US1617686A - Axle-lubricating device - Google Patents

Description

1927 A. G. M. MICHELL v AXLE LUBRICATING DEVICE Filed Feb. 13, 1922 7&2-

Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AXLE-LUBRICATING DEVICE.

Application filed February 13, 1922, Serial No. 536,312, and in Australia February 23, 1921.

The present invention relates to a device for supplying oil to the journal bearmgs of rotating axles, particularly the axles of railway, tramway and like vehicles. In such vehicles it is customary to construct the journal bearing in the form of a box, the lower part of which forms .a reservoir for oil and contains an absorbent pad which is in contact with the journal and which raises the oil from the reservoir and supplies it to the journal by capillary action. The quantity of oil which can be supplied in this way is not, however suflicient for complete lubrication, that is to say, for the maintenance of a complete and continuous fluid film between the journal and its bearing, and as an alternative means of raising the oil it has been proposed to place in the oil reservoir, a roller either floating in the oil or supported in bearings so as to make contact with, and to be caused to revolve by, the journal, thereby continuously raising the oil to the journal, so long as the axle continues to revolve.

In practice, however, it has been found that such rollers tend to wear irregularly and to become unbalanced owing to varymg pressures being exerted between the roller and the journal, due to impacts .and olting, as the wheels of the vehicle run over the more or less irregular road surface.

The object of the present invention is to provide a roller-lubricating device which shall be practically unaffected by such 1mpacts and consequent irregular wear, and which is adapted to be rotated continuously by the friction of the journal, and to 11ft the lubricating oil in ample volume.

The present invention is distinguished from various roller arrangements and the object stated achieved by counter-balancing the roller with respect to its own weight, and subjecting same to a supplementary force independent of gravity whereby it is constantly maintained in frictional contact with the journal.

The preferred form of construction of this counterbalanced lubricating device, and means of applying driving pressure thereto is shown in the accompanying sheet ofdrawings in which :-Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a railway axle box fitted with the lubricating device, Figure 2 is a cross section of the same, and Figure 3 is a plan view of the lubricating device shown separately.

In these drawings the device is illustrated .as applied to a railway axle-bearing being arranged in conjunction with a bearing brass of the flexible type described in the present applicants Patent No. 1,315,735 dated September 9, 1919. The lubricating roller has the form of an elongated light pulley, having a rounded or crowned external bearing surface in which are formed numerous small circumferential grooves 2 for the purpose hereinafter explained. The pulley l is mounted so as to revolve upon a spindle 3, which is securedto the arm 4 of a lever 5, fulcrumed on the'pin 6. The pin 6, is for convenience, mounted in a casing or tray 7, which may surround the whole of the lever 5, as shown. A spring 8, acting in compression between the arm 4 of the lever 5 and the bottom portion of the casing 7 presses the roller 1 against the lower surface of the axle journal 9. The spring 8 may be retained in position by a pin 10, which also serves to secure the spindle 8 in the arm 4.

The journal 9 is supported by a journalbrass 11 mounted in the axle box 12 in any preferred manner. The plug 13 closes an aperture in the axle box 12 through which the whole lubricating device mounted in the casing 7 may be inserted or Withdrawn. In operation the lower portion of the box 12 is filled with oil to a level such as indicated by the dotted line 1 1, and, as the journal 9 revolves, it drives the roller 1 by friction, and the latter lifts the oil in which it is partially immersed, on its surface, and supplies it to the contacting surface of the journal-brass 11. The grooves 2 in the rolller 1 materially assist in thus raising the o1 The weight of the roller 1, spindle 3, pin

10 and of the portions of the lever 5 on each side of its fulcrums are so adjusted that the whole, when freed from the action of the spring 8, is balanced about the fulcrum 6 and therefore has stable equilibrium. Such balance is effective not only as to the force of gravity, but also as to impulsive forces arising from vertical shocks and impacts imparted to the axle box.

The upward pressure of the roller 1 upon the journal 9 is, therefore, due solely to the elastic force of the spring 8, and remains constant in spite of such shocks and impacts. Any tendency for-flats to be formed or irregular wear to take place owing to impulsive pressures between the roller and journal is thus eliminated.

The method by which the lever 5 is mounted on the fulcrum 6 also admits of the roller 1 under the action of the spring 8 automatically rising with the journal 9 in the event of the bearing 11 becoming Worn. The rounded or crowned surface of the roller 1 allows of such movement taking place while still maintaining suitable working contact between the surfaces of the journal 9 and roller 1, which are shown in such a displaced position by dotted lines in Figure 1.

It will be understood that the spring 8 may bear directly on the bottom of the axle box 12, and the fulcrum pin 6 may be mounted directly in the axle box 12 instead of in the casing 7, and that the latter may then be dispensed with.

It has further to be understood that the location of the application of the force imparted by the spring 8 is not restricted to the position illustrated. For example it may be directly applied to depress the arm carrying the counterweight 5, or again, a spring may be wrapped about the pin 6 to apply upWardt-ension to the arm 4.

I claim 1. In an axle-lubricating device, a roller making contact with the journal of the axle and mounted on a spindle approximately parallel to the axle but capable of deflection relatively thereto by being balanced about a spindle transverse to said axle.

2-. An axle-lubricating device consisting of a tray adapted to rest at the bottom of the axle box, a fulcrum pin in said tray transverse to said axle, a lever mounted on said pin as a fulcrum and a spring acting on the lever, said lever carrying at one of its ends a light roller making spring-effected contact with the journal of said axle, and supplying lubricant thereto, the other end of said lever being weighted to counterbalance said roller.

3. In an axle lubricating device, a lever movably supported on a spindle transverse to the axle, said lever being weighted on one side of the spindle and rotatably supporting a roller on the other side of the spindle, and a spring arranged to move the roller against an axle, said roller havi a longitudinally rounded convex surface capable of making rolling contact with the axle in varying positions of said lever.

4. In an axle lubricating device, a lever movably supported on a spindle transverse to the axle, said lever being weighted on one side of the spindle and rotatably supporting a roller on the other side of the spindle, and a spring arranged to move the roller against an axle, said roller having a longitudinally rounded convex surface capable of making rolling contact with the axle in varying positions of said lever, and the sur face of said roller being constructed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced annular oil grooves.

Dated this 7th day of January, 1922.

ANTHONY GEORGE MALDON MZCHELL.

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