US762607A - Bridge for rail ends. - Google Patents

Description

No. 762,607. PATBNTED JUNE 14, 1904.

E. B. BALDWIN. BRIDGE FOR RAIL ENDS. APPLIOATIOK FILED JAN. 26, 1904.

no MODEL.

Inv ento 11 T Vi'i' n Tia M UNITED STATES Patented June 14, 1904.

ELMER E. BALDWIN, or CONNEAUT, OHIO.

BRIDGE FOR RAIL ENDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 762,607 dated June 14, 1904.

Application filed January 26, 1904. Serial No. 190,684. (No model.)

To (all 1072,0777, it Tim/y concern.-

Be it known that I, E MER E. BALDWIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Conneaut, in the county of Ashtabula and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Bridges for Rail Ends, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide in a very simple and efiicient and easily-applied form a bridge for the meeting ends of railwayrails to prevent their being battered down by the trains passing over them. I accomplish this by insetting in the adjacent ends of the rails a bridge-piece which allows the expansion and contraction of the rails, but always spans the gap between them. This bridgepiece has shoulders resting upon the fish-plates.

The invention comprises such construction broadly and the more particular embodiment of it herein shown and hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan, of portions of a pair of rails, showing their meeting ends with my bridge-piece in place, and also the free end of one of the rails before the bridge-piece is applied. Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the rail and bridge-piece, being taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation, and Fig. 5 an edge view, of the bridge-piece alone.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the railroad-rails, having the usual base a, web a, and ball or flange a Drilled vertically through the ball, the Web, and the base is an opening a. This opening is made by a cylindrical drill and in the ball and base of rail makes a partially-cylindrical opening intercepted by the end of the rail. The diameter of the drill is greater than the width of the web a, wherefore the web is entirely cut through, as shown at (6* in Fig. 1. The meeting ends of two rails when drilled, therefore, present at the top and bottom of the rail an opening which has a cross-section similar to a figure 8. Within this opening is placed my bridge-piece B. This bridge 'piece has its central portion 6 flattened and of the same width as the web of the-rails. Above and below this central portion are a pair of rounded bosses Z) 7) I1 7f, these bosses being so shaped as to jointly occupy the 8-shaped openings referred to.

(1 represents the usual fish-plates, which may be flat bars or angle-irons or of other form, as desired. .They are held to the rails by the usual bolts D, having nuts (Z. The fish-plates bearing against the webs of the rails thus bear also against the flatten ed central portion 7) of the bridge-piece. The shoulders 5 between the bosses 7/ and the flattened portion of the bridge-piece thus rest on the upper edges of the fish-plates, which thereby receive the downward stress which the weight of the passing train gives to the bridge-piece. The shoulders 7)" between the lower bosses 72 and the flattened portion' of the bridge-piece engage the under edges of the fish-plates, which thus prevent the bridge-piece from be ing accidentally forced upward out of place.

In order to allow the movement of the rails toward and from each other as they expand or contract, the bosses on the bridge-piece are not perfectly cylindrical, but are somewhat oblate, preferablyengaging with reasonable snugness the side portions of the 8-shaped opening, but clearing the end portions and also the intermediate inwardly projecting walls near the ends of the rails. This allows sufficient play for expansion and contraction and at the same time makes a moderately tight fit.

The bridge-pieces may be very cheaply constructed by being rolled in a continuous bar, which is then cut up and the flat portions 7) machined thereinto.

I claim 1. The combination of a pairof railroad-rails having meeting ends and a bridge-piece set into the faces of said rails and flush with the upper surface thereof, and fish-plates for said rails upon the upper edges of which said bridge-piece rests below the balls of the rails, substantially as described.

2. A pair of rails having openings through the web and ball, and a bridge-piece occupying said openings and having a portion alining with the web of the rail and thereabove a Wider portion occupying the ball and presenting a shoulder, combined with a fishplate secured to the webs of the rail and engaging said shoulder, substantially as described.

3. The combination,with a pair of rails, each having near its end a continuous vertical opening in the ball, web and base, such openings in the two rails communicating through the ends thereof, a bridge-piece occupying such joint opening, fish-plates passing across the bridge-piece on opposite'sides of the rails and secured to the rails, said bridge-piece having shoulders engaging the upper and lower edges of said fish-plates, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a pair of rails, each perforated near its end by a cylindrical opening intercepted by the end of the rail whereby the two openings communicate and present ajoint opening of the contour of a figure 8, and a bridge-piece of similar contour occupying said opening and having its upper end flush with the upper surface of the rails, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a pair of rails, each perforated near its end by cylindrical opening intercepted by the end of the rail whereby the two openings communicate and present a joint opening of the contour of a figure 8, and a bridge-piece of similar .contour occupying said opening and having its upper end Hush with the upper surface of the rails, the rounded portions of said bridge-piece being partially oblate cylinders whereby they engage with moderate snugness the side portions of the 8-shaped opening, but clear the end portions and intermediate projections thereof, substantially as described.

6. The combination,with a pairof rails, each having its web portion cut away near the end and having through the ball an opening wider than the thickness of the web portion, said opening communicating with the space at the end of the rail, and a bridge-piece adapted to seat in the openings in the two rails and having a reduced web portion adapted to aline with the webs of the rails, and fish-plates secured to the webs of the rails adapted to support said bridge-piece, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a pair of rails, each having its web cut away near the end and having above and below such cut-away portion an opening in the ball and base wider than the web and communicating with the space beyond the end of the rail, said opening being partially cylindrical, a bridge-piece composed of a flattened central portion and bosses above and below it, and fish-plates on opposite sides of the rails lying between the upper and lower bosses on the bridge-piece, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a pair of rails, each having its web cut away near the end and having above and below such cut-away portion an opening in the ball and base wider than the web and communicating with the space beyond the end of the rail, said opening being partially cylindrical and the vertical wall of the web between them being also a partly-eylindrical curve, a bridge-piece composed of a flattened central portion and approximately cylindrical bosses above and below it, the ends of the bridge-piece being curved whereby the bridge-piece may more or less snugly occupy the joint opening provided by the two ails, and fish-plates on opposite sides of the rails lying between the upper and lower bosses on the bridge-piece and preventing its movement up or down, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afliX my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' ELMER E. BALDWIN.

Witnesses:

C. WV. AIPLEBY, G. J. McMILLAN.

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