US23923A - Improvement in railroad-gar brakes - Google Patents

Description

. L. KIRK. AIR BRAKE.

' No. 23,923. Patented May 10, 1859.

UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

LEWIS KIRK, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT. IN n AlLRoAn-CA'R BRAKES.,

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 23,923., dated May l0, 1859.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS KIRK, of the city of Beading, in the county of Berks and State o of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Imsection of a -railroad-car with my brake arrangement, the line .fr x, Fig. 2, indicating the plane of section. Fig. 2 is a' plan or top view of the same, in which theplatform of the car hasbeen removed. Fig. '3 is a horizontal sec tion of the pumpwhich I use for operating the brakes, the line y y, Fig'. 4, indicating the plane of section; and Fig. 4 vis a transverse vertical section of this pump, taken in the plane indicated by the line z z, FigLB.

Similar letters of reference in the several Iigures indicate corresponding parts of my invention. t v

The object of this invention is to employ hydrostatic pressure for the purpose of operating the brakes of a railroad-car; and the invention consists in a peculiar construction of the pumps employed and in a certain arrangement of rods, levers, `and arms, in connection with the pumps, both of which will be hereinafter described, so that the pumps may be operated eitherby a hand-wheel or by means of the pressure with which the cars act on the couplings. ,Y

To enable others skilledin the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceedto describe the saine.

A is the platform of a'railroad-'canof the usual construction, and a pump, B, is attached to the under side of this platform andabout in the center of thesame. This pump consists of onemaiu cylinder, O, with two pistons and` two pump-cylinders, D D', the bore of which is considerably smaller than the bore of the main cylinder G. The interior arrangement of this pump is clearly represented in Figs,v 3 and 4. 'The three cylinders-C and D D' are connected by passages a a and b b', which ex tend from thevalve-chambers c c7x c' c'* to cavities d, from which passages c run through to the interior of the main cylinder C and to that parti, d', of the same which is left free between its two pistons, and other passages, a* and b*,

extend from the upper part ofthe valve-chambers c c* c' c'* to, those parts of the main cylinder which are on the outside of its pistons. The valvechambers c 0*-, as well as those c' cii, communicate by means of cocks E and E', as' represented-in Fig. 4. The lower part of the valve-chamber c extends into a cavity, e, which communicates with the passage f in the cock E, and the cavity e at the same time communicates with the cavity g, from which a passage, hjleads'into the interior`of the main cylinder C. The valvecha'mber c* communicates with a cavity, 6*, which communicates with -another cavity, gif, 'from which'a passage, if, leads on one side intothe interior of the main cylinder, and on the other side into the pas-v sage f in the cock E. If theco'cks E and E' are turned to such a positionjthat thel passagef is not in communication with the valvechambers, thewater forced by the pistons of the pumpfcylinders is forced through the passages a a l b b* to the outer .ends'oi' the mainl cylinder, and its pistons are forced together.- If, however, the cocks E E are in a position as represented in Fig. 4, the Water forced by one of the pumpcylinders runs right through to theother one and circulates through the pump without affecting the pistons ofthe main cylinders. In the first case, the water taken from the part d' between the pistons of the main cylinder is used to force the two pistons together. In the latter case the water drawn `in by one ofthe pump-cylinders from the space d returns to the same through the passage f without moving the pistons of the main cyliuder. By opening the cocks E E' the pressure which may act on the outsideof these pistons Lis taken off in an instant.

The piston-rods c2 c of the two pistons C and 03 of the main-cylinder connect with Ythe levers F F', and the lever F,which is attached to the beam H by means of an arm, fl, connecting with the brakes F* of the truck I by means of rodsf' and f2.' In the same manner the lever F', which is attached to the beam H' bymeans of Van arm, f'd, connects with the brakes F'* of the truck I'. are placed on cach of the rods c2 and which force the pistons back as soonas the pressure is taken o', which is done by opening the cocks E and E'. Thepiston-rods d. and d3 of the pump-cylinders extend out ori/different sides, and the piston-rod 0l2 is connected to a crank, j,which is attached toa vertical axle, J,which Spiral springs i may be rotated by means of ahandwheel,-J,

the cock E by means of a bel1-crank, e2, and a rod, e*, so that the cock E' isclosed by depressing the rod K with the foot. v-vThe pistonrod d"i on the other Side has its bearing in the cross-beam H', and it is providedwith a spring'- catch, k, which works in a slot made into a` square part, (ZW, of the piston-rod, and which is attached to the same by means of a pivot, k. A spring, l, serves to raise the catch k, and a bell-crank, Z, which is hinged to the crossbeam H', extends withvone of its arms, Z, through the vslot in the square part 13:1 of the pistonrod d3. The other arm, Z2, ofthe bell-crank Z is attached to an eccentricring, m, which fits over an eccentric-disk, en', on the axle n of one ofthe wheels, W, in the truck I'. It' the catch It' is raised, the arm Z' of the bell-crank Z, which has a vibrating motion by the eccentric, moves without touching the same; vbut if the catch k is depressed into the slot in which it is fastened the arm Z strikes against the same and the pistonrod d receives a reciprocating motion, whereby the water is forced into the main cylinder C if the cock E is in the proper position.

The catch k is operated upon by means of a cam, O, which is attached to a rod, p, which extends through the whole length of the car,- and another cam, g, is fastened on this rod,y which works in a socket, r, which is attached to a rod, s. This rod has one of its bearings in the platform of the car and the other one in a hanger, t, and it extends beyond the platform, so that it can be depressed by the foot.- The lower end of the rod s is connected to a crank, u,'by which the cock E is operated. A hand-lever, L, is attached to one end of the rod p, and tothe other end of the same the coupling M isaattachcd,w hich is so arranged that by pressing on the same the rodrp is turned sufficiently to close the cock E and to depress the'catch k. In this case the pump-cylinder D will force Water into the main cy1inder,and the brakes will be applied until the Wheel W, to the axle of which the eccentric m is attached, ceases to revolve. In the same manner 'by turningv the hand-lever L the catch L' may be depressed, and as the cock E is closed at -the, same time by the action of the cam q ou the rod s the pum p-cylinder D begins to operate and the brakes are applied until the wheel W ceases to revolve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, Aand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The arrangement of the hand wheel J and the rod K,v in combination with the pump B,

so that bydepressing the rod K the pump is placed in working order, and that the same can be operated by means of the hand-wheel J', substantially as described.

2. The arrangement of the spring-catch k, which is attached to the piston-rod d3 of one ofthe pump cylinders, in combination with 4 the bell-crank Z, or its equivalent,'which is operated by means of an eccentric, m', substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

3. Arranging the conpling'M on a rod, p, in such relation to the spring-catch k and to the cock E that by exercising a ,pressure on the coupling the rod p is .turned sufiiciently to open the cock E and to depress the springcatch k, substantially as and for the purpose described.

LEWIS KIRK.

Witnesses:

J con ScHoENER, WM. B. SCHOENER.

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