Device for lubricating wheel flanges of railway vehicles

Claim 1

In a device to be mounted on a railway vehicle having flanged wheels, said device supplying lubricants to the flange of a track-engaging wheel thereof when the vehicle enters a curved track and comprising in combination a spray nozzle assembly, one fitted on the right and the other on the left hand side of the vehicle and including an oil chamber for storing a specific quantity of oil received from an oil reservoir; a spray nozzle; an oil delivery valve to control the supply of stored oil from the said oil chamber to the said spray nozzle and to also control the flow of oil from the oil reservoir to the said oil chamber, an air delivery valve means for supplying compressed air to the oil chamber to operate the said oil delivery valve and to spray the oil; control means provided for supplying compressed air, said control means being responsive to and actuable by the displacement caused between the bogie frame and the undercarriage of the vehicle, the arrangement being such that when the vehicle is traversing a straight track, the control means for supplying compressed air to the oil delivery valve is inoperative while the oil is allowed to flow into the said oil chamber of the spray nozzle assembly from the oil reservoir but when the vehicle enters a curve, compressed air supply control means causes compressed air to be released to the air delivery valve to actuate tHe said oil delivery valve, with the result that the oil stored in said oil chamber is released to the spray nozzle and pneumatically sprayed in atomized form to the root of the wheel flange, the improvement in said combination comprising the provision of means for adjusting the control means for supplying the compressed air to the spray nozzle to function at various radii of curvature of the track, said means comprising an electro-pneumatic valve in the compressed air supply circuit wherein said valve fitted on the right or left of the vehicle is actuable by a pair of contact rollers mounted on a contact post which contact post is adjustably mounted on a base secured to the bogie frame, one contact roller being in contact always with a contact plate connected to one lead of current supply source, the other roller contacting one of a pair of contact plates separated by an insulation piece, each of the said two plates being electrically connected to either left or right electro-pneumatic valve, the insulation piece between the contact plates being of triangular shape so that the distance traversed by the roller between the two separated contact plates can be varied to permit the device to function at various radii of curvature of the track, the contact plates being mounted on an insulating base secured to the vehicle frame whereupon the movement of the base carrying the contact post and consequently the contact rollers in relation to the contact plates is caused by the relative displacement between the vehicle frame and the bogie when the vehicle enters the curved track.