US256034A - Elevated way - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

N. NEWMAN.

ELEVATED WAY.

1% 256,034. Pagented Apr. 4,1882.

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N. NEWMAN.

ELEVATED WAY. 7 No. 256,034. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NELSON NEWMAN, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

ELEVATE D WAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,034, dated. April 4, 188 2.

Application filed January 3,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELSON NEWMAN, of Springfield, in the county of Sangamon, and in the State ot'Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevated Ways; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved apparatus as arranged for use, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the mechanism used for supporting and varying the relative vertical positions of the ends of the cable.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

The design of my invention is to furnish a simple and efficient means whereby passengers or freight may be transported across streams or between elevated points; and to this end it consists principally in acable stretched between suitable supports and adapted to receive and sustain a suspended car and to have the relative vertical positions of its ends simultaneously changed by automatically co-operating mechanism, so as to cause said car, by the action of gravity, to automatically pass from one end to the opposite end of saidcable, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

It consists, further, in a cable stretched between suitable supports, in combination with means whereby its ends may be simultaneously moved in vertically-opposite directions, so as to give to said cable an inclination in either direction, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter shown.

It consists, further, in combining, with a cable stretched between and sustained by suitable supports, means whereby its ends may from one of said supports be simultaneously moved vertically in opposite directions, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

It consists, finally, in the construction and combination of parts of the mechanism employed for changing the vertical positions of the ends of the cable, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter shown and described.

In the annexed drawings, A and B represent two posts or other likesupports, which are arranged vertically at opposite sides of a stream or space to be crossed, and are firmly secured in place and adapted to receive and sustain the necessary lateral strain.

Secured to and extending outward from each postA and B is a metal frame, 0, which has the form of three sides of a square, its ends being firmly attached to said post and its vertical side adapted to receive a grooved roller, d, that is pivoted within a strap, D, which encircles said frame side and at its outer end furnishes a connection for and receives one end of a cable, E, said cable being extended between said straps and stretched taut with each of said rollers d,bearing upon the inner edge of its frame G.

Suspended from the cableEis a car,F, which has any desired form or size to adapt it to receive freight or passengers, and is provided with two or more grooved rollers, j, that rest upon the upper side of saidcable and furnish rolling bearings for said car.

The car F is intended to move lengthwise of the cable E, and such movement is made automatic by giving to the latter a downward inclination in the direction in which said car is to be moved, whereby the force of gravity opcrates to carry the latter forward,its speed being governed by the degree of inclination.

In order that the cable E may be readily given an inclination in either direction, the following-described means are employed for changing the relative vertical positions of its ends.

Secured to the inner end of each strap D is a cord, G, which from thence passes upward to the top of the post A or B, and from thence around a suitable guide-roller, H, and across to the opposite post, its opposite end-being secured in the manner described to the opposite strap, 1), said cord thus arranged operating to sustain each strap with its end of the cable E at a point between the upper and lower ends of the frame 0. If, now, one of the rolling end supports, D d, of the cable E is raised, the opposite support will, by the operation of gravity, move downward, and thereby change the inclination of said cable and cause the car F to move toward the lowest end.

In order that the movements described may be easily effected and from one end of the cable, I journal within a suitable support between the ends of one of the frames 0 a shaft, I, that is adapted to receive and wind opposite ends of a cord, K,one end thereofbeiug wound upon said shaft at the same time that the opposite end of said cord is unwound therefrom.

From the shaft I the cord K passes upward and downward around pulleys 0, and thence to and is connected with the inner end of the strap D, so that if said shaft is rotated one end of said cord being wound thereon will draw said strap and the connecting end of the cable E, while the opposite end of said cord will be unwound, and will offer no resistance to such movement of said strap.

If desired, a weight, L, may be suspended from the opposite strap, D, for the purpose of causing the latter to move downward when permitted; but it is believed that no necessity will exist for such arrangement, as the weight of said cable and of the car F will have a constant tendency to effect the desired result.

With the apparatus described one person can with ease cause the car F to automatically pass from side to side with any desired speed,andthusrenderpracticablethetransportation of freight or passengers across streams of valleys, which would otherwise be impassab e.

For the transportation of goods across streets or between different buildings of a manufactory, this apparatus also affords a cheap, easilyoperated, and efficient means.

- Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, what I claim as new 1s- 1. A cable stretched between suitable supports, in combination with a suspended car and automatically co-operating mechanism to simultaneously change the relative vertical positions of its ends, so as to cause said car, by the action of gravity, to automatically pass from one end to theopposite end of said cable, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A cable stretched between suitable supports, in combination with means, substantially such as described, whereby its ends may be simultaneously moved in verticallyopposite directions, so as to give to said cable an inclination in either direction, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

3. The combination, with a cable, of supports between and upon which the same is stretched and sustained, and suitable means whereby its ends may, from one of said supports, be simultaneously moved vertically in opposite directions, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination with the cable E, the frames 0, the rolling supports 01 D, the cord G, the guide-rollers H, and means whereby said rolling supports may be raised or lowered, substantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of December, 1881.

NELSON NEWMAN.

YVitnesses:

HARRY A. SNOW, L. H. BRADLEY.

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