US2425739A - Monorail track support - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 19, I G. c. HENDERSON 2,425,739

BIIC JNORAIIJ vTRACK SUPPORT Filed Sept. 25, 194

Snventor George C. Henderson I Gttomega Patented Aug. 19, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MONORAIL TRACK SUPPORT George 0. Henderson, Detroit, Mich.

Application September 25, 1944, Serial No. 555,656

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to monorail track supports and has the nature of an improvement on structure disclosed by my Patent 1,811,270, granted June 23, 1931. 'Said patented structure employs a track comprising upper and lower rail-s, suited to form opposite sides of an electric circuit, and insulating plates rigidly interconnecting the rails and maintaining a spaced relation thereof. Said track is supported by posts, being attached thereto by screws engaging the insulation.

An object of the invention is to provide for clamping a monorail track to a support by a means greatly facilitating the assembly and disassembly.

Another object is to engage a support with a monorail track at the juncture of two track sections in a manner to draw such sections firmly together, avoiding any such gap as would detract from smooth travel of a wheel or the like along the track.

Other objects are to employ a pair of arms divergently extending from a post or the like to serve as supports for a monorail track, to prvide in a simple manner for reducing divergency of the arms to clamp them in firm engagement with the track, to draw two sections of the track into tight end-to-end engagement by means of said arms, to render said arms resilient and utilize their resiliency to spread them apart when relieved of constraint; and to provide in a simple manner for mounting the arms on a post or the like.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, where- 1n:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of two abutting sections of a monorail track and a post providing a support for said sections.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same, showing the track in section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Figures 4 and 5 are transverse sectional views taken along lines 44 and 55 respectively of Figure 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

In these views, the reference characters I and 2 designate a pair of upper and lower rails formed from elongated sheet metal strips rolled or otherwise fashioned to a U cross section, and serving both as guides and electrical conductors. Said rails are spaced rigidly apart in parallelism by insulating plates 3 and 4, which in a track of toy proportions may be inexpensively stamped from sheet fiber or the like. The rails of two abutting sections of the track straddle the upper and lower margins of the plates 3 and 4, being riveted or otherwise rigidly fastened to the plates as indicated at 5. The plates are closely adjacent to abutting rail ends of the two track sections, and sockets are provided between each plate and the 'U-bends of the rails spaced by such plate to receive electrical connectors 6. These formed preferably by short lengths of stilf wire permanently attached to the plate 3 by setting reversely bent corresponding ends 6a of the connectors into notches in the upper and lower edges of said plate. The connectors project sufficiently beyond the plate 3 and beyond the corresponding track section to snugly enter between the plate 4 and rails assembled therewith. Thus said connectors have an area of electrical contact with the rails which they interconnect, largely exceeding actual requirements and assuring a free flow of current.

The described track is mounted on posts I, one being shown, each surmounted by a pair of arms 8 projecting horizontally in an acutely divergent relation to engage the track. It is preferred to form said arms of a single length of stiff resilient wire bent to an acute V shape, and to form said wire with an eyelet 9 at the juncture of the arms. This eyelet is slipped on a pin l0 formed by a reduced top portion of the post, the pin being terminally upset to hold the eyelet in place. Preferably a pair of dished washers H engage the top and bottom faces of the eyelet, sufficiently embracing the latter to strongly resist any such spreading of the armengaging ends of the eyelet as might loosen it on the post. Also the uppermost of said washers provides a surface against which the pin extremity is riveted down. The ends of the arms 8 remote from the post form a pair of confronting jaws I2, preferably reversely arcuate, and these are insertible in horizontally elongated slots l3 in the center portions of the plates 3 and 4 to force the track sections toward each other, in opposition to the resiliency of the arms. Such resiliency tends to spread the arms to an extent allowing their free entry in the slots l3. To draw the arms toward each other with considerable force and maintain a clamping position of the jaws, an elongated split ring or link l4 formed of stiff wire embraces both arms and is slidable lengthwise thereof. By forcing said ring outwardly, it exerts a wedging action on the acutely divergent arms, deriving a powerful clamping effect from a moderate applied force. Thus the jaws are tightly engaged with the relatively adjacent ends of the slots I3, the frictional grip of said ring on the arms holding it firmly in place. The hooked form of the jaws is such as to prevent any escape thereof from the plates 3 and 4 in a direction transverse to said plates. As best appears in Fig. 3, the arms may be formed with shallow corrugations in their outer portions as a further assurance against slipping of the ring 14 from its effective position.

The illustrated post I is formed of a cylindrical rod or heavy wire slip-fitted at its lower end into a socket member l5 rigidly upstanding from an elongated base plate It, which may be formed of heavy sheet metal. To prevent scratching of any polished surface by the base plate the same may include pads ll of soft or resilient material, and preferably these consist of stretched endless bands of rubber or the like slipped over the ends of the plate.

Obviously a track supported in the described manner may be very quickly set up or taken down, without the use of tools, either special or ordinary, and the assembly and disassembly are Well within the skill of children old enough to use such a toy. It is to be noted, however, that use of the described track support is not necessarily limited to toys since tracks for industrial use may conveniently and practically employ the same type of support, particularly in cases where the installation is temporary or requires frequent assembly or disassembly.

It is aquite advantageous feature of the construction that the jaws 12 are insertible in the slots I3 without necessity of tilting the posts or shifting the track up or down from its working level. It is to be noted furthermore that the jaws leave one side of the track entirely unobstructed so that parts of any carriage traveling on the track may have close proximity to such side. The resiliency of the arms 8 has a utility, additional to that hereinbefore stated, in adapting the arms to act as a shock absorber, permitting a train to operate on the track more quietly than would be possible in case of a rigidly supported track,

What I claim is:

1. In a monorail track system, the combination with a track comprising two sections in a substantial end to end relation, of a support for the track comprising a pair of jaws mounting the track on said support, said jaws respectively engaging the respective track sections, and means for imposing a clamping force on the jaws urging them and the track sections toward each other.

2. In a monorail track system, the combination with two substantially aligned sections of track, of a pair of members for supporting the track respectively engaging the respective track sections, and a common means for attaching said members to said sections and pressing said sections firmly toward each other.

3. In a monorail track system, the combination with two aligned track sections, a support for said sections, a pair of arms carried by the support and projecting therefrom toward said sections at an acute divergency and movable to vary such divergency, the ends of the arms remote from the support forming a pair of clamping jaws, and said sections having portions interposed between said jaws, and a member slidable on said arms for wedging them into firm engagement with the interposed portions.

4. A monorail track system as set forth in claim 3, said track sections being apertured to receive said jaws.

GEORGE C. HENDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,575,089 Becker Mar. 2, 1926 1,595,283 Becker Aug. 10, 1926 1,811,270 Henderson June 23, 1931 1,932,501 Allman Oct. 31, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 196,863 Switzerland Aug. 12, 1937 397,904 Germany July 9, 1924

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