Patent GB-191423677-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automobile Signals.
Inventor: BARRINGER GEORGE WASHINGTON
IPC: B60Q1/34
Filed: 1914-12-07
Granted: 1915-10-21
Abstract: 23,677. Barringer, G. W. Dec. 7. Automatic signals ; road-vehicle signals; semaphore signals ; transparency, stencil, and illuminated signals.-A signalling-device arranged on the rear of the vehicle comprises an illuminated rotatable cylinder for indicating the turning of the vehicle and a pivoted semaphore arm for indicating its stopping, the semaphore arm, when it is raised, being adapted to close the circuit through the lamp for illuminating it. The cylinder and the arm may be respectively controlled from the steering- wheels and the fast brake lever, or each may be controlled by the driver. An illuminated telltale is arranged in front of the driver to indicate movements of the cylinder and the semaphore arm, and the closing of the manually-operated switches for the internal lamps for illuminating the cylinder and the external lamp for illuminating the semaphore arm. In one form, the signalling- cylinder 18, Fig. 8, is operated by means of a handoperated bell-crank lever 12, 13, Fig. 2, within a casing on the steering-post connected by means of a rod 7 and a Bowden wire 17 with a spirally threaded rod 22, Fig. 8, engaging a rotatable nut 23, external teeth on which engage a tooth wheel on a spindle having a pin-and-slot connexion 39, 40 with a sleeve on the cylinder 18. The rod 7, Fig. 2, is brought to the normal position by springs 5 bearing against each side of a collar on the rod. The Bowden wire 17 is also connected by means of a second wire 24, Fig. 4, a rod 26, and a tube 29, to a clamp 30 on the front axle of the vehicle, so that the cylinder 18 may be automatically operated. In order that the wire 24 shall not be operated by slight movements of the steering-wheels, the rod is provided with collars 33, 34 spaced apart from each other and arranged on each side of the internally flanged end 32 of the tube, so that a little free movement of the tube relatively to the rod can take place. The cylinder 18, Fig. 8, may be of porcelain, or celluloid, or covered with an opaque substance, except the parts forming the words "stop," "left," and "right," and may be formed with metal ends 45, 46, a spring 42 which bears against the upper end 45 holding the lower end in place. The lamps within the cylinder 18 are switched on at night by means of a manually- (perated switch. The semaphore arm 58 rests in its inoperative position within the housing 56 enclosing the cylinder 18, and is operated through a Bowden wire 70, spring 68, rod 64, lever 63, and a pivoted bracket 62 having resilient jaws 61 between which the arm 58 fits, the Bowden wire 70 being connected through a double-armed lever 80, Fig. 1, to a pivoted foot-treadle 82, through the lever 80 and a spring 80<1> to a hand-lever, and through an emergency chain or cable 87<1> and a chain 87 to the foot brake lever 86. The arm 58 may be removed from the jaws 61, Fig. 8, and inserted between stationary jaws to act as a danger signal. The usual combined tail-light and numberilluminator 77 is arranged in a casing 56<1> at the bottom of the housing 56. A spring 72, Fig. 1, connected,to the wire'70 tends to keep the arm 58, Fig. 8, within the housing 56, and a notch in the foot-treadle 82, Fig. 1, is engaged with a plate 85 when it is desired to lock the arm 58, Fig. 8, in the raised position. The semaphore arm 58 in its raised position presses a contact spring 73 against a seccnd contact spring 74, and thereby closes the circuit through a lamp 75 for illuminating it, and through a lamp 91, Fig. 6, in the casing 89 of the tell-tale device. The casirg 89 is provided with a window for observing the lamp 91, windows 99 for observing lamps 94 in compartments 96, and auxiliary windows which are normally closed by plates 103, 104 carried by arms 105, 106. The plates are removed from the windows when pivoted switches, which control the current through the lamp 75, and the lamps in the cylinder, are closed by means of push-buttons, the plates being returned to their normal positions when the switches are opened by means of other push-buttons. The lamps 94 are automatically switched on simultaneously with the lamps in the cylinder when the cylinder is operated.