WHEEL TREAD CONDITIONING BRAKE SHOE

摘要

A brake shoe for engagement with the tread of a railway car wheel having a tread conditioning agent incorporated in the composition friction brake shoe material of the brake shoe block for altering the adhesion between the wheel and rail on which the railway car is guidably supported. The tread conditioning agent is a material that is dissimilar from the composition friction material of the brake shoe block, being chosen in accordance with a lubricating quality or an abrasive quality depending upon whether the brake shoe use is intended to reduce or increase wheel/rail adhesion. In either case, the chosen conditioning material has a wear rate that exceeds that of the composition friction material so that the degree of conditioning is controlled by the wear rate of the composition friction material and the percentage of brake surface of the brake shoe block occupied by the conditioning material.