Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 237, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1916 — GET DATA ON LINE [ARTICLE]

GET DATA ON LINE

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD HAS NEW CLEARANCE CAR. Designed for Important Work in Obtaining Measurements of Distances From Track to Projections— Can Operate Day or Night. A new clearance car has Just been placed in service on the Pennsylvania railroad lines east of Pittsburgh and Erie. It is being run over every division as rapidly as possible in order to secure correct measurements of the distances from the track to projecting portiotft of station buildings, tunnels, bridges and other objects. It Is also designed to indicate automatically whije moving on curves the elevation of the rails and the degree of curvature. The car is built entirely of steel, and is equipped with airbrakes, steam fittings and electric lights. There are two floors, or elevations, both oPthein used for taking measurements from the templets. Clearances are computed troth the center of the wheel truck, over which the main templet is erected. From an elevation of 12 feet above the top of the rails the templet tapers up toward the middle of the car at an angle of 45 degrees. , Immediately in front of the templet is an auxiliary templet designed to measure overhead bridges, tunnels and other objects between elevations 17 and 20. feet above the top of the rails. This templet is capable of being raised to a height of 18 feet by a crank and a ratchet arrangement on the floor of the car. Enclosed in steel cylindrical boxes with translucent glass fronts facing the templets is a series of electric lights which extend from the floor of the car on each side to a height of 15 feet. Light from these makes it possible to take measurements both day and night. Attached to the feelers and the side of the templet are graduated scales which indicate automatically the distance from the rim of the templet to a side or overhead object. In addition, a small board equipped with a set of feelers spaced one inch apart has been provided to measure cornices of roofs, of shelter sheds, or other irregular objects.—From Popular Science Monthly.