US633887A - Electric-railway rail-bond. - Google Patents

Description

Nu. 633,887. I Patanted Sept. 26, I899.

' T. J. McTIGHE.

ELECTRIC RAlLWAY RAIL BOND.

(Aypiicutina Mud In 24, 1809.)

{In Model.)

A TTORNEYS lib I THOMAS J. MOTIGHEE, OF NEW YORK, Y.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY. RAIL-EON e.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,887, dated September 26, 1899. Application filed May 24, 71899. Serial in. 713,092. on model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. MOTIGHE, a citizen of the United States, and aresident ofnew York, in the county of New York and bility in all directions to accommodate the various motions to which railway-rails are subject in use.

A further objectofmy invention is to construct such a rail-bond of a single piece of wrought metal.

A further object is to form the terminals in such a way as to facilitate their application to the drill-holes in the rails and effect a tight and permanent contact therewith.

To these and other ends my invention consists in the construction and mode of application, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the drawings which form part of this specification, Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a face view and transverse section of a railbond made after my invention before the body has been made flexible. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views of the same bond after the slitting of the middle portion of the body or strap. Figs. 5 andfi are respectively a side elevation and transverse vertical section of one kind of slitting-dies which can be used Figs. 7, 8, and 9 areface views of the finished bond with the strips bent laterally to allow. for contraction and expansion of the rails. Fig. 10 isan edge view showing the slitted strap with transverse crimping for thesame purpose. Fig. 11 isa transverse section of a modification, and Fig 'i 12 shows the rail and one terminal insection and the adjacent faces of the compressing-tool ready for operation of upsetting said terminal in the hole drilled for it in the rail.

Fig. 1 illustrates the form I prefer,with the solid massive terminals A for attachment to the rails, with ilanges or shoulders a wholly i surrounding the said terminals and the flat connecting body or strap B, the terminals A being designed to passe little more than through the rail to allow for upsetting therein. Such a rail-bond may be made in various ways but I prefer to make it of a single piece of wire or rod by upsetting, shaping, and flattening, as described in my application filed March 23 arail-bond all the parts of which are abso- 1897, Serial No. 628,886, thus producing lutely integral and in which the terminals are massive and solid. The bond is as yet practically unyielding to vertical and longitudinal movement of the rails. I therefore subdivide the strap B'into a number of parallel strips 0 in any suitable manner-such, for'example, as the slitting-dies D E. The slits do not extend to the terminals,'as it is desirable to leave an unbroken flange or shoulder a all around the head of the solid terminal. This slitting maybe done with saws or by other me'aus- The rail-bond thus formed, Figs. 3 and 4, is quite flexible and will yield to all lateral and vertical movements of the rails, and if applied diagonally to the rails it allows for contraction and expansion; but I propose to bend'the strap or its row of strips, as in Fig. 7, or to spread and bend its two halves into oppositely-curved positions, as in Fig. 8 orFig. 9, or crimp the slitted strap trans 'versely. In any of these forms the bond yields to vibration, contraction, and expansion of the rails, can be applied under the fish-plates,and has the advantage of being in a single piece of metal throughout. The electric carrying capacity of such a bond maybe made very great. If required,'the terminals may be made an inch or more in diameter of solid metal and the strap in proportion.

Rail-bonds of this general class are usually attached to the rails by being upset therein by a powerful compressor, either screw or bydraulic. To facilitate such operation, to minimize the weight of metal required for a given vconducting and contact capacity, and to insure a lateral flow of the metal of the terminals radially outward against the walls of the holes in the rails, I proceed as follows: In forming the solid terminals A, I form the conical countersinks sin the center of the outside or head of the terminal. The screw or ram is fitted with an end piece having a conical pin 9, projecting axially, as in Fig. 12, and fitting the countersink. After the pin is pressed home in the countersink s of the terminal in the operation of forcing the latter into its hole in the rail the continued application of the pressure causes the other side of the press to act upon the farther or inner end of the terminal and compels the metal from that side to flow down the conical face of the pin and'spread out and completely fill all irregularities in the walls of the hole.

WVhere extreme flexibility is desired, the fiat strap of the bond may be'made relatively wider and thinner and the strips after slitting may be twisted up nearly or wholly at right angles to the plane of the strap.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A rail-bond made of wrought metal in one integral piece coinprisingshouldered solid rail attaching terminals and an edgewise yielding fiat connecting-strap.

2. A rail-bond made of wrought metal in one integral piece comprising a flat conducting-strap, flexible edgewise, with solid terminals located Wholly outside the flexible section of the strap and connected therewith by rigid portions forming shoulders for the terminals.

3. A rail-bond made of wrought metal in one integral piece comprising solid terminals with shoulders surrounding their bases and a fiat, edgewise-fleitible, conducting-strap connectingsaid shoulders.

A rail-bond made of wrought metal in one integral piece comprisingaflat, edgewiseflexible, conducting-strap having upset solid terminals. 7 I

5. A rail-bond made of Wrought metal in one integral piece comprising a fiat, longitudinally-slitted, conducting-strap with upset solid shouldered terminals formed at right angles to the plane of the strap.

6. A one-piece rail-bond of wrought metal, consisting of the solid rail-attaching terminals A with heads or shoulders a surrounding the same and connected between the shoulders by a flattened body or strap integral therewith and slitted lengthwise between the said shoulders, substantially as described.

7. A rail-bond made of wrought metal in one integral piece consisting of solid rail-attaching terminals and a connecting-body of metal, such terminals being cylindrical and having heads or shoulders surrounding their .outer ends, and conntersinks in the said outer ends, substantially as and for the purpose described.

Si ned at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of May, A. D. 1899.

THOMAS J. MCTIGHE.

Vitnesses:

WM. G. MoRRIsEY, FRANK W. BLANKLEY.

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