US633977A - Ditching or excavating machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 633,977. Patented Sept. 26, I899.

w. .B. nonnmnel DWGHING'UH EXCA'VATING IA'DHINE.

(Application Med Apr. 21, law.

(no llddal.) 2 shun-5m:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. non uman, or s'r. Louis, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERIGAN PNEUMATIC RAILWAY DITGHER AND GRADER COMPANY,

OF GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS.

ol'rcHmc. OR- EXCAVATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part ern tt s Patent mieeaew, datedseptember 26, 1899.

v Application filed April 21, 1899. Serial No, 713,921. (No model.)

ToaZZ whom, it nmy concern: I

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. DOD

BRIDGE, a citizen of the United states, residing atSt. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and, useful Improve ments 1n Ditching or Exca'vatingMachines,

andJI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains' tomake and use the same. 2 y

This iuvention relates to ditching or excavating machines; and it consists, substantially, in the features of improvement hereinafter described,and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

The invention has reference more especially to that class of ditching or-excavating machines employed along railways for the purpose of forming ditches on either side of and substantially parallel with the tracks at equal or varying distances from the tracks within the limitsot adjustment of the plow or scoop forming part of the machine.

The principal object of the invention is to provide means for varying the distance of the plow or scoop from the side of the car or trucks upon whichthe supporting-crane and other parts of the ditching-machine are mounted.

Other objects will. also more fully hereinafter appear when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of a ditching'or excavating machine having my improvements embodied in connection therewith; and Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the traveling car and the crane-support,said view being taken in a plane substantially coincidentwith the swinging axis of the supporting-guide for the traveler of the scoop, said guide and traveler being shown in elevation. v

, Preliminarily to a more detailed description it may be stated that the car upon which the crane and other main parts of the ditching or excavating machine are mounted is pro polled along the tracks by means of an engine or locomotive, as usual, and that, so far as the main parts themselves are concerned ,they

may be of anyordinary and'well-known con-. struction and arrangement. p I

The means or devices constituting my improvements consist of a movable traveler or iclevis from which the forward end of the ditching plow or scoop is suspended in any suitable manner, while the rearward end of said scoop is suspended at the end of a cable passing over "suitable guides carried by the 7 swinging crane. The traveler is operated to be moved away from and toward the side of the car, and the same is guided in its movements upon a support carried by a part of the car, the said support having a swinging movement horizontally by which to conform to the movements of the traveler during the adjusting operations for altering or varying the position of the scoop. The'means for adjusting the traveler in either direction relative to the sideof the car operate in a direct line transverse to the car, so that no shifting thereof is necessary beyond what is required by the simple'connectionbetween said means and the traveler.

My improved ditching-machine is exceedingly simple and easily constructed and operated, besides being most edec'tive for the purposes for which it is intended.

Referring'to the drawings, the vnumeral 1 designates the car, upon the platform 2 of which is arranged the deck-plate 3, and

mounted or supported upon said deck-plate is the upright 4:, to which is attached and supported an ordinary swinging crane 5, having the usual appurtenances'employed therewith for ditching or excavating operations at the side or sides of a railway-track 6. No further reference will be made to these several main parts on the car beyond what is necessary to explain my improvements, which will now be described in detail.

- Fastened in a socketa in a suitable housing a on either side of the car, substantially at the longitudinal center of the latter, is a suitable yoke orcoupling-head 7, to which is pivoted, by means of a pin 8, a coupling-piece 9, which in turn is pivotally connected at 10 with the inner end of a beam 11, on the upper surface of which are arranged parallel trackrails 12 for the support and guidance of a movable traveler or clevis 13. This traveler comprises suitable vertical side pieces 14, properly joined together, and between which are arranged suitable grooved or flanged wheels 15 for running upon the rails 12.

Connectingwith the lower part of the clevis 13 by means of a pin 16, so as to have a swinging movement horizontally, is the outer end of a connecting-rod 17, which is preferably hollow, and the inner end of this rod is similarly connected by a pin 18 to the end of a piston-rod 19., the head 20 of which, as shown by dotted lines, Fig. 2, works in a steam or compressedair cylinder 20, preferably arranged beneath and transversely of the car, the said cylinder being provided with suitable valves (not shown) to admit compressed air or other motor fluid on either side of the piston-head, so as to move the rod 18 outwardly and inwardly and to reverse the same at any time during the movement of the piston in either direction. Connecting the said traveling clevis to the forward end of the ditching machine or car is a steadying and bracing cable 21, while connecting the forward end of the plow or scoop 22 with the rear side of said clevis-is a shorter cable 23. The rearward end of the scoop is connected by a hook 24 to the end of a cable 25, which passes upwardly overguide-pulleys 26 and 27, supported on the crane, and extends thence down through the hollow upright 4 and between rollers or cylinders 28, preferably beneath the platform 2 of the car, and around one of which the cable is wound, so as to pay itself out and be rewound in conformity with the different movements imparted to the 'clevis for the purpose of varying or altering the height and distance of the plow or scoop from the side of the car. The said plow or scoop can be of any preferred form or construction, and it may be stated at this point that a duplicate motorcylinder 29, Fig. 1, is arranged alongside the cylinder 20 beneath the car-platform, by means of which the clevis and its support and other connections may be changed to the opposite side of the car and operated therefrom in a similar manner whenever it may be desired to use the scoop or plow on that side.

Fastened to the outer end of the supporting-beam 11 is a yoke 30, to which is looped or connected one end of a cable 31 for supporting the outer end of the beam and the other end of which is looped or fastened at 30 to the side or edge of the deck-plate 3 or other part of the machine, the said cable being provided with a turnbuckle or other device 31 for lengthening or shortening it.

It will be understood that my present improvements are not related in any manner to the ditching or excavating machine proper that is to say, to the main parts or elements of which such machines are usually constitutedand for this reason no particular description thereof has been given. It will also be understood that in referring to the several parts which make up my present improvementssuch, forinstauce, as the traveler and its operating mechanism, together with its swinging supporting-beam, and the cable connections, &c.the same is done in a broad or general way, since I do not limit myself to the particular construction of any of said parts or to their disposition or arrangement.

Assuming the normal position of the beam 11 to be at right angles to the longitudinal center of the car and the traveler to be at the farthest point from the side, then a rightangled triangle will be formed, of which the said beam and the side of the car form the two sides and the cable 21 the hypotenuse. If the traveler is now moved toward the car, the side of the triangle formed by the beam will be reduced; but the other side of the triangle, (formed by the side of the car,) as well as the hypotenuse, will remain the same. Therefore in order to accommodate itself to the changed relation of the sides of the triangle, the said beam swings backwardly upon its pivot toward the rear end 35 of the machine, and at the same time the connecting-rod 17 swings upon its pivot 18 in the same direction with the beams, sufficient play being allowed between the end of the piston-rod 19 and the connecting-rod for this purpose.

Compressed air is supplied to either of the cylinders through pipes 50 from the air-pumps on the locomotive. (Not shown.)

Said traveling clevis can also be used in connection with other parts of the ditching-machine in the same way as the scoop is oper= erated.

It will be seen that the line of draft upon the plow or scoop is through the cables 21 and 23 and the'clevis.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, is-- 1. The combination with a ditching-ma chine, of a beam extending beyond the same, and a traveling clevis having a movement back and forth on said beam substantially at right angles to the machine and means operative from the machine to move the clevis back and forth on the beam.

2. The combination with a ditching-mm chine, of a beam supported at one side thereof, and projecting beyond the same, a traveling clevis having a movement back and forth on said beam, and means operative from the machine for moving the clevis outward from the machine and for reversing the same.

3. The combination with a ditching-machine, of a beam supported at one side thereof, and projecting beyond the same, a traveling clevis having a movement back and forth on said beam, a motor-cylinder on the machine having a piston and rod, and a connectingrod movably connecting said piston-rod with the clevis.

4. The combination with a ditching-machine, of a pivoted beam supported at one side thereof, and projecting beyond the same, a traveling clevis having a movement back and forth on said beam, at motor-cylinder on the machine having a piston and rod, a connecting-rod movably connecting said rod and the" clevis, and a ditching plow or scoop having connection at its front end with said ,clevis.

5. The combination with a ditching-machine, of a traveling clevis supporting the same at one side, means for moving said clevis outward from the machine and for reversing the same, a plow or scoop, a cable connecting the same with the clevis, a cable connecting the clevis with the forward part of the machine, and a cable connected to the rear end of the'scoop and passing over guides upon the machine. v

6. The combination with a' ditching-machine, of a pivoted beam at one side thereof,

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature Q of two witnesses. WILLIAM B. DODDRIDGE.

Witnesses: I

F. W. IRLAND,

G. A. HAGAR.

in presence

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