At-a-glance brake travel indicator

Claim 1

A brake travel indicator for use on a vehicle having a plurality of air brake assemblies secured to the undercarriage of said vehicle by a mounting bracket and stationary with respect thereto, each assembly comprising in part, a chamber responsive to an activating means supplied thereto and providing linear movement of a corresponding pushrod clevis which is movable with respect to said vehicle undercarriage and in turn functions to apply certain of the vehicle brakes, each said pushrod clevis attached to a corresponding pushrod extending from the corresponding chamber and coupled at one end to the chamber for movement therewith, each pushrod clevis coupled at the opposite end by a clevis pin to an angular translating device, the angular translating device coupled to a cam mechanism and cooperating therewith to apply the vehicle brakes, and each chamber and corresponding pushrod clevis applying the brakes of one wheel only of the vehicle, the improvement comprising a plurality of brake travel indicators each responsive solely to the linear movement of the pushrod clevis of each air brake assembly to provide a visible indication of excess linear movement of the pushrod clevis and probable need for brake maintenance as well as an indication of the particular wheel where such maintenance is probably needed, each brake travel indicator comprising a securing device to secure a fixed reference tube to the air brake assembly of the vehicle, a fixed reference tube secured to the securing device and adapted to slidably accept a travel indicator tube within, said travel indicator tube adapted at one end to slidably engage with the fixed reference tube and to slide in and out of said fixed reference tube to provide visible indication of corresponding movement of the pushrod clevis of the air brake assembly, said travel indicator tube adapted to accept and cooperate with a supervised electrical monitoring system and said travel indicator tube adapted at the other end to adjustably secure to an adapter plate, the adapter plate adapted at one end to adjustably secure to the travel indicator tube and at the other end adapted to pivotably secure to an elongated clevis pin and adapted to pivot axially about said elongated clevis pin, the elongated clevis pin adapted to pivotably secure to said adapter plate at one end and at the other end adapted to secure to the pushrod clevis of the air brake assembly, wherein the elongated clevis pin is calibrated with a plurality of orifices at uniform distances throughout its longitudinal surface to be utilized with and replacing the original clevis pin of any air brake assembly to provide adjustability for the adapter plate, and a supervised electrical monitoring system comprising a continuous electrical circuit with wiring of environmentally tight multi-conductor cabling, connecting means, a switch means and sensing means adapted to cooperate with each travel indicator tube, an intermediate junction box situated between the switch means and a remote display panel to connect the switch means and sensing means of each brake travel indicator to the remote display panel, and the remote display panel having with a plurality of multicolored lamps to indicate excess brake travel by one lighted color lamp, to indicate open circuit and power loss condition by lack of lighted colored lamps, and to indicate normal brake travel and system operational by another lighted color lamp and a power source adapted to connect to the continuous electrical circuit to energize the electrical system, and an over-current means to disconnect the continuous electrical circuit from the power source in the event of a short circuit.