A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to brake beams for railway cars, and more particularly to a brake beam which allows a quick installation thereof and a quick replacement of its brake head if required.
B. Description of the Related Art
There are well known brake heads assemblies for railway cars by which a brake shoe is pressed against a wheel in order to decrease or stop the rotational speed of the wheel and railway car.
Generally, the brake head assembly is held by a structure called “brake beam” mounted transversely in the bogie of a railway car and is linked to a lever, which applies a force in order to press the brake shoe against a wheel.
The brake beam generally comprises, a generally “V” shaped tension member a compression member having its ends coupled to the ends of the tension member, a brake head subassembly linked to the each end of the compression member, two end extensions each coupled to an end of the compression member by which the brake beam is coupled to the bogie of a railway car and a fulcrum coupled to the compression member and tension member, so that the fulcrum remains between the tension and compression members. The end extensions of the brake beam are coupled to both pocket guides of the trucks
The main reasons for replacing a Brake Beam out of a freight car are the following:
A worn out condition.
A broken brake beam
A bent brake beam
A missing brake beam
When it is necessary to install a new brake beam, the damaged car must be decupled from the train, and taken to a repairing facility which could be many miles away.
Once in the facility, the car must be jacked up, then the truck must be disconnected and retired from under the car, proceeding to the dismantling of side frames and corresponding wheel set, in order to decuple the brake beam end extensions from the pocket guides and then remove the damaged brake beam, for reapplication of the new brake beam, proceeding then to reinsert wheel set and side frames, push truck under the car, reconnect and lower the car body on top.
The above referred operation is a main cause for car repair personnel injuries, it's very complex, it's costly and time consuming since it may take from 3 to 7 days to replace a brake beam. And worst, the owner of the car and the transport company, looses money for each minute the car is inactive, besides angry customers since usually the car that is cut from the train is completely loaded, facing penalties or damaged perishable goods.
Furthermore, normally, the brake heads are fixedly or pivotally linked to the brake beam by means of bolts passing through perforations located at the ends of the brake beam and through perforations located at the brake heads. Also, the brake heads may be linked to a brake beam by welding the brake head directly to the ends of the brake beam, or are integral to the beam ends as is the case of the cast beams.
When it is necessary to replace a brake head welded to the brake beam, normally the whole brake beam is replaced since it is extremely difficult to detach a welded brake head from the brake beam.
For brake beams having brake heads linked by bolts, when it is necessary to replace a brake head due to a worn out condition, it is very difficult to just decouple the damaged brake head since the bolts are usually not designed to be retired from the brake beam. Furthermore, since the bolts that join the brake head to the brake beam normally link the tension member, compression member and brake head together, if said bolts are retired the whole brake beam would become disassembled.
In view of the above referred problems, it is better opted to have the whole brake beam replaced. The process for replacing a brake beam begins with decoupling the car having the damaged brake head from the train, and taking it to a repairing facility which could be many miles away.
In order to reduce the time and effort necessary to replace a brake beam, or a brake head only, applicant developed a brake beam including means for avoiding the dismantling thereof, which can be quickly and easily installed in a train car without the necessity of cutting the car from the train nor dismantling the car nor the truck and/or which its brake head can be quickly and easily installed in a train car without the necessity of replacing the whole brake beam and consequently without cutting the car from the train nor dismantling the car nor the truck.
Thanks to applicant's brake beam it is not necessary to dismantle the car for replacing the brake beam and therefore the operation can be carried out without cutting the car from the train thus saving money on labor and materials.
Furthermore, the brake beam replacement operation can be completed in matter of minutes, saving time on all type of freight cars using a standard Brake beam, being particularly beneficial on intermodal or premium service trains and avoiding penalties and costs related with previous mounting systems.
Thanks to the brake beam of the present invention, it is possible to replace any kind of brake beam which is found at a damaged condemnable condition under a car in service, by a simple torch cut off process of the damaged beam under the car, pulling then the damaged component from the car bottom, which activity is simple and familiar to must skilled in the car repair art, and be then able to install the brake beam of the present invention, as an spare brake beam, right there and then, without the dismantling of the train, car nor truck, with simple common tools and skills.
Since it is no longer necessary to dismantle the car for changing a brake beam, there are avoided the related and common accidents and personal injuries to the maintenance staff.
Last but not least (when) the brake beam of the present invention is adapted to receive a replaceable brake head, it is possible, when installed in the car, to replace the brake head which is found at a damaged condemnable condition under a car in service, by a simple torch cut off process of the bolt holding the damaged brake head of the beam under the car, pulling then the damaged component from the car bottom, which activity is simple and familiar to must skilled in the car repair art, and be then able to install the replaceable brake head of the present invention, as an spare brake head, right there and then, without the dismantling of the train, car nor truck, with simple common tools and skills.
Finally, thanks to the DTI included in the replaceable brake head and or on one end of the coupling section of the spare beam, when it is necessary to replace the brake head, the bolt that joins the brake head to the brake beam can be adjusted at the correct tension without the need of checking it with a feeler gauge or to loosing and tightening the bolt repeatedly until the correct tension is achieved.