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US 5,388,525 AGranted
Railway car retarder
OwnerW. Andrew Bodkininventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved railway car retarder, fitted with fluid power cylinders, such as hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders. The cylinders function to temporarily release the force of retarder friction rails on train car wheels. The retardation function is still carried out by conventional spring assemblies and the functional integrity of existing retarders is not disrupted.
Claims86
An improved car retarder assembly for a railway track with a center line and having ties and a pair of parallel running rails, each rail having a base, an inside edge facing the opposite running rail and an outside edge facing away from the opposite running rail, said retarder comprising:
- a metallic gauge plate overlying and permanently affixed to each of the ties, said plate extending under the running rails on both sides of the track;
- two riser blocks positioned to bear against the inside edge of the running rail base and fixedly attached to one of said gauge plates, each said riser block having an inward lip;
- a plurality of brackets arranged in pairs, each pair comprising two brackets extending between a pair of neighboring ties, at opposite sides of the track center line, each of said brackets having foot plates overlying neighboring gauge plates and each foot plate having holes, each of said brackets having an elongated part with a back facing said track center line, said elongated part extending in secured position parallel to said running rails, said elongated part, having a top and a bottom, extending over a space between two neighboring ties and being recessed at the side opposite to the track center whereby the bracket forms a housing, a ledge extending from the bottom of the elongated part toward the track center line, two vertical sides, and said foot plates extending horizontally to both sides away from said vertical walls, said gauge plates having tapped holes formed therein to accommodate cap screws which pass through the holes of the foot plates and the tapped holes in the gauge plates;
- a plurality of cap screws passing through said holes in said foot plates and into tapped holes in said gauge plates to secure said brackets to said gauge plates;
- a pair of friction rails each having an outside portion of its foot cut off and each overlying and slidably resting on said riser blocks within the pair of running rails, one rail of the pair of friction rails extending parallel to the elongated part of one bracket of said bracket pair, and between the one bracket and one of the running rails, and the other rail of the pair of friction rails extending parallel to the elongated part of the other bracket of said bracket pair, and between the other bracket and the other rail of the running rails, said friction rails each further including fittings affixed on two sides of said friction rail by a spring bolt passing through the fittings and friction rail, the spring bolt having a head positioned in a recess of the fitting on one side of the friction rail and being tightened by a nut contacting the fitting on the other side of the friction rail, said bolt extending farther through a nearest one of said brackets;
- spring means engaging each friction rail and an adjacent one of said brackets to yieldably urge the friction rail to slide toward an adjacent one of the running rails;
- connecting means between each bracket and an adjacent one of the friction rails to limit the movement of the adjacent friction rail toward an adjacent one of the running rails;
- a hooked rod member attached by an adjustable nut to the base of one of said running rails, said rod member running underneath the friction rail and the bracket adjacent to said one of said running rails and underneath said one of said running rails and terminating in a hook member to grip an edge of said ledge of the adjacent bracket;
- two shoulder blocks fixedly attached at and to the ends of one of said gauge plates and bearing against the outside edges of the running rail bases;
- wherein, said friction rails are fitted with stop bolts and web fittings, said stop bolts each having an end in contact with an adjacent one of the running rails, thereby limiting the movement of the friction rail towards the adjacent running rail.
7 more elements
An improved car retarder assembly for a railway track with a center line and having ties and a pair of parallel running rails, each rail having a base, an inside edge facing the opposite running rail and an outside edge facing away from the opposite running rail, said retarder comprising:
- a metallic gauge plate overlying and permanently affixed to each of the ties, said plate extending under the running rails on both sides of the track;
- two riser blocks positioned to bear against the inside edge of the running rail base and fixedly attached to one of said gauge plates, each said riser block having an inward lip;
- a plurality of brackets arranged in pairs, each pair comprising two brackets extending between a pair of neighboring ties, at opposite sides of the track center line, each of said brackets having foot plates overlying neighboring gauge plates and each foot plate having holes, each of said brackets having an elongated part with a back facing said track center line, said elongated part extending in secured position parallel to said running rails, said elongated part, having a top and a bottom, extending over a space between two neighboring ties and being recessed at the side opposite to the track center whereby the bracket forms a housing, a ledge extending from the bottom of the elongated part toward the track center line, two vertical sides, and said foot plates extending horizontally to both sides away from said vertical walls, said gauge plates having tapped holes formed therein to accommodate cap screws which pass through the holes of the foot plates and the tapped holes in the gauge plates;
- a plurality of cap screws passing through said holes in said foot plates and into tapped holes in said gauge plates to secure said brackets to said gauge plates;
- a pair of friction rails, one active and one passive, each having an outside portion of its foot cut off and each overlying and slidably resting on said riser blocks within the pair of running rails, one rail of the pair of friction rails extending parallel to the elongated part of one bracket of said bracket pair, and between the one bracket and one of the running rails, and the other rail of the pair of friction rails extending parallel to the elongated part of the other bracket of said bracket pair, and between the other bracket and the other rail of the running rails;
- spring means engaging the active friction rail and an adjacent one of said brackets to yieldably urge the active friction rail to slide toward an adjacent one of the running rails;
- a brace means engaging the passive friction rail and an adjacent bracket part to hold the passive friction rail a fixed distance from its adjacent bracket;
- connecting means between each bracket and an adjacent one of the friction rails to limit the movement of the adjacent friction rail toward an adjacent one of the running rails;
- a hooked rod member attached by an adjustable nut to the base of one of said running rails, said rod member running underneath the friction rail and the bracket adjacent to said one of said running rails and underneath said one of said running rails and terminating in a hook member to grip an edge of said ledge of the adjacent bracket;
- two shoulder blocks fixedly attached at and to the ends of one of said gauge plates and bearing against the outside edges of the running rail bases;
- wherein, said active friction rail is fitted with stop bolts and web fittings, said stop bolts each having an end in contact with an adjacent one of the running rails, thereby limiting the movement of the active friction rail towards the adjacent running rail.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.