US990842A - Mail-carrier system. - Google Patents

Description

G. E. GONLE Y. MAIL CARRIER SYSTEM. APPLICATION rump PEB.1,1911.

990,842. Patented Ma 2, 1911.

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CLARENCE E. G'ONLEY, OF PENN YAN, NEW YORK.

MAIL-CARRIER SYSTEM.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE E. CONLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Penn Yan, in the county of Yates and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lVIail-Carrier Systems, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in devices for transporting mail between a house or dwelling and the main road or route of a mail carrier, as particularly used in rural districts.

It is the main object of my invention to provide more practical improvements on my former Patent No. 980,209 issued Jan. 3, 1911 for a like device.

With this object in view my invention consists in the novel features of construe tion, combination and arrangements of parts, which will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in the specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the two terminals of the system and intermediate parts; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the supporting posts and brackets thereon; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the house terminal of the system; Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the house terminal as shown on line et4, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a section as seen on line 5-5, Fig. 8, (showing the application of the chin clamps.)

In carrying out my invention I shall refer to the drawings in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views, in which 1 designates an elevated track formed of wire, and of any desired length, from which is suspended a car or the like 2, which car is substantially rectangular in design having the upwardly extending arms 8 thereon carrying a pulley 4 which engages said track 1 and is adapted to ride thereon. To relieve the track wire of its strain, I engage the ends thereof with coil springs 5, which springs have their opposite ends adjustably secured to the brackets 6 carried by the frames 7 which form the terminals of this mail carrying system.

Intermediate of the terminals 7 are any number of upright posts 8, to the upper ends of which are secured the angular brackets 9,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. February 1, 1911.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Serial No. 605,895.

the outer ends of said brackets being designed to receive the track wire 1, and thereby hold the same in elevated position. As these posts are preferably of greater height than the terminals, it is necessary, of course, to provide some means for the propulsion of the car on the track, which from the terminals to the posts, is inclined upwardly, and said means will be hereinafter described.

As stated, the car 2 is substantially rectangular in design, and carries any desired form of letter-box 10, which is preferably snspended from the upper portion of the car by means of the hangers 11. I eliminate the base rod, however, which I have shown in my former Patent No. 980,209 issued Jan. 3, 1911, and provide the lower ends of the vertical portions 12 of said car with arcuately designed grooves, which. are adapted to receive an endless cable 13, and to securely retain the cable within the grooves, chin clamps 1 1 are secured adjacent the lower ends of said bars 12 and engage with the cable to hold the same in position and clamp the car thereto.

The posts 8 positioned intermediate of the terminals are also each provided with a substantially U-shaped bracket 15, the free ends of which are bent downwardly to form securing portions 16 whereby the same may be engaged with said posts, and the base portion 17 of the substantially U designed brackets, which extends vertically when positioned on the posts, has mounted thereon a pair of pulleys 18. These pulleys are arranged one above the other and held in position by means of a guard or guide member 19, the upper end of which is curved outwardly as at 20 to form a finder or the like. These last referred to features of the brackets, pulleys and guard therefor, form part of the improvements that I have designed over my former Patent No. 980,209 issued Jan. 3, 1911..

The cable 13, as stated, is an endless one and. passes around a guide pulley 21 at the road terminal of the system, said cable having. the reaches thereof elevated in alinement with the track wire by passing the same over the pulleys 18 carried by the upright posts 8. The house terminal is provided with a drive pulley 22, over which said cable passes, and it is the power means for driving this pulley that also forms a part of my invention, which will be hereinafter described in detail.

The pulley 22 is carried by a horizontal shaft 23 journaled in suitable bearings of the horizontal arms 2% of the frame 7, and carried 'on said shaft is also a pinion 25, which meshes With a gear 26, fixed to a second horizontal shaft 27, which is also journaled in suitable bearings of the horizontal arms 2st. A third horizontal shaft 28 also carried by the arms 24 has mounted thereon adjacent its respective ends the two pinions 29 and 30, said pinion 29 being meshed with the gear 26, and the pinion 30' being meshed with the gear 31. Said latter gear 31 is the main drive gear andis mounted upon a shaft 32, which may be rotated through any preferred means, as by a crank 33. Mounted upon one end of the shaft 28 beyond the pinion 29, is a fly or balance wheel 34, whereby when the crank 33 has been turned sufliciently, said wheel Will cause sufficient momentum to complete the necessary rotatlon of the dr ve wheel 22.

Fromthe foregoing, it Will be appreciated that by providing my improved device with the power actuated. means, as described and disclosed, great power Will be applied to the drive pulley with slight manual operation. Furthermore, it will be seen that by providing pulleys mounted upon brackets intermediate of the terminals, and adapted to receive the reaches of the endless cable, the friction occurring in my former patent and causing endless trouble Will be eliminated. It will further be seen that by the elimination of the base rod upon the car, as used in my former patent, and the provision of the grooves and chin clamps on the verticalpon tions of said car, that said car will ride over the pulleys in its path with little or no difliculty. It will still further be seen that the improvements as hereinabove described, are practical ones, absolutely necessary to the effective operation of the system.

What I claim is: V

1. In a system of the character described, the combination with a pair of terminals, posts-intermediate of said terminals, an endless cable engaging pulleys on said terminals, and means to drive said cable; of U-shaped brackets carried by said posts, pulleys mounted one above the other on the outer ends of said brackets, said pulleys being in the path of and in engagement with the reaches of said cable, and guards for said pulleys removably secured to said bracket and forming guides for said cable.

2. In a mail system of the class described, the combination with a pair of terminals, posts intermediate of said terminals, an endless cable engaging pulleys on said terminals and means to drive said cable; of U-shaped brackets having the extreme ends of the arms thereof bent at right angles and secured to said posts, pulleys mounted one above the other on those portions of the brackets forming the substantial bases thereof, said pulleys being in the path of and in engagement with the reaches of said cable, and guards for the pulleys secured to the bases of said brackets and forming guides for the cable, said guards having their upper ends curved outwardly to form finders for said cable.

In asystem of the class described, the combination with a pair of terminals, a track wire extending therebetween and a car suspended from said track wire; of an endless cable extending between said terminals, a pulley mounted on each terminal over which said cable extends, a manually operated gear mounted on one of said terminals, shafts also mounted on the last referred to terminal carrying a plurality of gears operating between the adjacent pulley and manually operated gear, and a fly wheel carried by one of said shafts.

4:- In a mail transportation system, the combination with a pair of l'Olll'llllfllS, a track Wire extending therebetween and a car of substantially U-shaped design suspended from said track wire, said car having the free ends of the arms thereof provided with grooves; of an endless cable extending between said terminals, pulleys over which said cable extends, U clamps removably sccnred to the arms of said car to retain the upper reach of said cable within the grooves thereof, and means to drive said cable.

In testimony whereof I hereunto atlix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. CLARENCE E. CONLEY. Vitnesses 4 J OI-IN Gr. TrroMrsoN, MARY E. lVA'rKINs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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