Improved Apparatus for Transporting Ships by Railway.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Nov., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 30th July, 1898--Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1898
Improved Apparatus for Transporting Ships by Railway.
I, AXEL BERNHARD ANDERSON, of No. 174, 43rd Street, in the City of Brooklyn
in the County of Kings, and State of New York, United States of America
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:―
This invention consists of improvements in construction of apparatus for
transporting ships by railway.
The general plan of the invention comprises a tank of sufficient dimensions to
hold a ship and a quantity of water for floating the ship therein which is to be
mounted on trucks, running on rails extending into the water to a sufficient depth
for floating the ships in and out, said tank being provided at each end with gates,
to open and close the ends as required.
In carrying out this general plan a rail track of substantial construction and
comprising a sufficient number of parallel rails, according to the demands of the
largest ships to be handled is provided, some of which rails, will be of ordinary tee
rail form, on which the ordinary flanged truck wheels are to run, and others will
be adapted for plain faced bearing wheels, and may be of wood or stone faced
with metal. In this example of the invention two outside tee rails, two middle
tee rails and four plain bearing rails are represented, these being distributed
equally between the outside and middle tee rails respectively, the gauge of said
outside and middle tee rails being very broad while the gauge of the two middle
rails is much less.
For supporting the main body of the tank there are two series of trucks, of like
broad gange as the two outside tee rails, and having intermediate bearing wheels
working on the plain faced rails, the trucks of the said series being located side by
side, and for the extremities of the tank which are pointed there is a single truck
for each, said trucks being of the gauge of the middle tee rails, and running on
them.
These trucks are, in their general construction substantially like ordinary car
trucks, but have, besides the intermediate bearing wheels, already described some
special features of adaptation to their use in this invention which will now be
pointed out.
A strong bolster plate is seated at its ends upon the side frames of the truck at
their middle, and on similar intermediate frames, said plate extending from one to
the other of said side frames, and carrying coiled springs at intervals along it, on
which is carried another like plate, but of lesser thickness; at the middle of these
plates a king-bolt is fitted, said bolt having a collar resting on the upper plate, and
also having a head on which a portion of the weight of the tank rests, while other
portions of the weight of the tank rest on rollers, provided at the extremities of
the first mentioned bolster plate. Each side of the upper plate are standards,
supported on the edges of the lower plate, between which the upper plate is
controlled against thrusts tending to shift and cause it to rock laterally, and said

page_text: plate is also provided with pendant brackets, which work between the standards so
as to control said plate against shifting lengthwise through the effect of shocks
tending in that direction. Near the extremities of these plates are strong steady
pins, fixed to the upper plate, and working in guide holes of the lower plate as a
further means of steadying the upper plate on the springs.
The standards are stayed on the side frames of the trucks by braces. Other
supporting springs are mounted on the axle boxes, on the top of which are other
rollers, these and the previously mentioned rollers being mounted in suitable seats
in caps of the springs, affording requisite space for the play of the rolls in use, and
at the same time keeping them in position; the rollers are slightly taper and range
in radial lines of the axis of the king-bolt to accommodate the slight turning motions
of the truck on the king-bolt. The bottom plate of the tank rests on bolsters
which are carried on these rollers and the bolsters are strengthened by trusses, said
trusses being stayed by lateral braces. These trussed bolsters extend the entire
width of the tank, and over the trucks of each line, and those bolsters arranged
over the centre of the trucks also rest on the king-bolts.
The intermediate axle boxes are mounted on the axles of these wide trucks which
carry the previously mentioned intermediate side frames for intermediate support of
the main bolster. The side frames and intermediate frames are coupled transversely
at their extremities by the usual cross stays.
The single trucks for the ends of the tank differ from the main trucks only
in the width of the gauge, and in the arrangement of the carrying rollers for
being employed in a central position under the taper ends of the tank where
the weight is less, and where in case of the truck being curved the demand for
the accommodation of lateral movement of the trucks relatively to the tank may
require the rollers to work laterally instead of lengthwise of the tank, as in the
case of the main trucks, said rollers are therefore so arranged in these trucks, and
they are mounted on pivots in boxes but may of course be arranged to roll on a
plane surface as the others are if desired. In case there should be curves of such
short radius as to demand the arrangement of laterally moving carrying rolls on one
or more of the main tracks they will be so provided.
The end trucks will be coupled to the first of the series of main trucks in any
approved way.
The tank is constructed of boiler plate with any approved system of bracing
for the outsides having support on canti-levers with systems of counter bracing
supported against thrust bars suspended under the trucks and extending from side
to side to balance the thrusts of one side by those of the other side. The sides of
the tank are stayed inside by vertical metallic ribs and other horizontal ribs,
and are lined with wood facing to protect the sides of the ships from the metal
ribs.
The gate hinges have intermeshing ribs and grooves on the insides of the plates
or leaves designed to make close joints to prevent leaks at the hinges. The gate
hinges are stayed by braces supported by the side bracing.
The meeting edges of the gates consist of metallic plates having on the insides
coincident curved ribs which when the gates are closed meet in abutting contact
in the central vertical plane of the tank. Between these ribs are corresponding
curved channels in which the flanges of a key-bitt pivoted in one of the plates
engage when the gates are closed and the key is set in the position to engage
the ribs to pack the joint. The gates are trussed inside for sustaining the water
pressure.
For locking the gates together there is a vertical plate attached to each inside of
the meeting edges, suitably for their edges to meet when the gates are closed, on
one of which plates there are studs projecting inwards from the side, and on the
other plate are hooks pivoted to it and connected by a pivot stud and a link with a
vertical bar, which extends upward and has a toothed rack by which it may be
engaged with a pinion for the application of power for raising and lowering the

page_text: locking bar. The pivot studs being eccentric to the pivots cause the hooks to draw
the gates together tightly when hooked on the studs."
100-
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, for the Applicant.
Improved Apparatus for Transporting Ships by Railway.
I, AXEL BERNHARD ANDERSON, of No. 174, 43rd Street, in the City of Brooklyn,
in the County of Kings, and State of New York, United States of America,
Gentleman, 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 consists of improvements in the construction of apparatus for
transporting ships by railway as hereinafter described reference being made to the
accompanying drawings in which
:-
Fig. 1, represents portions of the two extremities of a tauk-car constructed
according to my invention for transporting ships afloat in it, the right hand
portion being in sectional elevation, and the left hand portion in side
elevation.
Fig. 2 is a view of part of the same in end elevation with the part of the right
hand truck in advance of lino 2-2, Fig. 1 omitted, the rails of the track being in
transverse section.
Fig. 3, represents a plan of one end portion of the complete tank-car and a truck
plan of the other end portion, part of the tank being detached, it also shows the
rail plan of the track.
Fig. 4, is a side elevation of a section of the tank car on an enlarged scale for
greater clearness.
Fig. 5, is a side elevation and Fig. 6, a front elevation of the truck employed at
the extremities of the tank and sections of the bottom of the tank, in Fig. 6,
a portion of the truck, is cut away at the right hand side so that it is viewed in two
planes.
Fig. 7, is a side elevation, and Fig. 8, a front elevation in part, of one of the
series of trucks employed under the main body of the tank, and sections of the
bottom of the tank.
Fig. 9, is a plan of the gates of one end of the tank on a larger scale, the gates
being closed and locked together.
Figs. 10 & 11, are details of the gates in plan view as they appear when parted
for the opening of the tank, for floating the ship in or out.
Fig. 12, is a detail of the closed gates in inside elevation showing them
locked.
Fig. 13, is a like view showing the locking apparatus disconnected.
The general plan of the invention comprises a tank as a, (of sufficient dimensions
to hold a ship and a quantity of water for floating the ship therein) which is to be
mounted on trucks, running on rails extending into the water to a sufficient depth for
floating the ships in and out, said tank being provided at each end with gates b,
to open and close the ends as required.
In carrying out this general plan a rail track of substantial construction and
comprising a sufficient number of parallel rails, according to the demands of the
largest ships to be handled is provided, some of which rails c, c¹, will be of
ordinary tee rail form, on which the ordinary flanged truck wheels d are to run,
and others as e, will be adapted for plain faced bearing wheels as and may be
of wood or stone faced with metal g. In this example of the invention

page_text: represent two, outside tee rails c, two middle tee rails c and four plain bearing
rails e are represented, these being distributed equally between the outside
and middle tee rails respectively, the gauge of said outside and middle tee
rails being very broad while the gauge of the two middle rails c¹, c¹, is much
less.
For supporting the main body of the tank there are two series of trucks, of like
broad gauge as the two outside tee rails c, c, and having intermediate bearing
wheels f, working on the plain faced rails g, the trucks of the said series being
located side by side as best seen in Fig. 3, and for the extremities of the tank
which are pointed there is a single truck for each, said trucks being of the
gauge of the middle tee rails c¹ and running on them as also seen best in Fig. 3,
but the two forms of trucks and their relative arrangements are also shown in
Figs. 1 and 2.
The wide trucks for supporting the main body of the tank are generally designated
by reference letter A, the others are marked B. These trucks are, in their general
construction substantially like ordinary car trucks, but have, besides the inter-
mediate bearing wheels of truck A, already described, some special features
of adaptation to their use in this invention which will now be pointed out and
claimed.
The truck A is represented in side and front views detached from the tank and
on a large scale in Figs. 7 & 8; a strong bolster plate his seated at its ends upon
the side frames of the truck at their middle and on similar intermediate frames i¹
said plate extending from one to the other of said side frames and carrying coiled
springs j at intervals along it, on which is carried another like plate k, but of lesser
thickness; at the middle of these plates a king-bolt is fitted, said bolt having a
collar m resting on the upper plate k and also having a head n on which a por-
tion of the weight of the tank rests, while other portions of the weight of
the tank rest on rollers o, provided at the extremities of the first mentioned
bolster plate. Each side of the upper plate are standards p supported on the edges
of the lower plate h, between which the upper plate k is controlled against thrusts
tending to shift and cause it to rock laterally, and said plate is also provided with
pendent brackets q, which work between the standards p so as to control said plate
against shifting lengthwise through the effect of shocks tending in that direction.
Near the extremities of these plates are strong steady pins s fixed to the upper
plate k, and working in guide holes of the lower plate h as a further means of
steadying the upper plate k on the springs j.
Other
The standards p are stayed on the side frames i of the trucks by braces t.
supporting springs j¹ are mounted on the axle boxes u, on the tops of which are other
rollers o¹ these being mounted in suitable seats w, in the caps of the springs j
affording requisite space for the play of the rolls in use, and at the same time keeping
them in position; rollers o rest in similar seats wl on plate k, the rollers are slightly
taper and range in radial lines of the axis of the king-bolt to accommodate the
slight turning motions of the truck on the king-bolt. The bottom plate x of the
tank rests on bolsters which are carried on these rollers and the bolsters are
strengthened by trusses z, said trusses being stayed by the lateral braces z¹. These
trussed bolsters extend the entire width of the tank, and over the trucks of each
line and those bolsters arranged over the centres of the trucks also rest on the king-
bolts.
Intermediate axle boxes u¹ are mounted on the axles v1 of these wide trucks
which carry the previously mentioned intermediate side frames for intermediate
support of the main bolster h. The side frames i, and intermediate frames i¹ are
coupled transversely at their extremities by the usual cross stays x¹.
The truck B is represented in side and front views detached from the tank and on
The single trucks for
a large scale as in Figs. 5 and 6, its gauge is that of rails c¹.
the ends of the tank differ from the main trucks A only in the width of the gauge,
and in the arrangement of the carrying roller o² for being employed in a central
position under the taper ends of the tank where the weight is less, and where in

page_text: case of the track being curved the demand for the accommodation of lateral move-
ment of the trucks relatively to the tank may require the rollers to work laterally
instead of lengthwise of the tank, as in the case of the main trucks, said rolls are
therefore so arranged in these trucks, and they are mounted on pivots o³ in boxes of
but may of course be arranged to roll on a plane surface as the others are if desired.
In case there should be curves of such short radius as to demand the arrangement
of laterally moving carrying rolls on or more of the main tracks they will be so
provided as in Fig. 4.
The end trucks B will be coupled to the first of the series of main trucks in any
approved way as by links a¹ connecting the side frames i of truck B with cross bars a¹
of trucks A, see Figs. 1 and 3; the main trucks A may also be coupled together in
any approved way as desired.
The tank is constructed of boiler plate with any approved system of bracing
for, the outsides as having support on canti-lever d¹ with systems of counter
bracing as e¹, f1, and g¹ the braces e¹ having their support against the bottom of the
car by braces h¹ and braces f¹ and g¹ being supported against thrust bars kl sus-
pended under the truck and extending from side to side to balance the thrusts of
one side by those of the other side. The sides of the tank are stayed inside by the
vertical metallic ribs and other horizontal ribs ¹ and are lined with wood
facing m to protect the sides of the ships from the metal ribs.
The gate hinges have intermeshing ribs and grooves p¹ on the insides of the
plates or leaves designed to make close joints to prevent leaks at the hinges, and
will if necessary be packed at the ends or bottoms of the grooves with yielding
material against which the ends of the ribs will press when the gates are closed
for packing effectually. The gate hinges are stayed by braces x² supported by the
side bracing b¹.
The meeting edges of the gates consist of metallic plates a² having on the insides
coincident curved ribs 62 which when the gates are closed meet in abutting contact
in the central vertical plane of the tank. Between these ribs are corresponding
curved channels c² in which the flanges e² of a key bitt fpivoted at g2 in one of the
plates a² engage when the gates are closed and the key is set in the position to
engage the curved ribs represented in Fig. 9 to pack the joint. The gates are
trussed inside as at q2 for sustaining the water pressure.
For locking the gates together there is a vertical plate h² attached to each inside of
the meeting edges, suitably for their edges to meet when the gates are closed, on one of
which plates there are studs 22 projecting inward from the side, and on the other
plate are hooks j2 pivoted to it at 42 and connected by a pivot stud 12 and a link m²
with a vertical bar n², which extends upward and has a toothed rack p² by which it
may be engaged with a pinion for the application of power for raising and lowering
the locking bar. The pivot studs being eccentric to the pivots k² cause the hooks
to draw the gates together tightly when hooked on the studs i². A suitable footway
as 8 and hand rail t2 will be provided at the top of the tank, as indicated in
Figs. 1 and 2.
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. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks, and end trucks placed centrally under the tank, and on the inner
rails of the main truck tracks substantially as described.
2. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks, consisting of outside rails for flanged wheels and intermediate
bearing rails, said trucks having outside flanged wheels, and intermediate bearing
wheels substantially as described.

page_text: 3. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with a
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks consisting of outside rails for flanged wheels and intermediate
bearing rails, said trucks having outside flanged wheels and intermediate bearing
wheels, and end trucks placed centrally under the tank and on the inner rails for
the main trucks substantially as described.
4. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks consisting of outside rails for flanged wheels and intermediate
bearing rails, said trucks having outside flanged wheels and intermediate bearing
wheels, and also having intermediate side frames, and axle boxes supporting said
intermediate frames substantially as described.
5. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by
side on parallel tracks, a bearing plate supported on the middle of the truck frames
transversely, a series of supporting springs placed side by side along said bearing
plate, a plate carried on the springs, a king-bolt located at the middle of said
plates, and bearing rollers at the extremities of the upper plate, whereon and on
the king-bolt the tank is supported substantially as described.
6. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks, a bearing plate supported on the middle of the truck frames
transversely, a series of supporting springs placed side by side along said bearing
plate, a plate carried on the springs, a king-bolt located at the middle of the plates,
bearing rollers at the extremities of the upper plate whereon and on the king bolt
the tank is carried, the guide standards of the bearing plate, and the guide brackets
of the upper plate controlling said upper plate against lengthwise and lateral play
substantially as described.
7. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of a system of trucks comprising two lines of main trucks placed side by side
on parallel tracks, a bearing plate supported on the middle of the truck frames
transversely, a series of supporting springs placed side by side along said bearing
plate, a plate carried on the springs, a kingbolt located at the middle of the plates,
bearing rollers at the extremities of the upper plate, springs located on the axle
boxes, and rollers carried on the said springs whereon, and on the rollers and king-
bolt carried by the bearing plates the tank is carried substantially as described.
8. In apparatus for transporting ships afloat in a tank, the combination with the
tank, of trucks for carrying the tank, a system of braces for the outsides of the tank,
canti-lever supports for said braces, and counter-braces for the canti-levers having
support against the bottom of the tauk, and against thrust bars suspended under
the truck frames, substantially as described.
9. The combination with the gate-hinges, of the intermeshing ribs and grooves
for packing the hinge joints substantially as described.
10. The combination with the gates, of the meeting edge plates having coincident
grooves and intermediate abutting ribs, of the key pivoted in one of said plates
and having flanges intermeshing with the grooves of the two plates when the gates
are closed substantially as described.
11. The combination with the gates, of the locking plates, the studs on one of
said plates, and the hooks and the lock actuating bar on the other plate, said
hooks having the eccentric connection with the actuating bar substantially as
described.
Dated the 25th dow of Tule 1000
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London, for the Applicant.