US437742A - Surface cattle-guard - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. WHITTEMORE.

SURFACE CATTLE GUARD.

No. 437,742. Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

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Wain/eases: JIZI/EIZZO/"J M James Wild/aware UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

JAMES IVHITTEMORE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL SURFACE GUARD COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SU RFACE CATTLE-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,742, dated October '7, 1890.

Application filed May 5, 1890. Serial No. 350,628. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES WHITTEMORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of WVayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Surface Cattle-Guards, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway surface cattle-guards; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction of the grating or sections laid upon the track at road-crossings; further, in the peculiar construction of the gratings whereby they are suspended and free to vibrate, and, further, in the peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts, all as more fully hereinafter described.

In the drawings which accompanythis specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of my guard. Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof on line 00 00. Fig. 3 is a detached perspective View of a portion of one of the gratings. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modification. Fig. 5 is a cross-sec tion thereof on line y y.

A are the rails, and B the ties of a railwaytrack.

In the present state of the art railway cattleguards are constructed of gratings laid upon the track at each side of a road-crossing. Many different forms of these have been devised, the aim of all being to give so insecure a footing to cattle attempting to cross the guard as to deter them from doing so. To this end gratings of different forms have been made, which, however, have heretofore been fixed in position upon the track, some having gu ard-rails of different heights, some arranged with guard-rails free to vibrate in fixed bearings, and various other styles.

My invention consists in suspending the grating in such a manner that the gratings themselves will have a vibratory motion.

C, D, and D are respectively the innerand outer sections of gratings, which are formed of guards-rails a, assembled together by means of cross-bars b, which have notches con their upper edges to receive the lower edges of the rails a at each end. This bar has the upturned flange cl, bearing against the side of the end rail. This flange and all the guard-rails are correspondingly apertured to receive the rod 6, which tightly clamps the rails in position in the grating.

Secured upon the ties at each end of the grating are the supporting-bars E, which preferably consist of sheet metal bent to have the vertical portion f, the inclined portion g, and the lateral extension or foot h.

F are cranks engaged at one end in the bar E and at the other end in an aperture in the connecting-bar I), all so arranged that the grating is suspended free from the ties upon the cranks and is free to vibrate in case an animal should step upon it. Thegrating itself may be made rigid or with the bars supported only at the ends, whereby each bar may be made flexible. 7

I preferably make the grating rigid, and to this end I use the central connecting-bar G,

which is of similar construction to the bars I), previously described, except that. it is secured only to the side guard-rails, and no clamping-rod such as e is required.

The supporting-bars E, having the inclined face 9, will ward oif any dangling chains or hooks, so that they will notbe apt to catch in the guard-rails.

Instead of supporting the grating by means of the cranks, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3,

to cause them to vibrate, I have shown in Figs. 4 and 5 another way of doing the same thing, which is providing the sections centrally with the pin Z, engaging in the sup porting-bar E, so that the guard-rails will tip one from one side to the other, giving the necessary movement or vibration to frighten the cattle from crossing.

It will be seen that by this construction I obtain all the benefits of the present style of guard in having an irregular and difficult footing for the animal, and in addition thereto give the grating such a vibratory motion as effectually to destroy the footing of the ani- 5 mal.

hat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a cattle-guard, the combination, with cross-bars, of guard-rails rigidly secured on the same and means for inovably supporting I00 the cross-bars, substantially as described.

2. A cattle-guard consisting of one or more gratings and means for movably suspending and securing the gratings, substantially as described.

3. A cattleguard composed of gratings, supporting-bars secured upon the track, and means for suspending said gratings from the supporting-bars, substantially as described.

4. In a cattle-guard, the combination, with the gratings having cross-bars at their ends,

of supporting-bars beside said cross-bars and of double cranks having their ends journaled, {)espectively, in the cross-bars and supportingars.

5. In a cattle-guard, the combination of the guard-rails e, the cross-bars b, notched to reoeive said guard-rails, and the connectingrod e, securing the cross-bar and guard-rails together, substantially as described.

6. In a cattle-guard, the combination, with vthe grating having cross-bars b, of the sup- 2o porting-bars E, having the vertical portion 7 and the inclined portion g, and the crank F,

engaging in the cross-bars b at one end and the vertical portion f of the supporting-bars at the other end, substantially as described. 25 In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES WHITTEMORE. Witnesses:

M. B. ODOGHERTY, P. M. HULBERT.

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