US400638A - Air-brake signal - Google Patents

Description

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No. 400,638. Patented Ap1a2, 1889.

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UNITE STATES.

. PATENT OFFICE.

ALLEN B. COLLINS, OF BURLINGTON, IOWVA.

AIR-BRAKE SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 400,638, dated April 2, 1889.

Application filed November 23, 1888- Serial No. 291,711. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN B. COLLINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Air-Brake Signals, of which the following is a specification.

In the use of cars equipped with the airbrake system it frequently happens that through accident, mistake, or the interference of ignorant, careless, or maliciously-disposed persons one of the cocks in the main pipe may be closed and the brakes to the rear of this point cut off, and thereby taken from under the control of the engineer.

nt is intended, first, to im-' My improveme mediately notify the engineer, conductor, or

train-men of any s uch cutting off of a car, and to' indicate the cock that has been so closed, and, secondly, to provide means for cutting off the tenderv and engine without losing the air in the pipes and reservoir thereon; and it consists in the features and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention as applied to the engine, tender, and front car of a train. Fig. '2 is an'elevation, on an enlarged scale, of that part of my invention which is applied to the rear end of the tender, showing particularly the means for notifying the engineer of the cutting off of the tender; Fig. 3, an elevation of part of Fig. 2 with the parts in a different position; Fig. 4, a View, partly in section, of the spring and case shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a horizontal section of one of the cooks, taken on the line 00 0c of Fig. 6; and Fig. 6, a vertical section of one of the cooks, taken on the line y y of Fig. 5.

A is the main air-pipe; B B, cooks for closing the same; O O, whistles communicating through the cooks with the air-pipe; D, a branch pipe leading from the main pipe up into the tender; D, a whistle on such pipe; E, a spring-lever or trigger for opening and closing a. valve in-the pipe D; F, a spring for moving this lever in one direction; F, a case inclosing the spring F, and L an ordinary turn-buckle used to adjust the spring-lever or trigger E.

When my invention is to be employed, the cars, 850., should be provided with the usual main air-pipe, reservoirs, and brake-cylinders. The main pipe is attached to and coupled between the cars in the ordinary way, and conneots at its forward end with the main reservoir on the locomotive. It is provided with the usual cocks at both ends of the cars and tender and at the rear end of the locomotive. All of these devices are too well known to require further description. On the top of each of these cocks I place a whistle of any suit.- able form and size. The internal construction of one of the cooks, &c., is more particularly shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It is provided with three openings, H, H, and G, and is adapted to be turned so as to present the openings H and H to the air-pipe, or the opening G to the air-pipe, and one of the other openings to the pipe leading to the whistle. The opening G is preferably always on that side of the cock which is nearest to the end of the car, and the handle of the cock, when in a horizontal position, points in the same direction.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the train is made up ready to start, all of the cooks except the one atthe rear of the last car, which is closed, are so turned as to shut off the whistles and allow the air to pass through the main pipe. If, now, it be desired to uncouple a car, the cocks at each end thereof and at those ends of the adjacent cars which are next to such car are closed so as to close the air-pipe. In doing this the openings G are turned into line with the air-pipe, and one of the openings H H into line with the whistle-tube, and the air allowed to pass through the same and up into the whistle. This position of the cock is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The whistles, being blown by the air passing through them from the main pipe, give warning to the train-men that the cooks on the car in question are closed. When the cars are coupled again, the cooks will of course be returned to their former position.

To accomplish the second object of my invention as the same is stated above, I lead ofi at a point in the main pipe near the front end of the tender a branch pipe, D. This pipe passes downward from the under side of the main pipe, is bent twice at right angles,

and passes up through the floor of the tender close in front of the fuel-box, so as to be protected by the same, rising some two feet above the floor of the tender. this pipe I also place a whistle, as shown in the drawings. To admit air to this pipe and whistle, I place in the former, near the main pipe, and preferably below the same, a valve, I. This valve is operated by means of a spring-lever, to which it is connected by a rod or in other suitable manner. This spring lever has a slot, J, at its rear end, into which fits a pin, L, fastened to the handle of the cock at the rearward end of the tender. When this handle is in a vertical position, the pin is at the lower end of the slot and the valve I is closed. As the handle is raised to a horizontal position, closing the pipe A, the pin, moving on a radius greater than that of the curved portion of the slot, forces the lever back against the spring F, compressing the same and opening the valve 1. The lever then stands as shown in Fig. 3. If the handle be returned to its former position, the valve will be closed again; but so long as the valve I is open. the whistles D will be blown, and it may be desired to shut this valve while still allowing the cock to remain closed. That this may be done I continue the slot J horizontally, as shown. If, now, the lever being in the position shown in Fig. 3, pressure be applied to the top of the lever, it will be pushed down until the horizontal portion of the slot J comes opposite the pin L, when the force of the compressed spring F will draw the lever forward into the position shown in Fig. 2, thus closing the valve I. When the handle is returned to a vertical position, the pin will force the lever down and re-enter the curved portion of the slot, the valve still remaining closed. The spring F is provided with a case, F, to protect and to furnish support for it, the case being fastened to the bottom of the tender. All of these parts are preferably constructed of metal. WVhen the tender is to be uncoupled from the car next to At the upper end of it, and the handle of the cock on the rear end of the tender is turned to close the pipe A,1t

moves the spring-lever, as above described,

and opens the valve I, allowing the air to pass through the pipe D and blow the whistle D in the tender, thus warning the engineer. In like manner, when any careless or maliciouslydisposed person turns the handle of any one of the cooks, thus cutting the connection of the air-pipes, the whistle on that cock will be blown, thus notifying the train-men ot the fact that the connection is obstructed.

1. In an air-brake signal, the combination of the main air-pipe running lengthwise of the train beneath the cars, cooks for closing such pipe, and whistles attached to the cooks and adapted to be blown when the cooks are turned to close the main air-pipe, substantially as described.

2. In an air-brake signal, the combination of the main air-pipe provided with cooks for closing the same, a branch pipe connecting with the main pipe and provided with a whistle, and a valve for opening and closing the pipe, and a spring-lever connected with the handle of one of the cooks in the main air-pipe and moved thereby to open and close the valve in the branch pipe, substantially as described.

3. In an air-brake signal, the combination of the main air-pipe provided with cocks for closing the same, a branch pipe connected with the main air-pipe and provided with a whistle, and a valve whereby the pipe is opened and closed, and a slotted spring-lever attached to the handle of one of the cocks in the main pipe, and moved thereby in one direction to open the valve in the branch pipe, and moved in the other direction by means of a spring to close such valve, substantially as described.

ALLEN B. COLLINS.

Witnesses:

H. A. FARNHAM, GEORGE S. PAYSON.

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