US798987A

US798987A - Railway time-indicator.

Info

Publication number: US798987A
Application number: US22869504A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles Whitaker
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1904-10-17
Filing date: 1904-10-17
Publication date: 1905-09-05
Anticipated expiration: 1922-09-05

Description

PATENTED SEPT. 5, 1905.

o. WHITAKER. RAILWAY TIME INDICATOR.

APPLIUATI'ON FILED 00T.17,19o4.

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RAILWAY TIME-INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1905.

Application led October 17,1904. Serial No. 228,695.

To fall who/1L it 71u01/ concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES NVHITAKER, a f

citizen of' the United States, residing at Eufaula, Creek Nation, Indian Territory, have invented a certain new and useful Railway Time-Indicator, of lwhich the following is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide an indicator of simple, durable, and inexpensive construction that may be quickly and easily applied to any ordinary indicator-board, so that au operator in his oflice may quickly and easily display upon the indicator-board, located at a point exterior to his office, the time when various trains are expected to arrive and to indicate whether or not said trains are late, and if so how long they will be delayed.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whicl *e Figure 1 shows a front view of an indicatorboard with portions of the time-indicating disks visible through openings in the board. Fig. 2 shows a front elevation of the time-indicating' disks. Fig. 3 shows a rear elevation of the disks, which are to be set by the operator as required to turn the time-indicating disks; and Fig. #t shows a vertical central sectional view of the complete device.

Referring to the accompanying' drawings, l have used the referencemumeral 10 to indicate a railway time-board of the ordinary kind. This board is provided on its face with vertical and transverse lines, the. first vertical column to the left indicating the trainnumbers, the next the schedule time for the arrival of' the trains, the third the schedule time for the departure of the trains, and on the large column to the right a space for the time of the arrival of the train to des! ignate whether the train will arrive on time according to schedule, or if it is late to what extent. The board is also provided with a number of' horiZontally-arranged lines upon which are marked the general direction in which the various trains are traveling. In the board between the horizontally-arranged lines under the column denoting the time of arrival l have formed an opening 11 opposite each train-number, and means hereinafter described are provided for displaying through l these openings statements as to the time when the certain train will arrive.

The numeral 12 indicates a shaft one end of which is mounted in the board below the row of openings, and the other end is extended rearwardly from the board and designed to pass through a wall into a room occupied by the operator. Fixed to the outer end of the shaft 12, directly in the rear of the board 10, isarelativelysmall disk 13, having formed on its front face, near its periphery, a series of lines dividing said space into oblong' figures. IVithin one of said figures are the words On time, and within the remaining ones of said figures are words and figures indicating different times with the word Late in each figure. The said figures on the disk are so arranged with relation to the board 10 that the words on the figures may be seen through the lower one of the openings 11 in the board. On the other end of the shaft 12 is a disk 14, which may be smaller than the disk 13, if' desired, and this disk is fixed to the shaft 12 by the set-screw 15. It is periphery, and adjacent to these openings are numbers corresponding' to the figures and words on the disk 13. Said disk 14 is preferably provided with a handle 1T, so that the disk may be easily rotated.

Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 12 is a sleeve 18, and fixed to one end of the sleeve is the disk 19, immediately in the rear of the disk 13 and of somewhat greater diameter than the. disk 13. This disk is also formed with figures upon its front face near its periphery, which figures may be seen through the next to the lower opening inthe board l0. The sleeve 18 is slightly shorter than the shaft, and mounted upon the other end of said sleeve'is the disk 20 of slightly-larger diameter than the disk 14 and formed with a handle 2l. and a series of openings 22. Mounted upon the sleeve 13 is another sleeve provided with a disk on its outer end larger than the adjacent disk in front of it, and on the other end of this sleeve isa smaller' disk slightly larger than the adjacent disk, before described, in the rear of it. Any number of sleeves and disks may be provided in the same manner. All of the disks in the rear of the board have figures upon their front faces to indicate the time of arrival of trains, and each is slightly larger in diameter than the one in front of it, so that a portion of its front face near its periphery may be seen through one of the formed with a series of openings 16 near its' lOO IIO

openings in the board. For each of such sleeves and disks there is a disk at the =rear end of the shaft fixed theretol by a set-screw and formed with openingsas before described.

I have provided means for holding all of the disks at the rear end of the device accurately spaced apart and for locking each individual disk as follows: The numeral 23 indicates a bracket secured to a stationary support 24CV and kformed with notches in its lower end, each designed to receivethe edges of the disks at the rear of the shaft l2 and sleeves 18. The said bracket 23 is formed Withl a series of openings 24, designed to coincide With the openings of the said disks, sothat-the pins 26 may be passed through the openings in the bracket and into any selected one of the openings in the disks. Sup porting-'chains 27 are provided for said pins.

In practical use andk assuming'that the large disks are arranged inthe rear of a board provided With openings as described and divided by vertical and horizontal lines and provided with indicia designating the subject-matter before explained and assuming that the other set of disks Were arranged in the operators room, then if the operator received information that a certain train would be ten minutes late he would then grasp 'the pin 26 belonging to the disk Which applied to the particular train designated and Would remove said pin. He would then grasp the handle of said disk and rotate the disk until the opening therein marked with the numeral 10 would be directly under the bracket 23. He would then replace the pin in position through the bracket and the opening indicated by the numeral 10. This operation Would move the disk in the rear of the board that related to the particular train desired to such position that the figure on the said disk in which wasfcontained the words Ten minutes late would be visible throughthe opening in the board corresponding to the train designated. The object in providing the pins 26 is to prevent any of the disks from turning except the pa-rticular one that the operator grasps. If they were not thus locked, others of the disks might be inadvertently moved when the disk was moved to the desired position.

Ordinari-ly the room in which a-railW-ay operator or station agent'is located is enti-rely inclosed and it is necessary to leave the room in order to Write upon a board'thetime when certain trains are expected to arri-ve. This operation has to be gone through very often,

because When a train is late the operator fre quently receives information stating that the train Will arrive at different times. Therefore the posting of the expected time of the arrival of various trains is a matter which consumes considerable of an operators time and requires him to leave his office frequently. By means of my'improvement the small disks at 'the inner end of the shaft may be located inside the operators room and at ap'ont-Where they may be conveniently moved from the operators chair, so that theoperator need lose little time in accurately posting upon the indicator-board all of the information he receives from .time to time in regard to the arrival of trains.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure'by Letters Patent of the United States ltherefor, is-

' 1. The combination with aboard having openings therein,.of a shaft rotatably mounted in the rearvof the board, a disk on the shaft having a portion of 'its face visible through one of the openings, adisk fixed to the other end of the shaft, a sleeve rotatively mounted on the shaft, a disk fixed to its Vfront and of larger diameter than the first-mentioned disk and located in therearof'said'first-mentioned disk and having a portion of itsiface visible through another one of 'the openings in. the board, afdiskfonl'the rear end of 'the sleeve, a bracket formed With notches -to receive the disks at the -rear of the shaft and sleeve, `and means for locking said disks to the bracket.

2. Thecombination of aboard formed With openings, a shaft rotatably mounted inthe rear of the board, a disk fixed tothe front'of the shaft with a portion of its face visible through one of the openings, a sleeve rotatably mountedionfthe shaft, a disk at 'the front thereof of larger diameterthan the aforesaid disk and located immediately inthe rear of it With a portion of its face visiblethrough .another one of the-openings in the board, disks fixed to the rear ends of the shaft and sleeve and formed with openings near Vtheir peripheries, a bracket formed with notches to re- 4ceive'the rear disks and also formed With openings designed fto coincide With thefopenings in the disks and pins designed to pass through the openings in the brackets and to enter one of v theopenings :in .each disk.

CHARLES WHITAKER. Witnesses:

- J. RALPH ORWIG, lS. F. CHRISTY.

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