US893758A - Destination-sign for street-cars. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JULY 21, 1908. I

R. G. TAYLOR. DESTINATION SIGN FOR STREET CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6, 1906.

W iinemsea Y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT '0. TAYLOR, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LYTLE -J. nun'rnaor CINCINNATI, OHIO.

cation.

' cators the rollers. Fig; 5 is a front elevation of the citizen of the United States, residing .in 1 Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State front plate 3 .and a rear plate4 with end are the rollers 7 and 8 with the spindles 9- and 10 of these rollers journaled in suitable DESTINATION-SIG? FDR STREET-CARS.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed January 6, 1906. Serial No. 294,926.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. TAYLOR, a

of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Destination-Signs for Street-Carsnnd the Like, of which the following is'a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specifi- My improvements relate to signs for indicating the destination, route or station for street and railway cars, and are more par+ ticularly for traction cars and intended to be mounted in the car in some prominent position to indicate to prospective passengers the route or destination of the cars.

While many of the features of my invention may be employed on any of the well known constructions of destination indiparticular embodiment-of the invention illustrated is especially intended for the vestibules of traction cars and the improvements consist of the certain novel construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter particularly pointed out and claimed whereby a most durable and effect. ive apparatus is obtained, easily manipulated and adapted to take care of the names of a very large number of stations and embodyin a .number of most effective features of nove ty and utility.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved apparatus viewed from without the car. Fig. 2, is a similar perspective view of the reverse side of the device. Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a section taken on lines 44 of Fig. -1 just within the casing showing the driving gears for the arts shown in Fig. 4. Fig. '6 is a detail ongitudinal section, broken away at the middle, of the lower curtain roller. Fig. 7 is a sectional detail of one edge of the curtain. The casing for holding the operating parts is made up of bottom plate 1, top plate 2,

walls 5 and 6. Mounted within the casing '8 has only a yieldin bearings in the end walls or in end standards for that. purpose. Upon these rollers is mounted the curtain 11 of suitable flexible fabric upon which are painted or printed various names to indicate the dilferent'sta tions or stopping points of the car. This curtain is intended to be Wound from one roller to the other as the signs are changed, and, for the purpose of driving the rollers gears 12 and 13 are mounted 'on the ends of the spindles 9 and 10, and 14 is an intermediate gear meshing with the gears 12 and 13 and driven by the beveled gear 15. engaged by the beveled gear 16.0n the crank-shaft 17.

18 is the handle for turning the shaft 17 and this handle is mounted to move axially on the crank-arnr,.and the inner end 18 of the handle engages the notched disk'19 and is normally held in engagement therewith by the spring 20. In order to turn the rollers to wind the curtain from one roller to h the other the operator pulls out the handle 18 which releases its inner end. from the notched late 19 and allows the rotation of the beve ed gear 16.

The curtain 11 is intended to be of suitable length in order to hold a large number of in Fig. 6 and a coiled s ring 21 is mounted.

around the spindle 10 with the one end 22 of the spring engaging in the end plate of the roller and the other end 23 secured to the roller or clip 24 mounted on the spindle 10. In this way it will be evident that the roller connection with its spindle 10 and not on y will this permit'one roller to rotate slower or faster than the other as the rolls change in size, but this spring will always provide a'constant tension on the lower roller to keep the curtain.

always taut.

The .frontwall 3 of the casing is provided with a long opening through which thesigns on the curtain are exhibited, and in order to keep out the dust and dirt a glass window 25 is secured in front of this opening; the edge of the opening being provided with the usual slots to allow an insertion of the glass where it. isheld in place by the plate 26 fastened over the end of the slot by screws. 1

In destination signs in which acurtain is employed upon which the. names are printed it has been found difficult heretofore to prevent the curtain, as it is wound from one roller to the other, shifting laterally and fraying out or wearing off the edges or stoping the movement of the curtain altogether. o overcome this difliculty and to enforce the running true of the curtain I bind a strip of flexible sheet metal 27 at each edge of the curtain throughout its entire length. These metal strips can be secured by stitching or by riveting as shown by Fig. 7. Then in connection with these metal bound edges of the curtain I provide wide flanges 28, 29 for the two rollers and should the curtain shift laterally, as it is being wound from one roller to the other, the metal bound edge bears against the flange of the roller and keeps the curtain in alinement.

In order to keep the curtain in a parallelplane with the window opening, I provide idlers 30, 31 secured across the casing so as to hold the curtain flush with the window.

For the purpose of illuminating the signs at night I provide in the back of the casing a compartment 32 in which is located an incandescent light 33. This light is held in position by the block 34 through which the wires pass; the block being held by the setscrew 35. The opening for the block 34 is of large enough diameter to ermit the withdrawing of the entire light t rough the opening without cutting wires or disconnecting same when it is desired for any reason to remove the sign.

In order to hold the sign in proper position within the vestibule of the traction car, I

provide flanged plates36, 37 secured lengthwise of the top and bottom plates 2 and 3' of the casing, and'the casing is made of such size that these flanged plates will have a suitable bearing on the rails'of the vestibule window-frame so that the sign can be conveniently secured theretov v The operating handle and gearing for the rolls is covered by the casing 38, which is locked shut by the .hasp 39 and is pivoted at K 40 to the end wall 5 of the main caslng. This end wall 5 is in itself hinged at 41 to the front wall 3 so that when desired the entire end of the casing may be opened for the removal of the curtain rollers and operating parts. It

being understood that the entire operatin mechanism is merely slid into the casing an then secured in position by suitable screws.

The rear or back wall of the casing is provided with the sliding door 42, operated by handle 43 so that the operator can get at the curtain should occasion require and so that the operator can also'see the sign from the reverse side in order that he may assure himself that he has the right sign indicated.

The operation of the indicator will be evident from the foregoing description. When the destination of the c'ar is changed, the operator opens the casing 38, and drawing the handle 18 outwardly to release it from the plate 19, he then turns the handle and winds the rollers in-either direction desired to bring the required sign to the window. By driving each roller direct by gearing, and providing for the spring connection between roller and spindle, any length of curtain con-' taining as high as seventy-five or eighty names may be employed, the s ring permitting the rollers to rotate. at di erent'speeds,

and the curtain to be kept always taut.

The employment of the flexible, metallic strips, or ribbon, at the edge of the curtain is also of prime importance, as with a curtain of any length, it is usually almost impossible to prevent the curtain running askew, but with the metallic edge for the curtain, and the flanges on the rollers for the edge to bear against, the curtain even with seventy-five or eighty names can be run with perfect alinement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is:

In a destination indicator, the combination of a casing, rollers mounted therein, said rollers being provided with end flanges, a curtain mounted on said rollers having a longitudinal series of transversely arranged names, and adapted to be wound from one ,roller to the' other, flexible metal strips mounted on the side edges of the curtain and adapted to slide or bear against the faces of the flanges on the rollers so as to' guide the arts of the curtain that are immediately caving and entering upon the respective rollers, and means for rotating the rollers to Wind the curtain from one roller to the'other.

ROBERT C. TAYLOR.

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