US971309A - Watchman's clock. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD C. ROSE, OF OSCEOLA, ARKANSAS.

WATCHMAN S CLOCK.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, RICHARD C. ROSE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Osceola, in the county of Mississippi and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and use ful VVatchma-ns Clock, (Case A,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in watchmans clocks and its object is to provide a clock system wherein the clock will automatically set itself into position to give an alarm if the watchman fails to properly operate means at a predetermined distant station.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detail description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which drawings Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a watchmans clock with the invention applied. Fig. 2 is a detail section through one of the armature mountings used in connection with the structure of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a clock 1 which may be installed at any suitable point in the system and so far as the time side of the clock is concerned it may be of any approved type. The clock carries a hand or arm 2 which may be one of the time indicating hands of the clock or may be a separate arm not visible to the casual ob server. In the path of the hand or arm 2 are contact fingers 3, in number depending on the distance traversed by the hand or arm in a given time, and the time intervals at the ends of which the watchman is expected to cause the proper operation of the clock. The fingers 3 may be spring fingers and the hand or arm 2 may be arranged to sweep across these fingers so as to make contact therewith, and by properly arranging the parts this contact may be quite short in duration and sufiiciently light to constitute no impediment to the operation of the clock but at the same time give good electrical contact.

At appropriate points adjacent to the clock 1 are mounted levers 4 preferably upon a centrally located pivot post 5 which may be threaded to receive a clamp nut 6 so that each lever 4 may move under the application of an appropriate force but will maintain the position to which it is moved by the friction caused by the engagement therewith of the clamp nut 6. The same Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 10, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

Serial No. 548,355.

stem or post 5 may receive a thumb nut 7 constituting the movable member of a binding post for attaching a conductor to the stem or post 5, or a conductor may be soldered or otherwise connected to the lever 4. On the lever 4 are armatures 8, 9 in operative relation to which are electro- magnets 10, 11 respectively. These two magnets 10, 11 may constitute the two members of an ordinary horseshoe electro-magnet, or they may be separate electromagnets. Each lever 4 carries two contact brushes 12, 13 at the respective ends. The lever 4 is a polarized lever so that it will move toward the pole piece of one or the other of the magnets 10 or 11 in accordance with the di rection of flow of current through these magnets and the polarity of their pole pieces. The brushes 12 and 13 are so disposed that when the lever 4 is rocked in one direction the brush 12 is in the path of the arm or hand 2 and when the lever is rocked in the other direction the brush 13 is in the path of the arm or hand 2 and when one brush is in the path of said hand the other brush is out of the path of said hand. There is a contact 3 in the path of the hand 2 in advance of both brushes 12 and 13 upon the lever 4.

The magnet 10 is connected on one side to a conductor 14 including a battery 15 or other source of electric energy and this conductor leads to some distant point where its continuity is broken by a key or push button 16 from whence the conductor may lead to ground as indicated at 17 or may be brought back to another conductor 18 leading to one side of the magnet 11. The conductor 18 is however in the drawings indicated as grounded at 19. The two magnets 10 and 11 are coupled together by a conductor 20 so that when the circuit is closed at the circuit controller 16 there is established a circuit from the battery 15 by way of the conductor 14 to the circuit controller 16 thence to ground at 17, returning by ground at 19 through the conductor 18 and traversing the two magnets 11 and 10 and finally again reaching the battery 15, the assumption being that the circuit is completed by closing the circuit controller 16. The conductor 14 between the magnet 10 and the battery 15 is connected by a branch conductor 21 to the contact finger 3, or to the contact fingers 3 if there be more than one of them.

- vice and the other side of this bell 26 is coupled by a conductor 27 to the conductor 22.

There may be as many contact fingers 3, levers 4 and magnets 10, 11 as may be desired, and these devices will be disposed around the clock so as to be engaged by the hand or arm 2 in any order adapted for the purposes of the invention. Each magnet 10 is coupled by a conductor 14 to a battery 15 and ultimately to a key or circuit controller 16.

Let it be assumed that the hand 2 is moving under the action of the clock movement, then at a certain time it will engage a spring contact 3 and there will be established a circuit from the battery 23 to the conductor 22, to the hand 2, thence by the spring finger 3 engaged thereby to conductor 21, thence by the conductor 21 through the magnet 10 and from the latter to the magnet 11 and ultimately back to the battery 23. Current will flow through the magnets 10 and 11 in a certain direction so as to produce a polarity in the pole pieces of the two magnets such as will cause an attraction of one end of the lever 4c and the repulsion of the other end in a manner to rock the lever on its central pivotal support 5, thereby withdrawing the contact finger 12 from out the path of the hand or arm 2 and moving the contact finger 13 into the path of this arm or hand 2. If now it be assumed that at the proper time the watchman arrives at the predetermined station and there depresses the key 16 or otherwise closes the circuit, if the structure be another type of circuit closer than a key, then there is established a circuit from the battery 15 through the conductor let to the ground 17, thence by the ground 19 to the conductor 18 and through the magnets 11 and 10 to the battery 15. The battery 15 is socoupled in the circuit that the current traversing the magnets 11 and 10 is the re verse-of that traversing the magnets from the battery 23 with the result that the polarity of these magnets is reversed, and the lever 4 being a polarized lever, its position is reversed, the end formerly attracted now being repelled, and the end formerly re pelled now being attracted so that the brush 12 is moved into the path of the hand or arm 2, while the brush 13 is moved out of the path of the hand or arm 2. But the proper time for the watchman to manipulate the circuit controller 16 is so related to the movement of the hand 2 that it has already moved by the contact finger 12 and is approaching the contact finger 13. Since however the finger 13 is no longer in the path of the hand or arm 2, the latter continues its movement without engaging either finger 12 or 13 and is electrically inactive until it again moves into engagement with the finger 3 first considered or with another finger 3 in its path. If it be considered that the hand again reaches the first named finger 3, then the magnets 10 and 11 are energized as first described and the lever t is rocked so as to move the finger 12 out of the path of the oncoming hand or arm 2 and moves the finger 13 into the path of the said arm or hand 2. If however the watchman fails in his duty, then the finger 13 still remains in the path of the onmoving hand or arm 2 and is ultimately engaged thereby thus establishing a circuit from the battery 25 through the bell 26 thence by way of the conductors 27 and 22 to the hand 2, thence by the finger 13 to the lever a, and back to the battery by the conductor 241. This will cause a signal on the bell 26, or if the bell be replaced by some other electrically operated mechanism the latter will be actuated. Whenever the hand or arm reaches a finger 3, the magnets 10, 11 are energized and the adjacent finger 12 is moved out of the path of the arm 2 while the finger 13 is moved into the path of this arm and unless the circuit controller 16 be actuated within the time limit determined by the movement of the hand or arm 2 from a point between the fingers 12 and 13 to the finger 13, then a signal will be caused. The space between the fingers 12 and 13 may be so regulated that the watchman has only a comparatively small margin of time within which to manipulate the circuit controller 16 to cause the finger 13 to move out of the path of the arm or hand 2. If the circuit at the circuit controller 16 is closed too soon then the hand or arm 2 will engage the finger 12 and a signal will be caused. If the circuit controller 16 is manipulated too late then the hand or arm 2 will engage the finger 13 and a signal will be caused.

By the employment of a suitable number of magnets, 10, 11 and levers t with the fingers 12, 13, and the contact fingers 3 the watchman may be compelled to cover the territory to be protected within a predetermined time under the penalty of having a signal caused should he fail to reach the several stations in time and in the proper order.

The signal device 26 is located at some point, say the superintendents office if the installation be in a factory, and the clock may be also located in the superintendents office.

lVhat is claimed is 1. In a watchmans clock, a contact hand or arm having a progressive movement, a contact constantly in the path of said hand or arm, a polarized armature lever intermediately pivoted, contacts on said armature lever and either of them movable by the rocking of the lever into path of the hand or arm, electro-magnets, one controlling one end of the armature lever and the other controlling the other end of said armature lever, a charged signal circuit connected to the hand and to the armature lever, a charged circuit including the hand, the magnets, and the contact constantly in the path of said arm, and a charged circuit including the magnets and a circuit controller and adapted to energize the magnets reversely to the circuit including the magnets, hand and contact constantly in the path of the latter.

2. In a Watchmans clock, a contact hand or arm having a progressive movement, a contact constantly in the path of said hand or arm, a polarized armature lever intermediately pivoted, means for maintaining the lever in actuated positions about its pivot support, contacts on said armature lever, and either of them movable by the rocking of the lever into the path of the hand or arm, electro-magnets one controlling one end of the armature lever and the other controlling the other end of said armature lever, a

charged signal circuit connected to the hand and to the armature lever, a charged circuit including the hand, the magnets and the contact constantly in the path of said arm, and a charged circuit including the magnets and a circuit controller and adapted to energize the magnets reversely to the circuit including the magnets, the hand, and the contact constantly in the path of the latter.

3. In a Watchmans clock, a progressively movable contact hand or arm, other contacts movable into and out of the path of the hand or arm, a polarized armature lever carrying said contacts, electro-magnet-s for causing the movement of the armature lever, means controlled by the hand or arm for causing the energizing of the electro-magnets in one direction, and manually controllable means for causing the energizing of the magnets in the other direction.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aiiixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

RICHARD C. ROSE. lVitnesses R. M. PARKER, F. T. CHAPMAN.

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