US1689806A - Ballast-spreading device - Google Patents

Description

B. W. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE Filed July 2, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 0 O O O 0 0 TOP 0; RA 4.

Oct. 30, 1928.

B.'W. sTRAw v BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Ju ly 2, 1927 Oct. 30, 1928.

B. w. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE Filed July 2, 1927 4-. Sheets-Sheet v3 B. W. STRAW BALLAST SPREADING DEVICE '4 heets-sh Filed July 3 192,7

ummmmul Q 1 Patented Oct. 30, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,689,806 PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD w. srnaw, or MOUNT AIRY. MARYLAND, lissrenon 'ro STRAW BALLAST DELAWARE.

Application filed July 2,

manipulated, and to afford controlling means for ballast delivered to the roadbed.

A primary feature of the invention consists in providing the ballast spreader with rollers which are adapted to contact wlth the .tops of the track rails over which the car sists in providing the bottom of the central passes, thereby facilitating movementof the spreaderalon'g the track and relieving its bottom from wear when, as is sometimes the case, it is necessary to position the spreader in contact with the rails in order to permit the lading discharge door of a particular car to be opened sufliciently to properly discharge the lading.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing the ballast spreading device with an auxiliary side plate or wall section which is adapted to be positioned so as to prevent the undesired discharge of ballast to the road-bed through the space between the inner ends of the door sections of a hopper car. v

A further feature of the invention conportion of the spreader with an angularly movable door formed as a series of sections united to a common eperating lever the'ends of the door sections being facilitate. the angular movement of rigidly or bar, curved to the door.

A still further feature of the invention consists in the rovision of levermeans adapted to vertically adjust the ballast spreading device so as to position it in proper operating. re ationto the 'lading discharge I opening. of t e railway car with which the device isassociated;

()ther features of the invention, relating to advantageous relations of parts and details ofconstruction, W111 hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the claims.

' form of constructiomFigure 1 is an eleva- In'. the drawings illustrating'a preferred DISTBI'BUTER CORPORATION, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF BALLAST-SPREADING DEVICE.

1927. Serial No. 203,118.

tional view of the mechanism looking toward the side of the car.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view showing the distributor in elevation.

Figure 3 is a detail plan view of the central member or pan'portion of the spreader. Figure 4 is a detail elevational view of the .end of the device.

Figure 5 is a detail vertical section-of the portion of the device illustrated in Fig. 4, the view being taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 3. Figure 6 is a detail viewpf the mechanism artly in plan and partly in section on the ine 66, Fig. 5.

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view on, the line 7+7, Fig. 3, a portion of the car hopper and its door being also shown.

Figure 8 is a detail sectional view on the line 8-8 Fig. 3.

Figure 9 is aline 99, Fig. 3.

Figure 10 is adetail sectional view on the detail perspective view of,

.one of the door sections of the angularly movable door, together with a portion of its operating lever.

Figure 11 is a detail view on the line 11-11, Fig. 2. p

In the drawings 1 indicates a railway car of the well known twin hopper type provided with a hopper 2 from which lading is adapted to be discharged by gravity. The

discharge opening of the hopper is closed A a swinging door 3 whichv is made in sectlons disposed on opposite sides of the center sill construction of the car in the usual manner. It is to be understood of course that this type of car is not illnstrated with intent to limit the invention to application v thereto, as the invention is oapableof use with other forms of cars as well.

The ballast-spreader comprises a central portion'or pan member 4 and end wall members 5. The pan-member 4 and end wall sections 5 are provided withdoors for controlling the discharge from the device of the ballast received fr'omthe car; The central ortion of pan member 4 of the device is pre erably formed with. a sheet metal floor plate 8 which is flanged upwardly at its sides, the side walls 9 of the pan prferably' being fashioned as separate pressed metal members to which the flanged margins of the. floor plate are riveted. The top edges of the side walls 9 mayadvantageously be 50 upon plates 18 spaced from the floor plate of xflanged outwardly for the sake of stiffness as indicated at and said side walls preferably extend downwardly below the floor plate Band are flanged inwardly at their lower ends as indicated at 11. These lower flanges 11 of theside walls extend from end to end of the pan and constitute runners or skids which are adapted to havesliding contact with the tops of the track rails thereby mit the ballast to be delivered to the under lyin roadbed. It is for this fpurpose prefpreventing the pan from catching against the side of the track rail when the device is slid transversely of the car beneath a hopper discharge opening. The extension of the side walls 9 downwardly below the floor plate 8.

also serves to stiffen the pan 4 against distortion. -As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the side walls 9 may advantageously be provided adjacent both ends of the pan 4 with openings 12 forming hand holes enabling workmen to readily shift the pan transversely of the car. v

The floor plate 8 is apertured so as to pererab y formed with'a series 0 alined openings extending longitudinally ofthe pan, the

intermediate openings 13 permitting the material to be discharged between the rails and the end openings Mallowing delivery of the ballastoutside of the rails; The openings 13. are adapted to be respectively closed by doors 15 which are rigidly attached along one edge to an operating bar or lever 16, thus being adapted to operate as a'unit and in efiect constituting a single door. To permit them to assume an angular position with'respect t o the axis of the pan 4, the ends of the dor'sections 15 are rounded at each end, as at 15',

thusenablin'g the effective areas of'the openings 13 to be varied with respect to each other ermittin'g the amount of ballast and thereb d 'vered'between the rails to be which is graduated or controlled sons to deliver more sockets 17 or receiving. a removable operat-.

' materially aid adjacent 'onefrail' than adjacent the other. The ends of-the door 0 rating bar or lever 16 project outwardly eyond the opposite ends of the an and are preferably formed as ing" bar (not shown).- The door sections '15 rest at their ends and are slidably supporte'd thepanby spacer bars'19 which intervene be tween the ends o'fadjacent door sectioiis 15 or between one of said sections and the adjacent door20 of the pan. As-wellshown in Figs. 3, 8; and 9 the door supporting, plates 18 and the s acers 19 are riveted to the floor.

- plate 8. I

tion described thesemembersi18 and 19 serve 11 addition to performing the functo s iffen thep'an against distortion and thus in preventing any binding of the doors. a

The doors 20 whichare adapted to close the respective openings 14 in the ends ofthe bottom of the pan.preferably have a sliding movement only. Each of these doors may be conveniently supported and guided in substantially the same manner as the door Seetions 15 heretofore described, that is to say,

the inner end of-each door 20 ispreferably slidably sup-ported by its adjacentsupporting plate 18, while the outer end of each of said doors is similarly supported by a plate 21 spaced from-the floor plate-of the pan by an intervening bar 22, these two members being riveted to the floor plate 8.- Each oftli'e doors 21 may be, independently operated in any convenient manner as for exampleby means of a lever 23 rotatably connected to the pan by a. p a

pivot rivet 24, the inner end of said lever be lngpi'votally connected at 25 to the bifurcated end of a link 26, (see Fig. 7) which itself is pivotally. attached at 27 to the door 20. The links 26 are preferably supported intermediate their ends in suitable guide brackets 28 riveted to the underside of the doors 20.

At theirouter ends each of the door operating levers 23 may advantageously be fash-' ione'd with asocket member 29 adapted to receive a removable bar for operating the lever. The sockets 29 are preferably inclined upwardly with respect to the sockets 17' of the door operating bar 16 so as to provide Jun ably positioned spacer blocks 30- intervening between said bars and the respective door supporting plates. All of these lever supportingbars are preferablybent upwardly so as to .embracethe side walls or side flanges 9 of the pan to which .they are rigidly'secured,

those indicated at 31 which are about midlehgth of the pan and those indicated at 32 which areadfacent theends of the pan pref-- 'erablycterminating at their upper ends just below the reinforcing flarigeslO at the upper edges of the side wallsgofthe pan, while the inter-mediate bars 33 preferably project upwardly above the side wall 9 as at 34." The 11p.- wardly extendin portions 34 of these bars are adapted to e nd under the hopper of the car in overlapped relation to a bottom portion '35 of the hopper construction, thus insuring that the ballast spreader shall be maintained in proper operating relation to the hopper discharge openings Where; the transversebar's'31', 32 and'33 passlieneath the side walls- 9 the lower fiangeslrof the latter are-cut away (see'Fig. -8i)--so as to cause the bottom 1 surface of the" transverse bars to'- lie in the same plane as the: lower face of the skids or runners formed by said flanges 11. The'upper flanges 10 of the pan side walls are pref- 'erably likewise cut away to permit the intermediate bars 33 toextend above the top edge of the pan.

On the outsideof the pan adjacent the bars 33 are rollers 36 which are adapted to roll upon the rails by which the car is carried if it becomes desirable to adjust the ballast spreader to so low a position to permit proper opening of the door 3 of the hopper. These rollers are mounted upon pins or journals 37 carried by spaced brackets 38 rigidly secured to the side walls 9 of the pan. The rollers are disposed on opposite sides of the pan and. as well shown in Fig. 7. are normally adapted to come into contact with the tops of the rails so as to prevent other parts of the pan from coming in contact therewith. The opposite ends of each roller are. however, preferably somewhat coned or beveled as at 39, thus preventing said rollers from catching on the heads of the track rails when the ballast spreader is shifted transversely of the rail.

Means are provided to prevent accidental escape of ballast from the pan through the space below the car center sills between the door sections of the car hopper door 3, such means (see particularlyFig. 2) preferably being formed as a shield or plate 40 constituting anupward extension ofthe side wall 9 of the pan which is remote from the car hopper from which ballast is being received. The shield or auxiliary side wall section 40 which bridges the space between the hopper door sections is preferably designed to be detachably mounted upon the pan so as to enable it to be associated with either side wall 9 thereof as occasion may require, such a construction permitting the pan to be shifted to position from beneath one pocket to anotherwithout the necessity of reversing the pan end for end. A simple manner of effecting this detachable connection is to rigidly mount upon the outer face of the shield 40 a plurality of angle clips 41 whose free ends are spaced out; wardly from the body of the shield a suffic-ient distance to receive the side wall 9 of the pan. r r The end members or end walls 5 of the bal-- last spreadingdevice are connected to the central member 4 preferably by means of pins 42 permitting a relative pivotal movement of these parts so as to enable the end wall members 5 to accommodate their position to cars ofslightly varying width. To permit this pivotal or swinging movement the lower'ends of the end wall frame members or posts 43 are preferably rounded as indicated at 43. At

their upper ends the end wall members 5 preferably have secured to them short lengths of chains 44 each terminating in a hook 45,the hooks being respectively adapted to connect with chains 46 whose upper ends' are suitably attached'to the short arm 47 of an operating lever 48 by means of which the workmen may raise or lower the pan until it assumes the desired relation to the car body. This lever is pivotally connected at 49 to a suspension bar 50 provided at itsupper end with a hook 51 adapted to extend over the top edge 52 of the car side. The free end of the longer arm 53 of the adjusting lever 48 is provided with an attached chain 54 having a hook 55 adapted to hook into the links of the neighboring chain i 46. It will be appreciated that-by suitably manipulating the lever v48 the workman is enabled easily to raise or lower the ballast spreading device. When the device is in proper position of adjustment it is maintained in said position by catching the hooks 55 into suitable links of the neighboring chains 46. When the device is to be positioned beneath the car the hooks 45 are connected to the respective chains 46. the lever 48 is operated to position the ballast spreader at the desired height and the lever is 'then secured against rotation by means of the chains 54. When the spreader is to be shifted from one hopper to another'the lever 48 is released thus permitting the ballast spreader to be lowered so as to rest upon the rails. 'The pins 42 are then Withdrawn thus releasing the pan section 4 from the end Wall members 5. The

doorsmay be actuated by any suitable means, buteach is preferably controlled by an oper-' ating lever 57 projectingbeyond the opposite sides of the device as well shown in Fig. 1. Each lever 57 is operatively, connected to the corresponding door'by a. link 58 pivotally connected at 59 to the lever and pivoted to the door at 60. To form fulcrum points for the levers 57 the end face of each of the columns or posts 43 is provided with spaced outwardly projecting pins or studs '61 and each lever 57 is provided with suitable holes 62 for receivingsa-id studs. By this means, as

will be appreciated from an inspection of Fig. 4. the lever 57 when inserted uponan appropriate fulcrum stud may be-operated from either of its ends as may be most convenient; and it will also be appreciated that the doors 56 may, as desired. be sustained in open positionbycausingst'uds 61 to project through bothof the openings 62 with which each lever is provided. i

- Each of the end wall members5 is preferably provided at its sides with inwardly'pros jecting flanges or bafil'e plates 63 which preferablv' are wider at the bottom than at the top. These members may advantageously'be embodied in the construction as they serve to prevent the. accidental escape to the roadbed of any ballast which may be dischargedinto the pan at points closely adjacent the end wall members 5. p

Iclaim: 1 1. In combination, a railway car having an opening .for .the discharge of ballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device-adapted reeeive ballast discharged through said opening and deliver it to the roadbed, and means for suspending said device beneath the car,

spreading device, and means for preventing rotation of said lever when the device is in to receive ballastdischarged through said operative position. I

opening and deliver it to the roadbed, said device including a pan member having an opening in the bottom thereof, and a sliding door for said opening, said door being curved at its ends so as'to permit it to shift its angular position in its plane of operation.

2. In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge of ballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device adapted to receive bal ast discharged through said opening and deliver it to the roadbed, said devicevincluding a pan member formed with a floor-plate having a plurality of openings therein for permitting delivery of ballast to the roadbed,-and door means for controlling the discharge of ballast through the openings I in the floor plate, said door means comprising an operating bar and aplurality of door sections connected to said bar, each of said door 30 permitit to assume diflerent angular posiwardly extending bafile plates.

sections being provided with rounded ends to tions.

3. In combination, a railwav car having an opening for the discharge of ballastor the like, anda ballast spreading device adapted to receive ballast discharged through said opening and deliver it to the roadbed, said de' vice including a pan member, and end-wall members secured to said pan member at opposite ends of the latter, each-Jot said end wall members-being provided with a door for'con-v trolling the discharge of ballast endwise of the device and having at its opposite sides in- 4. In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge of ballast or the like, a ballast spreading device adapted-to receive ballast discharged through said open-- ing and deliver. it to the roadbed, and means for adjustably suspending said device from the car, said' means including "a lever operatively c'onnectedto said device, v

5.v In combination, a railway carhaving an opening for the" discharge of ballast or the like, a ballast spreading device adapted to re c'eive ballast discharged through said open-' ing and deliver it to the roadbed, and means for suspending said device fromthe' car, said I :nieans including'a bar adapted. to be supported by av portion oi the "car, a lever pivotally connected to said bar, and means connecting said lever with the ballast-spreading device.

a ;6. In combination, a railwa' gearhaving an opening .for' the discharge 0 ballast or ,the'

like,"'abal1ast spreading device adapted to 7. In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge of ballast or the like, a ballast spreading device adapted to receive ballast discharged through said opening" and deliver it to the roadbed, and means for adj ustably supporting said device from the car, said means including a suspension-bar having a hook adapted to extend over the upper edge of the car side, a lever-pivotally connected to said-bar, a plurality of chains connected .to said lever and respectively connected to hooks carried bychainsattachedto the device, and means for gipreventing rotation of the lever when the device is in adjusted position.

8. A ballast spreading device adapted to extend transversely of the track beneath a rail- I Way car, said device including a pan member ing adapted to be operated from the end'of the device and being provided with means for cooperating with a removable operating bar. 9. A ballast spreading device adapted to extend transversely of the track beneath a railway car, said device including a pan memher having openings in the bottom thereof permitting the discharge of ballast to the roadbed, doors for said openings, and rollers positioned so as to be adapted to cooperate with the rails of the railway track.

10; In combination, a railway car having an opening for the discharge. of ballast or the like, and a ballast spreading device adapted to receive ballast discharged through said openings and deliver it to the roadbed, said device including a pan member having a flo'or plate V and side walls, said floor plate having an open;-

ing permitting the discharge of ballast, a door .for said last named opening, and an auxiliary side wall member adapted to be detachably I and to extend upwardly there'r rom.

connected to'oneof the side walls of the pan 11. A ballast spreading device involving a pan member having a floor plate, side walls and end members, said side walls having portions extending below and spaced downward' an 1y from the under side of the floor plate constituting-skidsfor the device. v V 12.' A ballastspre'ading device including a pan memberha'ving .a floor plate, i Wa and end walls, and'provided with transversely extendin bar s extending under the floor l n sp ace relation thereto, the lower en I the side walls bein 5 a plurality in substantially the'saxne plane as the lower aces of said bars.

.. 13. A ballast spreading device including a pan member having a floor plate formed with. of openings-permitting ballast .to be discharged to the roadbed, doors for said openings; supporting plates for thedoors spaced downwardl from said floor plate, and spacers interpose between said supporting plates and the floor plate. 1

.7 14. In combination, a railwa car having I y .an opening for the discharge of allast or the a and extending like, a ballastspreadin v undert e car transversely vof the track on which the car is supported, said device being positioned in they path of ballast discharged ,from the car, ling the discharge from, said device of the ballast received from the car, and rollers carried by said device for cooperating with the rails of the track.

' Intestimony whereof I 'aflix my signature.

BERNARD W; 's'riiAw.

device movable with means for control- 7

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