Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 30th June, 1887
Specification Accepted, 22nd Nov., 1887
I, JOHN HOWE of 70 Weybound Street, Providence, State of Rhode Island, in the.
United States of America, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My improvements pertain to that class of spark and smoke conductors or controllers
for passenger-trains which involve the use of tubular conductors extending from
the smoke stack of a locomotive along or beneath the roofs of cars to the rear of
a train.
The main object of invention is to provide for a reliable delivery of objectionable
products of combustion from the smoke stack to the conductor without practically
impairing the exhausting or relieving capacity of the locomotive while in motion.
Another object is to provide for a practical disconnection of the stack from said
conductor, for enabling the locomotive while at rest or moving slowly under low
steam to exhaust or relieve itself as freely as if no rearward conductor were employed;
also, to provide for reliable connections between or at the coincident ends of the
several sections of the conductor, and to enable said connections to be readily controlled
by persons standing upon the platforms of cars.
Another important object of my invention is to accomplish these ends by means of
contrivances which can be readily applied to use under existing conditions, thus
obviating all necessity for radical variations from the usual construction and
arrangement of locomotives and other rolling stock.
After fully describing my invention in connection with the drawings, the features
deemed novel will be duly specified in the several clauses of claims hereunto annexed.
Fig. 1 illustrates in side view a locomotive, a tender and cars with my improvements
applied thereto. Figs. 2 and 3, in enlarged side and end views, illustrate the top of
the locomotive smoke-stack and a portion of the tubular conductor, the two being
arranged as when in full service. Figs. 4 and 5, in similar views, illustrate the same
as when the locomotive is at rest, for instance. Figs. 6 and 7, in similar views,
illustrate a modification of the same. Fig. S is an enlarged side view of the couplings
at the joints of the tubular conductor. Fig. 9 is an enlarged end view of one of the
couplings. Fig. 10 is a side and end view of a detachable flexible coupling section.
The locomotive is provided with a smoke-stack, A, in any of the usual forms, and
just below the top thereof it is provided with a clamping ring or band, a, which may

page_text: be readily detachable, if desired, and which has at each side a projecting stud or
pivot, b.
spark-deflecting hood, B. is mounted on said stack by means of arms,
hinged upon said pivots, so that said hood can be swung to and fro from a horizontal
position over the stack to a vertical position in front, as clearly indicated. The control
of this hood by an engineer or fireman in the cab is conveniently effected by means
of the long rod d; but if no such rod he used the hood can be set by manipulation,
in which case the arms e, should be arranged to be firmly locked while in a vertical
position, and this can be done by providing the pivots b with screw-threads and with
suitable clamping-nuts.
A movable or swinging hood has heretofore been employed above a screen-netting,
forming a part of a head for the reception of sparks, and from which, by means of
vertical pipes, the sparks were conducted to chambers below the boiler. In said prior
organization the swinging hood being wholly outside of the head and above the
netting, could not operate to deflect anything which came in contact with it into the
head, whereas in my apparatus the hinged hood, when operating as a deflector, enables
whatever may impinge against it to be driven into the bell-mouth conductor, because
there is nothing interposed between the top of the smoke-stack and the hood, and
also because said hood projects into the bell-mouth, as clearly indicated in Figs. 2, 3
and 6.
The tubular conductor C is constructed in sections of about the same length as the
locomotive or tender or car on or within which they are to be carried as a permanent
or detachable fixture thereon. At the coupling e, between the locomotive and the
tender sections and g, provision need only be made for such variations in movement
as are common at that point, although the more complex couplings, hereinafter
described, may be there used, if desired. At the front end of the locomtive-section f
it has a large bell-mouth, 1, into which the hood B may partially enter, and this
section is coupled to the stack by means of a vertical standard f2, firmly secured at
its foot to a clamping-ring, f³, which embraces the stack, and additional fastenings
may be used, if desired.
At the union of the rear end of the baggage-car section h with the front end of a
passenger-car section i, and at all the unions of passenger-car sections, is a coupling D,
of novel construction. Said coupling D has a cylindrical head, k, divided centrally
on a vertical line, and it may be composed of wire-work covered with a flexible
material, or wholly of sheet metal, if desired. Each semi-cylindrical half of said
head is mounted upon the upper end of a swinging vertical standard or arm, 1,
flexibly mounted at its foot upon a suitable base on top of the car. As shown, said
standards are hinged, so that the two parts of the head may be vibrated toward and
from each other. When hinged and controlled, as shown, a retractile spring, 1, is
preferably coupled to both standards, so as to normally hold them close together and
maintain the two parts of the head in a closed position. Between the standards!
there is a cam, m, on a vertical rotative rod, m³, this latter extending downward
through the hood of a car so as to be accessible from the platform. By semi-rotating
said rod and cam the standards will be separated or permitted to close together, as
the case may be. In lieu of the rotating rod and the resulting rotating wedge action
of the cam it is obvious that whatever may be the form of said cam it will serve as
a wedge if vertically moved, as by a sliding rod, in which case the spring would be
located above the wedge instead of below it, as shown, and the two arms / would
be both hinged upon one pivot or rod, to provide for their proper inclination with
reference to each other, and if said wedge be employed it may be slotted so as to loosely
embrace both standards and render a spring unnecessary. If the standards be composed
of light spring-steel, they can obviously be rigidly mounted at their bases and operate
as springs. The ends of the tubular conductor may be cut diagonally as indicated in
Fig. 8.
When the said novel couplings D are to be employed in connection with a
car having a tubular conductor without a coupling of this kind, then the coincident
end of said conductor should have a hinged end, as shown at h², to provide for a
proper flexibility. This hinged end he may be connected to the body of the tube by
rivets passing through slots in the sides of the end h² the latter lying partly over the

page_text: end of main body of the tube; but when two cars having the novel couplings at both
ends are to be coupled, then an auxiliary flexible tubular section E, can be employed.
As indicated in Fig. 10, this auxiliary section is a short length of tube of about the
same diameter as the coupling, and rendered non-collapsible, but specially flexible, by
means of a spiral-wire foundation, covered seamlessly with leather or other suitable
fabric capable of withstanding heat, and rendering it strong hut light, and readily
carried by any one of the coupling-heads when in a closed or clamped position, and as
readily entered into any other coupling when opened to receive it, and as readily
embraced thereby when closed. The use of these auxiliary tubular sections obviates
the necessity for specially making up a train, which would be required were the car-
sections provided at only one end with the novel jaw-couplings and at the other end
with a hinged part, h2, for union with the jaw-coupling. It is, however, not absolutely
essential that this auxiliary section E be used, it being obvious that if the heads of the
novel couplings be elongated, as indicated by the dotted lines to the right of Fig. 8,
that any one head when closed can enter any other head when opened, and be properly
clamped whenever this latter head has thereafter been closed.
At the under side of the tender-section g, I have provided a receptacle, n, which
serves as a cinder-trap, and, although such traps in such conductors are not broadly
new, I have for the first time provided the tender section with such a trap, and have
furnished this trap with a door, whereby its contents may from time to time he
discharged into the tender. The combustible character of the solid matter usually
discharged from locomotive smoke-stacks is well known, and with this arrangement
of the trap its contents can be delivered into the tender, and conveniently utilized as
fuel when mixed with fresh fuel.
In describing the operation of the apparatus it will be assumed, first, that the train
is either at rest, and the usual blower is at work for raising the fire in the fire-box, or
that the train is slowly moving under low steam. Under these circumstances it is
obvious that the locomotive should "breathe" as freely as possible; or, in other
words, that it should have its exhaust as free as possible, and therefore the hood should
then be thrown forward, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, so as to leave the upward exit.
from the stack wholly unobstructed. If the train were in motion, more or less of the
smoke, gases, and solid matter would pass into the adjacent bell-mouth of the tubular
conductor (and be delivered therefrom at the rear of the train. If the train be
moving under full steam and at speed, then the hood should be raised so that it will
stand horizontally, or practically so, above the stack, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and
then the blast from the stack will be horizontally deflected, and by the impact of air
in front the sinoke, &c., will be forced into the tubular conductor. If the hood should
be set in an inclined position above the stack, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2,
then an upward relief will be afforded, in that more or less of the exhaust-stean and
the smoke and gases would be freely discharged upwardly, while other portions
thereof, with most of the solid matter, would be driven into the tubular conductor.
The connections of the tubular conductor and of the hood with the smoke-stack
being detachable enables them to be easily applied to or removed from a locomotive,
which is obviously a matter of practical consequence for not only obviating the
necessity for special construction of smoke-stacks, but also enabling freight engines to
be temporarily used in lieu of regular passenger engines.
In some cases it will be found desirable to locate the conductors C within the cars-
as, for instance, beneath an arched roof-as indicated in dotted lines, thus utilizing
the heat radiated from said conductor for passenger-cars, or for protecting produce
from freezing in freight-cars.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination with a locomotive smoke-stack, of a bell-mouthed tubular
conductor extending horizontally rearward from the top of said stack, and a hinged
deflecting-hood coupled to said stack, and adapted to swing toward and into and also

page_text: from said bell-mouthed conductor, substantially as described, whereby said hood can
be made to occupy either a substantially horizontal position above the stack, and
partially within the bell-mouth or a substantially vertical poosition in front of it, as
and for the purposes set forth.
2. The combination, with a locomotive smoke-stack, of a clamping-ring embracing
the stack, and an adjustable hood provided with arms hinged to said ring, substantially
as described.
3. The combination, with a tubular smoke and spark conductor mounted above or
on a car, of a tubular coupling having a head constructed in two semi-cylindrical
parts mounted on hinged or flexible standards, substantially as described, whereby
said heads may be opened laterally to receive the end of an adjacent tubular conductor
and closed thereon, as set forth.
4. The combination, substantially as hereinhefore described, of a tubular smoke and
spark conductor mounted above or on a car, the sectional coupling composed of two
semi-cylindrical parts, each mounted on a swinging standard, and an adjusting-rod
accessible from the platform of the car for controlling said coupling.
5. The combination, with the tubular spark conductor, of the sectional coupling
composed of two parts, each mounted on a swinging standard, a rotative rod, and cam
for separating the parts of said coupling, substantially as described.
6. The combination, with a smoke-stack, of a tubular conductor extending rearward
from the top of the stack, and a cinder-trap in said conductor above the tender,
provided with a discharge-door, substantially as described, whereby solid matter
collected in said trap may from time to time be discharged into the tender for use
as fuel.