Abstract: An apparatus for accurately positioning the support member which is carried by a movable member movable along a trackway or the like comprising a fixed cam having an arcuate surface, at least one cam follower engagable with said cam and means for sensing the position of the cam follower relative to the cam so that when the cam follower has reached a predetermined position along the cam the support member is accurately positioned. A sensing means is disclosed including a cam follower shaft attached to the cam follower. An analog shaft angle resolver is rotatably connected to the cam follower shaft so as to measure the angular rotation of the cam follower shaft and produce a voltage corresponding to the angular rotational position of the cam follower shaft. The analog voltage signal is then converted into a digital signal and fed into a digital display which displays a number proportional to the distance the support member is from a predetermined position.

Abstract: A guide and magnetically susceptible track for a weld scanner wherein a mild steel sheet metal track element is wrapped about a pipe with its end portions overlapping and the end portions are tightened together with clamp means while tabs engage notches at the opposite corners of the track element so that a guide element along the centerline of the track element is thereby self-aligned to provide a full 360.degree. track and guide.

Abstract: A door control apparatus is provided for a transit vehicle for sensing the location of a predetermined power rail in relation to a safety walkway provided along the roadway path for controlling the passenger exit from the vehicle to that walkway.

Abstract: A system for moving receptacles such as highway semi-trailers on railway trains. The system includes a plurality of rail bogies as the sole support of adjacent rear and front ends of the trailers and as the sole connection means between the trailers, to form the trains. The rail bogie has a frame structure supported on spaced apart wheeled axles, defining a pair of end deck surfaces positioned above the wheeled axles and a central drop-deck surface disposed between and below the end deck surfaces. A vertically adjustable fifth wheel assembly is supported above each of the end deck surfaces for receipt of a semi-trailer king pin. A deck plate member is pivotally secured to the drop-deck surface. A pair of transversely spaced, longitudinally extending, internal and external rub-rail members extend upwardly from the drop-deck plate member for receipt of semi-trailer tandems therebetween.

Abstract: A floating apparatus for use in an attractive floater railway includes a magnetic rail mounted on the underside of a track. The magnetic rail comprises sheets of ferromagnetic material laminated together and is formed to have a cross section in the shape of a trapezoid or a quadrant of a circle with faces of the rail including a horizontal surface and a vertical surface. A guiding electromagnet is disposed opposite to the vertical surface and a supporting electromagnet is disposed opposite to the horizontal surface. The electromagnets are mounted on a truck and are constructed such that the respective fluxes thereof flow in opposite directions in the magnetic rail. The magnetic rail may include a magnetic propulsion rail opposite to a linear inductor machine to provide both vertical support and horizontal propulsion to the truck.

Abstract: A deck fitting for securing a container on the deck of a ship including a socket member fixed to the deck and a coupling member removably attached to the socket member. The base portion of the coupling member has a pair of projections. The socket member has a circular hole and a flange formed at the periphery of the hole and partially cut away. The projections on the coupling member is inserted into under the flange of the socket member through the cutaway portion and then the coupling member is turned.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a hatch cover for hopper cars, the hatch cover being made substantially of polymeric materials. The hatch cover of the invention comprises a lid having an inside and outside surface, a rim defining the edges of the inside surface, and a locking arm fixedly attached to the outside surface. A flat piece of metal is embedded in the lid having its geometric center substantially coincident with the geometric center of the lid to provide reinforcement therefor. The locking arm is reinforced with a steel channel for rigidity. The locking arm is attached to the lid using a single bolt which connects the channel of the locking arm with the flat piece of metal of the lid. A method of making the hatch cover is provided which comprises making the lid and the locking arm in the desired shape by reaction injection molding a polymeric material around the flat piece of metal and the channel respectively.

Abstract: A conveying device more particularly suitable for use as a vertical hoist on construction sites or in industrial premises takes the form of a flexible and pliant hose-like pressure duct having a shuttle piston therein. The shuttle piston acts to seal off an internal portion of the duct and is fixed in place by way of a magnetic coupling with an external rider. The external rider is anchored in place so as to encompass the portion of the pliant duct in which the shuttle piston is located. The pliant duct is moved either up or down depending on whether fluid pressure is inserted into the duct above or below the fixed shuttle piston. By attaching a hook or the like to one end of the duct the pliant hose is capable of acting as a traction rope.

Abstract: A replacement roof sheet for replacing a removed roof section of a covered hopper car roof that has cracks radiating from the square corners of a rectangular hatch. The roof sheet has an arcuate cut-out aligned with the hatch opening and an upstanding, arcuate coaming web joined to said roof sheet at said cut-out, the ends of the coaming web forming joints with exposed ends of the roof coaming peripheral of the hatch opening. Two reinforcing members, having dual-angle standards, bridge the joints to reinforce them. Each member has a base portion secured to the roof sheet and the car roof, a first or lower portion conforming to the inward slope of the roof coaming and secured thereto on one side of the joint, and a second or upper portion conforming to the vertical coaming web and secured thereto on the other side of the joint. An end of the roof sheet overhangs an end wall of the car spaced from the hatch and an end sheet depends to said end wall to cover the space therebetween.

Abstract: A portable apparatus for reinstalling loosened railroad spikes. The apparatus includes a wheel-mounted chassis adapted for rolling along railroad rails and having a crawler attached thereto having a lowered, operating position and a raised position. The crawler includes a carriage with a plurality of crawler wheels thereon interconnected by a plurality of link-belts. The belts engage loosened spikes as the apparatus rolls along the rails when said carriage is in the operating position. The link-belts have a plurality of spike head engaging indentations defined along an outer surface thereof. In the preferred embodiment, at least one of said link-belts further engages a crawler drive wheel portion of a drive wheel mounted on the chassis. The drive wheel may be rotated by a hydraulic motor. The carriage may be alternately raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder actuated by fluid pumped thereinto from a pump through a two-way hydraulic fluid valve.

Abstract: A wheel set for railway vehicles, especially high speed railway vehicles in which hollow shaft sections on a shaft are connected by an elastic coupling for limited relative angular displacement of the wheels. The elastic coupling is of the deformable elastomeric, viscoelastic or hydraulic type.

Abstract: On the main shaft (2) of a clamping device (1), a guide-pulley (14) is provided. At the end of the main shaft, an inner clamping jaw (3) is rotatably mounted. An outer clamping jaw (7) is hinged to the inner clamping jaw (3) and connected rotation-fast to an upper frame part (6) of the clamping device. On the outer clamping jaw (7), a stop component (9) is provided. For opening the clamping jaws (3, 7), an actuating roller (10) is pressed downward, the outer clamping jaw being brought into a lower position against the pressure of a spring (21) disposed on the main shaft (2). Simultaneously the inner clamping jaw (3) rotates about the swivel joint (11) situated at the end of the main shaft (2). For closing the clamping jaws, the actuating roller (10) is moved back into its upper position. The clamping device, especially for use in cableways, requires only a few parts, which are suitable as modules both for single and for multiple couplings.

Abstract: A bottom discharge hopper rail car train includes a pair of hopper rail cars each having a hopper body mounted on a chassis. Adjacent ends of the two hopper rail cars are supported by a split bogie assembly having bogie parts each pivotally mounted at an end region of a respective rail car and each including a pair of flanged wheels rotatable about a common axis. In this invention, the bogie parts are mounted adjacent to one another and each have formations for co-operating with complementary formations on the other bogie part for co-operating movement of the bogie parts of the assembly with respect to one another when the assembly moves along a curved track. The invention also extends to a split bogie assembly.

Abstract: A cooling device especially adapted to be applied to railway car wheels that are subjected to heating by the application of braking pressure to the rims. The cooling structure is suitable for mounting on existing wheels as well as on new wheels. It comprises a plurality of vanes extending radially from the hub of the wheel to its rim in spaced relationship. An annular cover is attached to the outer edges of the vanes to form a plurality of channels that have an opening at the hub end and another opening at the rim end. As the wheel rotates an air stream is formed in each of the channels with the air entering the channel at the hub opening, and exhausting at the rim opening so that the air impinges on the rim to carry away the heat from the rim.

Abstract: The drive motor of a vehicle running on an overhead rail and being drivingly coupled thereto through a drive wheel is selectively connected to and disconnected from that wheel through a coupling mechanism which is constructed for obtaining coupling and disconnection through axial movement, being in turn obtained through rotational adjustment under utilization of a control disk having axially extending pins and being part of the vehicle equipment but cooperating with stationary actuating pieces arranged along the track in appropriate positions to obtain selective connection and disconnection of the drive shaft by engaging these pins and turning the coupling mechanism in one direction or the other.

Abstract: A self steering railway truck, especially a powered locomotive type, provides limited freedom for axle steering motion in the truck frame with a separate linkage of parallel rods and a steering beam for transmitting traction and braking forces to the truck frame. The linkages of two end axles are interconnected for equal and opposite motion to maintain stability and leave room for maintaining traction motors and brake equipment as well as separating effects from yaw and lateral axle motions.

Abstract: An actuating mechanism for operating sliding gates of a railway hopper car which opens all the gates simultaneously, regardless of the direction which the gates must move to open. While moving in one direction, a shifting means coupled to each gate by means of pivoted levers moves some gates in one direction to the open position, while at least one gate moves to its open position in the opposing direction. The mechanism which shifts all the gates simultaneously is activated from one power source.

Abstract: A rail insulating pad assembly comprises two pad portions arranged to be located one over each flange of a rail foot, the pad portions, when assembled, having an abutment interface zone which contains at least one capillary path interruption aperture.

Abstract: A railway power truck has a rigid frame resiliently supported on its axles and intermediate its axles has a bolster supported on the sides of the rigid frame by longitudinally oppositely inclined elastomeric pads whose normals converge near rail level. At the sides of the truck, the bolster mounts springs which directly support the vehicle body and are yieldable horizontally as well as vertically to accommodate swivel and lateral movements of the body with respect to the truck.

Abstract: A railway freight car adapted particularly for transporting coal or like granular materials where a flexible cover is adapted to be draped over the materials so as to protect them from the elements when the car is being transported from one place to another. In the transport of coal in particular, there are several problems presented if the coal is left uncovered during transport. First, there is the problem of coal dust particles flying in the surrounding atmosphere due to the aspiration of the coal dust during travel of the car especially when the car is travelling at a high rate of speed. Then of course, there is always the wind to be considered if the coal is left uncovered and here again you have coal dust particles being blown away from the coal and this dust is scattered into the surrounding atmosphere causing a pollution problem.