US1714074A - Safety railway gate - Google Patents

Description

May 2l 1929- l J. F. BuRcH ErAL 1,714,074

y SAFETY RAILWAY ATEl Filed March 2s, 19,27 3 sheets-sheet' 1 0* Niall-1:12*

v N I:

May'2l', 19249. J. F. BURCH ET AL SAFETY 'RAILWAY GATE Filed March 26, 1927 3 sheets-sheet Wim wh-CV Patented May 21,1929.

"UNITED A.STATES JOHN FREDERICK BURCH AND ARNOLD HARRISON MORT'OLL or BILL-mes, MONTANA SAFETY RAILWAY GATE] Appiication ined March 2s, 1927. serial Na. 178,671.

The present invention relates to improvements in safety' railway gates and has for an object to providea gate structure and operating mechanism for the crossings of railroads, whereby both a visual and audible signal will.. be given to motorists and pedestrians in a more substantial attempt to avoid disasters at grade crossings.

It is another object of the invention to provide an automatically operating gate and signal apparatus in which the movement of the device to the operative -or danger position will be'controlled by the advance of a train;

and in which the mechanical parts of thede-` vice will begrouped into small compass for easy and faithful operation and for economy in the manufacture and installation of the apparatus.

A'further object of the invention resides in providing'an automatic gate and signal device for railway crossings which .will dispense with t-he necessity for gatemen and .eliminate the human elementin the operation ofthe device, making the actuation ofthe signals most positive.4 y e v;

With the foregoing and other objects 'in View, which will readilybecome apparent to those skilled in this art, the invention `will be described the more specifically hereinafter in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which like symbols refer to like parts throughout the several views, andin which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a safety railway gate apparatus constructed in accordance with our present invention;

Figure 2 is avertical section taken through the apparatus on an enlarged scale with portions of the gates broken away;

Figure 3 is also a vertical section taken at substantially right angles to Figure 2;.

Figure 41s a horizontal section taken on the line 1 -4 in Figure 2; A

Figure 5 is a fragmentaryside view of one of the gates, with a portion ofthe stop light casing broken away; l

Figure 6 is a transverse line 6 6 in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a topplan view of the apparatus in the operative position; and,

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view of the preferred form of circuit arrangement.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the apparatus consists generally of one or more gates, two such gates 9 and 10 besection taken on the ing .shown in the embodiment of the appara-A tus illustrated; such gates as shown in Figure 1l being normallyheld in an up-raised initial position and adapted to be swung down to the substantially horizontal position indicated in dotted lilies for indicating by the outstretched condition thereof the approach of a train toward thecrossing. Itwill be noted that these arms in no sense constitutea barrier to the crossing, but on the contrary they are suspended by an appropriate pedestal at an Indicating position which is well above the tops of vehicles, an automobile be' ing indicated in Figure 1 to show generally the relation between the vehicle and the signal apparatus. The vehicle canpass freely beneath the signal apparatus without damage either to the gate or tothe vehicle; yet .the gate is clearly visible to the driver of the vehicle and constitutcsa visual warning that cannot be overlooked, or ignored. L

I'n addition, each gate preferably carries ahnumber of pendant preferably flexible dei vices 11,. which are pivotally hung from the arms as indicated at 12 and are of a length to vextend down in front of portions `of the vehicle to be struck by the vehicle -in passing beneath the gate, whereby in a more effective manner to bring to the attention of the driver of the vehicle the danger condition of the gate apparatus. These pendants will be constructed of such flexible material as to avoid injury to the vehicle or the finish thereof.

The gates are pivoted ator near' their lower endsas indicated at 13 and 14 to laterally extending lugs .15 and 16 Ona casing or housing .17, which is mounted at the upper portion of the pedestal 18. This casing is ar-l ranged to confine the working parts of thev device and's provided in the sic e'walls thereof adjacent t'he lugs 15 and 16 with slots 19 and 2O. Through these slots project the right an'gularlyturned terminal ends 21 and 22 of the gates 9. and 10. These terminal ends are slotted or forkedas indicated at 23 and provided with thepivot pins 24 and y25 with which the outer ends of the links 26 'and 27 are connected. These links extend inwardly and into slots 28 made in opposite sides of a and mounted for movementalongthe'threaded shaft'32, which is shown as mounted sub-4 stantially vertically-'inthe casing 17, having .its upper reduced end 33 received in a bearing collar 34, aiiiXed Vto the top of the casing lwhile its lower reduced end 35 isarranged to restuponabearing bloclr36, held in a bear} ingbox 37 extending downwardly from the bottom of the casing 17 and having the retaining flange 38 by which the-bearing 36 is held` in'place, -Any otherbearingmeans might be employed, itbeing A'understood that 'the shaft is` capable fof a` rotary, but `netof an axially sliding motion, 1 'whereby when rotation isimpartedto-such shaft, the 'riut 29 will be caused to traverse the shaft longitudinally in accordance with the directionjl'of rotation' v thereof. The movement may be derived from any appropriate source, for in'stance, from theele'ctric'motor 39'shown as mounted vin the. casing "17 andghaving on' its armature shaft" the beveled pinion 14() `disposedv in mesh with 'the c'omplemental beveled pinion 41 ailixed to the threaded shaft 32near its lower f 'sendo The` motor 39 wi-libe ofthe reversible type in ,order ,to shiftfthe travelling nut upA anddown the shaft 32, :1s-becomes necessary' in 4the raising and lowering of the signal gates. The gearing40, 41, .shown may or may not beus'ed; in'many cases, a reduction gear will'loerequired.4

j hetravellingnut 29 as shown inFigures 3 and 4 isprovidedupon its rear facewith a travelling Contact finger 42 arranged to move f in a groove 43 'of a fixed'contact pillar. com posed of .three seCtionsnamela lowerrnost section 44 of insulating material or. offcon- `ducting material finsulated'and cut ed from-` the source of current, an. intermedi-ate section 45 insulated asindicatedat 46 and47 from the ad-joining sections, -and, an upper longer lcontact section 481 insulated from the' inter mcdiate'section 45-- In up'wardmovementf the travelling contact ,iinger42isadapted to successively wipe over' the, three sections v44,

45 and 48 in the order named. y

' which indicatesthe railroad crossing and 'in cross-arms.

Immediatelybelow,thdcagsing 17 vifs alamp housing. 50, having lenses 51" extending onall.

,practice these words vvi-ll be-,Wrttenon-the four sides as illustrated fWithin-the lamp housingfare ItWo 4'eleifitric lamps, ayellow lamp 52 anda red lamp These lamps may be j, mounted in any appropriate way and the cir# i `cuit)viresth'erefor `are led in through vthe hollow Ap'edestffrl -18,Wliich pedestal isa convenient support 'foriholding the oil lamps 54 which city ordinances usuallyv require on` lstreet apparatus. The hollow pedestal 18 may Abe 'anged as indicated zit-55 to `receive the4 bolts-or other astenings 56, by which it'is connected to -theheavy base Thebase is f On the top of the casing 17; may be placed Y, the Ausual cross 'armffindica'ting device', 49,

also preferably hollow or provided with a passage to admit-'the' wires tocthe lamps52 and i As shown inFigures y1 and 3, an electric bell 58. is employed, this 4bell being mounted at anyV convenient point 'on the apparatus.; -In the present -case,we have illustrated vit as ai'xed to thepedestal 18.

The interior of he casing .17;is1accessible'. u

through a door '59 hinged as indicated at 60 to the front `wall-'of such casing. This door and the opposite exterior wall ofthe casing will form lexcellent'backgrounds to bear such .inf scrptionsas'fSaety first and the entire .pe d' `e'stal mayrbe painted in the black andi-white striped arrangement`l4 which vhas now been commonly adopted as "a danger' signal in itself,` f

v The gatesare constructed of metal or other approximate material of the desired length and "shape but they-preferably include at sub stantially a midway point stoplight-casings,

such for instance, as shown in- 1igures 5 and 6, in which the -metallic'casing is indicated l generally at (5l-andthe red bulb therein at 62. The glass panels are represented' at63 fand, show at both sides of the gate. lThese panels preferablybear the word .Stop.

Either the lamp *or tha-panel. maybe tinted l In Figure-8 is also showna battery or other sour'ce of current() Tfor operating the light-1. ing andbellcircuit. .The-yellow lamp 52 in fthe lamp housing 50- andthe be'l1'158 are preferably connected in multiple in a circuit 7l,

7.2,. which includes the'int'crmediate lcontactl section 4.5,.the contact finger ',42,'travelling` l andthe red stop lamp 62 .in ythe gatesare also.n

preferably connected in parallel in .a circuit 7 3, 7 4' which includes also the uppermost'con'- tactsection 48, thejrnovable contact finger 42, l

travelling'nut 2 9 Srew Shaft, 32, retun wire 72 a1'1d the battery V70.

the parts is as shown in fulllines in Fi. ure

In operation, the initial inactive position of 1, inV which condition both the motor 'an the light circuits areopen and no lights are burningfsave the'oillam'ps 5 4. As a 'train approaches the crossing, it will close the circuit 65, 66 through the'electric motor 39, therebyl l rotating the screw",sh aft"32"and elevating the travelling nut' 29. -Thisnut, 'duel to its connection through'the'links 26 and 27 with lamp housing 50. This yellow lamp showsy from four sides of the housing 50 through the four lenses `l, which are placed at right l angles to one another.' The light canthus be seen in the roadway from both directions and it is also visible by the engineer of the approaching train, so as to apprise him of the lfact that the apparatus is lin working order.

As the travelling nut 29 and its contact finger 42 continue t'o rise, the contact finger passes off the intermediate contact section 45 and on to the uppermost contact section 48 whereupon the circuit to the bell 58 and-the' yellow light 52 is'i'nterrupted and the circuit through the red lamp 53 'in the housingand the'red lamps 62 in the gates is closed.

We have thus established an-initial period in which the yellow lamp is-lighted and the bell rungto both visibly and audibly notify those approaching the crossing of the near presence of the train. lVe havev further'established a final condition in which theI caution yellow lamp gives place to the red danger signal and in this latter condition the gates reach their lowermost position in which the pendant devices l1 are stretchedacross the roadway and in addition the red lamps 62 are illuminated behind the stop panels.

elevated either ,slowly or' rapidly and this result may be obtained byl changing the pitch i of the threaded shaft 32 and Inut 29, or the same result may be accomplished by a change in the ratio ofthe gearing 40, 41.

After the train has passed the crossing, the motor 39 will be reversed v by means of any appropriate well-known mechanism, as for instance, the automatic reversing switch67 and relay construction; .The arms are thus elevated to the position shown in f ulllines 1n Figure l and the light circuits interrupted,

thus placing the device in condition for the next actuation.

When the gates descend to the lowermost position the automatic apparatus 67v will open the motor circuit and the motor will thus cease to run, economizing on the further use of current. Of course, the motor circuit could be I of successive crossings.

closed manually as by the use of button` switches or the like, and this would be par-- crossing the road at adjacent points'. Incase a single gate arm is used, the pedestal could be placed at the side ofthe road, rather than at the middle and from one to four of the pedestals could be placed at each crossing.

It .will be obvious that many changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts could be made, which could be used withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, and we do not mean to limit the invention'to such details, except as particularly pointed out in the claim.

Having thus described our invention, what we claimand desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is In a railway gate signal, a pedestal,`a pair of spaced gates pivoted on the pedestal and each having an angle'arm at its inner end', a threaded shaft in the Ipedestal between and substantially in the plane of said angle arms, means for turning theshaft, a traveler nut 'tracks permits, as where two main lines. arel finger, links betweenthe angle arms andthe l .y traveler nut forrlowerin'g the gates gradu- The gates 9 and 10 may be lowered andally upon the upward travel of theinut on the shaft, a contact pillar in the pedestal in parallel relation to the shaft andhaving a vertical groove therein for receiving and 'hold-Y ing the finger of the traveler nut, said con- -tact pillar having in said groove bottom, in-

termediate and top fixed contacts insulated.

4from one ,another and from the pedestal and over vwhich said finger is adapted to traverse,

` loo a warning signal circuit including said interimediate contact" and the traveler n-ut tombe closed by. the latter during the initial lowering of the gates, and a danger signal circuit including said top contact and the nut to be `closed by the latter during the final closing ofthe gates and while the knut remains in contact with the top contact.

`JOHN FREDERICK RURoH. ARNOLD HARRISON MoRroN.

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