US403394A - stephenson - Google Patents

Description

' (No Model.) 2 -SheetsShee.t 1.

J; STEPHENSON. CABLE OAR TRUCK.

No. 403,394. Patented May 14, 1889.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. STEPHENSON. GABLE OAR TRUCK.

No. 403,394. Patented May 14, 1889. Y

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CABLE-CAR TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,394, dated May 14, 1889. Application filed July 20, 1888. Serial No. 280,508. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN STEPHENsON,a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cable-Oar Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

That a cable-grip car may be pleasant to passengers it is necessary the car-body be free from the cable-grip and desirable that the wheel-brakes, track-brakes, and trackgua-rds be detached from the car-body. Efficient wheel-brakes are always desirable, but especially with a cable motor, for the cars move with more velocity and the friction of the constantly-moving cable is impulsive to the car. Therefore the brakes should be powerful and quick of action; butas wheel-brakes cannot hold cars on steep grades additional or track brakes are necessary and are most efficient when secured to a truck having fixed elevation above the tram-rails.

It is important to guard from harm passengers and others using the streets; but vertical variations of an easy-riding car have detracted from the success of any device attached to the car-body for such purpose, because the guards should have a span beyond the width of the car-track and be near the surface of the rails and pavement and be uncontrolled by the movement of the car-body, but have apossibility of being forced upward to overcome obstacles, as stones, ice, or other surmountable obstructions.

Cable tramways are usually constructed with the slot-rail parallel with the tram-rail; but in practice the four car-wheels form corners of a rectangle in position on the rails, so that when passing curves the central longitudinal line of the car-floor does not accord with the line of the slot-rail, and therefore the grip must be so suspended as to be capable of transverse motion controlled by the slot. As the cable has frequently to be thrown out and again restored to the grip, it is desirable that the grip be located at a fixed elevation in accordance with the cable, and therefore it is essential that the grip be not attached to the car-body resting on springs, but to some part of the car structure, which will be unvarying in its altitude. When the grip seizes the cable rashly, the car is started into motion with a jerk, which is detrimental to the car structure and discomforting to passengers. It is therefore desirable that these effects be neutralized or ameliorated. The grip needs to be frequently removed from the car, requiring to be easy of access, with freedom of space for handling, and with facilities for attaching, securing, and detaching. Therefore there should be open space in the car-floor and a like space in the car-truck, with the opening lengthwise greater than the longest part of the grip. That the grip may be held in invariable elevation with the cable the grip-hold ers are supported by stay-rods, which cross the truck beneath the holders, with the ends of the stays in saddled sockets resting on the sills without capability of losing position, and the stay ends with screwnuts adapted to adjustment.

To meet the various requirements I have invented a car-truck or carriage part, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved truck. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation on line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an edge View of one of the wheels, showing the boxshells and rail and sill in section.

The carriage part of the truck is suspended outside the car-wheels by the regular axlejournals 1 of the axles 2, with ordinary axleboxes, 3, their shells having pendent limbs 4, to which are attached the four corners of the carriage of the car-truck, with the truck-sills 5 extending beyond the axle-boxes and forming cat-heads or supports for guards which spread over the track and rails in front of the wheels. The central part of the sills supports the part of the truck structure which carries the grip, wheel-brake, and track-brake.

Though modifications of the truck-frame may be admissible, the following elements will make a structure which will be found satisfactory: two sills, 5 5, for sides; two subsills, (3 6, neXt adjoining the sills; two cheeksills, 7 7, one at each side of the grip well 0c,- two end cross-bars, 8 8; four short central cross-bars, 9 9 9 9, and sill-blocks, not absolutely necessary, because the sills may be Wide enough not to need the blocks.

The two separated sills 5 5 are placed each framed atproper localities to connect the sills and cheek-sills, and these four short crossbars carry the sub-sills 6 6 at proper distances from-the sills.

At each end of the truck is the end crossbar, 8, holding in proper adjustment the ends of the cheek and sub sills. These end crossbars derive their support in part from the sub-sills, but chiefly from resting on stay-rods 14 14c, crossing from'side to side of the truck,

with the ends of the rods in sockets 13 on the sills 5, and the rods are adjustable in the sockets by nuts 16. As the well-hole rfor the grip is longer than the distance between the sockets at either side, the supporting-stays at their central part are deflected endward of the truck, and thus retained and prevented.

from return by stops 15 in the form of socketed plates at the under side of the cheek- The sills outside the wheels and the.

sills. sub-sills inside are adapted to the mechanism of the wheel-brake and also to the trackbrake. The head ends of the wheel-brake shoe-bars, with their shoes, of any suitable construction, rest on the short cross-bars 9 of the truck between the sills and the sub-sills. The tail ends of the shoe-brake bars have freedom for end motion in keepers secured to inner sides of the sill, and on the upper side of these sills, at each side of the truck, is located a suitable rock-shaft adapted to receive the energy of the operator and transmit it to the brake-shoe. In like manner the sills and sub-sills are adapted to receive the bearings of rock-shafts of the track-brake and guides for its track-shoes. sills may be utilized for carrying a trackclearer.

The grip is sustained in its well by socketconnection with a grip sliding bar having freedom for horizontal motion. Above the grip-socket is a key to prevent the grip end from rising. The grip sliding bars are below the cheek-sills 7. These sills have each a bottom plate, 17, and below these plates the grip slide-bars are retained by keepers 18, allowing to the slide-bar freedom for horizontal motion. These sliding bars have at their outer edges eyes or means for connection with the draw-head spring adapted to relieve the jerk of the grip when it seizes the cable.

For convenience in supporting the wheelbrake, each sill has on its upper surface a sill block, 19, giving more height to the sill-top, on which to locate a brake rock-shaft having So, also, extension of the three arms, one of which receives the energy of the operator, and each. of the other two transmits the energy of its shoe-bar, holding and moving the shoe. Each shoe-bar rests on one of the central short cross-bars, 9, with capability of motion endwise through its keeper.

The track-brake is located below the shoebrake, its two rock-shafts having their journals atone end supported by the truck-sills and at the other end by the sub-sills, the truck-sills also holding the guides which direct' the'verticalrmotion of the track-shoes. The ends of thetruck-sills may be extended beyond the axle-boxes and adapted to connection with a track-guard. These ends may be strengthened by connecting the two by a bolt in the rail or by any other known method.

The truck-frame is attached to the axleboxes by the sill-extensions 20, which pass below the pendants 4 of the axle-box shells and are fastened by clips 21, having their screw-nuts beneath, and a plate-coupler, 22, Fig. 4, combining the four shanks of the two clips, and the two edges of the plates of sufficient length beyond the clip-shanks to be bent downward, forming a protecting-flange, 23, outside of the clip-nuts. To prevent displacement of the sills and axle-boxes, a horizontal bolt, 24, runs through each sill and shell. pendant, holding the connection, although the clips should be loose.

Racking-stays to prevent the truck from being forced out of square are provided by four bolts, 25, crossing the four angles of the truck, the bolt-heads being outside the sills at the cross-bars and the nuts on the central face of the cheek-sills.

I have not herein illustrated the gripping mechanism and brake-shoes and operating and connected mechanism as applied to my 7 improved truck, as the same are fully set forth in separate applications for Letters Patent, Serial Nos. 280,509, 280,510, 280,512, 280,513, 280,630, and 280,631.

I claim 1. A car-truck frame constructed with the following elements adapted to suspension beneath the car-axle boxes, to wit: two sills, two sub-sills, two cheek-sills, two end cross-bars, and four central cross-bars, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

2. A carhaving a truck-frame with its sills outside of the wheels, the sills being rigidly connected to integral limbs pendent from the bottom of the axle-box shell, the pendent limbs being adapted to transmit to the carbody the motive power which impels the car, substantially as described.

3. A cartruck having its two sills suspended from pendent limbs of the axle-box shell, two sub-sills inside the wheels and parallel to the sills, and two cheek-sills, also parallel, but located nearer the center line of the truck, two end cross-bars framed on the ends of the subsills and cheek-sills, and, with the cheek-sills, constituting the four walls of a well adapted to receive and permit the motion of the grip, substantially as and for th e purpose described.

4:. A car-truck with its sills outside the wheels and its central structure upheld by supporting-rods having their ends carried by the sills and the central parts of the rods deflected to pass under the ends of the sub-sills and cheek-sills, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. A car-truck with its sills outside the wheels and the central part of the truck structure supported at its ends by deflected supporting-rods having their ends in sockets carried by the sills, substantially as shown and described.

6. A car-truck frame with sills, sub-sills, cheek-sills, and cross-bars preserved in rectangular form by racking-stays extending across the angles and through the sills and cheek-sills and adapted to prevent distortion of the truck-frame, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. A car-truck with two wheels on each axle and with its sills and sub-sills connected by cross-bars between the wheel-faces and adapted to receive the wheel brake-shoe bar, with its shoe capable of being moved horizontally to and from the wheel, substantially as and for the purpose described.

8. A car-truck with two wheels on each axle, the sills outside and the sub-sills inside the wheels and the ends of the sub-sills within the extremes of the wheels, and the cross-rails between the wheel-faces connecting sills and sub-sills, the latter carrying the heads of the shoe sliding bars, with their shoes adapted to move horizontally to and from the wheels, all substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. A car-truck carried entirely by its sills attached to pendants integral to the axle-box shells, and the sub-sills supported by crossrails carried by the sills between the wheelfaces, the combination being adapted to the mechanism of the wheel-brake rock-shafts, articulated connecting-rods, shoe sliding bars, and brake-shoes moving horizontally to and from the wheels, substantially as and for the purpose described.

10. A car-truck with its sills beneath the axle-journals and secured to the box-shell pendants by clips surrounding the pendent limbs and the sill ends, the shanks of the clips extending below the sills and through coupling-plates, with screw-nuts beneath the coupling-plates, which are flanged to protect the screw-nuts, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN STEPHENSON.

WVitnesses:

CHARLES E. FosTER, STUART A. STEPHENSON.

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