Improvements in and relating to the Construction of Railway Car Brakes and Bumpers.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Construction of Railway Car
Brakes and Bumpers.
I, LEONARD GEORGE ARNOLD, of Number 17, Main Street, in the City of
Menasha, in the County of Winnebago, and State of Wisconsin, United States of
America, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of my invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the construction of brakes and bumpers for
railway cars, and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, and combination
of parts, all as hereinafter more particularly set forth and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a plan view, partly in horizontal section of certain parts of
a car provided with my improvements.
Figs. 2 and 3, vertical longitudinal sections respectively taken on lines 2-2 and
3-3 of Fig.1,
Fig. 4, a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating another form of my invention,
Fig. 5, a vertical longitudinal section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and
Fig. 6, a side elevation partly broken away and illustrative of certain of the parts
shown in Fig. 4.
Referring by letter to the drawings, A. represents the frame of a car and Ba
draw-bar of the same, said draw-bar being provided with a rack C for engagement
with a pinion D that is fast on a laterally adjustable shaft E, the latter having its
bearings on said frame. In that form of my invention shown by Figs. 1 to 3,
inclusive, the shaft E may be provided at its ends with handles c, as illustrated in
dotted lines in Fig. 1, and at intervals of its length said shaft is provided with
collars d, e, to which I connect levers F, G. The levers F near the ends of the
shaft E are worked from the side of the car, and the lever G midway between
the pinion D and one of the side levers is actuated from the top of said car by
means of a pivoted vertically disposed rod H, best illustrated in Figure 2.
A chain I, or other flexible device, connects the shaft E with one of the rods [1
attached to the usual brake-lever J, and as will be hereinafter more fully described
a rear movement of the draw-bar B will set the brakes when the rack C and
pinion D are in gear. The rack and pinion are brought in and out of mesh by
lateral adjustment of the shaft E and this adjustment may be secured by means of
the handles c or levers F, G, as may be most convenient. When the side levers F
are employed, their position, in or out, will show the train hands the relation of the
pinion D.to the rack C, and the position of the rod H will also indicate whether or
not said pinion and rack are in mesh.
In both forms of my invention, the rear portion of the draw-bar B is hollow, as
best illustrated in Figure 5, and within this hollow rear portion of said draw-bar,
I arrange a spiral spring K that surrounds a rod L, the front end of the latter being
provided with a head fopposed to said spring. The rear end of the rod L is passed
through a timber g.of.the.car to engage a nut h, and arranged on said rod.between
said timber and adjacent end of the draw-bar B is another spiral spring M.,that
acts as a cushion for said draw-bar.
The spring K-resists forward movement. of the draw-bar and acts to return and
hold the latter in its normal position. Thus it will be seen that when the rack and
pinion are in mesh and the cars coupled, the chain I will be wound up to set the
brakes. Now a forward movement of the cars will actuate the rack and pinion gear

page_text: to turn the shaft D in its bearing to unwind the chain and release the brakes, the
spring K being compressed by this operation. If the train slows up or from any
other cause there is slack between cars, the spring K will expand and thereby set
the brakes.
.
In that form of my invention shown by Figures 4 to 6, inclusive, the shaft E has
one end thereof provided with a squared portion i for engagement with a corre-
spondingly shaped opening in the hub of a ratchet-wheel M, and a detent N is
pivoted to the car to be brought into engagement with said ratchet-wheel. The
rear end of the ratchet-wheel hub is provided with an annular groove for engagement
with a flanged bearing ring P bolted to the car and the front end of said hub is
provided with a similar groove for engagement with lugs or screws extended in
from a flange on a hand-wheel Q that is screw-threaded to the shaft E and
has its hub provided with a set-screw m, this construction being best illustrated in
Figure 4.
The pinion D being out of mesh with the rack C on the draw-bar, the detent N
is thrown back, the set-screw m tightened and the hand-wheel Q actuated. By
the latter operation the shaft E is rotated to wind the flexible device I and the
brakes are thus positively set, after which the detent is engaged with the ratchet-
wheel and the set-screw loosened. Now by actuating the hand-wheel the shaft E
is laterally adjusted to bring the pinion D into mesh with the rack C on the
draw-bar, this operation being due to the hub of said hand-wheel acting as a nut to
push upon said shaft, the latter sliding in the hub of the ratchet-wheel that is held
against rotation by the detent. The rack and pinion being in gear the detent is
again disengaged from the ratchet-wheel and the operation is the same as that
above described, or in other words when the car is at a standstill the brakes are set,
but when the train pulls out the flexible device is unwound to release said brakes,
the movement of the draw-bar being controlled by the spring K to automatically
compensate for slack between cars and set the brakes in proportion thereto. That
form of my invention last described is preferably employed in hilly countries,
because I am enabled to obtain a very tight set of the brakes while the car is at a
standstill and this normal set of said brakes is always exerted when there is no
draft on the draw-bar. In said latter form of my invention the levers F may be
employed as a means to show the train-hands the position of the brakes.
As best illustrated in Figure 2, the draw-bar of one car is provided with a link R
opposed to a pin S on the draw-bar of the opposing car, and the link in its normal
position rests against a bracket T on the end of the car. The link being in the
position shown, a rearward movement of the draw-bar will cause it to drop over
the opposing pin and thereby form a coupling for the cars.
In order that the brakes may be operated independent of the mechanism above
described, I connect another chain Ù to the lever J and attach said chain to a
rod at the end of the car.
If preferred, the lever F may be applied to the side of the car, in place of being
under the same.
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 :-
1. A draw-bar provided with a rack, a laterally adjustable shaft, a pinion fast on
the shaft to come in and out of mesh with the rack, and a brake lever flexibly
connected to said shaft.
2. A spring-controlled draw-bar provided with a rack, a laterally adjustable
shaft, a pinion fast on the shaft to come in and out of mesh with the rack, and a
brake lever flexibly connected to said shaft.
3. A draw-bar provided with a rack, a laterally adjustable shaft, levers connected
to the shaft, a pinion fast on the same to come in and out of mesh with the rack,
and a brake-lever flexibly connected to said shaft.
4. A spring-controlled draw-bar provided with a rack, a laterally adjustable
"1

page_text: shaft, a pinion fast on the shaft to come in and out of mesh with the rack, a ratchet-
wheel fitted to said shaft to rotate therewith without interference with the
adjustment thereof, a detent for the ratchet-wheel, a hand-wheel screw-threaded to
one end of the shaft and loosely connected with said ratchet-wheel, and a device
for locking the hand-wheel and shaft.
D
11
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