US722579A

US722579A - Fender or safety device for vehicles.

Info

Publication number: US722579A
Application number: US9180102A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl Emil Bruno Helbig
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1902-01-29
Filing date: 1902-01-29
Publication date: 1903-03-10
Anticipated expiration: 1920-03-10

Description

PATENTED MAB.. 10, 1903.

nsu- .1. Lllf-: ..-.l- -llllifwnwi c. E. E. EELBIG. FENDER 0E SAFETY DEVICE PoE VEHICLES. APPLIQATIDN FILED un. 2e, 1902.

- no nonni...

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL EMIL BRUNO HELBIG, OF DRESDEN, GERMANY.

FENDER OR SAFETY DEVICE FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,579, dated March 10, 1903.

Application led January 29, 1902. Serial No. 91,801. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: j

Be it known that I, CARL EMIL BRUNO HEL- BIG, a subject of the King of Saxony, residing atDresden, Saxony, Empire of Germany,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Fenders or Safety Devices forVehicles, (for which I have made application for Letters Patent in Germany under No. H.26,263 II/QO, led July 2, 1901,) of which the following is a specication.

The fender or safety device which forms the subject of the present invention is adapted to pick up a person or animal who may happen to fall in front of avehicle in such a manner that the fallen body is raised and carried along and protected from being run over by the wheels of the vehicle.

The present invention comprises a devicefor instance, a chain, rope, or the likeloosely suspended between two lateral supports and adapted to pass over in close contact with the uneven surface of a road without being caught by or touching projections thereon. This device is adapted to belowered and pass under any sufficiently heavy body which may obstruct the path of the velicle, so that the body is raised or caught up y it.

In practically carrying out my invention a safety device is constructed which in comparison with the scoop devices previously used has the advantage of a yielding action of the front edge, which advantage it has been found difficult to attain on account of the uneven surface of the road.

According to the device forming the object of the present invention the body in danger cannot be hurt by stones or uneven projections on the road, as it is safely picked up without being squeezed or otherwise injured. A device of this kind has also the advantage that its construction is very simple.

In order to prevent unnecessary wear, the device is so arranged under the vehicle-frame that the front device and the scoop or receiver only touch the ground when an object is in the path of the vehicle.

The device can be brought into operative position by the driver in cases of emergency; but the preferred means is a device in front which on strikin g the fallen body releases the fender and allows it to drop on the ground.

The invention canbe carried out in various ways. A suitable construction is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l shows the safety device arranged under the front end of the vehicle, the view being a section on the line A B of Fig. 3. Fig. 2 shows a vertical cross-section of the road and a front'elevation of the edge of the fender, illustrating its accommodation to the uneven parts of the surface of the road. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device, and Fig. L shows a modified construction of the fiexible cross member.

A series of curved longitudinal bars 4. are connected by cross-bars l 2 3 and are rotatably arranged on the rear cross-bar 3, mounted in bearings 5 on the carriage-frame and suspended at the front ends by means of eyes 6 from hooks 7. The hooks 7 are connected by links 8 with an easily-movable frame or guard 10, suspended from the front part 9 of the vehicle. As shown in Fig. 3, the frame 10 is lined or covered with cloth and adapted to swing rearwardly on striking an lobstacle .in its path, thereby releasing the hooks 7 and causing the safety device to drop to the ground. Springs l1 are provided to draw back and hold the eyes 6, so as to cause them to lay flat on the bars 4 in order to prevent them injuring the body caught. In the present construction the flexible member is formed by a chain 12, which is attached at each end to the bars 4 and hangs loosely between them. At intervals on lthe chain are blocks 13, arranged so as to allow sufficient play between each other to maintain the mobility of the chain. These blocks, preferably tapering in the forward direction in the form of wedges, are provided with forwardly-directed brush bristles A14E andY preferably with bristles 15, directed in a downward and rearward direction. Provided with these bristles the blocks 13 slip easily over the roughest road-surface, thus preventing a jumping and jerky motion of the chain should the latter pass over a particularly uneven part. On the other hand, the bristles 15, tending to raise the rear ends of the blocks 13, hold the forward ends of the IOO blocks, with their bristles 14, onto the ground, The bristles 14 therefore are first pushed beneath the body, and then the blocks 13 also pass under the body. The chain device is con` sequently prevented from slipping over the body and particularly over thin parts of the body-as, for instance, the hands, arms, or feet-and this even under very difficult circumstances--as,for instance,when the ground is covered with snow-,since the chain Will act as if it were provided with a sharp cutting edge, injuries, however, which would occur in the latter case being entirely prevented. A similar effect can be obtained by providing the chain 12 instead of the blocks 13 with a thick wool or flannel covering, preferably in single parts 16,as shownin Fig. 4. A covering of soft india-rubber with a rough surface could also be used.

Connected with the blocks 13 or with the links of the chain between the parts 16 isa ilexible wire or like netting 17, which is attached at its rear end to the cross-bar 1 and forms the forward flexible part of the fender. In order to enable the body to safely and easily pass to the rear part of the fender Without much friction, metal sheets or strips 22 are preferably arranged upon the front flexible part, as shown in Fig. 3, and are flexibly counected with theblock 13, so as to be capable of displacement with regard to the cross-bars 1 and 2 in order to allow of a free motion of the chain.

The lateral bars 4, extending in forward direction, carry, by means of vertical bolts 19, rotatable disks 20. In the case of tramways or vehicles running on rails the bolts 19 are situated just above the grooves of the rails with which they engage with their headshaped ends when the device is lowered to the ground, Fig. 2. The preferably convexshaped disks 2O are provided with a soft cover or cushion and on their edges with horizontally-arranged bristles 21. The object of these disks is to cover the rail-grooves, and thus to prevent catching of the fingers or other parts of the body under the lateral bars. They are also adapted to pass beneath the body lying in the path of the track and according to the position of the body force and move the latter either toward the chain-1I. e., into the scoop of the safety device-or outwardly out of the path of the Vehicle. The rigid portion of the fender is preferably enlarged beyond the bars 4 and beyond the width of the track, as shown in Fig. 3.

The whole catching-face of the fender 10 consists of an elastic cloth or netting or the like connected with the front portion, which need not always be a special part, such as a chain, rope, or the like, as it could in some cases be formed by a sufficiently strong aud heavy front seam or portion of the flexible part of the fender weighted, if desired.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A safety scoop device for vehicles comprising a rearwardly-hinged scoop, a'flexible front portion loosely suspended between two lateral supports, and wedge-shaped blocks on the flexible front portion; substantially as described. l

2. A safety scoop device for vehicles comprising a rearwardly-hinged scoop, a flexible front portion loosely suspended between two lateral supports, Wedge-shaped blocks on the flexible front portion, and forwardly-directed bristles on said blocks, substantially as described.

3. A safety scoop device for vehicles cornprising a rearwardly-hin ged scoop, a exible front portion loosely suspended between two lateral supports, wedge-shaped blocks on the iiexible front portion, forwardlydirected bristles on said blocks and downwardly-directly bristles on the rear side of said blocks substantially as described.

4. In a safety scoop device for vehicles a flexible front chain, lateral supports therefor, and a protective covering for same, substantially as described.

5. A safety device of the kind described provided with horizontal rotary side disks provided with horizontally-arranged bristles substantially as described.

6. A safety scoop device for vehicles comprising a rearwardly-hinged scoop with longitudinal bars a flexible front portion loosely suspended between lateral supports, transverse bars supporting the front ends of the longitudinal bars and a series of bars loosely mounted between said front portion and said transverse bars, substantially as described.

7. In a safety scoop device for vehicles, the combination with the rearwardlyhinged scoop, the eyes or loops carried by the scoop, the hooks carried bythe vehicle for engaging the eyes to hold the scoop elevated, the swinging front guard the link or rod connecting said hooks and front guard and the springs for holding the eyes flat on 'the scoop, when the hooks are released to permit the scoop to drop; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CARL EMIL BRUNO HELBIG.

Witnesses:

KARL GREIERT, O'rro WoLFF.

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