US288903A - Railway-track cleaner - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(3. W. WILLEY. RAILWAY TRAGK CLEANER. No. 288.903. Patented Nov. 20, 188 3.

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tries.

RA! LWAY-T RACK CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,903, dated November 20, 1883.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Gnonen W. XVILLEY, of Athol, in the county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Railway-Track Cleaner, of which the following is a specification.

My invent-i on is designed more particularly for clearing snow from railroad-tracks, though applicable to other things-as leaves, light soil, or sand, its object being to remove such substances from the tracks and leave the rails free and clear for the trains. I accomplish these objects by the use of a scraper or plow in combination with one or more pulverizers, and forcing the obstructing material up through the pulverizingchamber out clearof the track. Its nature is fully shown in the accompanying drawings of a track-clearer embodying my invention and the following de seription thereof.

In said drawings, Figure l is a side view or elevation of my devices and a portion of the car for carrying them. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same as seen from the right of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan, and Fig. a shows a perpendicular sectionof the pulverizingchambcr as with one side removed. In Figs. 1 and 2 portions of some parts are shown as removed, to exhibit interior parts beyond them.

The same letters indicate the same part wherever they occur.

A is a portion of a car, of common construction, adapted to contain {the engine B and blowers, which may be of any form adequate to give the desired motion to the pulverizers, and to furnish a strong blast of air through the pipe H to the bottom of the chamber containing the pulverizcrs O P. This chamber is attached to the front of the car A, its con ical top terminatingin a tube, M, on which the nozzle N is placed, with a joint allowing the nozzle to be turned to either side, as shown by broken lines in Fi 3. The bottom q of this chamber forms the plow or scraper, and has its front edge made with notches q q, so as to work a little below the top of the rails, and its rear edge elevated to a point, h, near the lowest pulverizer, where it meets the month of the blast-tube H, as in Fig. 4. Be-

neath this I put the shoe Q, suitably attached,

whose oihce is to rest on the rail before the edges of the notches q touch the rails, to prevent scraping or catching, the shoes supporting the whole at such times as the jolt or vibration may throw it down, its normal working position being up just clear of the rails. The pulverizers, which are located in the chamber, consist of shafts 0, extending from side to side, with a number of strong arms, I, firmly secured to them, and placed in a series one over another, as in Fig. at, as many as found best, the ends of the shafts passing through the side of the chamber in suitable bearings, and each having a means of driving, as the sprocket-wheels F, Fig. l, and chain E from the driving-wheel D of the engine, the

leading or guide wheels G showing an ar-.

ran gement where by any number can be driven, the arms of each pulverizer being driven in the opposite direct-ion to those next to it, giving the greatest pulverizing-power, and by giving them a high velocity their combined action is to assist the blast from tube H and force it out through M N. The front part, L, of the chamber is movable in grooves in the sides, capable of being moved up, as shown at L in broken lines. XV hen down, as in Fig. 2, it leaves one or a part of one pulverizer only open to receive whatever is taken up by the plow (1 below, and when the snow is deeper the front L is raised till its lower edge is level with the top of the snow, or enough above to allow all to enter. The side casings, K K, covering the running parts, are made inclined from the bottom outward as they rise, so as to press back the upper part of the deep snow,

and the fronts incline toward and meet the sides Q of the chamber at asharp angle, clearing a space on each side beyond the chamber.

In operation, the car A, which I prefer should be provided with a boiler, to furnish steam for the engine B, is placed in front of the locomotive of the train, and is moved by it as fast as it clears the track, the engine B driving the blowers and pulverizers only, though it may be provided with means of attachment to the wheels of carA, for convenience of transportation or working in very high snow, though I prefer independent action, as described.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a track-clearer, the combinatiolnwith ICO 2. In a track-clearer, the adjustable front L, in combination with a chamber having two or more pulverizers, and means for discharging its contents, substantially as described.

a chamber containing two or more pulverizers, of a bottom formed with two slopes or curves, one for guiding the matter up to the pulverizers, and the other directing the blast from the blower up to assist the discharging action of the pulverizers, and means, substan tially as described, for driving the pulverizers GEORGE W. \VILLEY.

furnishing a blast of air, and tube or means lVitnesses:

of discharge, all constructed and operating KILO VVANN,

substantially as and for the purposes above J. G. ARNOLD. .v set forth.

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