US2499955A

US2499955A - Car stop

Info

Publication number: US2499955A
Application number: US68171A
Authority: US
Inventors: Holmested Francis Keith
Original assignee: NELLIE ATKINSON HOLMESTED
Current assignee: NELLIE ATKINSON HOLMESTED
Priority date: 1948-12-30
Filing date: 1948-12-30
Publication date: 1950-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 1967-03-07

Description

patented Mar. 7, 1950 CAR STOP Francis Keith Holmested, Charleston, W. Va., assignor to Nellie Atkinson Holmested, Charleston, W. Va.

Application December 30, 1948, Serial No. 68,171 (Cl. 104-258) 1 Claims.

The present invention relates to car stops of the type adapted to be applied to railroad rails for holding or stopping the movement of cars or other rolling stock, it providing certain improvements upon the rail clamps or car stops disclosed in my prior Patents Nos. 2,320,868, granted June 1, 1943 and 2,360,230, granted October 10, 1944. This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No. 725,436, filed January 31, 1947, which prior application is abandoned.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved car stop which will be equally effective to hold or stop a car when engaged by either the flange of a wheel on a car having a high body, or by the body of a lowbodied car, the stop having an upright which is rigid therewith and extends upwardly therefrom in a position for engagement by either the flange of a wheel on a car the body of which is sufficiently high to pass over the stop, or for engagement by the body of a car which is so low that it will not pass over the stop, the stop in either event being thereby turned and tilted into locked position on the rail.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a handle to enable the stop to be 'placed on the rail with facility and safety in a position for engagement and movement into locked position on the rail by the flange of a car wheel or by the body of a car, the handle being preferably non-reversible relatively to the stop to avoid improper placing of the stop on the rail.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention:

Figur l is a vertical sectional view of a railroad rail showing the improved stop in position on the rail and tilted and rotated into locked position thereon.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the rail and the stop thereon as viewed from the right in Figure 1, showing how the stop is tilted and rotated into locked position by the body of a low-bodied car.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the rail and the stop thereon in the position which it occupies before being tilted or rotated into locked position.

Figure 4 is a, top plan view of the rail and the stop thereon, showing the stop tilted and rotated into locked position by the flange of a car wheel.

Similar parts are designated by the same reference characters in the different views 7- The improvements provided by the present invention are shown in the present instance as applied to a rail clamp or car stop substantially hereinbefore referred to, and is adapted for use on a railroad rail of conventional form having a head I i) the undersides of which are designated II and I2, a web 13, and a base l4 having downwardly sloping upper surfaces I5 and I8.

The improved car stop is composed preferably of a single or one-piece cast or forged steel unit comprising a body 20 adapted to be placed over the head of the rail and is provided with a pair of jaws 2i and 22 at its ends which are integral or rigid therewith and spaced apart sufficiently to enable the jaw 2| to pass over the rail head while the jaw 22 is engaged beneath one side of the rail head, and the stop is rocked about the jaw 22 as a fulcrum to seat the stop on the rail. The jaws 2| and 22 will seat under the rail head at relatively opposite sides of the rail, and th extended end 23 of the jaw 2| will seat on the upper surface l5 of the base M of the rail when the stop is twisted or turned on the rail about an approximately vertical axis and tilted froma vertical plane, thereby locking the stop to the rail by gripping of the jaws 2| and 22 against the under side of the rail headat opposite sides of the rail and wedging of the lower end 23 of the jaw 2| against the inclined upper surface I5 of the rail base.

Upon release of the force which holds the stop in twisted and tilted position, the stop may be readily released and removed from the rail by returning it to the substantially upright position and turning it into a position substantially at a right angle transversely of the rail, and then lifting the stop so that the jaw 2| will clearits side of the rail head while the stop swings upwardly about th jaw 22 engaging beneath the other side of the rail head as a fulcrum. i

" The improved car stop is so constructed that it will be twisted and tilted into locked position on the rail either by the flange of a wheel of a car the body of which is suificiently high to clear or pass over the stop, or by the body of a car which is so'low that it will not clear or pass over the stop, cars having bodies of such different heights being used in mines and similar installa tions'. For'this purpose, the improved stop is pro'i-fvided with anlupright 25 which is formed in tegrally .with or rigidly fixed to the body 20 of the stop and extends upwardly therefrom atthe end of the stop which is substantially in alinement with and above the jaw 2 I, this upright ex tendingrupwardly to a height somewhat greater than that of :the highest low car body ingen eralf'usez. This; upright is trian ular or V-shaped of the construction disclosed in my priorpatents 56 imhorizontalcross-section, the base 26 of the triangle being located at the side of the upright adjacent to the respective end of the body and the apex thereof being located at the side of the upright substantially centrally of the length and width of the body of the stop and preferably substantially alined with the inner portion of the jaw 2|, the sides of the upright providing a pair of

faces

28 and 29 which converge to the apex 2? and form with the base 26 a pair of edges 30' and 3| at opposite sides of the stop and adjacent to one end thereof which, when the stop is in place on the rail, will be ofiset to one side of the rail.

In operation, assuming that the stop has been placed on the rail in the. manner hereinbefore described and that the stop is approached by a car the body A of which is low or not sufficiently high above the rail to pass over the upright on the stop, the body of such car will engage the

edge

30 or 3|, according to the side of the stop toward which the car approaches and, due to the laterally ofiset relation between such edge of the upright and the rail, the stop will be twisted or turned on the rail about an approximately vertical axis and also tilted on the rail, as shown in Figure 2, thereby causing the jaws 2| and 22 to assume positions under and to grip the underside of the rail head and the extended end 23 of the jaw 2| to wedge against the upper surface |5 on the base of the rail and to thereby lock the stop on the rail to arrest movement of the car and to hold the car against movement. If the stop is approached by a car the body of which is suificiently high above the rail to pass over the stop, the flange b of a wheel B on such -a car will engage the convergent or

wedge surface

28 or 29 on the upright, according to the direction in which such a car approaches the stop, such convergent surface lying in the vertical plane of the car wheel flange, and the stop will then be twisted or turned on the rail about .an approximately vertical axis and also tilted on the rail, substantially as shown in Figure 4, thereby causing the jaws 2| and 22 and the extended end 23 of the jaw to engage and grip the rail and thereby lock .the stop thereon.

In using the stop to arrest the movement of and to hold a car having a low body, the stop may be placed on the rail with the jaw 2| located at either the inner or the outer side of the rail, but in using the stop to arrest the movement of :and to hold a car having a high body, the stop is placed on the rail with the jaw 2| at the inner side of the rail so that the convergent surface '28 or 29 of the upright will be in a position for engagement of the car wheel flange, as shown in Figure 4.

The present invention also provides means for placing the stop on the rail with facility and safety to the attendant, such means comprising a handle having a yoke portion 32 and a hand engaging portion 33, the handle being composed preferably of a strip of flat metal of sufiicient rigidity doubled transversely midway of its length to form the laterally spaced sides of the yoke portion and the ends of the strip being brought together and secured as by riveting or welding to form the hand engaging portion. The .yoke portion of the handle is sufiiciently wide to straddle the body of the 'stop and the upright thereon, and is pivotally connectedtothe body of the stop by a pivot pin or bolt 34 which ex tends through the'sides of the yoke portion :and "through a hole in a lug 35 which is formed integrally with or otherwise'fixed'to the end of the body of the stop adjacent to the jaw 2|. The preponderant portion of the weight of the stop and its upright is at the side of the pivot 34 which is toward the hand engaging portion 33 of the handle, and when the stop is lifted by the handle, it will swing by gravity about the pivot 34 into a position in which the jaw 22 is lower than the jaw 2| and is in a position for insertion beneath the rail head ID at the outer side of the rail, and as the stop is lowered by the handle, the jaw 2| will swing inwardly and downwardly over the upper inner edge of the rail head and assume a position for engagement with the underside of the rail head and with the extended end 23 of the jaw 2| in position for engagement with the surface IS on the base M at the inner side of the rail preparatory to locking of the stop on the rail in the manner hereinbefore explained. After the stop has been thus placed on the rail, the handle may be allowed to rest on the top of the rail.

Removal of the stop from the rail by the use of the handle, after the locking or holding force has been released from the stop, may be effected by swinging the handle in a direction to rotate the stop about a substantially vertical axis into a position at right angles to the rail and allowing the stop to assume an upright position, and then lifting the stop by the handle. The upward force thus applied to the pivot 34 will first lift and thereby disengage the jaw 2| from the rail while the stop swings by gravity about said pivot as a center while the jaw 22 is engaged beneath the rail head, and after the stop has been swung suificiently to permit the jaw 2| to pass over the top of the rail, the stop may be withdrawn across the top of the rail and to its outer side by pulling the handle.

The upright 25 is of greater length than that of the yoke portion 32 of the handle and will strike and thereby limit the extent of swing of the handle in one direction about the pivot 34, and the intermediate portion 36 of the handle will strike a portion of the body and thereby limit the extent of swing of the handle in the other direction about said pivot, reversal of the handle relatively to the stop being thereby prevented, thus avoiding placing of the stop improperly on the rail.

When the stop is to be used only for cars havinglow bodies and the stop is to be placed on the rail so that the jaw 2| and upright 25 are at the outer side of the rail, a simple straight handle. like that shown in my prior Patent No 2,360,230 hereinbefore referred to, may be pivotally attached to the lug 35.

I claim:

1. A car stop comprising a body adapted to be placed transversely on a rail and having inner and outer jaws fixed thereon and engageable respectively with opposite sides of the rail, one

of said jaws being engageable also with an upper surface of the base of the rail, and an upright .extending upwardly from said body above one of the base of the rail, said upright having a pair of surfaces thereon which extend transversely of the body toward an apex which faces the other jaw and is engageable by a car wheel flange for twisting and tilting the clamp or stop on the rail.

3. A rail clamp or car stop comprising a body adapted to be placed transversely on a rail and having rigidly connected jaws engageable respectively with the inner and outer sides of the rail by twisting of the clamp or stop about an axis transverse to the length of the rail to lock the clamp or stop thereon, the clamp or stop having an upright rigid therewith and extending upwardly therefrom above the jaw engageable with the inner side of the rail to a height above the body suiiicient for engagement of a car body therewith and having a pair of surfaceson the side thereof facing the jaw engageable with the outer side of the rail and reversely inclined laterally relatively to the length of the clamp or stop, one or the other of said inclined surfaces being engageable by the flange of a car wheel.

4. A rail clamp or car stop comprising a body adapted to be placed transversely on a rail and having a pair of rigidly connected jaws thereon engageable with the undersides of the rail head at the inner and outer sides respectively of the rail and one of said jaws being engageable also with an upper surface of the base of the rail, and an upright rigid with and extending upwardly from the body above the jaw engageable with the base of the rail and presenting lateral edges at opposite sides of the body and at a sufiicient height above the body for engagement and operation by the body of a car to twist and tilt the stop on the rail and thereby move said jaws into gripping engagement with the rail, said upright also having at a side thereof facing the jaw engageable with the outer side of the rail a pair of surfaces which extend from its lateral edges in convergent relation toward an apex located above and in a plane between the sides of the body for engagement by the flange of a car wheel.

5. A car stop comprising a body adapted to straddle a rail head and having a pair of jaws at its respective ends rigid therewith and engageable respectively with the inner and outer sides of the rail, and an upright rigid with and extending upwardly from the body in substantial alinement with the jaw engageable with the inner side of the rail, and a handle having a yokeshaped portion and a pivot connecting the handle to the end of the body adjacent to the jaw engageable With the inner side of the. rail, the upright extending for a greater distance from the pivot than the yoke-shaped portion for limiting the extent of swing of the handle in one direction relatively to the stop, and the yokeshaped portion having an intermediate portion adjacent to the pivot and engageable with a portion of the stop for limiting the extent of swing of the handle in the opposite direction relatively to the stop.

FRANCIS KEITH HOLMESTED.

REFERENCE S CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Holmested Oct. 10, 1944 Number