US1559144A - Adjusting means for railway brakes - Google Patents

Description

"(kt-i 27 1925- C. O. ANDERSON ADJUSTING MEANS FOR RAILWAY {BRAKES Filed Dec. 12, 1924 C OANpz'Rswv.

a? W. wafi I attorney Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

CHAR-LES o. NDERSON, or OMAHA, NEBnAskA.

ADJUSTING MEKNS- ZEOR -RAILWAY BRAKES Application fi'1ed;December 12, 1924. .seriarno; 755,493.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known ;that- I, CHARLns O. ANDER- SON, a citizen ofth-e United States, residing at Qnialia,,,in the county of Douglas and State'oif Nebraska, have inventeid certain newand useful Improvements in Adjustin-g Means for RailwayBrakes, ofwhichthe following is a specification. Lily invention relates to railway brakes of the class in :whichadjustmentsgto-compensate for wear of Ethebrake shoes aremade by ariations inthe connected {relations of a dead-lever and a .fiulcr um-in'ember or guide forsaidlever. It isythevobjecti-of my invention to provide, in brake mechanism of c this class, a, simple andeffectiveineansyfor head-of the dead-lever, Fig. 3 is a :sideyiew of thedead lever and guide asadj ustedfor,

new brake shoes, and on new equiprnent in which {sagging of the brake beain ;-relatii' e to the bolster ,has not occurred, and Fig l is {a side. View of, the dead-lever and guide as adjusted for, worn brake-shoes.

Referring to Fig. '1,-there are represented porti n f. o fl fy skerriggijnge applied to trucks of freight-cars, theg prim cipal members indicatedin the figure heing the wheels lO,; the. sideframe 11, a portion of the holster-1 12, the brake-shoes 13, brakebeains l4 and 15, brake-hangers16,1the" brake-rod 1'7 ,bytension of which; the brakes are applied, the live=lever 1,8, the-deaddeVeron guide 19, and i the ,bOttOm11fU(l '20 which (connects; the, lower ends vof tl'leiiliye-le'ver rand dead-lever. The dead-leVer-guide l9 isi p iy-v otally connected withia'lug; 21 on the side of thebolsterilQ, said guide is formed from a {flat bar which is doubledtoprovide parallel "sides spaced apart sufficiently toreceive the upper end f of the ,dead lever; between thenn'andin saidlparallel sides-ofthe guide are a series of holes22 fonthe fulcrumpin .23 which piyotally eonnectsthegend of the dead-lever with the guide. All-of the foregoing -;pa'1S are of ordinary construction and will be-nndersto'od to operate: in the usual mfanner. In the ordinary construction,'hewever, the dead-leveris a simple bar having three transverse holes or openings therein, namely, one at the lower end. for receiving the pin by-whi-chtheslever is connected with the bottom-rod, one at the lower inter-mediate portion forreceiving the 1 pin by which: the lever is pivoted upon the break-bean1 15,,an'd one at-thehp'per end for; receiving the; fulcrum-pin 23 tj'o connect the lever with theguide 19.

In -1ny improved ,fconstruction the lower portionrof the dead-lever Qis ofthe usual form ,and; proportions, havingtherein the hele2-5 for the bettom-rqd connecting-pin 26, and the hole27 for, the brake beanrpiw ot-pin 28-. ,At the upper endofthe'lever 24, head 29 is formed integrallytherewith,

and in said ;he'ad are a plurality of fulcrumpin holes 30. ,Said; holes-30, aresarranged equidistantly from the hole ,27 for the brakeb cflsm 'piyot-pih'fiB ,Or with; their scent-ere upon an arclstrucki about the center ofthe hole -27. One ofth'e holes'3 0 isgcentered upon a line extending longitudinally of-the lever through thece nters of-the holes and; 2 7,- thus vcerr-espondinginpositioh with the hole for the fulcriu1n pin23 i-n theofdinary form of dead-lever, but eachof the holes 30 is; adapted-to receive said fulcrumpin ;23, for establishingladjnsted ,reliitions of the-lever and guide; Upon theusi'deiof theileyjery'nea-r onegeldge and adjacent to the upper end or,--,h(-:ad, 29, is a lug 31; which is preferably integral :with thelex en-as shown.

lnbrakerigging of the class under con sidera-tion,theapplicatigin otthe brakes by tension uponthejbrakeerod 17;tends to more the upper fulcrurned-endvof the dead-lever toward the bolster, so that the guide 19 is under compression between theiulcrum-pin 23 and the pivot-pin 32 which connects the guide with the :lug l2 on;the;- bolster. It is desirable that the guide extend hpproxil late- 1y horizontal, or, ifit is inclined from a horizontal position, that the; free end opposite the pivot-pin 32 be at ale-rel above,the ,pivoted end, in-orderthat the pflressure of the dead-,leyeiyupon theguide rnay be exerted almost directly toward: the lug 1 2, and thus have 5 .littleif, any tendency to ,swing the guideaboutits. pivoted end; and in new equipmentithe various-parts pf the brakefit) iii

rigging are so proportioned and arranged that the described relation of the parts will exist. It is found in practice, however, that in trucks which have been in use for a time the position of the brake-beams relative to the bolster is changed, and that there is a sagging or dropping down of the brakebeams, so that the same and the dead-lever are lowered relatively to the bolster. The or drop of the brake-beams is due to wear of the brakehangers 1G, and to various other causes which it is unnecessary to here enumerate. In Fig. 3 there is shown in full lines the normal relation of the dead lever, dead-lever-guide, and bolster, and in the same figure there is indicated by dotted lines the relative position of the dead-lever in old or worn equipment, wherein the sag or drop of the brake-beams has occurred. hen new brake-shoes are applied, the neccssary slack or clearance between the brakeshoes and wheels is obtained by adjusting the dead-lever fulcrum to a point near the pivoted end of the guide, or usually so that the fulcrum-pin 23 passes through the first hole 22 adjacent to the guide-pivot-pin-32. The result of such adjustment, in old or worn equipment wherein sag or drop of the brake-beam has occurred, is to place the guide 19 in a downwardly inclined position such as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l, and in such position the pressure of the dead-lever during application of the brakes is exerted laterally instead of longitudinally of the guide, to an extent tending to increase the angular displacement of the guide, thus placing abnormal stresses upon the parts, causing distortion and bending thereof, and sometimes producing breakage of parts and complete failure of the braking function.

lVith my improved construction the above described undesirable effects, resulting from sag or drop of the brake-beams relative to the bolster, may be entirely avoided. Referring to Fig. 1 will be seen that by reason of the inclined position of the deadlever which is normally assumed when adjustment is made for applying new brakeshoes, the laterally extending head 29 on said lever has an upward inclination, whereby one of the holes 30 in said head 29 will be in register with a corresponding hole 22 in the guide when the latter is raised to the desired normal or approximately horizontal position; and that by insertion of the fulcrum-pin 23 in said registering holes such position of the guide may be maintained. It will be seen further that the provision of the lug 31 on the side of the dead-lever will prevent accidental or careless connection of the deadlever and guide in a manner such that the guide has a downwardly inclined position, as in such a position the guide and said lug would interfere, it being obvious from Fig. 1 that the guide would engage the upper edge of the lug before reaching the downwardly inclined position indicated by the dotted lines in said figure.

As all of the holes 30 in the head 29 are at the same distance from the hole 27 for the brake-beam pivot-pin 28, any of said holes v may be utilized for the fulcrum-pin 23, according to the amount of or drop of the brake-beam, without changing the ratio of the brake-levers or affecting the operation of the brakes in any undesirable way. Adjustments of the dead-lever to compensate for excessive slack or clearance between the brake-shoes and the wheels, may be made in the usual manner, by changing the fulcrum-pin 23 to engagement with the successive holes 22 toward the outer or free end of the guide, until at the maximum wear of the brake-shoes the dead-lever and guide will be connected as represented in Fig. i. In order to accommodate the increased width of the dead-lever resulting from the formation of the head 29 thereon, the length of the guide may be made greater than usual, or for the extreme adjustments the lever may be reversed in position so that said head 29 extends toward instead of away from the bolster.

It will be noticed that as the dead-lever is adjusted toward the outer end of the guide it will assume a'more nearly Vertical position, so that the use of' the additional holes 80 in the head 29 will be less effective in raising the guide from a downwardly inclined position, but the decreasing effectiveness in this respect is offset by the lifting of the head 29 due to the upwardswing of the lever, and also to the fact that a slight downward displacement at the outer end of the guide will cause only a slight angulardisplacement instead of the large and objectionable angular displacement which would occur were the lever connected with the guide near the inner end of the latter.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a railway-brake mechanism, the combination with a dead-lever-guide having a series of longitudinally spaced fulcruinpin holes, and a frame-member to which one end of said guide is pivotally connected; of a dead-lever having a head at the end thereof adjoining said guide, said head having therein, a plurality of fulcrum-pin holes spaced laterally ot the lever-body and equidistantly from the brake-bea1n-pivot of the lever, said holes being adapted to register severally with some of the holes in the guide to receive a fulcrum-pin for connecting said lever'and guide when the latter is in adjusted angular relations to the frame-member on which it is pivoted.

2. In a railway-brake mechanism, the combination with a truck-bolster, a dead-leverguide pivoted at one end to said bolster and having a series of fulcrum-pin holes spaced longitudinally thereof, a. suspended brakebeain subject to variation in its vertical relation to said bolster, a dead-lever pivoted on said brake-beam and arranged to extend at an incline when one end thereof is adjacent to the pivoted end of said guide, and a fulcrum-pin for connecting said dead-lever and guide; of a head on said end of the lever adjoining the guide, said head having a plurality of fulcrum-pin holes spaced apart laterally of the lever and adapted to register severally with holes in the guide for receiving the fulcrum-pin to connect the lever and guide, whereby the guide may be' maintained in adjusted relation to the bolster When the brake-beam varies in vertical relation to thebolster. I

3. A structure as set forth in claim 1, including a member on the dead-lever engageable With the guide to prevent connection of the lever therewith When the guide is in abnormal angular relation to the bolster.

CHAS. O. ANDERSON.

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