US1140076A - Traveling crane. - Google Patents

Description

H. SIHOEMAKER. TRAVELING CRANE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-19. |913.

Patented May 18, 1915.

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H. SHOENIAKER.

TRAVELING CRANE. APPLICATION FILED AuG.19, 1913.

1,140,076. Patented May 18', 1915.

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Batented May 18, 1915. |.|G 3 a; SHEETS-suina.

INVENTOR vState of New York,

HARVEY SHOEMAKER, 0F MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK.

TRAVELING CRAN E.

specification of Letter'slatent.

Patented May 18, 1915.

l Application filed August 19, 1913. Serial No. 785,452.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HARVEY SHOEMAKER, of Middletown, in the county of Orange and have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Traveling Cranes, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention is more particularly designed for application in apparatus used for the transfer of locomotives and other heavy loads from one portion of an erecting or repair shop to another, but is not limited to such specific utilization, and may, without variation of structural or operative principle, be applied in lifting, transferring, and lowering loads of other descriptions, and in other locations of installation.

The object of my invention is to effect a structural and operative economy in the overhead transfer of locomotives and other loads of considerable weight, and in the buildings in which the transfer mechanism is located, by enabling the transfer to be effected with a reduced maximum height of the transfer mechanism, and thereby cor-y respondingly reducing the length of hoisting cable required for lifting and lowering the load, and the height of the building in which the transfer apparatus is installed.

The'improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth. A

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through a locomotive erecting and repair shop, illustrating an application of my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section through a portion of the same; Fi 3, a transverse section through a crane, illustrating a structural modification; and, Fig. 4, a plan or top view of the same.

The transfer of locomotives from one track to another of a locomotive shop, is, in present approved practice, effected by means of a traveling crane, which traverses on runways above and transversely to a plurality of parallel tracks, and is of `suiiicient capacity to lift large locomotives, weighing one hundred tons and over, and transfer them, from one to another track of the shop, as may be required by operating conditions.

Inasmuch as the locomotive must, in most cases, be carried over the tops ofother locomotives standing on intermediate tracks, it necessarily follows =that it must be lifted sufficiently high to pass entirely clear of such standing locomotives, and.` it is also necessary that, when lifted vto such elevation, it

must be suspended entirely below the base level ofthe traveling crane by which it is transferred, and consequently that the runways on which the latter traverses must be located at a sulicient height above the tracks to admit of a lower clearance of the suspended locomotive above locomotive .or locomotives, and an upper clearance of the suspended locomotive below the beams of the traveling crane. In other words, a space, the minimum height of the standing which slightly `exceeds twice the height of the locomotive, must, to permit of operation under present practice, be interposed between the tracks and the base of the traveling crane.

My invention hereinafter described is designed to effect a material reduction in the height of the clearance space above referred to, and thereby to correspondingly reduce the length of wire cable required for lifting the load and the height of the shop in which thedtransfer apparatus is located and operate Referring to the drawings, A, is shown, in full lines, one of a plurality of parallel tracks, b, in a locomotive shop, B, and, in dotted lines, as lifted therefrom for transfer from one track to another. In the practice of'my' invention, instead of effecting, as in present practice, this transfer, by means of a single traveling crane, of sufiicient capacity to y,lift the ena locomotive,

as standing on traveling cranes, 1, 1, each of which is of not less than one half that capacity. The traveling cranes, known and preferred construction, and which do not, in and of themselves, constitute part of my present invention,y are mounted on trucks, 2, which traverse on runways, 3, extending longitudinally in the shop, above and transversel to the tracks, b, and suitably supported adjacent to the side walls of the building. The essential and characteristic feature of my invention consists in the provision of a space or gap, 1nterposed between two members of the traversing appliance, into which gap the upper portion of thelocomotive may be raised, and within which it 'may be suspended during lts transfer from one track to the other. To this end, the two traveling cranes, 1, .1, are, in the preferred embodiment of myinvention which is, in Figs. 1 and 2, herein exemplified, connected and located for conjoint which may be of any suitable cient to admit the locomotive between them when lifted for transfer, as clearly indicated in Fig. 2.

Each of the traveling cranes is provided with motor trucks, 4, 4, which are fitted to traverse longitudinally on track rails, 5, 5,

secured to the tops of the beam members of the traveling cranes, and carry motors, 4, 4a, which actuate' hoisting drums, 4", 4", upon which are wound wire cables, 6, 6, passing around drums, 7a, 7a, journaled in pulley blocks, 7, 7, the lower ends of which carry hooks, 8, 8, which are connected to beams,

- 9, 9, supporting the front and rear ends of the locomotive, A, which is to be transferred. rlhe hoisting mechanism being of the ordinary construction, and not constituting, in and of itself, part of my present inand independent cranes, connected together and spaced apart for the admission of the lload between them, are provided, as above described, is considered by me to be the most desirable for practical application, my invention is not limited to such specific embodiment, as it may, without departure from its spirit and operative principle, or impairment of its useful results, be practised in the operation 'of a single traveling crane having two beams, or pairs of beams, connected at their ends and located at such distance apart that the space or gap between them shall be of sufficient width to admit a locomotive or other loadV to be transferred,

and allow a portion thereof to be lifted.

above the level of the bases of the beam members of traveling cranes. This form of crane, which is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, comapparent to those familiar with the opera' tion of locomotive erecting and repair shops, and particularly in connection with the construction of new buildings of that class. In such application, there results, in addition to the reduction of length of wire cable, required, in lifting and lowering locomotives, the ability to substantially reduce the height of the inclosing shop building, and correspondingly reduce the cost of construction and maintenance thereof, which in large railroad shops, of the character of those no w being erected in various localities throughout the United States, is obviously a matter of substantial importance in the interest of the owners thereof. Further, the transfer of loads of much less weight than that of an entire locomotive, as cylinders, frames,

etc., is oftener required, in the operationof locomotive shops, thanthat of entire locomotives, and the utilization, for this purpose, of one of two separate traveling cranes, each of substantially one half the capacity of those required in present practice, as is practicable in the application of my invention, obviously effects a material economy of shop operation in the frequent transfers of the lighter loads referred to.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. In an installation for the Voverhead transfer of loads, the combination of a plurality of parallel railroad floor tracks, runways supported above and transversely to said tracks, two overhead traveling cranes, connected and adapted to traverse coincidently on said runways and separated by a gap or space sufficient to admit between them a vehicle of the maximum width admissible on a floor track, and hoisting apparatus mounted on said traveling cranes, by which a load may be elevated, from one of the floor tracks, sufficiently far into the space between theltraveling cranes, to be carried by said cranes over the top of a vehicle standing on another track.

2. A traveling crane'for overhead load transfer installation, comprising two connected overhead traveling cranes, separated by a gap or space sufficient to admit between them a vehicle of the maximum width admissible on lrailroad tracks served by said cranes, and hoisting apparatus mounted on said traveling cranes and adapted to elevate such a vehicle into the space'between said cranes.

3. In an installation for the overhead transfer of loads, the combination of a plurality of parallel railroad floor tracks, runways supported above-and transversely to said tracks, a traveling crane transfer appliance adapted to traverse on said runways and comprising beam members extending parallel with said tracks and 'separated by a gap or space sufficient to admit between them a vehicle of the maximum width admissible on a floor track, and mechanism, mounted on said transfer appliance, whereby a load may be lifted, from one track, sufliciently far into the gap between the beam members to pass over the top of a vehicle standing onanother track.

HARVEY SHOEMAKER.

Witnesses:

`N. L. SATGHELL,

THOMAS MURPHY.

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