US2797946A - Rail sanding pipe - Google Patents

Description

July 2, 1957 YONGUE 2,797,946

RAIL SANDING PIPE Fil ed Feb. '16, 1954 I United States Patent RAIL SANDlNG PIPE James M. Yongue, Jacksonville, Fla, assignor of one-third to James Armstrong Yongue and one-third to Robert Bruce Yongue, Jacksonville, Fla.

Application February 16, 1954, Serial No. 419,560

2 Claims. (Cl. 291-41) This invention relates to rail sanding pipes, or railroad track sanders, and is specifically directed to an improved sand feeding and delivery pipe adapted for use in sanding the rail to reduce slippage of locomotive driver wheels and for similar applications.

A general object of this invention is to provide an improved rail sanding pipe, and, more particularly, a rail sanding pipe for use in a high pressure air sanding system which will cause a greater portion of the sand fed by the system to deposit upon and remain on the rail until run over by the wheel.

Many sand delivery systems have been evolved for use with locomotives, streetcars, and other wheeled vehicles, and it has been found that those systems in which sand is blown through a pipe by means of air supplied at a high pressure, as, for example, 140 pounds per square inch, are the most reliable and generally most satisfactory. One serious drawback exists in high pressure systems, however. The sand supplied in a stream of high velocity air to the rail is almost all blown away by the air and only a very small portion actually passes under the wheel on the rail.

While various prior attempts have been made to solve the problems connected with the blowing of sand from the rail, such attempts have not provided acceptable solutions, in that either the blowing away of the sand was not appreciably reduced or the air pressure was so reduced as to permit clogging within the system. The object of this invention, accordingly, is to provide a satisfactory arrangement for supplying sand to the rail which will operate in a manner to deposit a greater proportion of the sand on the top or tread of the rail and to minimize the blowing oil of the sand so deposited.

The novel features Which are believed to be characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a rail sanding pipe in accord with this invention, shown in operating position in association with a track rail and portions of a locomotive, the rail and locomotive being indicated in fragment;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of a lower portion of the sanding pipe of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged transverse section taken along line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a partially broken away side elevation of a modified embodiment of the invention.

A sanding pipe 1 in accord with this invention is shown in Fig. 1 in operation to deposit sand in a low velocity main stream 2 on the tread of track rail 3 in advance of wheel 4, which will be assumed to be in motion toward the right of the drawing. The sanding pipe 1 is mounted in a conventional manner to a portion of the undercarn'age or truck of the locomotive, such as to the brake hanger 5 which is provided to support brake shoe 6.

Sand and air are supplied to pipe 1 from a flexible tube 7 coupled, by means of pipe clamp 8, to the upper end of pipe 1. It will be understood that this invention contemplates the provision through a coupling tube, such as tube 7, of a mixture of air and sand from any standard sand box and air supply system to the sanding pipe of this invention, and it will be assumed that the mixture furnished through tube 7 is from a supply system utilizing air of up to about pounds pressure.

The sanding pipe in accord with this invention comprises preferably a straight length of metal pipe which, for locomotive systems, may be about 30 inches long and 1 inch in internal diameter. The lower or discharge end of the pipe, below a rain shield 9 of known construction and arrangement, bells laterally outwardly in the rearward direction toward the wheel 4 to form a hood portion 10. It will be noted that the lower or forward portion of the pipe 1, opposite the side in which the hood is formed, continues in a straight line to the lower discharge end 11 of the pipe. In use, high velocity air carrying a small proportion of sand issues in a generally horizontal direction from the hood 10, as indicated by arrow 12, Whereas a relatively low velocity air stream with a very much larger proportion of sand falls vertically or nearly vertically downwardly from the heel or leading end of the opening at the discharge end 11 of the pipe in a stream 2. The sand of stream 2 strikes the rail at low velocity and remains on the rail tread in a pile 13 from which very little sand falls off or is blown oil prior to being run over by the wheel 4.

The internal arrangement of pipe 1 is best understood with reference to Fig. 2 which shows in sectional view approximately the lower two-thirds of the pipe on enlarged scale. The pipe is divided by a longitudinal partition member 14 throughout the lower 15 inches of its length, approximately, into a high velocity air and sand passage 15 and a low velocity air and sand passage 16. The high velocity air passage 15 preferably is slightly greater in cross sectional area than the sand passage 16, and the upper entrance to the sand passage is partially blocked by a restricting baffle or shoulder 17 having an opening adjacent the leading side 18 of the pipe wall, as opposed to the trailing side 19. The terms leading side and trailing side as used herein have reference to the direction of travel of the locomotive, and the trailing side of the pipe is that side toward the wheel for which the pipe is used to sand the rail. While the passage 15 is herein sometimes referred to as an air passage, some sand is mixed with the high velocity air passing therethrough, and air at relatively low velocity passes with the relatively large amount of sand through sand passage 16.

At its upper end, partition 14 has a small portion 20 inclined slightly upwardly toward the trailing side of the pipe, the portion 2-D forming with baftie 17 and with the pipe wall a sand entrapping chamber open at its upper end to receive sand from the incoming mixture of sand and air and opening downwardly through the above mentioned aperture in bathe 17 to supply sand, with a small amount of air, into the sand passage 16.

The lower end of pipe 1 is seen, in Fig. 2, to bell outwardly at the trailing side of the pipe, toward the wheel with which the pipe is being used, the wheel being omitted in this view. The hood portion 10 formed by the belling out of the lower end acts as an out of line passage for high velocity air, and the lower end portion 21 of partition member 14 is inclined rearwardly into the hood in a manner to deflect the high velocity air and the few grains of.

sand carried thereby into the hood and into a generally horizontal exhaust direction. The main stream of sand, meanwhile, falls at low velocity from the sand passage 16 through the heel of the bottom opening 11 of the pipe, that is, from the lower end of the leading side 18 of the pipe wall, in the stream 2. V

Fig. 3 discloses, on enlarged scale, details of the arrangement of baflle 17 with respect to the pipetl and partition member 14, and it will be seen that the baflle extends from the partition toward the leading side 18 of the pipe wall. Aperture 2.2 is provided in baffle 17 to permit the sand accumulating against the upper face of bafile 17 to pass on into the sand passage hereinabove described and identified at 16 in Fig. 2.

It will be further seen from Fig. 3 that the partition 14 divides the pipe into a high velocity air passage 15 which is slightly larger in cross sectional area than the sand passage provided between the lower surface of partition 14 and the leading portion 18 of the pipe wall. In a pipe of the exemplary dimensions of 30 inch overall length and 1 inch internal diameter, the aperture 22 may have an area of approximately a semicircle of one-quarter inch radius, while the pipe Walls and the partition may each be one-eighth inch in thickness.

The arrangement of the undercarriage of the locomotive, and other considerations, may dictate the desirability of departing from the exact size and shape of sanding pipe hereinabove described. If the sanding system is designed for 1 /4 or 4 inch internal diameter sanding pipes, it will be apparent that the internal diameter of the pipe of this invention may be made larger or smaller as desired. Furthermore, various types of locomotives are provided with flexible coupling tubes, such as tube 7 in Fig. 1, arranged in various respective positions in relation to the desired position for the lower end of the sanding pipe. If the sand and air tube from the supply system is closer to the wheel, and if it extends vertically downward, for example, a pipe in accord with this invention may take the modified form shown in partially broken away view in Fig. 4.

The pipe 23 of Fig. 4 is shown attached to a sand and air delivery tube 24, and the upper, sand and air receiving end portion of the sanding pipe extends vertically downwardly from the supply tube to a bend 25. Below the bend, the pipe is inclined at about 30 degrees to the horizontal, whereas the pipe 1 of Figs. 1 and 2 is shown at an inclination of 45 degrees. Partition member 26 divides the portion of pipe 23 below bend 25 into a high velocity sand and air passageway 27, through which most of the air and some sand will pass in operation, and a low velocity air and sand passageway 28, partially blocked or restricted at its upper end by apertured baffle 29 and through which most of the sand and some air will pass in operation. The partition member 26 extends longitudinally within the lower portion of the pipe 23 through: out a distance preferably at least about fifteen times the internal pipe diameter.

Hood 33 is formed as a laterally extending portion of the pipe wall at the discharge end, and the lower end portion 31 of partition 26 extends angularly into the hood, thereby to act as a deflector to direct the high velocity sand and air stream of passageway 27 into the passageway defined within the hood. The action of the modified pipe of Fig. 4 is, in other respects, like that of the preferred embodiment of Figs. l3. The bafiie member 29, for example, may be constructed as shown in Fig. 3, and, if the pipe is about 30 inches in overall length and of 1 inch internal diameter, the partition 26 should have a length of about 15 inches. Bend 25 may be about inches from the discharge end 32 of the pipe in accord withFig. 4, and a rain shield 33 to prevent water from running down pipe 23 and wetting the sand, is provided as described in connection with Fig. 1.

The improved operation of the pipe of Fig. 1 and of the modified pipe of Fig. 4 apparently results from the accumulation of the relatively heavy sand in the pocket or chamber formed above the baflle 17, or 29, and bounded by the upwardly inclined or angled upper end portion 20, or 34, of the partition member. The sand so collected drains through the aperture in the baffle, and the pressure of the downwardly flowing air in the pipe seems to be effective to cause the sand to continue flowing smoothly through the aperture. The sand passing through the aperture of the baffle pours down passageway 16 and onto the track in a relatively slowly moving stream, while the main air stream is directed from the hood at the discharge end in a generally horizontal direction toward the locomotive wheel, and the air has been found to lose much of its force before it can interfere with any of the sand deposited from the stream 2. A very small amount of sand may fall from the main air stream 12 as the stream loses velocity after leaving the hood, and some may strike the wheel 4 a short distance above the track, but the amounts are not sufficient to add materially to the sand deposited on the rail from the main sand stream 2 issuing from the heel at the forward end of the discharge end of the pipe.

The terms forward or leading, and trailing or rearward, as applied to the sides of the pipe or ends of the discharge opening, have reference to the direction of movement of the locomotive or other vehicle for which the pipe is provided. It will be understood that the pipe is intended for disposition in front of the wheel to deposit sand on the track which the wheel will run over.

When sand is required to start a locomotive, when the locomotive is not in motion, it has been found that suflicient sand is blown in the high velocity air stream 12 normally to give traction until the wheel can move the few inches necessary to reach the main pile of sand deposited in the stream 2. Only under the most severe conditions is it necessary to back the locomotive to slack the car couplings for a jerk start. Under such severe conditions, the sanding pipe of this invention provides a desirably large pile of sand which the driving wheel meets after the first few inches of forward motion.

While only certain preferred embodiments of this invention have been shown and described by way of illustration, many modifications will occur to those skilled in the art and it is, therefore, desired that it be understood that it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A rail sanding pipe comprising an elongated pipe member having a sand and air mixture receiving end and a discharge end, a rearwardly belled hood-like lateral extension formed in the wall of said pipe member at said discharge end, an elongated longitudinal partition member in said pipe member dividing said pipe into an elongated high velocity sand and air passageway and an elongated low velocity sand and air passageway, one end portion of said partition member being angularly inclined into said lateral extension and arranged to direct the sand and air of said high velocity passageway into a generally horizontal rearward issuing stream, and a baflle member having a restricted opening therethrough, said baffle member extending from a portion of said partition member remote from said discharge end in a direction transversely of said low velocity sand and air passageway and said restricted opening being arranged to admit at low velocity sand entering said receiving end of said pipe member into said elongated low velocity sand and air passageway.

2. A rail sanding pipe comprising an elongated pipe member having a receiving end for a mixture of sand and high pressure air and a discharge end, a rearwardly belled hood-like lateral extension formed in the wall of said pipe 5 member at said discharge end, an elongated longitudinal partition member in said pipe member dividing said pipe into an elongated high velocity sand and air passageway and an elongated coextensive low velocity sand and air passageway, the lower end portion of said partition member being angularly inclined into said lateral extension, said high velocity sand and air passageway having a discharge end in said lateral extension, said extension having a rearwardly and generally horizontally directed opening and said lower end portion of said partition member being arranged to deflect the high velocity sand and air from said high velocity passageway through said opening and into a rearwardly and generally horizontally directed high velocity stream, and an apertured baflie member disposed across said sand passageway in a position spaced from the ends of said partition member, said bafile member and the portion of said partition member extending therefrom in the direction toward said receiving end forming with a portion of the wall of said pipe member a sand-entrapping chamber connecting with said elongated low velocity sand and air passageway through said aperture.

White Aug. 3, 1909 Martin Mar. 20, 1934

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