Improved Automatic Gate for Railway Crossings.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 4th June, 1890-Accepted, 5th July, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Automatic Gate for Railway Crossings.
:
I, WILLIAM WILSON HORN of the Firm of Horn & Son, of 151 Strand, London, in
the County of Middlesex Patent Agent, (a communication to me from abroad, by
Abram B. Anthony;. of Schenectady, New York State, United States of America,
Inventor) do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object of this my invention is to construct a gate for railway-crossings,
which can be automatically operated. I provide one gate, of ordinary construction
which is arranged to rock in a casing at one side of the track. Upon the gate-shaft,
is a segmental goar, with which meshes a pinion.
Beneath the track-rails near the gate is journalled a transverse shaft in combination
with suitable levers which open or close the gate.
Upon the shaft carrying the pinion aforesaid, is mounted a grooved pulley, and two
grooved pulleys are supported to revolve on a standard between the casing and the
shaft beneath the track. There are flexible connections between said pulleys, the
pulley on the casing and the shaft between the transverse shaft. Suitable springs
intervene between the ends of said connections.
Dated this 11th day of March 1890.
HORN & SON,
Applicant's Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Automatic Gate for Railway Crossings.
I, WILLIAM WILSON HORN, of the Firm of Horn & Son, of 151 Strand, London,
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, (a communi-
cation to me from abroad, by Abram B. Anthony of Schenectady, in the County of
Schenectady, and State of New York, United States of America, Inventor,) and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This my invention relates to a new and useful improvement in automatic gates
for railway-crossings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.
The object to be obtained is the production of a simple, substantial, and cheaply-
constructed device, which will be operated by the approaching locomotive and train of
cars, so as to depress the gate placed over a road-crossing, and thus prevent travel
over the same in time to avert an accident.
With these objects in view my invention consists in certain features of mechanical
construction and combinations of parts, that will be hereinafter described, and pointed
out in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this
specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all
the figures.
Figure 1 is a plan view of a railroad-track with my improved gate in position..
Figure 2 is an enlarged detached view of one of the parts of the gate inechanism.
Figure 3 is a sectional side elevation of the gear-casing of the gate.
Figure 4 is a cross-section of the gear-casing, showing the gearing within the same
and grooved pulleys on the outside of the casing; and
Figure 5 is a side elevation of the complete device..
A A' are parallel rails of a railroad-track. At a proper distance from a road-
crossing which is to be protected by the automatic gate, a transverse shaft B is
journalled in bearings a which are clipped to the base-flanges of the two rails A.A¹;
:

page_text: so as to support the shaft revolubly below the rails and permit it to rotate freely.
Between the rails of the track and near to the rail A an arm E is secured, the outer
end of which is pivoted to a forked link D; which is loosely connected at its other end
to a treadle-lever C rigidly fastened at i to one of the cross-ties of the track. The
treadle-lever is preferably made of steel plate, and has sufficient elasticity to be
normally retained above the face of the rail near which it is placed, and to yield when
engaged by the flanges of locomotive or car wheels, that run over it when they pass
this point of the road.
One track only is shown in the drawings; but it is intended that the shaft B shall
be of sufficient length to extend across any number of parallel tracks it may be
necessary to guard at a road-crossing. Upon one extremity of the shaft Ba rock-
arm is secured, projecting in an inclined position opposite to the position of the
arm E, as shown in Figure 1.
On the end of the rock-arm F a rod or other similar connection bis pivoted,
which rod extends forward toward the road-crossing and is attached to one end
of a spring shock-absorber G, to the other end of which attached the end of a
chain or wire rope b', which is adapted to wrap around a grooved pulley c¹, mounted
on a shaft H, journalled in a post or standard S, located at one side of the rail A'
of the track, the end of said chain or rope being attached to said pulley within
its groove. A similar rope or chain is secured by one end in similar manner
to the larger grooved pulley e on the shaft H, and extends forward to an attachment
at its opposite end to the adjacent end of a spring shock-arrester I.
Another chain or
rope is attached to the other end of said shock-arrester, the end of said chain or
rope being secured in the groove of the inner pulley e of a pair of pulleys e e¹,
mounted on the outer end of a shaft J, journalled transversely in the gear-casing of
the gate. Shaft Jis projected beyond the casing and squared to receive a crank used
to move the gate by hand.
el
The gear-casing R, which is preferably constructed of metal, is designed to sup-
port the gate M upon a shaft f, which is journalled in the side walls of the casing
and held in place by a nut or other proper means. Said gate is bolted fast to a
toothed segment N, through which the supporting-shaft f passes, and thus affords a
rocking-support for the gate. Between the walls of the casing R a pinion P is
mounted upon and secured to the same shaft J on which the two grooved pulleys e
are attached, said pinion meshing with the segment N. A spiral spring O is attached
by one end to the side of the segment N and to the casing at its opposite end, the
strength of the spring's contractile force being sufficient to return the gate to an
upright position, or to open travel across the tracks of the railroad. At a point below
the pulley e on the shaft J a similar grooved pulley 9 is mounted to rotate on a
stud g', which is fastened to and projects outside of the casing R. A flexible con-
nection d, either a cord, chain, or wire rope, is secured by one end in the groove el
of said pulley, the main portion of said rope or chain being extended round
pulley to a proper point beyond the gate-bar in the direction shown in Figures 1
and 5, and is adapted to be there attached to a device similar to that already described,
whereby a train from an opposite direction will close the gate.
The shock-arresters IG are of service to take up all jars of a train moving over
the treadle-lever, and while they will not prevent a moderate vibration of the
gate-bar, will measurably absorb any objectionable shock and prevent it from doing
injury to the gearing of the device.
In operation the wheels of the train of cars will depress the treadle-lever C, which,
through its connections D and E with the shaft B, will cause the latter to rotate and
draw, by its arm F, upon the connections to cause the pulleys c c' on the shaft H
to revolve, and the latter, drawing on the connections 63, will in turn cause the
pulleys e e and shaft J to rotate and as the pinion P on said shaft turns, the gate M
will be lowered against the tension of the spring O to the closed position indicated in
dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. As soon as the wheels of the train have passed
from the treadle-lever the spring O reacts and restores the gate to the vertical position
shown in full lines in Figure 3.

page_text: A bell may be secured upon the free end of the gate, which being sounded by the
action of the wheels of the train on the mechanism of the gate, will give warning to
approaching vehicles or pedestrians that a train is near and call attention to the closed
gate before it is reached.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim 19:
1. The combination with a railway-track, a transverse shaft journalled beneath the
track-rails, and a treadle-lever pivotally connected with said shaft, of a gate mounted
to rock in a casing at one side of the track, a segmental gear on the gate-
shaft, a pinion meshing with said gear, a grooved pulley on the pinion-shaft, and
flexible connections between said pulley and the shaft beneath the track, subsequently
as shown and described.
2. The combination, with a railway-track, a transverse shaft journalled beneath the
track-rails, and a treadle-lever pivotally connected with said shaft, of a gate mounted
to rock in a casing at one side of the track, a segmental gear on the gate-shaft, a
pinion meshing with said gear, a grooved pulley on the pinion-shaft, two grooved
pulleys supported to revolve on a standard between the casing and the shaft beneath
the track, flexible connections between said pulleys, the pulley on the casing, and tho
shaft beneath the track, and springs intervening between the ends of said connections,
substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 4th day of June 1890
HORN & SON,
Applicant's Agents.