Improvements in Mail Bag Receiving and Delivering Apparatus.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 1st Feb., 1892-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mail Bag Receiving and Delivering Apparatus.
I, ROBERT LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT of 62 Croxteth Road, Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
Improvements in mail bag receiving and delivering apparatus, consisting of one
or a series of turntables made to revolve at considerable speed, and a series of
columns each made to revolve at considerable speed.
The turntables are horizontal and rise above a platform having the driving gear
beneath.
The columns are revolved in the opposite direction to the turntables, and are set
in a frame which can be moved into certain positions.
In applying this invention the bag to be conveyed is placed on the turntable and
held upright by a hoop, supported from the platform. The turntable is then
revolved and the bag having acquired the same rotation as the turntable, will
stand upright and when in this condition the guiding hoop is dropped. In the
meantime the columns have also been revolved and have attained a considerable
number of revolutions per minute, when they are brought into contact with the
revolving bag. As the bag revolves in one direction and the columns in another,
the bag being the only independant body has its motion diverted from simple
rotation to transition by coming in contact with the column, which it is first met
by, and which influences its direction, so that it comes into contact with the next,
and this one having the same direction of rotation, as the previous one, also
influences it, towards the next, and so on, throughout all the series. When the
columns are moving forward the effect of transition is accelerated.
The power may be hand, steam or some other power, but preferably an electric
motor.
If a number of turntables are provided they must each be in the same relative
position to the columns and sufficiently apart, so that the bags may be met
in succession. The columns are then able to move one bag out of the way before
the next is touched.
Dated this Thirtieth day of April 1891.
R. LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mail Bag Receiving and Delivering Apparatus.
I, ROBERT LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT of 62 Croxteth Road Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby a mail bag may be
conveyed on to or delivered from a railway train when it is travelling at great
speed. For this purpose I provide a turntable rotated at sufficient speed to cause
the mail bag, which is placed on it to stand upright by its rapidity of rotation.
When in this condition it is met by the columns thrown out from the passing train.
These columns are also rotating at great speed but in the opposite direction to the
turntable so that when they come in contact with the bag they influence it by their
direction of rotation to such an extent that it is diverted from its simple motion of

page_text: rotation to that of transition from column to column throughout the series until it
is lodged inside the mail van in the curve at the end of the frame.
The accompanying drawings show the general arrangement.
Figure 1. shows a plan of the turntables, wayside platform, projecting platform
of the mail van, and the frame carrying the columns.
Figure 2. shows an elevation of the columns.
Figure 3. shows a side view of part of the mail van with the columns and turn-
tables.
On the drawings the different parts are denoted by the following letters,—Turn-
tables to be rotated, a. Columns to be rotated, c. Frame holding columns, f. Sides
of mail van, g. Wayside platform, 1. Projecting platform of mail van, e.
Floor
of mail van, d. Direction train is travelling denoted by arrow and xy.
In applying this invention to receiving a mail bag on a train moving at a rapid
rate, the bag is placed on the turntable, a, on the wayside platform, b, and rapidly
rotated until the bag stands upright by itself, when it is ready for the approaching
train, the mail van of which having the frame, f, projecting from it sufficiently far
to reach the turntables, a. The columns in the frame have also been made to
rotate rapidly and as the train travels along come into contact with the bag. The
turntable and bag are rotating in one direction and the columns are rotating in the
opposite direction so that when a column meets the bag the directions of rotation
at the place of impact are both tending to influence the bag in a direction towards
the train; the motion of the first column being sufficient to move the bag towards
the train so that it comes in contact with the next column which likewise influences
it towards the next and so on throughout the whole series of columns in the frame f.
When a mail bag has to be delivered from a train moving at a rapid rate the bag
is placed on turntable, a, on the platform, e, projecting from the mail van; and the
frame, f, carrying the columns, c, is on the wayside platform, b, and projects over
the turntables on the platform, e.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
The application of rotating turntables and rotating columns, substantially as and
for the purpose herein described and shown upon the drawings.
Dated the Thirtieth day of January 1892,
R. LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT.