Improved Mechanism for Effecting the Movement of Indicating Tablets in Railway Coaches and other Public Vehicles.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 5th May, 1893-Accepted, 10th June, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Mechanism for Effecting the Movement of Indicating
Tablets in Railway Coaches and other Public Vehicles.
I, FREDERICK JOHN BEAUMONT, of 37 Stockwell Park Crescent, Brixton,
Surrey, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
This invention has for object, so arranging mechanism or appliances that tablets
or the like can be exposed to view on the compression of an air vessel, the tablets
appearing in succession for showing advertisements, or the names of stations, or
other stopping places of railway coaches omnibuses, tram cars, and like vehicles
while in transit.
To carry my invention into practice, I hinge a series of tablets on a drum or
centre pin, and by ratchet or like arrangement cause them to be released in
succession by action on a ratchet wheel, the paul of which can be depressed by a
plunger through a current of air supplied from a compressible bag or bellows from
any desired part of the vehicle.
If I employ a drum it can be composed of wires connecting two end plates. The
drum is hung upon pivots, and one of the ends plates is formed with ratchet teeth
for a paul to engage with. The paul is on one end of a lever, and said lever at
the opposite end has a weighted plunger working within a cylinder, and this by a
flexible pipe is in connection with an air bag, the compression of which by hand
forces a quantity of air into the cylinder with sufficient pressure to raise the
plunger and so cause the paul to force the drum round the distance of one tooth of
the ratchet.
The tablets are hinged to the wires and at each upward movement of the plunger,
the drum is rotated for a tablet to overbalance itself and present its face to
view, the name of the approaching station being thus exposed.
As many as thirty tablets may be arranged on one drum, so that all the stations
of a railway can be exposed in succession as the train approaches and to local fast
trains which run through certain intermediate stations, the guard or other attendant
can by a succession of compressions move the tablets until the required one for
indicating the next stopping station is exposed.
Dated this 4th day of August 1899
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent, 166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Frederick John Beaumont.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Mechanism for Effecting the Movement of Indicating
Tablets in Railway Coaches and other Public Vehicles.
I, FREDERICK JOHN BEAUMONT, of 37 Stockwell Park Crescent, Brixton,
Surrey, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to apparatus for displaying tablets for advertising and
other purposes, in such a manner that they are successively exposed and withdrawn
from view.
The object of my said invention is to provide an improved apparatus of this kind
or class, arranged to be operated intermittently through the medium of air to which

page_text: pressure is applied by the opening or the closing of a door, or by the depression of
a foot-plate, or by the operation of a hand lever or the like, or in any other
convenient manner.
My improved apparatus comprises a skeleton drum formed of two end plates or
discs connected by rods which serve as the pivots for the tablets or name-plates.
In combination with this drum and with the pivoted tablets or name-plates, I employ
a ratchet-wheel attached to or formed with the said drum, a pivoted lever carrying
a pawl adapted to engage with the said ratchet-wheel, and suitable means for operating
the same by compressed air. For instance I provide a cylinder which may be either
fixed or mounted on trunnions, a piston working in the said cylinder and coupled
to the said lever, and stops for limiting the movement of the said lever. The said
cylinder is connected by a pipe with a suitable device, such, for example, as a bag
or bellows or another cylinder provided with a piston, for applying pressure to the
air and thus forcing some of the air into the said cylinder to raise the piston; this
device may be arranged at any convenient point near to or distant from the said
apparatus, and may be operated by the opening or closing of a door, or by the
depression of a foot-plate, or by the operation of a hand-lever or the like, or by
other convenient means.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a front elevation of one form of my improved apparatus, the casing
being shown in vertical section.
Figure 2 is a sectional end elevation, and
Figure 3 a plan, partly in horizontal section, of the said apparatus.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through the rotating drum hereinafter
described.
Figure is an end elevation showing another modification of my said invention.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A is a box or case which is provided with a glass or other window A', and in
which is enclosed the skeleton drum B having the advertisement tablets or
name-plates C pivoted thereto. The skeleton drum B is mounted upon a spindle
or arbor a supported by standards A', and the said drum consists of two end plates
or discs each provided with a circular series of holes near its periphery, in which
are fitted the ends of rods b which serve as the pivots of the tablets C.
D is a ratchet-wheel which is secured to (or itself forms) one end of the said
drum B.
A lever E is pivoted at E¹ to one of the standards A2 and carries a pawl F which
engages with the ratchet-wheel D. A retaining pawl G pivoted to the said
standard A is also in engagement with the said ratchet-wheel D. The lever E is
arranged to move up and down between two stops d, d', and, when necessary,
is acted upon by a spring e whereby it is held against the stop d. The said lever
is coupled to the rod H' of a piston H working in a cylinder J, which is mounted
on trunnions J¹ so as to permit a slight oscillating motion of the piston as the upper
end of the piston-rod moves through the arc described by the lever E. Or the
cylinder may be fixed and sufficient play allowed in the joints to permit the relative
movement of the parts.
Instead of admitting the fluid under pressure directly into the cylinder, a
bellows of india-rubber or other suitable material may be arranged within the
cylinder, and connected by a tube L with another bellows M arranged within
a cylinder or casing N, in which works a piston P arranged to be operated directly
by hand or by the opening or closing of a door, or by the depression of a foot-plate,
or by other convenient means, so as to compress the bellows M and thus force the
air through the tube L into the bellows K; the bellows K being thereby expanded,
the piston H and lever E are raised, and, through the medium of the pawl F, the
drum B is turned through a small angle.
A stop Q, preferably provided with a roller Q', is attached to the cross-bar A³
for the purpose of holding up the tablets C on the upper leading quadrant of the
drum, and allowing them to successively fall, so that they will be displayed in á

page_text: vertical or approximately vertical position. The stops d, d' are so arranged that,
in each upward stroke or movement of the lever E, the drum B moves through
such an angle as to allow one tablet C to fall at a time, the next succeeding tablet
then resting against the stop Q. I may, if desired, provide the stop d¹ with a
set-screw d as shown in Figure 5, for regulating the movement of the lever E.
The operation of my improved apparatus is as follows, that is to say :-On the
compression of the bellows M, the air is forced into the bellows K, thus expanding
the same and moving the lever E up to the stop d' or to the set-screw d³, and at the
same time extending the spring e. In this movement, the drum B is turned by
means of the pawl F and ratchet-wheel D through a small angle, sufficient to move
the front upper tablet C downward clear of the stop Q. The said tablet then falls
by gravity, and the next succeeding tablet is held up by the stop until the drum is
again turned.
When the pressure is removed from the bellows M, the spring e
re-acts and pulls down the lever E until it rests against the stop d, and, at the same
time, permits or causes the contraction of the bellows K. These operations are
repeated whenever the required pressure is applied to the air in the bellows M.
The advertisements or names on the tablets will, therefore, be displayed in
succession, the said advertisements or names being painted or otherwise marked on
one or both sides of the tablets and being visible through the window A¹ of the
case A.
It is obvious that the construction of my improved apparatus may be somewhat.
For instance the
modified without departing from the nature of my said invention.
bellows K may be placed directly under the end of the lever E as shown in
Figure 5, the piston H and cylinder J being dispensed with; or the spring e may
be omitted, and the lever E and piston H made; of sufficient weight to ensure their
return to their original position by gravity.
My improved apparatus is adapted for displaying advertisements or for indicating
the names of the stations or other stopping-places of railway coaches, omnibuses,
tram-cars and like vehicles; it is obvious, however, that it may also be employed
in other places where such or other information is to be displayed.
As many as thirty or even more tablets may be arranged on one drum, so that
all the stations of a railway can be exposed in succession as the train approaches
the various stations, and, in the case of local fast trains which run through certain
intermediate stations, the guard or other attendant can by a succession of
compressions move the tablets until the one required for indicating the next
stopping-station is exposed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The combination of the rotating drum, the tablets and the ratchet-wheel
moved by a pawl, with means for operating the same by compressed air, substantially
as, and for the purposes, specified.
or
Second. The combination of the rotating skeleton drum, the tablets
name-plates pivoted thereto, the stop for holding the tablets or name-plates until
released by the rotation of the drum, the ratchet-wheel attached to the said drum,
the lever carrying the pawl to engage with the said ratchet-wheel, and means for
operating the said lever, substantially as, and for the purposes, above specified.
Third. The improved apparatus consisting of the parts constructed and combined
substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings and
operating as, and for the purposes, above specified.
Dhe 5th day of if 1000
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.