Patent GB-190113501-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Apparatus for the Transmission and Automatic Distribution of Mail Matter.
Inventor: OWEN GEORGE ALFRED
Filed: 1901-07-02
Granted: 1902-08-02
Abstract: 13,501. Owen, G. A. July 2. Elevated railways; rope railways.-Relates to a system and apparatus for the transmission and automatic distribution of mail matter, or, in short, to perform mechanically or electro-mechanically and automatically the work ordinarily performed by postmen. The invention consists in the construction of a conveyer to receive individual assorted mail at the post office and promiscuous or posted mail at the various post stations or boxes, of a track for the conveyer, of post-boxes or stations with individual lock or private mail-boxes and in electric communication with signals at the houses of recipients of mail matter, and of means for manipulating and working the travelling conveyer. Fig. 3 shows the conveyer in longitudinal vertical section, Fig. 5 the trackway in crosssection, and Fig. 7 illustrates the arrangement of the electric system. The conveyer A is provided with a multiple series of compartments 27 open at the top and bottom, and each horizontal tier has a removable base constituted by a flexible apron 29 wound on a spring roller 30 and held by the weighted catches 32 on the rock-shafts 33. Each rock-shaft 33 has an external upstanding lever arm 35, which, when swung by coming in contact with an abutment within a post-box or station, releases the apron corresponding to the compartments for that box, and allows the assorted mail matter to be discharged into the receiving-boxes. After a trip, the conveyer returns to the post-office with all its curtains or aprons wound upon the spring rollers, and these are stretched across the compartment bases by the operation of the rod 37. The conveyer may be made entirely of aluminium. The top 26 is separable, and has swing bolts which engage with lugs on the sides of the casing. The motor B propels the conveyer on the inverted trough-shaped feed-track 55 resting upon the wire or cable 62, the traction-roller wheel 54 being grooved, as also are the yielding roller 58 and the roller 59. The return wire 65, Fig. 5, is supported between the wooden clamping-blocks 67, and is insulated from the feeding-trackway 55. The under-running trolley 72 on the arm 70 fixed to the conveyer top, when in contact against the return wire 65, short-circuits the current to drive the motor. The conveyer has at one side a compartment a, Fig. 11, with a down-swinging door, and inwardly-swinging doors 82 adapted to be opened when pressed from without. This compartment is for the reception of promiscuous mail matter. Fig. 11 shows in plan and horizontal section the conveyer A within a post-station, and Figs. 12 and 13 show a post-station supported on its pillar 84 and with the conveyer in the upper central portion of the station or box. To cause the conveyer to remain within the station until it has delivered the assorted mail and received the posted mail, the return conductor 65, Fig. 7, near a post-station is covered by the insulator 100, so that the motor current is stopped before the lefthanded screw 90 engages with the spring-pressed obstructing half-nut 94, which controls the stoppage of the conveyer. The mail-receiving receptacle D is suspended and raised by the cord 107, which winds round the drum 108 when the sector rackgear 112 is moved over by the opening of the swing doors provided on the upper portion of the post-station. The mail matter is delivered to the compartment a in the conveyer, and, as the conveyer departs, the mail-receptacle D is lowered. The mailing-slot 102 is covered by the spring- operated shield 120, Fig. 10, while the receptacle D is raised. In the modified means for elevating the letter-box D, the suspending-cord passes over pulleys, and is connected to a tube which is supported on the conductor track 55. The motor casing f has an angular lever which forces the track tube endways and elevates the box D. Mail matter delivered to one or other of the private post-boxes b, by its pressure on an electric contact makes an electric circuit, and causes a bell or other signal to notify the recipient or recipients. A cut-out switch is provided in each signal circuit. An elevating and lowering truck for the body portion of the conveyer is shown in Fig. 16, and comprises a pair of crossed arms 148 and a screw shaft 153 with its end portions oppositely screwed. By turning the handle 155, the upper platform 147 is raised or lowered. The side posts for carrying the conveyer track are bent at the upper portions to allow for the passage of the conveyer.