Improvements in or relating to Draw-bridges.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 13th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1854
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Draw-bridges.
I, MORITZ MAURER, of Budapest, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Engineer and
Inspector of the Royal Hungarian State Railways, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to mechanism for raising bascule draw-bridges.
In carrying out my invention I mount the draw-bridge or each section thereof
on a pivot journalled in bearings fixed to the bridge-piers or to the structure of the
bridge. A toothed sector is keyed on the pivot and is arranged to be operated by
means of a crank handle and worm-gear.
In combination with this raising mechanism, counter weights act on the bridge or
on each section thereof, the first named of these weights being attached to a two-
armed lever turning with the pivot; the shorter arm of this lever projects beneath
the bridge or the section. The other weight is attached to a shorter lever firmly
connected with the bridge or the section. When the bridge or the section is in a
horizontal position, the long arms of the two armed lever take a slanting position
and the short levers are in a vertical position.
On raising the bridge or the section thereof by means of this device, these
weights assist the ascending motion of the bridge, since they act directly on it by
means of the short arm of the two armed lever.
At the same time the long arm describes an arc of a circle, and finally reaches
the horizontal position and rests on a strut or girder; as soon as this position is
reached the action of the said two armed lever ceases, and during the further
raising of the bridge or the movable section thereof, the short lever alone assists
the ascending motion.
When the bridge or the section has been raised to a vertical position, the short
lever has described an arc of a circle of 90° and is in a horizontal position like the
two armed lever.
By this combination of raising mechanism proper and of weighted levers I am
enabled to raise and lower the bridge or bridge-sections with facility and to dispense
with the employment of a special brake appliance when lowering as the worm-gear
then acts as a brake and I also avoid the weights descending below the lower edge
of the bridge when the latter is raised.
For light bridges the herein before described mechanism need only be applied to
one end of the pivot or pivots but for heavy bridges similar mechanism will be
required at both ends of the pivot or pivots. When the draw-bridge is divided in
two movable sections, each section or wing has its own raising appliances and
counter weights and one of the sections is advantageously provided with beams long
enough to span the whole opening, in which case the other section, when lowered,
will rest on the projecting ends of the said beams.
Dated the 14th day of October 1802

page_text: Improvements in or relating to Draw-bridges.
I, MORITZ MAURER, of Budapest, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Engineer and
Inspector of the Royal Hungarian State Railways, 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 mechanism for raising bascule draw-bridges.
The mechanism consists essentially of toothed gearing working on the axis of
rotation of the bridge or of the bascule section thereof, and acting at the same time
as a brake, in combination with counterweights acting directly on the bridge or on
the movable section thereof, and facilitating the raising motion.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe how it can be
carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figures 1 and 2 are a side elevation and a plan respectively illustrating the
application of my invention; and,
Figure 3 is a diagram shewing the adaptation of my invention to a draw-bridge
composed of two bascule sections.
As shewn, the draw-bridge is firmly connected with the pivot or axis of
rotation A (Figure 1); or the bascules Q, Q₁ of a bridge in two sections are
firmly connected to the pivots or axes A and B (Figure 3) journalled in bearings q
fixed to the bridge-piers or to the structure of the bridge. The raising mechanism
consists of a toothed sector R keyed on the pivot and gearing with the toothed
wheel rotated by means of a crank-handle a and worm-gear 2, 21, the latter as
well as the wheel r being suitably journalled between two standards h, h; in this
way motion is transmitted in the required direction to the sector R.
In combination with this raising mechanism, counter weights P1, P2 act on the
bridge or on each section Q thereof, the weight P' being attached to a two-armed
lever p, p¹ turning with the pivot A (or B); the shorter arm p of this lever
projects beneath the bridge or the section. The other weight P is attached to a
shorter lever p² firmly connected with the bridge or the section. When the bridge
or the section is in a horizontal position, the long arm p' of the two armed lever
takes a slanting position and the short lever p² is in a vertical position.
On raising the bridge or the section thereof by means of this device, these
weights assist the ascending motion of the bridge, since they act directly on it by
means of the short arm p of the two-armed lever.
At the same time the long arm p' describes an arc of a circle (which may for
example be 40 degrees) and finally reaches the horizontal position and rests on a
strut or girder S; as soon as this position is reached, the action of the said two
armed-lever ceases, and during the further raising of the bridge or the movable
section thereof, the short lever p² alone assists the ascending motion.
When the bridge or the section has been raised to a vertical position, the lever p³
has described an arc of a circle of 90° and is in a horizontal position like the two
armed lever p' (Figure 2).
By this combination of the raising mechanism proper and the weighted levers I
am enabled to raise and lower the bridge or bridge-sections with facility and to
dispense with the employment of a special brake appliance when lowering as the
worm-gear then acts as a brake and I also avoid the weights descending below the
lower edge of the bridge when the latter is raised.
For light bridges the herein before described mechanism need only be applied to
one end of the pivot or pivots but for heavy bridges similar mechanism will be
required at both ends of the pivot or pivots. When the draw-bridge is divided in
two movable sections each section or wing has its own raising appliances and
counter weights and one of the sections is advantageously provided with beams long

page_text: enough to span the whole opening, in which case the other section, when lowered,.
will rest on the projecting ends of the said beams.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Mechanism for raising bridges or bascule sections thereof by rotating them
on one or more horizontal pivots consisting essentially of worm-wheels gearing with
toothed sectors keyed on the pivot or pivots firmly connected to the bridge or
the section thereof, in combination with counter-weights attached to vertical
and inclined levers one of which directly assists the raising whilst the other
assists through the medium of a short lever-arm, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. In mechanism for raising draw-bridges, a strut or girder forming a rest or stop
for preventing the two-armed lever from descending below the horizontal line and
thus obstructing the opening by descending lower than the level of the lower edge
of the bridge-structure, substantially as herein before described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawing.
3. The adaptation of the herein described raising mechanism to bridges composed
of two bascule-sections, one of them having exterior beams spanning the whole of
the opening and on the free ends of which the second bridge-section rests when
lowered, substantially as hereinbefore described.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.