Protective device for drum-brake operating shaft
The invention relates to the protective devices of drum-brake operating shafts of trucks or of touring trailers. 
     On the actuating devices of drum-brakes of trucks or trailers most widely used, the cam, serving to separate the brake-shoes, is actuated by means of a shaft, a lever, and a gear. The shaft is held in position by two sleeve bearings, respectively attached to the axle and of the bridge. The lubrication of the bearings is carried out by grease, at the time of mounting and in maintenance operations of the braking system. The operating-shaft sections situated between the bushings, as well as the inner face of the latter, are constantly subjected to the projections of water and solid particles. 
     The projections of water and of sand eventually cause their penetration into the bushings, between the shaft and the sleeves, where they mix with the grease, resulting in the formation of some sort of abrasive paste and provoking a jamming of the sleeves on the shaft. This jamming results in a drag in the revolution of the sleeves in relation to the bushings. This rotation being executed without any lubrication, a considerable clearance does not take long to appear; the more so since the space left between the sleeves and the bushings fills itself with sand and water. The fact that the shaft does not execute one full rotation and that the latter is always stressed in the same direction by the cam and the lever brings about a localization of wear in one particular sector. This brings about a misalignment of the shaft in relation to the axis of the bushings and a sometimes considerable dislocation of the operating cam of the brake-shoes in relation to the plane of symmetry of the drums. 
     Different devices already exist that aim at making the position of the brake-shoes vary in relation to the drum in order to maintain a suitable clearance between the brake lining and the drum: the most generally accepted consisting in mounting the joint pivots of the shoes on an eccentric. 
     Such devices aspire essentially to compensate for an excessive clearance between shoes and drum-brakes resulting from a normal wear of the lining, and not to avoid or to compensate for a transverse displacement of the control cam of the shoes, due to the jamming of the bushing jackets on the operating shaft of the cam and to the displacement of these on their bushing. 
     The protective device in accordance with the invention has as its object the prevention the jamming of the bushing jackets on the operating shaft of the control cam of the brake-shoes and to eliminate any risk of polluting the grease with water and solid particles. 
     There is already known a device corresponding to the preamble of claim 1 (European Patent Application EP-A-0,098,906). The operating shaft of the control cam of the brake-shoes is mounted in a tubular housing, serving as a grease reserve, equipped at each extremity with sleeves outfitted with packings, a lubricator, and one or several pressure reliefs. The extremity of the sleeve situated on the can side is inserted in one bushing attached to the axle, instead of the original jacket, and the sleeve situated on the operating lever side has an annular collar designed to be lodged in a two-part housing fixed at the connecting bridge of the wheels of the same chassis. The protective tubular housing and the sleeves are made out of one single piece, of plastic material. 
     Taking into account the manufacture of the two sleeves of plastic material, the limited length of the latter, and the sectorial displacement of the operating shaft, the sleeves wear fairly rapidly in the sections in question: this translates itself into an increase in clearance. The sleeve situated on the side of the operating level is linked at the wheel connecting bridge by means of the two-part housing, as usual: which obliges one to provide the said sleeve with an annular collar of appropriate dimensions. 
     The present invention has as its object to obviate these inconveniences. This invention, as it is characterized in the claims, solves the problem by creating a protective device of the operating shaft of the control cam of the drum-brake shoes that will be simple, effective and reliable. 
     The device in accordance with the invention is mainly characterized in that it constitutes a lengthening of the bushing sleeve of the operating shaft, situated on the cam side, up to the actuating lever of the operating shaft. The bore of said sleeve is provided, at each one of its extremities, with a packing and comprises a lubricator, an overflow opening and a mounting means at the connecting bridge of the axles. 
     The bore of the sleeve is upwardly offset by a distance X equal to one half of the clearance provided between the operating shaft and the bore of the sleeve. This clearance amounts to about 1 mm. 
     The bore of the sleeve comprises, over its entire length, a wearing plate covering a segment corresponding to the angular clearance of the operating cam of the brakeshoes and, externally, at the level of the bushing and over its entire circumference, a reinforcement shell of a length slightly greater than that of the bushing. The wearing plate and the shell comprise multiple perforations facilitating their attachment to the sleeve during molding. 
     According to a first mode of realization of the invention, the sleeve is externally equipped, at its extremity situated on the operating lever side of the shaft, with an annular collar and a key facilitating its indexing, while mounting, with regard to the two-part housing insuring, from the beginning, the connection with the bridge. 
     The sleeve, the wearing plate, the lubricator, and the indexing key have a common plane of symmetry, the wearing plate, the lubricator, and the key being situated at the lower portion of the sleeve. 
     According to a second preferred mode of realization of the invention, the attaching means of the sleeve, at the connecting bridge of the wheels, is constituted by a tab, molded with the sleeve, situated at the lower portion and in the plane of symmetry of the latter. 
     The resultant advantages, thanks to this invention, consist essentially in that the control cam of the brakeshoes maintains its ideal position, even after many numerous stresses, regardless of the ambient conditions as well as of the nature and the amount of the projections received by the operating device; this permits the use of only one reduced air pressure to actuate the two brake-shoes and to obtain a perfect braking synchronization on all of the wheels, as well as a great flexibility in braking. 
    
    
     Other characteristics and advantages will become apparent in the following description of a device in accordance with the invention given by way of a non-limiting example with regard to the annexed drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 represents a longitudinal sectional view of the mounted device, 
     FIG. 2 represents a transverse sectional view of the device, 
     FIG. 3 represents a partial longitudinal sectional view of the device showing its attached means at the connecting bridge of the two wheels. 
    
    
     The figures represent a protective device of the operating shaft 1, of the control cam 3 of the drum-brake shoes, essentially constituted by one long sleeve 4, mounted in the bushing 5, surrounding the shaft 1 up to the actuating lever 2. This sleeve 4 is equipped at the inside, at each one of its extremities, with one packing 6. The packing comprises, at its lower portion, a lubricator 7 and an overflow opening 4e and, at its extremity opposite to the cam 3, an annular collar 4a and an indexing key 4b, insuring the mounting at the bridge 8 by means of the housing 9, or of one tab 4c insuring the same function. The sleeve 4 is outfitted, over its entire length, with a sectored wearing plate 10 having multiple perforations 10a and, at the level of the bushing, with a peripheral reinforcement jacket 11 having multiple perforations 11a. 
     While examining FIGS. 1 and 2, one can note that the sleeve 4, mounted in the bushing 5 attached to the axle 12, is extended up to the actuating, lever 2 in order to completely protect the operating shaft 1, taking into account that the bore 4d of this sleeve 4 is equipped, at each one of its extremities, with a packing 6. 
     In order to avoid a premature and localized wear of the sleeve 4, taking into account the limited clearance of the cam 43, the bore 4d of the sleeve 4 comprises, over its entire length, over a section corresponding to the clearance angle alpha α of the cam 3, an over-coated wearing plate, by means of multiple perforations 10a, at the time of the injection of the plastic material used for the manufacture of the protective sleeve 4. 
     In order to compensate for the prior wear of the bushing 5, the sleeve 4 is outfitted at its periphery, on the side of the bushing 5, over a length greater than the length of the bushing, with an over-coated jacket or a semijacket 11, at the time of the injection of the sleeve 4, by means of multiple perforations 11a. 
     To permit the lubrication, and to avoid any locking of the protective sleeve 4 on the shaft 1 under the temperature effect, a clearance of about 1 mm is provided between the operating shaft 1 and the bore 4d of the sleeve 4 which necessitates an upward offsetting X, of the bore 4d in relation to the axis of the sleeve 4, corresponding to half the clearance; in order for the operating shaft 1 to be maintained in the axis of the bushing 5, notwithstanding the clearance existing between this axis 1 and the bore 4d of the sleeve 4. Keeping in mind the offsetting, it is important that the sleeve 4 be positioned well angularly at the time of mounting, moreover, the lubricator 7 and the indexing key 4b, or the fixing tabe 4c at the connecting bridge of the axles 12, they are to be, at the time of manufacture, situated exactly in the plane of symmetry of the sleeve 4, at the lower portion of the latter. The sleeve 4 comprises an overflow opening 4e allowing for the elimination of excess grease. 
     As one can gather when comparing the FIGS. 1 and 3, the sleeve 4 is mounted at the bridge 8 by means of the annular collar 4a and of the two-part housing 9, existing at the beginning or, preferably, by means of a tab 4c, molded with the sleeve 4 and situated at the lower portion of the latter which offers, moreover, the advantage to ensure a direct indexing of the sleeve. 
     The protective device according to the invention can be used on most vehicles equipped with drum-brakes of which the control cam of the brake-shoe is operated remotely by means of a shaft, a lever, and a linkage. 
     Interesting applications exist on trucks, trailers, agricultural equipment, and vehicles having all kinds of wheels, frequently used on roadways, race tracks (runways), or any terrain. In the context of the present invention heavy duty motor vehicles and heavy duty vehicles include trucks and touring trailers.