US869549A - Headlight-adjusting device. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED OCT. 29. 1907.

F. P. OOBHAM.

HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

- Allorney N0. 869,549. PATE-NTED OCT- 29. 1907.

I F. P. COBHAM.

HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3. 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

[NVENTOR B m m Allomep PATENTED OCT. 29. 1907.

P. P. COBHAM. HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.3, 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET s.

.VENTOR Aiz'orneys PATENTEDOGT. 29. 1907. F. P. GOBHAM.

. HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1907- 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

PATENT ()FFJLUL Specification of Letters Patent.

HE ADLIGHT-ADJ'USTING DEVICE.

Patented Oct. 29, 1907.

Application filed January 3. 1907- Serial No. 350.651.

To It H'l/UIII [I may roller/H;

lhit known that l. Fluent-Huck l. tomt.\.\1. a citizen f the t nned States. residing at Jamestown. in the count of thautuut uu and N'latc of New York. have in \ctllctl certain new and useful improvements in Headlight.\d ius,ting l)c\'iccs: and i do hereby de lare the following to be a full. clcar. and exact description of the invention. such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it nppcrlains to make and use the same.

My invention consists in the novel features hereinafterdescribed. reference bcinghad to the accompanying drawings which illustrate several forms in wh'ich l have contemplated embodying my invention and said invention is fully discloscd in the following description and claims.

in the said drawings. Figurc l is a perspective view of a portion of the dash board or front wall of a car, such as an electric trolley car, (the dash boardbeing shown partly in section) and showing one form of my invention applicd thereto the headlight or lantern being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lantern or headlight and adjusting mechanism applied to a car and drawn to a smaller scale. the dnsh board or front wall of the car being shown in section. Fig. I; is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1. different, po-

sit ions of. the lantcrn or head light being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 4 is a partial View of a car, showing my improrcd devices attached to the carand connected with the truck. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a portion of a car showing my improved devices attached and conncctcd with the truck, different positions of the truck and the movement of the head light produced thcrcby bcing illustrated by dottcd lines. Fig. 6 is a side elevat ion of a portion of a car showing my devices applied thereto. and illustrating a nu Idillltl construction for connecting thehead light support or hanger to the front truck. Fig. 7 is a detail view of a part of the automatic adjusting m -chanism shown in Fig. 8. tail of-on e of thelocking plates shown in Fig. 3.

In the operation of 'trolley cars, it has been proposed to mount'the headlight upon a pivotal connection and connect it with the front truck of the car so that the headlight will be swung laterally by the movements of the truck in following thc tracks. While this automatic control of the headlight is advantageous, there are many occasions when it. is highly desirable and important that the operator or motorman may be able to direct. the rays from the heat'llight upon particular points or in particular directions, and my invention ct'tntemplates the combining with the automatic controlling means for the headlight, of independent hand operated devices by means of which the operator may at any time remove the headligh t from the control of the aut matic devices and operate it in either .ireetion by Fig. 8 is a dc hand. For example, in passing around a curve the headlight. when controlled by the atttognatic devices will be caused to direct its light entirely outsidc of the curve, so that none of the road bed is illuminated except for a few feet in front of the car, and in such case, when my present invention is employed, the operator may by means of the hand operated devices, instantly throw the light laterally across the curve and upon it, so as to light any and all portions of it, and in other ways it. is found to be both necessary and desirable to have the headlight under manual control.

in carrying out my invention 1 mount the head light or lantern A (which may be of any desired type, but which is preferably an electric arc head light), upon vertically disposed pivots so that it may be swung either to the right or left. i prefer to provide a lamp support or hanger B, which is preferably made harp shape as shown in Fig. I, having a horizontal top bar I), for receiving hook shaped projections a on the frame of the head light or lantern, the said top bar being provided with means for prt'iventing the lateral displacement of the said projections a. In this instance the top bar of the hangers is provided with two pairs of projections b" 1) between which the projections a lie.

t represents a bracket which is bolted or othe wise secured to the font wall or dash board of the car, and has two -(or more) arms c extending forwardly and hinged by vertically disposed pivot pins or bolts 0 to lugs I) on the rear of the hanger B. i

The lantern A is secured in position to the hanger B by dropping its hooks a 11 over bar 1) between the projections bb, and the lower part of the lantern frame is provided with a pair of adjustable projections formed by screws (1 a (see Fig. 2) which rest. against the front wall of the hanger B and maintain the lantern in ver-' tical position, the ends of the screws a a being rubber tipped as indicated at; (1 A miter gear or segment is preferably sccuredto the rear face of the hanger l5, and its teeth mesh with a miter gear (I on a shaft 1), extending through a bearing in the bracket 0, and through the wall of the car; where it is provided with a. hand wheel D or other operating device. See Figs. 1, 2

and 3.

This is the simplest form of the device and with this mechanism, it is obvious that, the motorman who is operating the car can by simply turning the hand wheel to right or left, throw the rays from the head light laterally as desired. Thus in rounding a curve he can;

for automatically turning it to the right or left, according as the car is rounding a curve to the right or left. I To.

this end the harp'or hanger B is provided (as shown in Fig. 1) with attaching devices b on opposite sides of its pivotal connection, in this instance, loops or eyes as shown, to which are connected flexible connections such as wire ropes E (see Figs. 4 and 5) connected it their rear ends to the truck of the car, indicated at FT keep the light on the road bed of the curve, and when the car again enters a straight section of track the head light Wlll be automatically positioned to throw the light straight ahead. I

I wish it to be understood that the devices for the hand manipulation of the lantern support'or hanger, and theautomatic devices may be used separately, and that they may also be used advantageously-in connection with each other. Thus if the hanger B, shown in Fig. 1 (in which figure the hand adjustment only is I illustrated) have its eyes I) b connected with the truck in thernanner illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 the movements of the truck will automatically position or adjust the hanger and-hoad light, and at the same time the yielding sections or springs e in the connections E will permit the motorman to instantly operate the lantern by hand wheel D in any desired direction. As soon as the motorman releases the hand wheel the lantern will automatically respond 'to the movements of the truck as before described. Thus in'case the car is moving straight ahead and the motor-man operates the hand wheel D to throw the light to one side or the other, on his releasing the wheel, the light will be brought at once to its median positionf-The springs c will also compensate forthe jolting of the car and truck, and in case of derailment will expand and prevent injury to the hanger B, and conneclions E.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have illustrated a construction for the combined automatic and hand adjustment or control of the hanger B, in which the shaft D is provided with a sprocket wheel D over which a short section D of sprocket chain is placed the ends hf which are connected with the flexible connections E as shown so that the oscillations of the truck F will cause the shaft D to rotate and thus move the lantern into the desired position.

In cases where the handadjusting devices are used alone shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 I prefer to provide the mechanism with means for automaticallyretaining or holding thehanger B and the lantern in any position to which theymay be adjusted and to prevent the lantern from swinging hythe jolting of the car. For this purpose I prefer to. employ a pair of interlbcking disks.

(1 (1 one of which is shown in detail Fig. 8, and which have faces provided with radial V-shaped projections. One of thesedisks (l."is secured to the car wall (see Fig. 3) and the other (P is keyed on the shaft I), so as to be movable longitudinally thereon and is provided with a coiled spring which holds said plates or disks together. It will thus be seen that the described rctaining device will hold the headlight support and the headlight in any position to which it may be adjusted, but the operator can move theheadlight and support in either direction and at any time by means of the and operated device. This retaining device may be omitted, however; when the automatic connection with the truck is employed. 1 t will also be understood that in the forms of my invention shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6,

the hand wheels may be omitted and the position of the hanger and headlight cont-rolled entirely from the trucks if desired, although I prefer to provide for both a manualand automatic crgntrol. as therein illustrated.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:-- I

1. The combination with :1 vehicle, of a pivoted head-- light support, mounted thereon, automatic positioning devices, iucludingconnections extending to said pivoted support. for automatically moving said pivoted support.

with said supporting means zindcontrolled by the position of the front truck of the vehicle, and including yielding devices. and a hand operated device connected with said supporting, means for taking them temporarily out of the control of the automatic devices, substantially as described.

3. The combination with means for pivotally supporting :1 heudlight, of connections from said Supporting meanstothe truck of the vehicle, for automatically position ing said headlight. springs interposed in each of said connections and :in independent hand operated device C011- nected with said supporting means, substantially as described.

4. The combination with u pivotzilly mounted supporting frame for :i headlight, of connections between said.

frame and the front truck of the vehicle, for swinging the said support laterally upon its pivotal connection. said. connections being provided with yielding devices therein :1 hand wheel located in the vehicle and gearing Y connccl'iin: said hand wheel with the said supporting frame, for independently adjustingsaid frame without regard to the automatic devices. substantially as described.

5. The combination. with :1 pivotnlly mounted support in; ,frmnc for a headlight, of a shaft provided with a hand operating device, gearing connecting said shaft with said fl'illll(*..,iliXll)l8 connections between said shaft and the front truck of thc vehicle for nutonnltically controlling the position of said frame and springs located in said flexible connections. to permit of the independent opera lion of said hand operated shaft, substantially as described.

(i. The combination with :1 pivoted support for :1 headlight. of hand operated devices therefor including. a shaft. :1 retaining device, for said shui't comprising :1 pair 01. disks provided with interlocking V-shapcd projections. one'of said disks being staiionnry and the other secured .to said shaft, but movable loue'iludinnlly thereof. and a

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