Improvements in Gates for Railway and Tramway Vehicles, and for other purposes.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Dec., 1898-Accepted, 28th Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gates for Railway and Tramway Vehicles, and
for other purposes.
I, WILLIAM RAFFORD PITT, of New Rochelle, in the County of West Chester and
State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manuer the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to an improvement in gates, and more particularly to gates
arranged to simultaneously swing and fold into an open position, and to
simultaneously swing and unfold into a closed position.
The object is to simplify the structure, and at the same time reduce, to a
minimum, the field traversed by the gate during its swinging and folding move-
ment.
A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying
drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a view of the gate as it appears when swung into its open or folded
position in one direction;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same;
Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation, showing the position of the gate when it is
swung into its unfolded closed position ;
Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same;
Fig. 5 is a top plan view showing the position of the gate when it is swung into
its folded open position in the opposite direction from that shown in Figs. 1
and 2;
Fig. 6 is an enlarged view, in face elevation, of a three part latch for holding the
gate in its several positions;
Fig. 7 is a view of the same in side elevation, showing the position of the latch
when the gate is closed; and
Fig. 8 is a view in vertical section through the latch, showing the central part
engaged with the catch on the gate to hold it open.
The gate itself is here represented as of skeleton form, and consists of a metallic
rim A extending around the four sides, and a series of bars a extending between and
connected with the top and bottom of the rim A. The particular structure of the
gate itself is not, however, an important feature of my present invention, and the
form here shown is one of the many forms which may be utilized for various
purposes as may be required.
The gate is supported by means of a pair of arms B, B¹, pivoted at their inner
ends to a fixed support, as, for example, the wall C of a car or building, the
preferred manner of pivoting them to the fixed support being by means of a pintle
rod b, to which the arms B, B', are fixed, the rod itself being mounted in sockets c, c¹,
attached to the wall. The opposite or outer ends of the arms B, B', are pivotally
secured to the top and bottom of the gate, as at b¹, b².
By this structure, the gate is supported wholly by, and free to swing on,
the free ends of the arms B, B¹, in either of two opposite directions, as may be
required.

page_text: To further limit the gate in its swinging movement, its inner edge has a travelling
engagement with a stationary rod or bar D fixed to the wall C, in a position
transverse to the axis about which the gate swings. The travelling connection
with the bar D is conveniently made by means of a sleeve d, fitted to slide
longitudinally along the bar D, and provided with a lug d¹, through which it is
pivotally secured to a bracket de fixed to the inner edge of the gate.
connection forces the inner edge of the gate, as the gate swings into and out of its
open or closed position, to travel along a path in proximity to the bar D, and when
the latter is fixed in proximity to the wall, causes the inner edge of the gate to
travel along a path parallel with said wall, and in proximity thereto.
This
The gate is provided, at its top inner corner, with an arm a¹ projecting inwardly
a short distance from the inner edge of the gate, and fixed securely to the rim of
the gate, the said arm a¹ being provided with an upwardly extending lug a on its
rear end, which, as the gate reaches its closed position, shown in Figs. 3 and 4,
enters a groove e in the bottom of a latch-supporting bracket E, and thereby
prevents the gate from sagging under any pressure which may be exerted upon it,
as, for example, from passengers on the platform of a car leaning their weight upon
it. The latch supporting bracket E has pivotally secured thereto, on a common pintle
f(see Fig. 6), three latches, a central latch F and two side latches F1 and F.
The central latch has an outwardly and downwardly extending nose f¹, which is
adapted to hook over a catch G on the top of a gate, or a corresponding catch G¹
on the upper supporting arm B, according as the gate is swung into its open
position in the one or the other of two opposite directions.
The latches F1 and F2 are adapted to rest with their free ends upon opposite sides
of the top rim of the gate, when the gate is in its closed position, as shown in
Figs. 3 and 4, and the said latches are preferably held yieldingly in their positions
by means of springs f2 inserted between their upper ends and the face of the
bracket E.
The central latch F is further provided with laterally projecting pins fs, f³, (see
Figs. 6 and 8), which rest normally in engagement with the back, faces of the lower
ends of the latches F1, F2, so that when the central latch F has its upper end
pressed back towards the wall, to lift it from the catch G or G¹, it will simultaneously
lift the latches F1, F2, out of the path of the arm a¹ on the top of the gate, and
hence will leave the gate free to be swung into its closed position.
By the above described structure, the heel or inner edge of the gate may be
swung in either direction along the guide bar D, and the gate will be opened and
When
folded in either of two opposite directions, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5.
opened in the one direction, indicated in Fig. 2, the gate itself will be folded onto
the outer sides of the supporting arms B, B¹, and when opened in the opposite
direction, it will be folded on the inner sides of said supporting arms B, B¹, as
shown in Fig. 5. The free edge of the gate, when swung into its open position,
or back into its closed position, will traverse a path only a short distance away from
the normal position of the gate when it is closed, so that it may be opened and
closed without disturbing a crowd of passengers in close proximity to it, a condition
of things which often happens in overcrowded street and railway cars.
Furthermore, it may be opened in either of two directions, at pleasure, according
as the crowd is forcing itself onto the car or forcing itself off the car.
:-
The supporting arms B, B', in addition to their function as gate supports, serve
another very important function, viz. that of bracing the gate. The position of
the gate when closed, as shown in Fig. 4, will illustrate the position of the
supporting arms B, B¹, when the gate is in its closed position, the said arms
forining diagonal braces extending from a point about midway of the gate to the
fixed sockets on the wall.
It is obvious that changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of
the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention;
hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure herein shown and
described

page_text: 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. A gate, swinging arms forming a supporting for the gate, and having a pivotal
connection with the gate, and a fixed guide extending transversely to the plane of
the gate, when the latter is in its closed position, one edge of the gate having a
travelling connection with the guide, the several connections being so arranged that
the supporting arms assume positions oblique to the plane of the gate, when the
latter is in its closed position, substantially as set forth.
2. A gate, swinging arms forming a support for the gate, the gate being pivoted
to the supporting arms, to swing into a folded position upon opposite sides of the
supporting arms, substantially as set forth.
I
3. A gate, swinging arms forming a support for the gate, the gate being pivoted
to the supporting arms, to swing into a folded position upon opposite sides of the
supporting arms, and means for causing one edge of the gate to follow a
predetermined path during its swinging movements, substantially as set forth.
4. In combination, swinging supporting arms, a gate pivotally secured to said
arms, and a fixed bracket in position to engage the inner edge of the gate, when
the latter is closed, to prevent the gate from sagging, substantially as set
forth.
5. The combination with a swinging gate and its support, of a gate fastener, the
gate and its support being arranged to engage the fastener, the one when the gate
is opened in one direction, and the other when the gate is opened in the opposite
direction, substantially as set forth.
6. The combination with a swinging gate and its support, of a triple latch, two
parts of the latch being arranged to hold the gate closed, and the other to hold the
gate open substantially as set forth.
7. The combination with a swinging gate and its support, of a triple latch, two
parts of the latch being arranged to hold the gate closed, and the other to hold the
gate open, the said two latch parts being under the control of the said one part, to
be released simultaneously with the release of the one part, substantially as set
forth.
1000