Improved Safety Guard for Tram Engines, Tram Cars, and other Analogous Purposes.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1886.
Complete Left, 30th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 2nd Aug., 1887.
RESERV
Improved Safety Guard for Tram Engines, Tram Cars, and other
Analogous Purposes.
SAMUEL COLLIER 97 Nelson Street South, Wheelwright, and RICHMOND PLANT
of 8 Nelson Street South, Mechanician, both of Birmingham in the County of
Warwick do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This our Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of parts forming a
Safety-guard intended to be attached to one or both ends of Tram Engines or Tram
Cars in such a manner that if any person is seen by the driver in charge of the engine
or car in danger of being run over, he can instantly lower the safety guard, and by so
doing keep the said person from getting beneath the engine or car."
We construct the safety-guard of wood or metal, preferably of wooden bars or laths
disposed longitudinally on transverse bars of iron of a curved shape in such a manner
that when the safety-guard is let down, its front edge is nearly horizontal and is as
near the surface of the roadway as practicable; the back edge of the guard is then
vertical or thereabouts. The guard may be constructed in one or more sections or
lengths, preferably in one section and of a length equal to the width of the Engine or
Car to which it is attached, and of a breadth of from one to two feet or more; it is
hinged along its back edge to the front of the engine or car at such a height from the
roadway as may be found most suitable, and the said hinge is so connected by a
simple system of levers to a handle or handles within easy reach of the driver that he
can let down the guard instantaneously.
The safety-guard may be so arranged that it can be lowered either wholly or
partially, and secured at any desired height; or it may be so managed by the driver
that it will actually pick up any object in danger, without injury to the said object.
In another method of construction we make the safety guard to slide up vertically
instead of working on a hinge.
Beneath the front edge of the safety-guard we place two small rollers in such a
manner that they shall run on the rails or tramway metals, and resting on these rollers,

page_text: but slightly in advance of them, and at such a height as to just clear the roadway
when the guard is quite down, we place a roller of small diameter, but of a length
equal to the length of the guard; this roller we cover with indiarubber or other
material of a like nature, partly for the reason that it shall not injure any person with
which it comes in contact, but principally for the reason that its friction with or
adhesion to any substance may cause that substance to be rolled on to the guard,
being facilitated by the rotatory motion imparted to the said roller by the bottom pair
of rollers in such a manner that any object in its way will be rolled on to the safety-
guard instead of under it.
Dated this 30th day of September 1886.

page_text: Analogous Purposes.
We SAMUEL COLLIER of 97 Nelson Street South, Wheelwright, and RICHMOND
PLANT of 8 Nelson Street South, Mechanician, both of Birmingham in the County of
Warwick 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, aided by the accompanying drawings, premising that the letters
of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures:
:-
Figure 1 is a side view of the safety-guard as proposed to be attached to the front
end of a Tram-engine.
Figure 2 is a front view and
Figure 3 is a plan of the underside of the safety-guard.
The guard is attached to the Tram-engine or car by two iron brackets B which are
securely bolted to the sides of the vehicle as shown most distinctly in Figs. 1 and 2.
These brackets (B) are formed at their outer ends into sockets or bearings, in order to
receive the ends of the shaft A upon which the whole guard is hinged. Working
loosely on the shaft, and having a certain amount of freedom, are strong bars D, one
for each section of the guard, and to the upper surfaces of the said bars a number of
stout laths F of some tough and strong wood are firmly attached; these laths F being
further secured and strengthened by means of the iron bars Cand E. The outer end
of each of the bars E is formed of a forked shape for the purpose of carrying a roller G,
which runs freely on a centre pin as shown in Fig. 3. The outer end of each of the
bars C is formed into a single bearing or socket in which the end of the long roller H
runs freely.
S in Fig. 3 is a link fitting loosely on its pins and having plenty of freedom; for
keeping the sections of the guard from fouling each other, and also from getting too
far apart which the loose fitting of D on the shaft A would otherwise permit ;---one
link is required between each two sections of the guard.
The roller H is formed of a strong shaft, preferably of iron, reduced at its ends to
run in the bearings at the ends of the bars C; the middle or large part of the bar H
extending the whole length between its bearings, is covered with indiarubber or other
material of a like nature having a high co-efficient of friction, which covering may if
desired, be fluted or corrugated; the rollers G are likewise proposed to be covered
with a similar substance.
Referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that there are several levers I fixed on to the
main shaft A, and secured by pins, cotters, or set screws; the other ends of the said
levers carry a bar J, whose length is equal to the sum of the several sections of the
guard. K in Figs. 1 and 3 is a lever also securely attached at one of its ends to the
shaft A, and receiving at its other end a connecting bar L, (Figs. 1 and 2) which is
attached to a hand lever M within easy reach of the engine driver.
It will now be seen that when the handle T of the lever M is raised, the motion
depresses the lever K and so turns the shaft A, thereby raising the outer ends of the
levers I with the bar J, and so lifting the entire guard as one piece, notwithstanding
that the said guard may be in any required number of sections for the purpose of
following more closely the irregularities of the road.
It is proposed to carry the guard in a slightly raised position when not actually
required, so that the rollers G do not run on the ground, thereby saving much wear

page_text: and tear; when the guard is so raised, the spring catch N will fall into the middle or
top notch in the connecting bar L.
The action of the guard is as follows:-
When the driver sees a person in danger of being run over he puts his foot on the
treadle U and so withdraws the spring catch N from the notch in which it has been
resting; this allows the guard to drop instantly until the rollers G rest on the roadway
when they immediately come into action, and as (in one of our proposed methods) the
said rollers are in contact with the long rubber covered rollers H, they impart an
upward rotatory motion to the said rollers H, thereby assisting in lifting any person
or object on to the laths F and so giving the engine driver time to bring the engine
to a standstill, or if the driver wishes, so soon as he sees the person fairly lifted on to
the guard he may raise the lever T until the catch N falls into the topmost notch, and
carry the person safely on the guard.
The drawings show our safety guard as made in two sections, but we may construct
it in one, two, three or more sections; the more sections there are the more closely
will the inequalities of the road be followed; each section is provided with its pair
of rollers. G, its long roller H, and is loosely hinged on the bar A by its centre
bar D.
If the weight of the guard is not sufficient to ensure the revolution of the rollers
when the rollers G rest on the roadway, we may extend the bars D backwards and
attach a spring of any required strength to the hinder end of each bar D, as shown in
dotted lines at R in Figs. 1 and 2 ; and in various other ways.
In an alternative method of construction we place the rollers out of contact as in
Fig. 4, and drive the rollers H in an upward direction by means of spiral or other
springs, with or without the intervention of wheels or clockwork, and we propose that
such springs shall be wound up by the action of the driver in pulling the lever in order
to raise the safety guard, and that the said springs shall be set free by the action of
the guard being lowered.
In another method of construction we place the roller G out of contact with H and
allow H to run freely on its axes, but to prevent it from rolling over any object we
place a ratchet or click wheel on one of its ends, such wheel having a spring catch,
as shown in Fig. 4; this arrangement effectually prevents the roller from running in
the wrong direction, and may be applied to either of the before mentioned methods of
construction..
Following any of the hereinbefore mentioned methods of construction, we may place
a second roller H behind the first one and as close to it as convenient, to which we
may impart motion in any of the above mentioned ways.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the saine is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is
1. The construction of a Safety guard for Tram engines or cars as herein before
described.
2. The raising and lowering of the said safety guard by the methods described,
together with the appliances for carrying the said guard at any required height.
3. Imparting motion to the front roller or rollers H by any of the methods
described.
Dated this 29th day of June 1887.