Improvements in or relating to the construction of mechanically operated signalling devices for use in connection with road vehicles and attached thereto

摘要

173,646. Claughton, J. Oct. 25, 1920. Road-traffic signals on vehicles; semaphore and pointer signals; mechanical telegraphs. - A signalling device for road vehicles comprises a rotary hand-operated member arranged at the front of a vehicle, a rotary signal hand device at the rear, and a flexible shaft for communicating motion between the two. In one arrangement, Fig. 2, the hand-operated member comprises a sleeve e rotatably mounted on a bracket member b and provided with an operating handle f. One end of a flexible shaft g is held in a split cone o by means cf an internallv-coned sleeve n and a nut q. The motion of the rotary sleeve e is communicated to the shaft g by the bolts h engaging with holes in the flange r of the cone sleeve n. Means for holding the sleeve e in definite positions comprises inter-engaging V- shaped or like projections on collars i, m., fixed to the rotating sleeve e and the fixed bracket b respectively, these projections being forced into engagement by a spring u. When the flexible shaft is very long, a double-acting spring may be connected between the collar and the sleeve n in order to take up back-lash. The other end of the flexible shaft g is secured by similar coacting conical sleeves 2, 3, Fig. 9, to a disc 4 carrying a signal hand v. Spring-controlled plungers 6 engage recesses 8 in a fixed plate 5 to hold the signal hand in definite positions. The signal device is preferably mounted on an arm 11, Fig. 6, provided with joints 10, 12, 14, having interengaging conical faces so that the signal device is capable of practically universal adjustment. In a modification of the hand-operated device, Fig. 10, the shaft g has its end mounted in a bearing 16 and carries a pinion 18 meshing with a quadrant 19 fixed to a shaft 20. The shaft 20 is rotated by the hand-lever 22 which is provided with a spring detent 23 engaging with projections 24. In a modified signal device, the flexible shaft may be directly connected to disc 4 by means of a nut. The hand v may be provided with a lamp the circuit of which may be closed by a switch 31 controlled from the quadrant 19.