Combined reservoir and pipe hanger for railroad brakes

A combined reservoir tank and pipe bracket for use in a railroad car air brake system includes a tank having a partition therein which divides the tank into emergency and service portions. An emergency valve mounting saddle and emergency valve are attached to the exterior of the tank and connected to the emergency portion of the reservoir. A service valve mounting saddle and service valve are attached to the exterior of the tank and there is a connection therefrom with the service portion of the tank. The mounting saddles are spaced on opposite sides of the tank and there is a tube extending within the tank and connecting the saddles which functions as a pipe bracket quick action chamber. There are conduits connecting the saddles in parallel arrangement with the quick action chamber tube for brake cylinder air, brake pipe air and the emergency reservoir.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to railroad car air brake systems and in 
particular to a combined reservoir tank and pipe bracket. 
A primary purpose of the invention is a combined reservoir tank and pipe 
bracket for the environment described which eliminates a substantial 
amount of external piping in an air brake system. 
Another purpose is a structure of the type described which places the pipe 
bracket filter on the exterior of the structure, thereby permitting easy 
access. 
Another purpose is a simply constructed reliably operable combined 
reservoir tank and pipe bracket eliminating the conventional connections 
between the reservoirs and the ABD control valve. 
Other purposes will appear in the ensuing specification, drawings and 
claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A typical railroad car air brake system includes an ABDW control valve and 
the conventional reservoir tank having an emergency portion and a service 
portion. The brake pipe is connected to the pipe bracket portion of the 
ABDW control valve, with the pipe bracket forming the interconnection 
between the emergency portion and the service portion of the ABDW valve. 
There are external connections from the pipe bracket portion of the ABDW 
valve to the brake cylinder and retaining valve and internal connections 
to the emergency reservoir and service reservoir. The present invention 
combines the reservoir tank having both the emergency and service portions 
and the pipe bracket. The emergency and service valves normally forming a 
part of the ABDW valve are mounted upon the reservoir or tank which, 
combined with the cross connections between and through the reservoir, 
function as a combination tank and pipe bracket. 
A tank or reservoir is indicated at 10 in FIG. 1 and has mounting brackets 
12 on opposite ends thereof. The tank is divided into two sections by an 
interior diaphragm or partition 14, with the emergency portion of the tank 
being indicated at 16 and the service portion of the tank being indicated 
at 18. Looking specifically at FIG. 1, the emergency valve portion of the 
ABDW control valve is indicated at 20 and the service valve portion of the 
ABDW control valve is indicated at 22. The brake pipe connection to the 
valve construction illustrated is by pipe 24 which is connected to a 
filter 26 mounted adjacent to the emergency valve 20. As indicated in FIG. 
2, the connection for the brake cylinder pipe is indicated at 28 on the 
service valve with the connection for the retaining valve being indicated 
at 30, also on the ABDW service valve portion at 22. A release rod is 
indicated at 32, with the above-described connections forming the normal 
connections to the ABDW valve. 
Mounted on the exterior of tank 10 is an emergency saddle 34 and a service 
saddle 36, with saddle 34 forming a part of the mounting structure for 
emergency valve 20, which structure includes a mounting plate 38 which 
supports both emergency valve 20 and filter 26. Plate 38 will form the 
necessary interconnections between the emergency valve and filter and the 
service valve as described hereinafter. 
Service valve mounting plate 36 supports a mounting plate 40 and service 
valve 22. Looking specifically at FIG. 4, which is a section through the 
mounting arrangement for the service valve, and there will be a similar 
mounting arrangement for the emergency valve, there are shown several 
conduits or tubes which cross over between the mounting saddles 34 and 36, 
forming connections therebetween. There is a large tube 42 which functions 
as the pipe bracket quick action chamber, conventional in the pipe bracket 
portion of the ABD valve. Tube 42 is connected to both saddles 34 and 36 
and forms a connection therebetween. A brake pipe connection is formed by 
conduit 44 and a brake cylinder connection is formed by conduit 46. Both 
conduits 44 and 46 are connected between saddles 34 and 36 and form the 
normal cross connections between the emergency and service valves of the 
ABD control valve. A conduit 48 forms a cross connection between the 
emergency and service valves for emergency reservoir pressure. Saddle 36 
is completed by an opening 50 which is a connection between the saddle and 
service reservoir 18. In like manner, saddle 34 supporting the emergency 
valve will have a connection with emergency portion 16 of tank 10. 
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the construction details of the saddle. The saddle 
consists essentially of a plate construction 52 welded to the exterior of 
the tank, as at 54, with the described conduits passing through openings, 
such as 56 in the tank exterior and then being welded, as at 58, to the 
plate construction 52. The saddles thus form rigid strong connections 
mounted upon the exterior of the reservoir tank with cross connections 
therebetween forming passages for brake cylinder pressure, brake pipe 
pressure and emergency reservoir pressure. Each of the saddles will have 
an opening or connection to the emergency and service reservoirs, 
respectively. In addition, filter 26 is mounted on the emergency valve 
supporting structure and forms the connection for the brake pipe to the 
overall valve construction described. This is particularly advantageous as 
it makes the filter, customarily a part of the pipe bracket, readily 
accessible for replacement. In the ABD valve, the valve must be largely 
disassembled in order to change the air filter. That is not true in the 
present instance and there is a connection from the brake pipe to the 
filter, with the filter being mounted exteriorly of the pipe bracket and 
then a connection from the filter into the emergency valve supporting 
structure. 
Of particular advantage in the present invention is the elimination of the 
various pipe connections between the reservoir and the ABD valve. 
Elimination of the pipes is not only cost effective, but eliminates the 
possibility of pipe damage as well as pipe leakage. 
Whereas the preferred form of the invention has been shown and described 
herein, it should be realized that there may be many modifications, 
substitutions and alterations thereto.