending weight gears as illustrated in Fig. 9, by means of which the carriage can be run forward to place by hand-power. At the end of the operation when all the letters or characters of a signal have been formed on the panels of the signal-board all the movable contacts remain in the grip of the stationary contacts h, comprising the groups or combinations that are brought into action, and the lighting-circuits are maintained on the lamps as long as the sign or signal is to be displayed. On the other hand, when the same is to be thrown off or another set of letters displayed all the circuits are broken and the lights turned off at the same moment by means of the following mechanism, the construction of which is shown in Fig. 9:

Over and in line with each row of cross* heads 7c, extending from front to rear of the stationary frame, is a slidesbar q, carrying on its lower side a triangular-shaped block q setting in line with a similarly-shaped incline (1 that stands perpendicularly upward from each cross-head. All the slide-bars q are connected to a common rock-shaft g by arms q, fixed on the shaft, the end of each bar being attached to its arm g by a pin working in a slot. 3y rocking this shaft in the proper direction all the arms q are thrown simultaneously forward and the inclines on each slide-bar are moved against the inclines g on the cross-heads, thereby forcing them down and breaking the toggles in the connectinglinks. The result of this is to draw the movable contacts 9 out of the stationary ones h and disconnect all the circuits previously established through them in the entire system of contacts. The rock-shaft is operated by a hand-lever q, connected to an arm (1 fast on the shaft.

Provision is made for cutting out or isolating anyone of the rows ofcross=heads where it may be desired to cutout any one of the panels in the signal-board or keep it blank, for which purpose there is mounted on the carriage at each magnet m and in line with the crosshead that comes into position under the magnet when the carriage is at rest a stop-bar 19 depending from an arbor or pivot or short shaft 19 on which point as a center it is movable in a limited arc, so as to be set at right angles to the cross-head or turned up to a horizontal position. The entire set or number of these stop-bars are connected with a common operating-shaft p by bevel-gears p and by means of a crank 9 on the shaft the whole set of stop-bars are turned down into position to prevent upward movement of the cross-heads over which the carriage may be standing. All the movable contacts in that row or line will be inoperative, therefore, as long as the cross-heads are prevented from being attracted by the electro.nagnets m on the carriage.

In setting up the panels that compose the signal-board the conducting-strips t', that are common to all the sockets of the lamps, are

connected together between the panels and finally to a common ground or into the return-circuit to the dynamo, while the series of conductors that connect the lamps in various groups or combinations to form the different letters or characters are connected into the other side of the dynamo-circuit through the stationary contacts in the rack and the movable contacts, as already described and as shown in the diagram, Fig. 4:, of the drawings.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sign-board comprising a plurality of panels each containing incandescent bulbs arranged in spaced order and in parallel rows at intervals apart across the panel, conducting-strips connecting the bulbs in separate groups composed of individual bulbs in the separate rows and by different combinations adapted to form different letters or characters, said conducting-strips terminating at binding-posts on the panel, a plurality of contact-pieces corresponding in number with the conducting-strips of the individual panel and connecting electrically each coi'iducting-strip with a source of electricity in open circuit, a selecting device con'iprising mechanism actuated by an individual key-lever for each letter or character to be formed and eircuit-clos- Zing means controlling the circuit through each contact-piece and an operating-key by the movement of which the circuit is closed and the generator thrown upon the selected contact-pieces that go to form the letter or character represented by the individual key so actuated.

2. In an electric sign or signal, the combination of a plurality of panels having incandescent bulbs arranged in rows at intervals apart and connected together electrically in separate groups each composed of a number of bulbs in unchanging combination as described, a source of electricity and means for closing the circuit through the electrical generator and one or more of the separate groups of bulbsin variable combination to form given letters or characters, including a plurality of stationary contact-pieces corresponding in number with the groups or separate fixed combinations of bulbs and individually connected electrically with the terminals of said groups on the panel, a plurality of movable contactpieces arranged in different groups one for each letter or character, the contact-pieces composing each group being adapted when closed upon the stationary contact-pieces to close the circuit through the groups or rows of bulbs on the panel that go to form a given letter or character, and means operated by a key to bring the movable and the stationary contactpieces into electrical connection.

The combination with a signal-board comprising a plurality of panels composed of separate groups of incandescent bulbs electrically connected by separate conductors, the groups in each panel being adapted to form by varying combinations of two or more groups different letters or signal characters; of a plurality of stationary contacts for each panel divided into as many groups as there are separate letters or characters capable of being formed in the panel, the contacts of each individual group being electrically connected with the required combination of incandescent-bulb groups to form a given letter or character, movable contacts adapted to be moved into operative position with any selected one of said groups of stationary contacts, said movable contacts also corresponding in number with the separate letters or characters of the signal, means controlled by a single keyboard for selecting and setting into electrical contact any given one of the groups of movable contacts with that one of the groups of stationary contacts required to produce a given letter orcharacter, anC means controlled from the keyboard for shifting the movable contacts from the stationary contacts of one panel to the corresponding contacts of another panel.

i. In an electric sign or signal composed of a plurality of panels each containing incandescent bulbs arranged in separate groups that are adapted to form by varying combinations different letters or characters; the combination of a suitable supporting-frame, a series of stationary contacts for each panel arranged transversely across the frame and divided into separate groups one to each letter or character, the contacts of like letters or characters throughout the whole number of panels being arranged in order longitudinally of the frame, a traveling carriage movable longitudinally on the frame, movable contacts disposed in separate groups transversely upon said carriage, said groups corresponding in number with the groups of stationary contacts of an individual panel, carriage-shifting devices and key-controlled mechanism for operating the carriage-shifting devices and the movable contacts from a single keyboard.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I. have hereunto set my hand and seal.

ANATOLE HEINY. [L s] \Vit-nesses:

G. E. LUCIEN, JOSEPH ARTIGUES.