Improvements in Railway Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1897-Accepted, 25th Sept., 1897
Improvements in Railway Vehicles.
I, AUGUST RAPP, of No. 7, 111th Street, Pullman, in the County of Cook, and
State of Illinois, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer, 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:-
This invention relates to railway vehicles and more particularly to that class
of passenger coaches which are known as vestibuled cars and in which the car is
usually provided at each end with a platform, to which access is had to the interior
of the car by means of a door in the end thereof, the platform being provided with
steps at its sides and being either partially or entirely closed, except at the extreme
end of its central portion by the walls which form the vestibule, said walls being
provided with doors at the side to give access to the platform. In connection with
this vestibule, there is employed an arch-shaped face plate, which is thrust
outward by springs to bear against a similar face plate on the adjacent car, each
face plate being connected with the body of the vestibule by means of a sheet of
flexible material, so as to form a continuous closed passage-way from one car to
the other. It is to the mode of attachment and support of this face plate that the
present invention more particularly relates.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is an end elevation of a car embodying my invention;
Figure 2 is a plan sectional view of the same, only one end of the car being
shown and portions being broken away to show the construction.
Figure 3 is a part side elevation;
Figure 4 is a part central vertical longitudinal sectional view;
Figure 5 is a detail plan section of one of the upper supporting rods of the
face plate;
Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing my invention applied to a car
having a vestibule of modified form;
Figure 7 is a plan section similar to Figure 2 of the construction shown in
Figure 6.
In the construction shown in Figures 1 to 5 inclusive, in which are shown my
invention applied to a car having a vestibule equal in width to and co-extensive
with the car platform, let 10 represent the car body, 11 the end walls of the
vestibule and 12 the side doors thereof. Each door 12 has hinged to it a plate 13,
which covers the steps when the door is closed and which is, arranged to lift on
opening the door. At the open end of the vestibule is located the arch-shaped
face plate 14, supported at its lower end in the manner hereinafter described, and
at its upper end by means of thrust rods 15, one at each side or upper corner of the
face plate. Each thrust rod 15 is mounted to slide longitudinally in suitable
bearings 16 on the car frame and is forced normally outward by means of a
spring 17, its projecting end being provided with a ball 18 which fits within a
corresponding socket 19 on the rear of the face plate and forms, in connection
therewith, a ball and socket joint, whereby the said face plate is supported at its
upper end in such a manner as to permit it to assume an inclined position relatively
to the plane of the end of the car. The lower ends of the face plate 14 are secured
[Price 8d.]

page_text: .
to a transverse buffer plate 20, said buffer plate being recessed, as shown more
particularly in Figure 2, to receive the ends of the face plate, which is thus made
flush with the face of the buffer plate. At each end of the buffer plate 20 are
located the buffer heads 21, which are preferably formed in one piece with the
buffer plate 20. Each buffer head has pivoted to its rear face, a buffer rod 22,
and these buffer rods are mounted and adapted to slide longitudinally in suitable
guides 23, their rear ends abutting against or being suitably connected with the
ends of a transverse leaf spring 24 which acts to thrust the buffer rods and buffers
and their connected parts normally outward with considerable force.
spring 24 may be mounted on or secured to the car body in any suitable manner
and in the construction shown, which is the mode of attachment preferred by me,
this spring is mounted in a keeper 25 on the longitudinal draft rod 26.
The
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the face plate 14, which is
supported at its upper end by the spring thrust rods 15 in the manner described,
is supported at its lower end by being attached to a buffer plate which extends
across the car from one buffer end to the other, and which is thrust normally out-
ward by the spring 24 acting upon the buffer rods 22 and these latter being
pivoted to the buffer heards. While said buffer heads are held in alignment with
each other by the buffer plate 20 these several parts, as well as the face plate, may
assume an angular position relative to the plane of the front of the car, and thus
keep in contact with the corresponding parts on the adjacent car.
The construction shown in Figures 6 and 7 of the drawings is identical with
that which I have just described with the exception that the vestibule does not
exceed the entire width of the. platform, its side walls being located close to the
sides of the car door and the entire width of the vestibule being equal to that of
the face plate. Although I have described my invention as particularly applicable
to vestibuled cars having a platform, it may also be applied to cars, wherein the
platform and the built-out portions of the vestibule are omitted, the face plate
being supported in the manner already described, immediately adjacent to the end
of the car and serving to co-operate with the face plate of the adjacent car.
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 the vestibuled end of a car, of a face plate, suitably
supported at its upper end, buffer heads flexibly connected with spring extended
buffer rods, and a buffer plate connecting the buffer heads and having the lower
ends of the face plate connected to it, substantially as set forth.
2. The combination, with the face plate; suitably supported at its upper end of
buffer heads flexibly connected with spring extended buffer rods, and a buffer
plate formed integral with said buffer heads and having secured to it, the lower
ends of the face plate, substantially as described.
2. The combination, with the face plate, suitably supported at its upper end, of
a buffer plate to which the lower ends of the face plate are secured, buffer heads
secured to or integral with the buffer plate, buffer rods flexibly connected with the
buffer heads and mounted to move longitudinally in suitable.guides, and a leaf
spring suitably secured to the car body and bearing at its ends on the buffer rods
to normally force the same outward, substantially as described..
Doted this 20th day of Tul, 1807
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.