US1275321A - Foot or road crossing. - Google Patents

Description

0. M. SUTER.

FOOT 08 ROAD CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I8. 1918.

1 ,27'5, l Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

O. M. SUTER. FOOT 0R ROAD CROSSING. APPLICATION FILED MAR. I8. 1918.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918'.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.'

O. M. SUTER. FOOT OR ROAD CROSSING. APPLICATION FILED MAR. I8. I918.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

OSCAR M. SU'IER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOOT OR ROAD CROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 13, 1918,

Application filed March 18, 1918. Serial No. 223,206.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR M. SUTER, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foot or Road Crossings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to street, road or sidewalk crossings for railways; that is to say, to means for providing a substantially level path across a railroad track and desirably on an approximate level with the top of the rails. Wooden crossings as heretofore commonly used for this general. purpose have usually been nailed to the ties, thereby involving considerable time in removing the same to permit repairs to the track. Or, where such crossings hzwe been built of wood in sections, their relative lightness has permitted them to be raised and damaged by the catching of broken brake-beams on the same. Moreover, with the great increase in the cost of timber during recent years, the cost of such wooden crossings has proven a serious objection to the same.

On the other hand, concrete crossings when laid across the space between the rails of a track have been disintegrated by the vibration of the track, and particularly by the vibration of the rails against. the contiguous portions of the concrete. Likewise, where concrete has been tried for this purpose in a slab narrower than the space between the rails, the flanges on the wheels have forced mud and snow down between such a slab and the rails, thus gradually lifting the slab out of its normal position and subjecting it to damage both from vehicles crossing the track and from depending parts of the rolling stock passing over the track. This last named difliculty has also been encountered with wooden crossings built in sections narrower than the space between the running rails of the track, hence mud guards of various forms have been interposed between such crossing portions and the running rails of the track. Such mud guards have been commonly fastened either to the crossing portions or to the ties, and in either case have increased the difliculties of repairing the crossings or the track.

My invention aims to provide a crossing construction which will overcome all of these various objections and which will lend itself equally Well to a variety of materials, such as reinforced concrete. More particularly, myinvention aims to provide a crossing slabwhich will not need to be fastened to the ties or other track portions, but which will be retained in proper operative positlon by gravity and by engagement with some of the ties on which it rests; which will permit the use of turneddown rail sections as mud guards, and in which the crossing slab would automatically hold such mud guards in operative position, while permitting the ready removal of the mud guards when theslab itself is lifted out of its normal position. Furthermore, my invention aims to provide a crossing slab with ends so arranged as to make it practically impossible for objects depending from railway crossings to catch on the same, although still permitting a speedy lifting and removing of such a slab in case it should be desirable to replace the same or to'm-ake any needed repairs to the track. Likewise, my invention aims to provide crossing sections of an allied type for use outside the running rails of the track, and to utilize such crossing sections for holding simple and cheaply constructed mud guards in effective position, while readily permitting the removal of both the slabs and the mud guards when necessary. Still further objects will appear from the accompanying drawings which show certain desirable embodiments of my invention, though it will be obvious that these embodiments might be varied in many respects without departing from the spirit of the appended claims. In the drawings,

Figure l is a plan view of a portion of a railroad track, showing a crossing of my invention employing reinforced concrete slab, the tops of the intermed of the along Fig. i is a perspective view of the central for the crossing slabs, a portion of the concrete being broken away to show the reinforcing.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken centrally of the track and longitudinally of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken the zigzag line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

slab member of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of a track portion equipped between the rails with a pair of cooperating slabs and a pair of wooden mud guards held in place by these slabs.

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section through Fig. 5 along the line 6-43.

Fig. 7 is a perspective v1ew of one of the concrete slabs shown outside of the track in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 6 Fig. and of a cIOSSing slab designed for a road or walk oblique to the track, this slab being equipped with another arrangement for preventing its movement longitudinally of the track.

Fig. 9 is a vertical section taken along the zi zag line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

n carrying out my invention after the manner of Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, I employ a central crossing slab, deslrably reinforced concrete, and consisting of a fiat slab provided at each end with a downwardly inclined portion somewhat wider than the main portion of the slab. The tips ofthe downwardly sloping ends are desirably so spaced that these ends will respectively engage two of the ties of the track, as shown in Fig. 2, this being easily attained since the spacing of the ties is usually standardized and any variation can readily be overcome by slightly shifting one of the ties in position when the slab is set into place. To afiord the proper bearing for the iate ties which support the weight of the slab are leveled uniformly, and the ballast is slightly excavated to permit the downwardly directed tips of the slab to extend below the level tops of the ties.

' Before the slab is placed in position, I lay a mud guard rail in position adjacent to each of the track rails and in the space between the same, desirably using for this purpose sections of old rails approximating in length the distance between the shoulders 2 of the projecting tips 3 at the opposite ends of the slab. When the central slab itself is dropped into position as shown in Fig. 1, the lateral faces 5 of the slab will cooperate with the adjacent ties and the webs of the running rails in holding the guard rails 4 in operative position, while the shoulders 2 on the projecting tips 3 of the slab will prevent the guard rails from sliding lengthwise of the track. Consequently, these downmade of 7 7, so that these wardly sloping tips 3 will operate to prevent both the slab as a whole and the guard rails from sliding lengthwise of the track.

In practice, I have found that while the guard rails 4 are vibrated to some extent when rolling stock is passing over the running rails 6, the flat engagement of the base of the guard rail l with the adjacent lateral face 5 of the slab distributes the vibration so that the latter does not have any disintegrating efiect on the concrete slab. At the same time, the flat upper surface of the slab shows the usual durability of reinforced concrete, while the downwardly sloping ends prevent any dangling parts carried by the railway rolling stock from catching on the slab and damaging the latter. However, if track repairs are necessary, the ends of the slab can easily be pried up with crowbars and sticks can be slid through under the same, so that the slab can be lifted to one side of the track, thereby permitting the removal of the mud guards and exposing the space between the rails. Then when the needed repairs have been made, the guard rails are easily placed in position, whereupon a returning of the slab locks these guard rails in their efi'ective position, so that they prevent any crowding of mud or snow under the slab.

For the crossing portion outside the track proper, I also' desirably employ concrete slabs, and as the car wheels present no flanges outside of the running rail, I preferably employ a guard rail substantially flush with the top of the running rail 6 and the lateral slab 7, as shown in Fig. 3. For this purpose, l'desirably employ a guard 8 made of wood shaped at its opposite lateral edges respectively for fitting the side of the rail 6 and for entering a'recess 9 in the adjacent lateral face of the slab 7. This guard rail 8 is desirably of such length as to fit between laterally projecting tips 3 on the slab tips will prevent the guard 8 from sliding out of its operative position. To prevent such a lateral slab 7 from moving away from the rail 6, l desirably equip its lower face with a recess extending longitudinally of the track and matching a timber 9 spiked to the ties at a suitable distance from the rail 6. lhen by employing downwardly directed ends for the slab as shown in Fig. 7, and by having these ends engage ties of the track after the manner of Fig. 2, I efiiectively anchor the slab against movement longitudinally of the track. oreover, by providing the wooden guard 8 with lateral tenons respectively underhanging the head of the rail 6 and entering the recess 9, I cause this guard rail to act substantially as a lateral extension for the'slab 7 on the side next to the rail 6. Consequently, a downward pressure on the right hand edge lllltl) of the slab 7 in Fig. 3 will not appreciably tilt this slab even though the latter considerably overhangs the end of the tie 10.

However, I do not wish to be limited either to constructions employing the tips of the slabs for engaging the ties, or affording crossings at right angles to the track, or using slabs in single sections. Neither do I wish to be limited to other details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed, such as the use of turned down rail sections as mud guards between the rails of the track. For example, the central crossing portion might be constructed of two slabs each of the types shown in Fig. 7

and used with wood guard rails 11 after the manner of Fig.6, in which case the two slabs would cooperate with these guard rails 11 in spanning the space between the running rails of the track, thus obviating the need of the guard'timbers 9 between the rails. Likewise, where other than a right angle, the general shape of the slabs or crossing sections (which obviously need not be made of any one particular material) may be varied accordingly. For example, Fig. 8 shows a slab designed for an oblique crossing. So also, instead of using end portions of the slabs for engaging certain of the ties to prevent a displacement of the slab longitudinally of the track, I may use other forms of cooperating formations upon the ties and slab, such as the downwardly extending ridges 12 on the slabs of Figs. 8 and 9.

I claim as my invention.

1. In a track crossing, a crossing section resting upon the ties of the track and equipped with downwardly directed formations engaging certain of the ties to revent a movement of the said crossing section longitudinally of the track.

2. A track crossing portion comprising a crossing section resting upon the ties, .and a pair of guard rails interposed between 0pposite sides of the crossing section and the running rails of the track, the crossing section being equipped with formations respectivgely engaging certain ties of the track an displacement of both the said crossing section and the guard rails longitudinally of the track.

3. A track crossing portion comprising a slab or unit crossing section resting upon the ties, and a pair of guard rails interposed between opposite sides of the slab and the running rails of the track, the slab being equipped with downwardly sloping ends the foot path or, vehicle path extends across the railroad at' .both

engaging the guard rails to prevent a.

adapted respectively to engage two ties of,

the track, the said ends extending laterally beyond the slab so as to afford stops for preventing a relative longitudinal movenhelnt of the guard rails with respect to the s a 4;. Track crossing construction including a pair of guard rails disposed adjacent to the opposed sides of the running rails of the track, and a crossin portion interposed between the said guarf rails and holding the latter in operative position, the said crossing portion having means interlocking with both of the guard rails and with ties of the track to prevent a relative movement of the said crossing parts longitudinally of the track.

5. In a track crossing, a guard rail hav ing a portion underhanging the head of one of the track rails, a substantially flat crossing portion resting upon ties of the track and laterally engaging the guard rail, means associated with the said crossing portion for preventing displacement of the latter both longitudinally and laterally of the running rail, and means upon the said crossing portion for preventing a relative longitudinal movement of the guard rail with respect to the latter.

6. A track crossing portion comprising a slab restifig upon the ties of the track and equipped with downwardly directed formations engaging certain of the ties to prevent a movement of the slab longitudinally of the track, the slab being of concrete with embedded reinforcements including rods having downwardly directed portions extending below the tops of the said certain ties.

7. In a track crossing, a pair of guard rails adjacent to the running rails of the track and respectively underhanging the heads ofthe running rails, and a slab of reinforced concrete, disposed between the guard rails and formed for interlocking with a tie of the track and with the ends of guard rails. i

8. Track crossing construction including as one element a guard rail adjacent to the runnihg rail of the track, and as another element a concrete slab interlocked with the guard rail to prevent relative motion thereof longitudinally of the track, one of the said elements having formations engaging ties of the track to prevent relative movement thereof longitudinally of the track.

1Signed at Chicago, Illinois, March 4th,

OSCAR M. SUTER.

Images