US650997A - Electric-railway system. - Google Patents

Description

No. 650,997. Pit outed June 5, I900."-

J. M. TAYLOR. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM. (Apph at on a1 d Aug 29 1899) 3 Sheets-Sheet l (No Model.)

Ha. WASHI No. 650,997. Patented June 5, I900.

J. M. TAYLOR.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application filed Aug. 29, 1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(N0 Model.)

ammutoz g 5 No; 650,997. Patented June 5, I900.

" J. M. TAYLOR. v

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM. (Application mad Aug. 99, 1899.)

'(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

In: norms nmns co, FNOTO LITNO..WASHIN8TON o c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. TAYLOR, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

- ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

sPEGIFJLeATION forming part of Letters went No. e5o,997, dated June 5, 1900. Application filed August 29, 1899. Serial No. 728,913. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that 1, JAMES M. TAYLOR, a mi zen of the United States,residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in electric-railway systems; and it consists in the general construction and arrangement of the parts, more par ticularly the means, as will be hereinafter set forth, for supporting a car from a motor-truck positioned within an underground conduit.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the conduit or subway having tracks therein for the motor, a stand- Fig. 2 is a Vertical sectional view. Fig.3 is a sectional View on the line 33 of Fig. 1 looking toward the slot or downward, said section also showing the position of the brake-levers. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4 4: of Fig. 1 looking upward. Fig. 5 is a top plan View of a disk carried by the upper end of the standard or supporting-post, and Fig. 6 is a bottom plan View of thedisk or supportingplate attached to the frame of a car-body.

The underground conduit or subway is preferably made up of cast-iron braces A, which may have'therethrough openings,as a a, to receive and support wires for a return-circuit and for other uses. the braces converge, and between them is a slot. The upper ends of the braces are curved in the segment of a circle on their inner sides, and to the same are attached castings a, which, with the upper ends of the braces, provide recesses for the reception of slot-closing plates at and springs for projecting said plates from the curved slot or housing, so that when the springs are not compressed the plates will be projected to abut against each other and close the main slot or opening. It will be noted that the slot-closing plates will extend slightly above the upper ends of the braces and form an arched surface, which will better resist weight or pres-' The upper ends of sure thereon from street traffic than an ordinary flat fslot-closer with hinged plates. The slot-closing plates are made up of short sections, and the supports therefor may have suitable openings, so that dirt or street-refuse will not collect beneath said plates.

The lower part of the conduit may be in the form of a trough and at suitable intervals will be connected with the sewer system and in the bottom of the conduit, so as to rest upon cross-ties A and stringers A to which are attached rails A upon which tra'vels the motor-truck B. The lower inner walls of the conduit subway or tunnel are preferably vertical, and said conduit need not greatly exceed the width of the truck which travels therein.

Upon the rails A within the conduit is a four-wheeled truck, one of the pair of wheels of said truck havingadriving-gear b,attach ed to the axles of the driving-wheels, said gear being driven by a gear b, which is turned by thernotor B, said motor receiving a current of electricity from a wire A, suitably suspended within the conduit to be engaged by a trolley B which is mounted on an arm,

said arm being spring-actuated toward the feed-wire A. The motor and electric connections are of ordinary construction, such as are used upon electrically-propelled cars, and the wires for controlling the current from the trolley to the motor are also of the ordinary type and arrangement and may pass to the car rear of one of the standards which connects the motor-truck, which is provided with center bearings, with the car.

O refers to the longitudinal beams of the truck-frame, and near their ends said beams O are connected by'cross-beams C C (3 The hangers for the car-axle are attached to the longitudinal beams O, and the motor Bis suspended by hangers or straps attachedto transverse beams 0 came motor being bolted the center of the truck-frame B is a transverse beamO, which carries centrally a fixture or casting with slotted ends and horizontal apertures, to which are bolted brake-levers D D. The lower ends of the brake-levers are connected to brake-bars d, which carry the usual brake-shoes, said bars being connected by straps d, which extend to the transverse to the lower horizontal portions thereof. Near beam 0 of the frame, and rods also extend from the brake-bars to the levers at points above their fulcrums. By the arrangement shown all of the brake-shoes may be operated or brought in contact with the supportingwheels by operating one of the levers. The levers are made up of fiat bars, and their upper ends pass through the slots and have connected thereto rods for operating the levers from the car. From the ends of the truckframe project similar standards or posts E, and said posts are braced by angle-bars e e, which are bolted to the sides of the posts and to the longitudinal beams, there also being angle-braces e, which extend from.the front and rear of the post or standard and are attached to the transverse beams c 0". The post or standard E is made up of a beam having a central web and lateral flanges, the flanges being at right angles with the slot, and said beam is of sufficient length to extend near the floor of the car.

The beam E has bolted thereto by bolts which pass through the forward flan ges a plow F, the sides of which converge, and said beam or standard carries on a line with the plow and opposite the slot-closing plates flat bars, which extend from one standard to the other and serve to hold the slot-closing plates depressed against the action of their closingsprings during the passage of a car. Between the flat bars F the brake-levers D D pass, as well as the electrical connections from the car to the motor. It will be noted that the flat plates or bars F abut against the ends of the flanges of the post or standard E and prevent the wearing away or injury to said standard by abrasion of the plates which close the slot or the side walls of the slot with the same.

The closing plates or covers for the slots can be removed when it is desired to replace them by either sliding said plates longitudinally to a suitable opening in the upper portion of the conduit or by the use of a suitable tool forcing one of the plates against the action of the spring and drawing the other one-that is, the one to be removed-beyond the curved slot in the upper portion of the brace.

To the upper end of the standard is attached a disk G, which has an upwardly-projecting cylindrical portion located immediately above the upper end of said standard, and the sides incline downward and are provided with recesses g, which form seats for springs 7b. The disk G is bolted to beams G, which are in turn bolted to the upper end of the standard by ties and to horizontal crossbeams G the inner ends of which are bent at an angle for engagement with the flanges of the standards. The ends of the beams G or angle-braces are bent downward, as shown in Fig. 2, and bolts pass through said ends, the heads of the bolts entering countersunk openings at the bottom of the recesses 9.

Lateral brace-beams G which are connected to the beams or bars G G2 by the bolts hereinbefore mentioned, have their ends bent to engage the web of the post or standard at a point opposite and above the slot of the conduit, and the bolts which connect the parts may also serve to hold the flat bars F, hereinbefore mentioned, thereto. To the carfloor are secured transverse beams, to which is connected a disk H, having a central aperture and peripheral grooves in which the upper ends of the springs are seated. The two conical disks G and H may be suitably connected not to interfere with the turning of the car upon the posts or standards connected to the trucks.

By the construction shown a car-body is supported from a power-driven truck located within a conduit, surface tracks are avoided, and after the car has passed a given point the slot is automatically closed, and the entire running-gear being underground will be protected from the elements, so that there will be no liability of trafiic being suspended on account of storms, and the tracks willbe protected from wear and tear other than what is incident to the passing of wheels over the rails. The particular construction set forth thoroughly braces the posts or standards, and the slot prevents the standards assuming other than a vertical position, and there is sufiieient play provided between the car and the car-supports carried by the standards to permit the car-body rounding curves, and with the arrangement shown a comparatively-short motor-truck may support a long car, so that sharp turns can be made.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with an underground conduit having therein parallel tracks, of an electrically-propelled motor and car carrying truck provided with vertical standards which are rigidly attached to the motor-truck, bearing-plates forming a part of a center-bearing truck for the car-body attached to the upper ends of the standards, braces which extend from said bearing-plates downward and are attached to the standards at points opposite the walls of the slot of the conduit, substantially as shown.

2. The combination with an underground conduit having a longitudinal slot,automatic slot-closers, of a motor-truck located in the conduit and provided with vertical standards and brake-levers which extend through the slot, a slot-opener carried by the standards, plates attached to the standards on a line with the slot-closers, the brake-levers extending through the slot between the plates, substantially as shown.

3. The combination in an underground electric-railway system, of a conduit having parallel tracks therein and a slot theret-hrough, a motor-truck havinga vertical standard with a central web and lateral flanges, a center bearing-plate for the car body rigidly attaehed to the standard and provided with lateral brace-beams, the lower ends of the beams being bent to lie between the lateral flanges of the standards at a point opposite the side walls of the slot through the conduit, substantially as shown.

4. In an underground electric-railwaysystem, a conduit in which the motor-truck travels, standards attached to the truck, a center bearing carried by the upper end of the standard, a bearing for engagement therewith attached to the car-frame, a shoe carried by and in advance of the standard, brakelevers pivotally attached to the motor-truck within the conduit, rods connected to the levers, the levers extending through the slot of the conduitand means for actuating the levers from without the conduit, substantially as shown.

5. In an underground electric-railway system, a conduit having motor-truck and car supporting tracks therein, a motor-truck having standards which are attached centrally thereto and extend upward through the slot of the conduit, center bearing-disks attached to the upper ends of the standards, braces connected to said' disks and at points opposite the slot to the standard, bearing=plates attached to the car-body and springs between the sections of the bearing-plates, substantially as shown.

6. In a closed-conduit system of electric propulsion for cars, a motor-truck adapted to travel upon tracks within a conduit and support therefrom a car-body, the means for connecting the car-body and motor-truck including center bearing plates and means whereby the car-body can have a movement independent of the motor-truck, and brake mechanism carried by the motor-truck which is adapted to be actuated from the car, sub stantially as shown.

7. In an electric-railway system, the com-' bination with a car, of a motor-truck to which are rigidly attached standards having longitudinal webs and flanges the flanges being at rightangles to the Webs, center bearing-plates mounted on the upper ends of the standards and braced thereto, a pair of the braces havingtheir lower ends bent to lie parallel with the web and between the flanges of the standards, bearing-plates attached to the car-body for engagement with the bearing-plates of the standards, substantially as shown whereby the car-body may have a limited movement independent of the motor-truck,substantially as set forth.

8. In an electric-railway system which includes an underground conduit with motor and car supporting tracks therein, a slot located above and between the tracks, stand ards rigidly attached to the motor-truck so as to project through the conduit, a car-body supported from said standards, shoes and plates carried by the standards on a line with the side walls of the slot, a pair of brakelevers pivotally attached to the motor-truck and connected on each side of their centers to brake-shoes, said brake-levers extending between the standards and plates carried thereby above the slot and means which extend toward each end of the car, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES M. TAYLOR.

IVitnesses:

T. H. CECIL, MARTIN LOHLEIN.

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