US988404A - Safety attachment for railway-cars. - Google Patents

Description

G. E. SULLIVAN.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPL IGATION IILED MAR. 10, 1910. v

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

Z 4 ii! j a a a if f 1/ F I W dtionwqo UNITE STATES PATENT OFFIGE.

CHARLES E. SULLIVAN, 0F PUEBLO, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES BAILEY, OF MCCOOK, NEBRASKA.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. SULLIVAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Safety Attachment for Railway Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety attachments for railway cars and has for its object to provide simple means whereby persons falling between cars will be caught and thus prevented from dropping on to the track and into the path of the wheels.

Another object is to provide a device of this character-which is simple in construction and can be readily placed in position, the same being more especially designed for use in connection with the ordinary box cars although it can be used with various other forms of cars.

A further object is to provide safety devices which will automatically adjust themselves when the oars are traveling'on curves, thus preventing the devices from becoming jammed or distorted.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of the meeting ends of two cars having the present improvements applied thereto, one of the guard strips being shown by dotted lines in raised position. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the guards.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, A designates a car body having brackets 2 secured to the sides thereof close to the coupler a and pivotally mounted within these brackets is a rod 3 having a substantially rectangular frame 4 extending therefrom. Stop projections 5 preferably Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 10, 1910.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

Serial No. 548,425.

extend downwardly from the rod adjacent the ends of the frame and are designed to swing against the end of the car body A so as to support the frame normally in an inclined position. The frame may be provided with cross rods 6 or the like serving to prevent a person from falling through the frame.

It is to be understood that a guard such as has been described is adapted to be secured to each end of the car and that when two cars are coupled together upon a straight track, the guards will extend toward each other and will almost touch, it being understood, of course, that the adjoining portions of the two guards are in a plane above that occupied by the two rods 3. Obviously, there fore, when the cars are traveling around a curve, the guards will move together but, by reason of the fact that they converge upwardly, they will not become jammed or distorted as a result of this movement, but will swing upwardly simultaneously, each guard pushing against the opposed one. When the cars again move on to a straight track the two guards will drop down to their normal positions by gravity. It will be apparent that the guards will thus constantly close the space between the two cars and should any person fall between the cars, he will be caught by the guards and thus prevented from falling on to the track and into the path of the wheels.

The construction of the guard can of course be varied and various other changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts can be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is In a safety attachment for railway cars, the combination with a car body, of brackets secured to the sides of the body, a pivot rod mounted at its ends in the brackets, a frame comprisinga length of rod material bent near its ends to form a forward portion and spaced side portions, the side portions of the In testimony that I claim the foregoing frame being bent around the pivot rod near as my own, I have hereto affixed my signathe ends thereof, and having terminal porture in the presence of two Witnesses.

tions depending at an obtuse angle to the CHARLES E. SULLIVAN. 5 said side portions and resting normally Witnesses:

against the car body and yieldably support- C. K. PUTNAM,

ing the frame in inclined position. A. B. YOUNG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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