US931885A - Device for clearing obstructions from the path of vehicles. - Google Patents

Description

H. W. H. POWEL 6: T. S. SAFE. DEVICE FOR CLEARING OBSTRUGTIONS FROM THE PATH 0F VEHIGLES.

APPLIOATIOH FILED NOV. 18, 1907.

P tented Aug. 24, 1909. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ATTORNEYA.

v H. w. H. POWEL & T. s. SAFE. DEVICE FOR CLEARING OBS'I'BUCTIONS FROM THE PATH 0F VEHICLES. APPLIO'ATIOI FILED NOV. 18, 1907. 93 1 ,885 Y Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

2 BEETS-SHEET 2.

' ATTORNEYS.

to the rear wheel of Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT HARFORD' W. H. POWEL AND THOMAS 8. SAFE, NEWPORT, RHDBE LAND.

DEVICE FOR CLEARING OBSTRUCTIONS FROM THE- PATH OF VEHICIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug.

To all whom cit may concern: 4

Be it, known that we, Hnnronn W. H. Power., a citizen of the United States, and THoMAs S. SAFE, s. Britishsuhject, both residin at Ne ort, in the county of Newport and tate ol llihode-lsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Clearing Obstructions from the Path of Vehicles; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersv skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

The object of the device E to clear from the paths oithe'wheels of vehicles, particularly where the wheels are equipped with puncturable tires, small pieces oi iron and the like, and to some extent other small o-bjccts, which are capable of uncturing or otherwise injuring the tires. this end we provide a magnet, supported just above the ground iii-front of the Wheel-and adapted to pickup small ieces of iron, such as nails, tacks and the ike, and which at the some time is adapted to strike frornithe path of the wheels other small objects which are not capeble of being magnetized, and which is so constructed and supported as to be durable, and eflicient for the purpose intended.

The construction and operation of the inrproved device, and the manner in which the desired objects are attained, will he Linden stood from the following description and the accompanying drawings which describe and 36 illustrate the preferred form of the device in its general aspect, and various useful details of construction which may be used to advanto e in connection therewith.

I n the drawings the same reference letters refer to the like parts throughout the several Views.

v Figure-1 is a central section'oi the chassis of amotor car showing the front and rear equipped with our improved guarding device. Fig. 2 is sfront.

whee-ls .in elevation and elevation of the guarding device .as applied Fig. 3- is a sectional detail view showing a. safety arrangement for opening the energizing circuits of the magnet under certain specified conditions. Fig. 4 is a. plan view of one'oi the the screw-threaded end of the nut. is screw-threaded and passes through a suit- 'eble art of the framework where it is so- I cured :to vary the .distsnceabove the ground at 9 a as shown. The guarding devices for the 2 front wheels are su ported from the T-head I of the'conventional 1 springs a should be stiff so that if the magnet f strikes small obstructions such as sharp rocks and the like, they may throw suc ;obstructions out of the path of the wheels, but the springs should have suflicient flexifront wheels of Fig. 1 and its associated parts showing the manner of support of the guarding device. Fig. 5 is a detail View of a modified construction'of a magnet. Fig. isa front elevation of one axle and a pair 011 Wheels equipped with a device for throwing the guarding magnets to one side and sin1u1- taneously denergizing them. Figs. 6" and 6' are detail views of the gearing forming p art of this inechanism. Fig. 7 a plan view of a. portion of the mechanism showing the corn necting rods by which the guarding devices are operated, and Fig. 7 is an elevation of the same. 8 is a view showing the mannor of operation of the guarding device when it strikes an obstruction, and Figs. 9 and 9 show a mechanism for causing the guarding device to be thrown to one side when it strikes a large obstruction.

In the construction shown in 1, the chassis A is supported on the axles carrying the rear wheels B and the front wheels B. Each of the guarding devices comprises a stiff coil spring ci ,hung in front of the wheel, and just above the ground by a. rod of which is a continuation of the coiled spring. The other end of the spring is againcontinucd into a vertical rod an supports 9. pair of magnets '1) connected together by an iron armature b at the top, and through which sup rting lace by a coking he upperen-d of t esupporting rod rod is assed and held in by lockingnuts which may be adjusted which the magnets are supported.

The magnets are energized by current ffrorn batteries 0 supported .on the body of fithe vehicle; rear wheels are hung directly from the --The guerelingdevicesof the framework of the vehicle by the bent rods steering knuckle. The

spring or to the top of t bility so that if the magnets strike it firmly embedded obstruction the springs may flex as indicated in Fig. 8.

In the construction shown in Fig. 3 (which is intended to open the current of the magnet if the vehicle passes over a'iirmly embedded magnetizable body, in order to revent the magnet from being drawn beneath the wheel) a tubular portion 6 is interposed in the supporting connection of the guarding device between the frame of the vehicle and the coil spring, and within this tubular portion are two sliding blocks a carrying contact pieces forming terminals for the circuit connections. Each of these blocks is fastened to a flexible rod, one of which rods is connected to the upper'coil of the coil spring and the other to the lower coil, as shown, so that when the spring is extended by the attraction between themagnet and the embedded magnetizable body the, sliding contact blocks are displaced to open the circuit. It would be 1possible to effect the same result by. me ing one set of contact terminals stationary witl in the tubular part e and connecting the other set to the lower ortion of the coil e magnet, but the construction illustrated in Fig. 3 is preferred. The energizing coils of the magnets may be wound upon spools and the spools slipped upon the magnet cores, or the winding may be secured about the cores in other we known ways, but We prefer to use the construction and arrangement illustrated in Fig. 5, in which the core of the magnet is formed with a double spiral groove and the energizing coils are wound'in this groove as shown, so that they are practically embedded in the structure of the magnet. We prefer to then inclose the coils by an iron sheathing f, making an iron-clad magnet, thereby increasing the strength of the magnet and further protecting it against abrasion and injury.

The and 7 are intended to th ow the guarding devices with their magnets to one side periodi cally or at will, and simultaneously deenergize them so as to throw down the iron objects which they have picked up. The main shaft of the machine, 9', carries a worm gear meshing with a corres onding gear g supported in the frame-wor h. The rotation of the gear 9 is transmitted through a suitable reduction gear 9' to the shaft carrying the small gear t, which carries a pin i adapted to throw down one end of the lever is and by raising the other end release one half of a ciutch- E, which is thereupon thrown by the spring 2" into engagement with the other half of the clutch which is fixed on the shaft 2% driven from the main shaft through the This shaft carries on its outer end gears m.

devices illustrated ip Figs. 6, 6 6 7 to be operated by the lever 11. pivoted at o.

the crank wheel a, which is connected through the rod n to the upper end of one of the rods a carrying the guarding devices. It will be observed that this connection between the rod n and the upper end of a is by means of a hook for a purpose which will be further described, and as shown in Fig. 7 The upper end of this rod a is connected to the upper end of the other rod a by means of the rod p. The upper end-of each of the rods (1 terminates in a circular boss which is mounted to turn on a hub 1' projecting from a circular plate 1", and, projecting from each boss is a contact piece 8 to which one wire of the battery circuit is connected. The other wire of the battery circuit is connected to a contact plate .9 on the stationary plate 1". The operation of these parts is as follows:

,The rotation of the main shaft is transmitted, being reduced to the desired extent by the reduction gearing, to the gear '1', so that that gear is rotated, say, once for every hundred revolutions of the main shaft. The rotation of the gear 1' causes the in i to throw down one end of the lever 7c, li ting the other end,'and allowing the spring I to throw the two halves of the clutch into engagement. This allows the gears m to give a throw to the crank-wheel n, and the gear 1 immediately throws itself out of engagement allowing the lever is to again fall behind the stop k on the clutch mechanism. This throw of the crank-wheel n is transmitted through the rod 'n to throw out the upper end of the rod (1 to which it is connected, and thereby throw the guarding device beneath the machine and simultaneously denergize the magnets by breaking the circuit connections at s, s.

This throw is transmitted through the rod 7) to the other rod (1, thus throwing its guarding device beneath the machine. On account of the denergizing of the magnets the iron objects which have been picked up by them will be de osited in the pan t. For the pur ose of ena ling the driver to transmit sue a throw to the guarding devices at will,

either for the purpose of jects picked up thereby, or for the pur ose of removing them from the'path' of an o struction,- the following mechanism is provided. In the floor of the car, in convenient position foot of the driver, is the button it fastened to the upper end of a The other end of this lever has a stirrup a through which the rod n passes. Between the stirrup and the pivot 0 depends the link to which is connected at its lower end to the lever to pivoted at x, and carrying a in 29 adapted to engage the under surface of t e arm you the head of the rod 0/. By depressing this button a they rod 72. is lifted, disconnecting the automatic throwing mechanism, and the guarding device is thrown by means of the lever a2 and the arm y.

discharging the ob This throw is transmitted to the other guard ing device, as before. In order that the guarding devices may be locked in an elevated position beneath the machine, a latch z is rovided in the floor of the car adapted to hold down the button u. g

, The arrangement shown in Figs. 9 and 9, is adapted to prevent an injury to the guarding device by coming' in contactwith a fixed obstruction such, for example, as a curb stone when the car is approaching the curb. To this end two disks D D, faced with leather E, are interposed in the rod a be-. tween the coiled slprmg and the support for the rod 0'. A b0 G is secured to the disk D and asses through the disk D, and a s ring is interposed between the nut F on tiie end of the rod G and the disk D; thereby pressing the disks D and D together. These two disks are set at an angle to the plane of the wheel, as shown, so that when the magnet strikes an obstruction and is thrown back toward the wheel, it will also be thrown to one side to prevent its being over-ridden by the wheels and. to remove it from any possibility of injury. Other means for preventing the over-riding of the magnetic structure by the wheels, or the undue elongation of the supporting spring for any other cause, are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. In Fig. 1, the slack chain 6 extends from the iron armature b of the magnetic structure to the su porting arm for the guarding device, and it will be seen that this chain will afford a positive stop to the extension of the s ring a. Similarly in Fig. 3 the sliding bloc: e in its downward movement engages the staple e which also affords a positive stop to'the downward movement of the s ring.

It wil be understood that the features illustrated in Figs. 3 and 9 may be applied to the machine as illustrated in Fig. 1, for example, and that in general the different features herein illustrated and described may be applied separately or'together, as circumstances may dictate. It will furthermore be understood that the guarding magnet may be made 11 of a plurality of small magnets b or the lilie extended to any desired extent across the path of the vehicle.

What we claim is:' 7

LA tire guarding device for vehicles comprising an electro-magnet having energizing windings embedded therein, a sup-- port for the magnet holding it near the ground in front of the wheel, a source of cur rent on the vehicle body, and connections be tween the source of current and the energizing windings; substantially as described.

2. A tire-guarding device for vehicles comprising a bar electro-magnet having energizing windings embedded therein and connected with a suitablesource of current on I rhea nsecurity, poit for yieldingly supporting the magnet with one of its poles in front of the wheei near the ground, substantially as described.

comprising an iron-clad electro-magnet hav ing energizing windings connected with a suitable source of current on the vehicle body, and a stiff but flexible support for yieldingly supporting the magnet in front of the wheel near the ground, substantially as described. 4. A tire-guarding device for vehicles, comprising an electro-magnet sup )orted front of the wheel near the ground connections from the energizing coils of said mag; net to a suitable source of electric current on the vehicle body, and contacts in said connections adapted to be opened by the drawing down of said magnet toward the ground, whereb injury to the tire-guarding device due to ed magnetizable bodies in the roadway is prevented, substantially as described. 5. A tire-guarding device for vehicles, comprising an electro-Inagnet hun from the vehicle in front of the wheel near t e ground by means of connections including a tubular portion and a stiff coiled spring, connections and a suitable source of electric current on the vehicle body, separable contacts within the tubular portion of the support through whichthe circuit connections lead, and mechanism connected with the spring for separating said contacts when the spring is elongated, substantially as described.

- 6. A tireguarding device for vehicles, comprising an electro-magnet su ported in front of the wheel near the ground and energized by an electric current from a suitable source on the vehicle body, and meansfor the electro-magnet to one side of the path of the wheel and simultaneously deenergizing it, substantially as described.

7. A tire-guarding device forvehicles, comprising an electro-magnetysu ported in front of the wheel near the groun and energized by an electric current from a suitable source on the vehicle body, and means under the control of an occupant of the vehicle for throwing the ma net to one side of the path of the wheel an ing it, substantially as described.

comprising a magnet supported in front of the wheel near the ground on a-pivoted support which is capable of being turned on its pivot so that the magnet lies beneath the vehicle body out of the path of the wheels,

and mechanism for locking the su port in that position,

substantially as descr1bed.

9'. A tire-guarding device for vehic'les, comprising a magnet supported in front of maasna But amine Sap;

automatically and periodically throwing 8. A tire-guarding device for vehicles,

3. A tire guarding devicefor vehicles,

etween the energizing coils of the magnet simultaneously denergizthe Wheel near the ground by means of a suport depending from the vehicle, and means described. interposed in said support for automatically In testimony whereof We afiix our signaphroving the21 nilagnelt tlobone sidp as it is tures, in presence of two Witnesses. 5 orce towar t e w ee an 0 struction,

substantially as described. POWEL 10. A, tire guarding device for vehicles, comprising a magnet supported near the \Vitn esses: ground in front of the whee by a stifi coiled WM. J. H. STEWART,

extension of said spring; substantially as i 1?) spring,. and a positive stop for limiting the N. E. DWYER.

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