US1614842A

US1614842A - Emergency braking arrangement for high-speed suspension railway

Info

Publication number: US1614842A
Application number: US109158A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kruckenberg Franz; Stedefeld Curt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1923-08-29
Filing date: 1926-05-14
Publication date: 1927-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1944-01-18

Description

Jan. 18 1927-.

, r F. KRUCKENBERG ET AL EIERGENCY'BRAKING ARRANGEMENT FOR HIGH SPEED SUSPENSION RAILWAY Filed Kay 14.- 1926 Patented Jan. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANZ KRUCKENBERG AND CURT TEDEFELD, OF HEIDELBERG, GERMANY; SAID STEDEFELD ASSIGNOR TO SAI D KRUCKENBERG.

EMERGENCY BRAKING ARRANGEMENT FOR HIGH-SPEED SUSPENSION RAILWAY.

Application filed May 14, 1926, Serial No.

This application is related to application, Serial No. 4,574, filed January 24, 19:25, which includes a disclosure of the present invention substantially the same as the present application.

The invention is intended to provide braking arrangement for high speed suspension cars moving with a velocity of 200 to 300 M. P. H. Therefore the common railway brake with shoes acting on the tire is inadequate. If we would brake the running wheel at full speed in this manner both wheel and rail would be unduly stressed and an undesirable roughening of the surface and unequal wear of both parts would result.

In the case of an emergency itis possible, that the ordinary brakes would be incapable of bringing the car to a standstill quickly enough, in this case a special rail brake is brought into action.

This emergency brake shall be used in the case of the other braking arrangements failing and when the braking of the car must be as severe as possible. These rail brakes must be separated from the running gears so that they can be used in every case. It consists in this invention of a pair of shoes con tracting together above and below the rail; and operated by mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or other means. The dissipation of the heat resulting from this sliding in this brake system is adequately carried out because at the comparatively high speed the shoe continuously comes into contact with a cold friction surface, i. e. the rail. The mounting of the shoes on the car is so made that-they can follow the movements of the car as it oscillates on the springs of the running ear relative to the rail. This can be done by carrying the shoes in vertical guides or at one end of levers, the other end of which is moved by mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic or other means.

If the running gears are so damaged, that they can no longer support the car their work must be taken over by other means. For this purpose near the wheels shoes are provided on which the car can fall if a wheel breaks. To alleviate the resulting shock and those experienced during sliding on the shoe, springs are provided between these shoes and the car.

This arrangement can be made so that the car, should the end in consequence of a failure of the running gear fall onto a shoe, will 109,158, and in Germany August 29, 1923.

be supported nearly in the normal horizontal position after a few oscillations.

To prevent unnecessary weight'the rail brakes and this safety device can be combined in one mechanism. Further it can be arranged when the rail brake and safety de vice are combined that the rail braking i. e. the pressing of the lower shoe against the rail can be done automatically. This can be done for instance by means of the shock caused by the cars, falling ontothe safety device so that the shock operates by means of a pneumatic arrangement all the braking arrangements simultaneously, whereby the car is brought to a standstill as quickly as possible.

In the accompanying drawing these fundamental principles are shown carried out by mechanical means. The drawing is an isometric or perspective View of the device. The brake shoes 16 which are above and below the rail 17 are connected by means of leaf spring systems 18 to the members 19. These leaf springs are secured by the stirrups 20 so that with the brake off the shoes cannot chatter owing to the vibrations of the car. Another point in this arrangement is that the shoes have a certain amount of play in three dimensions, so that if the shoes should descend on the rail at an angle or out of center no bad effect is experienced.

Both the upper and lower surfaces of the rails are curved and the brake shoes 16 are correspondingly curved, thus permitting a sidewise movement of the brake shoes on the rail. Leaf spring system 18 is pivoted by a closed eye at one end to an arm on the member 19 and at the other end is simply hooked over a second arm on this member. As the closed eye of the spring leaf 21 is at the forward end of the shoe, the brakin force can be applied without danger of bin ing of the friction surfaces and the sliding shoe is stabilized in its motion on the rail.

The screw threaded spindle 22 extends through the upper member 19 (which bears against the leaf spring system) and a corresponding screw threaded spindle operates the lower member carrying the lower leaf spring system 18 and the lower brake shoe 16. The brakes16 are brought into operation by means of a suitable mechanism (not shown), controlled from the driving compartment which rotates these screws to force the respective brakes downwardly and upwardly against the rail, this specific operating mechanism forming no part of this invention.

On further rotation of the spindles 22 the springs 18 are further depressed and the shoes more firmly pressed on the rail, until the arm 23 rests against the middle of the spring 18 so that the spindle 22 cannot be turned any more. Meanwhile the brake shoes'can follow the oscillations of the car on the running gears, since the members '19 sliding in the guides 24, of the supporting frame 25 permit the shoes a certain degree of freedom of movement. This supporting frame 25 is slidably mounted in a projecting frame 26 which forms an integral part of the cars framework. Under normal running conditions frame 25 has no relative move ment with respect to supporting frame 26, since it is supported and held in position by trigger 30, the upper end of said trigger-being held by the action of coil spring 31in frictional contact with the central portion of the spring 27 which under normal operating conditions is tensioned downwardly so that the central portion is in the lowermost position. The leaf spring 27, which is fastened to the car body is normally held out of action by the tensioning screw 28 and is provided with a collar 29 which presses against a trip-lever 30 carried on the car. The upper cross-bar of the frame 25 has a projecting arm with a downward extension 35 and the lower cross-arm has a similar downward extension 36 integral with the collar 29, which in turn rests on the trip-lever 30. All these parts only come into action if the upper brake shoe 16 acts as a safety device.

In the case of the failure of one of the running gears 15 such as by spring breakage that part of the weight of the car previously carried by the running gear 15 is carried by the brake shoe and the frame 25; the leaf spring 27 which is tensioned exactly to this load by means of the trigger 30 and the tensioning screw 28 is deflected by the shock sufficiently to release the trigger 30. This is released by the action of the small spring 31 and the car now hangs freely sprung about the approximate normal running position by the leaf spring 27 the frame 25 being guided on the guides 32 integral with the projecting frame 26. a

From the foregoing description, the operation of the device will be readily understood. In the ordinary emergency application of the brakes the screw threaded spindles, or some equivalent devices, are turned by mechanism under control of the operator, and the upper and lower brake shoes are forced into contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the rail. This braking mechanism is carried by the frame 25 slidably mounted on a part of the car body 26 and this frame is normally supported by resting on a. trip-lever '30. If any accident should occur to the running gear, the car -body tends to sink at the particular portion affected, which brings the upper brake shoe 16 into contact with the rail, thereby braking the car, and upon still further sinking of the car the projectin member 23 of the slidable brake mounting 19 contactswith the arm 35 of the slidable' frame 25. At this stage further downward movement of the braking elements'lo and 19, the frame 25, the collar 29, and the center portion of spring 27 to which it is attached, becomes impossible and the position of these parts is fixed relative to the remainder of the car. The rest of the car at this stage continues to fall but against the resistance exerted by spring 27, which is adapted to maintain the car in an approximately normal position on the rails under such conditions. The flexing of the spring 27 as the weight of the car is thrown thereon is sufficient to allow the trigger 30 to snap into a horizontal position due to the pull of coil spring 31.

The brake shoes and their attached parts therefore normally operate as an emergency brake, and in case of accident to the running gear as a safety device for supporting the car.

Whatwe claims is:

1. A combined braking and safety device for high speed suspension railway cars comprising brake shoes for engaging the'upper and lower surfaces of the rail, means on the car for supporting and operating said brake shoes, said means being movably mounted in a frame slidably connected to the car body, means for supporting the frame in normal operative position, and spring means interposed between said frame and said frame supporting means whereby the car may be maintained in an approximately normal position on the suspension rails upon an accidental downward movement of the car body.

2. A combined braking and safety device as claimed in claim 1 in which the frame supporting means comprises a spring and a trip-lever.

3. A combined braking and safety device as claimed in claim 1 in which the brake shoes have surfaces curved to correspond to the upper and lower surfaces ofthe rail.

4. A combined braking and safety device as claimed in claim 1 in which the brake shoes have surfaces curved to correspond to the upper and lower surfaces of the rail, the spring of the brake shoe beingpivotally mounted at one end and having play at the other end whereby the brake shoes can center themselves on the rail.

5. A combined braking and safety device as claimed in claim 1, in which the device is so arranged that upon accidental operation the upper brake shoe will rest upon the rail and support the car.

IOU

6. A combined braking and safety device for high speed suspension railway oars comprising spring mounted brake shoes for engaging the upper and lower surfaces of the rail, means on the car for supporting and operating said brake shoes, said means being vertically movably mounted in a frame connected to the car body, said frame being vertically slidably secured within a second frame rigidly secured to the car body, means for supporting the. vertically slidable frame in normal operative position, and spring means interposed between said vertically slidable frame and said frame supporting means whereby the car may be maintained in an approximately normal position on the suspension rails upon an accidental downward movement of the car body.

7. A safety device for high speed suspension railway cars comprising a frame integral with the car body, a frame member slidably suspended in said integral frame, a spring secured to the car body, means for securing the slidable frame member to said spring, and means secured to the slidable frame member and adapted to engage the suspension rail upon accidental downward movement of the car body whereby the car body may be suspended in an approximately normal running position on the suspension rails by said spring.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

FRANZ KRUCKENBERG. CURT STEDEFELD.