Year: 1887

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by EDWARD CORSON, of City of Brooklyn, County of
Kings, State of New York, and ORIGEN C. CRANE, of New York, County
and State of New York, United States of America.]
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the county of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E. 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 statenient :-
In carbrakes the shoes or brake blocks that rest upon the wheels are exposed to
considerable wear especially in elevated railways where the trains are frequently
stopped. The consequence is that the tie rod connecting the brake beam and lever
being too long fails to act in clamping the wheels by the brake shoes.
These improvements are made for shortening the brake rod from time to time as
the brake shoes wear away and consist of the combination of devices hereinafter set
forth.
Fig. 1 is a side view of this invention showing its adaptation to a brake of a car.
Fig. 2 is a detached enlarged side view of the end of the brake rod, and
attachment.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of figure 2.
The brake shoes A are united in pairs by the brake beams B.
C represents the brake lever pivoted at 2 upon one of the brake beams; and Dis
the brake rod that unites the lower end of brake lever with the distant brake beam
and it has been found that it is most convenient to apply this present improvements
to the joint between the brake lever and this brake rod. This brake rod D is forked
at the end so that the lower end of the brake-lever C passes in between the forks 3.
These forks are slotted at 4 for the purpose of placing a safety stop (not shown).
Upon the top and bottom faces of the forks 3 are teeth 5, and these teeth receive the
teeth of the clamping-blocks E, that are placed one at the top and the other below the
forks, and these clamping-blocks have upon their inner surfaces guiding-blocks that
pass into the slots 4 between the forks, and use of the bolt 7 is made use of to tie the
clamping-blocks E together.

page_text: The parts are made automatic in their action, so that the shortening of the brake-rod
will take place whenever there is sufficient looseness for one tooth at a time to be
taken up. To effect this object, the bolts 7 are made sufficiently long to receive around
them the helical springs 9, that will yield to allow the clamping-blocks E to separato
as the same slide upon the inclined teeth 5.
The brake-lever C passes through the slots in the blocks E, and the pivot bolt 6
holds said lever to the lower clamping-block, by passing through holes in the said
clamping block and the end of said lever (see Figs. 2 & 3.)
This device will be automatic, because when the lever C swings sufficiently far in
one direction to strike against the upper block E at one end of the mortise it moves
the said clamping-block and causes it to take up one tooth, and when said lever C
strikes against the upper clamping-block at the other end of the mortise said upper
clamping-block cannot move, on account of the direction in which the teeth are
inclined; but said upper clamping-block becomes a fulcrum, and the lever slides
the lower clamping-block along, causing it to take up another tooth, and thus adjusts
the parts by taking up the slack of the brake-rod D.
It will be apparent that a hand-lever or wedge or screw may be made of use to force
the clamping-block along in the fork of the brake-rod, so as to take up one or more
teeth at a time in adjusting the length of such brake-rod, the springs 9 yielding as the
parts are moved.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents and in what manner the same
is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
1. In a slack-adjuster for cur-brakes, the brake-rod D, with slotted forked end 3,
with teeth 5, in combination with the clamping-block E, provided with teeth and
adjustably held to said rod, by bolts 7, 7, and springs 9, and the brake-lever C,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. The clamping-block E, with teeth in combination with the forked end 4 of the
rod D, provided with teeth 5, the bolts 7, with springs 9, and the brake-lever C,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
3. The combination, with the brake-lever, of a brake-rod having a forked end and
teeth on the top and bottom edges thereof, clamping-blocks above and below the fork
engaging said teeth, and mortises for the lever to pass through, a pivoi connecting
the lever to the lower clamping-block, and bolts passing vertically through the
clamping-block and between the fork and springs around the bolts, substantially as
set forth.
Dated this 29th day of April 1887.