Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 28th May, 1888
Specification Accepted, 29th June, 1888
♥ ԵՐԱՆԵՑ.
I, ROBERT ARCHIBALD WHITE of Eagle Chambers King William Street Adelaide
in the Province of South Australia 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 of improved appliances for effecting the change of gauge of railway
vehicles has been designed for use with those descriptions of vehicles which are
constructed to allow of their lower wheel frames being readily separated from their
upper bodies such for instance as those vehicles constructed on the bogie principle.
The change of gauge is effected by suspending or supporting the upper body and then
lowering and removing the under-frame having wheels of one gauge from under it
and replacing such under-frame with another one mounted on wheels of a different
gauge.
The appliance devised for lowering and removing the wheel frames from under the
upper bodies and placing other wheel frames in their stead, is constructed preferably
in the form of a turn-tablo mounted in a pit as ordinarily; the novel feature in it
being that parts of its table are made to lower sufficiently far to clear the fastenings
between the upper body of the vehicle and its under-wheel frame. If desired, the
whole of the table may be made to lower. An alternative form of appliance is that
of a traverser arranged to travel in a pit as ordinarily and with parts or the whole of
the table arranged to lower as in the case of the turn-table.
The appliances devised for supporting the upper body of the vehicle over either the
turn-table or the traverser are exactly similar and consist of the arrangement of
longitudinal girders supported at a suitable elevation above and stretching quite across
the turn-table or traverser midway between the adjoining lines of rails, a girder
being required at each side of the track. These girders have devices attached to them
which are placed under the upper body of the vehicle when it is desired to support or
suspend it to allow of its wheel frame being lowered and removed.
The turn-table appliance is fixed in the centre of the length of two parallel
sidings having two roads on it, each of both gauges, the narrow within the broad,

page_text: The sidings at one end of the turn-table are broad gauge and at the other end are
narrow gauge. The narrow-gauge rails on the turn-table are fixed as much higher
than the broad as is the difference in height between the upper bodies of the broad
and those of the narrow gauge vehicles. The narrow-gauge sidings are laid in on
an incline if necessary, to join those on the turn-table which will of course be on the
level; the object of this being to get the underside of the upper bodies of both
ganges on the same level when over the turn-table. In a longitudinal direction
over the turn-table will be fixed girders conveniently placed so that appliances on
them can be made to support the upper bodies of the vehicles, or separate cross-
bearers can be slid under such upper bodies and be supported by the girders. The
turn-table is constructed and worked in the usual manner except that the whole or
portions of its top table are enabled to drop to such an extent as to make the king-bolt
or other connection between the upper bodies and their under frames or bogie trucks
clear and free from under the upper body by means of a partial revolution of the
turn-table.
The accompanying drawing illustrates the appliances for effecting the change of
gauge of railway vehicles and in it similar letters will indicate corresponding parts.
Figure 1 shews a general plan of the turn-table appliance and its sidings.
Figure 2, a plan of the turn-table shewn to a larger scale than Figure 1.
Figures 3 and 3 are cross-sections of the turn-table, the supporting girders and
the vehicles in their relative positions, the former figure showing the movable platforms
of the turn-table unlowered and with the under wheel frames of the vehicles supporting
their upper bodies; while the latter shows the movable platforms lowered and the
upper bodies of the vehicles supported by the girders, the under wheel frames being
clear of their upper bodies.
Figure 4 is a central section of the turn-table with its platforms up and showing
a longitudinal elevation of one of the girders which support the bodies of the
vehicles.
Figure 5 is a side view of the appliance for raising and lowering the movable
parts of the turn-table.
Figure 6 is a cross-section of the girder, showing one of the cross-bearers for
supporting the vehicle body.
Figure 7 is a plan of the girders with rollers instead of the cross-bearers shewn in
the previous figure for supporting the upper bodies of the vehicles.
Figures 8 and 9 are respectively longitudinal and cross sections of turn-table
shewing relative positions of such girders and rollers and the appliances for raising
and lowering the movable platforms.
Figure 10 is a plan of the sidings when the alternative traverser appliance is
used instead of a turn-table. This figure is drawn to a reduced scale.
Figure 11 is a plan of the traverser appliance with the ends of the approaching
roads also shown.
Figure 12 is a cross section of the traverser and its pit and shewing a section
through the vehicles and supporting girders and shewing also the relative positions
of the lines of rails.
Figure 13 is a longitudinal section through the traverser and its pit shewing one of
the supporting girders in elevation.
In the first instance the turn-table and its adjunct contrivances will be described
with reference to Figures 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.
1 und 2 are the broad-gauge sidings and 1 and 2 are the narrow-gauge sidings
(see Figure 1). A is the turn-table, aa aa are the parts of the turn-table which
are arranged to lower; a' are broad-gauge rails, and a are narrow-gauge rails.
In Figure 2, a' are the wheels on which the turn-table travels and as is its central
pivot bb are broad-gauge under-frames or bogic trucks; bare narrow-gauge
under-frames or bogie trucks; 2 1 1 2 are the king-bolts in the centre of each
bogie truck and which form the appliances for connecting the upper bodies with
the bogie trucks; c c are the upper bodies; d d d are girders on which are the
appliances for supporting the upper bodies; are the pillars for supporting such

page_text: girders. In Figure 5 which shews the appliance for lowering and raising the parts
of the turn-table which are intended to be lowered-A is the turn-table itself; a is
one of the parts of the turn-table A on which the under-frames or bogie trucks or b
will stand and which must be lowered: a3 are small rollers fixed to the bottom of a ;
ff are bars with inclined planes and flat surfaces for supporting lowering and
raising the lowering parts of the turn-table and it is evident that sliding the bars ff
backwards and forwards will lower and raise the parts a of the turn-table vertically.
fare rollers on base of turn-table A for supporting and guiding the bars ff,
fare rods to which the bars ff are attached and all of which it is intended to
connect to and actuate simultaneously by means of any suitable arrangement of
mechanical, hydraulic steam or other power fixed on any convenient part of the turn-
table A. One such arrangement is shewn in Figure 5 and another in Figures 8
and 9 as hereinafter explained. Figure 6 shows one of a series of appliances for
carrying the weight of the upper body and its load, d is the girder, is a bar having
one of its ends formed as a rack to be in gear with a pinion keyed on a shaft running
alongside the girder and having its other end formed as an inclined plane for pushing
under the side of a vehicle so as to catch and support it at any height it may happen
to be is a guide or socket strongly secured to the girder for the bar to pass
through; is a bracket for carrying shaft strongly secured to the girders; is a
shaft with pinions koyed on to it to gear with and slide the bar d¹ such shaft having
each of its ends fitted with either a wheel, 5, or a spanner so that it can be revolved
from either end and simultaneously actuate all the pinions and bars with which it
is connected. The intention is to fix a series of these appliances on each girder over
the turn-table, the bars d being from four to six feet apart.
Referring now to Figures 7, 8 and 9. These differ from the preceding figures in
three points only. First-the girders are supplied with brackets d carrying
rollers at their ends as substitutes for the bars or cross-bearers d'in the previous
figures. Secondly-the under-side of the upper part of the body of each vehicle is
supplied with angle iron bars to run on and be supported by said rollers; and, thirdly,
in Figures 8 and 9 the sliding bars by which parts of the turn-table are lowered aro
represented as being moved by a rack and pinion operated by a worm. In these figures
the parts are marked as follows:-
a a are the lowering portions of the table; a¹ the broad-gange rail; a² the narrow-
gauge rail; as the rollers attached to a; a' the wheels; as the centre pin; a rollers;
the upper body of vehicle; e' angle iron on upper body to run on rollers d²;
d wrought iron plate girder; d¹ cast iron bracket to carry the rollers 2; d² rollers to
support upper body inclined plane; 1 rack thereon; g pinion in gear therewith;
shaft on which pinions g are fixed; g2 driving wheel on shaft; worm in gear
with shaft centre or footstep for foot of worm; bearing for spindle of worm ;
g wheel to which the power is applied.
The method of working the turn-table appliance is as follows-say a broad-gauge
vehicle is run on to one road on the turn-table and a narrow-gauge vehicle on the
other road. The upper bodies of the two vehicles are supported by the girders and
their connections as shewn in the accompanying drawings. Then, the parts of the
turn-table which are arranged to descend and on which the bogie trucks stand until
the king-bolts or centre pins of the vehicles are clear of the upper bodies, are lowered.
Then, the turn-table is turned half way round and the bogie trucks on it raised again
when the gauge of the two vehicles will have been changed or converted. By this
means two complete trains can be converted-two trucks at a time-without the
necessity for uncoupling the vehicles from one another and with a minimum expenditure
of time and labour.
With the traverser contrivance Ax shewn in Figures 10 to 13, four sidings 1, 2, 3
and 4 are employed exactly the same distance apart, the traverser itself carrying three
roads marked 1, 2 and 3 each with rails of both gauges as before. This traverser is
supported on wheels e e running on rails at the bottom of its pit.
The method of working the traverser contrivance is as follows:-Suppose the outer
sidings are adopted for holding spare under-frames or bogies, No. 1 road containing

page_text: Spare broad-gauge under-frames or bogies and No. 4 road containing spare narrow-
gange under-frames or bogies; say that on No. 2 road over the traverser is a
narrow-gauge vehicle and on No. 3 road is a broad-gauge vehicle; and that on No. 1
traverser road stands a pair of broad-gauge under-frames or bogies. Suppose the
upper bodies of the two vehicles supported by the girders and their appliances, and
the traverser or parts of it lowered and then moved the width of one road (say
thirteen feet) from left to right and then raised again, the gauge of the two vehicles
will have been converted. The spare broad-gauge under-frames must then be pushed
off the right of the traverser and be replaced by a pair of narrow-gauge under-frames.
The trains must then be moved on in opposite directions for the length of one vehicle,
and the two next vehicles be supported by the girders, the traverser or parts of it
can be again dropped and then travelled from right to left and raised again and thus
convert or change the gauge of the two vehicles, and so in succession. Thus the
whole of the vehicles in both trains can have their gauges converted, two at a time,
without the necessity for uncoupling the vehicles from one another, or one train can
be dealt with one vehicle at a time without uncoupling. This arrangement may
necessitato the provision of a number of duplicate spare under-frames or bogies of
both gauges on Nos. 1 and 4 sidings. It is obvious however that if it is only
necessary to deal with one or two vehicles at one time, the system I propose can easily
be adapted for the purpose and so that no spare under-frames would require to be
provided, as the upper bodies of two vehicles can be supported by the girders as before
described, the under-frames or bogies then lowered, travelled and raised, the doing of
which will have converted the gauge of one of such vehicles from broad to narrow
or from narrow to broad and brought one pair of under-frames or bogies into position
to be shunted off the traverser back over the points to positions under the other of
such vehicles waiting for them. In the meantime the converted vehiclo must have
been run off the traverser out of the way, and the traverser travelled to receive the
other gauge under-frames or bogies when it and they will be dropped and moved to
underneath what was the opposito gauge vehicle and so convert it to the required
gauge. In this arrangement, a double instead of a treble road traverser can be used
and the sidings need only be just long enough to get on to and round it.
Nos. 1, 2 and 3, the portions of the top table of such traverser which I propose to
arrange to drop and on which the bogic under-framos would stand, are marked a.
Figure 12 is a cross-section of traverser pit and traverser shewing relative positions
of double-gauge roads, 1, 2 and 3, with broad-gauge rails a and narrow-gauge
rails a²; broad-gauge under-frames or bogies and narrow-gauge under-frames or
bogies b', with their king-bolts or central bogie pins which join the upper and lower
frames to each other b; upper bodies cc; girders to support them dddd; appliances
on bottom of girders to be turned or pushed under the vehicles and adjusted to take
the weight d. Figure 13 is a longitudinal section through traverser pit and traverser;
eee are its wheels to be arranged in suitable bearings.
The turntable and the traverser contrivances described herein and shewn in the
drawings permit parts of their top table to drop (and it is obvious that similar
appliances can be used to enable the whole of their top-table to drop if necessary) so
that the under-frames or bogies of the vehicles can drop with the traverser or
with those parts of it which drop and be free to be removed from the upper
bodies.
I do not claim the lifting of the upper bodies of railway vehicles from their lower
travelling frames or carriages in order to transfer them to frames carrying wheels
of a different gauge.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim in respect of improved appliances for effecting the change of gauge of railway
vehicles is
1. A turntable furnished with rails of suitable gauges and with parts or the
whole of its top so arranged as that it is capable of being raised and lowered

page_text: substantially as and for the purposes herein described with reference to the accompany-
ing drawings.
2. A traverser furnished with rails of suitable gauges and with parts or the whole
of its top so arranged as that it is capable being raised and lowered substantially
as and for the purposes herein described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
3. In turntables and traversers such as are referred to in the preceding claims the
use of broad and narrow gauge rails so arranged as that those forming the narrow
gauge are so much higher than those forming the broad gauge as that the
upper bodies of the narrow gauge vehicles remain on a level with those of the
broad gauge vehicles when changing their under frames substantially as herein
described.
4. The use in combination with turntables and traversers such as are referred to
in the preceding claims, of girders fixed in positions over the turn-table or traverser
to support cross bearers pushed under the upper bodies of vehicles for the
purpose of carrying such upper bodies while other under frames are being
substituted substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
5. The use in combination with the girders referred to in the preceding claim,
of cross bearers such as are described with reference to Figs. 6, 8 and 9 for the
purposes herein set forth.
6. The use of appliances shewn in Figs. 5 and 8 for raising and lowering
the moveable parts of the turn table or traverser substantially as herein described.
Dated this 28th day of May 1888.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.