Snow-plow.
This implement is used to clear a track of snow, and is of two kinds; one is adapted to be hauled by horses or oxen on a common highway, and the other to be placed in front of a locomotive.
A variety of the latter is adapted for street railways.
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Norwegian snow-plow. |
The snow-plow for ordinary country roads has long been in use in Northern countries, and the Norwegian plow affords a good example of its general construction.
The front is shaped like the bow of a boat, and the sides are braced by an internal framework.
The bottom, top, and rear are open.
The team is hitched to the ring on the upper edge of the bow, and the snow is divided to right and left as the implement is drawn along, being compacted on either side.
A more rude implement is shaped like the letter A, and is drawn along by its apex.
For railway purposes the snow-plow is adapted to the character of the country, the amount of snow-fall, tendency to drift, etc. On the Sierra portion of the Pacific Railway and on the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada, great preparations are made in advance of the winter season, and their snow-plows assume gigantic proportions.
The depth of the snow is frequently so great that it cannot be compacted to right and left by a prowshaped implement, but it becomes necessary to give the plow a double action; the upper portion of the snow is lifted and thrown to the right and left upon the snow on each side of the track, while the lower portion of the snow-plow is prow-shaped, and divides the lower stratum of snow, compacting it on each side against that adjacent.
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Two-story snow-plow. |
In
Fig. 5254, the plow is supported upon an inclined plane on a truck, and its angle is adjustable; it has two nearly vertical cutters, which cut the sides of the track, and a central one
E for dividing the mass of snow which is carried up the two inclined spiral plates
C C and discharged on top of the snow-bank at each side.
A snow-plow for the Union Pacific Railway, built at the shops in
Omaha, is probably the largest and most powerful in the world.
The platform on the trucks is 22 feet long, 10 feet 6 inches wide, and is composed of solid oak timbers, held together by iron bolts 1 1/4 inches in diameter, which run crosswise.
This solid bed is bolted to the transom beams.
The inclined side, placed on the platform, is 22 feet long, slopes at an angle of 30°, and is bolted to the bed and supported from behind by inclined posts.
The entire length, from the rear of the platform end of the slide, is 32 feet. The slide is ironed, and an immense plow of the ordinary shape, 18 feet long, 11 feet wide, 5 feet high, and covered with iron 3 16 of an inch thick, is placed upon it. On the point of this plow there is an iron plate, steel-pointed, 11 feet long and 4 feet wide.
This plate, of course, runs across the track, and only 1 inch above it. The rear of the platform is boxed in, making a room 12 feet high, 11 feet wide, and 10 feet long, for the purpose of keeping the snow out. It is furnished with a door, so that it can be loaded if necessary.
The plow weighs 50 tons, and is operated by three of the heaviest engines on the road.
The cost was over $5,000.
In another plow the snow lifted by the plowshare is raised and carried rearward by an endless apron.
The plow (
Fig. 5255) consists of a series of spiral
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blades
d d connected to a back plate
c and a pointed front plate, carried on the shaft
b rotated by gearing from the front axle of the truck; curved side-wings and bottom-scrapers may also be attached to the truck for completely clearing the track.
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Revolving-blade snow-plow. |
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Snow-plow for Street-railways. |
Fig. 5256 is a snow-plow adapted for streetrail-ways, one or the other being lowered into action according to the direction of motion of the car. The position of the plow, when down, is maintained by a spring, which allows it to yield to solid obstructions.
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Snow-shed in the Sierra Nevada. |
