Abstract:
A manifold includes first and second plates secured together at an inner face of each plate. A plurality of chambers and passages are in the inner faces of the plates and at least one port on an outer face of each plate connected to one of the chambers and passages. A crossover element in the crossing chamber or passage of the first plate separates a chamber or passage in the first plate from a chamber or passage in the second plate in the area where the chambers or passages cross.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to pneumatic manifolds and more specifically to pneumatic manifolds for rail vehicle brakes. 
         [0002]    Manifolds for rail vehicle brakes include a plurality of faces having ports for connection to pneumatic devices, sources of pneumatic fluid and pneumatic circuits connected to the faces. In some cases, pneumatic devices are mounted on the face and in other cases, the pneumatic devices, sources of pneumatic fluid and pneumatic circuits are connected to the device by hoses or other couplings. The manifold is mounted to the rail vehicle. The rail vehicle may include locomotives or cars including freight, passenger and mass transit. 
         [0003]    One example of a prior art manifold, used for example in a freight locomotive known as CCB from New York Air Brake Corporation, is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,124. The manifold includes two plates having the interior faces machine to provide passages and chambers and the exterior faces machine to have bores for connecting the passages and chambers to ports on the exterior faces. The passages are generally shallower than the chambers. Adhesives are applied to the interior faces to bond the two plates together. The adhesives sometimes would extend into the shallow passages and block them. These manifolds had to be scrapped. Also, circuitous path had to be selected for the connection of the ports on either a common face or the opposite exterior faces. This limited the placement of the ports on the exterior faces of the manifold. This is particularly detrimental where the pneumatic devices are mounted on one of the faces instead of just mere connection to external or non-mounted pneumatic device. 
         [0004]    For the prior art structure of FIGS. 1-3 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,124, the two core plates, for example, are ¾ of an inch thick. This allowed a chamber depth of ½ inch into each plate for a combined depth of one inch chambers. If a bypass was needed because of the layout, a ¼ inch thick cover plate would be provided as a bypass plate on one of the exterior faces. 
         [0005]    The prior art manifold to FIGS. 1-3 was an improvement over a previous prior art manifold illustrated in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,124. This included a center core plate with a pair of cover plates. The core plate was machined to include the chambers and passages and the cover plates provided connection to external ports. The cover plates were substantially thinner than the core plate. Typically, the core plate was one inch thick and the cover plate was ½ inch thick. The one-inch thick core plate limited the depths of the chambers to ¾ of an inch. 
         [0006]    FIGS. 5-7 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,124 illustrated a three plate manifold wherein the center plate formed the crossover separation between chambers and passages in the two outer plates. The center plate had a thickness in the range of 1/16 to ¼ of an inch and the cover plates were ¾ of an inch thick. This manifold structure removes the limitation of the positioning of the chambers and passages. 
         [0007]    The present manifold is a modification of the three plate manifold to two plates with all the same advantages. The present manifold includes first and second plates secured together at an inner face of each plate. A plurality of chambers and passages are in the inner faces of the plates and at least one port on an outer face of each plate connected to one of the chambers and passages. A crossover element in the crossing chamber or passage of the first plate separates a chamber or passage in the first plate from a chamber or passage in the second plate in the area where the chambers or passages cross. 
         [0008]    The crossover element has a face flush with the inner face of the first plate. The crossing chamber or passage in the first plate has a first width in the inner face of the first plate and the crossover element has a second width greater than the first width. The crossover element may be in a recess in the inner face of the first plate and the recess has a width greater than a width of the crossing chamber or passage in the first plate and a depth less that a depth of the crossing chamber or passage in the first plate. The crossover element may be a third plate, a disk and/or a block with a bore extending along the length of the crossing chamber or passage. 
         [0009]    A first chamber or passage in the second plate lies between a second and third chamber or passage in the second plate. The crossing chamber or passage in the first plate extends over the first chamber or passage and is connected to the second and third chambers or passages. 
         [0010]    A method of making a manifold for a rail vehicle includes forming first and second plated each with a plurality of chambers and passages in an inner face of the plates and at least one port on an outer face of each plate connected to one of the chambers and passages. A crossover element is positioned in a crossing chamber or passage in the first plate. The inner surfaces of the first and second plates are positioned adjacent each other with the crossover element over a chamber or passage of the second plate; and secured. 
         [0011]    The crossover element is positioned in the crossing chamber or passage with a face extending above the inner face of the first plate. The height of the face of the crossing element is reduced to be flush with the inner face of the first plate before the securing. 
         [0012]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a transparent overlay of the passages, chambers and ports of a double core manifold of according to the principles of the present disclosure. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is an exploded cross-sectional view taken along lines II-II of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is an exploded cross-sectional view taken along lines III-III of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a perspective cross-sectional view of a plate/disk crossover element according to the principles of the present disclosure. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a perspective cross-sectional view of a block with a bore crossover element according to the principles of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0018]    An improved manifold for railroad vehicle brakes is illustrated in  FIGS. 1-5 . In comparing some manifolds the prior art and  FIG. 1 , it is evident that the passages P do not extend in circuitous paths but continuously cross over each other without limitation. This allows greater flexibility and design of location of ports and elements on the manifold since the interconnection of the ports by the passages is not limited. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , the manifold  100  includes a front plate  110 , having an exterior face  112  and an interior face  114  and a rear plate  120  having an exterior face  122  and an interior face  124 . The interior faces  114  of plate  110  and  124  of plate  120  are bonded together. The front and rear plates  110  and  120  include bores B, passages P and chambers C, the center plate  130 . 
         [0020]    Bore B  101  connects a port on exterior surface of plate  110  to passage P 101 . Passage P 102  in rear plate  120  is connected to passage P 101  by an overlap L 101  and passage P 103  in plate  110  by overlap L 102 . Passages P 104  and P 105  in rear plate  120  are connected to passage P 103  by overlap L 103 . 
         [0021]    Passages P 106 , P 107  and P 108  in the front plate  110  cross over passages P 102  and P 104  in the rear plate  120  and are separated there from by crossover elements CR 106 , CR 107 A and CR 108 A respectively. Passages P 109 , P 110 , P 112  and P 115  in the rear plate  120  cross over passages P 101  and P 103  in front plate  110  and are pneumatically isolated there from by crossover elements CR 109 , CR 110 , CR 112 A and CR 115 A respectively. Passages P 105 , P 112  and P 118  in the rear plate  120  cross over passages P 117  in front plate  110  and are pneumatically isolated there from by crossover elements CR 105 A, CR 112 B and CR 118  respectively. Passages P 105 , P 110 , P 112  and P 115  in the rear plate P 120  cross over passage P 119  in front plate  110  and are pneumatically isolated there from by crossover elements CR 105 B, CR 110 , CR 112 A and CR 115 B respectively. 
         [0022]    Passages P 106 , P 111  and P 120  in the front plate  110  cross over passage P 112  in rear plate  120  and are pneumatically isolated there from by common crossover element CR 112 C. Passage P 120  in the front plate  10  also crosses over passage P 114  in rear plate  120  and is pneumatically isolated there from by crossover element CR 114 . Passages P 107  and P 108  in the front plate  110  cross over passage P 121  in rear plate  120  and are pneumatically isolated there from by n crossover elements CR 107 B and CR 108 B respectively. Passage P 122  in the front plate  110  crosses over passage P 123  in rear plate  120  and is pneumatically isolated there from by crossover element CR 122 . 
         [0023]    Bore B 101  in the front plate  110  is connected to passage P 101 . Bore B 102  in plate  110  is coaxial with and connected to threaded bore B 103  in plate  120 . Chambers C 101 , C 102  and C 103  in the front plate  110  are coextensive and juxtapose chambers C 104 , C 105  and C 106  in the rear plate  120 . A bore  105  in front plate  110  connects the chamber C 101  to a port on exterior face  112  and connects chambers C 101  and C 104 . A bore B 110  connects a port on face  112  to chambers  102  and connects chambers C 102  and C 105 . Similarly, bores B 111  and B 112  connect to ports on exterior surface  112  and chambers C 103  and C 106  together. Bores B 113  and B 114  connect ports on exterior surface  112  to passage P 117 . 
         [0024]    Passage P 119  is an example of a passage in the plate  110  lying between two passages P 111  and P 116  in the plate  110 . The crossing passage P 115  in the plate  120  crosses over passage P 119  and is connected to and connects passages P 111  and P 116 . 
         [0025]    Through bores, including B 106 , B 107  and B 108 , B 109  for example, are provided in the four corners in the two plates to receive fasteners for mounting the manifold  100  to an appropriate bracket. 
         [0026]    Comparing the passages P to the chamber C in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , it will be noted that they are the same depth. Since the chambers are generally wider than the passages, they are not detrimentally affected by glue or the bonding agent extending into the chambers. By making the passages P the same depth as the chamber C, any bonding agent which accidentally gets in the passages P, would not restrict the passage. As a typical example, the front  110  is approximately 1.0 inches and the rear plates  120  is approximately 0.85 inches thick and the depth of the passages P and the chamber C are approximately 0.610 inches. 
         [0027]    There are two basic types of crossover elements in the present manifold design. There are disks or plates which sit in a shallow recess  126  in the interior face  122  of the rear plate  120  and a block with a bore which sits in a deeper recess  128  in the passage chamber. As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the disks, CR 118  are a circular disk which extends wider than the thickness of each of the intersecting passages to pneumatically isolate them from each other. By extending laterally, it provides support for the disk and provides for appropriate sealing of the elements. For the plate  120  having a thickness of 0.85 inches and a channel depth of 0.610 inches for example, the depth of recess  126  maybe 0.23 inches. The original disk would have a thickness of 0.25 inches. After it is inserted and secured, the disks are machined until the top surface of the disk is planed down with the top surface  124  of the back plate  120 . 
         [0028]    The block with the bore in a passage is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . Block  140  has a bore  142  extending along its length which is the length of the crossing chamber or passage. Using the previous examples, the depth of the recess  128  would be 0.610 inches and the depth of the block  140  is 0.625. As with the disk of  FIG. 4 , the block is inserted and secured and then planed down such that its stop surface is planer with the interior surface  124  and the plate  120 . Although the bottom of the recess for the blocks  140  is the bottom of the channel or passage, it may be raised from the bottom of the channel or passage. 
         [0029]    The disks have a chamfered circumference  140  at it is bottom edge to guide the disk into the recess  126 . The block  140  includes bottom chamfered corners  146  at the bottom edge. The sides are machined for proper fit in the channel or passage. The diameter of the bore  142  may be for example 0.375. A diameter of 0.375 at its outer bottom circumference  140 . 
         [0030]    The chamfering surfaces  140  and  146  act as an alignment or lead for the crossover element in the recess during the press operation. 
         [0031]    Although the disk in  FIG. 3  is shown as a circular disk, it may be of oblong shape and may form a cross over element for two adjacent crossing passages. 
         [0032]    The bores B, the passages P, the chambers C and the recesses for the crossover elements are machined in the front and rear plates  110  and  120 . 
         [0033]    The method of assembly would include press fitting the crossover elements into their corresponding recess and machining the top surface to be planar with the inner surface  124  of the bottom plate  120 . Next adhesive would be applied to the interior faces  114  and  124  of the front and rear plates  110  and  120  and they would be positioned and aligned on each other. The combined structure would then be clamped and the adhesive cured. If cured at room temperature, the curing would take 24 hours. Alternatively, the manifold  100  can be placed in 300° F. oven for four hours Preferably, a silk screening process is used to apply the adhesive. The order of applying the plates to each other is not critical. 
         [0034]    Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only, and is not to be taken by way of limitation. Although a locomotive brake manifold has been used by way of example, the present invention is applicable to any manifold requiring a substantial number of connections and interconnections of ports on different faces of the manifold. The scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.