US48976A

US48976A - Improvement in railways

Info

Publication number: US48976A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1865-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 1882-07-25

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PELATIAH OSGOOD, OF WATERVILLE, MAINE.

IMPROVEM ENT IN RAI LWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,976, dated July 25, 1865.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, PELATIAH OsGooD, of Waterville, in the county of Kennebec and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railways; and I do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying plate of drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of thesarne, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements, by which my invention may be distinguished from all others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

The present invention has for its object the dispensing in railway-tracks with the use of the frogs now employed.

Where it is necessary to have a connection between a series of tracks a frog has heretofore been' indispensable; but its use involves not only considerable expense in its first cost, but a large outlay arising from the wear and tear of the running-geerbt' the railway-carriages while passing over the frogs. By my improvements I so form the communication between one or more tracks as to make a continuous and unbroken communication between them, and in such a manner that the wheels of the car are subject to no more jar or wear than in passing over any other portion of the track. l

My improvements are represented in the accompanying plate ot'V drawings, of which Figure l is a top view ot' my improved railway-track, and Fig. 2 a side view of the same.

a a and b b in the drawings represent two separate railway-tracks that are to be connected or put in communication with a track, c c, common to both.

l d is the switch, operated by the connecting-bars ee and lever-handle fin the usual manner, the switch-rails d d turning upon pivots at g g.

pivots r r. The movable rail q q turns upon a center at s,- but it is evident that this central bearing may, if desired, be dispensed with, as the movable rail q q is firmly held in position by the diverging arms p p.

- It will be seen from the foregoing description that by turning the switch-rails d d the movable rail g q, through the medium ot' the devices hereinabove described, can be so operated as to come into line with either of the tracks a a and b'b, and form an unbroken connection between either of the said tracks and the track c c, common to both,thereby entirely dispensing with the use of the cumbersome and otherwise objectionable frog, the wheels of the carriage, in passing over the movable rail, being subjected to no more jar than at any other p0rtion of the track, thereby enabling the speed of the train to be kept up instead of being abated, as has heretofore been necessary in running over a frog.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent, is

The use of the movable or swinging rail operated with regard to the track c c by means lof the armspp, drum h, bands Z l, lever-handle f, and connecting-bars e e, substantially as de scribed.

PELATIAH OSGOOD.

Witnesses JOSEPH GAVETT, SAMUEL M. BARTON.