IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Somerville Nelson of Kilburn in the County of
Middlesex for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES communicated to him from abroad by
Francis Fontaine of Atlanta in the State of Georgia in the United States of
America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Somerville Nelson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th December 1883.
CHARLES SOMERVILLE NELSON of Kilburn in the County of Middlesex
IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES
A communication to me from abroad by Francis Fontaine of Atlanta in the State
of Georgia in the United States of America
The invention relates to advertising and more particularly to the construction of
a travelling endless sign intended more particularly for street cars but adapted to
railway cars, steam-boats, stages and omnibuses and to other localities where driven
machinery can be utilized for motive power, and the invention consists in the
details of construction and their novel arrangement as hereinafter explained.
Around the axle of the cars is a belt which is connected to a vertical shaft by a
pulley keyed or otherwise fixed thereon placed at one end of the car; The belt
passes over two guide pulleys, a narrow opening being made in the floor of the car
to admit such belt. The vertical shaft is stepped in a socket in the floor of the car.
This shaft extends up the entire height of the car passing through the roof.
Mounted firmly upon this shaft are two pulleys one being placed above and one
below the roof. At the opposite end of the car is a short vertical shaft which has
pulleys similar to the aforesaid pulleys.
Over these pulleys is stretched an endless band of canvass or leather or other
material adapted to receive or form a support for advertising devices.
If motion is imparted to the pulleys the belts will move in union, one on top of
the car in view of those outside and one inside.

page_text: If so desired the sign for the inside of the car can be made to show on the
outside, also by placing the vertical shafts in the centre of the wall of side of car
thus allowing the same belt or canvass to pass in view on the outside.
It will be understood that the counter part of the apparatus just described is
arranged upon the opposite side of the car driven in the same manner from the axle
on the other end of the car. When properly arranged this travelling sign would
fill the space now generally occupied by advertising panels.
I do not confine myself to the described gearing for other means of connecting
the axle to the vertical shafts, might be employed such as chain, eccentric, ratchet,
cog and friction gearing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
"
the said Charles Somerville Nelson in the Patent Office on the 19th June 1884.
CHARLES SOMERVILLE NELSON of Kilburn in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES
A communication to me from abroad by Francis Fontaine of Atlanta in the State
of Georgia in the United States of America
The invention relates to advertising and more particularly to the construction of
a travelling endless sign intended more particularly for street cars but adapted to
railway cars steamboats stages and omnibuses and to other localities where driven
machinery can be utilized for motive power and the invention consists in the
details of construction and their novel arrangement as hereinafter explained.
Around the axle of the cars is a belt which is connected to a vertical shaft by a
pulley keyed or otherwise fixed thereon placed at one end of the car. The belt
passes over two guide pulleys a narrow opening being made in the floor of the car
to admit such belt. The vertical shaft is stepped in a socket in the floor of
the car.
This shaft extends up the entire height of the car passing through the roof.
Mounted firmly upon this shaft are two pulleys one being placed above and one
below the roof. At the opposite end of the car is a short vertical shaft which has
pulleys similar to the aforesaid pulleys.
Over these pulleys is stretched an endless band of canvas or leather or other
material adapted to receive or form a support for advertising devices. If motion is
imparted to the pulleys the belts will move in union one on top of the car in view
of those outside and one inside
If so desired the sign for the inside of the car can be made to show on the
outside, also by placing the vertical shafts in the centre of the wall of side of car
thus allowing the same belt or canvas to pass in view on the outside.
It will be understood that the counterpart of the apparatus just described is
arranged upon the opposite side of the car driven in the same manner from the
axle on the other end of the car. When properly arranged this travelling sign
would fill the space now generally occupied by advertising panels.
And in order that the said invention may be better understood and more readily
carried into effect I will proceed aided by the accompanying Drawings more fully
to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a central longitudinal vertical section of a car with the
device attached. Figure 2 is a top view of gearing showing construction of vertical
shaft as driven by car-axle with belt passing over two guide pulleys. Figure 3 is
a longitudinal section of a horse car showing a modification of the invention in
which the endless belt is arranged on the inside of the roof and also showing the
connection for driving the same; Figure 3 is a cross section thereof; Figure 4 is
an enlarged skeleton view of the gears and shafts by which motion is transmitted
from the axle of the car to the endless belt. Figure 5 is a view of the disc
connected with the driving shaft constructed to drive the apron when the car
moves in one direction and Figure 6 is a view of a disc provided with an idle gear
connecting the toothed rim with an inner gear for still driving the belt in the same
direction when the car moves in the opposite direction; Figure 7 is a sectional
view of the driving clutch provided with the discs shown in Figures 5 and 6.

page_text: Figure 8 is a transverse section through a car; Figure 9 is a longitudinal section
of a car and Figure 10 is a section on the line y. y. of Figure 8 representing another
modified form of the invention.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 I pass around each axle A of the car a belt a
which is connected to the vertical shaft by pulley b placed at one end of the car.
The belts a. pass over two guide pulleys b₁ a narrow opening being made in the
floor of the car to admit such belt. The pulley b is mounted or keyed on a vertical
shaft c stepped in a socket in the floor of the car. This shaft extends up the
entire height of the car passing through the roof. Mounted firmly upon this shaft
are pulleys c¹. c. one being placed above and one below the roof. At the opposite
end of the car is a short vertical shaft d which has pulleys d. d. upon it. Over
these pulleys is stretched an endless band of canvas or leather e. e¹. adapted to
receive or form a support for various advertising devices. If motion is imparted
to the pulleys, the belts will move in unison, one on top of the car in view of those
outside, and one inside the car in view of the passengers.
If so desired the sign for the inside of car can be made to show on the outside
also by placing the shafts c d in the centre of the wall of side of car, thus allowing
the same belt or canvas to pass in view on the outside.
It will be understood that the counterpart of the apparatus just described is
arranged upon the opposite side of the car, driven in the same manner from the
axle on the other end of the car.
In the modification shown at Figures 3, 3° 4, 5, 6 and 7 the endless band e is
arranged on the inside of the roof of the car and motion is imparted to it from
the axle A of the vehicle through the rollers or pulleys c² d² in the following
manner.
a² is a beveled gear secured to the axle of the car.
a is a pinion gearing into the gear a² and driving the sleeve a in which a
driving rod is secured by means of a slot and feather so as to allow of longitudinal
adjustment. The other end of the driving rod is connected with the beveled
pinion 63 by a universal joint b¹. The beveled pinion b is connected with the
vertical shaft c and is driven by the pinion b².
To the upper part of the vertical shaft c an automatic reversible clutch is secured,
constructed to drive the short shaft d always in one direction. Such a clutch is
shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7. It consists of the disc d'secured to the end of the
shaft, and provided with a toothed rim d2 and a recess d³ in which is seated a
cam d secured to the upper short shaft d. The cam shown has two cam surfaces
adapted, upon the rotation of the disc din one direction, to wedge the balls c¹
against the walls of the recess d³ thus binding the shaft d to the disc d', and
causing them to move together; but on revolving the disc d¹ in the opposite
direction, no wedging action will be exerted by the straight surfaces of the cam on
the balls, so that said balls can rotate freely within the recess d³, thus severing
the driving connection between the disc. and shaft d.
Within the rimmed disc d' the geared sleeve e is placed, surrounding the shaft d,
but loose on the same, and the pinion f, meshing with the toothed rim d³ and
geared sleeve; is fixed in a bracket a cam clutch similar in all respects to that
above described is placed within the sleeve e, which connects the short shaft & with
the sleeve when the shaft c turns in a direction to break the driving connection
between the disc d and shaft d, so that no matter in which direction the car
moves, the apron is impelled continuously in the direction which will bring the
words or letters into view successively in the order in which they are to be read,
so that continuous advertising sentences or other information can be read, even
though said sentences occupy a longer space on the apron than is at once exposed
to view. The respective cams and their balls are separated from each other by a
plate g.
It will be seen that by the arrangement hereinbefore described, of the disc d³,
shaft d, and cams thereon, and the sleeve e and pinion f, an automatic reversible

page_text: clutch is formed, by means of which the shaft d is rotated only in one direction,
no matter in which direction the car axle revolves.
It will be understood that I do not confine myself to the specific form of
reversible clutch described in the foregoing specification, as other equivalent means
may be used to attain the same end.
In the modification shown at Figures 8, 9 and 10 the endless band e travels in
a casing furnished with a glass front f' to allow the advertisement to be seen on
the inside of the car and motion is given to such band by means of a chain wheel a¹
on one of the axles A of the car giving motion through a chain a to a second
chain wheel 62 mounted on a shaft b¹ carried by brackets or hangers on the under-
side of the car and thence through bevelled gearing b, vertical shafts c and
universal joints c¹ to the rollers or pulleys c² d' carrying the band e.
The endless band e runs above the windows and over a loose roller d² similar
to c² at the other end of the car. As the band passes close to the wall I have
provided rollers to turn the band and cause it to pass over the standards ƒ³ of
the car frame. A division board f* is placed between the two parts of the band
(moving in opposite directions) and this serves to prevent them from rubbing
against each other and also to keep the front part close to the glass f¹. This glass
covers the main part of the recess in which the band moves, a part of each end
being covered by a board wall f³.
When properly arranged my travelling sign would fill the space now generally
occupied by advertising panels.
I do not confine myself to the described gearing, for other means of connecting
the axle to the vertical shafts might be employed, such as eccentric ratchet and
friction gearing.
I am aware that station indicators have been operated from the axle of a car, and
disclaim the broad idea of causing an indicating device to assume different positions
within a car by mechanism connecting it with the axle.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and modes in which
the same may be carried into effect I would have it understood that what I claim
is―
Combined with the vertical shafts operated by the axle of a car, the pulleys or
rollers and the endless advertising belts.
In Witness whereof I the said Charles Somerville Nelson have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Thirteenth day of June in the year of Our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty four.
CAirBTYTY T
TTCArזו
CHAS. SOMERVILLE NEES
T
NELSON. (L.S.)