US1505937A - Slack adjuster - Google Patents

Description

R. E. ADREON ET AL sLAcK 'ADJusTER Filed July 19, 1922 INVENTORS RoERgWE .ADREON CHRISTOPHER P. CASS ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES yPATENT OFFICE.

` ROBERT E. ADREON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND CHRISTOPHER P. CASS, OF BERKE- LEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN BRAKE COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OFMISSOUB'I.

SLACK ADJUSTER.

Application filed July 19,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT E. ADREON and CHRISTOPHER P. CAss, citizens of the United States, residents, respectively, of St.

Louis, State of Missouri, and Berkeley, in

the county of Alameda and State of California, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slack Adjusters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to slack adjusters employed for automatically taking up slack in the brake rigging due to the wear of the brake shoes on the wheels.

It has heretofore been proposed to apply a take-up cylinder to the tie rod connecting the usual brake leve-rs and one object of our invention is to provide a construction of the above character in which the `take-up cylinder is entirely supported by the tie rod, so that the operation of the slack adjuster will not be affected by movement of the car body on its supporting springs nor by the relative longitudinal movement of the tie rod, due t0 the brakes being applied.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following` more detailed descrip-tion of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing; Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a` brake lever tie rod with a take-up cylinder applied thereto in accordance with our invention; Fig. 2 a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1: Fig. 3 a plan view, partly in section; and F ig. 4 a diagrammatic view of a car brake equipment with the improved slack adjuster applied thereto.

In accordance with our invention., the take-up cylinder is .made a rigid part of the tie rod and for this purpose the take-up cylinder may comprise a casing 1 having opposite flange faces to one of which is applied a jaw casting 2 having the usual jaw 3 at the outer end for connection to one of the brake levers. To the opposite flange face is applied a sleeve casting 4, the members 2 and 4 being secured to the casing 1 by means of bolts 5.

Telescoping into the sleeve casing 4 is a jaw casting 6 having a aw at the outer end by which the same may be pivotally secured to the other` brake lever. An adjusting screw 7 is secured to the jaw casting 6, as by means of a pin 8, the screw 7 having screw-tln-eaded 1922. Serial No. 575,934.

engagement with a nut 9 mounted in the takeup cylinder. Secured to said nut by a key pin 10 is a ratchet wheel 11 and mounted in the cylinder 1 is a piston 12 having pivotally mounted thereon a pawl 13 adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 11. Said piston carries a member 14 which extends to the vopposite side of the ratchet wheel 11 and serves as an abutment for coil springs 15 and 16.

In order to prevent rotation of the piston ,12, the member 14 may be provided with a lug 17 adapted to engage between longit-udis nal ribs 18 formed on the casing. The chamber 19 above the piston 12 is connected by a flexible pipe 2O to the usual port in the brake cylinder so that when the stroke of the brake 'cylinder piston exceeds a predetermined amount, the port is uncovered, and air from the brake cylinder is supplied to the take-up piston.

In operation, if the brakes are. applied and the wear of' the brake shoes is such that the stroke of the brake cylinder piston exceeds the predetermined amount, then fluid from the brake cylinder is supplied 'through pipe 2O to piston chamber 19 and piston 12 is then moved to shift the pawl 13 so that a succeeding tooth in the ratchet wheel 11 is engaged. IVhe-n the brakes are released, the exhaust of fluid from the piston chamber 19 permits the springs 15 and 16 to shift the piston 12 and the pawl 13, so that the ratchet wheel 11 is rotated by the pawl. The corresponding rotation of the nut 9 causes a movement tothe left of the adjusting screw 7 thus shortening the tie rod, the screw being held against rotation by being secured to the jaw casing 6.

The tie rod is thus shortened to take up slack and when by successive adjustments, the screw 7 engages the relief wedge 21, said wedge may be tapped on the under side, so as to permit the pawl 13 and piston 12 to complete their stroke.

A felt washer 22 may be placed in a groove in the sleeve member 4 so as to bear against the jaw casting 6 and thus prevent the entrance of dirt, moisture and the like.

It will now be seen that the take-up cylinder forms a part of and is supported and prevented from rotation by the tie rod, so that no support from the car body or other outside members is required,

In Fig. 4, the slack adjusterv is shown applied with the member 3 lconnected to brake lever 23 and the member 6 to brake lever 24, said brake levers being operatively connected to the brake cylinder 25.

Having now described ourk invention, what we claim as new and desire to Secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In a slack adjuster, the combination with a floating tie rod for the brake cylinder levers, of a slack take-up cylinder supported entirely byv the tie rod.

2. The combination with a lio-ating brake cylinder lever tie rod, of a fluid pressure operated slack adjuster supported entirely by said tie rod.

3, The combination with a floating brake cylinder lever tie rod, of a fluid pressure operated slack adjuster associated with and supported entirely by said tie rod.

4. The combination with a pair of tie rod members, each secured to a brake lever, of a take-up cylinder fixed to one member and a slack adjusting screw fixed to the other member.

5. The combination with a pair of tie rod members, each secured to a brake lever,

of a take-up cylinder fixed to one member,

a nut associated with said cylinder, and a screw fixed to the other member and having screw-threaded engagement with said nut.

G. The combination with a pair of brake levers and a tie rod member connected to each bra-ke lever, of a take-up cylinder interposed between said lbrake levers and fixed to one member and a: sleeve fixed to said cylinder, into which the other member istelescoped.

7. The combination with a pair of brake leversand a tie rod member connected to each brake lever, of a takeup cylinder interposed between said brake levers and fixed to one member, a sleeve fixed to said Cylinder, into which the other tie rod member is telescoped, and an adjusting screw yfixed to the telescoped member.

8. The combination with a pair ofbrakem levers of a jaw casting pivotally connected to each brake lever, a take-up cylinder' fixedly secured to one jaw casting,an d a sleeve member fixedly secured to said cylinderand having the other ed therein.`

9. In a slack adjuster, the combination with an vadjusting screw and means for moving said screw longitudinally to ktake-up jaw casting slidably mountslack, of a movable wedge shaped key engageable bly said screw upon'a p-redeter-

Images