US889123A - Mail catching and delivering apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

PAlENTED MAY 26, 190s.

No. 889,123. Y

o. c. HARDBN. MAIL GATGHING AND DELIVBRING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13.1907.

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PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

o. c. HARDEN. MAIL GATGHING AND DBLIVBRING APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 13. 1907.

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.PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.`

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MAIL CATCHING AND DELIVERI-NG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13.1907.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

oRvILLE o. HARDEN, or EITHIAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR or ONE-FOURTH To WILLIAM A. wRAY, or EITHIAN, ILLINOIS.`

MAIL CATCHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

j Application filed November 13, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ORVILLE C. HARDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fithian, in the county of Vermilion, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail Catching and Delivering Apparatuses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in mail bag deliverers and catchers and in its broad conception, it comprises a swinging frame mounted upon the door of the baggage coach and constructed to sustain a mail bag, and a receptacle for the mail bag, which receptacle is provided at a station and includes elements cooperating with devices on said frame to release the bag.

The invention also comprehends an automatically closing door for said receptacle and means for permitting of and for causing said door to move to a closed position after the mail bag enters the receptacle, such means being actuated by the bag.

In connection with a Inail delivering and catching apparatus, having the above features of construction and operation, the invention aims as a primary object to provide a novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts.

The details of construction will appear in the course of the following description,\in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, like characters of reference designating similar parts, throughout the several views, wherein zw Figure 1 is a top plan view showing a section of a baggage car with the mail bag supporting frame extended and the mail bag catcher in advance thereof. Fig. 2 is an end elevation showing the swinging frame. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the swinging bag sustaining frame. Fig. 4 is a frontelevation of the mailbag catcher. Fig. 5 is a view representing in top plan and front elevation, a tripping device operable by the mail bag to permit of the automatic door above referred to, having movement to closed position.

The car is designated by the numeral 5, and is provided at one side thereof with a door 6 to one side of the frame of which, a mail bag Isupporting frame 7 is hinged, the

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Serial No. 401,997.

frame 7 cooperating with a mail bag catcher 3. The frame 7 includes spaced parallel horizontal arms 9, which, when said frame is eX tended on its pivots 10, projectv laterally from the car. rIhe arms 9 are provided on their respective upper and lower faces with projecting spaced apertured ears 11, which afford bearings for rock shafts 12 having at their inner ends projecting arms 13 which are designed to engage the arms 9 as stops and which are held normally in such relation by torsional springs 14, having one of their ends secured to one of the lugs 11 on each of the arms 9 and having their other ends engaged with pins 15 provided upon the shafts. The arms 9 are formed at their ends with horizontally disposed lugs 16 and 17 between which a space 18 occurs. The outermost 'lugs 16 are formed with openings 19 to permit of the movement therethrough of verti cal Alocking pins 20 which are designed to ilnpinge the lugs 17 and to hold the mail bag rings a within the spaces13. The pins 20 are pivoted as at 21 to rearwardly projecting arms 22 provided upon the ends of the shafts 12.

The mail bag catcher 8 is in the form of a spiral casing which is rectangular in cross section and which includes a downwardly inclined chute portion 23. The entrance end of the catcher 3 is designated by the numeral 24, and after a bag has been projected into said casing, the end 24 is closed by a door 25. The removal end of the casing 8 is designated by the numeral 26 and is designed to be closed by a door 27 having a safety lock 28 of approved form. At one side of the casing 8, adjacent the front end thereof, straps 29 are provided which, at their projecting front ends support horizontal rollers 30, which are disposed transversely of said casing. rIhe straps 29 are secured to the upper and under faces of the casing 3 and the rollers 30 are designed to engage the respective arms 13 of the shafts 12,

The door 25 is carried upon a vertical shaft 31 which is journaled in spaced bearings 32 fixed at one side of the casing 8 and between which a torsional spring 33 for moving said door 25 to closed position is held, one end of the spring 33 being secured to one of the lugs 32 and the other end of said spring being engaged with a pin 34 provided on the shaft 31. The side walls of the casing 8 are constructed as bearings for a transverse rock shaft 35,

mounted between the upper portions of said side walls and formed with depending ingers 36. At one side of the shaft 35, a depending lug 37 is provided which lug is designed normally to bear against the door 25 and hold the same in its open position. The casing S is supported from a plurality of vertical posts 38 arranged about a central post 39 and connected thereto by radially disposed brace members 40.

As the car 5 approaches a station, the frame 7 is extended manually as shown in Fig. 1 and the mail bag A is held by the pins 20 between the ends of the arms 9. During the movement of the car, the arms 13 strike against the rollers 30. Said arms 13 are thus forced rearwardly against the tension of the spring 14, and the shafts 12 being rocked, the pins 20 are moved out of the recesses 1S, whereby the bag A is freed from the arms 9. The speed of the car causes said bag to be projected into the end 24 of the casing S, and in the movement of the bag into the casing, the said bag impinges the arms 36, forcing them rearwardly and rocking the shaft 35 so that its lug 37 is moved out of engagement with the door 25, at which time, the spring 33 acts to close the door 25, the latter being provided with a suitable automatic lock 41 of approved form.

The casing 8 is made spiral in form so as to take up the speed of the bag, whereby the force of the latter when it impinges the door 27, will be so materially reduced as not to injure said door. It will be apparent that when the bag A is in the casing S both the doors 25 and 27 are closed, whereby access to said casing is impossible, except for those who are authorized and who have the proper keys. The arms 9 are spaced apart sufliciently to allow of their free movement above and under the front end of the casing S.

The invention is simple in its structural details, inexpensive to manufacture, and practical and efiicient in use.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus of the class described, a swinging mail bag supporting frame having oppositely disposed projecting arms, locking pins on the arms for detachably engaging a mail bag, spring control trip levers adapted to automatically release the pins to free said mail bag, and a mail bag catcher disposed in the path of the trip levers for actuating the latter.

2. In an apparatus of the type set forth, the combination with a mail bag supporting frame, of a mail bag catcher having open receiving and-removal ends, a door for closing the removal end of said catcher, a door for closing the receiving end of said catcher, a spring for actuating said door to closed position and means operable by the mail bag for releasing said last named door.

3. In an apparatus of the type set forth, the combination with a mail bag supporting frame, of a mail bag catcher in the form of a spiral casing having an open receiving end and an open removal end, a door for closing the removal end of said catcher, a door for closing the receiving end of said catcher, a spring for actuating said door to closed position and means operable by the mail bag for releasing said last named door.

4. In an apparatus of the type set forth, in combination, a mail bag supporting frame including parallel horizontal arms formed at their ends with spaced lugs, latch pins arranged to confine mail bag rings in the spaces between said lugs, spring he d rock shafts formed at their ends with arms pivoted to said latch pins and at their other ends with arms designed to bear against the arms of said frame, and a mail bag catcher in the form of a casing having proj ecting ends for engagement with said last named arms to move the same rearwardly as and for the purpose set' forth.

5. In an apparatus of the class described a mail bag catcher having a spiral chute, normally closed doors at the receiving and discharge ends thereof, and`mail bag delivering mechanism normally projecting into the path of the receiving end of the chute and adapted to automatically open its door.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, a casing forming a chute having receiving and discharging open ends, doors normally closing the opened' ends of the chute, and swinging mail bag delivery means cooperative with one door to open the same at the receiving end of the chute.

7. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with mail bag catching means, of a mail bag supporting frame having oppositely disposed rigid arms, laterally extended lugs on the arms', slidable pins mounted in said lugs for detachably engaging opposite ends of a mail bag, and spring controlled trip levers normally disposed in the path of the mail bag catching means and actuated by the latter.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ORVILLE (l. IIARDEN.

Witnesses:

W7. I. REYNoLDs, O. B. WYsoNG.

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