APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING GUARDS FROM FALLING OFF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Oscar Systermans at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 6th July 1876.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
OSCAR SYSTERMANS, of Brussels, Belgium, Manufacturer.
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING GUARDS FROM FALLING OFF RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
This Invention has for its object preventing the employés on railway trains who
walk upon the foot boards outside railway carriages or tram cars from falling in
case they lose their balance during the performance of this duty.
In carrying out my Invention, in order to effect this object, I provide a belt to be
worn by the employé round his body, such belt having at its posterior part a metal
ring. In connection with this device I employ apparatus to be applied to the vehicles,
as next herein-after described. I provide grooves or guide ways in the sides of the
vehicles, in which travel sliders, and I employ a band of india-rubber or other
suitable material, a sheath, straps, and a grooved or recessed bar, which serve to
connect two vehicles together, and admit of the passage of the slider herein-before
referred to.
To the side of the carriage is fastened a bracket, which carries the whole of the
connecting appliances, and has a frame screwed to its face.
The band before mentioned is provided with a head offering a point of resistance
to the tension exerted on the band by the movement of the carriages on the
journey.
The sheath is composed of sheet iron, and in it the india-rubber band is laid, a
lever being employed for fixing this sheath to the band; a spring having a catch
is provided for the purpose of preventing the levor from rising automatically, and
also of holding the lever back when it is desired to insert the india-rubber band in
the frame, or remove it therefrom.
To a plate connected by screws to the straps before mentioned I attach a
longitudinally recessed bar forming the groove or guide way in which the slider
travels, such slider carrying a chain, to which is connected the ring of the belt worn
by the employé when walking outside the carriage. The straps form a connection
between the sheath and the plate, whilst at the same time allowing the india-rubber
band sufficient play for elongation and contraction.
Price di

page_text: In lieu of employing the recessed bars herein-before referred to I
may substitute
for them tubes or solid bars fixed to the sides of the carriages, and the slider
travelling inside the groove may be placed by a slider or ring which slides outside
the said bars, the latter being constructed of a round, square, or other suitable
form.
When tubes are employed the following arrangement may be adopted :-Taking
two tubes as an example, one tube is attached to the side of the carriage on the
right, and is provided at its extremity with a spring hook, which engages in the
first link of a round hinged chain. The last link of this chain is attached to one
end of a piston or slider, sliding in a tube fixed to the side of the carriage to the
left. This tube is bored out internally, and is provided at its lower part with a
groove situate between the two supports, by which it is attached to the side of the
carriage, in which groove travels a vertical stem fixed to the piston or slider. This
stem passes through a loop formed by the end of a rigid bar, which carries at the
other end a hinge forming a species of ball-and-socket joint, embracing a portion of
a sphere fixed by a pin to a bracket bolted to the hinder part of the carriage on the
right. This union enables the rigid bar to conform to any displacement to which
the carriages may be subjected, either by the effects of "the motion or the load, and
admits of two carriages receding from or approaching one another, and by pulling
in or pushing out the chain fixed to the slider the chain is constantly maintained
extended, and thus allows the passage of the slider.
The loop before mentioned is secured upon the stem of the piston or slider by a
spring key fitting closely in the hole provided for its reception.
When I employ a socket or slider sliding outside along the whole length of the
tubes and over the chain, the employé walking along outside the train is attached
to an eye provided for the purpose on this slider by means of a spring hook or
snap hook.
The slider has formed therein a longitudinal slit or opening with inclined edges,
which enables it to pass over the brackets employed for securing the tubes to the
sides of the carriages.