Improvements in Signalling and Controlling Apparatus for Motor Vehicles.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Signalling and Controlling Apparatus for Motor
Vehicles.
I, WILLIAM RICHARD WYNNE, of 42, Palace Mansions, Addison Bridge,
in the County of London, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows,-
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the driver of a motor
vehicle can give waining signals by means of the controller handle which regu-
lates the driving power of the car or vehicle without releasing the grip of his
hand from such handle
The invention consists in providing means by which the handle of the con-
troller can receive at the will of the driver a vertical movement at any portion
of its usual horizontal path.
The driver is thus able to regulate the speed of the car and without releasing
his grip upon the handle or affecting the speed of the car to operate the warning
signal apparatus leaving his other hand free to work the usual brake handle
The vertical movement of the handle controls a suitable lever or other
mechanical connection whereby either directly or indirectly an electric circuiț
is closed or opened causing the required signal to be produced by an electric bell
or otherwise
The closing of the said electric circuit controlled by means of the said handle
instead of causing an electric bell to ring may cause an electric braking appa-
ratus to be brought into action by closing the circuit of the electric motor upon
the vehicle through the necessary resistance coils or it may be made to produce
both of the above mentioned results
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Signalling and Controlling Apparatus for Motor
Vehicles.
I, WILLIAM RICHARD WYNNE, of 42, Palace Mansions, Addison Bridge, W,
in the County of London, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the driver of a motor
vehicle can give warning signals by means of the controller handle which regu-

page_text: lates the driving power of the car or vehicle without releasing the grip of his
hand from such handle.
The invention consists in providing means by which the handle of the con-
troller can receive at the will of the driver a vertical movement at any portion
of its usual horizontal path.
The driver is thus able to regulate the speed of the car and without releasing
his grip upon the handle or affecting the speed of the car to operate the warning
signal apparatus leaving his other hand fee to work the usual brake handle
The vertical movement of the handle controls a suitable lever or other
mechanical connection whereby either directly or indirectly an electric circuit
is closed or opened causing the required signal to be produced by an electric bell
or otherwise.
The closing of the said electric circuit controlled by means of the said handle
instead of causing an electric bell to ung may cause an electic braking appa-
ratus to be brought into action by closing the circuit of the electric motor upon
the vehicle through the necessary resistance coils or it may be made to produce
both of the above mentioned results.
The accompanying drawings will enable the construction and working of my
invention to be easily understood
Figures 1 and 2 shew diagrammatically internal views of that apparatus,
commonly known among electrical engineers as "the controller" but here shewn
without the numerous connecting springs, contacts, wires, magnetic-blowouts,
etc., which constitute no part of my invention
The controller level A 18 usually mounted upon a vertical spindle B and
moves round in a houzontal plane when the handle C (preferably made of an
insulating material) 18 forced round by the hand of the driver of the vehicle
whose speed is to be controlled
The horizontal motion of the controller lever A usually causes various elec-
trical connections to be made and bioken which influence the speed and occa-
sionally the direction of motion of the motor or motors upon the mechanically
driven vehicle or train of vehicles
In applying my invention to such controllers I prefer to make the lever A
hollow, and utilize the enclosed space for transmitting by means of the lever D
pivotted at E, any vertical movement given by the driver's hand to the handle O
of the level.
I construct the handle C preferably as shewn in the sectional view in Figure 1,
but other methods of construction may obviously be used without departing from
the spirit of my invention
Upon the level A I fix a tube F, on the outside of this tube a handle C can
slide up and down and it can also 1otate fiecly Inside the tube a rod G can
slide up and down, the top of this 1od being enlarged and inclosed in a hollow
space formed in the insulating material of the handle C. Downward pressure
of the driver's hand upon the handle brings all parts of the apparatus into the
position shewn in Figure 1 and the controller lever can be rotated in the usual
manner to affect the speed or direction of the vehicle or train of vehicles.
If the handle C be raised by the driver's hand at any part of its horizontal
travel, the lever D will be lifted by the suitably shaped end of the rod G and
its further end is depressed, forcing down the rod H (preferably placed in the
centre of the hollow main shaft B of the controller) which, in turn depresses the
insulated platform J (suitably pivotted at K and normally forced upwards by
the spring L) and thus, by any well known means, completes suitable electric
circuits, for instance, by the rubbing metallic contact springs M connected with
an electric bell and/or electric lamp or both for producing electrical signals by
means of sound and/or light
I provide the electic bell for producing such audible signals with a high
resistance shunt across its contact making device to reduce the sparking pro-
duced by the use of electricity at high pressure either in the form of carbon or

page_text: in the form of a condenser or of a highly self-inductive wire resistance, or as
indicated in Figure 3, I use a non-inductively wound resistance coil arranged
in series with the electric bell E of ordinary construction, or I combine and use
any of these methods.
In the diagram Figure 3, A represents the electric main supplied with the
electrical energy at high pressure, such as 500 volts for street-tramway work,
B representing the trolley pole or collector and C representing the contact
making device controlled by the vertical motion of the driver's handle, D repre-
sents the non-inductive resistance in series with the electric bell E which has
one of its terminals connected to the earth or return circuit
If the handle C in Figure 1 be raised by the driver's hand still higher, a
second series of electrical contacts is brought into action and the plates P and Q,
for example, complete an electrical circuit which may control the electric brake
either directly, oi indirectly through a suitable apparatus, placed upon the
driver's vehicle oi, in addition, upon all or any member of a train of vehicles
In the case, for example, of a single electrically propelled tramway car having
one or more electio-motors mechanically connected to its wheels in accordance
with the usual practice, I so arrange the electrical contacts brought into action
by raising the handle of the controller that the motor or motors become short-
circuited through a suitable resistance, whereby the momentum of the tramcar
by rotating the motor on motors connected to its revolving wheels, excites elec-
trical energy in the motors which, being transformed into heat in the resistance
coils, provided for that purpose, produces an equivalent mechanical biaking
effect upon the carwheels which is sufficient to arrest the motion of the tiamcar
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim 18:
1. The method herem described of signalling and/or applying the brake to
a vehicle or train of vehicles by means of a handle having a movement such as
is herein described, constructed and operated substantially as here before
described.
2 The application of the aforesaid handle and connecting mechanism for
operating electric circuits, to the controllers of mechanically propelled vehicles
substantially as hereinbefore described
3. The application to removable lever handles as used upon controllers of a
handle having the motions and performing the functions described herein in-
fluencing electrical circuits through mechanism substantially as herein before
described
4. The combination upon mechanically propelled vehicles, of the controlling,
regulating and signalling apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described.
5. The application of electric signalling apparatus either audible or visual or
both, to electrically propelled vehicles, actuated by a handle upon the controller
lever, having an up and down movement and capable of being operated by the
hand of the driver while simultaneously the speed or direction of the vehicle
can be affected from the same lever and handle substantially as herein before
described.
3
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1000