US452436A - Wagon end-gate - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) I

W. O. FOSTER.

WAGON END GATE.

No. 452,436. Patented May 19,1891.

Shave whoa. 62 92% M v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM C. FOSTER, OF LA CROSSE, ISGON SIN.

WAGON EN D-GATE.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,436, dated May 19, 1891.

Application filed February 18, 1891. Serial No. 381,884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. FOSTER, or La Crosse, in the county of La Crosse and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in End- Gates for Vagons; 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 pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in end-gates for wagons; and it consists in the combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully described hereinafter, and referred to in the claims.

The object of my invention is not only to provide an end-gate for wagon-beds which will allow the entire contents of the bed to be shoveled out without any obstruction on the part of the gate, but to provide the gate with an automatically-acting catch or catches which will hold the gate in any desired position.

' Figure l is a side elevation of a wagon-bed to which my invention is applied. Fig. 2 is a.

plan view of the same, showing the gate opened back. Fig. 3 is a vertical section. Fig. 4 is a rear view.

A represents the wagon-bed, which has the rear ends of its sides rounded away so as to form the arcs of a circle These arcs do not start from the upper edges of the sides, but from near the base of the shoulders B, which are formed at the rear upper corners of the sides, as shown. At the base of the shoulders B, and at any suitable points in the arcs of the circle, are formed the notches O for holding the end-gate D in any desired position. Secured to the outer sides of the curved ends of the side-boards of the bedAare the curved metallic plates E which project just far enough beyond the rounded edges of the sides to receive all the wear of the spring locking devices, and thus prevent injury to the bed itself, and in these plates E the notches C are also formed. The upper ends of the plates E extend up along the edges of the shoulders 13, and then horizontally along the upper edges of the sides of the wagon-bed, as shown at F, for the purpose of bracing and strengthening the bed at these points. The lower ends of the plates E are thickened so as to pass through the cross-piece X, which is applied to the under side of the rear end of the wagonbed. In order to prevent the side pieces from splitting at their rear ends, the vertical metallic plates G are secured to the outer sides of the side pieces, as shown, and which have their lower ends thickened so as to extend through the cross-piece H and receive the nuts I upon their lower screw-threaded portions.

The end-board D has a suitable metallic plate J secured to its opposite sides, and which plate at its center projects sufficiently far beyond the lower edge of the gate to allow the pivotal rod K to pass through it and the sides of the bed, as shown. This rod forms the pivot upon which the end-gate D turns, and is screw-threaded at its outer end so as to pass through the plate G, the brace N, and the ends 0 of the plate P, as shown.

Secured to the center of the end-gate near its upper edge, by means of a suitable clamping device Q of any suitable construction, is a spring locking-rod R, which is provided with knobs upon its ends, and which rod R passes through loops or guides T, secured to the'rear sides of the end-gate. These loops serve to keep the ends of the rod in contact with the plate J, and at the same time allow them a vertical play or movement so that the ends of the rod, which is made of elastic or spring metal, can readily snap into the notches C for the purpose of locking the gate in any desired position. The knobs upon the ends of the spring-rod R serve as handles, by means of which the ends of the rods are detached from the notchesin opening or closing the end-gate. WVhen the endgate is closed, its ends rest against the inside cleats U, which form a tight joint therewith.

Secured to the bottom of the bed A, just in front of the lower edge of the end-gate D, is the plate I, which is raised by a V-shaped strip of Wood placed under it, so as to extend at a slight-angle to the bottom of the bed. The rear edge of this plate P bears tightly against the plate J and serves to prevent any material working between the twoparts. This plate P allows the contents of the wagon-bed to be shoveled or scraped freely out, and does not form any obstruction of any kind. The end pieces 0 of this plate P project outside of the wagon-bed and are turned so as to be in a vertical position, and thus bear directly against the sides of thebed. These end pieces 0 serve to brace and seeu re the plate I in po sition and strengthen the sides of the wagonbed, and to serve as additional bearings for the screw-threaded pivotal rod K.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The wagon-bed having the ends of its sides rounded away and provided with notches, combined with the end-gate which is hinged at its lower end and swings vertically, and spring-catches for catching in the notches, substantially as shown.

2. The pivoted end-gate, the spring-rod secured thereto and having its ends to project beyond the sides of the wagon-bed, combined with the wagon-bed having the rear ends of its sides rounded away and provided with notches, substantially as described.

3. The wagon-bed, the plate P, secured to the bottom of the wagon-bed, and the wooden strip placed under the plate, combined with the end-gate, substantially as set forth.

-l. The end-gate and the pivotal rod upon wh ieh it turns, combined with tlicplatcJ,wliicl1 is applied to the sides of the end-gate and passes around its lower end to form a bearing for the rod below the end-gate, substantially as specified.

The wagon-bed, combined with the plate P, which is secured to its bottom, and which plate is provided with the end pieces 0, which extend through the sides of the wagon-bed and are secured thereto, substantially as shown.

6. The wagon-body having the rear ends of its side pieces rounded away, the plates E, provided with the extensions F at their upper ends, the braces U, and the plates G, provided with serew-threaded portions at their lower ends to pass through the cross-piece ll, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my sign aturc in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM C. FOSTER. Witnesses:

M. J. LEIFLI.NG\VELL, E. J. LEFFINGWELL.

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