US939018A

US939018A - Automatic slack-adjuster for brakes.

Info

Publication number: US939018A
Application number: US43176608A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard F Hamilton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1908-05-09
Filing date: 1908-05-09
Publication date: 1909-11-02
Anticipated expiration: 1926-11-02

Description

R. F. HAMILTON.

AUTOMATIC SLAGK ADJUSTER FOR BRAKES.

APPLICATION lFILED MAY 9|, 1906.

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AUTOMATIG SLAGK ADJUSTBR FOB BRAKES.

APPLIOATIOH FILE@ HAY 9, 1908.

939,018a Patented Nov.2,19o9.

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RICHARD F. HAMILTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC SLAGK-ADJUSTER FOR BRAKES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD F. HAMIL- TON, a. citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Slack-Adjusters for Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic slack adjusters particularly for air brakes such as are used on railroads and the object of my present invention is to provide a simple and strong construction for the above indicated purpose, which will take up the entire 'i slack or lost motion upon a single application of the brakes.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a diagrammatic view of the entire mechanism, Fig. 2 is a detail view of the slack adjuster and its connections, drawn upon an enlarged scale; Fig. 3 illustrates a slightly diliferent form of the mechanism; Fig. 4f illustrates still another form of my invention; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the slide employed in the construction shown in Fig. A; Fig. 6 illustrates still a further form of my invention; Fig. T is an enlarged detail view of the take-up rod shown in Fig. (5 and of the mechanism for holding and releasing it; and Fig. 8 is a tace view ot the retaining member shown in Figs. G and 7.

In Fig. l, A indicates the brake beams having brake shoes A; these beams are connected with the dead levers B and live levers C respectively, each live lever being connected with the corresponding dead lever by a bottom-rod D; E and F are the cylinder levers connected with the live levers by the top rods Gr; H is the tie rod connecting the two cylinder levers, and J is the brake cylinder containing the release spring J (Fig.

and the piston J 2, the rod J 3 of said piston being connected pivotally with the cylinder lever E by means of the pin N. These parts may be constructed in substantially the usual way, but I prefer to have the fulcrum B of each dead lever secured to the car bolster or car body and not to the truck bolster, as it is generally arranged. The t'ulcrum is adjustable in any approved manner, for instance by lia-ving the fulcrum bracket or block provided with a series of openings for the ulcrum pin as shown in Fig. l.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 9, 1908.

Patented Nov. 2, 1909.

serial No. 431,766.

piston rod J 3 lis connected positively with an arm so that said arm will move in the same line as the piston rod and to the same extent, or in other words, said arm is rigidly connected with the piston or piston rod. In

Fig. 9, the arm M is secured to the piston rod J 3 through the medium of the same pin N which also connects said piston rod with the cylinder lever E. The arm M is apertured for the passage of a reach rod O extending therethrough loosely so that the arm may travel along said reach rod without aifecting its position, except under certain circumstances presently to be explained.

which the arm M is adapted to travel, is screw-threaded so as to receive nuts O2 forming stops limiting the independent movement of the arm M. These stops may be adjusted to any desired position on the portion O and may then be locked in position by means of check nuts O3. The reach rod is guided in a suitable stationary member or bracket K which may be secured to the cylinder J. O between said bracket K and the collar O4, rigidly secured to said rod, tends to throw the rod toward the right in Fig. 2. The reach rod is further guided in a slide L, guided in a bracket R to move in a direction parallel to the movement ot' the piston J 2, and preferably in line with said piston. This slide also carries a dog l) pivotally supported at P and pressed toward the right by a spring P2. These parts are so arranged that the reach rod O may move toward the left in Fig. l without moving the slide L, but when the reach rod moves toward the right, the dog P will grip the reach rod and will thus cause the slide L to move in unison with the reach rod to the same eX- tent. The slide L is provided with a take-up rod L guided in the support or bracket R and connected with the cylinder lever F pivotally as by means of a pin Q. A perforated dog S pivotally supported on the bracket R at S and pressed toward the left in Fig. l by a spring S2 surrounds the rod L ot' the slide L and holds the slide against movement toward the left, but permits it to move toward the right.

The distance between the stops O2 is ad justed until it is equal Vto the normal travel of l the piston J 2. Thus in the normal operation According to my present invention the l of the device the reach rod will remain stathe particular construction illustrated by That portion O of the reach rod O, along A spring T coiled on the reach rod tionary. After the brake shoes A have worn a longer travel of the piston will be required to apply the brakes, and (to the extent that the piston travel exceeds the distance between the stops O2) the reach rod will be carried to the left with the piston, the dog P allowing such movement to take place without affecting the position of the slide L which Vis held by the dog S against any accidental motion toward the left. lVhen the piston J 2 returns under the influence of the release spring J the dog P will securely grip the right-hand portion or end of the reacli-iod O and thus the slide L carrying said dog will be moved toward the right in unison with the reach rod, thereby shifting the fulcrum of the cylinder lever F toward the right and taking up the slack in the entire lever mechanism at both ends of the car. The fulcrum Q will remain in this iiew position until the brake shoes have worn again, when the adjusting operation described above will be repeated automatically. lVhenever any excess slack exists iii the lever mechanism, it will be taken up entirely at the next release of the brakes. The spring T and collar O* might be omitted in view of the fact that the spring J will return the reach rod toward the right owing to the engagement of the arm M with the right hand stop O2.

The construction shown in Fig. 3 is substantially the same as that illustrated in Fig. 2, the difference lying exclusively in the retaining device connected with the take-up rod L. The bracket It carries the retaining dog S swung from the point S as before described, but in addition to this I employ a second retaining dog S3 pivoted at S4 on the opposite side of the rod L. A spring S5 is interposed between the two retaining dogsl or members S, S3 and another spring SG is interposed between the bracket R and the retaining dog S3. The operation is the same as before described, that is, the dogs S, S3 keep the slide L from moving toward the left but allow it to move toward the right. The two dogs pivoted on opposite sides are somewhat more reliable in operation than the single dog of Fig. 2.

In the construction illust-rated by Figs. at and 5 the arm m is rigidly secured to the piston-rod J 3 between the cylinder J and the connecting pin iI. The reach rod 0 is provided with a threaded portion 0', stops 02, check-nuts 03 and a collar 0* for the retaining spring Z, in the same manner as described above. The right hand portion of this reach-rod has a rack 05, engaged by a pawl or tooth p upon a slide Z. This slide is connected rigidly with the take-up rod Z arranged in line with the piston rod J 3 and having rack teeth engaged by a pawl s pivoted at s on the guide r and pressed by a spring s2. The direction of the rack teeth of the rods 0 and Z and the position of the pawls 72 and s is such as to secure the same operation which I have described with reference to Fig. 2, that is, when the reach-rod 0 moves toward the left, the pawl 29 slips, and the slide Z and take-up rod Z remain stationary, being held against any accidental movement by the pawl s; and when the reach-rod 0 moves toward the right it takes the slide Z and take-up rod Z with it, thus adjusting the fulcrum Q, to a new position and taking up the slack as before described.

The construction illustrated by Fig. 6 differs from that of Fig. 2 only by the construction of the take-up rod L2 and of the retaining device working in conjunction therewith. This take-up rod is provided with a spiral groove Ls engaged by a nut U. This nut is provided oii one side with teeth U engaging corresponding teeth R on the bracket It so that the nut can turn in one direct-ion only, as long as it is engaged with said teeth. On the other face the nut is preferably provided with a race to be engaged by balls V interposed between said nut and tlie-adjacent portion of the bracket It. This construction will, like those described before, allow the take-up rod to move toward the right, but not toward the left. Then it is desired to entirely release the take-up rod so that the initial adjustment may be made, the nut U is disengaged from the teeth R by moving it to the right, it being understood that sufficient play is allowed in the ball race for this purpose and if desired a shifting handle `X pivoted at X and having a roller X2 may be provided for this purpose.

I claim:

l. In air brake mechanism, the combination with the biake cylinder, its piston and piston rod, and brake mechanism operated thereby, of a take-up rod connected with the brake mechanism and movable in line with the piston rod, al reach rod located to one side of the piston rod which latter has a limited independent movement after which the piston and reach rod move in unison to the saine extent, retaining means for holdingthe take-rip rod against movement in one direction, and retaining means engaging the reach rod adjacent to its axial line and carried by said take-up rod to move therewith yet allow the reach rod to move relatively to said second-named retaining means in the direction opposite to that in which the firstnained retaining means allows the take-up rod to move.

2. In air brake mechanism, the combination with the brake cylinder, its piston and piston rod and brake mechanism operated thereby, of a take-up device connected with the brake mechanism, a retaining means carried by a relatively stationary part of the` structure for holding the take-up device against movement in one direction, a reach rod relatively to which the piston has a limn ited independent movement after which the piston and the reach rod move in unison to the same extent, and retaining means carried by said take-up device to move in unison therewith in both directions and engaging the reach-rod to allow it to move relatively to the take-up device only in the direction opposite to that in which the irst named retaining means allows the take-up device to move.

3. In air brake mechanism, the combination with the brake cylinder, its piston and piston rod, and brake mechanism operated thereby, of an arm connected with the piston rod rigidly, a reach-rod having two stops adapted to be engaged by said arm, a takeup rod movable parallel with the pistons path, and connected with the brake mechanism, retainingmeans for holding the take-up rod against movement in one direction and retaining means for compelling the reach-rod and take-up rod to move in unison in the opposite direction, while leaving the reachrod free to move independently in the same direction in which the take-up rod is prevented from moving.

4. In air brake mechanism, the combination with the brake cylinder, its piston and piston rod, and brake mechanism operated thereby, of a take-up device connected with the brake mechanism and movable in line with the piston rod, an arm rigidly secured to the piston rod and projected therefrom laterally, a reach-rod arrange-d laterally of the piston rod and relatively to which the said arm has a limited movement after which the arm and reachnrod move in unison to the same extent, retaining means for holding the take-up device against movement in one direction, and' retaining means for holding the reach-rod against movement relatively to the take-up device in the opposite direction.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this tenth day of April, 1908.

RICHARD F. HAMILTON.

lVitnesses JOHN Lorna, JOHN A. KEH'IJENBECK.