US1369852A - Terminal-transfer-cost chart - Google Patents

Description

E. vC. TAYLOR.

TERMINAL TRANSFER COST CHART.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29,1916. -RENEwEn JULY 23. |92o.

Cos/mfr caf lg' I? CZS' a 6 (7,00 5280/ .56767 Fal/Vaya? C. 721;/0/

Quoi/neas UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcjE.

' EDWARD C. TAYLOR, 0F ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN.

,A TERmTNAL-'TRANsFER-cosr CHART.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

Application led. -T11-1y 29, 1916,' Serial No. 112,026. Renewed July 23,` 19.20. Serial No.`398,544.

This invention relates to terminal transfer cost systems and refers more particularly to a new and improved arrangementet1 charts or analysis sheets in which an entlre city terminal of a railroad or a plurality of' railroads is divided up into units of move# ments and operations so that the cost of `movement of cars between any two points can be determined by adding together the costs of the units of movement of all operations which normally take place as a part of` the complete operation of movingbetween these. two points.' l'

Heretofore attempts have been made to devise charts ,or analysis sheets by which the user could determine the cost per car. of handling all cars in and through a given city terminal.l However these charts or analysis lsheets were vbased upon the complete-'cost from one point to another irre-v spective of the number of movements that the car went through in` movlng between these two separated points, or at least recognizing the number of vsuch movements 'as' only slightly indicativev of the time consumed o1' of thecost of handling. As a matter of-'act the complete movement of a car is "found to'be made'up of aseries of distinct submovements, each of which involve cars whose destinations perhaps are di'erent but whose cost of handling during the time each is associated with the car under discussion is the. samegas the cost for the latter. l

' The present invention'contemplates an arrangement in which .the cost of all ofthese `successive distinctive submovements isiindependently listed and the cost between any two points in the terminal is the sum of the units involved. Thus in the terminals of one city it was Apossible lwith a chart or car will move' through a number of other yards in the same train with certain other cars. The train will then be broken up and the car under consideration becomes a part of another train during part of the remainder of its movement.

In the previous attempts 'to determine the i cost of switching cars from one point in the termlnal to another point in the terminal a vlist was made of all of the complete movements of cars between these two points during the test period. Assignment of expenses were made to these complete movements in various ways and on various bases such as lthe time required for the complete move-v ment, the length of the complete movement, the number of dierent engines handling vthe car, etc. Each of these above mentioned methods in the same situation would -pro- 'duce' dil'erentcosts so that manifestly no one could be entirely reliable. The combinations of these methods were Vtried but `were so dificultto handle inasmuch as the vmovements whose costs were deslred were through 1n "moving between these two points can be listed in the terms of the units shown on the chart'or analysis sheet.

In the drawings: p Figure l is a plan view of the chart o'r analysis sheet;

Fig. 2 isa view showing thev use of theunits in computing movements between any' two points; y Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the movement of six cars. y

'In the general summary or analysis sheet shown in Fig. 1the characters or symbols A, B, C, etc., indicate the various operations and in the column opposite thse there are listed the total operating expenses per car for each 'particular movement or' operation. Thus the handlin in'Martin ard, which is represented by `t e symbol costs 52.08 cents while the movement from Thor street to Doan yard, which is indicated by the symbol B, cost 62.30 cents and the movement of a car from Oak street to Elm street, which is designated by the symbol AA, costs 71.14 cents, these costs being determined by a test period in which a record is kept of all ears having this particular unit of operation, each of these sub-movements being listed in the maximum size that allcars handled therein, even though their ultimate destinations should be different, are equally likely to be handled at the same average cost.

In order to make more clear what the symbols A, B, AA, etc., s tand for, the partlcular operations which these symbols represent have been' written in. Also in'Fig. 2 three of the cars shown in the diagrammatic view street (indicated by the symbol W) move together until they reach Martin yard, the handling in which is indicated by the'symbol A. Here they meet cars 2, 4, 5 and 6 which have started at other yards and have gone throughv the various movementsl or operations indicated by the symbols AI, Z, AD, etc. At Martin yard the train is broken up and the various cars sorted out into new trainsso that car 1 completes its journey with car No. 2 to East Jones yard (indicated by the symbol I) while car No. 3 goes with car No. 6 in a different train to Adams yard (indicated by the symbol G) where it is separated from the latter and continues with other cars not under con sideration to the North Jones yard (indicated by symbol O). Cars Nos. 4 and 5, however, 'continue together from Martin yard to Smith Street yard (indicated by symbol F) and their movement would be `represent- .cal movements between two imtely the same cost.

as contemplated by my invention the movements of any cars in the terminals can be.

listed in the terms of the units shown on the analysis sheet. It is therefore only necessary for the -user to find out either from` records or from information obtained from some one in the yards the movement of a car between any two points in the city terminals. He can then determine by reference Vto.' the chart the cost of moving such a car.' Attention is particularly called to the-fact th'at these units represent operations such as breaking up the train as well as geographipoints.

The invention is not limited to the particular movements or operations listed but relates broadly to the provision of achart or an'alysissheetin which all the movements between any two points in the district are divided up into unitsv of such size that all cars handled therein are handled at approx- And the invention also contemplates in combination there\vitl1, a cost sheet for the various movements having stated thereon in the units of the chart, all sub-movements between the points under consideration. l

-What I claim asmy invention is:

A `r'ailway'terminal movement cost chart comprising an independent listingy of characters indicative of all the distinct submovements between any two points in the entire terminal district covered by the chart, the submovements being listed in the maximumsize that'all cars handled therein irrespective of the nature of the complete movement of such cars are'equally likely to be handled at `the same average cost, and having arranged in appropriately designated'- spaces associated with said characters the `cost of the movement indicated in figures based upon the average ycost of cars making

Images