US1073552A - Means for operating gates. - Google Patents

Description

C. We WITSIL. MEANS FOR OPERATING GATES.

AP1 LI0ATI0N FILED JAN.4,1913.

1,073,552. Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

narran stares ramena onirica,

CHARLES W. WITSIL, OF EAST STROUDSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, .ASSIGNOR 0F ONE HALF T0 FRANK O. WILLIAMS, OF ANALOMINK, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR OPERATING GATES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

i'llatented Sept. 16, 1913.

Application filed January 4, 1913. Serial No. 740,132.

To all 'whom t may conce/rn.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES 1V. VrrsIL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident ot' East Stroudsburg, in the county oi' Monroe and State ot' Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Means for Operating Gates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

rlhe present invention is designed more particularly an improvement in the gate operating means forming the subject oli Letters Patent No. 1,043,654 granted to me November 5, 1912, and has 'for its design to improve the said means in various part-iculars, to the end that convenience and efticiency in operation may be promoted, as well as economy of manufacture and sim plicity of adjustment.

The invention will be particularly explained in the specific description hereinatter to be given.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which the figure is a perspective view of a gate provided with my improved operating means.

In the practical embodiment illustrated any approved hinge post 10 is provided, to which the gate 11 is hinged; a latch post 12 having a catch 13 to be engaged by a latch 14 on the gate; and road posts 15 at each side ot' the hinge post 10, said road posts being provided with catches 13a to engage the latch 14. It is to be understood that the term road post and the form of the post is not of moment, since any equivalent structure will answer.

The gate is adapted to be swung on its hinges by operating ropes or equivalent Vflexible elements 1G, which may be continuous with each other; they are secured, to a drum 17 appurtenant to the gate hinge, and extend in opposite directions from said drum, over idlers 19 carried at the tops of the road-post-s 15, and to a connection with operating levers 20 fulcrumed at one end on said posts, as at 20, and provided with a suitable handle 21 at the free end oit' each lever, the handle in the present instance being shown as consisting ot' a laterally bent arm. The connection between an operating rope 16 and a lever 20 is preferably effected by securing the end of the rope to an eye 22 on the shank Q3 having a hook 211 pass ing through an orifice 20" in the lever, so

that there is a relative turning movement between the shank and the lever, to relieve the shank oit' strain by permitting it to assume a position substantially in line with the end of the operating rope when the lever is swung vertically on its fulcrum 9.011.

The latch 11 is adapted to be tripped by a latch bar Q5, which ranges longitudinally oi' the gate 11, being pivoted intermediate its ends as at 25, to any convenient member 26 of said gate. The inner end o1 the latch bar 25 extends adjacent to the hinge end o1 the post and is provided with a weight 27 normally tending to lower that end of the bar, there being any suit-able stop Q8 on the gate to limit the downward movement ot' the latch bar. Attached to the inner end oit' the latch bar, preferably by a connection with the weight 27, is a latch sti-ine' 2S), having branches 30 that are bent around a vertical drum 31 in tixed relation to the drum 17, said branches 30 o1 the latch string extending in opposite directions from the drum 31 toward the road posts 15. The outer end ot each latch string 3() is secured to a pull rod 32 adapted to slide in lugs 20c on the lever 20, the pull rod terminating at its outer end in a lateral arm 35, constituting a finger-piece parallel with the handle 2l of the lever 20, so that when the level' handle is grasped, the linger of the operator may conveniently engage the arm 33 of the pull rod, lor exerting a pull on the latch string. A coil spring 311 surrouiuls the pull rod 32, between the lugs 20 and :lor returning the pull rod after a sliding movement by the linger ol' the operator. Preferably there is formed on the drum 17, a peripheral llange 35 below the operating ropes 1G, to guide said ropes, and a peripheral `[lange 3G at the upper end ot the drum, :tor a similar purpose.

The latch 14 is itulcrumed at a point be tween its ends to rock vertically on its pivot pin 71, which passes through the iront upright 11" o1 the gate. The gate as shown is formed of tubing, and said 'trent upright is received in a lateral recess 72 in the latch 141-, the pivot pin passing through the said upright, through the inner wall ot.' the recess 72, and through a cap plate 73, which closes the outer end ot the said recess, and is suitably secured.

The latch bar 25 is provided at its outer end with a lateral stud 25" disposed above the inner endk of the latch 14, which is in the form ot an arm 75, and a retractile spring v76 is connected at its lower end with the ward the bottom edge to be received in a similar depression 13b in the catch.

With the described construction, an occupant of a vehicle approaching the gate in ,either direction, may grasp the adjacent lever 20 by the handle 21 and also grasp the arm 33 of the pull rod 22, to exert a pull on said rod 32 and on the latch string, which will raise the inner end of the latch bar or latch trip bar 25, depressing its outer end to l cause the trip stud 25" to depress the arm 75 of the latch 14 and raise said latch out ot engagement with the catch 13. The latch having thus been. released, the lever is swung down on its ulcrum and the operating rope 16 will thus swing the gate away from the operator until the latch 14 engages the catch plate 13a of the distant road post 15. rilhe wagon having passed through t-he gate, the occupant may swing the other lever 2O downward to close the gate.

rlhe described arrangement of the operating ropes, the latch strings, lever, and the pull rods for the latch,it will be seen, enables a person to release the latch and operate the gate with the greatest convenience; the parts provide a simple and inexpensive construction and minimize the possibility of the parts getting out of order.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A gate-operating means comprising, in combination with the gate, gate posts and road posts, idlers on the road-posts, operating ropes extending overthe idlers, .a lever ulcrumed on each road post, rope-connecting members to which the ropes are secured, said members being mounted on the levers between the ulcrums and the free ends, a gate latch, a latch-tripping device on the gate, a latch string connected with the latchtripping device and having branches extending in opposite directions to the levers on the road posts, a pull-rodvrcarried by each lever to movebodily therewith in the movement of the lever, one end'of the .pull rod being secured to the latch string and theopposite end having the form of a handle lo'- cated suiiciently close to the end of the lever for both to be grasped by one hand, and a retract-ile spring for restoring the pull-rod to its original position after an operating movement.

2. The combination with a hinged gate,

gate posts and road posts, .of gate-operating ropes extending roin the directions to the road posts, levers to which said Vropes are secured, the levers being tulcrumed on the road posts, a latch, a 'latchtripping device, a latch string connected with said tripping device and branching in opposite directions to the levers, a longi-r tudinally slidingv pull rod on each lever, each lever having guide lugs in which the pull gatein opposite rod has movement, a spring betweenV said 1 lugs and serving to return the pull Vrod to the original position after movement thereof, the lever and the pull rod having lateral` handle members approximately parallel with each other and sufiiciently close to be both grasped by the hand of the operator.

ln testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES WV. WVITSL.

Witnesses:

ROBT. GRUvER, I F. O. ViTiLLiAMs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentsg Washington, D. C.

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