US443738A - Arthur e - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

v A. E. APPLEYARD. SAFETY DEVICE FOR STREET CARS.

No. 443,738. I I Patented Dec. 30, .1890.

' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

A. E. APPLEYARD. SAFETY DEVICE FOR STREET CARS.

No. 448,738. Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

. w w w J: j i

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. APPLEYARD, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY L. MILLIS AND JOHN S. FOLSOM, BOTH OF MILLIS, MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR STREET-CARS.

SPEdIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,738, dated December 30, 1890. Application filed May 19,1890. Serial No. 352,309. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR E. APPLEYARD,

of Boston, in the county of Sufiolk and State of lllassachusetts'have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices for Street-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved guard or fender for street-cars which are impelled by electricity or by powerdriven cables, &c.; and it consists in the improved devices hereinafter described, whereby serious injury to a person or animal will be prevented in case the car collides with such person or animal.

In the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a street-car provided with my improved safety devices. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of a portion of the car. Figs. 3 and 4 represent longitudinal sections of portions of the car, showing the action of one of my improved safety devices.

The same letters and numerals of reference indicate the same partsin all the figures.

In carrying out my invention I provide at the front end of the car a kind of receptacle or basket to, which is composed of a strong supporting-frame pivotally connected at b to ears or lugs on the bottom of the car-platform c, said frame comprising the two metallic side pieces 2 2, each having a rearwardly-extending ear 3, which receives the pivot b, and suitable cross-rods 4, rigidly connecting the side pieces 2, the whole constituting a strong supporting-frame which is capable of oscillating vertically on the pivots b. To said frame is connected a suitable recessed bottom or diaphragm composed of a piece 5 of netting made of stout cords or twine suitably netted or knotted to form a netting, said netting being preferably raised at its edges by flexible supports 6, which I attach to the frame, as shown in Fig. 1. Said supports 6 are preferably parts of a continuous cord extending around the margin of a piece of netting and passed through holes 7 in the supportingframe, the edges of the netting being engaged with said cord, which constitutes a substantially rectangular flexible frame held in an inclined position, its forward portion being close to the track and its rear portion raised in front of the fender.

It will be seen that the basket or receptacle arranged as shown at the front of the ear and projecting forward from the front platform with its lower edge close to the track is adapted to receive the body of anindividual or animal that may be caught upon the track by the car, the body being received in the basket and held thereby without liability of serious injury. The recessed form of the diaphragm or bottom 5 enables it to hold an object falling against it, as will be readily seen. The pivotal connection of the frame of the receptacle to the platform of the car by means of the pivots 1) enables the forward end of said receptacle to rise and fall, so that the tilting or rising and falling motion which the car experiences in its movement over the track will not cause injury to the receptacle or basket, the forward end of the latter rising when the car-platform descends sufficiently to bring it into contact with the track. I prefer to pro vide the forward end of the frame of the receptacle with trucks 8 8, adapted to bear upon the track-rails when the receptacle is de pressed by the movements of the car, said wheels preventing injurious contact between the receptacle and the track,

e 6 represent springs interposed between the arms S-of the frame of the receptacle and the bottom of the car-platform and pressing downwardly upon the frame in advance of the pivots b, so that they hold the receptacle in its lowest position with a yielding pressure, said position being determined by stops con sisting of the heads f of verticalbolts or studs around which the springs e are coiled, said heads being below the arms 3 of the frame of the receptacle and adapted to support said arms against the downward pressure of the g the frame under the netting 5, and serving to arrest the descent of any body that may break through the netting 5; or in case the netting 5 is not broken, but is caused to sag 'deeply by the weight of a body thrown upon with lugs 7t" it, the supplementarynetting 5 assiststhc netting 5 to support the said body.

7: represents a curved scoop or troughshaped receptacle extending across the under side of the car-platform behind the receptacle a. Said scoop is attached to arms 1', which are pivoted at j to supports attached to the bottom of the ear-platform, so that the scoop is adapted to be 'aised and lowered by the swinging movements of the arms 11 upon said pivots. The scoop is normally held in the raised position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 8 by a locking device composed of two arms or levers k 1., pivoted at m to a support on the bottom of the car platform and provided at their upper ends, which are formed to engage the forward ends of the arms 1', as shown in Fig. 3, when the levers 7c are in {their normal position. The levers 7; are connected by a board or strip 0, extending crosswise of the car, the lower edge of said board being so near the track that an object of the size of the body of a person cannot pass between it and the track without displacing it, and causing the levers to swing baekwardly, as shown in Fig. 4. When the levers 7a are thus swung backwardly by contact with an object on the track, their lugs 70 release the scoop-supporting arms 2', whereupon springs 1), attached to the bottom of the platform and pressing downwardly on the arms 7?, depress the scoop h and cause it to bear with a yielding pressure upon the track or road-bed, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the scoop is in position to catch the body or the object that caused the displacement of the levers k. It will be seen, therefore, that in case a body should be lying on the track, so that the receptacle a would pass over without catching such body it will come in contact with the strip 0, thus releasing the scoop, and will therefore be caught and carried along by the scoop without liability of coming in contact with the wheels, the forward edge of the scoop catching the body close to the ground and having a tendency to roll the body into the cavity of the scoop.

It is obvious that the scoop and its locking and unlocking accompaniments may be used without the receptacle a, but in general I prefer to use it as a supplementary safeguard in connection with said receptacle.

In case the car is not turned end for end at the conclusion of each trip duplicate devices such as are above described should be provided, one at each end of the car, as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be seen that the front portion of the receptacle a is located so near the road-bed or track that in striking a person on the track it will almost inevitably cause the person to fall toward the car and into the basket. Said front portion is a part of the rope 6, and is therefore of a yielding nature, so that it will not be liable to severely injure the portions of the body which it may strike.

I prefer to provide the forward portions of the frame-pieces 2 2 with elastic coverings or cushions 9 to prevent injury to the legs or ankles with which said portions may come in contact.

I claim- 1. The combination of a car-platform, a frame pivoted to the platform and having a depressed forward portion and a raised rear portion, a recessed bottom'or diaphragm of yielding or flexible construction supported at its margin by said frame and held by the latter with its forward edge depressed near the level of the track and its rear edge and ends raised, said frame and diaphragm being adapted to rise and fall by the pivotal connection of the frame to the car-platform, and stops to limit the downward movement, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a car-platform, of a supporting-frame composed of rigidlyconnected metallic side pieces pivotally connected with the platform and having their forward ends depressed in close proximity to the track and their rear ends elevated in front of the fender of the platform, and arecessed bottom or diaphragm of flexible construction attached at its margin to said frame, as set forth.

3. The combination, with a car-platform, of a supporting-frame composed of rigidlyconnected metallic side pieces pivotally connected with the platform and having their forward ends depressed in close proximity to the track and their rear ends elevated in front of the fender of the platform, a marginal yielding support composed of a cord supported by said side pieces in theform of a substantially rectangular inclined frame, and a recessed flexible diaphragm or bottom attached at its margin. to said support, as set forth.

4.. The combination, with a car-platform, of a supporting-frame composed of rigidlyconnected metallic side pieces pivotally connected with the platform and having their forward ends depressed in close proximity to the track and their rear ends elevated in front of the fender of the platform, a marginal yielding support composed of a cord sup ported by said side pieces in the form of a substantiallyrectangularinclined frame, a recessed flexible diaphragm orbottom attached at its margin to said support, and a supplemental flexiblc bottom or diaphragm 5', secured to the supporting-frame below the recessed diaphragm, as set forth.

5. The improved basket or receptacle for car-platforms, composed of the metallic frame consisting of the end pieces 2 2, rearwardlyprojecting arms 3, and cross-rods a, the net 5, secured to a marginal cord engaged with said frame, and the supplemental netting 5, secured to the frame below the netting 5, as set forth.

6. The combination, with a car-platform, of a forwardly-projecting receptacle or basket connected by pivots with the platform, springs arrangedto press said receptacle downwardly, and stops to limit the downward movement of the basket by said springs, as set forth."

7. The co1nbination,with a car, of the scoop h, extending crosswise of the carin advance of the wheels thereof, the arms tattached to said scoop and pivoted to supports on the bottom of the car-platform, and the depending levers it, formed to engage the forward ends of said arms '6, and thereby lock the scoop in a raised position, as set forth.

8. The combination, with a car, of the scoop h, the arms i, attached to said scoop and pivoted at j to supports on the bottom of the car- JormetLat their upper ends to engage the forward ends of the arms 1-, and the cross piece ARTHUR E. APPLEYARD.

Witnesses:

'O. F. BROWN,

A. D. HARRISON.

platform, the pivoted depending levers 7t 7t, 15

or strip 0, attached to and connecting the le-

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