US718636A - Railway-switch. - Google Patents

Description

No. 718,636. PATEN'IBD JAN. 20,-1-903".

, P. I. KING. I

RAILWAY SWITCH. APPLICATION FILED HAR. 24, 1902.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.'

NO MODEL.

PATEN'AED JAN. zo, 190s.

P. r. KING. RAILWAY SWITCH. A PPLIOATIQN FILED MAR. 24v-i902.

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No MODEL.

/GM @Mac No. 718,636. I PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903.

f P. I. KING. Y

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLIOATION FILED un. 24, 1902.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Q lool Q Rms PETERS co. PHO-ranma.. y/AsHlNc'Tcm. n. c.

Unirse STATES ATENT OFFICE.

PIIINEAS F. KING, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

RAlLWAYnSWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,636, dated January 20, 1903.

Application led March 24, 1902. Serial No. 99,788. (No model.)

To all whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, PHINEAS F. KING, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of' Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-S witches, of which the following is a full, clear, and complete specification.

The invention relates to automatic railwayswitches, and is particularly applicable to street-railways.

The Objects of the invention are to provide a simple, durable, and inexpensive switch construction, one that is positive in its action, self-locking, and easily operated from the car while said car is in motion.

With these objects in View the invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts hereinafter described, and pointed out definitely in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure I is a side elevation of the forward end of a car, showingpa portion of the track and switch. Fig. II is a plan View of the front truck of a car and a portion of track and switch. Fig. III is an enlarged plan view of the switch-operating mechanism with the cap removed. Fig. IIIA is a perspective view of the cover-plate detached. Fig. IV is a longitudinal vertical section on lines IV IV of Fig. III. Fig. V is an enlarged side elevation of the front end of a street-car, showing one means for throwing the switch. Fig. VI is a plan view of the mechanism illustrated in Fig. V. Fig. VII is a front View of the operating-lever detached.

Similar characters of reference designate similar parts in the drawings and specification.

With the ordinary switch which is in general use a vast amount of time is lost owing to the necessity of stopping the car to throw the switch properly. Agreat many accidents happen from the overconiidence of the motorman in attempting to throw the switchwith his switch-iron without bringing the car to a stop.

With the improved switch the operator is put to no inconvenience in the least, nor does he have to slacken his speed, as willreadiiy be seen from the following description.

Referring to the drawings, o, represents the switch-point, a a rock-shaft rigidly attached to the switch-point and depending therefrom, having a suitable bearing a2 for its lower end.l An arm a3 is rigidly attached to the rockshaft a in a positionat substantially a right angle to the switch-point. This arm a3 eX- tends inwardly or between the rails of the track.

B is a box or casing embedded beneath the track at any desired distance from the free end a4 of the switch-point a. Mounted in suitable bearings in the casing B is a pinion b. Said pinion b is in mesh with a gear-wheel b', rigidly attached to a shaft b2, which has its lower bearing in the bottom of the casing and extends upward and out of the top of the casing. Rigidly mounted on the upper end of the shaft b2 is a spider-wheel b3, preferably provided with four arms, as shown. The pinion b is provided with just one-half as many teeth as the gear b and has a connecting-rod c pivoted thereto. Said connecting-rod extends back through an eye in the inner end ofthe arm a3 and is provided with or en circled by two helical springs s and s', one on each side of the arm a3. The inner ends of the springs s and s' bear against the arm a3 and their outer ends against the adjustingnuts c and c2, respectively. A cover-plate d is placed over the casing B and spider- Wheel b3, sufficient clearance being allowed for the free revolution of the spider-wheel b3, and a space or channel d allowed between the outer edge of the cover-plate and the tread of the rail. In operation one of the arms of the spider-wheel b3 will at all times be exposed in the channel d', as will be more fully explained presently.

I will now describe the method of operating the switch as illustrated in the drawings.

A represents the front portion of a streetcar, and the truck thereof. Attached to the cross-bar t of the truck i are two brackets t2 t2. Supported by the brackets t2 t2 and adapted to .slide vertically therein are pins e, provided With the depending shoes e' e and heli-A cal springs e2 c2. Pivoted to the truck-frame at any convenient points, asff, are the levers j" f2. These levers extend forward over the heads of the pins e c and have their forward terminals under ltwo levers g g', hinged to the under side of and extending transversely t0 the floor of the vestibule of the car. '[wo pins h 7L pass through the oor of the vestibule and rest on the levers g and g', respectively. Vhen the device is in its normal p0- sition, the points e3 c3 of the shoes e e' are raised clear of the channel d', and the car will pass freely over the switch without disturbing or shifting the point. If it is desired to throw the switch on the right side of the car, the operator presses on the right pin h before reaching the channel d. This, through the medium of the lever g, leverf, and pin e, forces the point c3 down, so that in its travel through the channel (Z' it will come in contact with the exposed arm of the spider-wheel b3 and impart a one-quarter revolution to the spiderwheel, and consequently a one-quarter revolution to the gear b', the said gear b' having twice as many teeth as the pinion b will cause the said pinion b to revolve just one-half way around, and thereby throws the switch, through the connection of the connecting-rod with the arm 0.3. In whichever position the switch-point is moved the tension of the springs s and s' lock said point in that position and at the same time permit the flange on the wheels of a car going the other way to pass between the point and the rail and then throw the point back to its locked position. After the point e3 has acted on the arm of the spider-wheel biE the operator may release the pressure on the pin h, and the springs e2 will raise the shoe. Should he fail to do so, he is warned by a counter-pressure caused by the point e3 traveling up the incline d2 of the cover-plate d. If it is desired to shift the switch on the left side of the car, the operation is the same as above described, except the iniatory part, in which the left pin h is pressed instead of the right pin 7L.

Although I have described at length the construction of the operating mechanism attached to a car as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, I do not wish it understood that I claim this particular mechanism or confine my invention to its use, as it will readily be seen that there are a great many ways of operating the switch from the caras, for example, the spring-pins e, with their depending shoes c e, may be attached directly to the platform of the car and the operation of the switch will be the same, or the operator may without stopping his car simply insert a switch-iron in the channel d' and shift the switch-point. Therefore, as before stated, I claim nothing on the operating mechanism attached to the car, but confine my invention to the switch, the construction of which may vary somewhat in detail without departing from the nature of the invention-as, for example, the ratio of the teeth of the spider, gear, and pinion may be different from that herein described. Should the spider-wheel be made with six arms, the gear should have three times as many teeth as the crank-pinion, which would give the desired result-that is,to give the crank-pinion a onehalf revolution at each operation.

Other minor details of construction within the scope of the invention are apparent to those skilled in the art.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an automatic self-locking railwayswitch, the combination of the pivoted switchpoint, an arm projecting inwardly from the pivot of said switch-point, a connecting-rod having a spring connection with said arm, a crank-pinion connected with said connectingrod, a gear-wheel in mesh with said crankpinion, a spider-wheel or a series of arms rigidly attached to the shaft of said gear, the ratio of the number of arms on said shaft, the number of teeth in the gear-Wheel, and the number of teeth in the pinion being such that a predetermined limited movement of one of the arms will cause a one-half movement of the crank-pinion, substantially as specified.

2. In a self-locking railway-switch the combination of the pivoted switch-point having an in wardly-projecting arm connected therewith,a crank-pinion, a connecting-rod pivoted at one end to said crank-pinion, the other end extending through an eye in the arm of the switch-point, helical springs on said connecting-rod on both sides of the arm, a gearwheel in mesh with the crank-pinion, said gear-wheel rigidly mounted on a perpendicular shaft, a series of arms protruding horizontally from the upper terminal of said shaft, the ratio of the number of arms on said shaft, the number of teeth in the gear-wheel, and the number of teeth in the crank-pinion being such that a predetermined limited movement of one of the arms will cause a one-half movement of the crank-pinion, and means located on the car for imparting said predetermined movement to the arms, substantially as specified.

3. In a self-locking railway-switch thecombination of the pivoted switch-point having an inwardly-projecting arm connected therewith,acrank-pinion, a connecting-rod pivoted at one end to said crank-pinion, the other end extending through an eye in the arm of the switch-point, helical springs on said connecting-rod on both sides of the arm, means for adj nsting the tension of said helical springs, a gear-wheel in mesh with the crank-pinion, said gear-wheel, pinion and connecting-rod being located below, and in a horizontal plane with the track, the shaft of the gear-wheel extending perpendicularly above the bed of IOO IIO

the track, a series of horizontally-protruding arms attached to the upper terminal of the shaft, the ratio of the number of arms on said shaft, the number of teeth in the gear-Wheel, and the number of teeth in the crank-pinion being such that a predetermined limited movement of one ofthe arms will cause a one-half movement of the crank-pinion, and means 1ocated on the ear for imparting said movement tothe arms, substantially as specified. 1o

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

PHINEAS F. KING. Witnesses:

L. F. GRISWOLD, WM. H. SPIRE.

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