US370462A - Railroad-crossing - Google Patents

Description

Patented Sept. 27, 1887.

E. FONTAINE.

RAILROAD CROSSING.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT Erica.

EUGENE FONTAINE, OF WAGON WORKS, OHIO.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,462, dated September 27, 1897.

Application filed December 23, 1886. Serial No. 222,407.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE FONTAINE, of Vagon Works, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in'Railroad-Orossings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction of railway-crossings, as hereinafter described.

My improved railway-crossing belongs to that class in which short rail-sections are pivotally placed at the intersections of the rails and provided with operating mechanism for turning them simultaneously to form continuous rails for either one of the tracks.

In a previous application for a patent for a `crossing of this kind I have described an improved continuous rail-support for the crossing; and the principal objects of the present invention are to further improve the mechanical construction of such rail-support with a view to facilitate its manufacture, and, further, to provide more effectual means for protecting the rotatable posts which carry the movable rail-sections, all as hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings which accompany this speciiication, Figure l is a plan ot' my improved crossing with the rails partly removed. Figs. 2, 3, and fi are vertical cross-sectionson lines a: i, IV Z, and T V, respectively. r

A are the rail-sections of the crossing, and A are the connectingrails.

B are four rotatable posts placed at the intersections of the rails, and supporting the (No model.)

the desired shape previously to riveting them together 5 but the augledron @,whicll forms the inner upper ilange of the girder, instead of following the enlargements at the corners, is bent to form a short connection or tic between the ends of the straight sides of the curb. The angle-iron e may be arranged in the same way, or may be entirely omitted at the corners. This improved construction of curb presents much less difficulty in its manufacture and in its ready adaptation to crossings of differentV angles. It is also more continuous than my previous construction, wherein the curb was mainly composed of four sections differing for each angle of crossing. On the top plates, F, I form a raised flange, H, around the aperture for the post, and in connection with this flange I form a shoulder, J, on the post, all for the purpose of protecting the bearing of the post against sand or other obstructions becoming lodged therein, and for the further purpose of preventing the'post from getting wedged in tight between the ends of the rails, which are now estopped from crowding it by the raised iiange H.

The post may be provided with a step se cured to the lower corner-plate, as shown in Fig. 2, or preferably as shown in Fig. 3. An aperture is punched into the lower plate and provided with a raised flange, K, around it, and a shoulder, L, is formed on the lower end of the `post to form, in connection `with the flange K, a step for the post.

The ends of the rails of the crossing and the ends of the connecting-rails are secured tothe corner top plates by means of suitable clips, M, which abut against the raised anges J on the top plates, and are mitered in the corners between the rails. The clips which connect the ends of the connecting-rails with the corner top-plates I make of a length to project beyond the edge of the top plate, and underneath these projecting ends I secure, by additional bolts, a plate, N, which abuts against the edge of the top plate. By these means I distribute the end-pressure of the rails caused by the motion of the train in passing over. A main connecting rod from the switch-lever passes diagonally through the crossing and has crank-conneotions with two of the posts, and these posts are in like manner connected with the remaining two posts, so that all four posts may be rotated simultaneously to register the movable rail-sections with either one of the tracks.

It will be noticed in Figs. 2 and 3 that the raised flanges H of the corner-plates F project above the foot of the clips M. This is done to permit the sand which may be thrown onto the rails to slide off in the corners of the intersecting rails without any liability of lodging in the joints underneath the posts.

The advantage of providing the rotatable posts with the shoulders I L and supporting them on the raised flanges H K of the top and bottom plates, F G, is that I'thereby obtain a certain amount of cushioning of the posts under the vertical pressure of the passing train, which greatly reduces the Wear on the posts under the severe strain to which they are'snbjeCted, and also reduces the disagreeable pounding noise which generally is produced in passing crossings.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In arailway-crossing wherein rotatable posts carrying railsections are placed at the intersections ofthe rails, the combination, with a continuous rail-support in the form of a foursided curb provided with enlargements at the corners, of corner-plates supporting the ends of therails thereon, and having central apertures for the rotatable posts, and raised flanges around such apertures, substantially as described.

2. In a railway-crossing wherein rotatable parts carrying rail-sections are placed at the intersections of the rails, the combination of a continuous railsupport in the form of a foursided curb provided with enlargements at the corners, of corner-plates supporting the ends of therails thereon, and having central apertures for the rotatable posts, ot' raised lian ges formed around such apertures, and of overhanging shoulders formed on the rotatable posts in connection With such anges, substantially as described.

3. In a railwaycrossing wherein rotatable posts carrying railsections are placed at the intersections of the rails, the combination of a continuous rail-support in the form of a foursided curb, with enlargements at the corners, of top and bottom corner-plates secured thereto, of a step formed on each bottom plate and `a corresponding aperture in each top plate to support the rotatable posts, of a raised iiange around the apertures in the top plates, and of clips for securing the rails independently of each other to the top corner-plates, with the clips and rails abutting against the raised flanges thereon, substantially as described.

4. In a railway crossing, a continuous Wrought-iron rail-support, consisting of a central Web and angle-irons riveted thereto to form top and bottom bearings, said rail-sup port being constructed in the form of a foursided curb With enlargements at the corners', said enlargements having top and bottom plates riveted thereto to support the ends of the rails, and the rotatable posts forming the intersections of the rails, substantially as described.

5. In a railway-crossing, the continuous rail-support D, made in the form of a foursided curb, having enlargements E at the corners, and consisting of the central Web, a, and the angle-irons b c d e, with the angle-iron c forming atie across the corners of the web, substantially as described.

6. In arailWay-crossing, the combination of the continuous rail-support D, having enlargements E at the corners, the top and bottom corner-plates, F G, the rotatable posts B, the rails A A, the clips M, and the plates N, all arranged substantially as described.

7. The combination of the rotatable posts B at the intersections ot' the crossing, the shoulders .I L, formed on said posts, and the top and bottom plates, F and G, having the raised iianges H K, all substantially as described.

EUGENE FONTAINE. Witnesses:

JoHN THoMPsoN, X. A. THoMPsoN.

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