The present invention relates to railroad tank cars, and in particular to a handbrake arrangement for a railroad tank car.
Most railroad tank cars have handbrake arrangements that allow brakes to be set on both trucks by operation of a handwheel located at an end platform on the tank car. Conventional arrangements, however, require a person to climb onto the end of the tank car to operate the handbrake, and there is a resulting risk of injury.
In a conventional handbrake linkage a chain, or a combination of a chain and tension-carrying rods, extends from a lever normally operated by a pneumatic cylinder-and-piston assembly that is part of an airbrake system to a winch operated by the handwheel located on the end platform at the end of the tank car nearer to the airbrake cylinder-and-piston assembly. The chain conventionally extends through three or more sheave blocks, however, in order to avoid interference with the wheeled truck, as the chain extends to the handbrake winch, with the result that a significant amount of friction opposes take-up of the handbrake-operating chain and thus adds difficulty to the process of setting the handbrake effectively.
In order to reduce or eliminate the risk of injury to personnel and also to facilitate having handbrakes reliably set, it is desired to have a handbrake arrangement that enables brakes to be set on both trucks of a railroad tank car without the necessity for a person to climb up onto the car and with a reduced amount of friction opposing the setting of the handbrake.