US240084A - Apparatus for using compressed air - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

0- E. BUELL. BSheets-Bhset 1; Apparatus for Using Compressed Air. No. 240.084. Patented Aprill2; 1881.-

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. E. BUELL.

Apparatus for Using Compressed Air.-

No. 240,084. Paien'ted April 12,188I.

111v erifor I L'hafles 17 BueIl'.

N.PEI'ERSI PHOTO-LITMOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. A C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHAR-LES E. BUELL, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR USING COMPRESSED AIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,084, dated April 12, 1881.

Application filed January 3, 1881. (No model.)

10 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. BUELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the countyof New Haven and State of Connecticut, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Using Compressed Air, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for supplying compressed air to the air holders or reservoirs of motors adapted to use compressed air as a motive agent.

The main object of the invention is to obviate the expense, danger, and inconvenience attendant upon the heretofore prevailing practices, first, of providing railway-vehicles adapted for propulsion by compressed air with large air-holders and charging the same with a sufficient quantity of compressed air to be used for making an entire trip; and, second, of laying pipes the entire length of railways to supply air to the vehicles at intermediate points from a single air-compressin g station, to provide means for charging the air-holders of vehicles upon the respective tracks of doubletrack railways, and to facilitate repair of airstoring apparatus.

It consists, first, in the combination, with a double-track railway, of an air-compressing apparatus having an extensible and automatically-collapsible air-holder provided with two adjustable supply-pipes arranged for supplying compressed air to the air-holders of vehicles in difi'erent positions upon the respective lines of road, and provided with suitable cocks or valves for controlling the flow of air, essentially as hereinafter more particularly described; secondly, in the combination, with an air-compressing apparatus, of an extensible and 'automatically-collapsible compressed-air holder arranged for connection with said apparatus, and to have its extension automatically effected by the pressure of air within it and its collapse occasioned in proportion to the withdrawal of the air, whereby a uniform tension of the air within the holder is maintained Without regard to'thc quantity therein.

In compressed-air holders heretofore used the tension has decreased as the air is drawn oil for use, and a frequent operation of the of a compressed-air holder divided into compartments connected with said apparatus and with each other by a common pipe, and with each other also bya separate pipe, said pipes being provided with suitable cocks, whereby the flow of air may be permitted to take place to or from anyof said compartments separately or simultaneously, so that anyone may be used independently of the other or others. Should one or more compartments get out of order, it or they may be isolated and repaired while the other or others continue in use.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a cross-sectional view ofa double-track railway and a view in elevation of the apparatus of an air compressing and supply station according to my invention. Fig. 2 illustrates a modified construction of air-holder having two compartments. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a' series of two air compressing and supply stations arranged on a line of railway. Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of an air compressing and supply station and a locomotive having one of the station supply-pipes connected with its air-holder for supplying compressed air thereto.

Referring to Fig. 1, theletters A and A indicate the tracks of a double-track railway.

B is an air-compressing pump, of which 0 is the steam-cylinder, and D the air-compressing cylinder, from which a pipe, E, provided with a pressure-gage, e, a safety-valve, e, and stop-cock d, leads to and connects with the lower portion of the stationary section f of an extensible air-holder, F, which is located in an excavation or pit atone side of the railway and below the level thereof.

Within the stationary section f of the airholder fits an extensible or telescopic section,

f, closed at its top but open at its lower end,

which is not shown in the drawings. The telescopic joint between the two sections f and f should be made air-tight by any suitable means, and the section f remains in its lowest or collapsed position by gravity, except when raised or extended by the volume of compressed air, as presently described.

From the lower part of the stationary section f there leads upward a pipe, G, which extends to a proper point above the level of the railway on the outside of one of the tracks, and has connected to its upper end a flexible supply-pipe, H, which is to be provided with a suitable coupling device for connecting it to a match coupling attached to the air-holder of a vehicle upon the track. The pipe G is provided with a suitable stop-cock, h, which controls the flow of air through said pipe to the supply-pipe H.

From the pipe G a branch pipe, G, leads under the tracks, and is bent upward at the outside of the opposite track, extending above the level thereof to the same height as pipe G, and is provided with a flexible supply-pipe, H, and stop-cock h, similar to those of said pipe G.

The operation or" the apparatus as now described is as follows: The cocks h and It being closed and the cock cl opened, the pump B is set to work and compresses air, which is led from the cylinder D by the pipe E to the airholder F, entering the stationary section f and extensible section f". When the holder has been filled in its collapsed condition with air under a proper pressure, (which pressure may be regulated by weighting the extensible section, further additions to the volume of air by the action of the pump will cause the extensible section to be gradually raised until the holder becomes charged with the desired quantity of compressed air, when the cock d should be closed and the action of the pump closed. The holder F being thus charged, when a locomotive arrives at the station, as shown in Fig. 4, the flexible supply-pipe H or H is connected with the coupling I of the airholder K of the locomotive, and the stop-cock h or k and the cock I. of the locomotive coupling-pipe opened. Compressed air will then flow from the station air-holder to the airholder of the locomotive, and such air will have approximately the same tension or expansive force that it had in the station-holder, as it is constantly under the compressile strain occasioned by the weight of the extensible section f. A second locomotive may be supplied in like manner without any addition to the charge in the station air-holder, as the air remaining therein will be under proper compression by the weight of the extensible section. The number of locomotives which may be supplied from one charge depends, of course, upon the capacity of the holder at the station.

In Fig. 4 the air-compressing pump is sup pesgd to be housed in the station-house L, and the air-holder and portions of the pipes are simply indicated by dotted lines.

Each station may be supplied with two or more air-holders, such as shown in Fig. 1, arranged in series, and the pipe E provided with branches leading to said holders, respectively, and one serving to connect with the flexible supply-pipe; and the stationary sections of said holders may be connected by separate pipes provided with stop-cocks, so that communication between the holders may be established or cutoff at will. Thus connected with each other and with the pipe E, all the holders may be used simultaneously, and form, in effect, one holder with several compartments, either of which may be isolated for repair or any other purpose, while the other or others remain in operative condition.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a modified form of air-holder having two compartments, F F, not extensible. The pipe E is supposed to lead from an air-compressing pump, and has a branch, E to extend above the track of a railway and connect with the flexible supplypipe H This branch E also has a branch, E to lead under the tracks, bend upward, and connect with another flexible supply-pipe. Short branches e and 0 provided with stopcocks, lead from the common main pipe E to the compartments F and F, respectively, and these compartments are connected by a pipe, M, provided with a satety-valvem, and pressuregage 0, and also with stop -cocks p and p on opposite sides of said gage and valve. By opening the stop-cock in the branch pipe e, which leads from pipe E to compartment F, and also opening the cooks p and p and closing the cock in branch 0 both compartments may be charged at once, and the pressure-gage will indicate when a proper compression of the air has been effected. By closing the cock in branch (2 and opening that in branch 6 the same result maybe accomplished. By closing the cock in the branch 6 and also the cook 19 the compartment F will be isolated and may be repaired, if necessary, while the other compartment remains in use; and similarly the compartment F may be isolated by closing the cock 1; and that in branch 0 Communication between the compartment in use and the pipe M should be maintained in order to operate the pressuregage, and also the safety-valve, should occasion require it.

Any suitable air-compressing pump may be used, and I have therefore not illustrated any particular pump in detail. For the same reason I have not thought it necessary to show any particular devices for coupling the flexible supply-pipes to-the air-holders of the 10- comotive. Neither do I confine myself to any special construction of the air-holders, though I consider the forms shown and described as the best I know of. 1

In practice I would provide-the locomotives on a railway with small air-holders having no great weight and locate the air compressing and supply stations at convenient distances apart along the track or tracks, and thus avoid pressed-air holder provided with two supplypipes arranged for supplying compressed air to the air-holders of vehicles in different positions upon the respective lines of road, and provided with cocks or valves for controlling the flow of air, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with an air-compressin g apparatus, of an extensible and automatically collapsible compressed air holder arranged for connection with said apparatus, and to have its extension automatically efl'ected by the pressure of ,air within it and its collapse 00- casioned in proportion to the withdrawal of the air, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with an air-compressing apparatus, of a compressed-air holder divided into compartments connected with said apparatus and with each other by a common pipe, and with each other also by aseparate pipe, said pipes being provided with suitable stop-cocks, whereby the flow of air may take place to or from said compartments separately or simultaneously, so that any one may be used independently of the other or others, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. E. BUELL.

Witnesses:

JAMES L. Noams, 'ALBERT H. NORRIS.

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