Popular Science Monthly 



825 



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. 



0U 



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 



