Improvement in Apparatus for Transferring Cash and Parcels.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvement in Apparatus for Transferring Cash and Parcels.
I, ISIDORE BIRGE, of the City of Philadelphia, in the County of Philadelphia,
State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING
CASH AND PARCELS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates in general to the class of store service apparatus in which
the travelling carrier is a basket or other goods-receiver suspended from the
depending arm or hanger of a one, or two, wheeled truck, the wheel or wheels of
which travel upon an elevated track composed of a single rail.
Heretofore in the operation of travelling carriers of the above class, the
centrifugal force of the receiver and depending hanger has, as the truck has
travelled upon curved portions of the track, tended to cause the wheel or wheels
to run at a tangent off the track, and so to displace the truck from the track.
Heretofore also when a carrier truck has become derailed there has been no
provision of means to prevent its falling. The object of my invention is to provide
effective means for preventing any displacement of the carrier truck from the
track even upon curves of the shortest radius or of abruptly varying direction and
also for preventing a derailed truck from falling.
These objects I attain by providing in connection with curved portions of the
track or carrying rail, a guard rail supported at about the level of the track,
between which and the track there is space sufficient for the depending arm of a
carrier to hang and travel freely but which is so close to the track that there is not
room for a derailed carrier truck to fall between them; and by also providing in
conjunction with said curved portions, at a level below that of the track and to
the outside of the curves, a lower guide or guard rail which I term the hanger rail.
A track embodying my improvements is represented in the accompanying
drawing and described in this specification.
In the drawings, which represent a track conveniently embodying a good form of
my improvements and a carrier thereupon, figure is an end, partly sectional,
elevational view; figure 2 a top plan view; figure 3 a side elevation; figure 4 a
diagrammatic plan illustrative of a guarded track having bends of opposite
curvature, and figure 5 a view similar to figure 1 showing the action of the hanger
rail.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
In the drawings, A is a depending suspender or hanging arch-shaped bracket
which is a convenient device for supporting the track or carrying rail B the guard

page_text: C is the wheel of a carrier truck D from which is suspended a depending hanger
or pendulous arm E, which supports the basket or goods receiver. F is a guard
rail, which is conveniently connected with and carried by the suspender A in a
position which is preferably exactly abreast that of the track or carrying rail, but
which is placed so close to the track, that there is not sufficient interspace for a
carrier truck to fall through. Both the carrying rail and the guard rail are
however, relatively suspended and supported at such a distance apart that between
them is a continuous opening G longitudinally extending and preferably co-extensive
with the length of the curved portions of the track; through this opening depends
and travels the pendulous arm of the truck, the oscillatory movement of which in
either direction is, if desired, checked and controlled either, as the case may be, by
the carrying rail or by the guard rail, which may be set so closely together as to
subserve such purpose. Instead of being abreast the carrying rail, the guard rail
might, to a certain extent, be either above or below it. The better construction,
however, is that represented and described.
The guard rail is, as stated, applied at curves, and is always applied upon the
same relative side of the track or carrying rail, without regard to its being upon
the inside or outside of curves; and this for the reason that were said guard
rail always, for instance, placed upon the outside of every curve in tracks portions
of which take on the form of reverse curves, it is manifest that the carrier hanger
would not be always between the two rails. Now, as it is an essential of this
feature of my invention that the guard rail should always be so disposed that the
hanger or depending arm will pass between it and the carrying rail, it is obvious
that, as stated, said guard rail, although not usually continuous throughout straight
portions of the track, must occupy always the same relative side of a given track
at curved portions thereof, without regard to the varying curvature or given
direction of said track.
H is what I term the hanger rail, conveniently supported by the bracket I which
is a part of or connected with the suspender A. This hanger rail is applied at a
proper distance below the carrying rail or track, and is invariably applied at the
outside of every curve and never at the inside; so that, according to the direction
of the curve, the said hanger rail is in line, or almost in line, below either the
carrying rail or the guard rail; and this for the reason, as already explained, that
upon certain curves the guard rail is to the outside of the track while upon other
curves the track is upon the outside of the guard rail.
As the especial purpose of the hanger rail is to prevent such extreme outward.
or centrifugal throw of the depending arm or hanger of the truck as would have
a tendency to unship the carrier wheel or wheels from the track, it is obvious that
the said hanger rail must be within range of any reasonable throw of the hanger
(as illustrated in dotted lines in figure 1), and, in practice, I prefer to suspend it
almost in line but a little to the outside below either the track or the guard rail.
The diagrammatic plan of figure 4 illustrates the relative arrangement of the
carrying rail, guard rail, and hanger rail, upon a track having a reverse curve.
It is possible to employ the guard rail without employing the hanger rail, and to
employ the hanger rail without the guard rail; the maximum of security against,
both derailment and falling is, however, secured by employing both together..
I do not, however, desire to limit myself to an invariable conjoint employment
of the two devices, as, in some instances, and with certain builds of carrier, one of
the devices alone is an ample and sufficient security.
my said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In combination with a single carrying rail or track for the wheeled carrier
of a store service apparatus, a guard rail suspended or supported in propinquity.
to the track and in such manner as to leave a longitudinally extending, continuous,
7

page_text: and vertically free open space between said guard rail and said track or carrying
rail.
2. In a store service apparatus, the combination of a suitably supported carrying
rail or track, a suitably supported guard rail in propinquity thereto but so disposed
as to leave a continuous open space between it and the carrying rail, a travelling
wheeled carrier adapted to run upon the carrying rail and provided with a
depending or pendulous arm or hanger which passes down through and travels
within the open space between the guard rail and carrying rail, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
3. In combination with a single carrying rail or track for the wheeled carrier
of a store service apparatus, a hanger rail suspended or supported below said
carrying rail at the outside of curved portions thereof.
4. In a store service apparatus, the combination of a carrying rail or track for
a wheeled carrier, a hanger rail suspended or supported below said carrying rail
at the outside of curved portions thereof, and a travelling wheeled carrier adapted
to run upon the carrying rail and provided with a depending or pendulous arm
or hanger, the arrangement being such that the centrifugal throw of the hanger is
limited by the hanger rail.
5. In a store service apparatus, the combination of a curved track composed of
a single suitably suspended or supported carrying rail, a guard rail adjacent to
a given side of said track at curved portions thereof but at such distance from said
track as to leave a continuous open space between them, a hanger rail suitably
suspended or supported below the level of the track or guard rail and to the
outside of all curves, and a travelling wheeled carrier the wheel or wheels of which
run upon the track and which is provided with a depending arm adapted at curved
portions of the track to travel between the track and the guard rail and to the
inside of the hanger rail, substantially as shown and described and for the purposes
set forth.