US539192A - And edward d - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. M. RODRIGUEZ & E. D. ROCKWELL. ELECTRIC LIGHT. HEAD GEAR FOR PERSONAL WEAR.

N0. 539,192. Patented May 14, 1895.

' UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED M. RODRIGUEZ, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND EDWARD D. ROCKWELL, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC-LIGHT HEAD-GEAR l-"OR PERSONAL WEAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part bf Letters Patent No. 539,192, dated May 14, 1895.

Application filed February 25, 1895- Serial No. 539,614. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that we, ALFRED M. ROD- RIGUEZ, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, and EDWARD'D. ROOK- WELL, of Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvem ent in Electric-Light Head-Gear for Personal Wear; and we do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification,

. and represent, in-

Figure 1, a perspective view of a cap constructed in accordance with our invention and having an electric lamp applied to it; Fig. 2, a similar view of the cap with the electric light removed; Fig. 3, a broken rear view of the cap, showing the contact-buttons provided for the removable attachment of the spring-sockets connected with the body-wires Fig. 4, a detached broken View, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation, showing one of the spring-sockets applied to one of the contact-buttons; Fig. 5, a detached view, in side elevation, of one form which the lamp may assume.

Our invention relates to an improved cap,

particularly designed for the use of bicyclists, the object being to produce a cap adapted to be worn like an ordinary cap, and also to have an electric-lamp removably connected with it.

With these ends in view, our invention consists in the combination with a cap, of electric wires permanently applied thereto, and terminating at their rear and forward endsin contact points adapting the cap to have an electric lamp and body wires removably connected with it.

Our invention further consists in certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out our invention, as herein shown,we employ a cap A, havinga visor A, and of ordinary appearance and general construction. To this cap we permanently apply two electric wires B B, respectively extending from front to back in its opposite edges, within which they are concealed. For

convenience of description, these wires will be hereinafter spoken of as cap-wires. At their forward ends the cap wiresemerge from the cap at a point above the visor thereof, and terminate in contact-pinsB B while the rear ends of the said wires terminate in contact buttons B B placed side by side in the same-horizontal plane. The particularcharactor of the terminals of the cap-wires may, however, be changed as desired.

As herein shown, the electric lamp 0, which may be of any approved construction, is located centrally within a cup-shaped reflector C,.furnished at its rear end with a neck or shank C provided with two oppositely located nipples c c, which respectively receive the contact-pins B 13 forming the terminals of the forward ends of the cap-wires B B before described. From the said shank or neck C depends a plate or foot C adapted to be inserted intoa sheet-metal clip or socket D, secured to the upper face of the visor A, in the center thereof, whereby the lamp may be readily attached to and removed from the cap, which may therefore be worn with or without the lamp, as desired. the lamp with the cap, its foot C is inserted into the socket D, after which the contactpins B B are inserted into the nipples c c before mentioned. On the other hand, to remove the lamp, the contact-pins B B are withdrawn from the nipples cc, after which the foot C is Withdrawn from the socket D.

The contact-buttons B? B formingterminals for the rear ends of the cap-wires B B, are respectively designed to receive in removable attachment, spring sockets E E, respectively connected with wires E E, which we shall hereinafter call the body-wires to distinguish them from the cap-wires B B. The contact-buttons B B and the spring sockets E E correspond, as shown, to the ordinary button and spring-socket of a glove-fastening, but of course, they may take a great variety of forms, and we do not limit ourselves to what we have shown.

The wires E E are woven together in a cable E, which passes downward under or over the coat of the wearer of the cap. The said body-wires are connected at their lower ends with a source of electric energy, such,

To connect for instance, asa small dynamo carried. by the bicycle andoperated thereby, or a small storage battery, or by a small electric generator, or by any other source of electric energy, 5 whether carried by the bicycle or the person wearing the cap. It will be found yery--cn-.;

venient to pass the cable.underflthecoat,

collar, and down under the coat, but of course that way of wearing the device is not essen- IO tial, however convenient it maybe In case the means employed for supplying a current to the lamp are carried by the bicycle, we shall preferably locateill thecabla; a separable coupling of some approvedcon;

I struction, such, for instance, as the coupling shown in connection with Fig. 1, and consisting of two members-E and F, which it is thought do not need-detailed descriptiona These members remain -coupled-under ordizo nary conditions, but not so firm-ly but that they will separate under any unusual strain, so that in case the wearerof the cap-should dismount from the machinewithout first-separating the coupling membenm-they will sep 2 5 arate themselves without'injuryto any of the connections, and without the danger of pull ing his cap 01f. In'casea storage bat-teryor small generator is cmployedand *carriedin the pocket of the wearer of the -cap, ;such a coupling would not be necessary.

It will be understood, of course,that when the lamp is removed from thecap,-the body wires are disconnected there-from,- leaving the cap free to be wornand used in exactly the same manner and with exactly the same free dom that it could be wornandusedif it were-- not provided with permanently applied capwires terminating at their rear and forward endsin contact-points which may be arranged and concealed so' that the cap will present the appearance of an-ordinarycap, and will not be distinguished therefrom by the ordinary observer.

It willreadily be seen that a lamp carried by the cap upon the head of a bicycle rider,

possesses advantages which can not possibly be secured by a lamp carried wfastened'to his wheel, or upon his breast, for the location of" the lamp upon the cap enables the rider to throw the light in any direction with the utmost ease, the lightfollowing the direction in which he wishes to look, while on the other hand, a light fixed to the machine is-limitedto illumninatinga small section of-the road directly in front ofthe machine,and a light worn on the breast of therider is-also limited to illuminating the contracted space which he can cover by moving his-body.

It is apparent that in carrying out our invention the details of construction of the cap and the lamp and their various connections may be widely varied. We would, therefore, have it,understood.thatwe do not limit ourselves to the exact construction herein shown and described, but hold ourselves at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of our inven- Byarrangingthe contact-points Vile are aware, however, that a fillet or band 9 adapted to beiworn-on the head, and to have an electric lamp connected with it, is old, and we do not claim-broadly means for adapting an electric lamp tobe worn upon the forehead.

Having fully describedour invention,what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters-Patent,'is-- 1. The combination with a cap adapted to be worn upon the head, of two cap-wires permanently appliedthercto, and terminating at theirrearand forward ends in contact points, substantially as, set forth, and. whereby an electric lampand wires supplying a current thereto may be. removably connected with the cap, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a cap adapted to be .worn upon the head, of cap wires permanently located therein and terminating at their rear and forward endsin contact points, an electric lamp arranged to be removably connected'with thecap and the contact points at the forward ends of the wires,-and bodywires adaptedto be removably connected with the contact points, formingthe terminals of the rear ends. of :the cap wires,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specificationin the presence of two subscribing. witnesses.

ALFRED M. RODRIGUEZ. EDWARD D. ROCKWELL. lVitnesses:

FRED O. EARLE, J. H. SHUMWAY.

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