US135212A - Improvement in railway-car brakes - Google Patents

Description

F. ELDER.

Railway Car-Brakes.

Patented lan28,l87.

witmzgmg.

AM. PHo TO-LITHOGRAPHIC 00 MY (asnonua's' man-E66) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES I ELDER, OF BLAIRSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT m RAILWAY-CAR BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 135,212, dated January 28,1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. ELDER, of Blairsville, in the county of Indiana and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Brakes and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, which represents a longitudinal vertical section of a fourwheeled car-truck illustrative of my improvement.

My improvement, while useful with various forms of car-trucks, is particularly designed for freight-trucks, having a double bolster and brakes between the wheels. In such trucks the brake-rod and lever connections have commonly been placed under .the bolster, where they were so near the track as often to be the cause of accident. In my present improvementI make the fulcrums of the brake-levers one on each outer face or side of the lower bolster; I provide a ratchet device for taking up the slack caused by the wearing away of the brake-shoes; and simplify the arrangement and operation of the brake by passing the brake-chain from the end of one brake-lever over a pulley in the end of the other; and in the features of construction and combination hereinafter claimed consist the nature of my invention.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, I will proceed to describe its construction and mode of operation.

The ordinary car-wheels are represented at A, the truck-frame is marked 13, and the bolsters D D. The ordinary brake-bars a are arrangedbetween the wheels with shoes a, of any suitable construction, hung in the usual way by chains I), and held clear of the wheels when not in use by springs b of any suitable construction. The brake-levers cl d, also of any desired form, are,by the usual joint, connected with the brake-bars, as shown. On each side of the lower bolster D is attached a fulcrumpost, consisting either of a single post, 0, slotted lengthwise, and with a series of pin-holes, c, for the inward and outward adjustment of the brake-lever in taking up the slack; or, as I prefer to make this post, it consists of two parts, the one part, 0, having a toothed rack, and sliding in and out of the other U-sha-ped part c. The one part, c, is jointed to the brake-lever, and the other part, c, is connected either by a rigid connection or by a hinge-joint, as shown, (preferably the latter,) to the bolster D. The part c carries a pawl,

- 8, which engages the teeth of the rack of the part c in such way that while the fulcrumpost thus formed may be lengthened at pleasure for taking up the slack by simply drawing out the part c, (which frequently has to be done,) it can be shortened (which has to be done only where a new shoe is put on) only by throwing the pawl out of gear with the rack; hence, in taking up the slack caused by the wearing away of the shoes, the fulcrumpost can be readily lengthened, and at any point of adjustment it will retain its place until set back when a new shoe is put on. The forward end of the pawl should be made the heavier, or a spring or other equivalent means be employed to keep it in gear.

It will be observed that the brake-bars move to and from the wheels in an arc, of which the clevis or chains 1) usually employed are the radius. To adapt the brake-levers to this change in the direction of motion from a right line, I prefer to attach the fulcrum-post to the bolster by a hinge-joint, as shown at g,- and to simplify the operation of the brake-levers,

I pass the brake-chain h from the upper or outer end ofone lever over a pulley, h, ar-

ranged in the corresponding end of the other,

as shown.

The upper end of the brake-lever d may be bent over so that the pulley h shall lie horizontally instead of vertically, if so desired, the center of the pulley being in line with the center of the lever.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The brake-levers d d pivoted to the 0pposite outer faces of the bolster, operating the brake-bars by their lower ends, and being connected at their upper or opposite ends by the brake-chain h, substantially as set forth.

2. An extensible fulcrum-post consisting of two parts, one sliding on or in the other, the parts being held in the proper relative position when extended by means of a ratchet and pawl, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said JAMES I ELDER, have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES F. ELDER.

Witnesses:

W. N. PAXTON, G. H. OHRISTY.

Images