USRE2672E - Samuel eichabps - Google Patents

Description

S. RICHARDS.

Car-Track Clea'rer.

` No. 2,672. y Y Reissued July 9, 1867.

witnesses.. Inventor,

@uiten tatrs ignite! @frn SAMUEL RICHARDS, or PHILADELPHIA, 'i PENNSYLVANIA. LcttersPatent. 1Y0. 14,886, dated llIay 13, 1856; reissue No. 2,672, dated July 9,1867.

IMPROVED SNOW-PLOUGH.

illu Sdgehnlc ruimt In ir ilus: trtters ntmt mit mating und nf tige same.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY G ONCERN:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL RICHARDS, of the city of Philadelphia, *and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement for Removing Snow from Railroad Tracks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a f ull and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, makingapart of this specification, in which-,-

Figure 1 is a vertical section, andl Figure 2 a perspective view of my improvement.

Snow-ploughs heretofore used for removing snow from railroad tracks `have 'been designed and constructed with a view to press the snow' directly from the track inl a lateral direction. With this View they have been 'generally constructed of two verti'cal curved shares or surfaces, commencing at or very near tothe point of the snow-plough, and immediately diverging laterally. In the use of such ploughs it has been found that in deep snows the snow becomes wedged or packed te'gether at the sides of the track, making it very diicult for the plough and the cars to force their way through. By such plcughs, moreover, the snow is only temporarily pressed away at thc sides, and after the plough has passed a considerable portion falls back on tothe track again'. i V

The nature of my improvement consists in constructing the snow-plough of a simple inclined plane, of great length, and of a width a little greater than the train, mounted upon two swivelnng trucks, and commencing very near to the surface of the rails, and rising at a gradual angle for some distance, without any lateral projecting surfaces, until the inclined plane has reached tothe depth of the snow. Then I place upon said plane a lateralacting wedge, my object being by the action of the long, simplel inclined' plane, in the first instance, to raise up the snow' entirely, and then to pres's off the sno w,`as elevated, by the lateral wedge on to the top of, the surrounding snow, thereby securing the unobstructed elevation of the snow and the avoiding the lateral packing and jamming of the snow, as with thc old ploughs, and the'return of the snow after it has once been removed.

My improved snow-cleaner occupies a position in front of the locomotive, C C, and D D are two four-wheel swivelling trucks, which are supported by holsters to a lower frame or support, E E', in such a manner as to allow the trucks to pass-freely around curves in the manner in which locomotive and car-trucks are ,now made to swivel.A A B is along inclined plane, made of metal or wood, and attached permanently to the lower piece E E. The portion A is made to project in front of the truck c c. The `plane A B rises from the point A l gradually, say at an angle of about twenty to thirty degrees, and should be of a. length of from twenty to thirty feet, or about tho length of an ordinary eight-wheel freight car; (where thc'snows are light this 'plane' might rise more rapidly.) This plane A B is of uniform level transversely as far as the vertical wedge piece F. This wedge piece F is s`o constructed as to present two vertical surfaces meeting at the pointf, and rising from two to six feet, proportioned'to the usual depth of 'snow in the section'of country where the snow-cleaner is used. The entire piece is made to slide up and down along the plane A B by means of a plate with a'ilange or rim ttiug over the edges of A B, or by means o f projections on the under .side of F fitting into slots in the upper surface of A B.' This sliding piece F is to beslid up and down until the'pointfis placed just at the I height of the upper surface of the surrounding snow. The front vertical surfaces of'F may have a.`double curvature, curving slightly inwards as they rise up, so as the more easily to deliver the snow raised from the track. on to the surface of the surrounding snow. When thc'pioce F has been `adjusted in the proper position for thel depth of snow it can bc secured there by means of pins er bolts, as shown in the drawing.

Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a long inclined plane, B,mountcd upon two swivelling trucks, the wedge piece F, mounted upon said inclined plane, with its point located above the level of the surrounding snow, so that the snow shall be elevated gradually by thc plane B, at or near to Vthe llevel of the surrounding snow, before it is pressed laterally by the wedge.

2- The wedge piece F, so arranged as to be movable up and down the inclined planei SAMUEL RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

J. E. SHAW, Gso. E. BucxLnr.-

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