US2114721A - Rail sweep for railway cars - Google Patents

Description

April 19, 1938.. J MID EY 2,114,721

RAIL SWEEP FOR RAILWAY CARS Fi led Dec. 24, 1937 Patented Apr. 19, 1938 v. UNITED .STATES PATENT" OFF V RAIL SWEEP FOR, RAILWAY CARS Joseph Midgley, Merrifield, Minn, assignor to Fairmont Railway Motors, Inc., Fairmont, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Application December 24, 1937, S'erial No. 18L567 8 Claims; (cr mp- 279) V of the invention illustrated in the drawing, 5

This invention relates to improvements in railsweeps for railway cars and it consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in'the appended claims.

The invention relates generally to devices commonly known as rail sweeps used in connection with the lighter types of railway cars such as inspection cars, push, section,

gang, hand and similar cars which in their use on track, must be removed from time to time to passage of trains.

permit the The type of rail sweep in most common use on such cars consists of a relatively short piece of discarded air hose previously in use on the heavier rolling stock of a railroad. Such hose,

which is relatively stiff, is so arranged at one end of the car that one'end of said hose comes into close proximity to the tread of a rail to sweep'the rail clean of stones and the like, which might cause derailment.

With such a sweep,

when the other end of the car is raised in vremoving it from the track, the said end of the hose comes into contact with the rail and inter- 'feres with the smooth free movement of the car during the removal thereof.

The general objectof the present invention is to provide a rail sweep construction, whichwhen a portion thereof engages the rail, in the removal of the associated car from the track, will automatically move to an inoperative position wherein it is entirely free from engagement with the rail whereby car removal A further object of the invention is to prois facilitated;

specification proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is aview in side elevation of one of the lighter types of railway cars to which the improved rail sweep construction has been applied.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in side elevation on an enlarged scale of parts appearing at the right hand end of Fig. 1 andwhich will be more fully" referred to later.

Fig. 31s a detail vertical sectional view through the'parts shown in Fig. 2 as taken on the line 3-3 thereof.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view ofthe parts appearmat embodiment 7 member ii.

dicated as at I4. As shown herein said arm is 1 indicates as a whole, a lighter type of railway car including'a frame having longitudinal frame members'or sills 6 and which frame is mounted upon front and rear sets or pairs of flanged wheels 1 that are adapted to run on the rails 8 of a railway track. The frame members or sills 6 are in the form of channels with their flanges directed inwardly of the car. At each side of that end of the car constituting the advancing end thereof when the car is in motion, is mounted the improved rail sweep construction indicated as a whole as at 9. There isone of such constructions for each rail. As the parts involved in each rail sweep construction are alike, except for being rights and lefts, a detailed description of the parts involved in one sweep construction will sufiice for both.

The improved rail sweep construction includes a support or bracket I0 adapted for attachmerit to the outer surface of the front end of the frame member or'sill 6, in advance of the associated pair of wheels I. As herein shown, said support is in the form of a flat metallic bar or strap having its front end formed with a through the mid portion of the support and the web of the associated member 6 from the outside thereof, the usual nut being applied to the inner end ofthe bolt as appears in Fig. 4.

[3 indicates a shouldered stud bolt which is so fixed in the frame member 6 as to pass outwardly through the web of the same and through the rear end ofsaid support It so as to coact with the bolt I 2 to secure the support to the side frame The arm of the rail sweep is in cylindrical in cross section and carries a sleeve l5 -at its top end that is journalled on that part of the stud bolt l3 outwardly beyond the frame member 6. This sleeve is removably held against endwise movement on the studbolt by a washer and pin it. About midway between the ends of the sleeve I5 is a pair of longitudinally spaced annular shoulders H. The arm I4 is arranged at other than a right angle to the sleeve l5 so as to angle slightly outwardly from the sleeve so that when the sweep construction is in operative relation to the rail 8, its other end approaches the median line thereof as best'appears in'Fig. 3.

Said-other end of the arm I4 carries a sweeping member 18. This member l8, which extends diagonally of the rail so as to angle rearwardly toward the outside of the head of the rail, may well be made from a piece of belting. As shown herein, the upper major portion of said member is disposed between front and rear clamping plates l9 and 20 secured together and to the arm in any suitable manner. The top end of the front plate I9 is curved over forwardly to serve as a snow flange.

2| indicates a part of the actuating member for swinging the arm [4 from its operative toits inoperative position. As shown herein, said part is in the form of a bar disposed in the plane of the space between the pair of shoulders I! on the sleeve 15. One end of said bar is curved upwardly as at 22, the inside of the curve being on approximately the same radius as the outside of the sleeve l5. The extremity of said bar end 22 is engaged on a cross pin 23 carried by the shoulders I! and said pin functions as a crank arm. The other end of the bar 2| is connected to one end of an elastic element such as a spring 24,

the other end of which is connected to the hook I! of the support or bracket Hi.

When the arm I4 is in its operative sweeping position with respect to the rail, it stands in substantially a vertical position with the member It! in sweeping proximity to the rail and as appears in Fig. 2, said arm must swing in a counterclockwise direction to its inoperative position as indicated in dotted lines therein. When the arm is in its vertical operative position as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, it cannot swing clockwise beyond said position by reason of the engagement of the curved end part 22 of the bar 2| with the sleeve l5. In this position of the parts, it is to be noted that the crank arm pin 23 is disposed above the horizontal plane of the axis about which the'arm l4 swings and this position of said pin, in connection with the pull of the spring 24, constitutes an overcenter lock for the arm l4 against further swinging clockwise beyond a vertical plane.

When the arm I 4 is swung counterclockwise through such an angle, that the pin 23 passes below a plane extending through the axis of the stud bolt l3 and the point of attachment of the spring 24 to the support end ll, then said spring functions to swing the arm into the dotted line inoperative position appearing in Fig. 2, when the contractile force of the spring is expended.

Assume that the car 5 in Fig. 1 is moving along the track towards the right and that the arm l4 stands in its operative position shown in full lines in said figure wherein the member I8 is disposed in operative position with respect to the rail. Due to the angular position of said member with respect to the tread of the rail, stones .and the like which may happen to be on said tread are swept oii toward the outside of the rail.

Assume that it is necessary to remove the car 5 from the track. The rear end of the car is lifted upwardly so that the front end swings downwardly about the axis of the axle for the front wheels. As the rear end of the car is lifted upwardly, it is moved slightly rearwardly. In this movement of the car, the member l8 engages the rail and this causes the arm M to swing counter-clockwise through an angle into the relative position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, wherein the overcenter look before mentioned, is released. When the overcenter lock has been released, the spring 24 contracts to swing the arm into an out of the way position on the car.

When the car has been replaced upon the track, the arm is manually returned to its operative position wherein the over-center lock again becomes effective.

It is apparent that by the construction described, the arm, in the initial part of removing the car from the rail, operates automatically to move into its inoperative position.

The improved sweep'structure is simple in construction but eflicient in operation and may be applied not only to new cars of the kind mentioned, but to those already in service.

While in describing the invention, I have referred in detail to the form, arrangement and construction of the parts involved, the same is to be considered only in the illustrative sense so that I do not wish 'to be limited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims. 1

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails and operatively connected to the car longitudinally outward from one of said sets of wheels for a movement with respect to the car from an operativepposition to .an inoperative position, said sweep when in its operative position having an end disposed in sweeping relation with respect to the tread of one of said rails, and means carried by the car and connected to said sweep and operative when the other end of the car is elevated about the axis of said one set of wheels to engage said end of the sweep with said tread to actuate said means carried by the car .and connected to the sweep to move the same intoits inoperative position.

2. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, .a rail sweep for one of said rails and pivotally connected to the car longitudinally outward from one of said sets of wheels for a swinging movement from an operative to an inoperative position, said sweep when in its operative position having .an end disposed in sweeping relation with respect to the tread of one of said rails, and means carried by the car and connected to said sweep and operative when the other end of the car is elevated about the axis of said one set of wheels to engage said end of the sweep with said tread to actuate said means carried by the car and connected to the sweep to swing the same into its inoperative position.

3. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails and operatively connected to the car longitudinally outward from one of said sets of.

wheels for a movement with respect to the car from an operative position to an inoperative position, a rail sweeping member carried by'one end of said rail sweep, said member when said rail sweep is in its operative position standing diagonally across and in sweeping relation with respect to the tread of one of said rails, and means carried by the car and connected to said sweep and operative when the other end of the car is elevated about the axis of said one set of wheels to engage said sweeping member with said tread to actuate said means carried by the car and connected to the sweep to move the same into its inoperative position.

4. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails and pivotally connected to the car longitudinally outward from one of said sets of wheels for a swinging movement from an operative to an inoperative position, a rail sweeping member carried by an end of said rail sweep, said member when said rail sweep is in its operative position standing diagonally across and in sweeping relation with respect to the tread of one of said rails, and means carried by the car and connected to said sweep and operative when the other end of the car is elevated about the axis of said one set of wheels to engage said sweeping member with said tread to actuate said means carried by the car and connected to the sweep to move the same into its inoperative position.

5. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails, means pivotally connecting said rail sweep to the car for, a swinging movement from an operative position with respect to the tread of one of said rails to an inoperative position, and means including an elastic element for swinging the rail sweep from the operative position to the inoperative position, said last mentioned means being constructed to hold said rail sweep in either of said positions.

6. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails, means pivotally connecting said rail sweep to the car for aswinging movement from an operative position with respect to the tread of one of said rails to an inoperative position, means providing a crank arm for the pivoted end of said rail sweep, an elastic member having one end fixed with respect to the car, and means operatively connecting said crank arm and the other end of said elastic means for swinging the sweep from the operative position to the inoperative position, said elastic member and said last mentioned means cooperating in connection with said crank arm means for holding the rail sweep in either of its positions.

'7. In combination with a railway car having sets of wheels and adapted to be manually removed from and replaced upon the rails upon which said wheels engage, a rail sweep for one of said rails, means pivotally connecting said rail sweep to the car for a swinging movement from an operative position with respect to the tread of one of said rails to an inoperative position, means providing a crank arm forthe pivoted end of said rail sweep, an elastic member having one end fixed with respect to the car, and means operatively connecting said crank arm and the other end of said elastic means for swinging the sweep from the operative position to the inoperative position, said elastic means and said last mentioned means cooperating with said crank arm in providing an overcenter lock for yieldingly holding the rail sweep in its operative position.

8. In a rail sweep construction for railway cars, a supporting means adapted for attachment to a railway car, a sweep arm, means for pivotally -mo-unting the sweep arm on said supporting

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