US542977A - penny - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

{No Model.)

. W. H. PENNY.

TRACK SWEEPING ATTACHMENT I'OR STREET CARS; No. 542,977.

Patented July 16, 1895..

"(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2. W. H. PENNY.

TRACK $WEEPING ATTACHMENT FOR STREET CARS. No. 542,977. Patented July 16', 1895.

WITNESSES v ek. 7M.f 437 LM,

(No- Model.) a Sheets-Sheet s.

W. H. PENNY. I

TRACK SWEEPING ATTAGHMENT FOR STREET CARS. N0.;5'4 2,977. v Patented July 16, 1 895.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTORNEY NITE STATES ATENT FFICEQ ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF PLACE.

TRACK-SWEEPING ATTACHMENT FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,977, dated July 16, 1895. Application filed September 21, 1894. Serial No. 523,735. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. PENNY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Sweeping Attachments for Street-Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in track-sweeping attachments to street-cars, and has for its obparticularly pointed ject to provide a simple and economical device of this description which shall be under the control of the car-driver; and, with these ends in view,-my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter fully explained, and

out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a bottom View, partly broken away, of a street car equipped with my improvement; Fig. 2, a side elevation; Fig. 3, a section at the line a: a: of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a detail perspective of one of the brush-hangers; Fig. 5, a section at the line yy of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6, a detail perspective of one of the journal-boxes, to be more particularly hereinafter described.

My improvement is applied at each end of the car so as to sweep the tracks 'in front of either set of wheels; but in order to avoid mere duplication I have shown only one end of a car equipped with my improvement.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

1 is the floor of the car; 2, the axle; 3, the wheels, and 4 the platform.

At the forward end of the platform are hangers 5, within which is journaled a short counter-shaft 6.

Located between the hangers 5 at the end of the platform and the axle 2 are hangers 7, within which is journaled a short shaft 8.

9 10 are sprocket-wheels which are secured respectively on the shafts 6 8, and 11 is a sprocket-chain which gears said wheels together.

12 are inclined shafts, the inner ends of which are connected to the ends of the shaft 8 by gimbal-joints 13. The outer ends of these shafts 12 pass freely through journalboxes let within the hangers 15. 16 are the brushes which are secured on the outer ends of the shafts 12.

17 is a large sprocket-wheel fast on the axle 2, and 18 is a sprocket-wl1eel of smaller diameter mounted loosely on the counter-shaft 6.

19 is a twisted sprocket-chain which gears the sprocket-wheels l7 and 18 together, whereby motion is imparted to said sprocket-wheel 18 in a direction opposite to that in which the axle 2 is rotated. 20 is a clutch-hub formed integral with the sprocket- wheel 18, and 21 is an ordinary clutch splined on the countershaft 6. 22 is an operating-lever pivoted at 23 to the platform of the car, (see Fig. 3,) by means of which the clutch 21 may be operated to engage or disengage the teeth of the hub 20.

The brushes 16 are capable of a free vertical movement, so that when obstructions or uneven surfaces are encountered said brushes may ride over the same without danger of becoming broken, and said raised up off the track when not in use.

The hangers 15, within which the shafts 12 are journaled, are of special construction; but since both these hangers are exactly alike a description of one of said hangers is deemed sufficient.

24 is a long gate within the hanger 15, (see Figs. 4, 5, and 6,) and 25 are grooves within said hanger on opposite sides of the gate. The journal-box 14, through which the shaft 12 passes, has pins 26 on opposite sides which fit within the grooves 25, so that it will be readily understood that when the shaft 12 and brush attached thereto are moved in a vertical plane the j ournal-box, by the manner of its arrangement within the hanger, will readily accommodate itself to this movement. The means employed for elevating the brushes from the tracks are of course exactly alike for each brush, and I shall refer only to one of these mechanisms.

26 is a rock-shaft journaled in bearings 27.

brushes may be 28 is a crank formed on one end of this rockshaft and provided with an elongated slot 29 through which the shaft 12 is passed. 30 is a hand-lever secured to the outer end of the rock-shaft. It will be'clearly understood that rocking this shaft 26 in one direction or another by means of the hand-lever 30 will operate to depress or elevate the brushes 16.

In the operation of my improvement the power is transmitted to the device from the car-axle by means of the twisted sprocketchain 19, which causes the brushes to rotate in a direction opposite to that in which the car-axle is rotated, the effect of which is to throw the dirt, snow, 860., out and away from the wheels of the car.

The brushes 16 are conical in shape, being smallest at the outer ends, the object of which construction is to enable the outer ends of all the bristles of the brush to evenly sweep the ground and rails when the brushes are in operative position.

It will be observed that the shafts 12 are inclined downwardly and rearwardly, the object of the downward incline being to enable the driving parts to be arranged close to the bottom of the car-body and as far away from the roadbed as possible, so that obstructions, such as dirt or snow, will not parts or impede the progress of the car. The object of the rearward incline of the shafts 12 is to enable the brushes in their rotary movements to sweep outwardly at an angle across the car-tracks, it being obvious that if these brushes extend outwardly at right angles to the sides of the car they would simply sweep dirt or other obstructions in an accumulated mass directly in front of the brushes and upon the rails. The conical brush compensates in a measure for the downward inclination of the shaft.

The arrangement of shafts inclined to the clog up such rear and having cylindrical brushes thereon is shown in patent to Seror, No. 444,675, dated January 13, 1891. I do not claim such construction.

It will also be observed that by providing separate and independent levers 30 for elevating and lowering the brushes the latter may be operated independent of each other, and this is a feature of considerable advanrage in some instances.

The tilting and sliding boxes 14: through which the shafts 12 freely pass not only serve to guide and properly sustain the shafts, but also automatically adapt themselves to the movements of the latter, so that there can be no cramping or binding which might retard the movements of the shafts or produce undue friction.

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

In a streetcar track sweeping machine, the transverse driving shaft, the inclined shafts connected by universal joints at the outer ends thereof and supported in vertically movable bearings and carrying brushes, and sepa rate rock shafts having slotted crank arms through the slots of which the brush shafts pass, and means for rotating said rock shafts and thereby raising or lowering the brushes, all combined substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WVILLIAM II. PENNY.

Witnesses:

F. W. SMITH, Jr., M. T. LONGDEN.

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