Patent GB-117035-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automatic Couplings for Railway Vehicles.
Inventor: WETTERHOLM ARTUR LEONARD
IPC: B61G1/08
Filed: 1918-01-02
Abstract: 117,035. Wetterholm, A. L., and Svens son, C. O. Jan. 2, 1918. Couplings, automatic; draw-gear-slackening agents.-In an automatic coupling for railway vehicles,.each coupler-head 1, Figs. 4 and 5, is pivoted, on a vertical bolt 45 having a bearing in a member 39 on the draw-bar 2 and carries spring-controlled hook and eye coupling-elements 5, 6, and uncoupling is effected by means of a hand-lever 3 pivoted on the bolt 45 and connected with a cam disk 7 which is adapted first to unlock the mechanism, Fig. 9, connecting the two draw-bars of one vehicle, then to slacken the draw-bars so as to facilitate removal of the hooks from the eyes, and finally to uncouple the hooks and eyes. The coupler-heads 1 are normally held slightly inclined to the central longitudinal-line of the vehicles, as shown in Fig. 8, by springs 57, but are alined when coupling is effected by guide-plates 10. The hook 5, Fig. 4, is connected with a pivotal bolt 12 having a crank-arm against which a spring 22 bears so as to allow the hook to be depressed against the action of the spring; while the eye 6 is pivoted on the bolt 12 under the control of a spring 80. On coupling, the eye 6 rides up the hook and then drops into its holding position. In uncoupling, after the draw-bars have been unlocked and slackened, the hooks and eyes are uncoupled by means of a wedge-shaped disk 9, which is carried by the rotatable bolt 45 and is forced between the tail-pieces of the hook and eye, the bolt 45 being rotated from the cam 7 through the medium of a wheel 64, Figs. 4 and 23, engaged by the cam and carried by a shaft 46, a crank 14, a link 73, and a second crank 94, Figs. 4 and 5. fixed on the bolt 45. The unlocking and releasing of the draw-bars is effected as follows. Each draw-bar on a vehicle has an extension rod 29, Fig. 9, slidable under the control of a spring 40 in a cradle 117 and carrying at its inner end a pair of diametrically opposed pivoted jaws 32, the jaws on one extension, rod overlapping and being at right-angles to those on the other. The jaws are normally held parallel by springs 74 and are slotted at 76 in order to engage a die 34, Fig. 14, having projections 71 which pass through the slots 76 and are held locked therein by a spring-held transverse bolt 77 carried at the end of a rod 68 housed in the rod 29. The locking-bolt 77 has a pin engaging longitudinal slots in links 35 connected to the jaws 32 so that, after releasing the bolt 77, further movement of the rod 68 opens the jaws 32 so as to disengage them from the projections 71 and allow the rod 29 to be moved. Complete disengagement of the jaws from the die is prevented by claws 70, 99 on the die. The necessary movement of the rod 29 and drawbar 2 is effected by a cam 18, Fig. 8, on the shaft 46 having a nose which engages a shoulder 20 on the member 39. The rod 68 is attached by a pin passing through a slot in the rod 29 to another rod 23 connected to a lever-arm 115, Figs. 8 and 33, mounted on a bolt 53 having a crank-arm 112 with an end roller 54 which is rotated by the pressure of a nose-piece 69, Fig. 5, on the cam 7. When the cam 7 is rotated by the hand-lever 3 the nose-piece 69 operates the rod 68 before the cam 18 operates the outer rod 29. Means are provided for holding the lever 3 in an operative or inoperative position. Couplings, automatic, convertible to non-automatic.-An ordinary screw coupling having a hook 47 and link 48, Fig. 8, is pivoted on a bolt 25 on the member 39 so that the vehicle may be coupled to one having only the usual coupling.