US1729635A - Magazine terminal - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 1, 1929. L. E. VAN STEENSBURG 1,729,635

MAGAZINE TERMINAL Filed May 10, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l 06L 1929- L. E. VAN STE ENSBLJRG 1,729,635

MAGAZINE TERMINAL Filed May 10, 1928 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 I fizz/6727307 Leolif Van Shams-kw? I Q7 i i w fi fizz 5 Patented Get. 1, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEO E. VAN STEENSBURG, OE CHARL-ESTOVI'LT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN PNEUMATIC SERVICE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE MAGAZINE Application filed May 10,

This invention pertains to pneumatic despatch systems and more particularly to a sending or despatch terminal for use in such a system. Pneumatic despatch systems are now employed for transmitting merchanchse, newspapers, mail, etc. over considerable distance, for example between different buildings or departments of the same establishment,-between a central warehouse or manufacturing plant and out-lying distributing plant or salesrooms,or from one post oifice or railway station to another. For proper operation of these long pneumatic tubes it is essential to avoid overloading, that is to say, to prevent the despatch of carriers at too frequent intervals. On the other hand to insure maximum efiiciency, the carriers should be fed into the tube one after another at the minimum permissible interval.

In accordance with the present invention I provide means for automatically feeding carriers into the tube at the minimum intervals permissible for proper operation, such means comprising a magazine capable of holding a plurality of carriers in readiness for despatching. In this way I insure maximum efficiency, since carriers are sent in succession at minimum intervals, while the constant attention necessary for eflicient manual feeding is avoided and the attendant is free to perform other duties in the intervals between successive replenishments of the magazine.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one desirable embodiment of the invention by way of example, and in the drawings Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly broken away and partly in vertical section, of my improved despatch apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view showing the device in position to deliver a carrier into the despatch tube.

Referring to the drawings, numeral 1 designates a portion of the despatch tube of a pneumatic system. This tube is shown as provided with a sending terminal structure 2 provided, if desired, with suitable air locks, such for example as illustrated in the patent TERMINAL 1928. Serial No. 276,745.

to Stoddard No. 975,903, November 15, 1910. VVlnle this type of terminal is useful for the purpose, its detail of construction forms no essential feature of the present invention which is wholly concerned with means for feeding carriers into the terminal of the despatch tube.

As here shown the open end of the terminal 2 is provided with a flange 3 having a suitable ear or boss carrying a pivot pin 4 by means of which the carriers support or transfer device 5 is hinged to the flange 3.

This carrier support or transfer device 5 (Fig. 2) is preferably of trough-like form, having acylindrically curved bottom whose inside radius is substantially equal to the inside radius of the terminal 2. When the carrier support 5 is in its normal, that is to say carrier receiving position, it is substantially horizontal, occupying the full-line position indicated in Fig. 1. lVhen this carrier support or transfer device 5 is raised to the inclined position 5, Fig. 1, its inner surface is in substantially axial alignment with the inner surface of the terminal 2 so that a carrier C resting upon the support in this inclined or delivery position, unless restrained, will slide down by the action of gravity into the open end of the terminal 2.

Referring to Fig. 2, one lateral edge 5* of the trough-like carrier support 5 is disposed (when the support is in receiving position) closely adjacent to the delivery end 6 of a carrier reservoir or magazine which as here shown is provided with the floor 7 inclined downward toward its delivery end 6. Preferably the carrier support 5 is provided with a depending guard G disposed adjacent to the delivery end 6 of the magazine for a purpose hereafter described. As here shown this magazine consists merely of a chute '7 carried upon a supporting frame 7 b but I contemplate that any other suitable type of magazine may be provided and that the capacity of the magazine may be increased or decreased to any desired extent. Furthermore, while as here shown the magazine delivers the carriers laterally into the cradle or troughlike carrier support 5, I contemplate that the magazine may be arranged to deliver the carriers endwise into this elongate cradle or support, or that they may be dropped vertically into the support as may be found most convenient under the conditions of installation.

For swinging the carrier support 5 from the horizontal to the inclined position I provide a fluid motor comprising a cylinder 8, here shown as substantially vertical, closed at its lower end and resting upon a base 9. This cylinder is closed at its upper end by a head and is provided with a piston 11 having a piston rod 12 passing up through a suitable opening in the head 10. This piston rod is connected in any appropriate way to a boss on the underside of the support 5 so that as the piston rises in the cylinder 8, the support is swung upwardly.

As here shown the cylinder 8 is furnished with an air passage 14 leading into the space beneath the piston 11 and this passage is connected by a pipe 15 to the casing 16 of a controlling valve. A pipe 17 supplies pressure fluid to the casing 16 and the admission of the pressure fluid to the pipe 15 is controlled by a suitable valve 18 which may be of any desired type. As here shown this valve is provided withan actuating stem 19 connected to a piston, diaphragm, or other suit-able pneumatic Compressed air is supplied for actuating the pneumatic 20 through a pipe 21 leading to the casing 23 of a stop valve. This casing 23 is mounted upon a bracket 24 on the carrier support 5, and the valve casing 23 encloses a stop valve of any suitable type, normally closed, and having an actuating stem 25. This stem projects upward through an opening in the bottom of the support 5 and engages a detector finger 26 pivotally secured at 27 to the support. This detector is normally in the elevated position shown in Fig. 5, but when a carrier is placed in the support the weight of the carrier depresses the detector 26, thus pushing the stem downwardly and opening the stop valve to permit air to flow from the casing 23 through the pipe 21 to the pneumatic 20. Compressed air is supplied to the casing 23 through a. flexible conduit 27 leading from a timing valve casing 28. The casing 28 is furnished with a controlling valve of any suitable type, such valve normally being closed and having an actuating stem 29 disposed in the path of a rotating timing cam 30 driven by a constant speed motor 31. Compressed air from any suitable source 1s delivered to the casing 28 through a pipe 32, and at each rotation of the cam 30 the timing valve is opened for a predetermined interval, permitting air to flow from the casing 28 into the casing 23.

The carrier support 5 is preferably provided with a stop device 33 disposed at a point adjacent to the pivot 4. This stop device is here shown as a short lever pivoted at 34 and normally projecting up through a slot in the bottom of the support 5 so as to engage the end of a carrier C resting in the support. The stop member 33 is normally held in this operative position by means of a latch 35 pivoted at 36 and normally held in operative engagement with the stop by means of a spring 37. An auxiliary pneumatic motor is provided for retracting the latch 35 at certain times so as to make the stop 33 inoperative. As here shown this auxiliary motor comprises a cylinder 38 supported by a bracket 39 carried by the member 5, and this cylinder contains a piston 40 having a piston rod 4L1 connected in any suitable manner with the latch 35. The space above the piston 40 communicates by means of a pipe 42 with the space above the piston 11 of the main motor.

The operation of the device is substantially as follows, it being assumed that the attendant has placed a plurality of carriers C upon the inclined floor 7 of the magazine and that one of these carriers has rolled down into the horizontally positioned carrier support or transfer device 5, such carrier occupying the position indicated at C It is also assumed that the motor 31 has been set into operation, thus constantly rotating the cam 30 and thereby opening the valve in the casing 28 at regular, uniformly timed intervals. The carrier C which rests in the support 5 depresses the detector 26, thus opening the stop valve in the casing 23, and, under these conditions, at each'rotation of the cam 30 compressed air is permitted to flow through the pipe 27, the casing 23 and the pipe 21 to the pneumatic 20. Thus at each rotation of the cam 30 the pneumatic 20 operates to open the controlling valve 18 permitting air to enter beneath the piston 11. When the air is thus admitted beneath the piston 11, the latter begins to rise, raising the support 5 to the inclined position 5 During the early part of this upward movement the stop 33, which engages the left-hand end of the carrier C as viewed in Fig. 1, prevents the carrier from slipping endwise along the inclined support 5, butduring the upward movement of the support the air above the piston 11 is compressed in the cylinder 8 and'fiowing through the pipe 42 causes the piston 40 to move downwardly. The parts are so designed that when the carrier 5 has reached its uppermost or delivery position the piston 40 has moved downwardly sufliciently to release-the latch 35, so that the weight of the carrier tips the stop 33 out of the way, allowing the carrier to slide down into the terminal 2. Immediately after this has occurred the continued rotation of the cam 30 cuts off the air from the pneumatio 20, whereupon the valve 18 is restored by appropriate means, well known to those skilled in the art, to its initial position, cutting off air from the supply 17 and allowing the air beneath the piston 11 to exhaust. The support 5 now drops back to its normal or receiving position, being cushioned in this return movement by the dash pot action of the piston 11. During the upward movement of the support 5, the lowermost carrier C in the magazine is prevented from discharging from the magazine by means of the guard device '7 carried by the support, but as soon as the support returns to its normal position the first carrier within the magazine rolls down into the support where it acts as a stop for the other carriers in the magazine. The newly arrived carrier resting in the support again depresses the detector 26 so that as the cam 30 begins the next cycle of rotation the stop valve in the casing 23 is open and the parts are ready for a repetition of the above series of operations.

It is thus evident that so long as carriers are supplied to the magazine the device will con tinue to feed carriers one by one into the terminal 2 at a rate depending solely upon the rate of rotation of the cam 30. This rate of rotation may readily be fixed with reference to the minimum permissible interval so as to avoid overloading of the pneumatic system, but at the same time the timing of the parts may be made as close as desired so that no time may be lost. Since the magazine may be made of any desired capacity it is possible for the attendant to load the magazine at infrequent intervals and thus to occupy a portion of his time in attending to other matters. It is also contemplated that carriers may be delivered to the magazine by any suitable type of conveyor mechanism, such for example as a pneumatic tube or tubes T, a belt conveyor, a gravity conveyor or the like in which event the magazine may constitute a reservoir to receive carriers from any number of sources and for feeding such carriers at the maximum permissible speed by means of the mechanism here described to the despatch terminal.

If for any reason carriers fail to deliver into the support or transfer device 5, as for example if the magazine should becon ie clogged or empty the detector 26 will remain in its uppermost position and the stop valve in the casing 28 will remain closed. Thus although the cam 30 may continue to function, no air will be delivered to the pneumatic 20 and thus the main motor will remain inoperative. ,Vaste of power and wear and tear of parts is thus avoided.

lVhile the mechanism herein disclosed is highly desirable for the purpose and has been found of practical utility, durable, and ellicient, I contemplate that various changes therein, such for example the substitution of equivalents for parts here shown, rearrangement of parts, and change in proportion of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier despatch inlet, and means for automatically feeding carriers one after another at measured time intervals into the inlet.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising carrier despatch tube, and means for despatching carriers one after another in orderly succession and atregular intervals through said tube, said despatching means comprising magazine capable of holding a plurality of carriers in readiness for despatchmg.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier despatch inlet, a magazine for carriers, and means for transferring carriers one after another from the magazine into the inlet.

at. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier despatch inlet, a reservoir for carriers, and means receiving carriers one by one from the reservoir and delivering the carriers endi ise into the despatch inlet.

5. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier despatch inlet, a magazine for carriers, a transfer device adapted to receive a carrier from the magazine and to transfer it to the inlet, and means for actuating the transfere device at regular intervals.

6. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable carrier-transfer device,

means for movin said transfer device, and a detector responsive to the presence of a carrier in the transfer device for initiating operation of the means for moving the transfer device.

7. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a magazine arranged to deliver carriers one by one to the transfer device, power means for moving the transfer device from carrier receiving position to a delivery position, and a detector responsive to presence of a carrier in the transfer device for initiating operation of the power means.

8. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a magezine arranged to deliver carriers one by one to the transfer device, fluid pressure means for moving the transfer device at regular intervals to and from carrier receiving position, and means preventing operation of the fluid pressure means in the absence of a carrier from the transfer device.

9. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a maga- Zine arranged to deliver carriers one by one to the transfer device, fluid pressure means for moving the transfer device at regular timed intervals to and from carrier receiving position, and a movable detector on the transfer device, said detector moving from normal position when a carrier is delivered to the transfer device and by such movement initiating operation of the fluid pressure means.

10. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, power means for moving the transfer device, timing means to cause the power means to operate at regular intervals, and means responsive to the weight of a carrier in the transfer device for initiating the timed operation of the power means.

11. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a fluid motor for moving said device, a valve for controlling the supply of pressure fluid to the motor,means for movingthe valve at uniformly timed intervals, and a detector responsive to presence of a carrier in the transfer device for initiating the timed movement of the controlling valve.

12. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a fluid mtor for moving the transfer device, a controlling valve for the motor, a pneumatic for actuating the controlling valve, timing means for supplying pneumatic with air under pressure at regular intervals, and a detector operative in response to presence of a carrier in the transfer device for initiating the intermittent supply of air to the pneumatic.

13. Apparatus of the class described comprising a movable transfer device, a fluid actuated piston for moving the transfer device, a valve for controlling the supply of pressure fluid to the piston, a pneumatic for actuating the controlling valve, means for supplying air under pressure to the pneumatic, timing means for cutting off the air supply from the pneumatic at regular intervals, a normally closed valve for shutting off said air supply from the pneumatic, and a detector responsive to presence of a carrier in the transfer device for opening said shut-off valve.

14. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined despatch inlet, a carrier support movable from a delivery position in substantial alignment with said inlet to a receiving position out of alignment with the inlet, and means for moving said support from one to the other of said positions at regularly timed intervals.

15. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined despatch inlet, acarrler support pivoted to swing from a position substantially in alignment with the inlet to a position out of line therewith, and means for moving said support.

16. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined despatch inlet, a carrier support hinged to swing about a substantially horizontal axis from a position in alignment with the inlet to a substantially horizontal position, means for delivering a carrier to the support when the latter is horizontally disposed, and means for swinging the support.

17. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined despatch inlet, an elongate trough-like carrier-support mov able from a substantially horizontal position to a delivery position in substantial alignment with the support, means for delivering a carrier to the support when the latter is in horizontal position, and means for preventing movement of such carrier longitudinally of the support until the support reaches its delivery position.

18. Apparatus of the class described comprising an inclined despatch inlet, an elongate carrier support hinged at one end to swing about a horizontal axis adjacent to the end of the inlet, means for moving the support from a receiving position to an inclined delivery position substantially in alignment with the inlet, means for delivering a carrier to the support, retaining means for preventing the carrier from moving longitudinally of the support as the latter is swung upwardly toward delivery position, and means for making the retaining means inoperative when the support reaches delivery position.

19. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal receiving position to a delivery position, a

taining device normally positioned to prevent a carrier, resting on the support, from sliding as the support is raised to inclined position, and means for retracting said retaining device as the support reaches delivery position to permit the carrier to slide on of the support.

20. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal receiving position to an inclined delivery position, a stop normally projecting above the support to prevent a carrier, resting on the support, from sliding as the support is raised to inclined position, means for swinging the support, and means for retracting the stop as the support reaches delivery position.

21. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal receiving position to a delivery position, a stop normally positioned to prevent a carrier,

resting on the support, from sliding as the support is moved to inclined position, a motor for moving the support, and pneumatic means for withdrawing the stop to p rinit the carrier to slide off when the support reaches delivery position.

22. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal receiving position to an inclined delivery position, a stop normally positioned to prevent a carrier, resting on the support, from sliding as the support is moved to inclined position, a main fluid-pressure motor for moving the support, and an auxiliary fluid-motor for retracting the stop, the auxiliary motor receiving pressure fluid from the main motor and thereby operating to retract the stop as the support reaches delivery position.

23. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal re ceiving position to a delivery position, a magazine arranged to deliver a carrier to the support when the latter is in horizontal position, and means to prevent discharge of carriers from the magaine when the support is raised todelivery position.

24. Apparatus of the class described comprising a carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal carrier re ceiving position to a carrier delivery position, a magazine for carriers, said magazine having an inclined floor down which carriers move for delivery to the support when the latter is horizontally disposed, and means to prevent escape of carriers from the magazine when the support is moved from horizontal position.

25. Apparatus oi the class described comprising a trough-like carrier support pivoted to swing from a carrier receiving position to a delivery position, a magazine having an inclined floor down which carriers move for delivery to the support when the latter is in receiving position, the support being of such dimensions that a single carrier resting therein acts as a stop for carriers in the magazine, and a guard moving with the support to permit discharge of carriers from the magazine when the support is moved to delivery position.

26. Apparatus of the class described comprising a trough-like carrier support pivoted to swing from a carrier receiving position to a delivery position, a magazine having an inclined floor down which carriers move for delivery to the support when the latter is disposed in receiving position, the support being of such dimensions that a single carrier resting therein acts as a stop for carriers in the magazine, and a guard depending from the carrier support and moving with the latter, said guard extending across the delivery end of the magazine when the carrier is moved to delivery position whereby to prevent carriers from escaping from the magazine.

27. Apparatus of the class described comprising a trough-like carrier support pivoted to swing from a substantially horizontal carrier receiving position to an inclined delivery position, a magazine having an inclined floor down which carriers move for delivery to the support when the latter is horizontally disposed, the support being of such dimensions that a single carrier resting therein acts as a stop for carriers in the magazine, a fluid motor having a piston moving in a cylinder, means connecting the piston to the support whereby to swing the latter, means for supplying pressure fluid to the motor, a valve controlling the admission of pressure fluid to the motor cylinder at one side of the piston, a pneumatic for actuating the valve, means for supplying air under pressure to the pneumatic, a timing valve for determining the admission of air to the pneumatic, a power driven part moving at uniform speed arranged to open and close the timing valve at regular intervals, a stop valve normally preventing delivery of air to the pneumatic, a detector responsive to presence of a carrier on the support to open the stop valve, a stop member normally positioned to prevent a carrier on the support from sliding off as the support is raised to inclined position by movement of the piston, an auxiliary pneumatic motor for retracting the stop, and means for conveying air, compressed by the motor piston as the latter lifts the support, to said auxiliary motor whereby to retract the stop as the support reaches its delivery position.

Signed by me at Boston, this 8th day of May, 1928.

LEO E. VAN STEENSBURG.

Massachusetts,

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