Improvements in Station and Street Indicators.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 14th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 28th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 23th Nov., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by FIESCO MANDLEBAUN, of San Francisco, in the
County of San Francisco, State of California, United States of America,
Gentleman.]
Improvements in Station and Street Indicators.
I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, in the County of London,
Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
The
My invention relates to the indicators carried by a railway carriage or other
vehicle to shew the names of the successive stations or streets which the vehicle
passes, these names being marked on a drum turned step by step or on a series of
cards or slips which present themselves successively behind a glass screen.
step by step movement is effected by a pawl acting on a ratchet wheel, this pawl
being moved by the armature of an electro magnet which is excited by a current of
electricity when the vehicle comes to the place where the name has to be changed.
The closing of the circuit for the electro magnet is effected by a suitable switch.
which may be worked by hand or automatically by stationary triggers or tappets
moving the switch lever as the vehicle passes them.
The electromagnet consists of two vertical cores coiled with insulated wire and
situated at one end of the indicator casing, with a horizontal armature lever
mounted under or over them. This lever may be a simple one having the pawl
pivotted to it at an intermediate part of its length, or it may move a second lever
to which the pawl is pivotted so that only a moderate stroke of the armature is
required to give full stroke to the pawl. According to a modification, the armature
is attached to a vertically guided sliding bar to which the pawl is pivotted.
Besides the pawl worked by the armature to move the ratchet tooth by tooth, there
is another pawl to prevent the wheel from turning backwards. In order to prevent
the ratchet wheel from overrunning, I provide a second ratchet wheel with oppositely
inclined teeth and make the pawl lever with a tail which, as the pawl completes its
stroke engages the tooth of this second ratchet and prevents farther movement.
In order to avoid noise and shock I provide elastic buffers for the armature or its
lever.
Dated this 14th dov of July 1891
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Station and Street Indicators.
I, OLIVER IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, in the County of London,
Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following stateinent:
My invention relates to the indicators carried by a railway or tramway carriage
or other vehicle to shew the names of the successive, stations or streets which the
vehicle passes, these names being marked on a series of cards or slips which present
themselves in obedience to mechanism which I shall describe, referring to the
accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the indicator, a portion of the front being broken
away to show the interior.

page_text: '
Figure 2, is a transverse section on the line X X of Figure 1.
Figure 3, is a plan of the maguet and pawl supporting plate.
Figure 4 is a part side elevation and Figure 5 is a plan showing a construction
of the actuating lever by which the pawl is operated by a less throw of the
latter.
Figure 6 is a section partly in elevation and Figure 8 is a plan showing another
modification.
Figure 7 is a view showing part of the ratchet of the card cylinder, with positive
means for advancing the same, and arresting the advance at a given point.
1 is the indicator-casing, which is of the form usually employed in this class of
devices, being provided with a hinged panel 2 in front, having an open part 3,
through which the names of the streets, or stations, are displayed as the cards drop.
Within the casing is the card-cylinder 4, mounted upon a shaft 5, the journals of
which have bearings, at the ends of the casing, a ratchet 6 being fixed on the shaft
at the end of the cylinder.
At one end of the casing beneath the ratchet 6, is arranged a plate 7 from which
project a pair of curved brackets 8 somewhat elastic to prevent severe jarring.
On these brackets a pair of magnets 9, are secured in such a manner that the
cores 12 project downward in front of the brackets 8.
The magnet coils, which are long, in order to obtain the necessary power without
requiring a very strong battery current, have the upper ends of their cores
connected by a soft iron bar 13, which has a pin 14 fitting loosely in a hole in the
top of the casing to hold the magnets in place, permitting some vertical play.
At the front of the plate 7 are eyes 15 between which is pivotted a sleeve 16, with
lever arms 18, carrying an armature 19 immediately heneath the core ends 12 of the
electro-magnets.
The armature 19 has an eye 20 to which is pivotted a pawl 21. This pawl is held
by a spring 22 in engagement with the-teeth of the ratchet wheel 6. Upon the end
of the casing at 24 is fixed a spring pawl 25, which snaps behind the teeth of the
ratchet, to prevent movement backwards.
The coils of the electro-magnets are connected to binding posts 20 and 27, from
which wires 28 and 29 are carried to the opposite poles of any suitable battery,
either primary or secondary. In one of the wires is interposed a circuit breaker
and closer 30, which may be a switch lever, push button or other -known circuit
making and breaking device, worked by the person operating the indicator or by
suitable triggers on the roadway operated by the passage of the vehicle, the circuit
being kept normally open by a spring or otherwise.
To the end of each electro-magnet, I attach a washer 31, projecting somewhat
below the ends of the cores 12, to prevent the armature from making contact with
the cores, thus avoiding the retention of the armature by residual magnetism and
noise of the blow.
In order to obtain the necessary throw of the pawl operating the ratchet, without
separating the armature far from the magnetic poles, I prefer to use a compound
lever as shewn in Figures 4 and 5. In this case the levers 18 have pivotted to them
at 32 a second pair of levers 34 projecting from a sleeve 35 pivotted upon the side
brackets 36, which carry the electro-magnets. To the levers 34 is pivotted the
pawl 37, by which the ratchet is operated.
By this construction the armature carried upon the ends of the longer levers 18
is always nearly parallel with and near to the ends of the magnet cores, whilst the
pawl being moved by the levers 34, has its throw sufficiently increased to work the
ratchet.
In order to prevent the ratchet from moving too far, I have provided the
automatic stop device shewn in Figure 7. It consists of a lever 40, carrying an
armature 41, which is attracted by the electro-magnets 9, which in this case are
shewn inverted and arranged beneath the armature, but this need not be so. The
lover 40, is pivotted at 42; on a frame 43, which is fixed to the end of. the indicator
casing and carries one end of the cylinder shaft. On the lever 40 is pivotted at 44,

page_text: the push pawl 45 which engages the outer ratchet teeth 46, causing the ratchet to
advance one tooth at each stroke of the lever 40. The end 47 of the lever 40,
lying in a different vertical plane from that occupied by the pawl, projects so far
that, when the stroke of the pawl 45 is completed, it engages other teeth 48, cut
opposite to the teeth 46. Thus, however quickly the stroke of the pawl 45 may
be made, the end 47 must engage the teeth 48, and arrest the rotation of the ratchet.
when the stroke of the pawl 45 is completed.
As the lever 40 acts, its curved end 47 in approaching the teeth 48 has a slight.
movement, along with the teeth; by varying the curvature of the end 47, this
relative movement may be made to give the effect of a slightly yielding stop,
arresting the ratchet without abrupt shock.
In the modified form of the mechanisin, shewn in Fig. 6 the armature 19 is fixed
oh a bracket 51, having a leg 52 which slides in a socket 53; and a sleeve 51",
pinned to a vertical stem 54, which has its ends guided in upper and lower sockets 56.
and 57. The push pawl is pivotted on the sleeve 51°, and held in engagement with
the ratchet by a spring 59, which also aids the descent of the bracket 51.
By my invention as above described the actuating mechanism of the indicator is
materially simplified, the number of parts is reduced, and the operation of the card
cylinder is rendered exact. I am also able to operate the card cylinder by a short
lift of the armature, without materially affecting its parallelism to the ends of the
magnet cores, and thus I can obtain a strong action of the magnet with a moderate
battery-current.✓
Finally, I provide a simple, but positive and accurate stop-device, by which the
cylinder is arrested when its movement by the pawl is completed, thus preventing
the fall of more than a single card at a time.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven--
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a station or strect indicator, in combination with the ratchet of the card.
cylinder a short pawl lever jointed above its middle to a longer lover carrying an
armature and a pair of electro-magnets arranged to attract the armature, sub-
stantially as described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5.
2. In a street or station indicator, in combination with the card cylinder a ratchet
having two sets of opposite teeth, an armature lever having a pawl engaging the
teeth of the one set and having its end, projecting toward teeth of the other set,.
and an electro-magnet to attract the armature, substantially as and for the purpose
Bet forth.
Dated this 2nd day of October 1801
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant..