US678243A - Amusement-railway. - Google Patents

Description

' No. 678,243. Patented July 9, I901.

E. A. GREEN.

AMUSEMENT RAILWAY.

(Applicatign. filed Mar. 6, 1901'.

(No Model.) '2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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E. A. GREEN. AMUSEMENT RAILWAY.

(Application filed Mar. 6, 1901.)

No. 678,243. Patented July 9, Mil.

(llo Model.) 2 shuns-Sheet 2.

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NITED STATES EDWARD A. GREEN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

AMUSEMENT-RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 678,243, dated July 9, 1901.

Application filed March 6, 1901. Serial No. 50,079- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Amusement-Railways, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to amusement-railways; and it consists in a single rail having suitable supports and which includes in its length certain up and down grades and a Vertical loop to be traversed by a car, all as will be specifically described and claimed herein.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a rail having my improved longitudinal conformation. Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the rail supporting a car and its appurtenances, and Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the vertical loop.

My amusement-railway comprises a single rail, as A, supported upon a trestle or the like and including in its extent a series of in clined' planes, as seen in the drawings, the functions whereof serve to make up a complete track for a car in its transit under the several powers of draft, gravity, and momentum.

Assuming the starting-point of the car, as B, to be at a, said car is hauled up the incline a in the direction of the arrow until it turns the apex a thereof. The means of haulage may be by an endless chain or other convenient means of. Thereafter the car is released and by its own gravitation descends the declivity a and as the angle of incline a is approximately forty-five degrees the accumulated velocity of traverse is considerable when the car reaches thebottom a of said incline prior to its entering the loop C, thevelocity attained being, in fact, sufficient to carry the car, with its burden, over and past the first or upward half of said loop, whereafter the force of gravity again operates to carry the car over and down the second half of the loop to the bottom thereof at d Here again the momentum acquired serves to carry the car up the curved incline a to the point of stopping and starting, as at a.

The vertical loop C is composed of angles 50 and curvatures which in combined arrangement have the function of permitting the car to traverse the loop smoothly and without the shocks or jars which would accrue from a loop of other conformation, these particular angles and curves having been arrived at after continuous experimental construction and practice.

'The perfected structure of the vertical loop is such that the outward or radial tendency of the car and its occupants on entering the same will gradually increase through a portion of the first quadrant (about forty-five degrees) and then gradually decrease until at the vertical point (one hundred and eighty degrees) it is equal to zero-that is, at that 6 point the centrifugal force and the force of gravity are equal and opposed, thus insuring the smoothest ride possible under the condi- \tions. To accomplish this, radii of different lengths are used in the manner shown in the diagrammatic view, Fig. 3, the arc of each radius passing through a definite number of de-" grees and the length of each radius being determined by substituting the desired radial force in the general formula for centrifugal force,

taking into consideration the velocity of the car at the different heights, the radial force caused by the action of gravity at the different angles, and also that this latter force acts in conjunction with the centrifugal'force in the first quadrant and is opposed to it in the second. The second half of the loop is symmetrical with the first half, being produced with the same radii used in reverse order.

In the detail section view, Fig. 2, it will be seen that the car B has central tractionwheels, as I), which run upon the rail A, supporting the car thereby. Corresponding inverted rails E E depend from the ties, as F, and guide-wheels G G, which are yieldingly carried by lower extensions of the car-body, 9 5 serve to maintain the equipoise of the car when at rest or running at a low rate of speed. Having described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

'1. A railway composed of a single line of rail, suitably supported, and arranged IOO throughout its length in the several inclinations and curves, and in the specific order as named herein, to wit-an upward incline, a downward incline, avertical loop, and an upward incline extending from said loop and continuing into the first-named upward incline. I

2. In an amusement-railway adapted to be traversed by a car under the forces of gravitation and momentum, a continuous tractionrail arranged in form of a vertical loop, said rail being set at a downward inclination leading to the loop, thence comprising a vertical loop of substantially ellipsoidal form, and leaving said loop in an upwardly-inclined extension.

8. A traction-rail arranged as a vertical loop in substantially ellipsoidal form, the first or upward half of the loop being arranged in a curve composed of the arcs of successivelydecreasing radii, and the latter, or downward half of the loop, being symmetrical with the first half, in reverse order.

4-. In a gravityu-ailway, the combination 0 a track arranged at a point of its course as a vertical loop in substantially ellipsoidal form, the lowest points of said track being located at opposite sides of a vertical plane through the center of the loop, substantially at right angles to the track.

5. A railway composed of a track suitably supported,and arranged throughout its length in the several inclinations and curves, and in the specific order as named herein, to wit: an upward incline, a downward incline, a vertical loop and an upward incline extending from said loop and continuing into the firstnamed upward incline.

6. In a gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop of variable radii, and inclined tracks leading to and from said loop.

7. In a' gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop and inclines leading to said loop, the lowest point of said inclines being at one side of a vertical plane through the center of the loop and'at substantially right angles to the track.

8. In a gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop and inclines leading to said loop, the lowest point of said inclines being on a plane lower than any portion of the track within the loop.

9. In a gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop and inclines leading to and from said loop, the lowest point of the inclines leading from the loop being on a plane lower than any portion of the track within the loop.

10. In a gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop aud inclines leading to and from said loop, the lowest points of said inclines being on a plane lower than any portion of the track within the loop.

11. In a gravity-railway, a vertically-disposed loop, inclines leading to and from said loop, the lowest points ofsaid inclines being on a plane lower than any portion of the track within the loop,and upwardly-inclined curved sections leading from said lowermost points respectively into said loop.

12. In a gravity-railway, a continuous track arranged at a point of its course as avertical loop and as inclines leading to said loop, the lowest point of said inclines being on one side of a vertical plane through the center of the loop and at right angles to the track, a car adapted to traverse said track, and safety appliances whereby said car is retained on said track throughout the entire course.

13. In a gravity railway, a vertically-disposed loop coinprisinga series of arcs of successively-decreasing radii through the first half thereof, said arcs respectively passing through a definite'number of degrees whereby centrifugal force and gravity act in conjunction through the first quadrant and in opposition through the second.

14. In a gravity-railway, comprising a continuous track including in its extent and in the order named, an upward incline, a downward incline, an ellipsoidal vertical loop, an upwardly inclined curved section leading from said downward section into said loop, an upward incline and adownwardly-inelined curved section leading from said loop into said last-mentioned upward incline, said incline leading into said first-mentioned upward incline.

15. A gravity=railway, comprising a continuous track including in its extent and in the order named, an upward incline, a downward incline, an ellipsoidal vertical loop, an upwardly -inclined curved section leading from said downward incline into said loop, an upward incline, a downwardly-inclined curved section leading from said loop into said last-mentioned upward incline, said incline leading into said first-mentioned upward incline, a carriage adapted to traverse said track, means whereby said carriage is retained thereon and means for hauling said carriage up said first-mentioned incline.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 14th day of February, 1901.

EDWARD A. GREEN.

Witnesses:

CHAS. S. LONGHURST, MARY OBRIEN.

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