Railway draft appliances – Couplings – Combined car and air train line
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-19
2001-02-20
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railway draft appliances
Couplings
Combined car and air train line
C439S191000, C439S288000, C285S125100, C285S068000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189714
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention generally relates to glad hand couplers of the type that are used to interconnect the brake pipe hoses of each of the railcars and/or locomotives in a train. More particularly, the invention relates to an adapter designed to interconnect the two glad hands of a glad hand coupler and to provide an access port to which a variety of external devices can connect for the purpose of affecting the pressure contained within the brake pipe of a train.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The following background information is provided to assist the reader to understand the environment in which the invention will typically be used. The terms used herein are not intended to be limited to any particular narrow interpretation unless specifically stated otherwise in this document.
A typical freight train includes one or more locomotives and a plurality of railcars. A pneumatic trainline known as the “brake pipe” is the means by which brake commands are pneumatically conveyed from the lead locomotive to each of the railcars in the train. The brake pipe is essentially one long continuous tube that runs from the lead locomotive to the last railcar. The brake pipe is actually composed of a series of interconnected pipe lengths, with one pipe length secured to the underside of each railcar. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the pipe length
1
on each railcar is connected at each end to one end of an angle cock
2
. (Closing an angle cock
2
prevents air from flowing along the brake pipe, generally designated
5
, to any of the railcars located downstream of the closed angle cock.) Each angle cock
2
is connected at its other end to one end of a hose
3
, with the other end of the hose being connected to a glad hand
4
. When the glad hands of adjacent railcars are coupled together, they form a glad hand coupler—the pneumatic connection that links the pipe lengths of the adjacent railcars. The brake pipe
5
of the train is formed by coupling the glad hand
4
of each railcar to the glad hand of the railcar or locomotive located immediately adjacent to it. It is to the brake pipe
5
that the brake equipment on each railcar connects via a branch pipe
6
.
By moving a brake handle located in the lead locomotive, a train operator can control how much, if any, pressure is contained within the brake pipe
5
and thus whether, and to what extent, the train brakes will be applied. The positions into which the brake handle can be moved include release, minimum service, full service, suppression, continuous service and emergency. Between the minimum and full service positions lies the service zone wherein each incremental movement of the brake handle toward the full service position causes the brake pipe pressure to reduce incrementally.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the brake equipment on a typical freight railcar includes two storage reservoirs
7
/
8
, one or more brake cylinders
9
and at least one brake control valve
10
such as an ADB, ABDX or ABDW type valve made by the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO). The brake control valve has a service portion
11
and an emergency portion
12
typically mounted on opposite sides of a pipe bracket
13
. The pipe bracket features a number of internal passages and several ports. Each port connects to one of the interconnecting pipes from the railcar such as those leading to the brake pipe, the brake cylinder and the two reservoirs. It is through the ports and internal passages of the pipe bracket
13
that the service and emergency portions
11
and
12
of the brake control valve
10
communicate fluidly with the pneumatic piping on the railcar.
For trains equipped with conventional pneumatic brake systems, for example, it is well known that the pressure level within the brake pipe
5
determines whether the brake control valve
10
will charge the reservoirs or deliver pressurized air previously stored in one or both of these reservoirs to the brake cylinders
9
. By changing the pressure within the brake pipe, the brake pipe
5
can be used to convey release, service and emergency brake commands to the brake equipment on each railcar in the train. In response to a release brake command (i.e., when brake pipe pressure is increased to 90 psi on a freight train, for example), the service portion
11
of the brake control valve not only charges the two reservoirs with the pressurized air it receives from the brake pipe
5
but also vents the brake cylinders to atmosphere thereby causing the brakes on the train to release. In response to a service brake command (i.e., when brake pipe pressure is reduced at a service rate), the service portion
11
supplies air from only one of the two reservoirs
7
to the brake cylinders
9
so as to apply the train brakes. How much the brake pipe pressure is reduced, and thus the magnitude of the service brake application, depends on how far the brake handle is moved towards the full service position. In response to an emergency brake command (i.e., when the brake pipe pressure is reduced to zero at an emergency rate), the emergency portion
12
of the brake control valve supplies air from both reservoirs
7
and
8
to the brake cylinders
9
so as to apply the train brakes fully. The emergency portion
12
also accelerates the pressurizing of the brake cylinders
9
by venting the brake pipe
5
locally at the railcar.
When pressurized, the brake cylinders
9
convert the pressurized air that they receive from the brake control valve
10
to mechanical force. From the brake cylinders this force is transmitted by mechanical linkage (not shown) to the brake shoes (not shown). The magnitude of the braking force applied to the wheels is directly proportional to the pressure built up in the brake cylinders
9
. Forced against the truck wheels and/or disc brakes, the brake shoes are used to slow or stop the rotation of the wheels. For trains equipped with conventional pneumatic brake systems, it is thus the pressure level within the brake pipe
5
that determines whether and to what extent the brakes of the train will be applied.
From the foregoing, it is quite apparent that the operation of the brake equipment on each railcar depends upon the integrity of the brake pipe
5
. Especially for long freight trains, the brake pipe
5
must be highly resistant to leaks. The design of the glad hand
4
makes this possible.
The glad hand coupler is gender neutral, i.e., its design does not employ a male-to-female connection arrangement. Consequently, any one glad hand can connect to any other glad hand to form a glad hand coupler. As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, each glad hand
4
is comprised of a connector body
20
that has a restraining arm
30
and two arcuate projections
31
and
32
. Typically cast as a single piece component, the connector body
20
is essentially a pipe whose passage
21
runs from a nipple
22
at one end to a flow port
23
at the other end. The nipple end
22
is designed to connect to the brake pipe hose
3
on the railcar as shown in FIG.
1
.
The connector body
20
features a mating surface
24
from which the flow port
23
emerges, with the longitudinal axis of the flow port
23
being essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the passage
21
. Adjacent to the mating surface
24
and within the cylindrical boundary wall
23
A that defines the flow port
23
lies an annular recess
25
. Into this annular recess
25
snaps a ring-shaped compressible sealing member
26
, an outermost part
27
of which extending beyond the mating surface
24
and into the connector slot
28
between the two arcuate projections
31
and
32
of the glad hand
4
. The sealing member
26
is typically composed of rubber or other suitable compressible sealing material.
Coupling two glad hands
4
together involves moving the two connector bodies
20
towards one another to an inverted “V” position such that their respective arcuate projections
32
and restraining arms
30
are nearly perpendicular to one another. Once their respective flow ports
23
are juxtaposed and the arcuate projection
32
Cohen Jonathan A.
Gaughan Edward W.
Kettle, Jr. Paul J.
James Ray & Associates
Jules Frantz F.
Morano S. Joseph
Westinghouse Air Brake Company
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