Air brake hose support bracket

A railway car air brake hose support bracket adapted to suspend a railway air brake hose assembly from a railway car coupler, the air brake hose support bracket comprising:

• an upper portion having a first attachment member that connects to a coupler housing beneath a railway car coupler head and a second attachment member that connects to an air brake hose support lug of the railway car coupler, the first attachment member and the second attachment member being laterally spaced from each other;
• a lower portion that has a grasping feature inward of the railway car with respect to the coupler;
• an air hose connector that is adapted and structured to engage with an air brake hose assembly, the grasping feature securely engaging the air hose connector to the lower portion, whereby the air brake hose support bracket suspends the air brake hose assembly from the railway car coupler;
• a mounting element of the first attachment member projects inward with respect to the railway car coupler and enters into a compartment of the coupler housing below the coupler head, wherein the mounting element has an indent and is movable, and further including at least one stop that engages the movable mounting element to limit movement of the movable mounting element.

A railway car air brake hose support bracket adapted to suspend a railway air brake hose assembly from a railway car coupler, the air brake hose support bracket comprising:

• an upper portion having a first attachment member that connects to a coupler housing beneath a railway car coupler head and a second attachment member that connects to an air brake hose support lug of the railway car coupler, the first attachment member and the second attachment member being laterally spaced from each other;
• a lower portion that has a grasping feature inward of the railway car with respect to the coupler;
• an air hose connector that is adapted and structured to engage with an air brake hose assembly, the grasping feature securely engaging the air hose connector to the lower portion, whereby the air brake hose support bracket suspends the air brake hose assembly from the railway car coupler;
• and
• the grasping feature and the air hose connector are adapted to allow rotational movement of the air hose connector along an axis, and further including at least one stop member of the lower portion, which stop member limits rotational movement of the air hose connector in response to movement of the air brake assembly.

A railway car air brake hose support bracket adapted to suspend a railway air brake hose assembly from a railway car coupler, the air brake hose support bracket comprising:

• an upper portion having a first attachment member that connects to a coupler housing beneath a railway car coupler head and a second attachment member that connects to an air brake hose support lug of the railway car coupler, the first attachment member and the second attachment member being laterally spaced from each other;
• a lower portion that has a grasping feature inward of the railway car with respect to the coupler;
• an air hose connector that is adapted and structured to engage with an air brake hose assembly, the grasping feature securely engaging the air hose connector to the lower portion, whereby the air brake hose support bracket suspends the air brake hose assembly from the railway car coupler;
• and
• at least one stand-off inwardly facing toward the coupler and sized and shaped to engage the coupler and achieve fine-tuning of bracket installation on a particular coupler, the stand-off selected from the group consisting of a projecting boss, an adjustable set-screw, a boss containing an adjustable set-screw, a mount, a mount containing an adjustable set-screw, an oversized boss with removable end portion.

A method for suspending an air brake hose assembly from a railway car coupler, comprising:

• providing a railway car air brake hose support bracket with a first wall having an upper first attachment member, a second wall having an upper second attachment member, and a lower portion that has an air hose connector;
• positioning the first attachment member into a coupler compartment below the coupler's head;
• positioning the second attachment member for engagement with an air brake hose support lug of the railway car coupler;
• securing the first attachment member to the coupler compartment and securing the second attachment member to the air brake hose support lug to rigidly attach the air brake hose support bracket to the railway car coupler into a wrap-around configuration that substantially aligns the first attachment member with the compartment of the coupler housing and substantially aligns the second attachment member with the air brake hose support lug;
• and
• attaching at least one railway air brake hose component to the air hose connector thereby suspending a railway air brake hose assembly from the railway car coupler.