US1703430A - Vacuum sander - Google Patents

Description

gnuamto'o VACUUM SANDER Z j 4 Z /4 L l ,1 CfiW ZeJA 7712276.

'" c; A. PRATTE Filed March 20, 1928 Feb. 26, 1929.

Patented Feb. 26, 1929.

UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. PRATTE, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR 01E ONE-HALF T CHARLES E. FULLER, JR., 0]? DENVER, COLORADO. I

VACUUM SANDER.

Application filed March 20, 1928. Serial No. 263,049.

This invention relates to improvements in vacuum sanders for locomotives and has reference more particularly to an improvement in that type of sander shown and described in United States Letters Patent 1,263,106,

granted to me on April 16, 1918. I

In the operation. of railway trains it is frequently necessary to employ sand so as to prevent the slipping of the drivers oi the locomotives. In order to direct the sand into the space between the ballot the rail and the periphery oi the driving wheels of the four on each side to a much larger number.

In order to properly sand the track at each wheel, it is evident that sanders of large capacity must be employed.

It is the object of this invention to produce a sander of a novel construction that shall be so designedthat each sander will supply two wheels and which will therefore make it possible to properly sand a large number of drive wheels from the same sand box or dome.

in order to most clearly describe my invention, reference will be had for this purpose to the accompanying drawing in which the preferred embodiment thereof has been illus- 3d, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive showing my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is asection taken on line 33, Fig. 2.

In the drawing numeral 1 represents the ball of the railway rail and numeral 2 the drivers'o; the locomotive. In the example given I have shown tour drivers on each side. A sand pipe 8 terminates at a point a short distance above the surfacefoi' the rail and to the front surface of the driver in the manner shown in the drawing. The sand is usually contained in a sand box or dome 4, which is located on the top of the locomotive. This sand box is provided with a removable cover 5, through which the sand is introduced. Ordinarily these sand domes or boxes have a circular cross section like that shown in Fig. 2 in which numeral 6 represents the cylindrical side wall. F or the purpose of transferring sand froin the interior of the sand dome to pipes 3, I have provided a mechanism which has been. illustrated in section in I 2%, and which consists of a pipe 7 having a shortportion 8 that extends at right angles to the main part of the pipe and terminatesin an interiorly threaded opening 9.- The end of section 7 also terminates in'an interiorly threaded opening 10. A sleeve '11 has a threaded engagement at one end with the threads oi. opening 10 and extends through a hole 12 in the cylindrical wall 6. Secured to the outer end of the threaded connector 11 is an L 18. When this L is in place it serves as a clamping means for securing pipe 7 in place in the opening 12. A sand pipe?) is connected to the downwardly extending opening of L 18 in the mannershown in Fig. 3. This L has an opening 14 which is in axial alignment with theopening to which pipe 3 is connected and located within opening 1%1 is a nozzle 15. This'nozzle is connected by means ofpipeslG to a valve 16 that is located in the cab and which controls the flow of air through the pipes 16. Secured to the threads in opening 9 is a threaded sleeve 17 which corresponds to sleeve 11 above referred to. An inverted bell shaped member 18 has its base provided with an opening 19 for the reception of the sleeve 17. This bell is oi such size that when its upper surface is in contact with the lower end of part 8, the iugs 20 that weird downwardly from its lower end will res upon the bottom 21. The sides of. this bell shaped member are provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots 22. A suction head 23 is threadedly connected with the sleeve 17 and serves to hold the inverted bell shaped member 18 in place. The lower end of suction head 23 which has been indicated by numeral 24, terminates a short distance above the bottommember 21. When dry sand is put into place in the sand dome, part of this sand will flow through the openings 25 into'the interior of the inverted bell 18 and sand will alsoflow through the slots 22. The action of the bell shaped member 18 is to prevent the sand from packing about the suction nozzle and'to therefore, leave it in a loose condition so that it will be more readily entrained by the air when the device is operated.

From Fig. 2 is will be seen that the part indicated by numeral 8 in l. 3 has two branches, each of which has been designated by the numeral 7 and therefore a single suction nozzle serves for two branches and tor two sand pipes. The nozzles 15 located within each of the ifs 13 a e connected in parallel by means of a pipe 16 in the i'nanncr shown in 2. lVhen the engineer opens the valve 16 and permits air under pressure to flow through pipe 16, this will produce a stream oi air or" high velocity the end o't each nozzle 15. .lt is veil. known that when air issues from a nozzle and is directed into an opening that partial vacuum is produced. This vacuum causes air to 'flow inr-r: 'd.y through the suction nozzle 23 and upwardly through pipe 8, and thence through the branch 7. This stream of air carries with it sand and this sand is then directed downwardly through pipes 3 and is deli vs- .d onto the surface of the railway rail directly in front of the drivers. It is evident that with the construction shown, it is possible to sand a pair of drivers with each device employed an d when four sanding devices are used, eight drivers can be talren care of. it is obvious that as a larger number of drivers are to be sanded, that additional sanding devices can be employed, but as this merely a matter of duplication, the arrangement shown in this drawing and described above is considered sufficient for the purpose of describing the op eration of the device.

I want to call particular attention to the function performed by the inverted bell shaped member 18 which serves both a support for the inner end otthe tubular member comprising parts 7 and 8, and as a means for preventing the packing of the sand about the suction nozzle, during such times as the device is in operation. Member 18 also serves to make the flow o'l sand more uniform than it would be it a large body oi sand would be in direct contact with the suction nozzle.

'ihc idea of employing a single suction nozzle for two sand pipes sin'ipliiics the arrangement and decreases the cost of construction and also makes it possible to make provision ior a larger number of sand. pipes :trom each sand dome.

The pipes by means of which the compressed air is delivered to the nozzles 15, have all been designated by numeral 16, as they are all a part of a si' le air conduit and this designation simplifies the description.

From the above it will be apparent that i. have produced a simple vacuum sanding device which is especially well adapted for use on locomotives having a large number of driving wheels and which is of simple and substantial construction and which, in addi tion, is provided with means that prevents the mesa-so sand from packing and thereby produces a more uniform operation than the device shown and described in the patent above identified.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A sander for locomotives comprising a branched conduit adapted to extend through the wall of a sand box, the inner ends of said branches terminating in a downwardly extending portion whose lower end forms a suction nozzle, a bell shaped member enclosing the suction nozzle, said member having spaced lugs adapted to rest upon the bottom or a sand box, each of said branches having their outer ends closed and an air nozzle mounted on the outer extremity of each branch and arranged to discharge air across the axis thereof.

2. A sander for locomotives comprising, a branched conduit, one end of said branches terminating in a single tubular portion extending at right angles to the plane. of the branches, a suction nozzle secured to the end of the tubular portion, a bell shaped guard member secured to the tubular portion and enclosing the suction nozzle said guard member having its open end provided with spaced lugs adapted to rest on the bottom of a sand box, and means applied to the outer end of each branch for producing a suction.

3. A sander tor locomotives comprising a tubular member having one end open and the other closed, a conduit in communication with the interior of the tubular member near its closed end, said conduit extending substantially at right angles to the axis of the tubular member, suction producing means attached to the outer end of the conduit, a suction nozzle secured to the open end of the tubular member, and a guard member enclosing the suction nozzle, said guard men her having a plurality of openings for the entrance of sand.

4-. A sander for locomotives comprising a tubular member having one end open an d the other closed, a plurality of conduits, each having one end in conmmnication with the interior of the tubular member near its closed end, said conduits extending substantially at right angles to the axis of the tubular member, a suction producing n'iea-ns attached to the outer end of each conduit, a suction nozzle secured to the lower end of the tubular member, a bell shaped guard member secured to the tubular member and extending downwardly over the suction nozzle, and spaced lugs projecting downwardly from the open end of the guard member.

5. A sander comprising a hollow body member consisting of a short tubular mem ber having one end closed and the other open, a plurality of angularly related conduits ex tending radially from the tubular member near its closed end, the interiors of said conduits being in communication with the interior of the tubular member, the outer ends of each conduit being interiorly threaded, and the open end of the tubular member being interioriy threaded, a threaded sleeve in each conduit and in the threaded opening in the tubular member, a suction producing device threadedly connected with the threaded sleeve at the outer end of each conduit, a

suction nozzle threadedly connected with the 10 threaded sleeve in the end of the tubular member and a bell shaped guard member clamped between the tubular member and the suction nozzle, said guard member being provided with spaced openings for the ad- 15 mission of sand.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CHARLES A. PRATTE.

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