IMPROVEMENTS IN CALL OR TABLE BELLS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edmund Tonks at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th March 1878.
EDMUND TONKS, of the Firm of William Tonks and Sons, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CALL OR TABLE BELLS."
My Invention bas for its object to indicate when the call or table bell has been
rung, so that the attendant or other person on entering the room may by an inspec-
tion of the bell ascertain if it has been rung, my said Invention being specially
applicable when several call or table bells are used in the same room, as for example,
in a public dining room.
My said Invention consists in adapting to or combining with call or table bells
indicating mechanism, constructed substantially as herein-after described, the indi-
cator of the mechanism being operated by the act of ringing the bell.
I mount the call or table bell upon a stem, the upper half of which is tubular,
and the lower half forked or slotted. In the tubular half of the stein a rod slides,
the said rod being pressed upwards when at liberty to move by a coiled spring.
The upper end of the spring sliding rod projects from the summit of the bell.
Jointed to the milled nut at the summit of the bell is an indicator, which may
consist of a wing-like ornamental plate of metal or of other formed plate, which can
be readily seen at a distance from the bell. This jointed plate or indicator is capable
of being raised vertically, or of lying horizontally upon the bell. When in the latter
position the indicator is set for use, and when in the former position it indicates
that the bell has been rung. At the middle of the jointed indicator is a curved rib,
the concave side of which is presented to the projecting end of the spring sliding
rod described; this rib serves to set the indicator, and to raise it by the action of
the sliding rod upon it on the ringing of the bell.
The hammer or clapper of the bell may be jointed to the top of the stem within
the bell, and be operated by the rising of the indicator rod, or the haminer or
clapper may be jointed to the base of the stem, and be worked by hand to strike
the outside of the bell. In the former case a retaining arm for the indicator rod is
jointed to the base of the bell, and in the latter case the inner part of the clapper
arm is made to retain the indicator rod.

page_text: The clapper arm or retaining arm described carries a spring or other tooth, and
the lower end of the sliding rod is bevilled, the bevilled part terminating in a
shoulder.
When the indicator is turned down on its joint into a horizontal position the
curved rib part acts upon and presses down the sliding rod in its stem. The lower
bevilled end of the said rod in its motion presses back the tooth on the hammer arm
or retaining arm, and when the indicator has reached its horizontal position the
said tooth engages with or snaps behind the shoulder on the rod, and retains the
said rod in its depressed position; the indicator is thus set for use.
When the hammer arm or retaining arm is pulled down for the ringing of the
bell the tooth on the said arm is withdrawn from the shoulder on the spring rod;
the latter is thereby released, and is pressed upwards by its spring, the end of the
rod protruding from the summit of the bell acting against the rib of the indicator,
and raising and supporting the latter in its vertical or indicating position; thus the
position of the indicator shows that the bell has been rung.
When the clapper is situated within the bell an incline or projection on the
sliding rod of the indicator in its rising motion to bring the indicator into its raised
position acts upon the clapper, and causes the latter to strike the bell.
Instead of a jointed indicator, as described, an indicator consisting of a flat, broad,
ornamental plate or termination may be connected to the upper end of the spring
sliding rod. When this indicator is set it lies against the summit of the bell, but
when the bell has been rung the said indicator is raised some distance from the
summit of the bell, and instead of bolding the indicator rod in its set or depressed
position by a spring or other tooth on the hammer or retaining arm other analogous
arrangements may be used for that purpose. For example, a hook on the end of
the indicator rod may be made to engage with a detent or jointed toothed arm
'within the fork of the stem, the detent being pressed inwards for disengaging it
from the hook on the indicator rod by the clapper arm or retaining arm when the
latter is depressed for ringing the bell.