Improvements in Tire-Trimmers for the Wheels of Railway and similar Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Tire-Trimmers for the Wheels of Railway and
similar Vehicles.
I, FRANK HARRISON BABCOCK, of Johnsonburg, in the County of Elk, and State
of Pennsylvania, 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 particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
This invention relates to tire-trimmers, the object being to provide a device by
which the tires or flanges of locomotive or car wheels may be trimmed during the
ordinary braking operation and without necessitating the removal of the wheel
from the locomotive or car.
The invention will be fully described hereinafter and particularly pointed out in
the claims.
In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the device. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal
section. Fig. 3 is a transverse section. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a detached
detail. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a modification.
Similar reference numerals indicate similar parts in the several figures.
1 represents a brake-shoe of ordinary form and construction, provided with the
usual hook 2, and opening 3, through the medium of which it is connected to the
brake-head in the ordinary manner.
4 represents side flanges adjustably secured to the brake-shoe by means of
screws 5, the object of these flanges being to hold the jaw in proper position to
effect the trimming of the tire or flange of the wheel, and by means of their
adjustability the device may be used on wheels of different widths.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the shoe is provided with the ordinary groove 6 for
the reception of the flange of the wheel and with the ordinary bearing-surface 7 to
engage the tread of the wheel and with a recessed portion 8 which corresponds
with that part of the tread of the wheel which is usually worn by its contact with
the rail, and against which portion the brake-shoe is preferably adapted not to bear.
The bearing-surface 7 is provided with recesses 9 adapted to receive the blocks 10
which are removably secured therein by screws 11 or other suitably fastening
devices. The recesses are undercut at one end, as indicated at 12, and the opposite

page_text: end may be either straight or inclined outwardly, as indicated at 13 and the block
is correspondingly shaped at its opposite ends to fit snugly in the recess.
Pro-
jecting upwardly from the lower end of the block or that end which fits in the
undercut end of the recess, is a cutter 14 which is intended to cut down the tread
of the wheel where it is not worn by contact with the rail in order to give the
tread a straight bearing-surface across its periphery.
These blocks, and particularly the cutting portion 14, will be of hardened steel,
and they may be readily removed from the brake shoe for the purpose of sharpening
the cutting portion 14 or for replacing them when the cutting portion is entirely
worn away. Preferably the cutting edge 14, will extend diagonally across the
surface 7 for the purpose of giving a shearing cut.
15 represents blocks each provided with a cutting portion 16. The blocks 15
are removably fitted into that part of the brake shoe adapted to engage the flange
of the wheel. This cutting portion 16 is so slaped as to trim the periphery of
the flange to its proper shape: As is well known, the wear between the side of the
flange and the rail will frequently give the periphery of the flange almost a knife-
edge which frequently results in causing the wheel to run through a switch in
the wrong direction and thereby cause an accident.
As shown in Fig. the invention is intended to be applied to the blind-wheel of
a locomotive in which case it is necessary to trim off both sides of the periphery of
the wheel as the groove caused by contact with the rail is in the middle of the tread.
From the foregoing it will be seen that when the wheel of a locomotive or car
has become unevenly worn by its contact with the rail my trimming device may be
• substituted for the ordinary brake shoe which is applied to such wheel and that
the trimming device will be brought into engagement with the wheel at each
application of the brakes and will thereby soon trim down the uneven surface on the
tread of the wheel and bring the flange to its proper form, at the same time serving
almost as effectively as the ordinary brake shoe for braking purposes, or in the
case of a locomotive the latter may be jacked up clear of the track and run
carefully with the trimming appliance in contact with the wheel until it is
trimmed.
It is of course to be understood that the cutting portion on the removable blocks
will be of such form as to adapt them to the proper form of that portion of the
wheel they operate upon.
By placing the cutting edge 14 at the end of the block fitting into the undercut
end of the recess in the shoe the strain upon the fastenings caused by the friction
between the wheel and cutting edge will be greatly reduced and transferred instead
to the brake-shoe.
It will be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of
construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing
any of the advantages of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In a tire-trimmer, the combination with a brake-shoe having a recess formed
in its wheel-engaging surface, of a block removably secured in said recess and
provided with a projecting cutting edge, substantially as described.
2. In a tire-trimmer, the combination with a brake-shoe provided with a recess
in its wheel-engaging surface, of a block removably secured in the said recess and
provided with a projecting cutting edge extending diagonally across said engaging
surface, substantially as described.
3. In a tire-trimmer, the combination with a brake-shoe provided with a recess
in its wheel-engaging surface, said recess being undercut at one end of a block
removably fitted within said recess and provided with a projecting cutting edge
at its end which fits into the undercut end of the recess, substantially as described.

page_text: 4. In a tire-trimmer, the combination with a brake-shoe and tire-trimming
devices attached thereto, of side flanges adjustably secured to the brake-shoe, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose described.
Bil
2
1807
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.