US105984A - Improvement in adjustable railway trucks - Google Patents

Description

A.V.SANFORD{ Adjustable Car Truck. No 105,984. Patented Au '2, 1 70.

N. PETERSA PNOTO-LITHOGRAPNER WASHINGTON D C form shown in fig.

.. gut llll i ADDISON v. SANFORD, UNION CENTRE, NEWYORK.

Letters Patent No. 105,984, dated 1 1ugast2p187 0.

IMPROVEMENT IN ADJUSTABLE RAILWAY TRUCKS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same I a I, ADDIISONNV. SAnFORb, of Union Centre, in the I a county of Broome and State oi New York, have invented certain Improvements in Adjustable Oar-Trucks, of which the following is a specification. 1

"It is frequently necessary to ship freight over. confleeting linesJf'rhih-oald having tracks of different widthsor gauges, and, inso doing, itis desirable to avoid reshipping at .each change of gauge, thereby effecting a greatsaving of time, expense of handling,

Y 8w- My invention has forits object the; provision of means wherebycars can be made to run upon" tracks. of varying gauges, and, to this end,

It consists ll1 y i t First, a novel construction of the truck, to allow the wheels to be set to fit either a narrow or abroad gauge, and to automatically lock them in their posi- I tion. against accidental,displacement; and,

r Second, in combining with the intermediate section of rails, which connects thetracks of different widths, alongitudmal stringerorrib, provided with inclined ends for operating the locking devices. 1

,Figure l is a perspective view of a truckiand track embodyingmyinvention; Figure 2 is a detached view of theaxlc; and

- Figure 3 is a detached yiewof the ltcy' plate.

In the drawing- 1 A A represent a broad gauge, and BB a narrow-gauge track.

O G arerailsibrming an intermediate connecting sectiom- I I y 0'0 are guard-railsplaced between rails G O, at such distance from them as will readily admitthe flange of a car-wheel. The purpose of these guardrails wilLbc fully explained hereafter.

l D are ribs, stringers, or guides,placed a short dis l-gtnceoutside of rails O O, and parallel to rails A or a E E'represent the body or the car-truck, of any usual or desired construction, and provided with boxes forthereception of axle F. t T These axles are dividedeat orjnear their centers,

and the two members of each are connected by means ofsleeve E, which is rigidly attached to one member, while the other member has a freelongitndinal move- 1 ment within said sleeve, thus forming an extensible axle; The axles are of uniform diameter throughout their" entire length, and can, therefore, move freely endwisefin theboxcs upon which the body of the truck.is supported, 1 a

l l fare grooves in the outer endsof the axles, as shown infig'..2, where the gleev'e is also fully shown.

G is a'strap or bracket, made substantially in the 1," and provided with a perforation, g, a little larger ban the axle F. These brackets are bolted or otherwise secured to'the body of the truck at. the outer ends of the axles, in such position that theperfora'tions gsballbe on a line coincident with axle F, when the latter are in their proper gauges, sleeve F may be a position in the trucks,

H is a key-plate, provided withan elongated slot, h. The lower end of this slot is of sufl'ieient size to allow axle F to. pass freely through it, while the up \per end corresponds in size to the diameter of the axle in'the bottom of the groove f; and the thickness of plate-H, at this end of th'eslot, isa little less than the width of said groove, so that the plate will readily fit intoand occupy the'groove, when required. p

' The key-plate His placed on the inner face of the bracket G, being confined in a suitable groove, or its equivalent, in such. manner that it (the key-plate) can slide up and down when actuated by the stem'H' and spring h. r y The operation of my invention is as follows v Whenrunning upon .the narrowest gauge for which the truck is adapted, the wheels .will be broughtas 'near together as possible, in; fact, I prefer that the inner ends of the divided axle should touch each other within the sleeve F, the key-plate H being dropped down intr') the positions'hown in fig. 1, with the outer ends of the axles abutting against it, in which posh tion there can, of course, be no longitudinal movement of the axles, and the wheels will, of course, tread the track perfectly. -Wh'eu we approach a change of gauge, the stem H will strike the incline on the stringer D, and raise the key-plate H, so as to bring the larger end of slot 8 h on a line with the axle, just before the wheels reach rails 0 OZ 0 1 When, however, .the wheels do reach these rails,

the inner side of their flanges will impinge upon guardrails O G, and,,as the truck moves forward, the wheels will be spread apart, and when they have reached the broad gauge, the stem H will pass off from the stringer D and the key-plate H, descendingiinto the groove f, will continethe wheels in proper position for this width ortraclc, i r I Of course, in moving from a broad to a narrow track, the necessary adjustment will be made in a. similar manner, the wheels beingforced together by rails 0 (ll a By increasing the number of grooves, f, the truck may be adapted to traverse more than two different and, when additional security is desired,"'the provided with a set-screw, as at f, fig. 2, which may be made to engage with a groove, f upon the inner end of one-ht lf of the axle.

Having now described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-.-

1. The adjustable axe F, in combination with the Witnesses:

HENRY W. Roms, Lowntn Grnmose.

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