US3599752A

US3599752A - Automatic railway car journal oiler

Info

Publication number: US3599752A
Application number: US807880A
Authority: US
Inventors: William Bowler; Raymond E Kalita
Original assignee: Canadian National Railway Co
Current assignee: Canadian National Railway Co
Priority date: 1969-02-12
Filing date: 1969-03-17
Publication date: 1971-08-17
Anticipated expiration: 1988-08-17
Also published as: CA894612A

Abstract

A railway car journal box oiler has a vertically retractable nozzle mounted on a horizontally reciprocable platform, movement of which with the car is caused by engagement of a car wheel with a vertically retractable roller moved to an upper position by a solenoid when the approach of an open journal box is sensed by a photocell. The roller and nozzle automatically retract after a predetermined amount of movement of the platform with the car. The nozzle is automatically moved to an upper, operative position as the platform starts to move and ejection of oil from the nozzle is in timed relationship with nozzle movement.

Description

United States Patent Inventors William Bowler Pierrefonds; Raymond E. Kalita, Dollard des Ormeaux, both of Quebec, Canada App]. N111 807,880

Filed Mar. 17, I969 Pale/Hm) A! I7, 197' heeign amullnn National [hallway ('nmpuny Montreal. Quebe mmdn Priority Feb. 12. I969 Canada AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CAR JOURNAL OILER 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. .l Int. Cl.

Field of Search EXHAUS J7 Fl6n 1/00 l84/3,3A, 2,15,15A

X HAUS 7 B ASPYRA I ION References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,504 8/1965 Bryant .1 184/2 3,353,630 11/1967 Wooretal. 184/15x 3,375,902 4/1968 Perry 184/2 3,425,513 2/1969 Fisheretal. l84/l5X 4,456,758 7/1969 Garner 184/2 I'nmury lzxamim'r Manuel A. Antonakas A!mrney- Fetherstonhaugh and Co.

ABSTRACT: A railway car journal box oiler has a vertically retractable nozzle mounted on a horizontally reciprocable platform, movement of which with the car is caused by engagement of a car wheel with a vertically retractable roller moved to an upper position by a solenoid when the approach of an open journal box is sensed by a photocell. The roller and nozzle automatically retract after a predetermined amount of movement of the platform with the car. The nozzle is automatically moved to an upper, operative position as the platform starts to move and ejection of oil from the nozzle is in timed relationship with nozzle movement.

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AIR SUPPLY PATENTED AUG! 7 IHTI SHEET 2 [1F 3 x. ww

PATENTEU AUGWISYI 3,599,752

sum 3 OF 3 ESQ QEFGi W z k mm so wk &

finish 0 x 311% r MN mN mm R Q NM FY AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CAR JOURNAL OILER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is common practice in railway systems to employ journal box inspectors to ascertain if the journal boxes on the rolling stock have sufficient oil in the boxes to lubricate the axle journals. When a train enters a station or marshalling yard the inspectors, when the train is stationary, open and inspect the journal boxes. If the oil is low in a journal box the inspector leaves the journal box lid open to indicate to the oiler that that journal box requires oil.

Automatic oilers for railway car journal boxes have been proposed that are adapted to be fixedly mounted adjacent the respective rails of railway lines. In this type of installation the quota of oil being squirted into the boxes must travel at a high velocity and in the form of a slug because the railway car is moving at from two to three miles per hour and the target area is relatively small thereby limiting the duration of delivery to a fraction of a second. Furthermore the delivery of the oil at high velocity and in spash back form causes it to impinge on the end of the axle and journal with considerably force, which may cause the oil to splash-back out of the journal box with an attendant loss of oil and inefficient lubrication of the journal.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic journal box oiler adapted to sense an open journal box when the cars are in motion and to travel for a certain period of time with the open journal box to allow for ample oiling time.

A further object of the invention is to provide a journal box oiler that will deliver to an open journal box a measured quantity of oil with a minimum of splash back Another object is to provide a journal box oiler in which the oiling nozzle is retracted when not in use to avoid interference with projecting equipment such as ladders fitted on locomotives.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF TI -IE INVENTION The invention may be defined as apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translational movement of the platform for moving said nozzles means form an inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the oiling apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus showing the oiler and wheel-engaging member in operative position,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus showing the oiling mechanism and wheel-engaging member in operative position,

FIG. 4 is an end elevation as viewed from the left of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3,

FIG. 5 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 5 -S of FIG. 2 showing the wheel-engaging member at the limit of its travel and about to become disengaged from the car wheel, and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic drawing, showing the actuating mechanism in conjunction with the pneumatic and oil control circuits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT In the drawings the apparatus consists of a baseplate 20, adapted to be secured adjacent the rails of a railway-track, and a platform 21. The platform 21 is provided with sleeved blocks 22 adapted to slide on a guide rail 23 supported above the baseplate 20 by pillow-blocks 24. The opposite side of the platform 21 is provided with hangers 25 upon which there are rotatably secured rollers 26 adapted to roll within a trackway 27 secured to said baseplate 20. A shaft means 28, rotatably mounted in bearing blocks 29, secured to platform 21, has flexibly secured thereon by means of a resilient rubber cushion a lever arm 30 upon which there is rotatably mounted a roller 31. The roller 31 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5, extends outwardly beyond the left-hand end of platform 21 and rests upon a beam 32. The beam 32 is pivotally supported at its right-hand end on a shaft 33 supported in bearing blocks 34. The left-hand end of the beam 32 rests upon a ledge 35 formed in a latch member 36. The latch member 36, see FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, is pivotally mounted in a bracket 37 by a shaft 38.

'The latch 36 is urged into beam-engaging position by a spring 39 between the back of the bracket and the lower end of the latch member 36. The forward travel of the latch towards the beam 32, is limited by shoulder 40 which bears against the baseplate 20 so that the latch will not bind against the end of beam 32. The shaft means 28 consists of a shaft 28 a and a shaft 28 b The shaft 28 b is rotatably supported in a bore formed in the shaft 28 a The

shafts

28a and 28 b are interconnected by a two part coupling 41.'The outer end of shaft 28 b has secured thereon a lever arm 42 to which there is rotatably secured a roller 43 which is adapted to contact the portion of the car wheel W that projects beyond the outside of the railway track. The shaft 28 b has secured thereon a lever arm 44 which is pivotally connected to a shaft 45 by a clevis 46. The shaft 45 extends toward the right of FIG. 2 and is connected to the armature 47 of a solenoid 48. The shaft 45 and armature 47 are also provided with a yieldable shock-absorb ing connecting spring 49. In the inoperative position the roller 43 is in the depressed position and is below the level of the rail. When, however, the solenoid 48 is energized, the armature 47 is drawn into the solenoid coil whereby the lever arm 42 and the roller 43 mounted thereon are raised until a jaw formed on the portion of the coupling secured to shaft 28 6 contacts a jaw formed on the portion of the coupling secured to shaft 28 a, locking the roller 43 in its upright position in the path of the wheel tread which contacts said roller 43 and pushes it and the platform 21 in the direction of travel of the car. When the platform 21 is set in motion, a roller 50, rotatably secured to lever arm 51, contacts a cam track 52 which cams it upwardly, causing lever arm 51 and attached sleeve 53 to rotate on shaft 54. The sleeve 53 has formed thereon a straight tooth positive coupling member 55a which couples with a straight tooth positive coupling member 55b formed on sleeve 56. Between the tooth formed on the coupling member 55a and that formed on member 55b there is provided a predetermined clearance in order to permit the roller 50 and the lever arm 51 to travel down the perpendicular surfaces 52a of cam track 52 without applying a bendingmoment on lever arm 58 which is press-fitted on shaft 54 rotatably mounted in pillow blocks 57. When the platform 21 is set in motion by contact of the car wheel tread with roller 43 the roller 50 is forced towards the right by cam track 52, rotating lever 51 upwards and thereby elevating lever arm 58 and bringing nozzle 75 attached thereto into alignment with the opening in the journal box.

Referring to FIG. 6, wherein the oiling apparatus is shown diagrammatically, the raising of roller 43 is triggered by a photoelectric cell 64 which receives a beam of light from a light source 65 by reflection from the end of axle 66, exposed by the open journal box cover. The signal from cell 64 is received by means within the electronic control 67, known to the art, that closes a switch to energize solenoid 48,. The armature 47 exerts a pull on shaft 45 and lever arm 44, rotating shaft 28b and raising wheel-engaging roller 43 into a position adapted to engage the tread of a car wheel. The car wheel, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 rotates roller 43 and at the same time carries it, and the platform 21 attached thereto, forward. The forward movement of the platform causes the roller 50 to ride up cam track 52, rotating lever arm 51 upwardly and imparting rotation to sleeve 53 and coupling member 55a formed thereon, bringing the latter into engagement with coupling member 55 b to rotate lever 58 into an upright position. The rotation of lever 58 upwardly exerts a force on pin 60, causing the standard 59 to pivot on pin 70 held captive by link 61. As the platform 21 moves, towards the left on the drawings, the leading edge of the platform engages and depresses a switch 71, mounted on trackway 27. The closing of switch 71 energizes solenoid-operated valve 72, opening said valve to permit air to flow into and operate

valves

73 and 74 whereby oil and air, respectively, are permitted to flow through conduits 75a and 75b connected to said valves and through a spray head 75 secured to standard 59, which spray head squirts nebulized oil into the journal box 76. When the switch 71 is tripped, a timer, not shown, forming part of the electronic control 67, is set in motion to time the duration of the oil flow into the journal box 76.

The forward travel of platform 21 carries roller 31 forward until it contacts latch member 36, forcing said latch towards the left of FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5 thereby forcing the ledge 35 from under the lip of beam 32. The forward component of force exerted by the car wheel W on roller 43 causes the leverarm 42 to rotate shaft 28b This inturn rotates coupling 41 and shaft 28a which has secured thereto lever-arm 30. Rotation of the lever-arm 30 forces roller 31 to rotate in a downward direction, displacing beam 32 in a downward direction, so that roller 43 may be depressed sufficiently to permit the tread of the car-wheel to roll over it. The platform 21 thus no longer travels with the wheel and the photocell 64 is, therefore, no longer energized. Just prior to this time, roller 50 comes to the end of cam 52 allowing

assembly

58, 59, and 75 to come to a retracted position on platform 21 such that as the platform returns to the starting position there is less chance of damage to the oil-delivering assembly (58, 59 and 75). As the platform moves sufficiently forward, such that roller 31 is about to engage 36, the platform engages another switch 90 mounted on trackway 27 which is electrically in series with the solenoid 48. The contacts of the switch are normally closed, become open upon contact with the platform and thus release the solenoid. The downward displacement of beam 32 depresses spring 77 and at the same time actuates pilot valve 78. Actuation of pilot valve 78 permits air to flow into piston-and-cylinder 79 which has its piston rod 80 attached to platform 21 at 81 and the cylinder portion 82 to bracket 83 secured on base 20. Retraction of the piston-andcylinder 79 moves platform 21 to the right. The travel of the platform 21 towards the right of the drawings, is terminated when the beam 32 releases pilot valve 78 thereby interrupting the flow of air to the cylinder 82. The momentum of the platform towards its initial position of rest is dissipated by impingement of shaft 84, which is on the end of the platform, upon the enlarged end member 86 attached to piston rod 87 of spring cushioned shock absorber 88. As soon as the car wheel has passed beyond roller 43 the beam 32, which is free of the load imposed on it by the wheel pushing on

assembly

30, 31, 42 and 43, is pushed back up by the spring 77 to its normal horizontal position. The latch member 36, when the lip of the beam has reached the predetermined position, is urged into engagement therewith by spring 39. The travel of the platform 21 towards the right of FlGS. 1 and 2 also carries the roller 50 and lever arm 51 back along cam track 52 until the roller 50 passes beyond the horizontal portion thereof and down the perpendicular portion 520. The downward travel of the roller 50 on surface 520 permits spring urged sleeve 53 to rotate and carry lever arm 58 downward to rest upon platform 21. Standard 59 also rotates down and reclines upon lever arm 58.

We claim:

1 Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a platform movable in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the said railway vehicle, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translation movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, said nozzle being mounted to move in a plane substantially parallel to the said direction of movement of the railway vehicle between said retracted and said projected positions and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position, said means initially responsive to the translational movement of the platform comprising a roller, connnected with said nozzle means and movable with the platform and a cam track fixed with respect to a stationary surface such that the platform and the roller move together relative to the cam track, said cam track being positioned to be engaged by said roller as said platform commences its translational movement, such that said roller is cammed upward and said nozzle means is projected into operative position.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first-mentioned means comprise a solenoid and means for sensing the end of an axle in an open journal box and passing a signal to said solenoid to actuate the latter.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means responsive to translational movement of the platform to effect feed of oil to said nozzle means and further including timer means adapted to interrupt the feed of oil to said nozzle means after a predetermined time interval.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nozzle means includes a nozzle assembly connecting the nozzle outlet and the platform, said assembly arranged to lie generally adjacent to and parallel to the platform in the inoperative position, and to be raised to said operative position.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, said nozzle assembly including a set of levers extending from the platform to the nozzle outlet, said levers being movable about an axis substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the railway car for moving the nozzle means between the operative and the inoperative positions.

6. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translational movement ofthe platform for moving said nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position, said means subsequently responsive to the translational movement of the platform including a beam pivotally mounted at one end, means biasing the other end of said beam to an upper position, a latch, means biassing said latch to a position in which it holds said other end of said beam in said upper position, a roller mounted on said platform to roll on said beam and connected 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further including a valve actuated by said bean as it moves downwardly, and a pressure fluid circuit controlled by actuation of said valve to effect return of said platform to its initial position.

8. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translational movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position, said means and movable with the platform and a cam track fixed with respect to a stationary surface such that the platform and the roller move together relative to the cam track, said cam track being positioned to be engaged by said roller as said platform commences its translational movement, whereby said roller is cammed upwards and said nozzle means is projected into the operable position.

Claims

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first-mentioned means comprise a solenoid and means for sensing the end of an axle in an open journal box and passing a signal to said solenoid to actuate the latter.
3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means responsive to translational movement of the platform to effect feed of oil to said nozzle means and further including timer means adapted to interrupt the feed of oil to said nozzle means after a predetermined time interval.
4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nozzle means includes a nozzle assembly connecting the nozzle outlet and the platform, said assembly arranged to lie generally adjacent to and parallel to the platform in the inoperative position, and to be raised to said operative position.
5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, said nozzle assembly including a set of levers extending from the platform to the nozzle outlet, said levers being movable about an axis substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the railway car for moving the nozzle means between the operative and the inoperative positions.
6. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translational movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position, said means subsequently responsive to the translational movement of the platform including a beam pivotally mounted at one end, means biasing the other end of said beam to an upper position, a latch, means biassing said latch to a position in which it holds said other end of said beam in said upper position, a roller mounted on said platform to roll on said beam and connected with said wheel-engaging roller so as to hold the latter in projected position while said beam end is in said latch after said platform has been moved a predetermined distance, whereby said beam is free to be moved downwardly and said rollers can also move downwardly to free the wheel-engaging roller from the car wheel.
7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further including a valve actuated by said bean as it moves downwardly, and a pressure fluid circuit controlled by actuation of said valve to effect return of said platform to its initial position.
8. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position in which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effect translational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initially responsive to said translational movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initial position, said means and movable with the platform and a cam track fixed with respect to a stationary surface such that the platform and the roller move together relative to the cam track, said cam track being positioned to be engaged by said roller as said platform commences its translational movement, whereby said roller is cammed upwards and said nozzle means is projected into the operable position.