US2792082A

US2792082A - Rotor brake

Info

Publication number: US2792082A
Application number: US300941A
Authority: US
Inventors: William J Casey
Original assignee: American Steel Foundries
Current assignee: American Steel Foundries
Priority date: 1952-07-25
Filing date: 1952-07-25
Publication date: 1957-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 1974-05-14

Description

May 14, 1957 w. J. CASEY m ROTOR BRAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25, 19 52 INVENTOR. @LSQy, H BY 0:}. &

May 14, 1957 w. J. CASEY m ROTOR BRAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 25, 1952 wgzwm 1/.

RUTOR BRAKE William 3. Casey 111, Chicago, 11]., assignor to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 25, 1952, Serial No. 300,941

13 Claims. (Cl. 188--59) The invention relates to braking mechanisms for railway car trucks and more particularly to a novel mounting means therefor.

It is a primary object of my invention to pivotally attach an off-wheel brake package arrangement to the frame of an associated railway car truck, thereby accommodating relative vertical and horizontal movements be tween the package and frame.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a novel adjustment means whereby full face engagement may be obtained between a friction surface rotatable with a wheel and axle assembly and the associated brake shoes carried by a brake package.

The invention further comprehends an off-wheel package brake arrangement which is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and is easily installed and reliable in use.

Other novel features of the invention will become apparent in the course of the following description and from an examination of the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational arrangement embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view taken along line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 44 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a detail view, partly in section, of my novel adjuster device.

Referring now to the drawings wherein an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated and is shown as applied to one-quarter of a conventional railway car truck having a frame with spaced side rails 2, interconnected intermediate its ends by the transoms 4 and adjacent its ends by the end rails 6. Adjacent the ends of the side rails, the frame is provided with depending

pedestal jaws

8, 8 defining the journal openings 10 which receive the journal boxes (not shown) adapted to engage the related ends of the wheel and axle assembly 12. A friction disk 14 may be secured to each wheel by any suitable means such as studs and nuts (not shown) thereby providing for common rotational movement therewith. Each disk 14 presents friction faces 18, 18 on opposite sides thereof.

A brake package, indicated generally at 20, comprises a housing 22 having a pair of

brake levers

24, 24 pivotally mounted thereon at 26, 26 and projecting outwardly along opposite sides of the friction disk 14. Brake heads 28, 23 are pivotally mounted on the outer ends of the

brake levers

24, 24 by means of the

bolts

30, 30 and are each provided with a brake shoe 32 for frictional engagement with the related friction surface 18 of the disk 14.

A brake cylinder (not shown) is conventionally mounted within the housing 22 and, as well known to those skilled in the art, offers actuating means for the

brake levers

24, 24. A fluid supply means whereby the 2,792,082 Patented May 14, 1957 brake cylinder may be actuated is provided at 34. A guide plate 36 is secured in abutting engagement against the outer side of each brake head 28 by means of bolt 30 and is formed with a channel-shaped portion 38 to slidably receive a guide flange 4t projecting upwardly from the cover plate 42 bolted to the housing 22. The construction and operation of the guide plates 36 and the related guide flange 40 is more particularly described in the co-pending application, Serial No. 211,515, filed February 17, 1951, in the name of William J. Casey III now Patent No. 2,690,237.

Each transom 4 is provided with a bracket mounting 44 (Figure 4) which may be rigidly secured thereto by any suitable means, such as welding, in an area in substantial longitudinal alignment with the adjacent friction disk 14. The bracket 44 consists of spaced

plates

46 and 48 presenting at the lower ends thereof the aligned coaxial holes 52 and 54, respectively. Intermediate the

plates

46 and 48 the bracket also comprises spaced

plates

56 and 58 which present the axially aligned

holes

69 and 62, said axis being substantially parallel to and spaced vertically from the first mentioned axis. Adjacent the upper end of the plate 48 another plate 64 is secured to the transom and comprises with the upper end of plate 48 a mounting jaw 63 for the vertical adjustment device hereinafter described.

The housing 22 presents on opposite sides and centrally thereof the rigid mounting wings or

plates

66, 68 and 70. As best seen in Figure 2, the

wings

66 and 70 extend rearwardly from opposed sides of the housing and embrace, with a substantial clearance, the

plates

46 and 48 of the transom. The wing 68 also extends rearwardly but from a point centrally on the rear wall of the housing. The wing 68 is received with substantial clearance intermediate the

plates

56 and 58. A bolt 65 provides pivotal connection between the housing 22 and the frame by its reception within the holes 52 and 54 of the plates 46 and 4S and the

holes

67, 69 and 71 of the

wings

66, 68 and 70. The wing 68 also presents at a point adjacent its upper end the horizontally elongated slot 72 (Figure 2), which in the assembled condition, is positioned adjacent the

holes

60 and 62 of the

plates

56 and 58. The

holes

60 and 62 and the slot 72 receive the bolt 74, thus the pivotal rotation of the housing 22 about the bolt 65 is limited by the bolt 74 engaging the extremities of the slot 72.

As hereinbefore noted, clearance is provided between the interengaging wings of the housing 22 and the plates of the bracket 44, thus accommodating lateral movement between the housing and said transom. Control of this desirable lateral freedom is provided by the spring structure best seen in Figure 4. As noted, the wing 68 is secured to the housing 22 while the plates 46 and 43 are secured to the transom. On each side of the wing 68 spring means, preferably of equal capacity, are compressively disposed between the wing 68 and

plates

46 and 48. In the preferred embodiment, the spring means consist of coiled springs diagrammatically illustrated at 78 and 80 sleeved on the 'bolt 65 and seated at respective ends on the related side of the wing 68 and the associated

plate

46 and 48, respectively. The structure thus described provides a pivotal mounting for the brake package 20 from the frame, while enabling limited resilient movement thereof in lateral directions.

As seen in Figure l, the outboard mounting wing 70 is of irregular contour and presents the vertically extended arm 82 to which is pivotally connected as at 84 the adjusting device indicated generally at 86. It should be noted that ample lateral clearance is provided at the pivotal connection 84 between the adjusting device 86 and the arm 82 (Figure 2).

As seen in Figure 5, the adjusting device 86 comprises the adjusting screw 88 which may be pivotally connected to the mounting jaw 63 as at 96. The adjusting screw 88 is in threaded engagement with the adjusting nut 92 which in turn is in threaded engagement with the body 94. The threaded engagement between the screw 88 and the nut 92 is preferably of a finer pitch and of opposite hand than the threaded engagement between the nut 92 and the body 94. For example, the screw 88 may have a right handed thread with 12 threads per inch, while the nut may be left handed with 8 threads per inch. The adjusting device 86 is provided with a mechanical lock 96 to prevent accidental variation of position of the housing 22. The lock 96 is illustrated in Figure 1 and consists of a U-shaped yoke 98 pivoted to the jaw 63 and disposed to engage opposed flats on the adjusting nut 92. The off balanced weight of the lock 96 maintains it in engaged position, but it may be pivoted vertically when manual adjustment of the adjusting nut 92 is desired.

A safety rod 100 is secured to the side rail 2 at a point adjacent the package unit and depends from the side rail to loosely bracket the related brake units. In the event of failure of the adjusting device 86 and the bolt 74, safety rod 1% prevents the package unit from pivoting downwardly and fouling the road bed or track.

In operation, the brake package 20 is pivotally mounted on the frame, as above described. To obtain full face engagement between the brake shoes 32 and the friction disk 14, the adjusting nut is rotated in the desired direction to vary the vertical position of the brake package and the shoes 32. Under service conditions, readjustment and resetting of the shoes on the disk is easily accomplished.

During engagement of the brake shoes and friction disk, the lateral floating mounting resiliently resists and substantially absorbs relative lateral thrust between the wheel and axle assembly and the carried frame with a minimum transmission of said thrusts to the frame.

I claim:

1. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a

wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a

friction disk rotatable with the wheel, a brake package comprising a housing having levers extending outwardly thereof to embrace said disk, friction shoes carried by the levers engageable with the disk, means forming a pivotal connection between the housing and the frame having clearance for permitting limited relative movement therebetween in the direction of the pivot axis, an adjusting device connected to the frame for pivotal movement in a vertical direction, said device having another pivotal connection to the housing whereby upon adjustment of said device the vertical position of said brake package is altered.

2. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with the wheel, means forming a brake unit engageable with the disk, a pivotal connection between the unit and the frame having clearance for permitting limited relative movement therebetween in the direction of the pivot axis, adjusting means having pivotal connections to the unit and frame, respectively, whereby adjustment of said means varies the vertical position of said unit.

3. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 2, wherein said pivotal connection comprises at least one spring compressively abutting the housing and frame, respectively, said spring being operative to resiliently cushion relative movements between the frame and the housing in the direction of said pivot axis.

4. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 2, wherein said adjusting means comprises members having threaded interconnections.

5. A brake arrangement, according to claim 4, wherein said members include a body member, a nut member threaded within the body member, and a screw member threaded within the nut member.

6. A brake arrangement, according to claim 4, wherein the respective threaded interconnections are of different pitch and of opposite hand.

7. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a brake housing, a plurality of spaced wings extending from one side of the housing, a plurality of spaced support plates for said housing, said support plates being mounted on the truck, said plates and wings being interlaced, means forming a pivotal connection between at least certain of said wings and of said plates for swinging movement of the housing, and means forming a second connection between at least certain of said wings and of said plates at a position remote from said axis limiting pivotal swinging movement of the housing, said wings and plates being so relatively positioned and spaced as to enable limited movement therebetween in the directions of said axis.

8. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a brake housing, wings extending from opposite sides of the housing, another wing extending from said housing intermediate said first mentioned wings and centrally of the housing, support plates for said housing loosely embraced by said first mentioned wings and loosely embracing said second mentioned wing, a pivotal connection between said wings and said plates, and spring means interposed between said second mentioned wing and said plates] 9. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction surface rotatable with said assembly, a brake unit including a friction shoe engageable with said surface, means pivotally connecting said unit to said frame on a horizontal axis whereby lateral movement therebetween is resiliently accommodated, and a vertical position adjuster having pivotal connection to the unit and frame, respectively, on axes parallel to the first mentioned axis.

'10. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 9, wherein said position adjuster comprises more than two members having threaded interconnections of opposite hand and different pitch.

11. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with said assembly, a brake unit comprising a housing carrying friction shoes engageable with said disk, mounting plates on said frame, other mounting plates on said housing, the plates on the frame and housing being interlaced, means forming a pivotal connection between at least certain of the plates on said frame and on said housing, the plates being so relatively positioned and spaced as to enable limited relative lateral movement between the housing and frame, one of the mounting plates on the housing being located centrally of the housing, and spring means interposed between said one central housing-mounted plate and said framemounted plates.

12. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with said assembly, a brake housing having brake levers extending therefrom, friction shoes pivotally carried by the levers and engageable with said disk, a plurality of spaced parallel mounting plates connected to the frame, a plurality of mounting wings connected to the housing and disposed to loosely interlace with said plates, a pivotal pin interconnecting said wings and some of said plates and accommodating rotation of said housing, coiled springs sleeved around said pin and in pressured engagement with at least one of said wings and some of said plates, and stop means interconnecting other of said plates and at least one of said wings whereby rotation of said housing is positively limited.

13. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck,

6 according to claim 12, wherein said stop means comprises 2,355,120 Tack Aug. 8, 1944 a pin in slotted engagement with at least one of said 2,406,048 Tack Aug. 20, 1946 wings. 2,436,136 Baselt Feb. 17, 1948 2,584,940 Tack Feb. 5, 1952 References Cited in the file of this patent 5 2,655,226 Tack et a1. Oct. 13, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,343,342 Tack Mar. 7, 1944