US1753097A - Railway-track scale - Google Patents

Description

April 1, 1930. M. H. STARR RAILWAY TRACK SCALE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 10, 1927 INVENTOR jlolfaflflstar ATTORNEY Apfil1,1930. M.H.sTARR v RAILWAY TRACK SCALE Filed Dec. 10. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR M 22121? Sta r1.

BY SW ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORTON HULL STARR, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR TO THE HOWE SCALE COMPANY, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, .A. CORPORATION OF VERMONT RAILWAY-TRACK SGALE Application filed December 10, 1927. Serial No. 239,167.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway track scales.

Heretofore, in railway track scale constructions, the load from the platform or bridge,

.6 has been transmitted to the knife edge pivot of the main lever through the medium of a suspension mechanism which included a single depending support or frame of inverted U-shape rigidly connected to the beam of the platform, and a link suspension intermediate the rigid support and the knife edge pivot of the main lever. I have found from actual experience that the above construction is inadequate to meet the various conditions existing in actual practice, in that it provides difiiculties in disassembling the suspension, it requires an increased depth of pit to provide space for the central portion of the bridge beam; the rigidity of the bridge support opposes the fiexure of the bridge, and it is impossible for vertical adjustment to take up the inequalities of the bridge.

My invention therefore has among its several objects to provide a suspension for railway track scales which will permit the suspension to be readily disassembled; will avoid the necessity of increasing the depth of the pit to provide space for the central portion of the bridge beam; will eliminate the rigidity of the bridge support opposing the flexure of the bridge, and will permit of vertical adjustment to take up the inequalities of the bridge. I

With these and other objects in view which will more fully appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by following the description, the appended claims, and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form ofmy invention:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved suspension, the bridge beam and the secondary lever being shown in section,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken in a plane at right angles to Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line X-X of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a detail view, partly in section,

of one of the wedge assemblies for independently adjusting the bridge supports, and

Figure 5 is a perspective View of one of the wedges.

Like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in detail, 4 indicates the usual I-beam of the weigh bridge or platform. The bridge is suspended at one end from two main levers 5 (one only being shown) which are connected to a secondary lever 6. Each main lever 5 is fulcrumed at one end on a supporting bracket 7 through the medium of a knife edge pivot bearing 8 fixed to the lever and a bearing block 9 fixed to the bracket. The other end of the main lever 5 is provided with a knife edge pivot bearing 10 which rests ona bearing block 11 fixed to the lower end of a.

vertically disposed link 12 which is suspended from a bearing block 13 fixed to the sec ondary lever 6. An elongated knife edge pivot bearing 14, from which the bridge is suspended, is fixed to the main lever 5 at a point intermediate the pivots 8 and 10. All three of the knife edges of the pivots 8, 10 and 14 are in parallelism, and disposed in the same horizontal plane, as indicated by the dotted line m-w.

Supported by the intermediate knife edge pivot 14 is an upper bearing block 15, and supported centrally on said block by a transverse pivot 16 is a supplemental upper link blockl7. The upper link block 17 is provided on its upper surface adjacent its ends with seats 18-18 from which depending links 19-19 are suspended. Located within the links 19-19 and supported by the lower ends thereof,.is a lower link block 20. The ends of the lower link block 20 project beyond the links 1919 and are respectively disposed within slotted bearings 2121 formed in the lower ends of independent posts 22-22 which form the bridge support, the upper ends of the posts being fixedly secured to the base flanges of the beam 4 by bolts 23. The upper end of each post 22 is widened to form an attaching head 24 having openings 24 through which the bolts 23 pass, the openings 24 haveess ' eters of the bolt shanks.

ing diameters slightly larger than the diam- The head 24 is centrally formed in its upper face with a transverse groove 25 to provide spaced bearing surfaces for the post on opposite sides of the central vertical plane of the post.

A wedge block 26 is mounted in suitable bearings in each post 22 and extends transversely of the lower link block 20 and in direct contact with the adjacent end thereof. One end of the wedge block is provided with a threaded shank 27 which extends through an opening formed in an arm 28 extending laterally from the adjacent post. Nuts 29-29 are associated with the threaded'shank for cooperation with the arm 28 to lock the wedge block in any position of adjustment.

I The disassembling and assembling of a railroad track scale which embodied the solid inverted Ushaped supports, required the services of four men operating for a period of approximately two and one-half hours, whereas with my invention, two'men can perform the same operations in approximately thirty minutes.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have constructed a suspension which may be readily disassembled without creating interference with the usual end frame of the bridge and consequently a pit of lesser depth than usual can be employed; that the supporting posts are adjustably althoughrrigidly connected to the bridge beam, thus permitting the posts to be readily attached to the beam notwithstanding the bolt openings in the beam may be located slightly out of normal positions, and that the separate bridge supporting posts are independently adjustable relative to the main lever for permitting the inequalities in the bridge to be readily taken up. I

It is of course to be understood that the details of structure and arrangements of parts may be variously changed and modified Without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a railway track scale, the combination of a bridge including a beam, and a suspenpendent bridge supporting posts depending from the beam and suspended from the main lever, means for adjustably and rigidly securing the posts to the beam, and separate means for independently adjusting the posts vertically relative to the lever.

2. In a railway track scale, the combination of a bridge including a beam, and a suspen sion therefor including a main lever, independent bridge supporting posts depending from the beam and suspended from the main lever, the upper end of each post being provided with a head having spaced contact surfaces for engagement with the beam, means for adjustably and rigidly securing the posts signature.

MORTON HULL STARR.

'sion therefor including a main lever, inde-

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