US484250A - Switch-operating device - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

G. SCHUMAGHBR. SWITCH OPERATING DEVICE.`

No. 484,250. Patented ont. 1'-1, 1892'.

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I UNTTEE STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

GERHARD SCHUMACHER, OF MILWAUKEE, IVISCONSIN.

SWITCH-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,250, dated October 1 1, 1892.

Application tiled March 16, 1892.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GERHARD SCHUMACHER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and in the State ofIVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Operating Railway-Switches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in devices for operating the movable rails of railway-switches; and it consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure l is a plan view of a switch constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of `the same, illustrating in section the body of a car provided with my improved appliance for engaging with the levers which throw the movable switch-rails. Fig. 3 isan enlarged detail elevation of a portion of the same. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of a portion of the track and switch rails, said section being taken on line 4 4 of Fig. l.

In said drawings, A A represent the maintrack rails, and B B the rails of a side or branch track leading off from the main track.

The construction illustrated in the drawings is that commonly employed in the construction of switches for street-railway tracks, in which a movable switch-point C is pivoted to one of the main-track rails and is arranged to be moved into a position to guide the wheels of a car past the side or branch track or to cause the car to run od from the main track and onto the side or branch track.

I provide a transversely-arran ged lon gitudinally-movable rod D, which is pivotally engaged at d, with the free end of the movable switch point or tongue C, said rod being passed through suitable apertures a. a in the webs of the main-track rails A A, so as to project somewhat beyond the outer surfaces of said rails at both sides of the main track.

Levers E E are pivotally secured at the outside of the two track-rails A A, as at e e., and one end of each of said levers is pivoted to one of the ends of the transverse rod D, as at e e', the free end of each of said levers being turned inwardly, as shown at E', and

Serial No. 425,177. (No model.)

. passed through a slot a in the maintrack movable bar H is passed, said kbar being provided at its top with a pressure-plate h, by means of which the bar may be depressed by pressure applied thereto by the foot of the driver or other person upon the platform. A spring H is arranged so as to normally hold each of the bars l-l H in its elevated position. y

The operation of my improved device is as follows: When a car approaches the junction of the two tracks and it. is desired to set the switch so as to guide the car onto the side track, the person upon the front platform of the car applies pressure to the bar H upon the side of the platform toward which it is de' sired to go, so as to depress said bar and cause it to engage atits lowerend with the inwardly projecting inclined surface of the wedgeshaped plate E of the lever E, which is located at that side of the track, so as to vibrate the free end ofsaid lever outwardly and move the end which'is connected with the switchbar inwardly. This movement of the lever and connected parts will cause the switch point or tongue to be moved into the position illustrated in Fig. 1 in an obvious manner, so as to guide the car onto the side track B. If now another car approaches the switch and itis desired to run said latter car straight ahead upon the main track, the person upon the front platform may by depressing the bar H upon the other side of the platform cause the same to engage with the other one of the levers E, so as to move the switch point or tongue in the opposite direction from thatbefore described, thus enabling the car to proceed past the switch upon the main track. Similarly, when a car approaches the switch in the dark and it is impossible to see which way said switch is set the driver or other person on the platform may insure the proper operation of the switch by simply depressing the bar H at the side of the car, which will IOO engage with the one of the levers E E to adjust the switch-point in the desired direction, when, if the switch is not already in the desired position, the lever E will be operated so as to effect the desired adjustment, and if the switch has already been so adjusted no movement of the parts will be produced.

By my improvements the switch point or tongue may be set to the desired position as the car approaches the switch without stopping the car and without any exertion on the part of the driver or other person on the platform other than to depress the desired one of the bars H.

While I have shown and described my improvementsas applied tothe rails of a streetrailway track, yet I would have it understood that said improvements are equally applicable to the rails of railroad-tracks for steam-cars, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to the exact form of construction and arrangement of parts shown in the Tdrawings and herein described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. The combination,withthe track-railsand the movable switch-tongue of a railway-track, of a transversely-arranged longitudinally movable rod engaged with said movable switch-tongue and pivoted levers extending longitudinally adjacent to the track-rails and arranged to vibrate horizontally, each of said levers being pivotally engaged at one end with one end of said transverse rod and provided at its free end with a laterally-oblique surface adapted for engagement with a depending device upon a car, whereby saidlevers may be vibrated into a position to shift said transverse rod and. the connected. switchtongue, substantially as described.

2. The combination7 with the maintrack rails and the movable switch-tongue of a railway-track, of a transversely-arranged longitudinally-movable rod pivotally engaged with said movable switch-tongue and extending outside of the track-rails upon opposite sides of the track, levers extending lengthwise of the track and pivotally supported upon opposite sides thereof and arranged to vibrate horizontally, each of said levers being pivotally engaged at one end with one end of the transverse rod, suitable slots in the webs of thetrack-rails,andinwardly-extendingwedgeshapedprojections upon the free ends of said levers, arranged to project through said slots and adapted for engagement with a suitable depending device upon a car, whereby said lever may be vibrated to shift the transverse rod and the connected switch-tongue, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the main-track rails and the movable switch-tongue of a raila vertically-movable bar adapted to be movedy into a position to be engaged with the inclined surface on one of said levers tovibrate said lever and the connected switch-tongue, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in

the county of Milwaukee and State of Wist cousin, in the presence of two witnesses.

GERHARD SCI-IUMACI-IER.

Vtitnesses:

JOHN E. WILES, I-I. G. UNDERwooD.

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