US588171A - Benjamin f - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

B.F.PARKER. RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

No. 588,171. Patented Aug. 17, 1897.

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BENJAMIN F. PARKER, OF NORTH YAKIMA, WVASI-IINGTON.

RAILWAY CATTLE-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 588,171, dated August 1'7, 1897.

Application filed May 20, 1897. Serial No. 637,883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, BENJAMIN F. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at North Yakima, in the county of Yakima and State of \Vashington, have invented a new and useful Railway Cattle-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in railway cattle-guards.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of that class of railway cattle-guards which employ a pivoted or hinged gate and provide a weight for holding the gate normally elevated to prevent cattle from Walking along a track and passing from one field into another.

A further object of the invention is to enable the weight to be arranged so that it will not require a pit or cavity to be excavated in the road-bed for its reception, and to improve the connection between the depressible bars, which are engaged by the wheels of a train and the gate.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railway cattle-guard constructed in accordance with this invention, the gate being closed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same, the gate being open. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the construction of the connection between the depressible bars and the gate.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

1 designates a gate composed of a bottom bar or shaft and pickets 2, rigidly connected with the bottom bar or shaft, which is journaled in suitable bearings and disposed transversely of a track, the rails 3 thereof being preferably provided with bearings for the gate. The pickets of the gate are disposed at a slight inclination when the parts are arranged as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and as the gate opens in one direction only it is impossible for it to be forced open by stock approaching the points of the pickets.

The gate is held normally closed by a weighted arm 4:, substantially L-shaped, as shown, and having its outer portion extending upward and provided with a ball 5 or other suitable form of weight. The weighted arm at rests upon a resilient support 6, consisting of a rod extended longitudinally of thetrack at the outer side of one of the rails and having one end curved outward, as shown, and disposed transversely of the weighted arm and arranged beneath the same. The shank or body portion of the resilient support is secured to oneof the cross-ties of the track, and its curved end is free and is adapted to cushion the gate and prevent it from being injured when it is raised by the weight after it has been operated by a train. The weight is located outside of the track and does not necessitate a pit or cavity to be ex cavated in the road-bed for its reception, and the road-bed is not injured or weakened by the cattle-guard.

The gate is provided at one side with an arm 7, located adjacent to the inner face of one of the rails and connected by a link 9 with the adjacent ends of a pair of depressible bars 10 and 11, extending from the gate in opposite directions and arranged to be engaged by car-wheel flanges, whereby a train approaching the cattle-guard will rock the shaft or bottom bar of the gate and open the latter before reaching it. The outer ends of.

the depressible bars are pivotally mounted upon the adjacent cross-ties, and the inner end of one baris bifurcated and the adjacent end of the other bar is reduced and fitted in such bifurcation. The link 9 has its. ends bent at right angles in opposite directions to provide'upper and lower pivots 12 and 13, the lower pivot passing through the arm 7 and the upper pivot connecting the adjacent ends of the depressible bars. As the outer ends of the depressible bars are permanently pivoted upon crossties the reduced end, which fits in the bifurcation, is provided with a longitudinal slot to permit the necessary play of the parts when the bars are'depressed.

When the gate is swung downward, it is held in such position during the passage of a train over it, and the throw of the gate is insufficient to carry it into contact with the road-bed, so that it is not injured through its operation. The adjacent cross-tie may be recessed to permit the ends of the pickets to be depressed sufficiently to clear a train, and at the same time not come in contact with the cross-tie.

It will be seen that the railway cattle-guard is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it may be readily applied to any track without necessitating any excavation of the road-bed, and that the gate is not injured in opening and closing.

What I claim is- 1. In a railway cattle-guard, the combination of a tilting or pivoted gate extending transversely of a track and journaled in suitable bearings, an arm extending from one side of the bottom bar of the gate, a pair of depressible gate-operating bars disposed longitudinally of the track and pivoted at their outer ends, one of the bars being bifurcated at its inner end and the other bar being reduced and fitting in the bifurcation, a linkrod extending from the depressible bars to the said arm and having its ends bent at right angles to form pivots, one of the pivots passing through the arm and the other pivot connecting the adjacent ends of the depressible bars, and a weight for holding the gate closed, substantially as described.

2. In a railway cattle-guard, the combination of a gate arranged transversely of a track and j ournaled in suitable bearings,a weighted upwardly-extending arm connected with the gate and located outside of the track, a resilient support consisting of a rod disposed longitudinally of the track and having one end free and extended beneath the weighted arm, and means for operating the gate, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJ. F. PARKER.

Witnesses:

THOMAS J. PARKER, GEORGE S. COURTER.

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