US555921A - Elevated railway - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H L BOYLE ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10, 1896.

(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 2. H. L. BOYLE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10, 1896.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-$heet 3.

H. L.BOY LE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10,1896.

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H. L. BOYLE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No.55.5,9Z1." ratentedlvxanlmla' a.

HOMER L. BOYLE, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

ELEVATED RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,921, dated March 10, 1896.

A li ti fil d March 2, 1894. Serial No. 502,120. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HOMER L. B0 YLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usef ul Improvements in Elevated Railways; 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.

This invention relates to improvements in railways, and more particularly to elevated street-railways.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a simple, efficient andinexpensive elevated-railway track, especially adapted for operating suspended street-railway cars, and to dispense with the cumbersome, heavy and expensive beams or girders usually cmployed in structures of this character.

The invention will first be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l represents an end view of an elevated railway constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional plan taken upon the line II II of Fig. 1, looking downward. Fig. 3 is an end View showing a modification of the invention, and Fig. 4 is a detail plan showing a modification of the hinge-jointed track. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation longitudinally of the railway, the section being taken through two of the cross-beams or girders between the hangers at the right of Fig. 1, with the suspended car removed. Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on the line VI VI of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 illustrates a transverse section of an elevated superstructure with provision for suspending three cars and showing rigid track-rails, such as may be employed at street-corners or in passing around curves.

A A in the drawings may denote pillars or posts, which may be arranged at suitable intervals along the line of the railway and support horizontal bars or cross-beams B, from which the railway-cars are suspended. The posts or pillars A may be braced by suitable lateral tie-rods or braces in any desired manner, so as to adapt them to resist lateral strain, it being my purpose to dispense with the usual beams or girders which extend between the arches or elevated supports upon which the cars are suspended.

C 0 denote hangers depending from the cross-beams or superstructure Band having lateral arms or projections c c to support the hinge-jointed rails D D of the track. These rails are composed of a series of plates or links pivoted together in the form of a sprocketchain and may be firmly secured to or upon arms a c or c o of the hangers O or O, as

shown more clearly in Fig. 5, by means of slotted plates or bars I I, to which the ends of the rail-sections D are connected, each plate being provided with a screw-threaded stem c, which passes through a bracket K rigidly secured to the lateral arms of the hangers or to a rigid bar or rail-section L, extending between the hangers, said stem being provided with a nut z" to adapt the linked rails or sprocket-chain to be tightened by adjusting said slotted plates, so as to keep the rails taut between the cross-beams or supports. As an additional securing means and to prevent the plates I from tilting or turning sidewise, bolts Z are passed through the slots in the plates I and have suitable nuts on the ends thereof to hold the plates rigidly in a vertical position. The parallel linked track-rails may be prevented from spreading between the girders by the flanges upon the wheels, and for turning curves or street-corners solid rail-sections of any suitable construotion-as, for instance, an ordinary street-railway rail, as shown in Fig. 7 may be used, extending between the posts which support the hangers. By this construction I dispense with the usual heavy beams 0r girders extending longitudinally between the arches and provide a light and efficient track, which at the same time possesses great strength and is much less expensive than the heavy and costly beams that are ordinarily required for such purposes.

E E denote railway-cars of ordinary construction,which are suspended from the track in such position as to be raised only slightly above the surface of the street, so as to permit easy access to or egress from the cars for the purpose of carrying passengers or loading freight and for similar purposes. These cars may be suspended in various ways, two different methods being illustrated in Fig. 1 and a third method in Fig. 3 of the drawings. At the left of Fig. 1 I have shown a pair of sprocket-wheels F journaled in a suitable frame mounted upon the top of the car, said frame having mounted thereon standards f, either or both of which may be detachable for the purpose of attaching or removing the car when desired. The wheels F are so arranged as to form with the frame and standards f a yoke embracing the traclcrail's, so as to prevent removal or disconnection of the car when once properly connected. The sprocket-wheels may also be provided with flanges f adapted to retain the wheels upon the track-rail and prevent lateral movement thereof.

At the right of Fig. 1 I have shown a truck G, from which the car is suspended and which is provided with sprocket or other suitable wheels II II, and in this instance there are two hangers, arranged, one at either side of the truck, and upon the lateral arms of which the sprocket-chains or track-rails are supported without braces or other connections between the chains.

In the construction illustrated at the left of Fig. 1 a single hanger is used, and, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the chains are connected by tie-rods or braces d d, or by means of cross-rods or braces d, as shown in Fig. 4. In either case the teeth or flanges will prevent the wheels from running off the rails. Either the teeth or the flanges may, however, be dispensed with.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a car suspended from a single hinge-jointed rail or sprocket-chain D, which extends between the elevated horizontal arms or beams K, supported by the columns or pillars L, at one side only of the street, the beam K being braced by means of a brace-rod or truss 70.

It will be understood, of course, that the cars may be suspended from a railway-track of the described construction in various ways and that the track itself may be supported upon cross beams or arches without the use of hangers. Hence I do not desire to be limited to any particular form of elevated structure.

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

1. An elevated-railway track comprising a superstructure provided with hangers depending therefrom, and track-rails consisting of a series of hinged links or plates supported by said hangers, substantially as described.

2. An elevated railway comprising a superstructure provided with pendent hangers, track-rails consisting of a series of hinged links or plates supported by said hangers, and cars suspended from said track rails and. adapted to be propelled along the track, substantially as described.

3. An elevated-railway track consisting of a series of cross-beams supported on suitable posts or pillars arranged along the track,hangers depending from said cross-beams, and track-rails consisting of hinged links or sprocket-chains connecting the hangers and supported thereby, substantially as described.

4. In combination with an elevated-railway track having track-rails composed of sprocket-chains connected to hangers secured to elevated supports, trucks provided with sprocket-wheels arranged to travel along said rails, and cars suspended from said trucks so as to travel slightly above the surface of the street, substantially as described.

5. In combination with an elevated-railway track having the track rail or rails composed of sprocket-chains, a car suspended from wheels arranged to travel along said chains, substantially as described.

6. An elevated-railway track consisting of a series of cross-beams supported 011 suitable posts or pillars arranged at intervals along the track, and track-rails consisting of hinged links or sprocket-chains connecting the crossbeams, substantially as described.

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

HOMER L. BOYLE. lVitnesses OHAs. E. RIoRDoN, J. A. E. GRIsWELL.

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