US296606A - Automatic connector and disconnector for grips of cable railways - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-,Sheet 1.

W. H. PAINE'. AUTOMATIC CONNECTOR AND DISCONNEGTOR FOR GRIPS 0P CABLE RAILWAYS. N0. 296,606. Patented Apr. 8, 1884.

6am! J (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. H. PAINE. AUTOMATIG CONNECTOR AND DISGONNEUTOR FOR GRIPS 0F CABLE RAILWAYS.

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UNITED STATES ATENT Fries.

WILLIAM H. PAINE, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATiC CONNECTOR AND D ISCONNECTOR FOR GRIPS F CABLE RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,606, dated April 8, 1884-.

Application filed November 1), 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY PAINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Automatically Connecting and Disconuecting the Gripping Mechanism and the Cable of Cable Railways, of which the following isa specification.

My invention consists of levers and rods so pivoted and arranged that they will, when the car is started, automatically draw the sheaves of the grip together, lock them in position, and clutch the cable, and by means of another lever trip and disengage the former from their locked position, thereby releasing the grip and cable, as hereinafter more fully described.

My present invention is to be taken in connection with my applications for Letters Patent, Serial Nos. 105,235 and 105,236,filed August 31, 1883.

Pivoted to and connecting the outer ends of the levers for operating the gripping mechanism is a bar arranged so as to slide in a rigid bearing or bearings, and provided with a shoulder for engaging with and locking an arm attached to one of the rigid bearings aforesaid, whereby when the bar and operating-levers are drawn forward and the gripping sheaves brought into contact with the cable the arm will drop behind the shoulder of the bar and automatically lock the grip. For accomplishing this result automatically, I provide upon the hot- 'tom of the car and extending downward therefrom two levers connected together by means of a togglejoint, and provided with a rod extending to the operating-levers of the grip, and so arranged that one or the other of said downwardly-extending levers may be tripped at a suitable point near the commencement of the route by contact with a block placed upon the bed of the track or other suitable means. This double lever and toggle joint is peculiarly adapted to cable-railway routes-where the cars are run back and forward without turning them at the terminals of the line. Their arrangement is such that when the car is given a preliminary movement one of these levers, coming into contact with the block, will, by the motion of the car, draw the grip together. When returning, and the car is moving in the opposite direction, the other lever is adapted to operate in a like manner by means of the toggle-joint aforesaid. Pivotcd to the locking-arm, and provided with a cross-piece and lugs for riding upon the sliding bar, is a vertical leverextending downward, but in a different plane to those above mentioned. This lever is also adapted to engage with a block or other projection upon the bed of the track for tripping the locking mechanism and .libcrating the grip. This lever, by virtue of the cross-piece and logs similarly disposed upon both sides, will operate the same with the car going in either direction. Cords extending into the interior of the car, and also to the front and rear, may be provided to operate this tripping device by hand, if desirable. A spring for Withdrawing the sliding bar, when it has been released, is provided at its farther end.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 represents aplan view of the grip and the connecting and disconnecting mechanism. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, showing the position of parts when the cable is gripped. Fig. 4 is the same when the cable is running loose.

The gripping rollers or sheaves 1 1 are journaled betweena pair of levers, 2 2, and suspended from the bottom of the car in position to engage the cable 3. Fulcrumed to the ends of the levers 2 are levers 4., pivoted at 5 to a connectingbar, 7, which is bolted to the ends of the levers 2. 9 9 are jointed locking-levers fulcrumed to the levers 2 2" at 10 10, respectively, and carrying shoes 9 9, bearing outward against the inside of the rims of the grip-rollers 1 1, which are made dish-shaped, permitting the bent levers 9 9 and the shoes 9 9 to work within them. Bolted to the locking-lever 9 is a connecting-bar, 11, pivoted at to a bent lever, 15, whose shorter end is fulcrumed at 16 to a similar bent lever, 16, whose shorter end is fulcrumed at 16 to the other lockinglever, 9. The longer ends of the levers 15 16 are connected to the oppositely moving-portions of an endless rope, which is coiled at each end of the car around a drum mounted on the lower end of the hand-brake staff, whereby the ends of the levers 15 16 are made to approach or recede from each other, as fully described in the application above re ferred to.

To the outer end of the shorter one of the connecting-bars 7 and an intermediate point of the longer one is attached a connecting-bar, 4, and to the extremity of the longer one of these levers 7 isattached a second bar or rod, 4", running to a lever, 20, suspended from the car-frame.- The lever 20 is provided with a rigid arm, 20, and is connected by means of a link, 21, to an arm, 22, which forms a rigid portion of a lever, 22, connected to and suspended from the car frame in a similar manner to the lever 20. The lever 20 is also provided with a suitable number of holes, 20, for adjusting and regulating its connection and relation to the bar 4. Upon the bed of the track and at both ends of the line are placed blocks 28, sufficiently elevated to engage with the levers 20 and 22. It will be seen that no matter in which direction the car is moving the aforesaid blocks will engage with the levers, and thereby draw them to a vertical position in relation to thegrip and bring the sheaves into contact with the cable. The bar 4 is provided with a spring, 4 for withdrawing and throwing the sheaves apart when liberated. This spring bears at its inner end against a rigid projecting piece, 4, which is attached at its inner end to the car-frame or any suitable non-moving portion of the grip. In this rigid bearing the connecting-bar 4 slides. Bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to 4 is a locking-bar, 23. Pivoted to the inner end of this bar is a vertical lever, 24, extending above and below the bar 4, and provided with a cross-piece having lugs 24", which extend over and ride upon the said bar 4. The locking-bar 23 is provided with a shoulder, 25, and the lever 4 with a stop or lug, 26. Cords 27 also connect the vertical tripping lever 24 with the front, rear, and interior of the car for operating the trip by hand, if neoessary. A block, 28, upon the bed of the track is adapted to ver 24.

It will be seen by the above that as the car is leaving a station on a downgrade track,and the lever 20 comes in contact with the block28, the gripping-sheaves Will be drawn together by means of the intermediate mechanism. In

automatically trip the lereturning, the car then moving in the opblock 28, will, by virtue of the lugs 24" and their supporting cross-piece 24 riding upon the bar 4, elevate the lever 23 and disengage the lugs 25 and 26, thereby permitting the spring 4 to expand and, through the medium of rod 4", draw the free end of the rods 4 forward, whereby the fulcrums of the rods 4 and 7 are moved out of alignment, and, if the brakes are ofl, the levers 2 2 permitted to separate anddraw the gripping-rolls from contact with the cable.

Although I have shown but one form of this automatic connector and disconnectorI con template various modifications adapted to cars of different construction.

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

1. The combination, with the gripping device of a cable railway, of suitable leversfor opening and closing said grip,and suitable contact blocks or posts placed at desired points along the route and'adapted to engage with and operate the respective levers, in the man ner and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with the gripping mechanism of a cable railway, the vertical levers suspended from the car, pivoted to each other, and having means of connection with the grip and adapted to operate, substantially as described,when the car is given apreliminary movement.

3. In combination with the gripping mechanism of a cable railway and means for automatically drawing the sheaves of the grip together, a locking device adapted to hold them in contact with the cable, substantially as described.

4. In combination with the gripping mechanism and means for automatically applying and locking the same, the tripping device for liberating the grip, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination with the gripping mech anism and means for automatically applying the same, the arm'23, having a shoulder, 25, adapted to drop behind thestop 26 of the bar- 4 and to lock the sheaves in position, as described.

6. In combination With the gripping mechanism and means for automatically applying and locking the same, the tripping-lever 24, pivoted to the locking-arm 23, and having a cross-piece, 24, and lugs 24, the whole adapted to trip anddisconnect thelock-ing mechanism and release the grip,substantially as described.

W. H. PAIN E.

Witnesses:

HERBERT KNIGHT, O. P. QUINTARD.

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