US3301353A

US3301353A - Railway car brake mechanisms

Info

Publication number: US3301353A
Application number: US417617A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward G Goods
Original assignee: Buffalo Brake Beam Co
Current assignee: Buffalo Brake Beam Co
Priority date: 1964-12-11
Filing date: 1964-12-11
Publication date: 1967-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-31

Description

Jan. 31, 1967 E. G. GOODS RAILWAY CAR BRAKE MECHANISMS Filed Dec. 11, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 Y m m M 6 D R v m Jan. 31, 1967 E. G. GOODS RAILWAY CAR BRAKE MECHANISMS 3 Sheetsheet 3 Filed Dec. 11. 1964 r 1N VENTOR.

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E. G. GOODS RAILWAY CAR BRAKE MECHANISMS Jan. 31, 1967 3 Sheetsheet 5 Filed Dec. 11. 1964 mid/m fl m I 7 WJW ml ww I I H/ZW w United States Patent 3,301,353 RAILWAY CAR BRAKE MECHANISMS Edward G. Goods, Snyder, N.Y., assignor to Buffalo Brake Beam Company, a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 417,617 7 Claims. (Cl. 18859) The present invention relates to railway car brake mechanisms especially of the freight type and is an improvement upon the inventions shown and described in Busch U.S. Patents 2,903,096, 2,903,097 and 2,903,098.

One object of the present invention is to provide a brake mechanism of the general type described, which has a lesser number of parts and which consequently is of simpler construction.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a railway car truck, which has braking mechanisms constituting one embodiment of the present invention and which is shown with one manner of mounting a brake applying air cylinder;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a part of the railway car truck shown in FIG. 1; 7

FIG. 3 is a section of the railway car truck taken on lines 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show detail vertical sections of other ways respectively of mounting a brake applying air cylinder. 7

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, there is shown a railway freight car truck comprising a pair of side structures or frames 10 having respective guide openings 11 to receive the ends of a conventional truck bolster 12 extending between said frames and projecting at the ends into said openings, where they are supported on coil springs (not shown) and are guided by side columns 13 of said opening for vertical shock-absorbed movement. The bolster 12 is provided at its ends with lugs 14 engaging the inboard sides of the side columns 13 of the side frames 10 and lugs (not shown) engaging the outboard sides of the side columns. These lugs 14 guide the bolster 12 for vertical movement.

The bolster 12 is also provided with a center conformation 16 for direct pivotal connection'to the underside of the railway car body in a conventional manner. Between the two side frames 10 and supported thereon by suitable bearings on opposite sides of the bolster 12 are two parallel axles 17 carrying on opposite ends flanged ca-r wheels 18 which ride on rails (not shown).

To support certain operating parts of the brake mechanism and at the same time to sustain the side frames 10 against the stresses of the braking action, there are provided two horizontal parallel equalize-r bars 20 on opposite sides of the bolster 12, each bar pivotally connecting at its ends with brackets 21 integral or otherwise fixedly secured to the side frames 10 by means of hinge pins 22.

The side frames 10 are shown of the conventional type employed with brake mechanisms having brake bearns with their ends slida ble in guides on the inboard sides of said side frames. In the specific form shown, these brake beam guides are defined by the brackets 21, and since these guides usually slant downwardly towards each other, the end sections of the equalizer bars 20 are twisted to fit snugly with a pivotal slide fit in the guides formed by the brackets, while the intermediate sections of the equalizer bars are not only longitudinally horizontal but also transversely horizontal.

Th equalizer bars 20 secured to the side frame brackets 21 through the hinge pins 22 as described, assist the bolster 12 in maintaining the truck side frames 10 in 7 3,301,353 Patented Jan. 31, 1967 alignment or parallel to the respective rails. The equalizer bars 20 and the truck side frames 10 form a parallelogram, and since these are pivotally joined through the brackets 21 and the hinge pins 22, they operate as a parallel motion permitting the side frames to shift relatively endwise and into limited angular positions with respect to the equalizer bars 20 when the wheels 18- are rounding a curve. The equalizer bars 20 also serve to support the weight of the brake mechanism.

The brakes for thefour car whels 18 of each car truck are operated by four similar L-shape brake head levers 2 5, each in the form of a bell-crank having at its elbow an upright tubular bearing 26 seated on an extension 27 on the inner side of a corresponding equalizer bar 20 and pivotally secured thereto by a pivot bolt 28. The brake head lever 25 has a power arm 30 extending along the corresponding equalizer bar 20 transversely of the car truck and arranged to receive braking power in a manner to be described, and an arm 31 extending longitudinally of the car truck and carrying at its outer end a brake head 32 by means of a pivot pin 33. The brake head 32 carries a face plate with a brake shoe 34 for application to a brake rotor or disc 35, which is affixed to the corresponding car wheel 18 on the inboard side thereof for rotation therewith to stop said disc and which presents a brake face on its inboard side. v

The two brake head levers 25 near each side of the car truck are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the bolster 12 and are simultaneously powered by a corresponding double air cylinder unit 40 comprising a cylinder 41, whichis shown supported in FIGS. 1-3 centrally of and on the top wall 42 of the bolster, and which is affixed to said top wall by means of studs 43, passing through ears 44 projecting from the cylinder and threaded into said bolster wall. This cylinder 41 is divided by a ring partition 45 rigidly secured to the walls of the cylinder and has two inlets 46 near opposite ends thereof connected to a source of air power by a pipe system 47 and has also a vent 48 near the middle of the cylinder. Two pistons 50 slidable in the cylinder 41 are urged outwardly in the positions shown in FIG. 2 by two coil springs 51 bearing at their inner ends against the partition 45 and at their outer ends against the two pistons. The pistons 50 are rigidly secured to respective piston rods 52 connected at their outer ends to the outer ends of the power arms 30 of the two brake head levers 25 on the corre sponding side of the car truck by respective slide and pivot connections 53.

In the operation of the brake mechanisms described, the coil springs 51 acting on the pistons 50 normally urge these pistons in position to maintain the brake shoes 34 away from the brake faces of the corresponding brake discs 35. When the braking of the wheels 18 is required, air under pressure is admitted to both ends of both cylinders 41 simultaneously through the pipe system 47 and this forces the two pistons 50 in each cylinder 41 towards each other against the action of the springs 51. This operation rotates the brake head levers 25 in directions about the axes of their pivot supports 28, to move the brake shoes 34 against the brake discs 35 respectively with braking force, and consequently applies the brakes to the four car wheels 18 simultaneously, so that these wheels are immobilized.

When the application of air pressure to the cylinders 41 is cut off, the compressed springs 51 in their releasing movements positively move the brake heads 32 into inoperative positions away from the brake discs 35 to release the brakes on the car wheels 18.

FIG. 4 shows modified means for supporting each air cylinder unit 40. In this modification, there is secured to each side frame 10 a bracket 60 extending centrally Q along the corresponding end of the bolster 12 and having an offset mounting end section 61 seated on and bearing against the top wall 62 of the side frame and secured thereto by means of studs 63 and a horizontal platform section 64 spaced from the top of the bolster and extending along said bolster. The air cylinder unit 40 is secured to this horizontal platform section 64 by means of studs 65 passing through the projecting ears 44 of the cylinder 41 and threaded into said platform section. In all other respects, the construction and operation of the brake mechanism is similar to that described in the construction of FIGS. 1-3, except that the brake head levers 25 of FIGS. 1-3 would be changed slightly to a-ccommodate them to the different height of the cylinder pistons 52 without changing their basic design.

FIG. 5 shows another modified means for supporting each cylinder unit 40. In this modification, the unit 40 is secured to the underside of the bolster 12 as shown, and the brake head levers 25 of FIGS. 1-3 will be changed to accommodate for the different level of the unit without altering its basic design. It should be noted in this connection that each of the brake head levers in all cases will have a long tubular bearing at the elbow corresponding to the bearing 26 in the constructions of FIGS. 1-3, and that the locations of the arms on said bearing corresponding to the

arms

30 and 31 in the constr-uctions of FIGS. 1-3 will depend on the elevation of the power cylinder unit 40. In all other respects, the construction and operation of the brake mechanisms shown in FIG. 5 will be the same as that described in connection with FIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 6 shows still another modified means for supporting each cylinder unit 40. In this modification, there is secured to the bottom of each side frame a bracket 70 extending centrally along the corresponding end of the bolster 12 and having a horizontal end section 71 and an upstanding offset section 72 adapted conjointly to grip the lower section 73 of the side frame. The end bracket section 71 is secured to the lower section 73 of the side frame 10 by means of studs '74. The bracket 70 also has a horizontal platform section 75 spaced below the bolster 12 and extending therealong. The air cylinder unit 40 is secured to this horizontal platform section 75 by means of studs 76 passing through the projecting cars 44 of the cylinder 41 and threaded into said platform se-ction. In all other respects, the construction and operation of the brake mechanism is similar to that described in the construction of FIGS. 1-3, except that the brake head levers 25 of FIGS. 1-3 would be changed slightly to accommodate them to the different height of the cylinder pistons 52, without changing their basic design, in the manner described in connection with the modification of FIG. 5.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to specific embodiments, it is to be understood that it is not to be limited thereto but is to be construed broadly and restricted solely by the scope of the appended claims. 7

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car truck, the combination of a pair of opposed side frames extending along the longitudinal direction of the truck, a pair of parallel equalizer bars extending between and pivotally connected at their ends to said side frames, four wheels supported on said side frames with a pair of wheels near each side of the truck and with each wheel near one side coaxial with a corresponding wheel near the opposite side, the axles of said wheels extending parallel between said side frames and trasverse to said longitudinal direction and being located on opposite sides of said pair of equalizer bars, means for applying brakes to the wheels, comprising an air cylinder unit between the wheels of each pair of wheels near the side frame supporting said pair, each unit including an air cylinder, a pair of pistons therein movable in opposite directions under the influence of air under pressure in said cylinder, and piston rods connected to said pistons respectively, said braking means also comprising four brake head levers, means supporting said levers on said equalizer bars for pivotal movement relative thereto, each equalizer bar pivotally supporting the two brake head levers for a corresponding pair of coaxial wheels, means carried by said levers for applying brakes to said wheels respectively when said brake head levers are pivotally moved in predetermined directions, connections 'between the two pistons of each cylinder unit near each side frame and the two brake head levers operative with the two wheels which are supported on the latter side frame for moving the latter two brake head levers in said predetermined directions simultaneously upon the movements of said pistons in said opposite directions under the influence of air under pressure in said cylinder, and means for supporting the air cylinders independently of said brake head levers.

2. In a railway car truck, the combination as described in claim 1, each of said brake head levers being in the form of a bell crank pivotally secured at its elbow to a corresponding equalizer bar and having one arm for applying the brakes and one arm serving as the power arm operated from the corresponding piston rod through the corresponding connection and extending from said elbow towards the side frame nearest thereto.

3. In a railway car truck, the combination of a pair of opposed side frames extending along the longitudinal direction of the truck, a pair of parallel equalizer bars extending between and pivotally connected at their ends to said side frames, two parallel axles journalled in said side frames on opposite sides of said pair of equalizer bars, car wheels connected to said axles near the ends thereof to form two pair of wheels, the wheels of each pair being near the corresponding side frame, a truck bolster between said equalizer bars extending transversely between and supported on said side frames, said bolster being located between the two axles, brake discs rigid with said wheels respectively on the inboard sides of said wheels presenting respective brake faces on their inboard sides, four brake head levers for said wheels respectively each in the form of a bell crank, having one power arm located between the corresponding brake disc and the bolster and extending from the elbow of the lever along the bolster and towards the nearest side frame one arm longitudinally of the car truck in front of the corresponding brake disc, each of said brake head levers being pivotally secured at its elbow to a corresponding equalizer bar for angular movement about an upright pivot axis, means carried by each of said longitudinally extending lever arms for applying braking power to the brake face of the corresponding brake disc when said lever is turned angularly about its pivot axis in a direction to move said longitudinally extending arm towards the corresponding brake disc into braking position, an air cylinder unit near each side of the truck between the wheels of the pair near said side of the truck and comprising an air cylinder having its axis extending longitudinally of the truck, a pair of pistons therein movable in opposite directions towards each other along the latter axis in response to the admission of air under pressure into said cylinder, piston rods connected to said pistons respectively, connecting means between said piston rods and the power arms of the two brake head levers respectively which are operatively associated with the wheels of the pair near said side of the truck for moving said brake head levers into braking positions under the influence of air under pressure in said cylinder and means for supporting the air cylinders independently of said brake head levers.

4. In a railway car truck, the combination as described in claim 3, each of said air cylinder units being connected to the top of the truck bolster.

5. In a railway car truck, the combination as described 5 6 in claim 3, each of said air cylinder unit being connected being secured to the corresponding bracket underneath to the underside of the truck bolster. the bolster.

6. In a railway car truck, the combination as described in claim 3, comprising a bracket secured to the top of References Cited y the Examiner each of the side frames, each of said air cylinder unit 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS ggilrsltgersecu-red to the correspondlng bracket over the 2,274,859 3/1942 Eksergian 188 59 X 7. In a railway car truck, the combination as described 3027976 4/1962 Soddy 188-59 in claim 3, comprising a bracket secured to the bottom DUANE A REGER P E of each of the side frames, each of said air cylinder unit 10 rlmary xamme"

Claims

1. IN A RAILWAY CAR TRUCK, THE COMBINATION OF A PAIR OF OPPOSED SIDE FRAMES EXTENDING ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION OF THE TRUCK, A PAIR OF PARALLEL EQUALIZER BARS EXTENDING BETWEEN AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT THEIR ENDS TO SAID SIDE FRAMES, FOUR WHEELS SUPPORTED ON SAID SIDE FRAMES WITH A PAIR OF WHEELS NEAR EACH SIDE OF THE TRUCK AND WITH EACH WHEEL NEAR ONE SIDE COAXIAL WITH A CORRESPONDING WHEEL NEAR THE OPPOSITE SIDE, THE AXLES OF SAID WHEELS EXTENDING PARALLEL BETWEEN SAID SIDE FRAMES AND TRANSVERSE TO SAID LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION AND BEING LOCATED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PAIR OF EQUALIZER BARS, MEANS FOR APPLYING BRAKES TO THE WHEELS, COMPRISING AN AIR CYLINDER UNIT BETWEEN THE WHEELS OF EACH PAIR OF WHEELS NEAR THE SIDE FRAME SUPPORTING SAID PAIR, EACH UNIT INCLUDING AN AIR CYLINDER, A PAIR OF PISTONS THEREIN MOVABLE IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AIR UNDER PRESSURE IN SAID CYLINDER, AND PISTON RODS CONNECTED TO SAID PISTONS RESPECTIVELY, SAID BRAKING MEANS ALSO COMPRISING FOUR BRAKE HEAD LEVERS, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID LEVERS ON SAID EQUALIZER BARS FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE THERETO, EACH EQUALIZER BAR PIVOTALLY SUPPORTING THE TWO BRAKE HEAD LEVERS FOR A CORRESPONDING PAIR OF COAXIAL WHEELS, MEANS CARRIED BY SAID LEVERS FOR APPLYING BRAKES TO SAID WHEELS RESPECTIVELY WHEN SAID BRAKE HEAD LEVERS ARE PIVOTALLY MOVED IN PREDETERMINED DIRECTIONS, CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE TWO PISTONS OF EACH CYLINDER UNIT NEAR EACH SIDE FRAME AND THE TWO BRAKE HEAD LEVERS OPERATIVE WITH THE TWO WHEELS WHICH ARE SUPPORTED ON THE LATTER SIDE FRAME FOR MOVING THE LATTER TWO BRAKE HEAD LEVERS IN SAID PREDETERMINED DIRECTIONS SIMULTANEOUSLY UPON THE MOVEMENTS OF SAID PISTONS IN SAID OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AIR UNDER PRESSURE IN SAID CYLINDER, AND MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE AIR CYLINDERS INDEPENDENTLY OF SAID BRAKE HEAD LEVERS.