US1210190A - Railroad-gate. - Google Patents

Description

W. MAXWELL.

RAILROAD GATE.

APPUCATION FILED FEB. 29, 1915- I 1,210,190. Patented Dec. 26,1916.

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. W. MAXWELL.

RAILROAD GATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 29. 1916.

1 ,2 1 0, 1-90. Patented Dec. 26, 1916.

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W. MAXWELL.

RAlLROAD GATE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 29, 1916.

1,210,190, Patented Dec. 26,1916.

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FFICE.

WILLIAM MAXWELL, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-earn.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM MAXWELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bloomington, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Railroad-Gate, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

The object of the invention'is toprovide a new and improved railroad gate more especially j designed for use on grade crossings and arranged to automatically sound an alarm and to subsequently close the normally open gates and holdithe same closed by an approaching train until the latter has passed the crossing, and to then autoinatically return the gates to normalopen position Another object is to readily permit the use 01 the operating devices for the gate on single or multiple track railroads.

In order to accomplish he desired result,

use is made of a pivoted barrier normally held locked in open position and adapted to swing into closed position by its own weight,

an actuating device,,a counterweight device for returning the barrier to upright position and normally holding it thereon, an actuating device along the track at one side of the crossing and a distance therefrom to be actuated by an approaching train for actuating the said counterweight device to allow the barrier to swmg into closed position, a

locking device for locking the said counterweight device in position at the time the barrier 1S lowered, and a releasing device for the said locking device arranged along the track on the other side of the crossing to be engaged by the departing train after the latter has passed the crossing, to release the barrier and allow it to swing back into normal open position. v

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying draw- I ings forminga part of this specification, in

which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views. I

Figure 1 represents a plan viewof my device as applied to a single track road and showing the gates in section; Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe same with the roadhed and crossing shown in seetion; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the releasing system for returning the gates to their normal raised position; Flg. 4. is an enlarged vertical section of one of the gate-operating devices at Application filedFebruary 29, 1916. Serial No. 81,143.

crossing.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 26, 1916 y the time the gate is open; Fig. 5 is a similar yiew of part of the same and with the parts 1n posltion when the gate is in lowered or closed position; Fig. 6 is-asectional plan view of the same on the line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of one ofthe gate-actuating devices for closing the gate; Fig. 8 is a cross section of the same on the line 8'8 of Fig. 7 Fig. 9 represents a side elevation of one of the releasing devices; and Fig. 10 is across section of the same on the line 1O-10.

As shown in the drawings, Fig. 1 represents a single track embodiment of 'my invention, wherein 1 2 represent the rails of the track 8, constituting the crossing, which latter is controlled by barriers 8, preferably arranged in pairs,as shown in Fig. 1. The

pairs of gates are normally in open raised pos tion and arefadapted to be closed auto matlcally on trainv approaching the crossing and adapted to return to raised normal position on the train departing from the The pairs of gates are connected with each other to operate in unison but only the. pair of barriers Sis connected with the gate-operating devices 5, '5' connected with the actuating devices 4;, 4E and the releasing mechanism 6, 6 disposed along one rail of the single track on opposite sides of the crossing, as plainly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. To the right of the track I: arrange the devices 4 for operating the barriers 8, best indicated in Fig. 2, and on the opposite side or the crossing I arrange the device 6 which constitutes the releasing device for the barthe train passing beyond and past the gate releasing device 4:, this latter is inoperative to any train passing in the direction just outlined. Naturally a two-track road would necessitate a slight rearrangement of the devices referred to in conjunction with a singletraclrroad. However, this modification is so patentably obvious that further reference thereto need hardly be made.

members 14 arranged upon a shaft 15 journaled in a housing 15 on the one side and a housing 30 on the other, whlch housings are suitably mounted on foundations, which latter construction need not be further gone into. The spider arms 14 carry in the illustrated embodiment of my invention, rollers 14 mounted upon the studs 14. In this way as the wheels of the train pass by the point of the track indicated in the figures, the spider arms are caused to rotate and thereby transmit their motion to a pinion 31 mounted upon the shaft 15, to a rack bar 32 moving in guideways 32 of the housing 30, and by means of the spring 34 connected at one end to the pin 34' on the rack bar 32 and on the other end connected by means of the pin and block 33 to the transmission rod 33, is enabled by means of the mechanism indicated in Fig. 4 to not only release the barriers 8 to stop all cross railroad traffic, but at the same time enables a storing of energy to take place to bring said arms back to their normal position at the proper time.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that in a single track road, it becomes necessary to make the spider arm inoperative with respect to the operating rod 33 when the train is passing in a particular direction. For this reason, a ratchet and pawl mechanism indicated by 30, is mounted with respect to the pinion 31 and the shaft 15. In order to I facilitate the return of the rack bar 32 to its normal position, a spring 42 is attached at the one end to the pin 42 on the said rack bar and on the other end to a stud 43 mounted upon the housing 30.

Turning to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the rod 33 is made integral with a rack mounted on the housing 7 constituting the gate support. Said rack 35 has teeth 35, which are caused to engage with the pinion 38 mountedupon a shaft 44, which latter shaft has also mounted upon it a grooved pulley having a flexible transmitting means 39 engaging with a double grooved flanged drum 19, loose on a shaft 9 journaled in the housing 7. In this way, when the rack 35 operates upon the pinion 38, mo-

.tion is transmitted to the grooved and flanged drum 19 and by virtue of the cable 13 operating in one of the grooves 20 and being attached to a weight 16, the weight is raised and with it a tripper block 17 attached thereto. This tripper block in its upward motion strikes against a fulcrumed lever 11, which engages with a notch 12 in a disk 10 secured to the shaft 9. Said barrier is normally arranged to tilt slightly forward, though counterbalanced by a weight 18, in order that on being released by the re straining lever 11, normally engaging with the notch 12, the barrier shall proceed to fall in a relatively easy manner. With the rotation of the grooved drum 19, the weight raised by the same, which would normally tend to make the said drum return to its original position when the movement of the rod 33 has ceased, is constrained to take up its modified position by means of a springpressed pawl 22 engaging with the segmented serrated teeth 21 arranged at the periphery of the said. drum 19. The pawl member 22 is fulcrumed at 22 and is pressed to engage the periphery of the said drum by means of the spring 22".

The flange of the drum 19 carries a pin or projection 23, which engages with a lug 24 carried by the disk 10. However, be cause the drum 19 rotates substantially a quarter of a revolution before the releasing block 17 strikes the weighted lever 11 to release the disk 10, the said disk and consequently the arm integral therewith, cannot turn through the corresponding angle to bring the arm to-a horizontal position, but the drum 19 has substantially performed its function of raising the weight 16, which latter weight is used to turn the arm 8 to its normal operating position. Thus by means of a releasing system of cables 14 attached at one end to the pawl 22, by the movement of the cables to withdraw the pawl 22 from engagement with the drum 19, the said drum in returning to its normal position by virtue of thepin 23 engaging with the ear 24 of the disk 10 necessarily returns the arm 8 to its upright position when the cables 14 are caused to take the proper movement by means of the suitable mechanism indicated by the returning devices 6 and 6. The said returning devices are better illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10 of the drawings. It will be seen that a roller 25 is mounted upon an arm 28 placed contiguous to the rail 2 and in suitable relationship to the railroad crossing 3. Said arm 28 is mounted upon a shaft 27 suitably supported on a foundation frame 46. Mounted integrally with the said shaft 27 is also an arm 23 which is attached to a dash pot device indicated at 29; The arm 28 is pressed to an operating position by means of the springs 26, suitably mounted between the frame 46 and the arm. On the other hand, the cable member 14 is attached to the upright arm 25. Thus it will be seen that if the roller 25 should be struck in such a manner as to ease the cable 14, the dash pot device 29 will not allow the arm 25 to go past the vertical neutral point and in this manner release the pawl 22 in Fig.4 before its allotted time. On the other hand, should the roller 25 be struck by, a wheel flange of thetrain in the position so as to positively release the pawl 22, the dash pot device in no wise interferes in this normal operation. It will therefore be seen that the mechanisms described in Fig. 1 are designed to become operative on a single-track road, but even without modification can be installed in a two-track road withouthaving to resort to any modification of parts whatsoever.

In Fig. 2 I have indicated an arrangement whereby the spider 14 operates the rack bar 32, in the one case mounted above the shaft 15, but in the other case below the shaft 15.

This arrangement, however, hardly merits a separate View, since the housing and the attached parts are exactly alike in both cases, but simply involve a different method of positioning the samewith respect to the roadbed. On the other hand, in order that the barrier 8 indicated in Fig. 2 shall be operative in opposite directions, it becomes necessaryto' change the arrangement of the flexible member 39 of Fig. 4 to that indicated by 41 in Fig. 2. i r

In Fig. 3 I have indicated diagrammatis cally the manner of attachment of the cables 14' to the pawls 22 engaging with the teeth.

21 of the respective drums 19. It will be seen that the cable 14 is bifurcatediin such a manner that whereas one bifurcation operates one of the simultaneous set of pawis 22, the other bifurcationoperates the second rack 35 on the other, tends to return the,

rack 35 to its normal position when withdrawn therefrom by the rod members 33.

In order, thatthe proper signal may be given to the roadway traffic at the crossing the rack 35 is caused to engage by means of its teeth 35' with the bell crank lever 36 to give suitable oscillatory movement to the striker of a bell 37, to sound the latter and which shall be indicative of the speed with which the spider arms 14- are being engaged by the passing train. The bifurcations indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings are suit ably supported by means of rollers 4.0

mounted in the housing 7 either directly or by means of the bracket 40. The shafts 44 extend across the track, as plainly shown in Fig. 1, and the shafts are connected by pulley and belt devices 39 and 41 with the shafts '9 carrying the barriers 8 to operate the same in unison with the barriers 8 In the operation of the device, a train passing from right to left in accordance with the view indicated in Fi 1 or heartwings, would strike the spider 1a, which, in

turn would operate to firstly raise the weight 16 and secondly after having raised this weight a suitable height, would release the gate arms 8 by means of the block 17 engaging with suitable fulcrumed levers 11,

which lock'the gate arms in their upright position. It willbe noted, that because the rack bar 32 only carries a definite number of teeth irrespective of the length of the train and the actualnumber of rotations or impulses imparted to the spider, theweight 16 will not travel morethan a definite amount. The same is also true with regard to the rack 35. Moreover because the springs are arranged between the rods 33 and the rack 32, whatever shock might bepresent in the spider arms, would not necessarily be trans mitted to the rods 33 and the remainder of the system. The train in-subsequcntly passing over the roller 25. on the same side of system generally, whereas when thesaid train has passed the crossing 3 and engages with the releasing mechanism 6 by striking the corresponding roller 25, the cables 14 are tensioned (and thereby are made to release the pawls 22 engaging with the teeth 21 on the drum 19. On the other hand when the train subsequently engages with the spider arms 14 of the mechanism 1 indicated in Fig. 1, by virtueof the ratchet and pawl mechanism 30 indicated in Fig. 7, no action takes place on the railroad gate.v It will be seen therefore that whereas the signals given by the bell 37-. by means of the rack-35 enthe train is approaching, as soon as the arms are released, they fall in a -manner entirely independent of the releasing mechanism and moreover the return of said armsis brought back to normal at a speed entirely independent of the crossing train. By this means therefore the shock to the apparatus as a whole is considerably.diminished, since the storing of energy has to take place by steps and thereforethe individual partsneednot have momentum to cause any considerable danger or shock.

In case sidewalksextend across the track in addition to theroadway, then small bar riers are connected with andoperate in unison with the swing gates or barriers 8, 8.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and deslre to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A gate for railroad crossings, comprising a pivoted barrier normally held locked in open position and adapted toiswing into closed position by its own weight, afcounte'r- .weightdevice connected with the barrier to 1 normally hold the latter in open position gaging'with the bell crank lever 36, causes a signal indicative. of the speed with which and to return the closed barrier to normal open position, an actuating device along the track at one side and a distance from the crossing and adapted to be actuated by an approaching train for actuating the said counterweight device to allow the barrier to swing into closed position, a locking device for locking the said counterweight device in position at the time the barrier moves into closed position, and a releasing device for the said locking device arranged along the track on the other side of the crossing to be engaged by the departing train after the latter has left the crossing to release the barrier and allow it to swing back into its normal open position, the said releasing device including a flexiblemember attached to the said locking device.

2. A gate for railroad crossings, comprising a counterweighted barrier mounted to swing by its own weight from normal raised position to closed position across the crossing, a drum loose on the pivot of the said barrier and provided with a pin, a disk rotating with the said pivot and having a projection engaged by the said pin, a countershaft having a pulley and belt connection with thesaid drum, a flexible member en-' gaging the said drum, a weight attached to the said flexible member, a pinion on the said countershaft, a spring-pressed rack adapted to mesh with the said pinion, a second rack a distance to one side of the crossing and rigidly connected with the firstnamed rack, a revoluble member controlled by an approaching train, a second pinion in mesh with the said second rack, and a pawl and ratchet mechanism connecting the said second pinion with the said revoluble member.

3. A gate for railroad crossings, comprising a counterweightedbarrier mounted to swing by its own weight from normal raised position to closed position across the crossing, a counterweighted drum loose on the pivot of the said barrier and provided with a pin, a disk rotating with the said pivot and havinga projection engaged by the said pin, a countershaft having a pulley and belt connection with the said drum, a pinion on the said countershaft, a spring-pressed rack adapted to mesh with the said pulley, a second rack a distance to one side of the crossing and rigidly connected with the firstnamed rack, a revoluble member controlled by an approaching train, a second pinion in mesh with the said second rack, a pawl and ratchet mechanism connecting thesaid second pinion with the said revoluble member, a pawl and ratchet mechanism connected with the said counterweighted drum, and a releasing device along the track on the other side of the crossing and connected with the said pawl and ratchet mechanism of the counterweighted drum, the said releasing train.

a. A gate for railroad crossings, comprising a counterweighted barrier mounted to swing by its own weight from normal raised position into closed position, a shaft carrying the said barrier, a drum loose on the said shaft and havina pin and a notched segment, a notched disk fixed on the said shaft and having a lug engaged by the said pin, a flexible connection engaging the said drum and carrying a weight, a pawl engaging the notched disk, a block on the said flexible connection and adapted to engage the said pawl, an actuating device along the track at one side of the crossing and connected with said drum, a pawl engaging the said ratchet segment, and a releasing device along the track on the other side of the crossing and connected with the said notched segment and pawl.

5. In a device of the kind described, a gate, a gate operating means comprising a revoluble member havlng arms arranged to receive successive impulses from an approaching train, mechanism for holding the gate normally in open position, the said mechanism being controlled'by the impulses of the revoluble member to permit the gate to close, and a unitary impulse gate returning means.

6. In combination a gate member, a locking means for locking the gate member in normal open position, a releasing means for the said locking means, the said gate member when released moving to closed position, means for returning the gate member to normal position and means connected with the returning means for operating the said releasing means. a

7. In combination with the track of a railroad, a oneway gate operating mechanism comprising a gate controlling means including a revoluble member operated by repeated impulses from the train in passing by said mechanism to permit the gate to close, and a one-way operable gate returning means also operable by said train.

8. In a device of the kind described, a gate controlling means operated by successive impulses from a passing train to permit the gate to close, a unitary impulse gate returning means, the said gate returning means including a spring controlled arm adjacent the rail and adapted to be engaged by a train, a shaft on which the arm is mounted, an arm mounted on said shaft, and a dash pot connected with said arm.

9. In combination with the track of a railroad, a oneway gate operating mechanism comprising a gate controlling means operated by repeated impulses from the train in passing by said mechanism to permit the gate to move to closed position, a locking device for said gate when in closed position, a one-way operable gate returning means also operable by said train, said returning means comprising a member ar ranged along the track and provided with a roller, springs for holding said member 10. In a device of the class described, a

gate member, a gate operating means comprising a revoluble actuating member, a shaft on which said member is mounted, a pinion carried by said shaft, a rack in mesh with said pinion, a transmission rod connected by a spring with said rack, a second rack to which the transmission rod is connected, a pinion actuated by the said second rack, a drum operatively connected with the said pinion, and means for connecting said drum with the gate member.

11. In a device of the class described, a gate member, a gate operating means comprising a revoluble actuating member, a shaft on which said member is mounted, a pinion carried by said shaft, a rack in mesh with said pinion, a transmission rod connected by a spring with said rack, a second rack to which the transmission rod is connected, a spring controlling said second raclr, a pinion actuated by said second rack, a drum mounted to turn and actuated from the said second pinion, means for connecting the drum with the gate member, and a weight connected with the said drum.

12. In combination with a gate member, a locking means for locking the gate member in open position, releasing means for said gate member comprising an energy storing device, means for actuating the same to store energy, the said energy storing device having means for releasing the said locking means, after the energy is stored, to permit the gate to close, a locking means for the said energy storing device when the gate member is in closed position, means for releasing the said locking means, and a connection between the said gate member and the energy storing device for returning the gate member to normal position after the said locking means is released.

13. A ate for railroad crossings, comprising a counterweighted gate member mounted to swing by its own Weight from normal raised position into closed position, a shaft carrying the said gate member, a drum loose on the said shaft and having a pin and a notched segment, a notched disk fixed on the said shaft and having a lug engaged by the said pin, a flexible connection engaging the said drum and carrying a weight, a pawl engaging the notched disk, when the gate member is in raised position, means on the flexible connection adapted to engage the said pawl to release the same, an actuating device along the track at one side of the crossing and connected with the said drum to turn the same to raise the said weight, a pawl engaging the said notched segment of the drum, when the gate is in closed position, and a releasing device along the track on the other side of said crossing, the said releasing device including an arm mounted to swing and a flexible member connecting said arm with the last mentioned pawl.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM MAXWELL. Witnesses:

I. S. CoURTnIei-IT, GEORGE CHAMPION.

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

Washington, D. (3.

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