Brake lever assembly for railway car
AssigneePullman Standard Inc.
InventorDonald B. Yates
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A brake cylinder lever on a railway car is supported in a substantially vertical orientation by a roller mounted on an inclined ramp to bias the brake system toward a "brake off" or nondrag condition.
Claims13
In a railway car having a longitudinally extending draft structure and a brake system, said brake system having a first brake rod for connection to a first brake means at a first wheel truck and a second brake rod for connection to a second brake means at a second wheel truck and a braking linear force imposer having a nonextended, nonbraking position and an extended braking position, an improved brake lever assembly comprising:
- a brake lever mounted in a substantially vertically extending position, said brake lever having a first end portion pivotally connected to said linear force imposer, a second end portion pivotally connected to one of said first and said second brake rods and an intermediate portion pivotally connected to said other of said first and said second brake rods;
- guide means for enabling said brake lever to move substantially parallel to said draft structure;
- brake lever support means pivotally engaged with a portion of said brake lever intermediate said first and said second end portions of said brake lever;
- and
- biasing means for urging said brake lever support means in a direction for urging said first and said second brake means out of braking contact with said respective first and second wheel trucks and for urging said linear force imposer to said nonextended, nonbraking position for eliminating brake drag of said brake means on said wheel trucks.
A brake system for a railway car having at least two longitudinally spaced wheel trucks, said brake system comprising, in combination:
- brake means operatively connected to each of said wheel trucks, said brake means having a nondrag position with respect to said wheel trucks;
- brake lever means mounted in a substantially vertically extending position intermediate said wheel trucks;
- connection means connecting a first end portion of said lever means with one of said brake means and connecting an intermediate portion of said lever means with another of said brake means;
- linear force imposing means connected to a second end portion of said lever means, said linear force imposing means having a nonextended position;
- brake lever support means for pivotally supporting said brake lever means on said railway car;
- and
- biasing means for urging said brake lever support means in a direction for urging said brake means to said nondrag position and for urging said linear force imposing means to said nonextended position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.