NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SWEEPING AND CLEANING TRAMWAY AND RAILWAY TRACKS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 18, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 90, Cannon
Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, for au Invention of "NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SWEEPING AND CLEANING TRAMWAY AND
RAILWAY TRACKS." A communication from Michel Laporte, Master Mechanic,
of Bordeaux, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th October 1880.
HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Rue
de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 90, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent. "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SWEEPING AND
CLEANING TRAMWAY AND RAILWAY TRACKS." A communication from Michel
Laporte, Master Mechanic, of Bordeaux, France.
The Invention relates to the automatic cleaning of tramway rails at any time
whatever, and, in case of need, to the wiping of railway rails covered with a thin
crust of ice or snow, and in order that the cleaning apparatus works equally well
for the curves of the line, which result has not yet been obtained heretofore,
consists in constantly maintaining the longitudinal axis of the cleaning apparatus
in a vertical plane, parallel to the car-frame sleepers, and impart to the said
cleaning apparatus a transversal motion and lateral displacement according to the
smaller axis of the apparatus.
The constant parallelism of the longitudinal axis of the cleaning apparatus to the
frame sleepers is attained by means of a lever fixed upon the car frame at a right
square head
angle in regard to the frame sleepers, in the forked end of which the
of the handle of the cleaning apparatus is inserted, or by means of a bolt to which

page_text: the cleaning apparatus is suspended, and which is moveable in rings which are
fixed to the car frame and have a common axis placed in a plane perpendicular
to the car frame sleepers.
The transversal motion and lateral displacement of the cleaning apparatus is
attained by the obliquity which the handle of the cleaning apparatus may take 5
inside a tube fixed vertically to the car frame, when the above mentioned lever is
used, or by means of the bolt alone when the second arrangement is applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th April 1881.
HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Rue de
la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 90, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent. "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SWEEPING AND CLEANING
TRAMWAY AND RAILWAY TRACKS." A communication by Michel Laporte, Master
Mechanic, of Bordeaux, France.
The Invention relates to the automatic cleaning of tramway rails at any time
whatever, and, in case of need, to the wiping of railway rails covered with a thin
crust of ice or snow, and consists of a new or improved apparatus, of which three
types are illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Firstly. It will be observed that the frame of a street-car is brought closer to the
rails in proportion as the carriage receives its load. This lowering is generally
from two to eight centimetres, according to the nature and state of the suspension
springs. Therefore the length of the handle of the cleaning tool should be
susceptible of shortening itself. Hence, in the different types of the apparatus,
this shortening is obtained by the flexion of a spring, which moreover prevents the
vibrations of the carriage to be transmitted to the cleaning tool (a, Fig. 1; b, Fig.
3, 4; c, Fig. 5). Nevertheless, this standard of variableness in the length of the
handle, the first elementary principle presenting itself to the mind, is far from being
sufficient in itself, hence all essays having the realisation of this point solely in
view have completely miscarried.
It is the same in giving a certain elasticity to the sweeping part of the tool by
means of a metallic brush. This arrangement is useful, if not necessary, but
insufficient of itself.
A steel-wire brush, or a pencil of galvanized iron wire, or of brass wire, more or
less fine, is employed. In the brush the wires are insulated; in the pencil they
touch. These wires are kept in position by means of a zinc, lead, or molten tin
plate, which is bolted to the lower part of the tool. This brush assumes the shape
of the rail; it is represented in horizontal projection, Fig. 6. It might also consist
of a mass of india rubber or gutta-percha covered with an iron sole.
The part of the brush fitting the groove of the rail is spindle shaped and pointed
at both ends so as to pass switches without danger. The other part of the brush is
arranged so as to throw the sweepings out of range, with an angle of from 40° to
45°, in whatever sense the car may move.

page_text: Besides these elementary conditions it is necessary, in order to obtain a tool that
fulfils its aim, to take the following capital considerations in view :-
§ 1°. Whereas in curves each sleeper of the frame is guided like the string of a
bow, it is necessary that. the longitudinal axis of the brush should be constantly
maintained in a vertical plane, parallel to the sleepers of the car-frame. This
disposition is realized in the following manner :-
In type 1 the lever fixed upon the frame, at a right angle in regard to the
sleepers, causes the axis of the brush to deviate when the frame changes direction;
for this purpose the lever ends in a fork through which the square head of the
tool passes (Fig. 2). In types 2 and 3 the same result is obtained in a more certain
manner by means of the bolt support fixed to the frame. The rings in which the
bolt moves have a common axis in a plane perpendicular to the sleepers of the car-
frame. It evidently results that the longitudinal axis of the brush suspended to
this bolt is caused to take the same direction as these sleepers.. For this last
reason the tool must, by preference, be placed between a fore and hind wheel of
the street car instead of in front of the fore-wheel. In this manner the brush
passes the switches, in any number whatever, without requiring any care from the
driver. Thus placed, the brush acts for the hind wheels as well as all carriages
following. A tramway line may be kept in order by one car provided with a
cleaning brush running to and fro.
II. The plane passing through the flange of a fore and hind wheel is not
entirely contained in the groove of the rail except in a straight line. In sharp
curves this plane entirely leaves the groove, even in its part between the wheels.
It is therefore necessary that the tool should be able to move transversally and bo
displaced laterally according to the smaller axis of the brush. Hence, in type 1
this lateral displacement is obtained by the obliquity which the handle of the tool
may take, without further turning upon itself, in the tube fixed vertically to the
fraine. In type 2 the spring b consists of one or more steel blades superposed. It
is sometimes necessary to guide the flexion of said spring by means of two parallel
forks to avoid the twisting of the blades. In type 3 the spiral spring c enclosed in
the jointed tubes acts by compression. The play of these sliding tubes is limited by
any suitable stop contrivance. The apparatus 2 or 3 is applicable to locomotives
in order to scrape and and clean the rails covered with ice or snow. The apparatus is
then fitted in front of the wheels. The brush assumes the T form of the rail. The
play of the bolt is more limited than for street cars, since the curves are a great
deal more feeble. The brush is surrounded by a spreader of zinc or sheet-iron in
the shape of a steam-packet cut through the plane of the water line. This spreader
is intended to throw the bed of snow or ice, taken up by the metallic brush, to the
right and left of the rail.
This spreader, under a reduced form, may also be adapted to the brush of street-
cars for more effectually throwing aside from the rail the dust or dirt, and the
brush may be entirely covered by a dust screen in the form of a lamp shade.
Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, represent a type of the apparatus having an invariable
suspension above the rail. Fig. 7 being a horizontal projection of which the dotted
lines represent the lower face view; Fig. 8, an elevation upon A, B, of Fig. 7, or
front view exterior to the rail; Fig. 9, an elevation through A, C, Fig. 7; Fig. 10,
a horizontal projection of the piece D, E, Fig. 8 and 9; and Fig. 11, a horizontal
projection of the piece f, g, Fig. 8 and 9.
This apparatus is bolted upon a bar or rod of the carriage. This rod or bar, if
the axles are not converging, rests upon the axleboxes, where it is fixed in some
manner whatever, generally between the axleguard and the wheel. These two rods
or bars, parallel with the sleepers of the carriage and the rails, are connected by a
third transversal rod which passes under the frame at the precise point where it is
wished to bolt the apparatus. When the car has converging axles the said rods are
only fixed to the hind axleboxes. They must then be made in the form of a bracket
or other so as to make them solid. The vertical shafts h (Fig. 8, 9, 11) serve to fix
the apparatus to the bars or rods of the carriage. For this purpose, bolts passing

page_text: through a recess are used, which allows of raising or lowering the apparatus.
Another vertical rod ; (Fig. 8, 9, 11) also serves to fix the apparatus to the
transverse rod or bar which passes under the carriage. The bolt of types 1, 2, 3,
consists here of a tube n (Fig. 8, 9, 10) which slides noiselessly upon a horizontal
cylindrical rodo (Fig. 8 and 9). These two parallel and horizontal tubes are cast
with a double T piece (Fig. 10), and D, E, (Fig. 8 and 9) which carries, moreover,
three vertical rods r², of which the head slides noiselessly into cylindrical holes
bored into the principal piece bearing the scrapers. A plate p (Fig. 8 and 9) fixed
upon the top-face of the same principal piece by means of screws q (Fig. 8 and 9)
prevents the heads of these rods from leaving the holes. A piece of india rubber &
(Fig. 8 and 9) gives flexibility to the suspension. The spreaders serving to throw
aside the sweepings are here formed by the penetration of a cylindre of a radius of
ten centimetres, of which the axis is inclined in regard to the rail. The front face
of the apparatus (Fig. 8) is hollow for the purpose of diminishing the weight of the
piece, which may be of wood or metal. The scraper x is of steel. It is bolted at y
(Fig. 8 and 9) upon a small piece of india-rubber, which is screwed upon the main-
piece so as to form a hinge. A single apparatus comprises two scrapers and two
spreaders, at least, if the car is constructed to move in one sense only.
The cleaning apparatus for the groove of the rail here presents the form of an
elliptical opening T, by which the main-piece is traversed. This cleaning
instrument or apparatus consists either of a piece of cast steel, of which one end
assumes the shape of the rail groove, and whose sides are hollow to present a
cutting edge; or of a steel-wire brush whose head is of zinc or melted lead. The
ends of this cleaning apparatus are bevelled so that they may be raised by the
shock when meeting with shavings or blisters occasioned by the flange of the wheel
toward the switches. A small plate or disk fixed to the under surface prevents
these scrapers from leaving the holes entirely in which they are found. The
apparatus should be suspended so that the scraper only slightly razes the rail
without the least pressure. The rail is thus cleaned without suffering any friction-
wearing.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I desire it to be understood that I do not claim the
suspension of the cleaning tool or apparatus to the frame of the street-car, the use
of a handle to this tool capable of shortening itself, nor the use of a brush for
cleaning trainway rails, or its adjustment to a fixed bolt, either rigid or flexible,
and that I do. not confine myself to the precise details of construction above
enumerated, as these may obviously be modified without departing from the
principle of the Invention, which insures the working of the cleaning tool, but
what I claim is,—
1°. The deviation of the longitudinal axis of the cleaning brush, parallel to the
sleepers of the car, at the same time as the sleepers deviate by the contrivance
above described, § I.
2°. The lateral movement of the cleaning brush in passing curves in the arrange-
ments above described, § II.
In witness whereof, I, Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
simha Lundund and sights one
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)