US716518A - Adjustable headlight for street-cars, &c. - Google Patents

Description

No. 7:5,5us. Patented Dec. 23, I902.

a. F. CHAPMAN.

ADJUSTAELE HEADLIGHT FOB STREET CABS, 81.6. (Application fihd May 31, 1902.)

-WITNEJS5E5= UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. CHAPMAN, OF MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO LEVI WALLACE, OF AYER, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADJUSTABLE HEADLIGHT FOR STREET-CARS, 84.0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 716,518, dated December 2 1 Applioation filed May 31, 1902. Serial No. 109,593. (No modelfl J all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. CHAPMAN, of Marlboro, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented cer- 5 tain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Headlights for Street-Cars, &c., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automaticallyadjustable headlight for street-cars and other vehicles; and it consistsin the novel features of construction and relative arrangement of parts as set forth.

Figure l is a top plan view of a car truck with the car removed, the sill of the car-body I5 showing in outline and also the fender or rounded edge of the vestibule. Fig. 2 in side elevation shows a car equipped with my invention. Fig. 3 is a detailed View showing the lamp-controlling lever and its associated parts.

The same characters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

1 represents the rails of an ordinary railway.

2 represents the conventional truck-frame for supporting a car or other vehicle.

3 represents the truck-beam.

4 represents the front or end of the vestibule of the car.

5 represents an arm of conducting material connected'to the truck-beam 3 and insulated therefrom. A suitable wire will be connected at one end to said arm and at its other end to the main circuit of the motor or to any suitable source of power.

7 represents a plate carrying a series of resistance-terminals of the usual or of any preferred construction, here being indicated, for convenience, as a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. The

40 bar or plate 7 is of non-conducting material and formed in the are of the circle corresponding to the are through which the end of the lever 5 moves. The plate 7 is supported at its ends to the car-body by brackets 8.

5 (See Fig.2.)

a, Z), 0', cl, 6, f, and g are controllermagnets, here shown as being secured to the under side of the vestibule and connected, respectively, to the terminals a, b, c, d, e, f,

and g by suitable electric circuits, hereindicated by the symbol 0 dle of the vestibule.

20 represents a bracket secu red to the front lower edge of the vestibule. This bracket is provided with two cars 21, in which is arranged a rod 22, that is prevented from dropping through the ears by a flange 23, that rests against the top piece of the upper ear 21. To the lower end of the rod 22 is rigidly secured a hub 24, having an arm 25, the end 26 of which is formed as a block that enters the space between the complemental parts of the magnets a b a d ef g and is moved in the arc of a circle, as shown in Fig. 1, to a position according to which pair of magnets is energized by the current that is controlled by the switch-arm 5. 27 represents the ground wire for these magnets. The terminals a to g, as well as the connecting-circuits a and the magnets a, Z) c d e f g, may be variously modified, and any preferred form of these elements may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, which is not confined to any particular form of electrical connection between the car-truck and the rod 22, which carries the lamp. The upper end of the rod 22 is formed witha cross-piece 28, upon which clips 29 of the lamp 30 drop, and thus secure the lamp in place.

The parts being constructed and arranged as described and the lamp being positioned so as to deflect its light straight ahead or along the lines of the axis of the oar-body, if now the truck strikes a curve by reason of the connections between said truck and the lamp the rays of the lamp will be deflected from the longitudinal axis of the car and made to follow the car-track or roadway, irrespective of the longitudinal axis of the car, the degree of curvature of the line, and whether that curvature be to the right or to the left. By this construction the rays of the light are at all times upon the road, which manifestly would not be the case if the lamp merely defiected its rays in one set position with referonce to the longitudinal axis of the car.

The lamp, as shown, is arranged in the mid- It may be arranged on top or at the side or in any preferred position.

The result will be the same. The rays of the I00 lamp will at all times be deflected and made to shine upon the car-track or roadway.

I do not claim broadly in this application a lateral deflectable headlight and means for automatically turning the headlight toward either side of its central position, since this invention is claimed by me in my application Serial No. 103,850.

While the light as described is represented as arranged to normally shine along the iongitudinal axis of the car-body, I do not Wish to be limited to this arrangement, since the invention in its broad phase includes an adjustable light controlled by the truck or an equivalent device.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a Way of making and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a truck-frame and a body, of a laterally-defiectable headlight, a

movable member connected to turn with said U headlight, a plurality of electromagnets in a curved series adjacent to the path of movement of said movable member, a'switch-arm connected to the truck-frame, a series of contacts to coact with the switch-arm, and independent circuits connecting the magnets and contacts.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

GEORGE F. CHAPMAN.

Witnesses:

R. BULLOCK, H. L. ROBBINS.

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