US604081A - Willard p - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

N0. 604,081. Patentd May 17,1898.

I I INVENTOR WITNESSES; v w? v m ZYTiQQE$ ed e Ni'rn STATES WILLARD F. RICHARDS, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES M. GOULD, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC-LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 604,081, dated May 17, 1898.

Application filed September 16, 1897- Serial No. 651,840. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLARD F. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric-Lighting Systems for Railway- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an electric-lighting apparatus for railroad-cars in which the dynamo is driven from the car-axle bya belt and the dynamo is movable toward and from the driving-axle, so that the belt slips when the speed of thedriving-axle exceeds that which is necessary to properly drive the dynamo, thereby neutralizing such excess of speed and maintaining a practically uniform normal speed of the dynamo. An apparatus of this general character is described and shown in the application for patent of Preston and Gill, filed February 25, 1895, Serial No. 539,618. In this apparatus the dynamo is suspended on one side of its oenterof gravity and the overhanging weight of the dynamo is utilized for tightening the belt. This one: sided suspension of the dynamo answers well when the dynamo is comparatively small, but is unsuitable for large dynamos such as are required for furnishing sufficient candlepower toilluminate satisfactorily coaches and chair and sleeping cars of the size ordinarily used on American railroads. I

One of the objects of my invention is to regulate the adhesion ofthe driving-belt automatically, but irrespective of the weight of the dynamo, so thata largeoutput of current can be secured without rendering the dynamo exceedingly heavy and bulky.

Another object of my invention is to check the vibrations of the dynamo'in coupling the cars and in starting and stopping. In coupling cars provided with the usual automatic car-couplings and spring-bufiers or yielding platform extensions the ears must be brought together with sufficient force to overcome the resistance of the spring-buffers andpermit the couplings to interlock. When these cars are equipped with an electric-lighting system employinga movable dynamo, the concussion incident to coupling causes the dynamo to move from its position of rest toward the carsame and to suspend the dynamo in such manner as to keep its shaft parallel with the car-axle.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of a dynamo suspended from a car-frame and provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation showing a modified construction of the invention.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

A is the car-frame; A, the floor of the car; B one of the car-axles, and B one of the wheels mounted thereon.

C is the dynamosuspended from the carframe, 0 the armature-shaft having the driving-pulley c, and D the driving-belt running around the pulley of the armature-shaft and a pulley D, secured to the car-axle.

E represents parallel suspension links or hangers which connect the dynamo with a base-plate F, secured to the under side of the car-frame, and which are pivoted to this plate and the dynamo by transverse pins 6, so as to permit the dynamo to vibrate toward and from the car-axle. Four of such links are preferably employed, two on each side of the dynamo, one pairbeing attached to the upper front corners of the dynamo and the other pair to-its upper-rear corners. These links are of uniform length, so as to cause the dynamo to remain level in all positions thereof instead of assuming an inclined or diagonal position, as is the case when the same is suspended on one side of its center. This construction permits the use of a multipolar dynamo, or one of oblong form arranged with its greatest dimension horizontally, without dan- 10o ger of its striking obstructions on thetrack, which would be liable to occur if such a dynamo were suspended only at one end. By suspending the dynamo at its four corners in this manner the same is prevented from twisting and disturbing the parallelism of the armature-shaft with reference to the car-axle.

In order to tighten the belt D sufficiently to drive the dynamo from the car-axle under normal conditions, a tension device is employed, which preferably is also arranged to act as a resistance for opposing or checking the forward swing of the dynamo caused by the shock of the cars in coupling the same. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and2 of the drawings this tension device consists of an elbow-lever G, pivoted by a transverse fulcrum-pin g to a bracket of the base-plate F and having its short depending arm connected with the front pair of links or hangers E by links 71, while its long horizontal arm is attached to the lower section of a telescopic cylinder I. This cylinder is arranged on the front side of the dynamo underneath the carfloor and contains an upright spring or cushion j, which bears against the heads of the cylinder sections and resists the upward movement of the lower section 011 the upper section, thereby offering a yielding resistance to the upward swing of the long arm of the elbow-lever G and checking the forward vibration of the suspended dynamo.

is a vertical screw whereby the upper sec tion of the cylinder I is adjusted vertically on the lower section for changing the tension of the spring j. This adjusting-screw engages in a screw-threaded opening formed in the upper head of the cylinder and is journaled near its upper end in a bearing is, arranged in the floor of the car. The screw is free to turn in this bearing, but is held against vertical or endwise movement therein by collars 70 formed on the same above and below the bearing, as shown in Fig. 1, so that upon turning the screw in one or the other direction the upper cylinder-section is adjusted up or down on the lower section and the tension of the spring increased or diminished accordingly. The upper cylinder section, while free to slide vertically on the lower section, is held against turning by a vertical rib or feather formed on one of the sections and engaging in a corresponding groove in the other section or by any other suitable means. The adusting-screw preferably extends upwardly through the car-floor, so that it can be operated from the inside of the car, and for this purpose its upper end is made square or flatsided to receive a corresponding detachable wrench Z, which latteris shown bydotted lines in Fig. l.

The spring acts upon the dynamo and presses the same away from the driving-axle, thereby tightening the belt. The motion of the car-axle is transmitted to the dynamoshaft by the belt and the pulleys in the proportion of their diameters, leaving ordinary slip out of consideration, until the car has reached the normal speed for which the spring pressure has been adjusted and at which the dynamo produces the desired outputfor instance, aspeed of twenty-five miles an hour. As the speed of the car increases beyond this speed the increased friction of the belt pulls the dynamo toward the drivingaXle,and this loosens the belt correspondingly, causing a slippage of the belt,which neutralizes the increase in speed and retains the speed of the dynamo-shaft practically at the normal rate, although the speed of the car may far exceed this speed. The linear movement of the dynamo toward and from its driving-axle does not exceed a fraction of an inch, so that the tension of the spring is not materially affected by this movement. The speed and output of the dynamo are thus regulated automatically and independent of theweight of the dynamo, which can be made as small pressure supplies the force by which the output of the dynamo is determined. By increasing this spring-pressure the output is correspondingly increased.

In coupling cars provided with this lighting apparatus the oscillations of the dynamo are reduced to a minimum, as the movement of the dynamo is restrained in one direction by the driving-belt and in the opposite direction by the spring-pressure. The latter holds the dynamopulley snugly in the bight of the belt and prevents the pulley from leaving the belt to such an extent that the belt can run off or can be injured by the pulley striking the belt on resuming its normal position.

The upper arm of the elbow-lever G is preferably considerably longer than its lower arm-say twice as long, as shown. By thus proportioning the arms of the lever the tension device has an advantageous leverage in adjusting the tension of the driving belt, while the dynamo, on the other hand, has an unfavorable leverage over the tension device in swinging forward from the shock of the cars in coupling.

The conducting-wires, switches, and other accessories of the car-lighting system are not shown in the drawings, as they form no part of my invention.

In the modification of my improvement shown in Fig. 3 a weight M is substituted for the telescopic cylinder I and tension-spring j of the first-described construction. This weight is arranged to slide on the upper long arm of the tension-lever and is adjusted thereon for regulating the tension of the drivingbelt by screw-nuts h, mounted on a screw N and bearing against opposite ends of the weight. This screw is attached at its inner end to the vertical arm of the elbow-lever and passes through a smooth opening formed in the weight. In this case the tension of the driving-belt is varied by adjusting the weight toward or from the fulcrum of the elbowlever.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with the car, the drivas circumstances will permit,since the spring- I ing-axle provided with a pulley, the dynamo provided with a pulley and capable of movement toward and from the driving-axle in a substantially horizontal direction, and a driving-belt applied to said pulleys, ofa pressure device attached to the car and pressing the dynamo away from the driving-axle, whereby the pressure is applied to the belt for producing the desired normal speed of the dynamo-shaft irrespective of the weight of the dynamo, while the latter is moved toward the axle when the speed of the latter increases above that which produces the desired normal speed of the dynamo, causing a slip of the belt which neutralizes the excess of speed of the axle, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the car, the driving-axle provided with a pulley, the dynamo provided with a pulley, and the driving-belt,

of front and rear links by which the dynamo is suspended from the can and rendered capable of moving lengthwise of the car in a horizontal position, and a pressure device attached to the car and pressing the dynamo away from the axle, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the car, the driving-axle provided with a pulley, the dynamo ing-axle provided with a pulley, the dynamo provided with a pulley and capable of movement toward and from the driving-axle, of a lever having one arm connected with the dynamo, a telescopic cylinder having one of its sections connected with the other arm of said lever, a pressure-spring arranged in said cylinder, and an adj usting-screw connected w1th the other section of said cylinder, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 9th day of September, 1897.

WILLARD F. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

' CARL F. GEYER,

KATHRYN ELMORE.

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