US1514914A

US1514914A - Railway-crossing signal

Info

Publication number: US1514914A
Application number: US717029A
Authority: US
Inventors: Laube John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1924-05-31
Filing date: 1924-05-31
Publication date: 1924-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1941-11-11

Description

Now. 11

J. I Aulaame:

RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Filed May 51, 2 sheets-sheetl 1 n m ,mund/d4. Q.

J. LAUBE RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Filled May 31,

1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

lili:

Fig. l2.

Patented Nev. ll, i924,

STATES Parent oFgFicE.

JOHN LAUBE, OF MGIGl-LN, MINNESOTA.

RAILWAY-CROSSING SIGNAL.

Application filed May 31,

My invention relates to danger signals in general and. more particularly a signaling device best' adapted for highway and rail-` way intersections or so-called crossings.

The object is to provide a highly efficient audible and visible signal device operated by a moving train or engine approaching a crossing.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top view, in small scale, of my device applied to a railway track crossed by a highway, the latter indicated in dotted lines only.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of Fig, 1 omitting the near side `railv and showing the far side rail as the latter would appear from line 2 2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged edge view of the signal post of my device looking in a direction parallel to the railway track.

Fig. 4 is a partly sectional front elevation of Fig. 3, the section being taken about as on line 4 4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the mechanism housing of my device which is attached to a rail and housing the means acting directly on the signal apparatus shown in Figs. 3 and 4. y n

Fig. 6 is Fig. 5 as seen on line G-G in the latter ligure.

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation on line 7-7 in Fig. 5 exposing the mechanism within the box 35 fixed on the rail adjacent the signal apparatus.

Fig. 8 is a top view of Fig. 5 or Fig. T with the rail web shown in section.

Fig. 9 is a top view of a portion of a track rail, part of the rail tread 'being omitted to disclose the mechanism secured to the rail and actuated by car wheels when moving over the track toward a crossing.

, Fig. 10 is a rear elevation ofFig. 9 as looking toward the latter from the upper end of the drawing sheet. ,4

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of looking from between the rails of a track.

Fig. 12 is a sectional elevation on the line 1924, Serial No. 717,929.

12-12 in Fig. 9 withr the lug 73 in Fig. 9 omitted. i

Fig. 13 is a section on line 13-13 in Fig. 6.

Fig. 14 is Fig. 13 modified.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals. 15 designates ties and 16-16a a pair of rails forming a railway track and 17 indicates a road crossing the track.

A suitable distance from the crossing I secure in the'ground a signal post 18 having a cap 19 as apart of means not completely shown for protecting the signaling element and the mechanism kactuating the same from the elements.y Of said mechanism or means 20 is a bell sounded by a clapper 21 having a spring arm 22 with a projection 23 over which may swing vertically an arm 24 of a lever 25 which is pivoted at 26 to the post and has a slotted hole 27 engaged by a pin 28 secured in a vertically reciprocating rod 29. Said4 rod vextends down into a frame 30 fixed on the post and has there a nut 31 to limit its upward movement when thrown upward by a rocker arm 32 which has a slotted hole for the rod and is fixed on a horizontal rock shaft 33 journaled in suitable bearings in a tube 34 having one end secured inthe frame 30 and the other end in a frame or housing 35, which with its mechanism will presently be further described. Said mechanism is however such that any car wheel rolling over the rail toward the crossing will Contact with it and impart a rocking movement of the shaft 33 and thus throw the arm 82 up under a coil spring 36 on rod' 29. The raising of the arm does not act directly on 'the rod but it mainly compresses the spring against a fixed collar or pin 37 and as the spring expands it raises the rod 29 and thereby rotates a ratchet wheel 38 by a dog 39 pivoted at 40 to a rocker arm 41 journaled on Va stud 42 fixed in the post 18.

To the ratchet wheel or its hub 38a is secured a colored signal board having two or more radial wings T43. Preferably, the pivot g'holds both the dog 35 and the vertically vforked rodv 29; and the dog is normally held engaged with theyratchet wheel 'by a leaf spring 44; and on' the vpost is adjustably secured a finger 45 with which the upper part of the dog, whenlow'ered. that far, will Contact and thereby be disengaged from the ratchet wheel,- so afs to prevent unnecessary wear of it and the dog while the signal board isuspinning on the stud. By the time the board commences to rotate slowly anotherl car wheel ol the moving train will give the rod29 another upward jerk, and so on, until the train has passed the crossing. At the same time the arm 24 will have caused the clapper to sound the bell each time the arm 24 passes' up or doivn over the projection 24a of the clapper arm. This explains the effect the rocking of shaft 33 has upon the visual and audible signal elements on the post 18. l will new describe more'fully the means by which a nioring train causes the shaft to roiliV betere it gets to' the crossing, so as to warn all parties near the cross road to keep away from the railway track until the train nas passed by.

The mechanism box or trahie is clamped tothe side et the rail 16 by a clamping rod 46 (seeFig. 5) extending` transversely under the rail and having; at Vits inner end a rigidly fixed plate 47 with studs 48 placed in cavities.l in the 'frame 35,' while tlie other end of the rod extends through a washer 49 and has a nut 50 for drawing the rod tight with the parts 47-35 in place. The' washer 49 is curved as a clamp member over the base flange of the rail.

Fixed on the inner end of shaft. 33,- in the housing- 35, is a double-armed cam :5l whose upward arm is swung inl one direction by a yoke 52and a pulling` rod 53 and in the other direction kby a contraction coil spring- 54 disposed in a tubular sp inggnide 'and holder 55 the spring being connected by a. nut 56 or other means. ln like mani? the lower cani arm 51 is actuated by a yoke and spring 54a in a tube 55a. Theirods 53 and 53a are secured by conplings 57 to long`

rods

58 and 58a respectively, supported slid- 1 ano ably in guides 59 or 59L (in Fics. 6,713 14) to be further described say about. six' hundred feet alone; i one rod in each direction troni the crossing 17. These rods 5S and 53 practically alike., a description oi. one olf them will answer for both;V it. being; nnde stood however that the devices aetnated l v the ear wheels so as' to cause pulling' oit rods are right and leftl or counterparts each side of the road 17, so that the seine train operating the signal when a-pproe-cliin.Ly road 17 'from either side ol it will not operi@ ate the signal alter having passed the crossing. This is the reason, in Fig. l, erich wheel-'contacting device has a level S3 pointing` to the leftat one side of the rond crossing 17 and pointing to the right at the. other side of cnr-)seing- 17, but otherwise the 'ol lowing); description will explain it all.

The rod 58 (or 58a) is made up ofa few* sections,'say` about two hundred feet long each, and the adjoining ends. oi the sections are guided in the angular end flanges 61132 (see ligs 10-11-12 and 9) of a small frame 63, which has a channel 64 with a downward groove 65 (best shown in Fig. ln said channel the ends of the rod sections overlap in any suitable, slidablc n'ianner. ln the present drawing one section is bent to 'form an eye 66 with avertical linger 67 guiding in the groove G5 of the channel (54; the other section having` its end bent at right. angles forming a linger 68 that is engageable by a rocher arm 69 el ak roch-shaft 7 0, which is jonrnaled in n groove 71 in the upper side of a metal haine 7 2 placed under the base oi' the rail and is detaehably secured to lthe 1ail by having

lugs

73 and 74 gripping upon the l ase Vflange at one side of the rail and a pair of hooi; bolts 75 extending through tl'r 'traine' 72 and provided with nnts 76, while their other ends form arms 77 secured by screws 78 to the traine (S3, whereby the said two 'frames 72 and 63 are firmly held in place on the rail.

The rockA shaft 70 rhas aroclter arni swingable up and down in a. clearance 8() in frame 72 and near the said clearance the frame has a. fiat, vertical arm S1 to which is secured by a pivot bolt 82 lever 83 having at one end a weight 84 and at its vother end a stud 85 on which is'pivoted a T-shap'ed stirrup 86 the head and arms of which are in the path of the guiding' flange o? any regular railway wheel running' on the rail 16.

The operation of this sub-mechanism is i'ollows:

A csr wheel C coming in thedirection oli the arrow fr in Fie'. 11 will touch the' :mn l2 of the stirrup and tilt the leg li oit' it upon the arni 79 and then the wheel passes over the head H, presses downward and operates

arms

79, 69, ringer 68 and rod 58 and the signals, before rcachine' the crow" but alter passingthe crossing; the revel arranged levers 853 and stirrups will l. by the wheels, as the flange C2 :it the arm B2, which being` thereby depressed the leg la oiC the stirrup into' the cle 8O where its descent has no effect on the 79, and hence the s' ial is not operated by any train while it is moving away l'. thecrossing. A wheel coming` in the direction of arrow A2 will however operate all the stirrups it passes over before reachinithe crossing because' they all have their ai B turned toward il?.

ln. Figs. 13 and 14 shown how brwlets 59 or 59a are secnred by washer; O7 and nnts 88, and that the rod 5S nia` either in a notch 89 close by the rail web or in a hole 90 in the bracket arm some dis ance from the rail web.` The latter is preferable where the rod 5S is' compass: along the outside of the fish-plates of the rail joints; but in so'fme cases wherev the lish plates are grooved adjacent the' rail I lll) lill

pass the rod through said grooves and may then have such portion ci the rod fiat, as indicated at 58 in Fig. 13, which indication also means that I may have the entire rod or any desired portion of it flat.

In further explanation ci the rod joints it will be understood that when a train enters upon the track portion provided with my device the first stirrup 86 reached will cause a pulling of all the rod sections as if they were an integral rod from the stirrup to the yoke 52 (or 52a) and each car wheel passing over the first stirrup operates it and the signal; and when the train has passed over the first section of the rod and gets into contact with the next stirrup the latter will operate only the remaining rod sections between the train and the signal or yoke 52 and the rod sections the train has passed over become idle because the pulling of the next section ahead of it can not -push on the idle section owing to the slidable joint in each channel piece 63. Thus in Fig. l0 if shaft 70 is rocked by a stirrup 'the other side of the rail the arm G9 will pull at rod section 58R but leaves section 581' idle, but a stirrup (not shown) further to the left pulling at section 58L will pull scction SR also, because of the finger 67.

The weight 84 serves to hold the stirrup 86 normally in elevated position and the red board 43 when in rotation draws attention and thereby warns persons on the road 17 that a train is approaching. At the same time the bell 20 is sounded to give audible alarm in case fog, mist or darkness hinders seeing the red signal.

What I claim is:

1. In a danger signal for railway crossings, a post fixed near the crossing, a rotatable signaling element mounted on the post and having a ratchet wheel, a mechanism box secured at the outer side of one of the track rails, a horizontal rock shaft having one end in the mechanism box and there fixed to it two diametrically opposite radial cams, two horizontal yokes reciprocated each by one of the cams, in one direction, and by a spring in the other direction, a guided operating rod extended from each yoke, a suitable distance along the rail in opposite direction of the spring action, a series of spaced devices secured on the rail and having operative connection with the adjacentV operating rod, and an element for a wheel rolling on the track to press on and impart a pulling movement to the rod; said rock shaft having at the signal post a rocker' arm, a vertically disposed rod arranged to be pushed upward by said rocker arm and come down again of its own weight, a dog actuated by the vertical rod and arranged to engage and rotate the ratchet Wheel and thereby the signalling element.

2. The structure specified in claim l and means for automatically disengaging the dog from the ratchet wheel after each impar-ted push to the wheel.

3. The structure specified in claim l, in which the vertical rod is encircled by a pushan obstruction, secured on the roi.

4. The structure specified in c aim l, in which the devices operated by the track wheels are active only when operated by the wheels approaching the crossing.

5. The structure specified in claim l, in which all the parts of the signal apparatus connected directly to the rail are clamped thereon so as to be adjustable on and removable from any part of the rail.

6. The structure specified in claim l, in which each operating rod is made up of' several sections having slidably overlapped ends with means at said ends for one section to pull but not to push the other section. i

7 The structure specified in claim l, in which each operating rod is made of several sections having slidably overlapped ends with means at said ends for one section to pull but not to push the other section, a small frame placed atthe outer side of the rail and guiding said overlapping, jointed ends of the rod sections, a larger frame extending across the base of the rail and having lugs taking over the inner base flange of the rail, L-shaped bolts extending through said larger frames and having nuts at the inner side of the frame and the short arms of the bolts engaged with the small frame so as to clamp Vboth frames rmly to the rail; said larger l'frame having a lateral wing and a clearance opening through it, between the wing and the rail flange, a weighted lever pivoted to the wing and a T-sh aped stirrup pivotally suspended on the lighter end of the lever and having` its leg normally suspended above the said clearance; a rock shaft journaled in the top of the larger frame and having one rocker! arm projecting partly into the clearance and another rocker arm at the other side of the rail arranged to pull at some part of the joint of the rod sections when a car wheel passes over the stirrup.

8. The structure specified in claim l, and a bell mounted on the post and having a clapper operatively connected with the vertical rod actuating the dog.

ling coil spring between the rocker arm and In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN LAUBE.