Improvements in Brakes for Railway-cars.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 9th Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION,
Improvements in Brakes for Railway-cars.
1, DAVID LEON WINTERS, of Pueblo, in the County of Pueblo, and State of
Colorado, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to brake-operating mechanisms and particularly to a
friction-clutch and operating mechanism for use in connection with electrically-
propelled cars, wherein the motor is arranged upon the axle between the wheels,
and the brake mechanism must be disposed in a contracted space between one end
of the motor and the adjacent wheel, and it has for its object to provide a compact,
simple, and efficient mechanism which may be operated by means of a lever from
the platform of the car.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following
description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the
appended claim.
In the drawings:
Fig. 1, is a side view, partly broken away, of a car provided with a brake and
operating mechanism embodying my invention.
Fig. 2 is a front view of the clutch, showing the same applied in the operative
position to an axle and indicating in diagram the casing of a motor.
Fig. 3 is
side view of the clutch and connections.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a detail of one arm of the clutch.
Fig. 6 is a detail of the clutch-shoe.
Fig. 7 is a detail view showing a slightly modified form of clutch shoe,
Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of
the drawings.
1 designates an axle bearing the wheels 2, and secured to the axle between the
planes of the wheels is the motor-casing 3, and adjacent to one end thereof the
gears 4, all of the ordinary or any preferred construction. Secured to the inner
side of one of the wheels is an annular friction plate 5, which may be secured to
the wheel by means of bolts 6 or similar devices, and loosely mounted upon the
axle adjacent to the plane of the said wheel is a drum 7, to which are secured
the radial clutch-arms 8, provided at their outer extremities with clutch-shoes 9 for
frictional contact with said annular plate. These clutch-shoes are provided in
their faces with openings or notches 10 to allow sand and grit of any kind to
escape as the clutch-shoes are brought into contact with the friction plate. The
clutch-arms are provided at their inner ends with lateral ears 11, perforated for the
reception of the securing bolts 12 to facilitate the attachment of said arms to
the shaft of the axle.
13 represents brake-shoes, which are connected by a brake bar 14 and to the
centre of the brake bar is connected one end of a connecting-rod 15 all of the
ordinary construction, and 16 represents a brake-rod also of the ordinary
construction, which serves as the means of communicating motion to the brake
levers not shown. To the extremity of this brake-rod are connected the ends of
the brake-chains 17, the outer ends of said chains being secured to opposite sides
of the drum, whereby said drum will wind one of the chains and thus operate the
brake-rod irrespective of the direction of rotation of the wheel. The means for
bringing the clutch-arms into operative relation with the friction plate carried by

page_text: the wheel may be varied according to the construction of the car upon which the
device is used, but in the construction illustrated, said means consist of a hand-
Jever 18 which is adapted to be arranged on the platform or dash of the car within
reach of the motor-man, a rock-shaft 19 to which said hand-lever is connected, and
a yoke 20 which engages a groove 21 at one end of the drum or upon a sleeve
formed integrally therewith. Said rock-shaft is mounted in a keeper 22, supported
by a bracket 23 projecting laterally from the motor-casing.
From the above description it will be understood that in order to apply the
brake the hand-lever is operated to turn the rock-shaft, and thus move the clutch-
arms into position to bring the clutch-shoes into contact with the friction-plate,
whereupon the motion of the wheel is communicated to the clutch-arms and by the
latter to the drum and one of the friction chains is reeled upon the drum, thus
operating the brake-rod.
The friction plate is employed to prevent frictional contact with the wheel
proper, and thus avoid wearing the latter, but it will be understood that the clutch-
shoes may be used directly in contact with surface of the wheel, thus dispensing
with the friction-plate.
Various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction
may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing
any of the advantages thereof.
It will be understood from the foregoing description that the improved brake-
clutch may be operated from either or both platforms of the car, and that as
shown in Fig. 7, the clutch-shoe 9", may be made continuous and consist of a
ring for frictional engagement with the annular friction plate which is attached to
the car-wheel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
The combination with a brake-rod and connections, of a drum, flexible connections
between the drum and the brake-rod, an annular friction-plate removably secured
to and carried by a wheel, clutch-arms secured to the drum and provided with
clutch-shoes to engage the friction-plate, and means for operating the clutch-arms
to bring their shoes into frictional contact with said friction plate, substantially as
specified.
Dated this 8th day of February 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.