Patent GB-872916-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coupling devices for railway vehicles
IPC: B61G7/08
Filed: 1958-09-01
Abstract: 872,916. Railway vehicle couplings and draw gear. FLIGHT REFUELLING Ltd., MACGREGOR, P. S., and KEELEY, A. J. J. Aug. 24, 1959 [Sept. 1, 1958], No. 28065/58. Class 103(5). A railway vehicle automatic coupler is mounted on a vertical pivot 19, Figs. 1 and 2, and includes a hook arm 12 and a ramp 13 mounted on a horizontal pivot 15, the ramp being disposed at one side of the hook to lead a corresponding hook of a similar coupling into engagement with a hook receiving surface 31. A trip device is provided for lifting the hook of the other coupler clear of the surface 31, and the coupler is characterized by a locking bolt mechanism adapted to engage automatically with and lock the hook on the other coupler. The ramp 13 is bounded on one side by the hook arm 12 which is provided with an outwardly projecting stud 34, and on the other side by an inwardly converging wall 32 slotted at 35, the hook arm 12 and the wall being connected by a bridge 30. The coupler has an adjustable stop 36 in the form of a bell crank lever 106 pivoted about a pin 105 and urged by a spring 103 against an abutment surface 37 which supports the coupler in a slightly downwardly inclined position. During the final stages of hook engagement in coupling up, the hook contacts an arm secured to the stop 36 and moves it to rock the stop 36 clear of the abutment 37. When mating with a similar coupler the hooks 29 ride up the ramps 13 and drop into engagement with the surfaces 31, the studs 34 entering the slots 35 and preventing the couplers from dropping beyond a position in which the hooks are fully engaged. The hook arm 12 is provided with a recess 37<SP>1</SP> open at the top and the outer side, and has a nose 36<SP>1</SP> provided with a hole 38 acting as a guide for an outwardly spring urged bolt 39 connected to a latch arm 48 pivoted at 49 to a housing 51 fixed to the underside of the coupler. The latch arm is formed with an eye 52, Fig. 5, and a guide surface 53 so that the bolt 39 of a mating coupler will press back the arm and drop into the eye. The couplers are unlocked by withdrawing one bolt 39 and its latch 48. Means for releasing the bolt and hook of a mating coupler are contained in a housing 51 and includes a tubular plunger 54, Fig. 5, slidable by means of toothed sectors pivoted at 63 and operated by handles 63<SP>1</SP>, and a second plunger 55 which may be slid inside the plunger 54 through a range of movement limited by a pin 56 in the plunger 54 lying in a recess 57 in the plunger 55. The plunger 55 when moved upwardly pushes off the hook 29 of the mating coupler and engages with its shoulder 58 a shoulder 59 in the plunger 54 so that the plungers move upwardly together. A spring urged pawl 64, Fig. 4, mounted in the plunger 55 has a notched nose so that the pawl may move outwardly and engage the upper wall of the housing, thus retaining the plunger when raised against downward movement. The plunger 54 on upward movement pushes on a nose 71, Fig. 9, on the latch 48 and rocks the latch to its bolt releasing position. Downward movement of the arms 63<SP>1</SP> lifts the plungers together until the pawl 64 is free to move outwardly and retain the plunger 55 in its raised position. Upward movement of the arms 63<SP>1</SP> moves the plunger 54 downwardly until the pawl 64 is deflected inwardly by an inclined edge 68 on the plunger 54, thus releasing the tubular plunger which falls under gravity Movement of the coupler about the pin 19, Fig. 2, is restrained by spring devices 72 acting on a stem 73 retractable in a guide 74 to remove such restraint and permit the coupler to be pivoted to present a normal draft hook 83. The stem 73 may be locked in position by a movable arm 75, Fig. 1. The train pipe coupling 84 is pivotally movable in a horizontal plane about a pivot pin extending vertically upwardly from the bridge 30. Specification 817,488 is referred to.