US718903A - Automatic brake for vehicles. - Google Patents

Description

No. 718,903. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903.

J. A. BEYER.

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

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JOHN A. BEYER, OF REDHILL, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FOR VEHlCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Eatent No. 718,903, dated January 20, 1903. Application filed September 2,1902. Serial No. 121,872. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. BEYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Redhill, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Brakes for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vehicle-brakes; and it consists in certain improvements in the construction of such brakes, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a brake mechanism embodying the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the figures of the drawings.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved device of this character which is automatic in its operation-that is to say, is applied when descending an incline and is maintained out of operation when ascending an incline and when traveling over level stretches of ground. It is furthermore designed to have the brake mechanism applicable to any ordinary vehicle without altering the same in any manner whatsoever, to have said mechanism directly connected to the shafts, so as to be controlled by the draft of the horse, and, finally, to arrange the connection between the shafts and the brake-beam so as to accommodate for the lateral swing of the shafts when the vehicle is being turned.

Nith these and other objects in View the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings,and particularly pointed out in the appended claims it being understood that change in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, to adequately illustrate the application and operation of the present invention there have been shown the front and rear wheeled axles 1 and 2, respectively, and a pair of shafts or thills 3, which may be of any common or preferred form, as

they constitute no part of the improvements, except in the general combination therewith.

In carrying out the present invention there is provided a rocking brake-beam 4E, hung from the running-gear (the latter not shown) in any suitable manner, with the opposite ends deflected or offset, as at 5, and provided with terminal brake-shoes for engagement with the front sides of the peripheries of the rear wheels.

As hereinbefore indicated, it is designed to actuate the brake-beam from the shafts or thills, and to accomplish this object a rockbar 7 is disposed longitudinally across the front of the front axle, with its opposite ends journaled in the spaced bearing-ears 8, which project forwardly from the axle-clips 9, rigidly carried by the axle, and to which the thills are ordinarily directly connected.

A swinging clip or forked crank-arm 10 is carried by each end of the rock-bar and is provided with a sleeve or eye 11, receiving the bar and rigidly held therein by means of a set-screw 12, said sleeve also being situated between the adjacent pair of ears 8, so as to prevent lateral displacement thereof.

The eye of each thill-iron 13 is received within the forked or bifurcated member 10 and is pivotally connected thereto by means of a bolt or pin 14, which is passed through the ears and the eye. By this arrangement it will be seen that the rock-bar 7 is directly controlled by the thills, and hence forward draft tends to rock the bar in one direction, and rearward strain rocks it in the opposite direction.

For transferring motion from the rock-bar 7 to the brake-beam 4 there is provided a connecting-rod 15, which lies below the axles and has its rear end provided with a lateral pin or projection 16, which pivotally pierces a pendent arm 17, carried by the brake-beam at a point substantially midway of its ends. The forward end of the connecting-rod has a universal or ball-and-socket joint or connection 18 with the lower end of an arm 19, which depends from the rock-bar 7.

The purpose of the ball-and-socket jointis to permit of the bar7 swinging with the front axle without twisting the connecting-rod.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that when descending a grade the rearward thrust of the thills tends to swing the clips or arms inwardly, thereby rocking the bar 7, thrusting the connecting-rod 15 rearwardly in an endwise direction and also rocking the brake-beam 4 to apply the brakeshoes to the rear wheel. When forward draft is applied to the thills, as when on a level or ascending a grade, the reverse operation will take place, and the brake-shoes are thereby removed from the wheels.

What I claim is a 1. The combination with front and. rea

wheeled axles, and a rocking brake beam having brake-shoes, of a pair of axleelips carried by the front axle and each provided with a pair of spaced perforated ears, a rockbar having its opposite terminals journaled in the perforations of the respective pairs of ears, opposite substantially V-shaped crankarms having transverse eyes at their closed rear ends and. embracing the terminal portions of the rock-bar between the members of the respective pairs of ears and rigidly held upon the bar to turn therewith, the opposite side members of each crank-arm being provided with alined perforations, thills having thill-irons with their eyes fitted between the side members of the respective crank-arms, removable pivots passed through the perforations of the arms and eyes of the thill-irons, and an operative connection between the rock-bar and the brake-beam.

2. The combination with front and rear wheeled axles, of opposite axle-clips upon the front axle, each clip having a pair of spaced forwardly-projected perforate ears, a rockbar having its ends journaled in the perforations of the respective pairs of ears, opposite substantially V-shaped crank-arms having open ended transverse eyes at their rear closed ends and receiving the terminal portions of the rock-bar between the members of the respective pairs of ears, set-screws piercing the eyes and engaging the rock-bar to rigidly hold the arms thereon, thills having thill-irons with their eyes fitted between the sides of the respective V-shaped crankarms, pivotbolts removably piercing the arms and the eyes of the thill-irons, a rocking brake-beam having shoes in-cooperative relation with the rear wheels, corresponding crank-arms pendent from intermediate portions of the rock-bar and the brake-beam, and a connecting-rod having its rear end pivotally connected to the crank-arm of the brake-beam and its front end provided with a universal-joint connection with the intermediate crank-arm of the rock-bar.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. BEYER.

Witnesses:

HARRY W. GANDER, LAURA W. WALTERS.

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