US762696A - Mine trap-door and operating mechanism therefor. - Google Patents

Description

@EQT AVAILABLE CGP PATENTED JUNE 14, 1904.

A. T. FLINT & I. WHITNEY.

MINE TRAP DOOR A ND' OPERATING MECHANISM THEREFOR.

APILIOATION FILED JUNE lZJQOB. no MODEL. 4 a SHEETSSHEET 1 jzz mba BEST AVAYLABLE COP I PATENTED JUNE 14, 1904.

A. T.- FLINT & I. WHITNEY.. MINE TRAP DOOR AND OPERATING MECHANISM THEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12,1903.

NO MODEL. 3.8HEETS-SHIIET 2 BEST AVNLABLE COP MINE TRAP D00 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12,1903.

N0 MODEL,

, PATENTED JUNE 14, 1904. A. T. FLINT &'I. WHITNEY. R AND OPERATING MECHANISM THEREFOR.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

1 .filargolm UNIT D STATE-S l BEST Ami AsL coP:

Fatenteu. June 14, 1904.

PATENT '1 MINE TRAP-coon AND OPERATING; ME H-Amsm THEREFOR.

Application filed June 12, 1903;

and, ,iShtAC n.rrNr.Y, citizens of the United States, residing at Oslcaloosa, in the county of Mahaska and Stateof Iowa, have invented a new and useful Mine Trap- Door and Operating Mechanism 'lherefor, of which the following is a specification. A

jhisfinvention relates to mine tiiap-iloors and operatingmechanism therefor. v

,The object of the invention is to providea perfectly air -tightdoo'r for coal or other mines i that may be easily operated"by'hand or by struct'the( loor in such manner that it will not beprevented from opening or closing by coal scribed mcans'of operating devices, as hereinafter de- A further object of the invention is to con or otherobjects'which may lie on the track adjacent to the door.

the seetion'sor leaves of the door in snch.m'ann '*'r' that the (loor'will not be opened by wmd pressure and so that the opening or closing of'the door willnot be prevented by the ac tion of wind thereon.

,Othcr objects of the invention are to provide means for holding the door in open or closed position and yetmal e-the opening'or closing of the door a matter of little difiienlty; to construct the door 'in such manner as to makeitperfectly safe for the passageof trains,

animals, or persons therethrougl 1', and, finally, topro vide mechanism for opening mine-doors with aminimmn of shock and jar and forautomatical ly closing the. door after the passage of cars, draft-animals, or persons.

In theattainment of theobjects above stated we make use of the novel construct on and combination of parts of a mine-door and op- (rating mechanism therefor hereinafter more fnlly described, illustrated in the accompany- Another object of theinv ention is to arrange opening or closing of the door.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No; 762,696, qata J1me 14,'.1904.-

therefor. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the door show'n in Fig. 1,; together .with the de: .vices for closing the doora Fig-3'is a'plah view of a door of the type illustrated in Figs.

- 1 and 2, b utjwith a modified form ofoper'at- Fig. 7 is a detailview in, plan' ofv a modified -form of door. and doer-closing mechanism.

Fig. 8 ifsfa plan view of the door with another modified form of-closmg mechanism. 1.

I Referring to the drawings by reference char-j actcrs, 1 1 designate the rails of a traclr of the ordinary type leading out of a mine sha ft and laid upon cross-ties 2 of ordinary construction.

3 designates a door-sill made ofany suitable material and presenting on the 'upper surface apair of oppositely-disposed inclines, as shown,-to pr'eventthe accumulation on the surface of the sill of small lumps of coal .or other rubbish which might interfere with the As shown in Fig. 4', the sill 3 is formed, preferably, of aplate of iron bent on the median longitudinal line-and secured to two of the cross-ties by spikes or other suitable means. At either end of the sill 3 is mounted a rotatable standard 4, and to.each of the standards 4 is' seenrcd one of the leaves ofthe door. One of the leaves, 5, ismade, preferably, of larger size than the other leaf, 6, and the larger leaf 5 comprises a main section 5; and a small section 5 ",connectcd by springhinges, which normally hold the two sections in alinement. ut

which permit them to be thrown out of 2: J10.- ment by swinging the smaller section in either.

direction, upon itsihinges. The main section v 5 of the leaf 5 is secured to one of the pivotal standards .4 at points preferably nearly midwaybetween the vertical-sides of the section, for reasons. that will hereinafter appear. 1 The small.sectionj5"of leaf 5 is provided atits free marginwitb astripof fiexiblcgnmterial 5 to overlapanother strip of flexible material (5"; secured to the smaller door-leaf-G. Their-at 6 is hinged to one of the pivoted standards 4 by means of spring-hinges which have springs of sufiicient stiffness to hold the leaf 6 normally in one position, but which will permit the leaf to swing in either direction upon its hinges when the pivotal standard is held stationary and pressure is applied to the leaf. The strip 6' of flexible material, above mentionedas secured to the leaf 6, is possessed of some stiffness, so that when the strips of material at the free margins of the door-leaves overlap the wind-pressure'will not open them backward to eliect a passage between the d oorleaves.

. position of closure regardless of any obstruction of ordinary size.

A weather-stri of the form shown at the .bottom of the hinge-section at the lower margin of the doors may be'placcd at the top and sides of the door-sections, if necessary, to completely exclude air.

One objectof making the door-leaves in sections of different sizes and arranging the sections as above explained is to prevent the variation of the wind-pressure against the door from in any way interfering with the opening or closing thereof. It will have been noted that of the main section 5 of the larger door-leaf 5 a considerable portion lies upon one side of the pivotal standard, on which the leaf is mounted, and the remainder lies on the opposite side. The small leaf 6 is of such width that its area about equals the differencein area between the two portions of door-leaf 5, which lie on opposite sides of the pivotal standard, to which the leaf 5 is attached. By means of operating devices to be hereinafter described the door-leaves 5 and 6 are simultaneously opened in opposite directions and are so connected that whenever one leaf is opened by means of the operating devices the other leaf must of necessity swing in the opposite direction. in consequence of this arrangement the pressure of the wind upon one leaf of the door which tends to open it is balanced by the pressure of the wind on the other leaf to close it. Another reason for making the leaf 6 considerably narrower than the leaf 5 is to cause the leaf 6, which swings toward the a 'iproaching caror ,liaftanima'l when the door is opened to swing entirely out of the BEST AVAlLABLE COP.

animal reaches the door, it is sometimes desirable to provide means for swinging the leaf 6 at a more rapid rate of angular movement than the leaf 5, and the means whereby this is accomplished will presently b2. explained.

In the preferred form of operating mechrigidly secured to the standards 4, the pulley 8, which comprises aplurality of sheaves, all of which are rigidly connected, being provided on the standard supporting the leaf and the pulley 9, comprising a singlr sheave, being attached to the standard supporting the leaf 6. On the same side of the track as the pulley 8 are provided two posts or standards 10, eachof which has at the top thereof a pulley 11. Passing around the pulleys 11 and the pulley 8, as shown in Fig. l, are ropes or cables 12, each of which is provided with a tension-link 13, by means of which the tension of the pulleys or cables maybe adjusted. The rope or cable 14, also provided with tension-links 13, passes around one of the sheaves of the pulley 8 and around pulley 9, so connecting the pulleys 8 and 5) that any movement of one will be communicated to the other and impart to it an equal amount of angular movement in the opposite direction. Attached to the standards 10, which are pivotally supported in suitable bearings, are operwhich is cspeciallydesigncd to be engaged by a draft-animal hauling a train of cars, is provided with curved projections 15-and 15", to which is attached a strap 15", placed, as shown, upon theside of the arm 15 which is directed toward the approaching car or draft-animal. The projections 15 and 15" are of resilient character and together with the strap 15" form a yielding cushion against which the animal may strike without injury even when going at a tolerably rapid rate.

While it is intended that the arm 15 will be engaged ordinarily by a draft-animal, it is obvious that it may be engaged by a minecar and operated equally as well, the yielding projections and strapscrvingin the same way to take up the shock of contact and operating the door with a minimum of jar.

The standard 10, which lies on the outer side of the door, has attached thereto the op crating-arm 16, which is designed to be engaged by a mine-car, and hence is differently constructed from the arm 15, already del scribed. The arm 16 is composed merely of a bowed member of resilient material, which i extends only partly across the track and which presents a convexity to an approaching car.

i It will be readily understood from theforei going description and from an inspection of l I tanimal or car approaching the door the leaf 1 6 will be swung toward the approaching car anism for the door-leaves pulleys 8 and 9 are ating-arms 15 and 16. The operating-arm 15,

i or draft-animal and the leaf will be swung in the opposite direction. The door. when (men-red may be held open by suitable devices provided especially for that purpose and coins prising in the preferred form of the invention a pair of spring-catches 17, mounted at the side of the track in position to engage the leaf?) when swung open in either direction. 'Lhe spring-catches 17 are unnecessary except when the operating-arms 15 and 16 are placed at a considerable distance from the door, .for when the operating-arms are nearthe door tl'ic 'passage of the operating-arms along the side of the car or draft-animal will keep the door open until the cai"or draft-animal has passed through it; but when the operatingarrns are at a considerable distance from the door, if no' means he proyidedto engage thedoor-leaves and hold them open after'the, action of the operating-arms in, opening, the

- leaves, the leaves will be swung to closed poare n ear'the doors The catches 17 are so proportioned that the end of-each e'atch -pro ects into the path of the cars just far enough to be engaged by the front car of a. train and thrown out of operative engage ment with the edge of door-leaf After one'of the latches 17 is thrown out of operative engagement with the edge of doorlcaf 5 by engagement of the front car of a train with the latch the'door-leaf 5 will be held opcnby the'passing cars until the last C ro; the train has passed, and then the doorleaf will be allowed to swing into its normal closed position under the action of the closing mechanism' The preferred .form of closing means comprises rope 18, attached to the outer margin of section 5- ofuloor-loaf. 5, between guide-rolls 19 over pulley 20 and having attached to thefree end thcreof a weight 21, which is just heavyienoughto close the door gradually and without shock. in order to facilitate the opening of the door in case the operating mechanism hereinhefore-deseribed should fail to work for any reason, bows 2-2, of resilient materiahare attached to the leaf 5 on either side, as shown in Fig. l, and these bows keep the leaf outofe contact with the car-or .lraft-animal and open thedoor directly without anygrcat degree of as stated.

'shock' when the operating devices fail to act lnthe form ofemhodiment of the invention erating mechanism is thesame.

illustrated in Fig. 3 instead of the arms 15 and 16, asaboue described, we employ operat ih'g-arms 23;each comprising a rigid member 23 and a resilient curved member 2?)". The arms23 areattached to the siarnlards 10; but instead of the-pulleys 11 and the ropes 7 12 toconstitute connections bctween. the standards 10 and thekdoor-leaf 5 links or connecting-rods 24 are pivoted to the rigid members 23 of the operating-arms and to springs 25, attached to the main section 5" of the doorleaf 5, and in order to facilitate the-closing of the doors for the passage of a carrordraftanimal a spring 26 is attached to'the support of-on'e of the vstam'lards 10 in such position that one end thereof. will be engagedby the operating-arm 23 whenever the djor; is opened to its full extent. Assoon as the car or draftanimal pass'esthrough the door the elasticity of the spring 26 tends tothrow the operatinglever 23,l ackto its, normal position, thus 5 closing the door. In this form of embodi: ment of the invention the operating arms 22 do not extend,entirelyacross the track as doesthe operating-arm 15in thepreferred form of the invention; Hence in order to 9 prevent the, draft-animal from sliding off the track, and thus avoidingcontact with one of the operating-arms, curvedguide-rodS27 are supported at the side of the track opposite the arms 23, thus making it impossible for thc'animal to avoid contact withthc arm:

. Another modification of the operating mechanism is illustrated in Fig, 6,,in which" the opcrating-armis supported upon a hori-- zontal instead of a vertical-shaft. 'ihe hori- I00 zontal shaft .28 extends across thetrack at such height. that a draft-animal may pass readily under it, and extending downward from the shaft is an operating-arm 29, of re- Isilient material, which is adapted to be en- 5 gaged by the front end of a car or by aprojecting pin mountedeither'on some portion of the harness of the draft-animal or upon the car itself. The various positions of the pin are designated at 30 and 31 in dotted lines.

When a horizontally-disposed shaft is used; pulleys 32, disposed in a vertical plane take the place of pulleys 11, used in the preferred form of the invention; but otherwise the op' .1 1 5 A modified form of closing mechanism is illustrated in Fig.7, in which the door is shown as composed'of similar leaves 35, each comprising a main-section 35 and a smaller sectioni35'f, similar. to the sections 5 and 5" on the large leaf 5 in the preferred form of door. i Each of the leaves 35 has projecting from the outer margin thereof a short arm 36', .to which is attached a cord or rope 37, which passes between guide-rolls 38-, suitably sup 5 ported at the side of v the track, then crosses thctrackand passes over the-pulley 30'; ."lhc cords 37 are attached to .pivot-pins"4 provided on the upper edges of sections 35"o-f lIlN, leaves 35, and have attached at their free ends 3 The operating nr.,,-hanism employed with 5 the form of door and closing devices ust de' 5 scribed may be of any of the forms already described, and separate description thereof is therefore regarded as mnuicessacv.

\Vhen it is desired to cause the leaf 6 of the door to more open more rapidly than the T larger leaf 5, the pulleys 8 and 9 are not made i of the same diameter, as shown in Fig. i, but of different diameters, as wi l be obvious, the pulleyf) being smaller than the pulley 8, so that when dew-deaf is swung with its supporting-standard and the pulley 8 turns therewith the pulley 9, from which motion is imparted to the door-leaf (i, will be caused to move through a greater angle, thus insuring the complete opening of the leaf (3 before the arrival of the d raft-animal or car at the door.

lt will be readily observed from the fore- .going description that the door can be opened with very slight effort, only suliicient effort being required to overcome the inertia of the structure and to raise the. weight which serves to close the door. It will also he noted that owing to the resiliency of the operating-ievers the door will be opened without an appreciable amount of jar and that it will open and close readily in strong drafts from any direction, as the action of the. wind upon one leaf of the door is counterbalanced by the action upon the other.

While it has been assumed in the description of the door and the operating mechanism therefor that it will be preferred to have the door-sections swing in opposite directions in order to have the action of-the wind upon one portion of thedoor coum-erbalanced by its action upon the other, it is obvious that by crossing the rope connecting the pulleys 8 and 9 both sections may be caused to open in the same direction.

\Vhile the door and operating mechanism have been described and illustrated in the various preferred forms of embodiment of the invention, it i., obvious that certain clanges may be made in the form and proporl ions of the parts and in their exact mode of assemblage without departing from the spu-it,of

the invention orsacrilicing any of i s advantages, and we do not desire to be limited in the forms shown, but re. erve the right to make such changes therein as lie within the scope of the appended claims.

While the spring-catches for holding doorleaf 5 in open position have been shown only in connection with one form of door-opening mechanism, it is to be understood that said catches maybe employed with any one of the I several types of door-opening devices shown I I l l BEST AVAlLABLE GOP.

and described. It is also to be umlerstood that the various forms of door-closing devices disclosed may be used inwrchangealily with out regard to the character of the door-opening devices, each type of door-opening means being adapted for use with any one of the forms of door-closing devices disclosed.

Having thus described the construction and operation of our invention, what. we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. in amine-door, the combination with a pair of pivotal supports, of door-leaves car ried by said supports, one of said door-leaves comprising a section rigidly secured to the support, and a section connected with said rigidly-attached section by means of spring hinges, said rigidly-attached section being secured to the support intermediate of its edges and the other door-leaf being attached to its pivotal support by means of spring-hinges and comprising a single section only.

2. In a mine-door, the combination of two pivotally-mounted do0r-leaves of different widths, connections between saiddoor-leaves whereby the movement of either leaf in one direction will cause the opposite movementof the other leaf, and operating devices adapted to swing the wider door-section away from an amiroachmg Objlt'iil.

3. ln amine-door, the comlnnation with two pivoted leaves each having on the inne-fimargin thereof a llexible strip and said flexible stri ps being adapted to overlap, of connections between said door-leaves whereby the'movement of either leaf will produce a simultaneous and opposite movement of the other.

-t. In a mine-door, the combination with a pair of pivotal standards, of door-leaves of different widths rigidly attached to said standards, a pulley rigidly secured t0 eaeh of said standards, a rope traveling over said pulleys and so arranged that the movement of either leaf will prmluce anopposite movement of i the other, and means operated by a body ap preaching the. door to swing the door-leaf of greater width in the direction of movement of the approaching body.

In a mine-door, the combination with a pair of pivotal standards, of door-leaves rig-' idly attached to said standards, pulleysofdiffcrent sizes rigidly secured one on each standard, a rope running over said pulleys and forming means whereby themovement of one of said leaves will producean opposite move mentat a different rate of speed in the other leaf, and means operated by a body approaching the door for swinging the slow-moving door-leaf in the direction of movement of the approaching body.

6. The combination with a mine-door comprising swinging door-leaves, of openiugdevices comprising resilient levers disposed across the path of an approachingobject,connections between said lnembersarnl oneofsaid door-leaves, and connections between the doorleaves whereby the movement of one leaf will be. accompanied by a simultaneous movement of the other.

a '7. The combination witha mine-door comprising pivoted door-leaves, of resilient opening-levers disposed in the path of objects approaching said door, springs attached to one of said door-leaves, rigid connections between IQ said springs and said levers, and connections between said door-leaves whereby the move ment of one will produce a ,sin iultaneous movement of the other.

' 8. (the combination with a mine-door com- !5 prising a swinging door-leaf, of an opening lever disposed transversely of the path of objects approaching the door, a spring attached to the door-leaf, and a rod connecting said lever and said spring 9. The combination with a mine-door comprising a-'- swinging doorI-leaf, of a pivoted lever arranged in the path of objects approaching the door, a spring mounted on said doorleaf, and a rigid member pivotally connected with said spring and with said lever.

' 10. The combination with a 1nine-door comprising a swinging leaf, of operating devices actuated by objects approaching the door to open the same, and spring-catches arranged s in position to engage the free edge of thedoor when open to its. fullest extent, said catches having extensions disposed in the path of objects moving away from the door whereby said catches may be released after the passage I of objects through the door.

11. The combinationwith a mine-door comprising a swinging leaf,of mechanism actuated by ob ects approaching the door to open the same, a spring-catch arranged in position to beengaged by the free edgcof the door when open to its fullest extentand a spring disposed adjacent to said spring-catch to close the door when released from engagement with the catch.

12. The combination with a mine-door disposed across a track, of operating devices com nections between said operating-lever and said swinging leaf. v

14. The combination with a mine-door comseer AvAaAsLE con prising a swinging leaf, of an operating-lever disposed in the path of objects approaching said door, connections between said lever and said swinging leaffand a spring supported in such position that the operating-lever will contact therewith when the dooris fully open and be returned to its normal position after the passage of an object through the door by the action of said spring. Y

In testimony that AVE, claim the foregoing as our-own we have hereto afiixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

NEWTON Cox, JOHN Mosnmn

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