US237149A - Railway-switch movement - Google Patents

Description

Y e, WBSTINGHOUSB, Jr. Railway Swiefeh- Movement.

(No Model.)

No, 237,149. Patented Feb. I,188I.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR., OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAI LWAY-SWITCH MOVEM ENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,149, dated February 1, 1881.

Application filed December 13, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom tt may concern: 4

Be it known that I, GEORGE Wnsrnvc- HOUSE, Jr., of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented 'or discovered anew and useful Improvementin Railway-Switch Movements; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-like letters indicating like parts- Figure 1 is a; side elevation, sectioned, between the cylinders of the main part of the apparatus constituting my improved switch movement. Fig.2 is a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3, by a diagram to a reduced scale, illustrates its manner of application.

My present invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus for the moving of railway-switches by fluid-pressure, in which the switch is shifted to and held to one position or the other, and preferably to its normal or usual position, by a Huid-pressure, andis shifted to its opposite position by an excess of or a greater pressure acting in the opposite direction 5 or, in other words, the switch movement in at least onerdirection is effected by changing from one direction to another the balance or excess of two pressures which act simultaneously in different directions.

In the drawings, @represents avswitch bar or bridle, through the motion of which the movable rails a a are to be shifted for ordinary switching purposes. At about the usual position of the switch-stand, and supported on any suitable foundation, as on the end of a long tie, A, I arrange the castor wrought metal bed-piece B, and at each outer end thereof I provide a cylinder, of which the one, D, is somewhat larger than the other, D-say of double piston-area, more or less. Each cylinder is furnished with a piston, d d', and the stems d2 d3 thereof are connected to the opposite ends of a slotted plate, B', arranged to be moved by suitable guides or ways back and forth within and lengthwise of the bed-piece B. This plate has an inclined slat, b, terminating in straight-sided end seats, b b2, said slat being the hypotenuse of a rightangled triangle, of which the length of motion of the plate less the length of the straight-sided seats is the base and the length of the movement of the switch-rails is the altitude. The outer end of the switch -bridle ais carried out transversely across the bed-piece B and through guidingloops b3, and ou its under side is a frictionroller, c, properly secured by a wrist-pin, which roller plays in the slot b as the plate B is moved back and forth.

This apparatus I intend for use chieiiy as a part of a pneumatic or hydraulic apparatus, and in such use I keep the cylinder D continually charged with suitable duid-pressure, preferably compressed air, which may be introduced from any suitable supply-pipe or headas, for example, a pipe, It, through a branch, It', and port 1';

By preference, the apparatus is so constructed as that this pressure shall, by pushing the piston d forward and pushing the plate B over, hold the movable switch-rails in their normal or usual position or adjustment, which will usually be such as to secure an unbroken main track. In this adjustment the frictionroller c will occupy the seat b', and as the sides of this seat are at right angles to the only direction in which the switch-bridle can possibly move the switch is securely locked, and cannot be shifted except after the release of the pressure in D or' by the application of a more effective or greater pressure in D. The latter is the method which I adopt, and the application of pressure thereto is governed by any of the known appliances employed for kindred purposes in connection with pneumatic or hydraulic signal and switch apparatus.

At V, I have represented a valve such as is so used, and which may be arranged at the switchmans stand or cabin or at other convenient point. The operator, by manipulating this valve when he wishes to shift the switch, turns on the pressure through pipe P and port 1^ back of the piston d. This pressure may be taken from the head or pipe R or from any other source. If taken from the same source as that which supplies the cylinder D', the piston d must be larger than d', so that in consequence of the excess of piston-area the effective pressure in D shall be greater than in D', as a result of which the plate B will be shifted back, the bridle a shifted, and the switch-rails set to the siding. As the roller c will then occupy the other seat, b2, the switch will again be locked. On the reduction or release of the pressure in D, by again shifting the valve V the pressure in D will again become effective in throwing the switch back again. But the apparatus may, if preferred, be so organized that when the pressure is applied in D the movable rails shall be set for the maintrack line, in which case they will be shifted for a siding-connection by lowering the pressure in D until that in D' so far exceeds it as to be effective in moving the plate B and thereby shifting the switch, and it will also be possible (though usually less practicable) to employ different degrees of pressure in the two cylinders, in which case both may be of the same pistonarea; but in such case one at least of the two cylinders is to be charged and kept charged with a duid-pressure at all times suficient in amount to shift the movable switch in the absence of pressurein the other cylinder; and it will be within my invention to arrange both pistons on a single stem in a cylinder having a greater diameter at one end than at the other, corresponding to the diameter of the pistons, and so applying the pressures thatone shall act continuously to hold, press, or shift the movable rails in one direction andthe other pressure shall act intermittently, at the pleasure of the operator, to press, hold, or shift them in the reverse direction. Also, the slotted plate may be dispensed with, and the double cylinder and piston device thus made may be arranged with its stem in line with the throw or motion of the switchbrid|e, so that, the two being connected together, the latter may be operated by a direct thrust or pull. Such cylinders and pistons need not be further d escribed, as they are well known in other branches of the arts; nor do I limit myself to the described devices for changing the direction of motion-viz., by a slotted plate, B-since a bell-crank or other known device suitable for the purpose may be substituted.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. In combination with a switch bar or bridle and a device for transmitting a reciprocating motion thereto, a double cylinder and pistons, and appliances for supplying a continuouslyacting pressure to one of said pistons in one direction and an intermittently-acting pressure to the other in the other direction, substantially as set forth.

2. The cylinders D D', containing pistons of different areas subject to pressure, in combination with slotted plate B' and switch bar or bridle a, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a cylinder, D', having a piston subjectto a continuous pressure, acylinder, D, having a piston of larger area subject to an intermittent pressure, a valve de. Vice for governing such latter pressure, and suitable means for transmitting the motions of such pistons to a switch bar or bridle, whereby to shift the movable rails of a switch, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with a switch bar or bridle, a double cylinder and pistons, and means for supplying a continuously-acting pressure to such pistons in one direction, and, at the pleasure of the operator, an intermittently-acting but greater effective pressure in the other direction, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE VVESTINGHOUSE, JR.

Witnesses:

R. H. WHITTLESEY,

.EoRGn H. CHRISTY.

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