US1370710A - Railway mail-exchange - Google Patents

Description

H. E. SMITH.

RAILWAY MAIL EXCHANGE. 'APPucAHoN- FILED OCT. 21. I918.

1,370,7 1.0, Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. SMITH, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO SPOKANE MAIL EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF SPOKANE,

wasnrneron.

RAILWAY MAIL-EXCHANGE.

Application filed October 21, 1918.

To all icizomc't may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Mail- Exehange, of which the following is a speci fication.

The present invention relates to improvements in railway mail exchange, and particularly to the rotatable standard carried upon the railway car upon which is supported the mail receiving device and the mail delivery device, the invention involving especially means for rotating the standard;

-. the car and almost parallel therewith in order to clear the door way, and of course the apparatus may with facility be turned to position to receive or deliver mail, and together with these features the device possesses simple but effective means for absorbing the shock of impact when receiving mail.

Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the door portion of the usual mail car, with the exchange apparatus turned in front of the open door to give access to the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, sectional View, transverse of the car, showing the clutch for locking the standard and its release means, together with the lever mechanism for turning the shaft and apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a plan detail view of the gearing showing-also in dotted lines the position of the exchange device when turned back away from the door.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the drawings the standard mail car C has revolubly supported at one side of its doorway the vertical standard or iron bar 1, revoluble in the bearing brackets 2 and 3 attached to the car side and at the upper end this standard has a crank arm i to which the spring 5 is connected, the other end of the spring being attached to the car C. V

The standard has a bearing collar 6 to Specificationbf Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921. Serial No. 259,052.

support it on the bearing bracket 3, and the arms A and A which are supported from the standard are the receiving arms, while the arm B, (also supported on the standard) co-acts with the upper receiving arm A to suspend the mail pouches to he delivered.

The essence of the invention resides in the mechanism at the lower end of the standard. and particularly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Here it will be observed that the standard has secured there to the segmental rack gear 8 with its sleeve 8 fixed on the standard above the bottom collar 9, and this segmental gear engages with a pinion 10 on the actuating shaft 11 that passes up through the bottom or floor of the car, through bearings 12, secured on the floor, an idler or intermediate gear 13 being interposed between the rack and pinion, and supported in the bracket 14 beneath the car floor so that the standard will turn in the same direction as the actuating shaft 11. By means of the pivoted handle 15 at the upper end of the actuating shaft 11 the standard may be revolved with facility, the handle being located at a convenient posi tion within the door way, or close thereto, and the handle, when not in use is turned down on its pivot 16 to be out of the way. By means of the handlethe standard and its exchange devices or arms may be turned approximately through an arc of 180 degrees, either across the door way as in Fig. 1 at one extreme, or, as in Fig. 3 (dotted lines) at the other extreme alongside the car wall, in order to avoid obstructions.

For locking the standard and its arms in desired position, a locking clutch is provided with the sleeve 8 as one of the clutch members, the slidable sleeve or collar 17 being the other member. The collar has an engaging lug or tooth 18 and the sleeve has a notch or recess 19 to receive the tooth. Preferably a series of notches or recesses are provided, and the slide collar which is keyed on the standard may be lifted out of engage ment with the sleeve through the instrumen-- tality of the clutch lever 20 pivoted in a bracket at 21, and the lever is operated by the foot pedal 22 having its head 23 above the car floor and in convenient position to be pressed by the foot of the railway mail man to unlock the clutch.

The normal position of the apparatus is indicated in Fig. 1 with the exchange appai the arms to the doorway.

ratus in front of the door way and held there by the spring 5. The exchange apparatus is swung to position with the arms at right angles to the side of the car, by means of the lever handle 15, and the impact oi receiving mail is absorbed by the spring 5 which, after receiving the shock, returns When the arms are swung around away from the doorway, and parallel with the side oi the car, the crank arm l is held off center, with the spring lying between the car side and the center of the vertical axis of the standard so that the standard is thus held by the spring with the arms parallel with the side of the ca. The rack, gear, and pinion, beneath the car absorb the major portion of the shock when the clutch is closed, but when the clutch is opened, with the keyed collar 1'? lifted from the loose sleeve 8 the standard may be turned, free "from the remainder of the parts, as for instance when the ex change device is to be turned with its arms parallel with the side of the car, or to avoid accident as for instance if the extended arms are likely to strike an obstruction, the operator may step on the head 23 and release the standard from the gears and permit it to swing freely against the tension of the spring 5, which returns the apparatus to normal position in Fig. 1.

Claims: 7

1. The combination with an integral revoluble standard and mail exchange devices thereon, of operating means for the standard, locking means on the standard comprising a loose member connectedwith the operating means, and an axially movable member rotatable with the standard, and means for releasing the movable member.

2. The combination with a revoluble standard of an operating shaft and gearing between the shaft and standard including a loose sleeve on the standard forming part 01": aclutch, a second clutch member keye on the standard adapted to engage the loose sleeve, and means "for releasing the engaged members.

3. The combination in a railway mail exchange apparatus including the standard revolubly mounted on the car and a spring for holding the standard'in normal position, a slidable clutchmember keyed on the standard and means for moving the member, a segmental rack having a loose sleeve on the standard to be engaged by the sliding clutch membenan operating shaft, and gearing between said shaft and the segmental rack as described.

4. The combination with a revoluble standard, of an operating shaft and gearing between the shaft and standard including a loose sleeve on the standard forming part of a clutch, a second clutch member keyed on the standard and adapted to engage the loose sleeve, a lever pivoted to the loose sleeve, and a depressible pedal for said lever for releasing the clutch members.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

HERBERT E. SMITH

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