Improvements in or relating to Convertible Road and Rail Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 10th June, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Convertible Road and Rail Vehicles.
I, JOSEPH CLAYBAUGH BONNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Toledo,
in the County of Lucas, State of Ohio, United States of America, Inventor, 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 invention relates to a convertible vehicle adapted to be used upon an
ordinary road, or upon a railroad through the conversion of its running gear, as
required.
Since the introduction of electricity, compressed air, and other economical
motive power into general use, the extension of city street railroads into the rural
districts, and the rapid and practically continuous passenger service afforded by
such roads, the desirability of suburban residences has been greatly enhanced.
Nevertheless, no effort has been made to utilize such roads for the purpose of
freight traffic, although it is well known that the principal cost of transportation
of products is chargeable to the expense of handling and transporting the same
from the place of production to an available point of shipment by rail.
important item of such expense is the loading and unloading, or handling, as it
is called, of a product or commodity in bulk, in transporting it by wagon from
place to place, and from a wagon to a railway car.
An
The object of my invention is to dispense to a great extent with animate
power, as well as the handling of a commodity between the place of production
and its market, and to reduce the cost of transportation to a minimum, which
will compare favorably with cost of transportation by rail.
The object is proposed to be accomplished by the employment of an independent
set of running-gear, adapted to be introduced underneath the vehicle, and to be
substituted, operatively, in place of the ordinary road running-gear with which
the vehicle is at all times provided, whereby the vehicle may be converted into
one adapted for rail use, or one for road use, speedily, and with facility, as
often as required.
In carrying out my invention I propose, for instance, to have a railroad pro-
vided with an equipment of suitable vehicles having road running-gear, and
mounted upon, or adapted to be mounted upon, respectively, railway trucks, of
such dimensions and so constructed as to be run under the vehicle and between
its road wheels, so that the entire vehicle, with its load and road running-gear,
may be shifted from rail-road to wagon road, or vice versa, as often as required.
In carrying out my plan, a producer will be enabled, upon notice to an available
road, to have a car consigned to him. The car is transported by rail to a designated
point on the railroad, and thence conveyed by horse, or motor power to the
place where it is to be located, and, having been loaded, it is re-conveyed to

page_text: the truck upon which it is again mounted, and thence transported by rail to its
destination. By this means, not only will it be necessary to handle the contents
of the vehicle body but once, but the distance to be covered by horse power being
small, very heavy loads can be transported with facility, it being well under-
stood that a team of horses can draw several tons a mile, or a fraction of a mile,
which it is impracticable for them to draw any considerable distance.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my vehicle complete ready for use;
Fig. 2 is an end view thereof;
Fig. 3 is a side elevation, with the rail truck removed;
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the rail truck detached.
Referring to the figures on the drawings:
indicates the rear axle of a vehicle, 2 the forward axle thereof, 3 the front
wheel and 4 the rear wheel. The forward and rearward axles are united by
any suitable and preferred means to the bed frame 5, of a suitable body 6. The
particular means of uniting the wheels 3 and 4 with their respectivle axles to the
bed frame 5 is immaterial, that illustrated being merely by way of example,
and it being essential only that the parts referred to shall constitute suitable
running gear of the road form for its superimposed body. The body also may be
of any preferred and suitable construction. At present, however, I prefer to
employ, upon each side of it, a truss frame composed of oblique braces 7 and 8,
extending, respectively, between uprights 9 and 10 and 11 and 12, respectively,
and an intermediate spanner 13. Below the spanner, underneath the bed frame 5,
I prefer to provide a cross piece 14, which is secured, as by brace rods 15, to
the corners of the truss frame, with which, through the rods 15, it is incorporated.
The construction above described, consisting of the truss frames, the bed
frame 5, the cross piece 14, and the rods 15, constitutes an exceedingly strong
frame capable of sustaining a great tension upon the cross piece 14. The cross
piece 14 may, therefore, be employed as a main support for the wagon in shifting
and during the operation of converting it, as has been previously suggested, and
as will hereinafter more fully appear.
As illustrated, the means of attaching the axles 1 and 2 with their wheels to the
bed frame 5 consists of cross pieces 16, secured intermediately to their respective
axles, and having, respectively, at their opposite ends, apertures 17 adapted to
accomodate adjustable studs or screws 18, whose heads project below the cross
pieces, as indicated at 19, and which are seated in sockets 20 which constitute, in
effect, extensions of the respective uprights 9 to 12, inclusive. By this means the
axles are movably secured to the studs 18 but are yieldingly forced towards their
heads 19, as by springs 21, secured to the axle which carries the cross pieces 16
and whose opposite ends are properly seated against the bottom of the bed frame 5
or equivalent part.
The sockets 20, while they constitute in effect, as above described, a con-
tinuation of the uprights 11 and 12, when the axle 2 is located parallel to the
rear axle 1, yet, in order to accomodate the front axle to the movement
common to front axles generally, I mount the sockets 20 of the front axle directly
upon a platform 22, which co-operates with a corresponding permanent support 23
upon the bottom of the bed frame 5. The part 22 is pivotally secured to the
part 23 against which it works, after the manner of an ordinary fifth wheel. By
this arrangement, as appears from the drawings, the front wheels are, as usual,
smaller than the rear wheels and the front axle 2 is carried in a lower plane than
the rear axle 1.
The foregoing description comprehends a practicable road wagon, with the
addition of means for adapting it, when loaded, to be carried securely upon a
suitable railway truck. Such a truck, as illustrated in the drawings, consists of a
truck frame 24 of suitable transverse and longitudinal dimensions. The frame is
provided with frame side pieces 25 to which, in boxes 26, are united axles 27,
provided, as usual, with flange wheels 28.

page_text: As specined above to this point, the truck may be, save as to its relative pro-
portions, substantially of any suitable and ordinary construction.
In order to accomodate it to its office, however, it is also necessary that means
be provided for safely and securely fitting the wagon, with its road running-gear,
to it.
For this purpose, in order to accomodate the particular form of wagon illus-
trated, the frame side pieces 25 are provided with depressions 29 for the accomoda-
tion of the rear axle, and with correlative deep depressions 30 for accomodating
the front axle of the vehicle. At suitable distances from those depressions, I
provide stud sockets 31 adapted to receive the heads 19 of the studs 18.
Inasmuch as it is desirable to adapt the truck to head in either direction, the
axle recesses 29 and 30 and the stud socket 31 are duplicated throughout. By
the duplication of the parts, the axles find their proper recesses whether the
truck is introduced under the wagon one end foremost, or the other.
It will be perceived, in view of the foregoing description upon reference
particularly to Figure 1 of the drawings that when the wagon is mounted upon
the truck, the weight of the former is sustained securely and immovably upon the
axles and frame pieces, and is as thoroughly incorporated with the truck as is
the body of an ordinary railway car.
As an additional security, however, additional means for uniting the body to the
truck may be provided. That illustrated, for example, consists of a rack bar 32,
working in a suitable aperture in the truck frame, and actuated by a pinion 33,
carried upon a shaft 34, and operated by a handle wheel 35, at the side of the
truck. The rack bar 32 is adapted, through the operation of the handle wheel 35,
to be inserted into, or retracted from a suitably located aperture in the cross
piece 14.
The road wagon and the truck should, of course, be provided with separate and
suitable draft applying mechanism. The railway coupling mechanism is indicated
at 36 upon the truck, and a tongue support is indicated at 37 upon the bed frame.
In practice, let it be assumed that the vehicle shown in Fig. 3 is loaded and
that the truck, shown in Fig. 4, is ready to receive it.
All that is necessary is
to raise the loaded vehicle, shown in Fig. 3, by any suitable mechanism, as for
example, inclined planes located upon opposite sides of a track upon which the
truck shown in Fig. 4 travels, and then introduce the truck, shown in Fig. 4, in
position underneath the vehicle, shown in Fig. 3. The parts, being properly
adjusted, the latter is lowered upon the truck until the parts are secured in their
proper respective positions, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The combination with a vehicle body, and road running-gear, of a railway
truck and means for mounting the body of the vehicle, with its running-gear,
directly upon the truck, and supporting it thereon independently of its running-
gear, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. The combination with a vehicle body, railway truck, and supports, as for
instance studs, upon the bottom of the vehicle body, adapted to rest upon the
truck and support thereon the weight of the vehicle body, of road-running gear
operatively located upon the vehicle body, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
3. The combination with a vehicle body, railway truck, and supports, as for
instance studs, upon the bottom of the vehicle body adapted to support thereon
the weight of the vehicle body, of road running-gear incorporated with the
supports upon the vehicle body, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination with a vehicle body, front and rear axles. axle cross
pieces and supports, as for instance studs, of a railway truck provided with axle
recesses, and support sockets, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

page_text: 5. The combination with a railway truck, and a road vehicle, of a rack bar
carried upon the truck, a pinion for operating the rack bar, and mechanism upon
the road vehicle adapted to engage the rack bar and for the purpose of uniting
the road vehicle to the truck, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Tated this 4th day of April 1899.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.