US480918A - Electric locomotive - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet; 1. R. EICKEMBYER. ELECTRIC LOGOMOTIVE No. 480,918. Patented Aug. 16, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

R. EIGKEMEYER. ELECTRIC LOGOMOTIVE.

No. 480,918. Patented Au 16, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLF EIOKEMEYER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE EICKE- MEYER FIELD COMPANY, OF NEWV YORK.

ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,918, dated August 16, 1892.

Application filed December 21, 1889. Serial No. 334,487- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUDOLF EIOKEMEYER, of Yonkers, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Locomotives; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

In my pending application for patent filed January 28, 1889, Serial No. 297,775, I disclosed certain improvements in electric cars or locomotives involving the carrying of the electric motor beneath and by the sill-frame of the car, but the motor and gearing were so organized as to necessitate either small wheels on the driving-axle or an unduly-elevated carfloor.

My present improvements have been devised with a View to securing those advantages which accrue from mounting an electric motor so that it will be carried by and be suspended fromthe sill-framingof a truck or a carbody in connection with the use of car-wheels of the usual sizes on the driving-axle or even larger than usual without any need of having the bottom of the car located at any greater height from the rails than in ordinary cars. For accomplishing said ends I have so mounted or secured the electric motor to the under side of the car-body or sill-frame as to locate the armature-shaft substantially in the same horizontal plane as that occupied by the caraxles and connected one of said axles with the counter-shaft by means of gearing, the counter-shaft being located between the axle and the armature-shaft in the same horizontal plane. I have also organized the motor and gearing with special reference to smooth and easy operation, as well as to secure great strength and durability, and after describing my improvements in detail the features deemed novel will be specified in the several clauses of claim hereunto'annexed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 in plan view illustrates the sill-framing of a car or truck with my said improvements applied thereto,the latter being partially in top view and partially in horizontal section. Fig. 2 illustrates the same in longitudinal vertical section on line to, Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 illustrate the same in cross-vertical section, respectively on lines or, y, and 2. Figs. 6 to 10, inclusive, illustrate certain coupling arms and links employed for flexibly bracing the motor-from a gear-frame and for connecting the cranks by which power is communicated from the motor-shaft to the counter-shaft and its gearing.

The sill or truck framing of a locomotive or car may be widely varied in its character so long as it aifords a proper support for the electric motor. As here shown, said framing A consists of side pieces, end pieces, and a heavy centrally-located cross-piece a, braced at its ends, as at 0., to afford a suitable support for the electric motor. The truck-frame is mounted, as usual, on the car-axles and with springs applied in the ordinary manner, the wheels and axles a differing from those of ordinary cars onlyso far as maybe deemed proper in the matter of strength.

The electric motors preferably used by me are of the type disclosed in my Letters Patent No. 358,340, and they are also described in my said pending application for patent, Serial No. 297,775, said machines being so organized as to develop but little, if any, external magnetic field.

The electric motor B is firmly secured to and pendent from the heavy cross-piece a, with the armatureshaft b located in the same horizontal plane as that occupied by the caraxle o to which the power is applied by way of a counter-shaft O, a pinion c thereon, and. a large gear 61, carried centrally on the axle a the armature-shaft and the counter-shaft being operatively connected at one or both ends by crank-disks e e e e and coupling-links f f, of which twoforms are shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the latter f being further shown in Figs. 1, 9, and 10, and thesewill be hereinafalso the counter-shaft, except its two ends, the bearingsfor said shaft being afforded by two bushings g g, which are clamped and held between the two halves of the casing, the latter being divided on a horizontal line and bolted together, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

For firmly maintaining the casing and the counter-shaft in their proper positions with relation to the axle and to the motor-shaft b said casing or gear-frame, being wholly supported by the geared axle, is well braced by means of pendent hanger h on the forward axle and a brace plate or beam h extended from the bottom of said hanger and rigidly bolted to the side of a pendent web 71. 011 the gear frame or casing.

:It will beseen that the electric-motor is carried by the spring-supported truck-frame, and it is therefore free to rise and fall and to tilt wholly independently of the car-axles, and

ments being liable to occur without a corresponding movement of the car-body and n1otor; but notwithstandingthese independent capacities for movement the motor is flexibly braced from the casing and counter-shaft .by means of coupling-arms 11 2' near each end of said shaft. Each of these arms 11 has at one end a cylindrical box or sleeve 11', which is fitted to the exterior of a bushing g and at the other end a ball-socket box '6 which is fitted to a ball-bearing b, sleeved upon thearmature-shaft b, as specially illustrated in Fig. 10. These arms 91 '5 therefore serve as bracearms, which prevent the electric motor from unduly straining at the bolts by which it is suspended and permit the motor to rise and fall or to tilt with the car-body, and they also relieve the coupling-links f from strains other than those involved in the transmission of power, and should toothed gearing be employed for driving the counter-shaft the importance of these flexibly-bracing arms would be still more apparent.

It will be seen that the coupling-brace.

arms can be subjected to no torsional strains, and as this is equally important with respect of thecoupling-links f or f, each at one end.

has acylindrical box f for the crank-pin on the crank-disk of the counter-shaft and at its other end a globular box f which engages with a ball-bearing sleeve f on the.

crank-pin of the disk on the motor-shaft b, as clearly indicated in Fig. 10. With these parts thus organized the electric motor isnot exposed to injury resulting from the shocks or jars necessarily borne by the wheels, axles, and gearing, and during the swaying or rocking of the car-body or truck-frame with the electric motor power is transmitted smoothly and effectively to the counter-shaft, and thence to the car-axle.

Referring now to the frame or casing D it will be seen that its function as a casing for the gearing is quite subordinate to it function as a frame, inasmuch as if it be so constructed that it can perform its latter function only theproper inclosure of the gearing can be readily accomplished by mounting upon said frame suitable sheet-iron or even wooden casings. Considered purely as a gear-frame, carried wholly by the geared axle, those portions thereof are essential, by means of which the counter-shaftis held in a line parallel with the axle, and that pendent portion or web below the axle, (and also below the counter-shaft,) to which the brace plate or beam h is bolted, for preventing the frame D from rotation onthe axle and maintaining it in its proper position. This feature of suspending the motor from the truckframe between the axles and bracing the gear-frame from the second axle is novel and of special value, although said gear-frame may be otherwise braced without departure from certain portions of my invention. In some cases two electric motors are employed, one for each axle, and then the brace h is duplicated for the second gear-frame.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In an electric locomotive or car, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a car-axle, an electric motor secured to and pendent from the truck-frame or bottom of thecar and .having its armature shaft substantially in the horizontal plane occupied by the axle, a counter-shaft driven by said motor and carriedby the axle in the same planeand between the axle and motor, and gearing connecting the countershaft-and. axle.

2. In an electric locomotive or car, the combination of an electric motor secured to and pendent from the truck-frame, an axle, a counter-shaft driven by the motor and geared to said axle, a gear-frame which is carried by the axle and supports the counter-shaft and maintains it in' the same horizontal plane and parallel with said axle, and hinged arms for flexibly bracing the motor from the gearframe.

3. In an electric locomotive or car, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a truck-frame, a motor suspended from said truck frame between the axles, a counter-shaft driven by the electric motor and geared to one of a pair of car-axles, and a gear frame which is carried wholly by the geared axle and braced against rotation thereon by means of a brace extending to and connected with the second axle.

4. In an electric locomotive or car, the combination of a counter-shaft geared to an axle,

supported thereon and provided witha crank, pin of the counter-shaft, substantially as dean electric motor supported by 2, springscribed. mounted frame and having on its armatureshaft a, crank, and a connecting-link having RUDOLF EICKEMEYhR' at one end a ball-bearing sleeved upon the Witnesses:

crank-pin of the armature-shaft and at the R. EIOKEMEYER, J12,

other end a cylindrical bearing for the crank- E. P. MOFFAT.

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