US246422A - Coeeado eutulint - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

C. RUTULINI.

MACHINE EOE NEUTEALIZING TEE EEEEGTS 0E RAILWAY GOLLISIONS..

Patented Aug. 30, 1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CORRADO RUTULINI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR NEUTRALIZING THE EFFECTS F RAILWAY COLLlSlONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,422, dated August 30, 1881.

' Y Application filed J anua'ry 15, 1881. (No model.)

the safety-trucks are fully exhausted, s oy that To all whom @t may concern B it known that I, CORRADO RUTULINI, of no severe shock will be imparted to the tra-in. the city of New York,county and State ofNew rlo more clearly show the construction and York, have invented certain Anew and useful operation of the various parts, I will now refer Improvements in Machines for Neutralizing to the enlarged views, of which- 55 the Effects of Collisions on Railroads, ot' which Fig. 3 is a front elevation ofthe first truck, the following is a specification. a. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation This invention has for its object to prevent of the trucks a and c and part of truck d. Fig.

v accidents from collisions on railroads 5 and it 5 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 6 is arear-end 1ov consists of a series of trucks placed in iront of elevation ot' the truck c. Fig. 7 is a longitudi- 6o the locomotive, connected together in such a nal sectional elevation of part of truck d and manner, and provided with springs and resisttrucks e and j'. Fig. S is a plan view/of the ing devices, so that when the forward one ensame, partly in section. Fig. 9 isa rear-end counters an obstacle on the track or meets view of truck e, and Fig. l0 is a front-end view the forward one of another train the springs .of the same. z 65 cushion the concussion, and the connecting The forward end ofthe first truck, c, has two devices of the several safety-trucks are sucside guards, a?, which are tted by dovetails cessively disengaged, allowing the third truck or grooves to thel'front ofthe body of truck d, to pass into the second one against the action .enabling them to be set to and from the center zo ofits resisting devices, and the fourth and fifth line of the truck, the object being to set them 7o trucks to pass over the second and rst trucks, wide apartonth'e safetyftrucks of all trains goalso against the action of resisting devices, the ing in one direction, as shown in Figs. l, 2, 3, resisting-power of the springs and resisting 4, and 5, and close enough togetherin those ot' devices being such as to counteract all the trains goingin the other direction, as shown in force of momentum ot' the moving trains, so truck b,Fig.2,sothat the guards ot' truck b may 75 that they are gradually brought to a state of enter between the guards c2 of truck a. All rest without receiving anyisudden shock. these guards are beveled at their ends, to cause Figure l of the accompanying drawings repthem to meet one another properly, and each resents a series of safety-trucks made accordof these has an inside groove and an outside 5a ing to my invention, in position in frontot the projection, the outside projections of the con- 8o locomotive to protect it and the cars of the tracted guards sliding into the inside grooves train should a collision occur; and Fig. 2 repof the expanded guards when thetrucks meet, resents the same after acollision,showing the to hold them firmlyin all directions. As soon manner in which they slide into and over one as these guards interlock in each other-then 3 5 another. The first safety-car, a, is supposed the buffer-plate a3 and a similar buffer-plate on 8 5 to have come in contact with a similar safetytruck b meet, and the springs surrounding the car, b, ot' an opposing train. The first safetyguide-rods ai are extended, oti'ering the Vfirst truck, a., has four wheels, a a', and the rest of resistance to the moving train. These springs the safety-trucks,c, d, c, and f, have each only are very powerful, and they may be made to 4o two wheels at their rear ends, marked react by compression instead of by tension. A' Ehe 9o spectively c, d', e', and f. Thejpositions asfirst movement of the buffer-plate a3 discon- .sumed by the various safety-trucks given in nects the frame a5, suspended by hooks under Fig. 2 are the extreme limit of their movement the truck', and allows it to fall on the rails, and in collapsing to oppose and counteract the moas thi'sframe surrounds the wheels c the truck mentum ofthe train, which positions it is de-A fis prevented from moving off the rails side 9 5 signed they will never reach in practice, as the wise. The wheels a are carried by a frame springs and resisting devices contained in fitted to slide longitudinally under the truck them will be so powerful as to bring the heava, the frame being opposed in such movement iesttrain,when moving at its greatest speed,to by springs, so that no sudden shocks are ima full stop before the resisting properties of parted to these'wheels when acollision occurs. :oo

By the time the springs on the guide-rod have expanded about one-half the range of the movement the resisting device contained in the second truck, c, is brought into action as follows: The end of the rod as, which fits loosely in a hole in the upper spring guide-rod, a4, comes in contact with the bottom of the hole, and is pushed longitudinally backward, and carries with it the rod c2, which is pivoted to the rod a6 directly over the pivoted connection of the front of the truck c to the car a. This rod c2 has on its rear end the wedge c, which disengages the catches c4 from the frame c5, fitted Ato slide in grooves formed in the inside of the side frames of truck c. This frame c5 has connected to it by means of a link the bar d2, attached to the under part of the platform of the truck d in such a manner as to be free to move forward a certain distance before the platform d3 moves, and it is caused to move for-L ward by the fourth truck, e, the device which connects the truck d to truck e being fastened to this bar d2 and not to the platform d3. The bar d2 in moving forward pushes the frame c5 before it and enters its beveled end between the central friction-plates of the transverselyarranged springs es, thereby compressingr said springs and causing friction-plateson the outer ends of them to bear hard against the frame c7, which carries the wheels c of the truck c, pressing this frame c7 tight against the sides of the truck c, thus offering great resistance to the moving forward of the frame @land wheels c', as this frameis fitted to slide to the frontend of the truck c, which it is caused to do by the platform di now pushing it ahead of it, the platform itself being caused to enter grooves in the truck c by the projection d* on the bar d2 coming in contact with the front bearing, which connects the bar to the platform, so that the frame d5, bar dz, wheel-frame c", and platform d3 all move f`or ward in thetruckctogether, being socaused to act by the momentum of the trucks c and f and the locomotive g and train drawn thereby. This bar d2 compresses the springs c6 firmly against the f'rame ofthe wheels c all the time these partsare so moving forward in the truck c, so that the resistance offered by the frictionplates of the spring c6 to the bar d2 and frame c7 has in a great measure retarded the speed ofthe train and partly or wholly overcome its momentum. It' the train is not stopped by the time the platform of the truck d is within the body of the truck c, then the end of the catch d5, which connects theforward end of the truck e to the rear end of the bar d2, is depressed by. coming in contact with the cam 08 on the rear end of the truck c, thereby freeing the bar e2 from the catch d5 and allowing the body of thetruck e to slide over the outside ofthe truck 0,' the truck c being provided with channeled ribs U9 as guides therefor, and the truck e with flanges e:l to hold the truck e down onto the truck c. Considerable resistance is offered to this action ofthe truck e by the friction-plates ofthe springs e", located in its upper part, being caused to bear against the inside of the upper parts of the side frames ofthe truck c by reason of the inside friction-plates of these springs c* riding over the taper-pointed bar 010, secured in the upper part of the truck c. The wheels e of the truck e come in close proximity to the rear of the truck c if the momentum of the train has not by this time been counteracted by the springs and resisting devices before described, and the wedge d, projecting rearwardly from the connecting device of the truck d, passes into the opening made therefor in the f'rame c5 and depresses the spring-piece e6 and pushes its bent ends clear of the rear lower ends of the side frames of the truck e, and the wedge at the same time unlocks the pivoted bars e7 from horizontal notches in the body of the truck e, thereby freeing' the sides of the truck from the frame c5, leaving the f'rame a5 and the wheels e stationary, allowing the body ofthe truck e to be pushed farther over onto the truck c by the body of the truckf, which followsitonto the truck c, the body c passing off truck c onto truck a., also provided with channeled ribs a7 to receive it, and a taper-pointed bar, a, to canse the friction -plates of the springs e4 to bear against the upper parts ofthe frame a.

The truck j' is provided with a resisting device consisting of the springs f2 and frictionplates similar to the springs e4 and their friction-plates, to be acted on by the taper-pointed bar c ofthe truck c as the truckf passes on Vthe channeled ribs o9.

The resist-ance offered by these devices will be sufciently great to prevent the train ever causing them to assume the position they are shown as occupying in Fig. 2; but to guard against all contingencies, should any of the parts become weakened and allow them to collapse to this extent, I provide a box at the rear end of the truckf, with a number ofpowerfnl bnf'er-springs,f3, to the cover of which the front of the locomotive g is connected. Buffer-springs a9 are placed at the rear end of the car a, and all the connections between the cars are such that they are free to swivel one to the other to admit of their easily passing around curves; and I call attention, where I have not specially done so in the preceding description, to the fact that all parts which are designed to slide into or over other parts are considerably beveled to insure theirproper working.

When the safety-trucks have, due to a collision, been closed upon one another, as shown at Fig. 2, the hook al locks the buffer-plates a3 to prevent the rebound of the springs on the rods at, and the two buffer-plates of the opposing leading trucks are firmly locked together by the hook au. lThe object of this locking of the buffer-platesv together is to allow ot the various trucks being drawn apart into their original positions by backin g down the locomotives, the resistance-springs c6 be ing first released by unscrewing their bearingsockets, which is done through holes in the IIO IIS

sides of the truck c, or by operating them from underneath the truck, and by releasing the springs e4 and f2 by means of the right-andleft-handed bolts, operated to draw the two bearing-surfaces of the bars amanda8 together. The bar d2 may also be constructed in this manner.

Should the collision occur with other object than an opposing safety-truck, then I propose to use a suitable anchor to hold the first truck against the backward pull of the locomotive; or a suitable windlass and chain may be attached to the trucks to draw them apart.

I provide the following means to make the machine operative to stop the train should a broken bridge or a Washed-away track be encountered. In such case the rst truck, a, would fall down oft' the track, thereby letting the front end'of the truck c descend. The spikes c would then catch into the framing of the broken bridge or enter the ground and .be immediately stopped. The falling truck a would pull on the bar c2 and cause the reverse taper end of the wedge c3, Whichis made double for this purpose, to release the catches c4, and so let the other parts of the machine operate as before described. i

rIhe brakes adapted to be used with this machine are any ofthe Well-known kind capable ot' being operated from the locomotive. A separate brake attachment, i, would be applied to each pair of Wheels, and these attachments would be connected together by the fixed pipes t" fi', secured on the sides otA the trucks e and fand located beneath the other truck, the ends ofthe pipes from truck to truck and from the last truck to the locomotive being joined by the ordinary iiexible couplings, thus enabling the brakes to be applied as desired under all ordinary running circumstances; andthe invention further embraces lneans for automatically applying the brakes to these safety-trucks and also the brakes of the train, and at the same time reversing the engine the instant the butler-plate a3 meets an obstacle or the first truck falls through a broken bridge, Ste.; and it consists simply of the lever l, pivoted to the frame of the truck a, located so that its lower endis moved by the buffer-plate a3 `when it is pushed backward, the upper end of lever l being connected by the cord or Wirem to the lever a on theV locomotive g. The upper end ot' the lever o, on the same shaft asais fastened,is connected by the rod o to the lever o2, which operates the brakes and the reversing-gear of the engine vwhen the cord or wire m is pulled, so that the brakes `are applied and the engine reversed either by the action ot' the bu'erplate on the levert or by the first truck, a, leaving the truck c.

It is obvious that the several parts of this machine may be considerably moditiedwithout departing from the nature of my inventionas, for instance, the springs and friction-plates e4 and f2 in trucks e and fmay be dispensed with, the friction of' the bodies of these trucks on the channeled ribs e9 and a7 being alone depended on for resistance, the channel-ribs bein g constructed as spring-bars, to be released by screws when the trucks are being separated; and it is also obvious that some of the safety- `trucks composing the machine may be used Without others, and that it may be applied to both ends ot' the train, it' desired, and that the size of the trucks and strength of the springs and resisting devices may be varied according to circumstances; so I do not Wish to confine myselt` to the particular construction and arrangement of the various parts shown; but

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A machine for neutralizing the effects of collisions on railroads, consisting ot' a series of -fer-plate a3 and springs and guide-rods a, and

a rod, a5, in combination With the truck c, provided with the rod c2 and Wedge c3 and locking device to hold the wheels c and their connections in position at the rear end of the truck c, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

4. In combination with the lirst truck of a machine forneutraliziug the ett'ects of collisions on railroads, a series of trucks provided each with only one pair of Wheels at their rear ends, whereby they are free to slide into and over one another, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

5. As a device for offering resistance in a safety-truck adapted to slide into or over another truck, the combination of a spreading bar with a series of springs provided with friction-plates, whereby pressure is applied to the sliding parts of the trucks, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

(5. rllhe front operating device or truck of a machinefor neutralizing the effects of collisions on railroads and a connectin g cord or Wire and a lever, constructed and arranged to operate the reversing-gear ofthe locomotive and the brakes, in combination, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of January, A. D. 1881.

CORRADO RUTULINL Witnesses:

FELIX AUGAIGNE, H. D. WILLIAMS.

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