US822429A - Electric-controlled street or station indicator. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JUNE 5; 1906.

A. I. CLARK. ELECTRIC CONTROLLED STREET CE STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.27, 1903 2 SHEETS- BHEET 1.

PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906.

. A. JLGLARK. ELECTRIC CONTROLLED. STREET 0R STATION INDICATOR.

2 SHEETSSHE\ET 2 APPLICATION FILED 00127.1903.

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Lil 3% "ftolatrack-rail and distributed at suitable in- ,unrrn s'rnrns n'rnrr'r onion.

ARTHUR J. CLARK, GET-SEATTLE, W ASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TORHENELDQ H. HAMM, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

are. 822,429.

$pecification of Letters Patent.

?atented June 5, 1906.

Application filed October 27, 1903. Serial No. 178,669.

1'0 aZZ'w hom it may cancer-rt:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. CLARK, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Se- 1 rattle, in the county of King and State of ton, have invented certain new and useful msprovements in Electric-Controlled Street or tation indicators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to apparatus for indicating to passengers within a railway-car the names or numbers of'thestatwns or streets along the route; and the object of the invention is the provision'of electrically controlled and actuated a paratus for exhibiting in pro er sequence an time the names of the severe such stations or streets as they are l approached.

, section ta confusion the several circuits are represented by broken lines.

The numeral 2 indicates acontaining-case, to be secured in a conspicuous osition within a car and provided in its ont with an o ening 8, through whichmay be discerned t e names or characters designating the various streets or stations. The said characters, such as 4, are printed or otherwise inscribed upon a screen or belt 5, wound about spools 6 and 6, which are resp'ectivel driven, according to the direction the elt is to be moved, by motors 7 or 7 through the medium of interengaging toothed wheels 8 and 9, respectively mounted upon the armatureshafts and the mandrels lOnf the said spools. A brush 11 is secured to but insulated from Ithe'car for the purpose of making contact with a plurality of metal blocks 12, connected tfeiivals' therealon whereby an electric relaycircuit is'closed t -dugh the wires 14 and carwh'eel and track-rail 17 contiguous of the said blocks to actuate an electric magnet of and close the relay 18, which forces the upper arm of lever 19 outwardly against the action of spring 19 and closes the motor-circuit at. 20. This circuit being made, the motor is operated to drive the screen until the lower arm of lever 19'is struck by the adjacent of a series of attachments 21, secured at a predetermined distance to the rear of each of the several aforementioned street names or characters,'and which movesthe lower arm to break the circuit and simultaneously unhook or release the relay-locking arrangement, such as a hook 19, provided u on the upper of said lever-arms. 22 is a bra 'e-pulley having' its axle journaled in an arm 23 of abellcrank 23, which is ivoted at 24 to a suitable support. This pulley is pressed against the screen to keep it normally taut by'the resilience of a compression-spring 25, ositioned under the other arm 23 of said ell-crank, and is also adapted to act as a circuitbreaker at 26 by permitting the arm 23 being raised .to separate the contact-points thereof. This is accomplished by the provision adjace t to each end of the screen of an aperture 2 therein for the admission of the pulley sufiiciently far to allow the bell-crank to tilt to the position shown in Fig. 3.

Upon the opposite side of the screen and in line with each of the said pulleys is a post 28, forming a terminal of a wire 29, which upon being contacted by the said .pulle makes a closed circuit to operate a bell 30, th

11S v g an alarm to notify the conductor or attendant that the screen has reached the end of its travel and that the switch or controller 31 should be manipulated to cut out the motor previously in circuit and put the other motor in circuit for action wh en the car is started in theopposite or return direction.

Should, however, the car be run but a part of its route, then the switch should obviously be thrown over by the attendant upon the reversal ofthe car instead of waiting for the screen to run out its entire length.

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A lamp 34 is placed to the rear of the screen for the purpose of illuminating the same in order that the characters thereon may be readily discerned after dark, and in order to advantageously be positioned under the screen and beneath the antifriction-rollers 36 of the levers 19.

retain the screen in line guidepulleys 35may r0 5 connections of my improved apparatus.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have shown by a diagrammatic view the electriccircuits arid n this figure the motor-circuit is shown in dotted'lines and the relay and track circuit in full lines, and referring now to this figure of the drawings I will first describe the course of.:the,motor-circuit and then describe the course of the relay and track circuit. Be-

ro ginning with a battery A, which is the motorbattery, a line B proceedsfrom the righthand side of'this battery to the switch-lever of the motor-switch, and from a contact D,

-i-which-is adapted to be placed in connection iwiththe tongue, a line E leads to the motor at'the righthand side, and from thence a line the opposite s1 F leads to a screw-cup 'H, which is connected the contact-block beneath t e contact-tongue carried by this lever a line M leads back to battery A; -When the circuits are closed through the line just described by swiliging 35, 1 and energize the motor at the right-hand side "the switch-lever G into contact with the con tact D, and when the circuit has been completed, it will follow the above-described path I of the apparatiis, and this motor, through the mechanism hereinbeforedescribed, will wind the screen or belt 5 around the spool 6 until such time as the attachment 21 strikes the lower end of the lever 19, whereupon the circuit will be broken at 2'0, and the motor will stop. Whenthe car passes another o f the metal blocks 12, the relay-circuit "at the right-hand side of the apparatus will be comleted, drawing down'the relay-tongue and orcing the lever 19 back to itsoriginal'position, thereby completing the circuit through the motor and setting the same againin operation. The relay-cilrcuitis as follows: from' a relay-battery N through a line 0 to swinging lever P, to the contact Q, through line B, thence through the rela and byline S to a line T, connected with t e truck of the car, thence through the axle and wheel of the car to contact-block 12, and thence bya line U to the battery N. This circuit just described belongs to the relay at the right-hand side of the machine, and the relay at the left-hand side is connected by a-line V to a contactpost W and by a line X to the line leading to the cantruck. It will be observed that the motor-circuit and the relay-circuit on each side of the center of the apparatus are the same, and the foregoing description of course I applies to the relay-circuit and to the motorcircuit on each side of the apparatus, the relay and motor on either side being thrown into circuit by drawing the relay-switch lever and the motor-switch lever in contact with the proper contact-posts. A bell-battery A and a' bell 30 are included in a separate circuit from the motdr and relay circuits, this circuit being shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings by long dashes and being as follows: The two posts 28 form, as before stated, the terminals of a wire 29, and the bases of the'pivoted levers 23 are connected by a line C, and the bell and battery are arranged in a line D, that connects the line or wire 29 with the line C. When, therefore, the screen or'belt 5 reaches a oint when one aperture 27 is opposite one o? the wheels 22, thewheels contact with the osts 28, completing the batteryci'rcuit, w ereupon the bell will ring and warn the conductor that'the belt has run its full length in one direction, 'At the same timethe motor-circuit will; be broken bythe contact-finger on the lower arm 23" of the bell-crank 23 being separated "from the block 26, thereby protecting the motor-circuit and bringing the motoftoa stop.

I claim- 1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a containing-case provided witha sight-aperture in its front,a screen having inscri tionsthereon, a spool positioned at eac end of said case, a motor for "driving each 9f said spools, an electric circuit including a source of energy, branchesthere of each including one of said motors, a manually-operableswitch for throwing said motors alternately into and out of circuit with said source of energy, two relays a track-air:

cuit including a battery, a contact carried by the car and ada ted to coact with stationary contactslocate at intervals along the track, said relays being included in separate branches of saidtraclocircuit, a manuallyo erable switch adapted to throw said relays a ternately into said track-circuit, a lever carried. by each relay and adapted to be moved by the armature-thereof, acontact carried by each lever, the said contacts being each included in the circuit of one of the motors, stationary contacts also included in'the motor-circuits, the said stationary contactsand the contacts carried by the levers being adapted to close the motor-circuits when the relays. are ene 'zed by the closing of the track-circuit an means carried by said screen for automatically opening the motor-circuits.

2 in a device of the character described,-

the combination with a movable screenhaving inscriptions thereon and electric motors and connections for intermittently driving said screen alternately in o posite directions, a plurality of pivoted switches each arranged in the circuit of one of said motors, and means carried by the screen"for operating said switches to throw the said motors out of cirs cuit with a source of electric energy, a rallway-track, a contact carried by the car on which said screen is mounted, a contact located alongside the track and electrically connected thereto, the contact on'the track and the contact on the car being adapted to be brought into electrical connection by the movement of the car, a battery and relays carried by the car and adapted to be included in circuit with the track, said relays 'being adapted to throw said motors into circuit- I when the contact carried by the car meets the stationary contact connected with the track, and a manually-operable switch for i5 throwing said relays alternately into and out of circuit with the. track.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in'presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR J. CLARK. Witnesses:

PIERRE BARNES, M. E. BREWER.

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