US650762A - Car-fender. - Google Patents

Description

No. 050,702. Patented May 29, |900. R. F. PREussEn.

C A R F E N D E R (Application led Dec. 23, .1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

Wibwssesn Inventors his attorngy.

No. 650,762. Patented May 29, |900.

H. F. PREUSSER.

cme FENDER.

A (Application filed B ec. 23, 1899..) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No. 650,762. Patented Maj 29, |900; R. F. PREUSSER.

CAR FENDER.

(Application tiled Dec. 2B, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-$heat 3.

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srE'cIFrcATioN forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,762, cated May 29, 1900. Application filed December 23, 1899. Serial No. 741,425. (lio model.)

To all whom it may concern/f Be it known that I, RICHARD F. PREUssER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Fenders; and I do hereby declare the followingto 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.

The object is to present a car-fender which shall be light and simple of construction and capable of attachment to and detachment from cars of general construction, which shall be readily responsive to pressure to cause it to be projected into such relation to the roadbed as to pick up an object struck, and which when not in use may be folded back against the dashboard of a `car, and thus be out of the way of the coupler; furthermore, to present a combined fender and wheel-guard, the two devices being connected in such manner as to be adapted at the same time and with rapidity, ease, and certainty of operation to be brought into position for use.

The invention consists in the novel construction of a wheel-guard and of a combined wheel-guard and fender, as will be hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication, and in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, Figure l is a view in perspective displaying the front portion of a street car equipped with the fender. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a car equipped with a combined fender and wheel-guard. Fig. 3 is a view in elevation, partly in section, displaying the connection between the parts of the two devices, the section being taken to one side of the fender. Fig. Li is a perspective detail view of the fender and wheel-guard-operating shaft. Fig. 5 is a detail view displaying a modiiied form of hanger.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the fender, and B the wheel-guard.

The fender-frame is constructed of two arms or side pieces a, rendered rigid by a cross-bar d2, connecting the outer portions of the arms, the bar for lightness and from a standpoint of economy being constructed tubular, although, if preferred, it may be made of a solid bar of metal. In the form herein shown the bar carries two T-Shaped joints a3, which support the arms a, the latter by preference being also of tubular metal. Each fender-arm is straight, or practically so, and is provided at its rear end with two frictionrollers d4, adapted to bear upon the hangerarms C, hereinafter to be described, whereby friction between these parts will be reduced to a minimum. Upon each arm is placed a coiled spring a5, the terminal coil of one end bearing against the hanger C and theterminal coil of the other end being secured to the arm, as by being passed through an opening therein. (Clearly shown in Fig. 3.) While the general shape of the arms and the arrangement of the springs as herein shown is that which will usually be preferred, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to this precise construction, as other designs may be employed without departing from the spirit thereof.

Secured to the cross-bar a2 are two forwardprojecting arms d6, constituting the sides of a scoop, these arms being connected and rendered rigid by cross-bars a7 and d8, the front bar as being by preference solid in order to present the greatest resistance to bending or buckling, and the bar a7 being by preference tubular for the sake of lightness, and in order that the front bar may further be braced against bending or buckling, as by contact with an obstruction, Lbrace plates or bars a9 are employed, the same being provided with recesses, in which rest the bars a2 a7 as, the recesses for the bars a2 and as being in the ends of the plates andthose for the bar a7 on the under side of the plates. It is to be understood that instead of employing recesses for the purpose described the plates may be provided with openings to be engaged by the bars. The floor of the scoop is constructed, preferably, of a series of thin metallic strips secured in any suitable manner to the bars a2 and as.

To limit the downward movement of the fender and at the same time to prevent injury that would occur by the scoop coming into contact with the road-bed, the bar a7 is provided with rollers to contact withthe roadbed.

The net am may be made of any suitable IOC material,in this instance of connected links, or of links and plates, the net being connected at its bottom to the bar a2 and at its sides to chains a, At its upper side the net is connected to the top bar al?, having its ends bent upon themselves to form loops a, in which the upper links of the chains au are confined, and then at right angles to said loops to form pintles a, by which thc'fender is held in operative position, aswill presently appear.

As a means for supporting the fender in position for operation two hangers C are employed, these being securely bolted to the under side of the car-licor, as clearly shownin Fig. 3. To facilitate removal of the hanger from the car should the hanger become damaged, the upper end of each hanger is formed with a dovetailed or undercut projection e, which engages with a plate c2, provided with a dovetailed groove, the plate being secured to the under side of the car, and through the projection and the plate passes a bolt c, by which the parts are held assembled in connection with the bottom of the car. The hangers are by preference made of a strong resilient metal, such as boiler-steel, and each is formed at its bottom into a forward-andrcarward-curvcd hook, in the loop ot which work the rollers Ct, the lower end of the hook being slotted to receive the lside arms a. Thus when pressure is applied to the scoop, as when an object is struck, the friction-rollers will move back on the lower curved portion of the hooks and will by the springs a5 he cushioned7 so that the force of the blow will be lessened. This arrangement of supporting the fender from the hangers presents points of advantage in the simplicity of its construction and also in the readiness with which the fender may be detached from the hanger when necessary.

Near the upper portion of each hanger is located a pair of lugs or bosses c4, between which is pivoted a bracket c, each bracket at its lower end being provided with a toe or projection c, which extends through a slot provided in the hanger for the purpose, so that the movement of the bracket is limited by contact of the toe with the upper wall of such slot. The brackets are thus adapted for movement in a circumscribed are, their rearward movement being limited by contact with the face of the hangers and their forward movement by contact of the toe cG with the wall of -tl1e slot. It is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise manner of mounting the brackets, as other arrangements may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Supported by hangers d, secured to the under side of the car-floor, is a transverse shaft E, which carries two levers c2, secured to the 'under side of the shaft and incliniug downward and forward toward the front of the fender, and two levers c3, which are secured to the upper side of the shaft and are inclined upward and rearward away from the fender, the two pairs of levers being set on the shaft at such distance apart as to bring them into alinement for proper connection with the fender and wheel-guard. The shaft E is by preference rectangular in cross-section and has its end formed into pintles to work in bearings formed in the hangers (l. To the lower portion Yof each lever e2 is secured one end of a chain al, the other end of which is connected with the cross-bar a7, as by a hook. To the upper ends of the levers e3 are pivotally connected links b, the free ends oi' which are similarly connected to the side arms b2 ofthe wheel-guard B. This guard comprises in this instance two cross-bars b3 b4, the former of which is mounted in bearings formed in brackets lr", suitably supported from the car, both of the bars b3 and b4 being secured in any desired manner to the side arms 112. The bars are connected, preferably, by resilient metallic strips tf', forming the scoop7 although other materials may be employed in lieu of the strips.

It will be observed that the upper and longer portion of the side arms b2 are curved or inclined away from the bar D, which constitutes the pivotal point of the guard, so that the bulk of the weight of these arms being to one side of the bar b3 they will act adjunctively with the springs a4 on thel fender to keep the guard at the proper distance above the track.

Secured to the shaft E is an arln e4, the free end of which is provided with a slot, in which works the lower end of a foot-lever F, the upper end ot which projects above the ioor oi' the car adjacent to the dashboard and has a head j", by which the lever may be depressed. Journaled on the foot-lever above the arm are two friction-rollers f2, (only one being shown and indicated in dotted lines,) which bear upon the arm on each side of the slot, and below the arm is a stop-pin f3, which serves to hold the arm against separation from the level'.

It will be seen that when pressure is applied to the foot-lever the shaft E will Vbe rocked, thus drawing the levers e3 backward and projecting the fender downward into operative engagement with the road-bed and the levers c2 forward and in like manner projecting the wheel-guard down into operative position with the road-bed.

The device thus fardescribed is a combined fender and wheel-guard; but, as shown in Fig. 2, the wheel-guard may be dispensed with and the fender alone used. When this arrangement is adopted, it will only be necessary to detach the link b and levers e3 and remove the wheel-guard', or, if the car be constructed without the wheel-guard, then the levers e3 will be omitted.

Instead of employing the form of hanger shown in Figs. 1, 2, and S-that is, one in which the fender-supporting hook curves toward the rear of the car-l may, as shown in IOO IIO

Fig. 5, employ a hanger the supporting-hook of which curves toward the front of the oar, the advantage of this latter form of hanger residing in the fact that the fender may readily be lifted out of engagement therewith without requiring detachment of the hangers from the car, which will be necessary when the form of hanger shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is employed. It is also to be understood that instead of having the chains L15 pass over the rod a2 and hook into engagement with the cross-bar a7, and thus over the scoop, they may pass under the scoop and be hooked into engagement with the cross-bar a7. It will be observed that the are of movement of the outer ends of the chains 0,15 is concentric with the lower ends of the levers e2, so that in lifting the fender to fold it back against the dashboard it will not be necessary to detach the chains from the scoop, as would be necessary if the two parts moved in different aros.

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

l. The combination with a ear-fender, of hangers provided with curved, bifu rcated projections, fender-arms having friction-rollers to engage the said projections, brackets pivotally connected with the hangers, and having a circumscribed arc of movement, and chains connecting the brackets and the fender, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car-fender, of hangers provided with forwardextending curved, bifurcated projections, fender-arms having friction-rollers to engage the said projections, brackets pivotally connected with the hangers, and having a circumscribed arc of movement, and chains connecting the brackets and the fender, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a car-fender, of hangers provided with rearward-extending dovetailed or undercut projections, and forward-extending curved bifureated projections, fender-arms having friction-rollers to engage the said latter projections, brackets pivotally connected with the hangers, and having a eircumscribed arc of movement, chains connecting the brackets and the fender, plates secured to the under side of the ear, and having dovetailed or undercut grooves to be engaged by the rearward-extending projections of the hangers, and means for holding the hangers and the plates assembled, substantially as described.

4. In a ear-fender, hangers provided with curved projections, fender-supporting arms having friction-rollers to engage the projections, a rock-shaft carrying-levers and means for actuating the rock-shaft, and chains connecting the lower ends of the levers and the front portion of the fender, the arc of movement of the outer ends of the chains being concentric with the lower ends of the levers, whereby, in lifting the fender to fold it back against the dashboard of a car, it will not be necessary to disconnect the chains from the fender, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflx my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD F. PREUSSER.

Witnesses:

R. G. DYRENFORTH, R. M. ELLIOTT.

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