US369986A - Territory - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. A. FRASER.

TRACK CLEANER. No. 369,986. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

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(No Model.) I 2 SheetsSheet 2. T. A. FRASER.

TRACK CLEANER. No. 369,986. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER, OF MITCHELL, DAKOTA TERRITORY.

TRACK-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,985, dated September 13, 1887 Application filed April 16, 1887. Serial No. 235,118.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER, of Mitchell, in the county of Davison and Territory of Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track- Oleaners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to track-cleaners; and it consists of various features and details hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the track-cleaner; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of the same, and Fig. 3 a view illustrating certain details.

The primary object of the invention is to provide means for removing snow from railway-tracks; and to this end it involves in its construction a car with an inclined front wall, a chamber beneath the car, a scraper or shovel at the rear of the car and the horizontal chamber, devices for regulating and adjusting the scraper or shovel, and a discharge trough or chute.

A indicates a box-car containing at its rear a housing-box, B, the front wall, 0, of which slopes or inclines backwardly from the roof of the car, as shown, and terminates at the floor. The side walls, a, and the roof extend forward beyond the wall 0 to form a chamber, D, the front end of which is left open and unobstructed. This forms a mouth or chamber at the front end of the car, into which air is forced or gathered as the car is moving along. The side walls, a, of the car are also extended downward at each side throughout the length of the car, nearly to the rails, as shown in Fig. 2, and, together with the floor of the car,

form a passage or chamber, E. The floor of as indicated by the arrows.

the car of course terminates at the point where it meets the inclined wall 0, so as to allow the air to strike against the latter and be by it deflected into the chamber E beneath. the car, The air gathered into the large-mouthed chamber D is forced through the eomparatively-contracted chamber E at a Very high Velocity.

Extending from the rear end of the car is a beam or support, F, (one or more,) to which, by means of bolts or other devices, is secured a platform or flooring, G, the latter being carried at its lower inner end by means of hangers or (No model.)

braces H, secured to the sills of the car at its rear end; Upon the flooring G is firmly bolted or otherwise secured the concave dischargetrough l, which extends from the rear end of the car near the track to the outer end of the flooring or beams G, the outer end of the conveyer-trough being somewhat higher than its inner end. This trough maybe made of wood or iron, as preferred. The flooring G, supporting the conveyer-trough, is further braced by irons J, which are preferably attached to the irons H, as shown in Fig. 2.

K indicates a rock-shaft extending across the rear of the chamber E and supported at each end in bearings L, carried by the irons or braces H and J, as shown in Fig. 2, said shaft L being provided with aninclined forwardly-extending shovel or scraper, M. The shovel or scraper M extends downward below the line of the top of the rails, but not so low as to come into contact with the ties, the downward movement of the scraper being limited by laterally-extending lugs N, which rest upon the rails. The under faces of the lugs N are rounded, as shown, so as to ride over the rail-joints without jar or injury to the cleaner.

The shovel or scraper M is formed with an eye or perforated lug, Z), to which is pivotally connected a rod, 0, which extends upward through the floor of the car into the housing 13, as shown in Fig. 2. \Vithin the housing the rod 0 is connected with a pivoted lever, P, moving over a curved rack-bar and provided with a spring-pawl, Q, as shown in Fig. 2, by which means the rod may be raised and lowered. From this construction it will be seen that by raising and lowering the rod 0 the shovel M will be raised and lowered correspondingly,so that when a crossing is reached the scraper may be raised to avoid coming into contact therewith.

In the drawingsl have shown only one conveyer-trough I, projecting at its rear end over the right-hand side of the track, so as to dis charge the snow, 850., over on that side of the road. Such a plan will be used where there is a double track, because it will be seen that if the conveyer-trough extends over toward the left the snow would be discharged into the other track, or if the conveyer be of such Where there is a single track the conveyer may be made -shaped and adapted to discharge thesnow equally on both sides. This, however, is a matter of detail and does not affeet the spirit of my invention.

The operation of my track-cleaner is as follows: The car being pulled along, the shovel or scraper M gathers the snow from between the rails, and it passes from said shovel up onto the platform G, which is in close proximity to the scraper. Of course as the car moves along the snow keeps crowding up on the platform and tends to discharge the snow previously gathered, the trough I serving to direct the snow and cause the discharge at the proper point. As the car moves rapidly along air comes into contact with the front wall, 0, and is deflected into chamber E, where it is discharged at a high velocity upon the snow, the air thus forced through the chamber E aiding materially in discharging the snow.

It will be noticed that as the scraper mechanism is suspended from the rear end of the car-body it avoids any possibility of the car being derailed by reason of the cleaner picking up a crossing or switch-rails.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is I 1. A car for use in cleanlng tracks,prov1ded with an air duct or passage open at both ends and closed at its sides,-with a chute or deflector at the rear of said duct to throw the snow laterally, and with a scraper between the said deflector and air-passage.

2. A car for use in cleaning tracks,provided with an air duct or passage extending longitudinally through the car, open at both ends, closed at the sides, and having an enlarged mouth, a chute or deflector at the rear of said duct to throw the snowlaterally, and a scraper between the said deflector and air-passage.

8. A car provided with an air-ductbeneath its floor, in combination with ascraper and the inclined trough.

4. The herein-described track-cleaner, consisting of car A, housing 13, havinginclined front wall, 0, chamber E beneath the car,

THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER.

WVitnesses:

FRANK l-I. WINSOR, H. S. WINsoR.

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