US2443000A - Bonding cable terminal bracket - Google Patents

Description

June 8, 1948..

H. A. ELKINS BONDING CABLE TERMINAL BRACKET Filed June 4, 1947 Inventor Hu ber/ A. El/rins Patented June 8, 1948 BONDING CABLE TERMINAL BRACKET Hubert A. Elkins, Huntington, W. Va., assignor of one-half to Howard '1. Elkins, Midkiff, W. Va.

Application June 4, 1947, Serial No. 752,494

3 Claims.

This invention relates to track rail bonding cables and, more particularly, to improved brackets, fixtures and devices such as are used to electrically secure the opposite bridging ends of a current conducting cable to adjacent end-to-end rail sections.

Under prevailing methods of track laying and installations, cable attaching and anchoring fixtures and clips are permanently welded or otherwise secured in place to stay and are therefore not detachable for needed supplemental and reuse purposes. Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a form of fixture wherein onehalf of the attaching means is permanently welded and the other half portion is free of attachment in such a manner that it, in conjunction with a complemental cable socket, may be pried loose, fractured, and broken away from the permanently anchored half, thus providing a socket having duly salvaged attaching means which is available and adequate for welding attachment to another rail section, for example, a track repair rail.

More specifically, another object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical and expedient fixture characterized by a suitable open ended cable socket centrally integrated with an attaching means which embodies twin flanges, these properly angled for selective attachment and practical re-use purposes.

In carrying out a preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide a simple and economical cable bonding fixture characterized by a onepiece casting or equivalent body comprising a pair of duplicate, but separate, selectively usable attaching flanges located at approximate right angles to each other and an open-ended sleevelike socket which is heavily built and integrated solidly with said flanges, that is, at the junctural connecting portions of said flanges, said junctional regions or portions of said flanges being materially decreased in thickness to provide a relatively fragile area on each side of the socket, whereby to allow one flange to be permanently welded to a part of the rail and the other left free of attachment to the adjacent part of the rail, all in the manner hereinafter specifically described.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views I Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railway track section including abutting rails, a fishplate, a bonding cable, and, the improved fixtures, the latter constructed and attached in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational View, on an enlarged scale, showing one end of the novel fixture;

Figure 3 is a like View of the opposite end; and

Figure 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Figure 3. v

Figure 5 is a vertical section on the line 55 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing how the re-usable part of one of the brackets is pried loose.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the manner in which a salvaged or reusable bracket is actually re-used.

Referring now to Figure 1 the rail sections are denoted by the reference characters A and B, the same being connected by a conventional fishplate C. The current conducting and bonding cable, which is also conventional, is denoted by the reference character D. The improved brackets or fixtures, which are employed as ancltjrs at the terminals of the cable are denoted by the numerals 5. Both brackets are the same and the description of one will sufilce for all.

The bracket is of one-piece construction and comprises a sleeve-like open ended socket 6 which, as shown in Figure 4 has a central cylindrical portion 1, is bevelled at one end as at 8 to prevent undue chafing and wearing of the cable, and is formed with a flared bell-end at 9 for proper welding of the cable-end thereto.

The attaching means of the socket is denoted, as a unit by the numeral l0 and comprises a base of general V-shaped form. This includes twin, selectively usable, flanges I! and 12 which are properly thinned, as at the points [3, to provide the desired fragile and fracturable properties wanted. The formation is such that the flanges may be broken off at the fracture area I4. It will be noted, in this connection, that the socket is seated in the central or crotch portion of the attaching base and has a heavy shank l5 thus permitting either one of the flanges II and I2 to be broken off in an obvious manner.

Novelty is predicated not only on the brackets 5 per se but also on the brackets in conjunction with the bonding cable and further in combination with the track rails. For example, and as shown in Figure 1, it will be seen that the invention, on the one hand, has to do with a pair of end-to-end rails A and B, a fish-plate C bridging and joining said rails, a bonding cable D and a pair of duplicate cable anchoring fixtures or brackets attached to the ends of the bonding cable, each fixture embodying a relatively heavy open ended sleeve which functions as a socket, the end portions of the cable being securely mounted in the respective sockets. Each fixture embodies a pair of individual attaching flanges, the inner ends of the flanges It. and 12 being integrated with the coacting portion of the socket 6, said inner ends being relatively thin, as at the points I3, and the outer end or edge portions being relatively thick, the thin portions being frangible to permit forcible fracturing of the same, corresponding flanges ll of said fixtures being securely welded tothe web portions of said rails A and B and the remaining flanges l2 resting upon the base flanges F but being free of attachment.

With the arrangement stated, and as shown in Figure 5, a crow-bar or the like, G is inserted between the base flange F and flange [2 of the bracket, and is fulcrummed: and, rocked in an obvious manner to pry the flange 12 away from the base flange of therail until suflicient. stress and strain is placed on the fracturable area M to crack it, while leaving the attached. flange [2 still in place on the web. of the-rail. In practice,

I have found that it is also possible to take a.

punch and a sledge hammer (not shown) and to hammer against the solid end portion; [5, as shownv in Figure 3, to produce the desired fracturing result.

Referring now to Figure 6, itwill be seen that.

combination with. the other parts their use in,

initial. stages are-shown in Figure 1. Figure 5v brings out the mode of using a cross-bar or the like in fracturing and breaking loose one of the bIPfiketS. from the, attached flange, and. these in.

combination with Figure 6, serve to reveal the construction,v features and. advantages, and all essential aspects of the; invention.

Changes in. shape, size, materials andrearrangement of details and parts may be resorted to in actual practice, so long as they. do not depart. from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims, as is well understood.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. A rail. cable bonding fixture comprising a one-piece body including a pair of separate attaching flanges at approximate right angles to each other, and an open ended sleeve-like socket heavily built and solidly integrated, with said flanges at the junctural connecting regions, of said-flanges, the junctural regions of, saidflanges being materially decreased in. thickness, to pro! vide relatively fragile and fracturable areas, whereby to allow one flange to be permanently welded and the other left free of attachment, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a track construction of the class shown and described, in combination, a pair of endto-end rails, a flshplate bridging and adjoining said rails, a bonding cable, and a pair of duplicate cable anchoring fixtures provided with sockets, the ends of said cable being fastened in their respective sockets, said fixtures each having right angularly related flat attaching flanges integrated with the complemental socket, corresponding flanges of said fixtures being securely welded to the web portions of said rails, and the remaining attaching flanges of said fixtures abutting the base flanges of said rails but being free from connection with said base flanges, whereby to permit said sockets and their free flanges to be pried loose, leaving the attached flanges in place on said web portions and permitting said sockets and freed, flanges to be salvaged and re-used.

3. In a track construction of the class shown and described, in combination, a pair of end-toend rails, a fish-plate bridging and. adjoining said, rails, a bonding cable, and a pair of. duplicate cable anchoring fixtures attached to the,

ends of. said bonding cable, each fixture embody ing a relatively heavy open ended sleeve forming a, socket, the end of the cable be'ng securely mounted in said socket, and each fixture embodying a pair of individual attaching flanges,

the inner ends of the respectiveflanges being,-

integrated with a coasting portion of the socket, said inner ends being relatively thin and the outer end portion being relatively thick, the thin portions being frangible to permit forcible fracturing of the same, corresponding flanges of said fixtures being securely welded to the web portions efsaid rails, and the remaining attaching flanges of said fixtures abutting the base flanges,

of said rails but having no direct connection with,

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STAHS PATENTS Number Name Date 1,461,061 I-Iaulton- 'July 10, 1923, 1,634,689 Schenk July 5, 1927 1,643,755 Stiles Sept; 27, 192'; 1,945,404 Mosebach Jan. 30; 1934

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