1 Sand-strewing Apparatus for Tramway-cars
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 4th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
"1 Sand-strewing Apparatus for Tramway-cars."
I, HUGO BOLTEN, of Pferdemarkt 50, Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany.
Mechanician, 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 :-
The object of the Invention is an apparatus to strew tramway rails with sand so as
to heighten the friction of the wheels on the rails, and facilitate running. The
apparatus may be fitted to any motor car (on rails) and is governed by the driver of
the car.
The advantage which this apparatus has over similar ones used heretofore
for this purpose is that it only allows a fixed quantity of sand to escape at a time,
and thus economizes sand.
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the Invention, figure 1 shows the
arrangement of the apparatus as fixed to a car in longitudinal section. Figure 2
shows the sand-case with its closing sides.
The reservoir a, which is filled with rough sand, gravel, or the like is fixed on the
car or wagon in front of the wheel. This runs into a chamber i which is closed at
top and bottom by means of slides. To the chamber i is attached a funnel shaped
tube, which carries the sand to the rails. The slides, which run in the grooves m
and m', are attached to the rods g and g¹ which are passed through the eyes e and e¹.
These rods are attached at the other end to the lever arms h and h¹ which in turn
are fastened to an axle running across under the front platform. This axle hangs
from the full-length frame. A lever arm h is also fastened on this axle and is
joined at the other end to a knob-headed rod 6; and this rod is let through the platform
Hoor. The rod b can be depressed by the driver either by foot or hand, and when
such pressure ceases may be brought back to the position of rest shown in the
drawing either by a spring for a counter-weight acting on the lever principle.
As soon as the rod b is pressed down the lever-arm h¹ acts on the rod g¹ and opens
the slide c. At the same time the other lever arm closes the lower slide by means
of the rod g and consequently the chamber i becomes filled with sand. If the knob
rod b be now released the slide d opens and c shuts. Consequently the sand in the
chamber i runs through the tube n in front of the wheel.
An apparatus of this kind may be fixed on each side right and left of the car, and
worked simultaneously by means of the lever arm and its cross axle. It is also
possible to use one apparatus only and yet to strew the sand on both sides by means
of a bifurcated tube. In this way an effective sand strewing of the line may be
realised without unnecessary waste of sand.
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 :-
A sand strewer for tramcars, of which the distinguishing features are, that the
sand reservoir a runs into a chamber provided with slides c and d, these
slides c and d being connected through rods g and g¹ and levers h, h', with
a rod b movable by either hand or foot, so that when this rod 6 is depressed the
upper slide opens and the lower closes whereby the chamber i is filled with sand,

page_text: and on the rod b coming back to its original position, the chamber i is closed at
top and opens at bottom and consequently lets its contents run out in front of the
wheel.
Dated this 3rd. day of November 1897
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER
Chartered Patent Agents,
62 Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow. Agents for the Applicant.