US1265182A - Switch-thawing apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

T. M. DUNNING.

SWITCH THAWING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-3,19]?- Patented May 7,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

v T. M. DUNNING.

SWITCH THAWING APPARATUS. APPLICATION man Aucha, 1911.

Patent ed May 7, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

36 R, m Mu,

5mm gxxomwemwunmlupg THOMAS M. DUNNING, 0F JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

SWITCH-THAWING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1918.

Application filed August 3, 1917. Serial No. 184,268.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, THOMAS M. DUNNING, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Switch-Thawing Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to a class of apparatus adapted to be used on railroad beds.

My invention has for its object primarily to provide an apparatus designed to be employed on the beds of railroads whereby the movable parts of switches and frogs when clogged, or frozen with snow and ice may be quickly thawed so as to be operable without requiring the snow and ice to be manually removed by the use of picks, shovels and other implements. The invention consists essentially of one or twoseries of supports, and the supports of each series are adapted to be fixed in spaced relation under two coasting rails. On each support is a heater preferably in the form of a receptacle for holding inflammable material, and each receptacle is mounted on its support so as to be guided to and from under the rails above its bracket as well as being adapted to be tilted to allow part of its contents to be emptied.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a shield for being removably applied on each support whereby the flame of the material in its receptacle when ignited may be protected from wind blowing crosswise of the rails; and to provide one or two tilting devices so that water, or snow, or the like when accumulated in the receptacles may be removed from each series in unison,

With these and other objects in view the invention will be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and will then be pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a fragmentary View, showing a top plan of a railway switch and the manner of employing my thawing apparatus in conjunction therewith. I i

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view,

showing a top plan of one of the heaters used in the apparatus.

1 Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view, showing a side elevation of the heater illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IVIV of F ig, 2, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken transversely through a receptacle of a different shape from that shown in Fig. 4.

The thawing apparatus includes one or two series of corresponding supports, as 10 and 11, and each series may consist of any desired number of the supports, one series being arranged between the cross ties 11 of the bed of a railroad under two of the coacting rails 12 and 13 of a switch, or frog, while the other series is also likewise arranged between the crossties under the second pair of coasting rails 14 and 15 of the switch. Each of the supports is pref erably in the form of a bar, or rod with an arm 16 of a length so that both of its ends will extend in opposite lateral directions beyond the sides of the pair of rails under which they are arranged, and one end of each rod is bent to provide a right angularly disposed arm 17 as well as a downwardly disposed arm 18. This downwardly extending arm of each support of each series may be attached to the central part of one of the side edges of one of its next adjacent crossties by being passed through two eyes 19 and 20, Figs. 2 and 3, so that the free end of the arm 16 of the support will be disposed in spaced parallel relation to its supporting cross tie under its respective pair of the rails toward the free end of the crosstie, as shown. The free end of the arm 16 of each support may thereby be moved slightly upwardly and also moved away from the crosstie. The free end of the arm 16 of each support of each series may be movably supported on a swinging bracket, as 21, and each of these brackets is preferably made of a bar, or rod having one of its end parts rotatably disposed through a pair of spaced eyes 22 and 23 provided on the crosstie to which the arm 18 of the support is attached, while the other end part of the rod, or bracket is right angularly bent so that the arm 16 of the support will rest thereon. By this arrangement the brackets 21 of all the supports may be swung, as indicated at 24,

Fig. 2, back and forth under the arm 16 of its respective support.

On each of the supports of each series is a heater, as 25, and all of these heaters may be similarly constructed. Each of the heat ers 25 is in the form of a receptacle for holding a suitable quantity of inflammable material, such as crude oil, kerosene, or other fuel, adapted when ignited to produce suliicient heat to me t snow, ice and hail. The receptacle 2.5 of each series may be made with an elongated body 26 of substantially a semiircular shape, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and at, or the body may be of an angular shape, as illustrated in Fig. 5, and on the ends of the body of each receptacle are walls, as 27 and 28. The body of each of the receptacles, or heaters 25 is slidably mounted on its respective support by providing in opposite parts of each body contiguous to its open top as well as eccent ically with relation to its center two registered holes 29 and 30 through which the arm 16 of the support of the receptacle is passed following the swinging of the i.-shaped bracket 21, as above explained. One of the end walls of each of the receptacles is thereby disposed in opposition to its supporting crosstie, and each receptacle is preferably of a length so as to be spaced from its supporting crosstie. By prov ring the receptacles, or heaters in this manner on their supports the receptacles of each series may be slidably guided back and forth under the pairs of rails thereabove and may also be tilted in an end-up "ard fashion.

The receptacle, or heaters may be supplied with a suitable quantity of fuel for ready use during cold weather, and if par tially filled with the fuel water, or snow, or hail will necessarily accumulate at periods on top of the fuel in the receptacles. In order to permit this foreign matter to be readily removed so that the fuel may be ignited when desired, 1 pro ide two corresponding tilting devices, as 81 and 32, for operating in unison all of the receptacles, or heaters of each series. Each of the tilting devices 31 and 82 has a bar 33, and both of these bars are disposed longitudi nally above the crossties between each pair of the railsof the switch and the ends of the crossties as well as being arranged above the outer ends of the supports 10 and 11 of the receptacles. The bars 33 of the tilting devices are also of lengths so that each embraces all of the receptacles of its respective series, and the ends of each bar may be rotatably mounted in two brackets, as 34 and 35, extending upwardly from two of the crossties. On one of the corresponding ends of the bars 33 are crank handles 36 and 37, and at spaced intervals on each bar are provided depending hooks, as 38. These hooks of each bar are arranged in the paths of movements of the receptacles thereunder so that when the receptacles of each series are guided in opposite lateral directions toward the swinging brackets, or L-shaped rods 21 of the supports 10 and 11 each hook may be removably inserted in an opening 39 provided in the upper part of the end wall 27 of each of the receptacles. By then turning the crank handles 36 and 37 upwardly, as shown in Fig. 8, all of the receptacles will be tilted for pouring therefrom the water, or removing snow, or ice which may accumulate in the receptacles on top of the fuel, the ice being previously broken before its removal.

The receptacles, or heaters 25 of each series are arranged so as to be slidably adjustable on their supports in close proximity to the undersides of the rails thereabove, and to cause the receptacles to be movably held in even balanced order, projecting laterally from opposite parts of the upper edge of the body 26 of each receptacle may be two lugs, as -10 and i1, adapted to abut against the undersides of the rails to prevent the receptacles from rocking lengthwise.

Serving to protect the flame of the burning fuel when ignited against wind blowing crosswise of the rails, on each of the receptacles, or heaters 25 of both series may be removably applied a shield, as 12, all of which are similarly formed, it being understood that when the wind is blowing in a direction lengthwise of the rails the flame of the burning fuel will be shifted to ad- 'antageousiy melt the ice and snow between the rails. Each of the shields 42 is preferably in the form of a substantially rectangular plate of a length somewhat longer than each of the receptacles, and each plate is of a width to extend from a plane corresponding with the bottom of the receptacle to some distance thereabove. The upper part len thwise of each plate may be angularly bent, as shown, and extending from the centralpart of each plate intermediate its ends is a downwardly depending clip, or hook, as When the wind is blowing crosswise of the rails from one direction during the burning of the fuel in the receptacles, one of the shields is removably applied on each support of one series by the hooks of the shields being guided for instance over the arms 17 of one series of the supports, and if desired another shield may be removably applied on each support of the second series by providing shields with the hooks 13 in spaced proximity to their second ends to allow the hooks to be guided over the brackets 21 of the supports. l/Vhen the wind is blowing crosswise of the rails from an opposite direction the series of shields are reversely arranged by being removably applied to the other ends of their respective supports. Thus I provide a simple, eflicient and durable thawing apparatus for quickly melting snow and ice when clogging the movable parts of railway switches, frogs and the like. H

In the foregoing description, have embodied the preferred. form of my invention, but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, therefore I reserve tomyself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate heaters adapted to be supported on guides under two coacting rails so as to be guided to and from under the rails.

2. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate heaters adapted to be supported under two coacting rails so as to be guided to and from under the rails, and a shield adapted to be removably applied on each heater to protect the flame of the heater when ignited from wind blowing crosswise of the rails.

3. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate heaters adapted to be supported under two coacting rails whereby the heaters may be tilted as well as being guided to and from under the rails, and a device operable for tilting the heaters in unison.

4. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate supports adapted to be fixed in spaced relation under two coacting rails, and a receptacle for holding inflammable material, adjustable on each bracket so as to be guided to and from under the rails above its bracket.

5. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate sup-ports adapted to be fixed in spaced relation under'two coacting rails, a receptacle for holding inflammable material adjustable on each bracket so as to be guide to and from under the rails above its bracket, and a shield adapted to be removably applied on each bracket to protect the flame of the material in its receptacle when ignited from wind blowing crosswise of the rails.

6. In a switch thawing apparatus, a series of separate supports adapted to be fixed in spaced relation under two coacting rails, a receptacle for holding inflammable material ad ustabIe on each bracket so as to be guide to and from under the rails above its bracket as well as being adapted to be tilted up- ,wardly and a manually operable device for wardly, a shield adapted to be removab applied on each bracket to protect the flame of the material in its receptacle when ignited from wind blowing crosswise of the rails, and a manually operable device for tilting all the receptacles in unison.

8. In a switch thawing apparatus, a rod adapted to be fixed on a crosstie under two coacting rails, and a receptacle for holding inflammable material, adjustable on the rod so as to be guided to and from under the rails.

9. In a switch thawing apparatus a rod adapted to be fixed on a crosstie under two coacting rails, a receptacle for holding inflammable material, adjustable on the rod so as to be guided to and from under the rails, and a shield adapted to be removably applied on the rod to protect the flame of the material in the receptacle when ignited from wind blowing crosswise of the rails.

10. In a switch thawing apparatus, a rod adapted to be fixed on a crosstie under two coacting rails, a rece tacle for holding inflammable material, a justable on the rod So as to be guided to and from under the rails, a shield adapted to be removably applied on the rod to protect the flame of the material in the receptacle when ignited from wind blowing crosswise of the rails, and manually operable means adapted to be removably connected to the rod for tilting the receptacle.

This specification signed and witnessed this 2d day of August A. D. 1917.

THOMASM. DUNN ING.

Witnesses:

EVERETT W. J omss, V. M. RUMPH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." I

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