US974092A - Cattle-guard. - Google Patents

Description

C. P. REED'.

CATTLE GUARD. APPLIOATION FILED SH12?, 190s.

Patented oct; 25, 1910.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

CONWELL P. REED, 0F BRIDGEPORT, TEXAS, ASSIGNR OF ONE-HALF T0 SAMUEL J.

v CULWELL, OF BRIDGEPORT, TEXAS.

CATTLE-GUARD.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CoNwELL P. REED, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Wise, State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cattle-Guards; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make -and use the same.v

, This invention relates to improvements in cattle guards and has particular reference to a device of that kind adapted to be placed on either side and between the rails of a railway track in order to prevent cattle walking along the track.

One object of the invention is the provision of a guard provided with a plurality of rollers, the latter being journaled on roller bearings carried by a plurality of shafts so that the slightest pressure produced by the feet of an animal on the rollers will cause them to rotate, whereby the animal will jslilde onthe guard and have a tendency to Another object is the provision of a guard formed of hingedly united sections which may be folded one upon the other and occupy a comparatively small space for packing and shipping.

With these and other objects in View as will more fully hereinafter appear, the present invention consists in certain novel details of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims; it being understood that -various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the device may be made without departing from the spirit or sacriicing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification :*Figure 1 is a plan view of railway track and showing my improved device applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view approximately on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional plan view of a portion of one of the shafts, also showing the rollers in section and roller bearings and means for holding the rollers in spaced relation. Fig.

1 is a sectional end elevation on the line 4.--4 of Fig. 3.

Similar numerals of reference vare employed to designate corresponding parts throughout.

The sections comprising that portion of the guard located between the rails are designated in general by the numerals and 6. These sections are frame like structures and of a size to nicely fit between the base flanges of the rails. As shown the sections include the side walls 7; these members being preferably formed of single pieces of sheet metal oblong in contour and substantially rectangular Ain cross section. The upper sides of the side walls 7 incline upwardly from one end and terminate in overlapping lugs 8 and 9. Owing to the sections 5 and 6 being of the same size it is evident lthat one of the lugs will be vslightly off-set in order to bear upon the lug of the opposite section. The lugs 8 and 9 are provided with alining openings for the reception of a common pintle 10 which serves to pivotally unite the sections. A

Secured in the'opposite side walls 7 are the opposite ends of a plurality of shafts 11. These members are preferably of metal and are spaced equal distances apart and located adjacent the upper edges of the side wallsand 'areso positioned that they will lie in an inclined plane below and parallel with the planes of the upper inclined edges of the sides.

The highest points of the side walls 7 are slightly above the plane of the track and uniting the lower or free ends of the side walls are bearing plates v12 and 13. The bearing plates 12 and 13 are provided with suitable openings for the reception of spikes or nails by means of which the sections are firmly secured to the cross-ties, the sidewalls being disposed longitudinally of the track.

Journaled on the shafts 11 are a plurality of rollers 14. These rollers are arranged in staggered order that is to say, the rollers on adjacent shafts alternate, as shown in Fig. 1. In order that the rollers may have a smooth bearing on the shafts and at the same time be held in spaced relation the following construction is employed By reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that each shaft is provided at intervals throughout its length with circular grooves 15 and arranged within these grooves are a plurality of roller bearings 16. rlhe roller bearings are of such diameters that their surfaces will be in a plane with the outer surfaces of the shaft to which they are applied and the openings in the rollers 14 will be .of a size to loosely receive the shafts. With this construction it is evident when the rollers are positioned as shown in Fig. 3 they will revolve on the bearings 16. In order to prevent endwise movement of the rollers on the shafts spacing sleeves 17 are employed. These members are preferably formed of pieces of metallic tubing of a size to nicely receive the shafts 11 and in the arrangement of parts these sleeves are. designed to be placed between the outer-most rollers and side walls of the sections and between the adjacent rollers on each of the shafts. lVith this construction it is evident that the rollers will be held in spaced rela-tion on the shafts and at the same time will be free to rotate on their bearings.

Reference now to Fig. 1 discloses the fact that located on the outer sides of the track rails and bearing on the cross-ties are sections 18 and 19 similar to the sections 5 and G. The sections 18 and 19 are provided with transverse shafts 2O similar to the shafts 11 and also with rollers 21 similar to the rollers 14. The said shafts 20 have annular recesses and roller bearings for the rollers 21 similar to the construction already described for the sections 5 and G. The sections 1S and 19 are hingedly united at their highest points by pintles 10 and the lower or free ends of their side walls are connected by bearing plates Q2 and Q3, similar to the bearing plates 12 and 13 and performing the same function as that recited for the said bearing plates 12 and 13.

Owing to the fact that the side walls of the sections are disposed longitudinally of the track the shafts are transverse with respect to the track and the inclines formed by the sections are longitudinal of the track so that should an animal get upon the guard and slip thereon the animal will move longitudinally of the track and will not be likely to get its hoofs caught between the sides of the sections and the track rails. Furthermore, owing to the fact that the sections are pivotally connected together, their angle of inclination may be varied as may be required by the varying spaces between the ties on which the bearing plates rest and are secured, and hence the guard may be adjusted longitudinally as may be required by the extent `of the space between the ties on which the guard is mounted.

F rom the foregoing it can be seen that I have provided a device which is exceedingly simple in structure and comparatively ineX pensive to manufacture, embodying few parts and these so arranged that the danger of derangement will be reduced to a minimum.

IVhat is claimed is A. cattle guard consisting of a pair of frames having spaced overlapping hinge lugs at their meeting ends, a single pintle passed through the spaced hinge lugs and hingedly connecting the frames together, spaced shafts having their ends ournaled in the sides of the frames, and overlapping rollers arranged on said shafts in staggered relation.

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

CONIVELL P. REED.

Vitnesses SAM J. CULWELL, W. E. GREEN.

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