US1085047A - Railway-switch. - Google Patents

Description

J. W. HUBBARD.

RAILWAY SWITCH. APPLIGATION FILED ooT.3o,1912.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

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J. W. HUBBARD.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. so, 1912.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

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JAMES VJARREN HUBBARD, OF EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. Homann, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Eau Claire, in the county of Eau Claire and State of lVisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Railway- Switch, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to locking devices for railway switches, and comprises certain improvements upon apparatus of this sort described and claimed in my application for a patent on a railway switch, Serial Number 660,257, filed November 14, 1911.

The object of t-he invention described and claimed in this application is to provide a construction of locking device for railway switches which will operate more readily and advantageously than the apparatus set forth in my co-pending application above referred to, and to this end I provide my improvements with suitable anti-frictional braces to engage the side of a draw bar and afford the desired results.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which the same characters of reference indicate the same parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a top plan of a switch locking mechanism of my improved type; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a top plan of a modification; and Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

On the drawings, 1 represents a section of one of the main rails at a point where the switch is to be made, this switch comprising a switch point shown at 4. The rail, part of which is indicated at 1, will be a straight rail, and the other rail will turn out and form part of the siding while the other switch point will form part of the other rail, which will be laid parallel with the rail 1 to continue the line beyond the switch, the switch point shown at 4 leading to the other track of the siding, as will be readily understood.

The switch points will be operated by means of a draw bar 5, which will be reciprocated to throw the switch points in either direction to open or close the switch, as occasion requires, and it will be locked in either relation by means of a locking bar 3 mounted upon links 9 and disposed along the rail 1. Normally, this locking bar S will have its upper edge projecting above Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 30, 1912.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

Serial No. 728,669.

the rail, and the rail and switch points will be supported by the ties or sleepers 7 in the usual way. Preferably, the lower ends of the links 9 will be secured by pivot bolts and lugs to the sides of the sleepers 7, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The bar 6 is locked in position to hold the switch open or closed by means of a lever 13 which is pivotally mounted at one end by means of a suitable bolt 14, and connected intermediate its length to the bar 6 by means of a pivoted link 12. The inner end of the lever 13 is joined by a link 15 to the lock bar 8, and it will be seen that in the position shown in Fig. l, the switch will be closed, and whenever a train is passing, the wheels thereof will bear down upon the bar 3, exerting a pull upon the bar 15 to draw the free end of the lever 13 to the right. This movement will push upon the link 12 and bar 6 and prevent the switch points from moving while a train is passing.

In order to facilitate the mounting of the above-mentioned parts I employ a base plate 31, over which the bar 6 passes, and to which the lever 13 is secured. This plate rests upon a pair or adjacent sleepers 7 outside of the tracks, and the sleepers 7 may be extended fo-r this purpose. The link 15 may be made in two parts if desired, and joined by a suitable turn-buckle 32.

For the purpose of bracing the draw bar 6 against the lateral component. of the thrust exertedv by the link 12, I provide a stud 33 upon the plate 31 and mount on this stud an anti-friction roller 34, this roller being freely rotatable upon the stud. The outer end of the stud also has pivotally secured thereto an arm 35 having a. notched end 36, this notched end being engaged by a stud 37. The bar 6, the arm 35 and roller 34 move independently ofl each other, and Jdie notch 36 in the end of the arm 35, which allows some play to the stud or projection 37, will prevent any binding when the drawbar is reciprocated. This arm 35 also acts as a sort of catch to keep the bar 6 in the plane of the roller 34, and prevent disengagement of the parts.

l/Vhen the bar 6 is moved in either direction it will slide on the roller 34 and carry the member 35 with it around the pivot 33. Any movement of the draw bar will of course be attended with a movement to the left of the parts 12 and 13, and the stud and roller 34 thus act as an anti-frictional brace against which the draw bar abuts.

This brace is also effective when the wheels ol the train engage the draw bar 8 to lock the switch in open or closed position, and on such occasions it will brace the bar G against any lateral component of the thrust exerted by the link 12, as above described.

ln the modification shown in Figs. 3 and 4 l employ a locking bar 8, draw bar 6, connecting link and plate 31, as before, but the plate 31 has a slightly different shape. rlhis plate has a channel 33, along the edges of which are disposed ribs 39, and the bar 6 moves between these ribs. To this bar is secured a cover 40, by means of bolts 41 passing through the bar and the gear, the heads of these bolts being on the bottom of the bar and entering the groove or channel 38, the sides of the bar resting upon the shoulders formed by the ribs 39. The cover is hollow, and has passing therethrough in a direction transverse of the bar, a passage which receives a link 42 pivotally secured to the cover by means of a bolt 43. One end of this link is housed by the cover and carries r an anti-friction roller 44, and the other end of this link 42 projects out of the cover and is pivotally secured to a lever intermediate the ends of the latter. This lever 45 is pivotally secured at its outer end to the plate 31 by a bolt 46a, and corresponds to the lever 13 and is connected at its opposite end to the link 15. Pivotally secured to the plate 31 is another link 47 having its outer end notched, as shown at 48, this notched end passing into the passage in the cover, the passage being enlarged on the adjacent side to allow this notched end to pass over the top of the inner end of the link 42. The cover 40 also carries a bolt 49 which passes in through the top of the cover and engages the notch in the end of this link 47. The adjacent end of this link also carries an antiliriction roller which engages the antifriction roller 44, and directly below this link 47 is an antifriction roller 51, which projects beyond the edge of the adjacent rib 39, and engages the side of the bar 6. The plate 31 has flat top projections 52 in which are l'ormed threaded holes 53, one of these holes receiving the pivot bolt 54 of the link 47. rlhis plate is also provided with a pair of guide ribs 55, against which the projection on the swinging end of the lever 45 rests. The plate 31 is so shaped that the lever 45 can be mounted on either side of the center,

and the relative position of the links 42 and 47 reversed when necessary. The link 42 corresponds to the link 12- in the lirst form, and operates in the same way, except that as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 member 15 is put under a compression strain to hold the switch locked in position, and the roller 51 will act as an anti-rictional brace 'for the draw bar 6, whenever the bar is moved or a force exerted on the lever 45 through the link 15, which force will act through the link 42 to lock the draw bar 6 and the switch in open or closed position. In the position shown in Fig. 3 itwill be necessary to exert a thrust on the bar 15 to secure this result, and the locking bar 8 ma be correspondingly mounted. If it is esired, however, that the force on the bar 15 actuating the lever 45 and link 42 be in the shape oit' a pull, it is only necessary to make this bar extend to the left instead of to the right, as shown in Fig. 3. In such a case I would mount the bar 8 and links 9 so as to cause the links 9, when the locking bar 8 is pressed down, to move to the left instead of to the right, so as to exert a tension on the bar or link 15, as desired.

When the switch points are in central position the ' friction rollers 44 and 50 will force the case 40 and bar 6 slightly away from the roller 51, the object of this being to produce what is termed the j ack knife e'liect, to do away with the dead center'. It will be observed that after the switch bar 6 has moved slightly in either direction beyond the center, the links 42 and 47 will travel with the bar, and then any force exerted on the lever 45 through the link 15 will be transmitted through the link 42 to effect the locking of the bar 6. Further, the movement of the bar 6 will carry the cover 40 with the bar, and through the bolt 49 and the notched end of the link 47, move the links 42 and 47 out of alinement, and allow the bar to come back into contact with the roller 51, and be braced thereby against the action of the link 42. lVhen these two links are in alinement, as shown in Fig. 3, the rollers 44 and 50 are in engagement, and the roller 50 acts on the link 42, and there through on the bar 6 to move the bar 6 sidewise away from the roller 51.

It will be noted from Figs. 3 and 4 that when the links are in alinement and the switch points in central position, any compression exerted on the link 15 and lever 45 will cause the links to break or move out of alinement. rhus, after the switch bar 6 travels a slight dist-ance, the roller 51 will come into contact with the switch bar and brace the saine.

The link 47 takes eilect by causing the bar 6 in the case 40 to move slightly away from the roller 51 when the switch bar 6 and the switch points move to central position. Then, when they are moved out of central position in either direction, the bar 6 pulls the links out of alinement by breaking joint at their inner ends. Upon any further movement the lever 45 will act upon the link 42 as soon as the wheels of the train engage the locking bar 8 to lock the switch, and before this happens the bar 6 will have moved back in contact with the roller 51 and thus be braced and be prevented from being forced sidewisel when the switch is locked.

It will be seen that the plate 31 on Figs. 3 and 4 is provided with two apertures to receive the pivot bolt 46 for the lever 45, these apertures being on either side of the ch-annel 38. These two apertures, together with the two apertures 53 and the two guides 55, make it possible to mount the lever 46 on either side of the plate and reverse the relative position of the links.

In practice, I prefer to employ levers connected to the bar 6, so that they will operate to open the switch, and in this case I use springs connected to the bar 6 to return the bar and switch points to closed posit-ion. The object is to keep the switch closed to the main line, opening it only when it isdesired to use the same.

I wish to have it understood that the above description is illustrative only, and that I do not care to be limited to the exact details shown and described, but reserve to myself the right to make any changes in the shape, size and arrangement of the parts as fairly fall within t-he scope and spirit of my invention.

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

l. In a switch locking device, the combination of a switch point, a bar for moving the same, means for locking the switch bar at either end of its movement, and an antifriction device for bracing the switch bar against the action of the locking means.

2. In a switch locking device, the combination of a switch point, a bar connected thereto, locking means exerting a thrust diagonally of said bar to hold the same at either end of its movement, and an antifriction device engaging the bar to act as a lateral brace therefor against the action of said locking means.

3. In a switch locking device, the combination of a switch point, a bar connected to the same, a link connected to said bar, means for causing said link to exert a thrust diagonally of the bar, and a friction roller mounted on the side of the bar opposite the link to brace the bar against the lateral component of said thrust. v

4. In a switch lock, the combination of a switch point, a bar connected thereto, a link pivot-ally connected to one side of the bar, an anti-friction roller on the opposite side of the bar, an arm pivotally mounted on the same side of the bar as the antifriction roller and having a notch in its end, a projection carried by the bar and engaged by the notch, and means for causing the link to exert a thrust diagonally of the bar to lock the same at either end of its movement, the roller serving as a brace for the bar against lateral displacement, and the link holding the bar in the plane of the roller.

5. In a switch lock, the combination of a switch bar for moving the switch points, a cover secured to the bar and having a passage leading therethrough transversely of the bar, a link pivotally connected to the cover and disposed in said passage, said link having an anti-friction roller in its outer end, a second link pivotally mounted to one side of said bar and having its end entering the said cover, a roller carried by said second link to engage the roller of the first link, means carried by the cover to engage the end of the second link to move the same around its pivot, and locking means connected to the first link to secure the bar at either end of its movement.

6. In a switch locking device, the combination of a switch operating bar, a cover secured to the same, a link pivotally mounted upon the cover and having a roller at one end, a second pivoted link having one end notched, means carried by the cover to engage said notched end to move the second link with the cover, said second link having a roller engaging the roller of the first link, an anti-friction roller mounted beside the bar beneath the second link to engage the side of the bar, and locking means for operating the first link, said links causing the bar to swing apart from the anti-friction roller when the links are moved into alinement.

7. In a switch locking device, the combination of a switch bar, 'a lever, a link pivotally connected to the bar and the lever, a base plate to which the lever is pivotally secured, a guide for the lever carried by the base plate, and means for operating the lever.

8. In a switch locking mechanism, a base plate having channels across the same, ribs on the face thereof parallel with the edges of the channel and forming shoulders therewith, said plate having a pair of apertures on either side of the channel adjacent one end of the plate, a pair of apertured projections located centrally of said plate on either side of the channel, and a. pair of arc-shaped guides, one on each side of said channel adjacent the opposite end of said plate.

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

JAMES WARREN HUBBARD.

fitnesses ARTHUR B. C. DUNNE, Gr. I. HUBBARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner oi' Patents. Washington, D. C.

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