Bottom rod safety guard for railway brake rigging

A bottom rod safety guard in the form of a loop is suspended from a brake beam. The cable ends are looped through holes in the beam, and a latch plate extends beneath the beam to provide a releaseable connection.

Background of the Invention 
This invention relates to railway vehicles and more particularly to a 
safety device to prevent an operating rod of the brake rigging from 
falling downward toward the tracks in the event of a failure. 
Numerous proposals have been made to provide a loop of a solid or flexible 
material beneath brake rods which may become disconnected or broken. Most 
prior art devices require the attachment of the safety guard by bolting or 
welding of the guard to the brake beam, which is a time consuming 
procedure. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,715, two brackets are situated on top of 
the brake beam. A flexible cable is employed having two strands at each 
end, which are looped around the beam and releaseably connected to a 
bracket. Other bottom rod safety guards employing flexible cables are 
shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,841,600, 4,135,608 and 4,195,715. 
The configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,715 has been successfully 
employed but is not suitable for applications in which the power cylinder 
is carried by the brake beam, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,608. Such 
beams have a larger cross section or other structure which make it 
impractical to wrap a strand around the beam. 
Summary of the Invention 
In accordance with the present invention, a slotted connector plate similar 
to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,715 is employed. In the present 
invention, a single strand cable is employed, and each end is passed 
through an opening in one end of a connector plate, and then through an 
existing bolt opening in the side wall of the brake beam. The cable then 
passes downwardly to a second opening in the other end of the connector 
plate. The second opening is a slot with an enlarged portion to 
releaseably receive an enlarged terminus on the end of the cable, and no 
other installation procedures are required. The resilience of the cable 
causes the free end of cable to be urged toward the narrow end of the slot 
in latching engagement to prevent disengagement of the cable during 
service, with the connector being situated across the width of the bottom 
of the brake beam.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment 
With reference first to FIG. 1, which shows a prior art construction, one 
type of railway brake rigging comprises a pair of brake beams 10 and 12, 
each of which carry power cylinders 14. The rigging includes an associated 
rod 16 extending beneath the beams. The rod 16 is typically provided with 
a safety guard, which is the form of a U-shaped rigid member 18 with 
apertured upper ends for receiving bolts 20 that extend through the beam. 
The purpose of the safety guard 18 is to provide support for the rod 16 in 
the event the rod becomes broken or disconnected. 
The bottom rod safety guard of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 2, 3 
and 4, wherein the bottom rod 30 is shown in relationship with the channel 
shaped brake beam 32. 
A length of resilient wire rope cable 34 is provided so as to depend from 
the brake beam 32 in a loop around the bottom rod 30. Rather than 
extending entirely around the brake beam or being bolted thereto, the ends 
of the cable are looped through the openings 36 in the beam 32 which 
normally receive bolts in a conventional application. 
An apertured connector plate 38 is employed to provide releaseable 
retention of each end of the cable. The plate has a circular opening 40 at 
one end which is only slightly larger than the diameter of the cable. The 
other end of the plate has a slotted keyhole opening 42, with a relatively 
narrow slot nearer said other end and extending to an enlarged opening 
toward the central portion of the plate. 
The end of the cable 34 is first passed through the small aperture 40 and 
the free end is provided with an enlarged collar 44, which may be swagged 
or otherwise secured to the cable. In order to provide a total length 
adjustment, a plurality of spaced collars may be provided near one or both 
ends of the cable as shown most clearly in FIG. 3. 
In order to install the safety guard, the end of the cable is passed up and 
through one opening 36 in the brake beam 32, and the end is extended 
downwardly and is inserted into the enlarged portion of the keyhole 
opening 42, whereupon the cable is released, causing the end to enter into 
the narrow portion of the opening in latching engagement, with the 
connector plate 38 extending across the width of the bottom of the brake 
beam 32 as shown. Thus, the connector or latching means 38 provides a 
connection between a standing part and the end of a cable. 
The arrangement is highly reliable for several reasons. The inherent 
springiness or resiliency of the cable tends to cause the looped portion 
of the free end to expand, causing the terminal to be urged into the 
narrow portion of the keyhole opening 42. Also, as shown, the distance 
between the small opening 40 at one end of the plate and the end of the 
slotted opening 42 is approximately equal to, or only slightly greater 
than the width of the beam, which prevents the enlarged end of the cable 
from moving inward and becoming disengaged. 
The other end of the cable is inserted through the other bolt hole in the 
brake beam 32 and is releaseably secured in an identical fashion by an 
apertured connector plate as shown in FIG. 2. When installation is 
complete, the cable defines a pair of parallel loops through the beam and 
a downwardly extending intermediate perpendicular loop which extends 
around the bottom rod 30 and is normally spaced therefrom. The degree of 
downward extension of the intermediate safety loop may be adjusted by 
adjustments to the cable length as aforesaid.