US1019029A - Mail-collector. - Google Patents

Description

v F. J. EDER.

MAIL COLLECTOR.

APPLIOATIOH nun 00121, 1911.

1,019,029. Y Patented Maw, 1912.

FRANK J'. EDER, OF ST. PAUL MINNESOTA.

MAIL-COLLECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 2'7, 1911.

Serial No. 657,070.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. EDER, a subj ect of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mail-Collectors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mail collectors for railway trains and its object is to provide a simple convenient device for catching mail sacks from moving trains and more particularly to so engage a suspended mail sack that it is carried within the car by the movement of the train and making it unnecessary for the mail clerk in the car to manipulate the mechanism while receiving the mail sack.

In the drawing with which I have illustrated my invention and which forms part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention in connection with the doorway of a mail coach; Fig. 2 is a plan view of my device in operative position, and Fig. 3 is an elevation, part in section, showing the position of my device when not in use and its means of attachment to the door frame of the car.

In the above drawing I have shown a door frame-A of a mail coach on which is mounted a supporting stand B. A catching arm or track rail G is pivoted at the top of the stand by means of a suitable bolt 2 to rotate transversely of the car into vertical and horizontal positions.

The stand B has an enlarged base part 3 recessed to slide upon a slide bar 4 which is fixed on the threshold 5 of the car door. The slide bar 4 is provided with notches 6 in its sides by means of which the base B is fixed in position longitudinally of the threshold 5 and the enlarged base 3 engaging the slide bars 4 provides stable attachment for the stand.

Within the base 3 a latch 7 is mounted to operate vertically into and out of engagement with the notches 6, a compression spring 8 in the base tending to hold the latch 7 in engagement with the notches. A trip lever 9 is pivoted on the base 3 having one end engaging the latch 7 to raise it out of the notches 6 and its other extremity 10 directed toward the inside of the car to conveniently operate the latch in adjusting the stand B.

The upper part of the stand B is fixed upon the base part 3 by a socket joint 11, being fixed in position by means of a set screw 12. The catching arm C in the operating position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 has a transverse slide part 13 curving gradually into a forwardly ext-ending catching extremity 14 adapted to engage a sack of mail suspended in the ordinary manner for collection by moving trains. The parts 13 and 14 of the arm C are formed with a forwardly extending curve substantially as illustrated and adapted to engage the mail sack and carry it backward and gradually inward with a minimum shock to the sack and catching mechanism. An extension piece 15 is connected with the arm by a screw joint 16 or in any suitable manner and provides a continuation of the transverse slide 13 adapted to carry the mail sacks farther within the carloy its own momentum.

The positioning of the stand B on the threshold of the door frame A permits the closing of the door with the arm in operating position when the extension piece 15 is removed.

The arm C is supported in the operating position by a guard 17 and a brace 18. The guard 17 is pivoted to the arm C at 19 and is formed with a slot 20 running on a stub bolt 21 on the upper part of the stand B. The slot 20 permits the rotation of the arm G on the pivot into a substantially vertical position illustrated in Fig. 3. The guard 17 also serves to support the mail sack sliding along the arm G and prevents the sackfrom wrapping about the stand B. The brace 18 is detachably connected with the arm G near its catching extremity 14 by means of a socket joint 22 or in any suitable manner and. with the door frame A atthe rear of the stand B by means of a lug 23 attached to the door frame and formed with a recess 24 adapted to engage the rear extremity of the brace 18.

In operating my device the base 3 of the stand B is placed upon the slide 4 with the latch 7 engaging one of the notches 6. The

top part of the stand is fixed in the base by means of the set screws 12 which may or may not be removed when the stand is not in use. The arm C and guard 17 are so positioned on the stand as illustrated in Fig. 3 allowing the catching arm G to hang in a vertical position. The extension piece 15 is attached to the catching arm and in the vertical position of the catching arm lies out- Patented Mar. 5, 1912. v

side the car door. The brace 18 is not attached to the device until it is desired to operate the catcher. The door of the car may then be opened and the extension piece being used as a handle, the handle C is raised to its elevated position shown in Fig. 1. .The brace 18 is inserted in the sockets at the joints 22 and 23 and the base part 8 is adjusted on the slide 4: to give the proper rigidity to the brace 18 and stand B. If desired the catcher may be maintained in this position with the door of the. car open allowing the mail sacks to drop inside the car. In stormy weather the extension piece 15 may be removed and the door of the car closed as soon as the catching arm C has been adjusted in operative position. The mail sack caught by the extremity 14L will then slide along the arm C and rest against the car door until the door is opened and the sack is removed by hand. After the mail sack has been collected the brace 18 is removed and the arm C lowered to the posi tion shown in Fig. 3 until again required.

The arm C is distinguished from prior devices for catching mail sacks in that it is a single track rail used to catch the sack between its ends and carry it when so caught with its ends hanglng over the rail, while prior devices catch and conduct the sack loosely and do not catch the sack between its ends and conduct it while so caught.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but I desire to have it understood that the construction shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In a sack collector for mail coaches, a support mounted outside the door of said coach, a curved catching arm pivoted to said support to rotate into vertical and horizontal position without the door of said car, and an extension piece adapted to be connected to said catching arm in extension thereof to guide a mail sack into the interior of said coach and to be removed to permit the closing of the coach door when the catching arm is in operative position.

2. In a sack collector for mail coaches, a slideway rail on the threshold of said coach door, a stand having a base slidable on said rail and having latch means for adjustment thereon, a catching arm pivoted at the upper extremity of said stand to rotate transversely of said coach into and out of operative position, an extension piece adapted to be attached to said catching arm to guide mail sacks into the interior of said coach and to be removed to permit the operation of said catching arm with thecoach door closed and means for bracing said arm in operative position.

8. In a mail sack collector for railway coaches, a curved catching rail positioned in the doorway of a coach and having an outer extremity extending forward to engage the suspended mail sack between its ends, and an inner extremity directed toward the interior of the car and adapted to permit the free riding of a mail sack thereon between its ends into said car by its own momentum.

4. In a sack collector for railway mail coaches, a support, a curved catching rail rotatably mounted on said support in the doorway of a coach and having an outer extremity extending forward to engage the suspended mail sack between its ends and an inner extremity directed toward the interior of the car to guide said sack caught by said arm past said support into said coach.

5. In a sack collector for mail coaches, a supporting stand detachably fixed to the door frame of a coach, a curved catching rail mounted on said stand and having a catching extremity adapted to engage a suspended mail sack between its ends, and a delivery extremity adapted to guide said sack riding under its own momentum on said rail into the interior of said coach, and means for supporting said catching arm in operative position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK J. EDER. Witnesses:

H. L. FISCHER, F. G BRADBURY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained'for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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