US74108A - Improved railway-switch - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICEo 4 JACOB o. MecAn'rY, oFeEAE'roN, WEST VIRGINIA, AssIeNoE To WM.` E. PORTER, 0E sAME PLACE.

IM PROVED RAI LWAY-SWITCH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 74,108, dated February 4, 1868.

To all whom it 'may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACOB G. MGCAR'IY, of Grafton, in the county of Taylor and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Railway-Switch; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description'ofthe same,suiiicientto enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make use of it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a top view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, showing the hin-ged chair, a portion of the chair being broken away in order to exhibit its construction more clearly.

The object of this invention is to construct a switch by which the use of frogs can be avoided and the cars be made to run always on a smooth continuous track, and thereby to render the motion ofthe cars easier and to save ,t the wheels `from wear.

In the drawings, A A A2 represent the section of track on one side of the switch, and B B that on the other side. One of the rails, A2, is fixed; all the others are movable, being pivoted at their outer ends in such a manner that their inner ends swing back and forth to and from the spindle of the switch, the two rails A A' moving together and parallel to each other, and the two B 'B' moving also together and parallel to each other, and one pair alternating with the other. The sliding end of each movable rail is supported upon an iron cushion, C, providedwith ears c at each end, which keep the rails from moving beyond the proper limits. The pivot at the opposite end of the rails A A is formed by making the ch air D in two parts, d d', the part d' resting upon and pivoted to the part d, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to swinghorizontally upon the pivot. The end of the movable rail is confined in the part d', and the rail swings with this hinged portion of the chair.

I may describe the hinged chair more intelligbly by saying that the immovable part of it, d, is composed of a bottom plate, e, which extends under and supports the whole chair, and a more elevated portion, e', which supports the lugs i t', that hold the outer section of rails, and that ,in the raised portion e is a semicircular recess, m, cut down to a level with the bottom plate. Themovable part d ofthehinge is cast so as to rest on the bottom plate, e, and have the top of its lugs level'with those of the xed part, and is provided with a semicircular Iiange, n, which ts within the recess m of the xed part. The pivot upon which the movable part turns is a bolt, p, driven vertically through the flan ge 'n and the bottom plate e, at the center of the circle of which the rim of the recess m is an arc. The rails being thus arranged and hinged at their outer ends, each movable pair on either side of the switch has its members rmly connected together by a stout rod, B R', near their inner end. To the outer end of these rods are attached pltmen P P', extending nearly parallel to each other, and hinged at their outer extremities to a stout horizontal beam, T, which vibrates upon a central pivot, U. A chain, S, is attached to either end of the beam T and passes around a vertical shaft or spindle, W. Y

A hand-wheel, w, is aixed to the upper end of the vertical shaft, and by turning the handwheel in one direction or the other it is evident that the balance-beam T will be moved one Way or the other, and by means of the pit# men P-P' and rods R It' will force one pair of rails, A A', in one direction and the other pair,B B,in the opposite direction, thus bringing the rails A A2, B B together and forming a continuous main track, or bringing the rails A A B Bl together and turning the cars off on the siding. I

It is not absolutely essential that the rails B B'should be pivoted at their outer ends. These rails belong to the main track, and are therefore long enough to bend sufficiently to meet the rails A A.

The pivot U of the balance-beam maybe locked in the one position or the other by means of a key, K, and pin k.

By this device the use of frogs to guide the car-wheels from one track to the other is entirely avoided, the rails always forming a continuous track.' The cars will pass smoothly over such a track without jarring and thumping, and the face or tread of the wheels will be worn evenly, and willlast much longer than where the switches hitherto in use are employed.

Havingthus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters equivalent, substantially as and for the pur- Patent, ispose specied.

1. The hinged chair D, when constructed in x the manner and used for the purpose specified. JACOB (J' MCOARTY' 2. The combination of the movable rails A Witnesses:

A B B with the fixed rail A2, connecting- (JOHN T. LATHAM,

rods R R,pitmen P P, balance-wheel T, chains G. E. JARVIS,

` S or their equivalents, and shaft W or its SAML. P. WHEELER.

Images