US400777A - Apparatus for heating railway-cars - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. LOFTUS.

APPARATUS FOR'HEATING RAILWAY CARS. No; 400,777. Patented Apr. 2, 1889.

Witnesse v friv'ehton JOHN L F1-us attorney.

N. PETERS. Pholu-Lilhugnphgr, Washinglun. n. c

UNITED STATES JOHN LOFTUS, OF ALBANY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN GREENALOH,

OF EAST ALBANY, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,777, dated April 2, 1889.

Application filed October 25, 1887.

Serial No. 253,308. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN Lorrus, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Heating Railway-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

My invent-ion relates to improvements in apparatus for heating cars by steam; and it consists of the apparatus herein shown and described for heating cars by steam which is preferably obtained from the boiler of the 10- comotive that is attached to the train, the steam being mixed with air for the purpose of obtaining a more perfect diffusion of the heat.

One serious defect in heating railway-cars. by steam derived from a boiler at' the head of a train has been found to proceed from the absorption of the greater part of the heat by the radiators in the leading cars of the train, thereby producing an overheating of the first cars, while those at the rear of the train are insufficiently heated; and the object of my invention is to remedy this defect. This object I attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my improved system of heating as applied to two connected cars; Fig. 2, a plan View of the same; Fig. 3, an enlarged longitudinal section of the injector used for forcing air mixed with steam into the system of heating-pipes, and Fig. 4 a like section of the branch fitting used for connecting the supply-pipe with the radiators.

As represented in the drawings, A indicates the flooring of a railway-car. Said car forms no part of my invention, and a more particular illustration of it is not considered essential; but while only two cars are indicated on the drawings it is obvious that my invention can be applied to any required number of cars connected together in the usual manner.

B is a supply-pipe attached to each car either below the flooring, as shown in the drawings, or above, as may be preferred. Each length of said supply-pipe, which length nearly corresponds to the length of the car,

formed under the entire length of a train, and

so that the variation of distance between the cars incident to a train in motion will be provided for.

G-is an injector that is attached to the foremost end of the length of the supply-pipe B, fixed to the forward car of the train and connected by a flexible tube, 0, to the boiler of the locomotive attached to the train or to an independent boiler provided for the purpose of heating the train. Said injector operates in the manner of one used forsupplying water to a steam-boiler; but in this apparatus it is used for supplying to the system of heatingpipes air that becomes heated by commingling with steam from the injector. Said injector is provided with an air-inlet, c, to. which an air-supply pipe, D, is attached. The lower end of said air-supply pipe is open to the atmosphere, so as to freely admit the air thereinto.

E is a branch fitting, of which there are two in the supply-pipe B of each car, one near each end of said pipe. Said fitting is providedat its upper end with a T-head, which forms a continuation of the bore of said supply-pipe, and the vertical pipe of said fitting is provided with a diaphragm, 1', which sepa- 8o rates the supply-pipe B from a lower system of pipes, hereinafter described. Said diaphragm is perforated for the purpose of equalizing the pressures in said lower system-of pipes and for a drip for the escape of Water produced by any condensation of steam in the supply-pipe B. The lower end of the branch fitting E forms a triple elbow, 2, having a single branch, 3, which leads in the same direction as the supply-pipe B, and two lateral out- 0 lets at opposite sides of the vertical pipe, which run at right angles to the single branch 3. Said branch fittings are fixed in the supply-pipe Bin suchmanner that each will have a single branch 3 leading toward the nearest 5 end of the car, the two single branches leading in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 1.

A heated-air pipe, 4, is connected to each single branch 3, and said air-pipes should be of such length that their terminals will corre- 10o spond to those of the supply-pipe B. The airpipe i which is at the foremostend of the forward car is connected in a branch, (1, of the air-supply pipe D, as shown in Fig. 1, and the other air-pipes 4 are provided with flexible coupling-tubes 5, which couple with each other between conjoining cars, or with the coupling-tube b of the supply-pipe B at the rear end of the train.

F are lateral pipes which lead from the lateral outlets of the rearmost branch fitting E, and F like pipes which lead from the foremost branch fittings. Said lateral pipes connect with corresponding ends of the radiators G, and thereby form open communications from one branch fitting E to the other on each car through said radiators.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows: Steam from the boiler is supplied through the flexible tube 0 to the injector G, and by the operation of the latter air is drawn into the airsupply pipe D and commingles with the steam which enters the supply-pipe B through the injector. The mixed steam and air is forcibly moved by the current of steam entering through the injector to pass directly through the supply-pipe B from the front to the rear end of the train, as indicated by the arrows above the supply-pipe Bin Fig. 1. On reaching the rear end of the train the mixed steam and air is conducted through the connected flexible coupling-tubes l) and 5 into the rearmost air-pipe 3 and branch fitting E. Then passing laterally through the pipes F, it ascends through the vertical pipes 6 into the radiators G. After passing circuitously through said radiators the mixed steam and air descends through the vertical pipes 7, and then passing toward the center line of the car, through the pipes F, it enters the foremost branch fitting E, from which it passes through the connected coupling-tubes 5 into the next car forward; and then, after passing, in the manner just described, through the pipes and radiators of the various cars that form the train, the heated mixture of steam and air enters the air-supply pipe D, and after being separated from the water of condensation, which escapes by its gravity out of the open lower end of the air-supply pipe D, said mixture is again drawn into the injector C, to be again forced through the system of pipes in the manner above described. This circulation of the mixed steam and air is carried on continuously as long as steam continues to flow into the injector.

I claim as my invention 1. In an apparatus forheat-ing railway-cars by means of mixed steam and air, the combination of a steam injector that is connected with a steam'supply, and is provided with an air-inlet, a conducting-pipe for conveying the commingled steam and air from said injector directly to the rearniost end of the train without passing the same through the radiators, said conducting-pipe being provided on each car with branch fittings which do not break the continuity of the opening through said pipe nor divert the direct current of steam and air into the radiators, said branch fittings having, just below their T- heads a perforated diaphragm, and at their lower end a triple elbow, a lower system of pipes which is connected at the rearmost end of the train to said conducting-pipe, and by which the steam and air is returned toward the foremost end of the train and into the in: j ector, the direct continuity of said lower system of pipes being broken between the branch fittings under each car, and lateral pipes leading from the lower end of each branch fitting and connecting with the radiators within the cars, as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The valveless branch fitting E, consisting of a body-piece having at its upper end a -T- head and at its lower end a triple elbow, the single branch of the latter ranging in line with the T-head, and the oppositely-located lateral branches thereof ranging at right angles to said T-head, said body-piece having within it and just below the opening through said T-hcad a perforated diaphragm, as and for the purpose herein specified.

JOHN LOFTUS.

Vitnesses:

WM. Ii. Low, Jot-IN GREENALCH.

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