Improvements in Station Indicators for Tramway and Railway Vehicles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1894-Accepted, 20th Oct., 1894
CUMI DVIE DE DUINICATION.
Improvements in Station Indicators for Tramway and Railway
Vehicles.
We, MORITZ TREITEL, Merchant, and GUSTAV TRESENREUTER, Technical
Expert, both of 11 Roonstrasse Berlin in the Empire of Germany, 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
statement:
The automatic station-indicators for tramways etc., hitherto known, have none
of them come into practical use, because, on the one hand, they were too
complicated to guarantee a reliable working; and on the other hand, they required
particular attention on the part of the traincar-conductor, who at the end of the
run had to regulate and reverse the apparatus.
But by means of the apparatus which is the subject of this invention the
necessity for such special attention is obviated, and its operation is unerring,
owing to the simplicity of its construction, as all possibility of a dead-lock in the
working of the apparatus is effectually barred.
This improved apparatus is illustrated, by way of example, as applied to a
tramcar in the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 being a general view, in elevation, partly in section; and
Figure 2 a plan; and
Figure 3 an enlarged plan of the sleeve-bearing for the transmission of motion
from the driving axle of the car.
T,
As will be seen from these drawings, upon one of the tram-car axles a is fixed a
wheel b with only one tooth, which engages with a second wheel c keyed to a shaft d,
journalled above the axle a. The wheels b and c are constructed as a step by step
retarding or diminishing motion, in such manner that the wheel c is only rotated
to the extent of one tooth at each complete revolution of the wheel b, i.e. through
only a certain portion of its circumference, then becoming stationary until the
engagement is renewed, in due course by the single tooth of 6 coming into contact
with the next tooth of c, and so on. The movement is transmitted from the
and
shaft d by means of the bevel-gear e-f, g-h, g'-h' and by the shafts
conveniently located under the carriage-floor, to the vertical shaft i. This latter
shaft carries at its upper end a roller k, arranged side by side with another
pressure-roller 1. The shaft i is situated in one corner of the car and prolonged
upwards to a suitable height above 'the top of the side windows of the car; and
at the other end of the car, on the same side there is a vertical guide-roller k³
Figure 2 corresponding to k, but not independently driven. An endless band m
passes between the rollers & and I and round k and k¹, so that when the roller k,
fixed to the shaft i, is rotated, the endless band m is caused to move in the
longitudinal direction, from end to end of the carriage, along the side, around the
rollers k and k¹ and above the windows, in such manner as to be conveniently
visible to passengers in the car. On the central portion of the band are legibly
inscribed the names of the streets along which the car passes in the journey; and
preferably above this again are indicated the names of the cross or side streets
branching off from the main route. The vacant space say below the names of
streets is intended to be utilized for advertising purposes. At conveniently the
centre of the car (longitudinally) is a fixed arrow or index-point p, indicating on

page_text: For
the endless band passing by it the situation of the car at any given moment. No
special adjustment of the endless band is necessary, as a general rule.
instance, when the car runs from the terminus at night to the yard, the endless
band, it is true, will continue to give route-indications, which will of course be
not only useless but erroneous; that matters not however seeing that the action
will be reversed and nullified by the return journey on the following morning
from the yard to the terminus or starting point, so that the endless band will be
If
brought back to the proper place and renew its correct indications en route.
however, in consequence of any skidding or slip of the driving wheels of the.car,
any erroneous indication. should arise, it can be remedied by releasing the
coupling o provided for the purpose on the vertical shaft i, and turning the roller k
in either direction as may be necessary to adjust the endless band m so as to
rectify the error.
The arrangement as described for working the endless band m on one side of the
car is duplicated for the other side, in the manner shown in Figure 2.
The shaft is conveniently carried in suitable bearings beneath the carriage-
floor and connected by the universal joint z with the shaft 9 carrying the mitre
wheel and journalled in the sleeve loosely carried by the shaft d as shown on
an enlarged scale in Figure 3. This construction is rendered necessary because the
shaft must be capable of moving up and down within a limited distance in
connection with the counter-shalt d, while still rotating with the universal joint z
and shaft r. The bearings d' of shaft d are arranged to rise and fall slightly
in a slot in the bracket or frame R which is secured to the underside of the
carriage-floor and this again is carried on springs by the axle-boxes of the pair of
running wheels which drive the indicator mechanism. The distance between the
driving axle a and the car-floor is thus variable, whereas the height of d above a
is fixed, and consequently the forked or slotted bracket R must be arranged to
slide up and down outside the journals d' of the shaft d; and as the shaft q rises
and falls with d, as the car vibrates and jolts in running, while the shaft rises
and falls with the car-frame to which it is secured, the universal joint is necessary
to maintain the transmission of rotary motion under these relative variations in
height.
T
For the purpose of protecting the above-described movable endless band m from
interference or injury it is enclosed in a suitable case with a glass front.
With this improved indicator provision can readily be made, and in the simplest
possible manner, to remove an endless band from a particular car and substitute in
its place another corresponding to a different journey, in case of the car being
transferred from one route to another, and that without any alteration being
required in the apparatus itself.
+1
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. An automatic station-indicator for travelling vehicles comprising a movable
endless band which bears the names of the corresponding stations streets etc. upon
it in due and measured order and is operated by rollers one or more actuated by
suitable mechanism directly from the wheels of the vehicle in such manner that
moves slowly behind a fixed index-band pointer or equivalent so as to indicate the
name of the street or station by which the car is at the moment passing in its
journey the band changing its direction of motion to correspond with the direction
in which the vehicle is running at the time so as to give correct route-indications.
2. In the devices for the transmission of motion from one of the wheel axles of
the vehicle to the endless travelling band described in Claim I the arrangement
for connecting the longitudinal shaft g and its mitre wheel with the transverse
counter-sbaft d and its mitre wheel e carried by the vehicle wheel axle a of a
sleeve such as on the shaft d for the purpose of enabling the latter and its
bearings d¹ to rise and fall in the slot or fork of the bracket R secured to the

page_text: vehicle floor without affecting the direct and uninterrupted transmission of motion
by the bevel gear ef substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 12th day of September 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT
Agents for the Applicants.