US402934A

US402934A - judson

Info

Publication number: US402934A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1889-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1906-05-07

Description

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. L. JUDSON. STREET RAILWAY.

No. 402,934. Patented May '7, 1889.

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N. PETERS. Pnmmm n her, Wrnhingtcn. u c.

(No Model.) 3 ghosts-Sheet 2.

W. L. JUDSON.

STREET RAILWAY. I No. 402,934. Patented May :7, 1889.

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- (No Modem a Sheets-Sheet 3.

W. L. J UDSON.

STREET RAILWAY.

No. 402.934. Patented-May 7 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OF CE.

VVHITOOMB L. J UDSON, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE JUDSON PNEUMATIC RAILTVAY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STREET- RAI LWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,934, dated May 7, 1889.

Application filed January 7, 1889. Serial No. 295,621. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WHrrcoMB L. JUDsoN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, State of Minnesota, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Street-Railways, of which the following isaspecification,

' reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to street, suburban, and other railways, whether surface or elevated roads. It is more particularly designed, however, as a substitute for the cable and similar systems for street and suburban use. It is in the nature of a further development of the, principles of construction and operation fully shown, described, and claimed in my former application for Letters Patent, filed November 15, 1888, under Serial No. 290,880.

In carrying out my invention I use a revoluble drum or shaft extending along the entire line of the cars travel, and convert its rotary motion into a rectilinear motion on the car by means of a set of swiveled frictionwheels swiveled in suitable bearings connected with the car and adapted to engage with the driving-drum at variable angles to its axis. hen the friction-wheels are at right angles to the driving-drum, the car stands still, when at an acute angle to the axis of the drum, forward of a right angle, the car will move in one direction, and when rearward of a right angle the car will move in the other direction. Practically this converting mechanism is a threadless screw with variable pitch-lines, according to the angle of the friction-wheels, frictional contact taking the place of the screw-thread or flange. The frictional wheels may be conceived as traveling nuts traversing imaginary thread-lines of the screw at a definite pitch, variable at the will of the operator. The result isavariable speed and a variable power. If the wheels approximate a right angle to the axis of the shaft, there is obtained the equivalent of a finethreaded screw with corresponding great power. If they are set at a very acute angle,

approximately parallel with the axis of the shaft, there is obtained high speed, but with less power. This especially adapts the construction to the necessities of street-car propulsion. In starting the load, great power and slow speed are desirable. After the car is started greater speed is needed and less power is required to carry the load.

The shaft or drum may bedriven in sections (of practicable lengths offrom five hundred to one thousand feet) by a series-of stationary motors (not shown) arranged along the line of the cars travel. These motors may be of any suitable kind adapted to the use of air, steam, water, or electricity. Preferably, howeter, air-engines are used, the air being supplied under pressure from a central station. It the traffic be heavy and the cars close together, the entire drum is kept in continuous motion. If in a suburban district Where the traffic is light, the construction may be such that only the particular section or sections over which a car is traveling need be inmotion at the time. Just before leaving the first section the car may automatically throw the next section into motion by starting its driving-engine. Just after reaching the second section the car will stop the first section. The stationary motors or engines for driving the drum are preferably located in small pits directly below the drum at the center of the section and coupled directly thereto.

The characteristic and distinguishing features of the construction claimed in this application consist in both supporting and driving the car by the drum from below the surface of the street. No other rails or wheels are used above the street-surface. The ordinary car-trucks and street-rails are entirely dispensed with. The car is of a special design to meet the necessities of the case, the particular feature of which is a ball-bearing connection with its supporting-bolsters, so as to allow the necessary lateral or swinging motion for traversing curves. The car is made to preserve the horizontal level by lateral-pressure rails within the conduit, against which bears a horizontal wheel or roller journaled in the friction-wheel blades or on some part of the friction-wheel-supporting trucks.

Flexure and breakage of the blades at the slot-line are prevented by making the blades of suflicient number and adequate strength. The driving-drum is necessarily made in short sections supported by bearings within the conduit, the sections being coupled together in any suitable way. To pass the friction-wheels over the coupling-space, small bridges are mounted on the journal-bearings and a carrying-roller is journaled in a friction-truck. The friction-wheels are so distributed that when any one of them is passing a coupling-space several of the others will. be in engagement with the driving-drum. The friction-wheels must all take the same angle to the driving-drum; otherwise some one or other would necessarily slip. To accomplish this result, the friction-wheels are all coupled together by suitable connections and operated from a single lever at either end of the car. To permit the blades and friction-trucks to better adapt themselves to traversing curves, the blades are all connected by pivoted couplings.

My invention in respect to details may take various forms. I will now give a specific description of the form which I have shown in the drawings, like letters referring to like parts throughout.

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section or end view of a car and surface-road embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation and partial longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view, some of the parts being broken away.

A is the conduittube.

B are the supportingyokes, provided with a slot-space in their upper plates.

B is a side backing of oak planks.

O is the concrete bed.

0 is the street-paving.

C are L-shaped girders uniting the yokes connecting therewith at short distances from the slot-spaces.

D is the driving drum or shaft, mounted in the bearing D, secured to the conduit-yokes, preferably in the center of the same.

E is a combined slot-rail and paving-block trough detachably connected to the L-shaped girders C and the yokes B, and provided with bearing-surfaces e, constituting lateralpressure rails.

E is a horizontal roller, supported on the dependent portion of the car and bearing against the lateral pressure rails e.

D is the friction-wheel truck, provided with annular friction-wheel bearings (Z.

I! is the carrying-roller, journaled in the center of. the truck D.

F is the coupling-space bridge secured to the top box-plate of the drum-bearings D.

G are vertical bars or blades connecting the friction-wheel truck D" with the ear-supporting bolster. Of these I preferably use six three under each end of the car.

II are the friction-wheels, having their journal-bearings in heads h, which in turn are swiveled in the annular bearing (Z.

K are bell-crank levers, pivoted to the bars G at a point above the surface of the street. Of these there are two on a common shaft.

K and K are links connecting the outer ends of these levers with. the swiveled bearing-block h.

L is the car-body.

M M are horizontal rods underneath the car, connected, respectively, to all the bellcrank levers K on the same side of the bars G.

N is an operating-lever pivoted to the car, and connected above and below its fulcrum, respectively, with the operating-rods M and M. Hence on reversing this lever these rods will move in opposite directions and produce corresponding motions on the bell-crank levers K and, through the links K and K, on the friction-wheels II, thus preserving a certain constant relation of the friction-wheels to each other, while uniformly varying their angle or pitch to the driving-drum.

I is the car-supporting bolster, rigidly attached at its center to the top of the blade or bar G, and further connected therewith by the lateral braces 13 and The vertical arms of this bolster are provided with cups Q.

Q are corresponding cups on the under side of lateral bars Q.. Between the cups Q and Q are placed ball-bearings q.

R is an equalizer pivoted to the under side of the car, and connected at its opposite ends, through springs S, with the top of the lateral bolster-spanning bar Q". This spanning-bar is made in two sections, 0' r, pivoted together at its center, and couples together the bolsters into sets of two or more, (three, as shown.)

T T are sectional couplings pivotally connecting the vertical bars G, so that they may swing with. reference to each other in the horizontal but not in the vertical plane. The lateral-pressure roller E may be mounted on the pivot-pin of the couplings T. This construction permits the necessary motion for traversing curves. Every bolster is free to turn independent of the other on its respect ive ball-bearing, while at the same time it is rigid with the friction-wheel truck. The carbody is thus freely movable, being allowed both a f0rward-and-backward and a pivotal motion on its ball-bearings. I have shown the lateral- 'n'essure rails c as form ed integral with the slot-rail E. They might equally Well be separated and be directly attached to the conduit-yokes. They might also be placed in any other suitable position within the conduit. It would even be possible to do the work with a single rail or guide located in the bottom of the conduit, with a set of vertical or horizontal wheels connected to the friction-wheel truck.

The general operation of my construction is clear from the description already given.

It will readily be understood that the two distinctive features of this invention-viz., both supporting and driving the car from beneath the surfaceare not necessarily united. They are separable features. The car may be supported from a truck movable within the conduit, whether power be applied below or above the street-surface and without regard to the character of the power. For example, animals might be used in th e customary way. If the power be applied within the conduit, it maybe communicated by any suitable transmitterfor example, a cable or electric conductors. I especially designed the car, however, and use as my preferred means of applying power the revoluble shaft or drum and friction-wheels herein shown and described.

The word drum as herein used, whether in the specification or claims, is used not as a term of limitation, but simply as a term of identification. The driving-shaft may be either hollow or solid, as desired. The term drum, as herein used, is intended to cover any form of driving-shaft. In elevated roads the conduit-tube could be omitted. Its advantages are evident.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. The combination, with a-slotted underground conduit, of a car body above the street-surface, a car-supporting truck within the conduit movable lengthwise thereof, and a swiveled supporting-connection from the truck to the car through the conduit-slot, sub stantially as described.

2. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of one or more longitudinal truck-guides within said conduit, a car-body above the street-surface, a car-supporting truck within the conduit movable lengthwise of said guides, and a swiveled supportingconnection from the truck to the car, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a car body above the street-surface, a truck within the conduit movable lengthwise thereof, a car-supporting bolster having a rigid connection with the truck through the conduit-slot, and ball-bearings uniting the bolster and car-body, substantially as described, for the better traversing of curves. 4

4E. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of one or more longitudinal truck-guides within the conduit, a car-body above the street-surface, a car-supporting truck within the conduit movable lengthwise of said guides, a car-supporting bolster having a rigid connection with said truck through the conduit-slot, and ball-bearin gs uniting the bolster and car-body, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a car-body above the street-surface, two or more independent trucks within the conduit movable lengthwise thereof, corresponding independent supportingbolsters, each having a rigid connection through the conduit-slot with its respective truck, and ball-bearings uniting the bolsters and the car-body, substantially as described.

6. r The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a car-body above the street-surface, two or more independent cartrucks within the conduit movable lengthwise thereof, two or more independent carsupporting bolsters corresponding in number to the number of trucks, each having a rigid connection through the conduit-slot with its respective truck, ball-bearings uniting the bolsters and the car-body, and pivoted couplings connecting the trucks, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a movable car, of a combined supporting and propelling drum extending the entire line of the cars travel, adapted of itself to sustain the car and propel the same, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with a movable car, of a combined car supporting and propelling drum and one or more lateral-pressure rails or guides for limiting the oscillation of the car, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with a revoluble car supporting and driving drum, of a movable car provided with friction-wheels mounted on said drum and engageable therewith at an .ngle to its axis, and one or more lateralpressure rails or guides for limiting the oscillation of the car, substantially as described.

10. The combination, with a revoluble car supporting and driving drum, of a movable car having friction-wheels adjustable to different angles mounted on said drum and engageable therewith by frictional contact, substantially as described.

11. The combination, with a revoluble car supporting and driving drum, of a movable car provided with friction-wheels adjustable to different angles mounted on said drum, engageable therewith by frictional contact at variable angles, and one or more lateral-pressure guides or rails for limiting the oscillation of the car, substantially as described.

12. The combination, with a revoluble car-supporting and car-driving drum, of a movable car provided with friction-wheels mounted on said drum, engageable therewith at an angle to its axis, one or more lateralpressure rails or guides for limiting the 0scillation, and one or more lateral-pressure rollers adapted to engage said guides, substantially as described.

13. Thecombination, with a revoluble cardriving drum made up of sections coupled together, of a movable car provided with friction-wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis and coupling-space bridges for carrying the friction -wheels over the coupling-spaces, substantially as described.

14. The combination, with a revoluble cardriving drum made up of sections coupled together, of a movable car provided with a friction-wheel truck having friction-wheels engageable with said drums at an angle to its axis, coupling-space bridges, and carrying or bridging rollers on the friction-wheel truck for engaging said bridges and carrying the friction-wheel truck over the coupling-spaces, substantially as described.

15. The combination, with a slotted under ground conduit, of a revoluble car supporting and propelling drum within said conduit, a car-body above the street-surface, a friction-wheel truck provided with frictionwheels mounted on said drum and engageable therewith at an angle to its axis, and a supportingconneetion from the truck to the car through the conduit-slot, substantially as described.

16. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a revoluble car supporting and propelling drum within the conduit, a carbody above the streetsurface, a friction-wheel truck having friction-wheels mounted on said drum engageable therewith at an angle to its axis, a supporting-eonnection from the truck to the car through the conduit-slot, one or more lateral-pressure rails or guides within the conduit, and one or more lateral-pressure rollers on the trucks or supporting-connection for engaging with said rails or guides, substantially as described.

17. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a revoluble car supporting and driving drum within the conduit, a carbody above the street-s urface, a friction-whee1 truck having friction-wheels mounted on said drum engageable therewith at an angle to its axis, a car-supporting bolster having a rigid connection through the conduit-slot with the truck, and ball-bearings uniting the bolster and car-body, substantially as described.

18. The combinatiomwith a slotted conduit, of a car supporting and driving drum therein, a car-body, independent trucks having angularly-adjustable friction-wheels mounted on said drum, independent bolsters rigidly connected to the trucks, extending through the slot in the conduit, and provided with laterally-extending arms, spanning-bars coupling the bolsters into sets of two or more, and ballbearings between the spanning bars and bolster-arms, substantially as described.

19. The combination, with a slotted underground conduit, of a revolublc car supporting and driving drum within the conduit, a carbody above the street-surface, a friction-wheel truck having swiveled friction-wheels mounted on said drum engageable therewith at variable angles to its axis, a carsupporting bolster having a rigid connection with said truck through the conduit-slot, ballbearings uniting said bolster and car-body, one or more lateral-pressure rails within the conduit, and one or more lateral-pressure rollers on said trucks or rigid car-connections, substantially as described.

20. The combination, with the slotted conduit, of the car supporting and driving drum, the car-body, the independent trucks with angularly-adjustable friction-wheels, the rigid bolsters extending from the trucks and having lateral arms, the pivotally-connected sectional spanning-bars coupling the bolster into sets of two or more, the ball-bearings between the spanning-bars and bolster-arms, the equalizers and springs between the spanning-bars and the car-body, the lateral-pressure rails within the conduit, and the lateral-pressure rollers on the truck-frame, substantially as described.

21. The combination, with a cardriving drum, of a car-body, a truck having frictionwheels en gageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, a bolster provided with laterallyextended arms connecting the truck and the car-body, and ball-bearings between the carbody and the bolster-arms, substantially as described.

22. The combination, with a car-driving drum, of a car-body, two or more independent tru cks having friction-wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters provided with lat erally-extended arms connecting the respective trucks with the car-body, and ball-bearings interposed between the bolster-arms and the car-body, substantially as described.

23. The combination, with a car-body, of a car-driving drum, two or more independent trucks having friction-wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters provided with laterally-extended arms, each bolster connecting its respective truck with the car-body, ballbearings interposed between the bolster-arms and the car-body, and pivotal connections coupling together said independent trucks, substantially as described.

24:. The combination, with a car-body, of a car-driving drum, two or more independent trucks, each having friction-wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters provided with laterally-extended arms, each bolster adapted to support the car-body therefrom,

spanning-bars interposed between the bolsterarms and the car-body and connecting the same together in sets of two or more, and ballbearings interposed between the bolster-arms and spann ing-bars, substantially as described.

25. The combination, with a car-body, of a car-driving drum, two or more independent trucks, each having friction-wheels engageable with said car at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters provided with laterally-extending arms, each bolster being connected with its respective truck and adapted to support the car-body therefrom, spanning-bars composed of sections pivotally conn eeted interposed between the bolsterarms and the car-body, and ball-bearings between the bolster-arms and the spanning-bars, substantially as described.

26. The combination, with a car-body, of a car-driving drum, two'or more independent trucks having friction-wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters provided with laterally-extended arms, each bolster being connected to its respective truck and adapted to support the car-body therefrom, spanningbars connecting the bolster-arms into sets of two or more, ball-bearings between the spanni1ig-bars and bolster-arms, and equalizers between the spanning-bars and the car-body, substantially as described.

27. The combination, with a car-body, of a car-driving drum, two or more independenttrucks having friction-Wheels engageable with said drum at an angle to its axis, corresponding independent bolsters having laterally-extended arms, each bolster connected to its respective truck and adapted to support the I o car-bod y therefrom, spannin g-bars eonnectin g the bolster-arms into sets of two or more, ballbearings between the bolster-arms and spanning-bars,equalizers pivotallyconnectedtothe car-body, and springs between the spanningbars and the equalizers, substantially as described.

-WI-IIlCOlVIB L. JUDSON. In presence of- J AS. F. WILLIAMsoN, EMMA F. ELMORE.