Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/841

 Popular Science Monthly

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��A New Way of Oiling Machinery by Electricity

INSTEAD of going over machinery with an oil can in hand it is now possible to oil it automatically. George M. -Rogers, of Chicago, has invented an oiling apparatus which is operated by elec- tricity and which can be put to work at any time by set- ting the mechanism just as one would set an alarm clock. The oiler has a cup with an oil-feed opening in the bot- tom. An oil-feed pipe is con- nected with the cup and a plunger rod is so arranged that it gives vertical move- ment in the cup. A valve fitted at the lower end of the plunger fits the opening when the plunger rod is lowered. A guide pin extends downward from the valve and a gasket adapted to bear on the bottom of the cup when the plunger is lowered is arranged under the valve. The valve and plunger are operated by elec- tricity.

If it is de- sired, an elec- tric light may be included in the circuit which operates the oiler so the attendant may be able to watch

the operation. Oil to shaft ■

bearings -J™

/Plunger rod

���supply pipe

���Oil feed.

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osmpartmerrJ:

Valves

��Oil discharge pipes

J Oil' to motor

��A derailing device makes it possible for a single oper- ator to remove the grinder from the path of traffic

��A One-Man Rail Grinder Which Does Not Interfere With Traffic

HERE is a one-man rail grinder recently put out for machining off the surplus metal from a solidly welded joint on a street railway line or for grinding low and pounded joints, corrugations, curves, etc. The practice of substitut- ing the solidly welded joint for the mechanical or bolt- ed joint on electric railway systems is now becoming very common. It decreases the electrical resistance at the joints, saves power and prevents the leakage of current to nearby water and gas mains. Besides it eliminates the vibrations due to inequalities in the heights of adjacent rails. Whether these joints are welded by the thermit, oxy acetylene, or electric process a shoulder of sur- plus metal is left which must be machined away. But more im- portant than this is the use of the rail grinder in removing the corrugations or ridges which the incessant wear and pound of swiftly moving cars are constantly pro- ducing in the rails. Just why these corru- gations appear no one has been able satis- factorily to explain, but in order to elimi- nate the destructive vibrations which they transmit to the rolling stock as well as to prolong the life of the rail, their removal is absolutely essential.

���Details of the device for feeding oil automat- ically to machinery

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