US31124A - Stopping and starting railroad-gars - Google Patents

Description

B. MOROHAN. vvCar Starter.A

No' Slgfg` f PatentedJan.15,1861. l

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Wltnesses: Inventor= UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD MOROHAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

sTcPPING AND STARTING RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,124, dated January 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I7 BERNARD MoRoHAN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Device for Stopping and Starting Railroad-Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinO had to the accom an inv drawing b b i C? forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of my invention, the platform having been removed to expose the working parts. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the same7 the line oo, F ig. 2, indicating the plane of section. Fig. 4 is a detached plan of one of the racks.

Similar letters of reference in all the figures indicate corresponding parts.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to de scribe its construction andr operation with reference to the drawings.

The truck A is supported by four wheels B B which are secured to axles C C in the usual manner. Secured to the axles C C and supported by the same by means of suitable loops or eyes are two bars D which form the guides for the slides E E and the rear ends of which are firmly connected by a cross bar a.' The eyes which retain the bars to the axles are large enough so as not to interfere with the 'rotary motion of said axles and the bars are confined on the axles and prevented moving in a lateral direction by wings b which are firmly secured to the axles on each side of the bars as clearly shown in Fig. 1 in the drawing.

F astened in the cross bar a are two round rods c which form the guides for the springs F and which pass freely through sockets d in the inner slide E. Between the two slides and rml secured to the same are the two racks G one above and the other below the axle C, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing and in different vertical planes or in a zig-zag position as will be seen by referring to Figs. 1 and 3. The toothed sides of both these racks face toward the axle and they are at equal distances from the center of said axle, so that a pinion H, which slides on the axle in a longitudinal direction can be thrown in gear with either one of them. The pinion H turns freely upon the axle and it is rendered rigid with the` same by dogs e which are secured in the sides and which strike against stops f inserted into the axle at the proper points.Y These stops are so arranged that in whatever direction the pinion is moved its cogs come in gear with the teeth of one of the racks before one of the dogs o strikes the corresponding stop f, whereby an injury to the edges of the cogs or teeth is prevented. The pinion H is of such a width that it can be brought in gear with both racks at the same time and in fact its position is such that it would at all times be 1n gear with both racks when placed in the middle betweenthem, but for the teeth on the inner ends of said racks having been cut away half way across the width of each rack as clearly shown in Fig. l of the draw- Ing. A slide I, which catches over the sides of the pinion H and which is operated by means of a three armed bell crank lever g, la., z', serves to shift the pinion on the axle, and the two arms g, h of said bell crank lever connect by means of wires or rods lo with the arms Z which are connected to the lower ends of the vertical arbors m, m that are situated near to the drivers stand or in front of the platform and which are operated by mea-ns of cranks a, n', suitable marks being made near to said cranks to let the driver know in which direction the crank is to be turned. When left to itself the bell crank lever g, it, c' is kept in such a ,position that it retains the pinion in the center between the two racks by means of a lip o which projects from the inner slide E and which is kept in contact with the edge of the arms g, h of said lever by the action of the springs. The last teeth 79 ofthe two racks are so arranged that they have a slight motion in a longitudinal direction and they are retained in their position by means of spring g.

vThe operation is as follows: If the car is moving invv the direction of the arrow marked near it in Fig. 2 and it is desired to stop the same, the crank n is'turned so as to throw the pinion H in gear with the rack G. By the action of the pinion on the rack the slides E, E are forced back against the springs F and said springs are compressed until the car stops. I'f the momentum of the car is so large that the rack is forced clear back to its last tooth without completely stopping the forward motion of the car, the pinion strikes the yielding tooth and no injury arises, whereas, if this tooth would be made rigid like the rest, the teeth of the pinion or the teeth of the racks would be liable to become injured. As soon as the car stops, the pinion has to be shifted so as to come in gear with bot-.h racks, or if this is omitted, the force of the springs will have a tendency to drive the car backward or in a direction opposite to the arrow marked near the car in Fig. 2. If the car is to be started again in the direction of this arrow, the pinion 'is shifted so as to gear into the upper rack G and the strain of the springs has now a tendency t0 drive the car forward. As soon as the force of the springs is expended and if the racks and slides arrive in their original positions, the lip 0 strikes against, the edge of the arms g, 71 of the bell crank lever and the pinion is shifted back to its position between the two racks, thus allowing the axle C to rotate freely and without effect on the racks or springs. By these means the car can be stopped when it is going in either direction and after it has been stopped, the force of the springscan be employed to assist in starting the car in either direction.

Having thus fully described lmy invention7 what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. The arrangement of the racks Gr, Gr with each other and with the sliding pinion H in the manner herein shown and described, so that the teeth of the pinion before fully leaving one' rack will necessarily engage with the teeth of the other.

2. The arrangement of the spring teeth p, p2 with the racks G, G in the manner herein shown and described.

3. The arrangement of the lip 0 and levers l BERNARD MOROHAN.

Witnesses:

C. W. COWTAN, JAMES LAIRD.

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