Abstract: A vehicle spring type brake shoe key for connecting a brake shoe to a brake head, wherein the brake shoe key includes a body or shank and a head integrally formed with the body or shank, and wherein the key has a reduced mass head, an alternative configuration head, a surface treatment, or two or more of these modifications that reduces the likelihood that the head will weaken and/or break off the body of the brake shoe key,

Abstract: A railroad car spring type brake shoe key for connecting a brake shoe to a brake head, wherein the brake shoe key includes a body or shank and a head integrally formed with the body or shank, and wherein the key has a reduced mass head, an alternative configuration head, a surface treatment, or two or more of these modifications that reduces the likelihood that the head will weaken and/or break off the body of the brake shoe key.

Abstract: In a disc brake for a railway vehicle includes a friction member facing a frictional surface of a disc fixed to a wheel or axle of the vehicle. A base plate holds the member on a front surface and a guide plate is at the center of a back surface of the base plate and accommodated in a concave portion of the caliper arm. A base plate front surface is in parallel to a frictional surface of the member. A thickness of the base plate is larger on an inner circumferential side than an outer circumferential side. A thickness of the guide plate is smaller than a depth of the concave portion of the caliper arm. In a state where the frictional surface of the member faces the frictional surface of the disc in parallel, the guide plate is fitted, with play, into the concave portion of the caliper arm.

Abstract: A railcar brake head having an upper end, a lower end, and a pair of sides. The brake head further includes an elongated concave keyway defining an elongated axis and opening to the upper and lower ends of the brake head. At least a portion of the keyway is defined between a rear wall and spaced transversely extending upper and lower lugs. A front surface of each lug is adapted for mounting engagement with a brake shoe. The longitudinal spacing between the centralized upper and lower lugs is such that a keybridge extending from a rear face of the brake shoe is received and accommodated therebetween whereby inhibiting endwise movement of the brake shoe relative to the brake head.

Abstract: A brake pad adapter plate 2 has a rear surface having a mounting bracket provided thereon by means of which, in use, the adapter plate 2 is attached to a braking arm 5 of a braking system. A front surface has a dovetail groove 15 extending longitudinally therealong from the bottom end 2b of the plate 2 towards but terminating short of the top end 2a, by means of which, in use, a friction material 3 having a complementary dovetail tongue formed on a fastening surface thereon is attached to said front surface. A through opening 16 is formed in the adapter plate 2 proximate to the bottom end 2b and extending from rear surface to the front surface intersecting the dovetail groove 15, and a locking plate 20 is mounted on the rear surface so as to engage in said through opening 15.

Abstract: A railcar brake head having an upper end, a lower end, and a pair of sides. The brake head further includes an elongated concave keyway defining an elongated axis and opening to the upper and lower ends of the brake head. At least a portion of the keyway is defined between a rear wall and spaced transversely extending upper and lower lugs. A front surface of each lug is adapted for mounting engagement with a brake shoe. The longitudinal spacing between the centralized upper and lower lugs is such that a keybridge extending from a rear face of the brake shoe is received and accommodated therebetween whereby inhibiting endwise movement of the brake shoe relative to the brake head.

Abstract: The invention relates to a brake lining mounting, especially for rail vehicles, comprising a lining support which is encompassed at both of its longitudinal ends by guide sections, preferably at least partially by the plates of a lining holder which holds the friction lining. A pin is provided on the lining support and is able to move perpendicularly to the lining support. When the pin is placed under spring tension as the lining holder is pushed up onto the lining support, the pin extends through an opening provided in the lining holder in such a way that the lining holder is stopped on the lining support by this single pin and cannot move in relation to the lining support. At least one spring in the form of a spring clip acts on the pin. The spring clip can be moved into a raised release position against the force of its own tension, carrying the pin with it.

Abstract: A backing plate for a railroad brake shoe includes side edges, ends, and an integral lug section located remote from the ends. The backing plate has a generally convex top surface, a generally concave bottom surface, and a longitudinal axis. Located transverse to the longitudinal axis, the lug section has an arcuate shape with an apex and legs and has a plurality of reinforcing members which are integrally formed as part thereof. The apex of the lug section forms a key or lug slot for insertion of a key which secures the backing plate to a brake head. The reinforcing members can take the form of at least one reinforcing rib which is laterally spaced from the lug slot and extends generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the backing plate. The reinforcing member may also be comprised of an offset portion. Bores may be located on the periphery of the backing plate to impart additional strength thereto.

Abstract: A brake shoe key is driven into operative engagement between a conventional brake shoe and a brake shoe support head in order to removably attach the brake shoe to the head. The brake shoe key is composed of cold workable austenitic stainless steel such that the key does not form stress cracks during fabrication and becomes stronger upon installation by driving.

Abstract: A brake shoe locking key is provided with a retention tab that is saw-tooth shaped and extends across the entire width of the key shank. The retention tab is upraised from the shank more than the correspondingly-shaped serrations typically formed on the bottom of the key and is thus more effective in engaging the brake head as an initial detent to prevent the key from backing out of the keyhole in the brake head when a loose fitting key fails to retain its locking position. In addition, the retention tab is adapted to engage the keybridge at the orifice through which the key passes in order to provide a further detent to prevent a loose key from backing completely out of its locking connection between the brake head and brake shoe, in the event the first detent fails to engage.

Abstract: A brake shoe key of the spring-type for affixing a brake shoe to a brake head, the key being formed from a flat strip of spring metal including a shank portion having a generally curvilinear profile and a head portion that is integral with the shank portion and is characterized by an open-loop configuration to provide a space in which a pry bar may be inserted, the open-loop configuration being formed by a stop leg that is outturned from one face of the shank and a pry leg that is spaced-apart from the stop leg on the opposite side thereof from the shank.

Abstract: A railroad brake shoe comprising a composition friction element prepared for engagement with a wheel of a railroad car includes an arcuate-shaped metal backing plate to which the friction element is supportively joined. The backing plate includes a semicircular-shaped attaching bracket which has a pair of brake shoe key windows formed in an upper and a lower member of the bracket. Each window has an angularly offset outer sidewall which forms part of a gripping edge. The attaching bracket of the brake shoe is fitted between spaced carrier lugs formed in a brake shoe head located at each end of a brake beam associated with the railroad car. To secure the brake shoe to the brake head a brake shoe key is inserted in a vertical recess formed in the brake head so as to pass through the key windows in the brake shoe. The key engages the gripping edges in the brake shoe attaching bracket to form a wedging action which inhibits movement of the key during use.

Abstract: A block brake assembly for a railway vehicle includes a holder for one or more brake blocks which, when the brake is engaged, are pressed against the periphery of the vehicle wheel. The holder comprises a pair of spaced side members, and the brake block or blocks have guide lugs and attaching lugs thereon projecting between the members. The blocks are retained against the holder by a leaf spring which is pivotally mounted at one end to the holder, projects through openings in the attaching lugs and bears against a lock pin on the holder at an opposite end thereof. A pair of stop elements on the holder bear against outer sides of a pair of the lugs for preventing tangential displacement of the block brake or brakes relative to the side members.

Abstract: In a railway wheel braking unit, a braking flange carrying a friction pad for engaging the wheel tread is detachably mounted on the main brake shoe by a rod structure that projects with a snug fit into an arch on the main shoe, a retaining pin passing through aligned openings in the arch side walls and the rod structure.

Abstract: An insert for a railroad brake shoe having a support plate engageable complementally with a portion of the shoe back. Shoulders are provided for preventing the lateral and longitudinal displacement of the insert relative to the brake head assembly. A guide is cantilevered from one side of the support plate and so configured to generally complementally fit the flange of the wheel, thereby to guide the shoe into aligned contact with the wheel tread when the brake is applied.

Abstract: An improved disc-brake, more particularly intended for automobile vehicles, having a reduced number of component parts, easier assembly and lower production cost. The brake is of the kind comprising a fixed support, a disc keyed on a rotatable shaft to be braked, two brake-shoes disposed on each side of the disc and movable perpendicularly to the plane of said disc, a transfer member movable perpendicularly to the plane of the disc, a hydraulic control unit adapted to act directly on a first brake-shoe and on the second brake-shoe through the intermediary of the transfer member, and an elastic device for urging the transfer member into abutment against retention stops formed on the fixed support. Two of the retention stops against which the transfer member is in abutment are constituted by brackets carried by the fixed support from which they project on each side of the transfer member, this transfer member further comprising laterally projecting lugs for co-operating with the brackets.