US278766A - Assigk - Google Patents

Description

' (No Model.)

H. BLOOD.

LINK BOX FOR STEAM ENGINES. No. 278,766. Patented Ju nej5, 1883.

N. PETERS; PMlOl-Micgnphot. Washington D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT. QFFICE.

HIRAM BLOOD, OF EAST CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO Hllvlp SELF AND LORENZO H. DALE, OF SAME PLACE.

LINK-BOX F OR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 278,766, dated June 5, 1883. Application filed March 14,1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HIRAM BLOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Link-Boxes for Steam Fire-Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the linkbox of a steam fire engine having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the center of the same. I

The ordinary metallic link-box, which slides in the cross-head of a steam fire-engine and receives the wrist-pin of the, crank upon the crank-shaft, is objectionable, for the reason that its bearing-surfaces soon become badly worn, owing to the great speed and irregular motion of the box and the unequal strain thereon. It is also heavy and expensive, and its great weight also tends to further increase the wear while the frequent lubrication required results in a great consumption and waste of oil. Lignumvitae has been employed as a substitute for metal in the construction of these boxes, as it is much lighter and will wear away less rapidly than metal; but this material is also objectionable, as it soon becomes split or checked and warped by the heat resulting from friction and the swelling produced by the action of the oil used in lubricating the bearings. Other varieties of hard wood which are much less liable to split or warp could be used but these would not present bearing-surfaces capable of resisting the wear to which they would be subjected, and have therefore been hitherto found unsuitable for this purpose.

My invention has for its object to overcome all of these difficulties; and it consists in a linkbox for steam fire-engines having its bearingsurfaces composed of rawhide, as hereinafter described, whereby the wear is reduced .to a minimum and the heating of the bearings and undue consumption of oil entirely avoided.

In the said drawings, A represents a steam fire-'iengine link-box of the usual form, and adapted to be secured within the cross-head, to

slide therein in the ordinary. manner. This box A, which is made, as usual, in two halves, adapted to be secured together by bolts, is composed of hard wood of such description that it will not readilywarp, split, or check. Iprefer to use for this purpose birds-eye maple or beech, which are light, strong, and closegrained; but other woods possessing these characteristics may be used instead.

I) 0 represent the plane bearingsurfaces, which slide in contact with the cross-head, and d represents the circular aperture or bearing, within which fits the wrist-pin of the crank on the crankshaft of the engine. These bearingsurfaces b c d are all composed of strips orpieces of rawhide e, of suitable thickness, cut to the desired dimensiohs, and firmly secured to the contiguous surfaces of the box A, to which they are applied, by wooden pegs f, cement, copper nails, or in any other suitable manner.

By thus providing a link-box with bearingsurfaces composed of rawhide its durability is so greatly increased that it will outlast a great number of metallic or wooden boxes as heretofore constructed, and consequently the great loss hitherto occasioned by the necessity of frequently replacing these boxes by new ones is avoided, while the anti-friction properties of rawhide, its cheapness, cleanliness, and its non-liabilityto eyolve heat from friction under excessive speed render a link-box constructed in accordance, with my invention of great value, and effect a'material saving in the cost of re-' pairs, while much less oil is required for 111-, brication than formerly, resulting in a further economy in the expense of running the engine. One of the greatest advantages, however, incident to the use of my invention lies in the fact that it enables me to construct a link-box of hard wood of a description not liable to split, check, or warp, and which it has hitherto been found impossible to employ for this purpose, on account of its not being able to properly resist the wear upon its bearing-surfaces, and consequently I am enabled to retain the same time reduce the wear to a minimum,

having practically demonstrated by actual use all the advantages incident to the employment of a material much lighter than metal, and at that the wear of the rawhide surfaces after a A link-box for steam fire-engines having its severe and long-continued test is hardly apexterior and interior,bearing-surfaces co1npreeiable. posed of rawhide, substantially as set forth.

I am aware that it is not new to provide Witness my hand this 10th day of March, 5 journal-boxeswithrawhidebearing-pieees,and A. D. 1883.

I am also aware that it is not broadly new to apply rawhide to surfaces as cushioning mate- HIRAM BLOOD rial, and hence I confine myself to the precise WVitnesses: invention set out in my claim. 1?. E. TESOHEMACHER, 10 I claim W. J. CAMBRIDGE.

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