Improvements in Street Indicators for Tramway Cars.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1890-Accepted, 26th July, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Street Indicators for Tramway Cars.
I, WILLIAM PORTER WILLIAMS of Chicago, State of Illinois, United States of
America, Mechanical Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to that class of indicators for street railway cars in which
flexible sheets, having the names of the street placed thereon are successively exposed,
to indicate to the passengers the street next in order of travel; and upon which sheets
advertisements are also displayed.
A street indicator of this class is described in Letters Patent of the United States
granted to William P. Williams, June 12, 1888, No. 384,488.
The said invention comprises certain improvements in the construction of street
indicators of the class mentioned, as hereinafter particularly described.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the indicator in the position it occupies when
in use.
Fig. 2 is a plan view with the top wall of the casing removed.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing in dotted lines one means for operating the shafts
to cause the sheets to drop in front of the sight opening.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 ;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of one of the flexible sheets with its attaching rod and
accompanying links, a section of the sheet removed;
Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views of separate links which I employ in forming
the cables to which the sheets are attached ; and
Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a part of the indicator showing in dotted lines the
preferred means for operating the shafts to cause the sheets to drop in front of the
sight opening.
street cars.
A indicates the casing of the device, the general form of which is shown in
Figs. 3, 4 and 8, and said figures represent the device in the position it occupies in
One end of the casing adjoining the wall of the car to which it is
attached is triangular in outline and is provided on the sloping front thereof with a
transparent section, A', which is preferably hinged as shown. The front end of the
case is extended, preferably along the roof of the car and in the form of a parallelo-
gram as clearly shown in Figs. and 4. B, B, are revoluble shafts or drums
journalled in the side walls of the casing toward the top of the device and near the
respective ends thereof. Upon the outer ends of said shafts are secured sprockets b, b,
and over said sprockets are passed link belts (, C, separate links whereof, marked D,
are of the form shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. These links have upwardly pro-
jecting lugs d, one of which will have the transverse aperture d¹, and one of the end
bars will have the integral hook d³. A series of links, E', of the same general form
as links D, but with both of the upwardly projecting lugs perforated as shown in
Fig. 6, are articulated to form the central belt E.
The sheets F, are composed of some flexible material which adapts them to be
superposed or compacted into small space in operation and they are mounted upon
flexible rods, G, which rods are passed through the apertures of the lugs of the
central belt and their ends also pass through the apertures of the lugs of the belts C
and abut against the imperforate lugs of said belts which form stops therefor and
prevent endwise movement of the rods after they are put in place. The manner of
mounting the sheets F is shown in Fig. 5. The number of sheets which may thus
be used is limited only by the length of the belts, and the form of casing shown in
the drawings, permits the use of cables of considerable length without taking up

page_text: 碧
needed room in the car.
One of the revoluble shafts B will be provided with means
for rotating it; for example, a ratchet and pawl mechanism, such as shown in Fig. 8.
H represents the ratchet and I a pawl pivotally mounted upon a swinging lever J
inside the casing. Lever J is provided with a retracting spring j, the opposite end of
said spring being attached to the casing A. An operating cord or rod K is also
connected to lever J.
In Fig. 3 is shown a modified form of the operative parts wherein the swinging
lever J¹ carries the pivoted pawl I', said pawl engaging the teeth of the ratchet H¹.
The outer end of the pawl and the lower end of said lever are preferably weighted
and to the lever is connected an operating cord or rod K, which is projected outside
the casing and which may be manipulated by the conductor in order to drop the sheets
successively. I prefer to place the words " Next Street" on the bar just above the
transparent section, and the matter of advertisement will be displayed on the sheets
below the name of the street.
In order to cause the sheets to drop singly, I make use of a brake, such as shown
in Fig. 4, which consists of the shoe L, mounted upon the spring M, and whereby the
shoe is caused to bear yieldingly upon the sheets or curtains and to release them one
at a time. I prefer to mount the revoluble shaft at the front of the case upon a
sliding bearing, which may consist of the block N, slotted at n, and having studs N',
projected through said slots into the wall of the casing. O is an adjusting screw,
one end of which protrudes outside the casing and the other is threaded into the end
of block N. By operating the screw, the belts may be slackened to remove them
from the sprockets and also to provide for extending the belts and thereby permit the
insertion of additional sheets or curtains.
Modifications may be made of the construction herein described without departing
from the spirit of my invention. For example, the belts may be made of leather or
other suitable flexible material and the rods need not be flexible or removable, except
when used with the particular link belt construction shown.
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 :-
1. In a street or station indicator, the combination with an enclosing casing
having a sight opening therein, two revoluble shafts journalled within said casing, belts
or cables passed around said shafts, rods secured to said belts, flexible display sheets
mounted on said rods and adapted to be superposed upon each other in operation and
means for revolving said shafts, whereby to present the sheets successively in front of
the sight opening of the casing, substantially as described.
2. In a street or station indicator, the combination with an enclosing casing having
a sight opening therein, two revoluble sbafts journalled within said casing, link belts
or cables passed around said shafts and composed of links having solid projections on
their outer side bars, and apertured projections on their inner side bars, flexible rods
having their ends connected to the cables by being passed through the apertured lugs
of the links, display sheets mounted on said rods and means for revolving said shafts,
whereby to present the sheets successively in front of the sight opening of the casing,
substantially as described.
3. In a street or station indicator, the combination of an enclosing casing having a
sight opening therein, two revoluble shafts journalled within said casing, link belts
passed around said shafts, flexible rods removably attached to said belts and flexible
display sheets mounted on said rods and adapted to be superposed upon each other in
operation, means for revolving said shafts and a brake adapted to bear yieldingly
upon the sheets and to release them singly to permit them to drop in front of the
sight opening, substantially as described.
4. In a street or station indicator, the combination of an enclosing casing having a
sight opening therein, two revoluble shafts journalled in said casing and towards
opposite ends thereof, one of said shafts having a movable bearing, link belts passed
around said shafts, and composed of links having solid projections on their outer side

page_text: bars and apertured projections on their inner side bars and having flexible rods
connected thereto by having their ends passed through the apertured lugs of the links,
flexible display sheets mounted on said rods and means for revolving said shafts,
whereby to present the sheets successively in front of the sight opening of the casing,
substantially as described.
5. In a street or station indicator, the combination with an enclosing casing having
a triangular portion with a sight opening in the sloping wail thereof, an extension
adapted to project beneath the roof of the car and to contain therein a shaft, a display
sheet carrying belts passed around said shaft and about a similar shaft journalled in
the opposite end of the casing and means for rotating said shafts, substantially as
described.
Dated this 11th day of February 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.