Patent GB-1363899-A (GB)
Title: Transition coupling device for rail vehicles
IPC: B61G5/04
Filed: 1971-12-02
Abstract: 1363899 Transition coupling devices GERMANY MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT 2 Dec 1971 55978/71 Heading B7T A transition coupling device, for coupling together a rail vehicle having an automatic central trigger coupling 10 and a rail vehicle having a coupling including a draw hook 11, comprises a coupling bar 12; a mounting member 15 pivotally connected to one end of the bar 12 and adapted to be secured in the coupling 10 so that, in use, the bar 12 can swing in a horizontal plane; draw hook engaging means at the other end of the bar 12; a locking bar 20 pivotally connected at one end to the coupling bar 12; a spring 25 loading the bar 20 so as to tend to pivot it in such a direction that, when the hook engaging means is engaged with the hook, its free end 21 bears forcibly against the lower surface of the hook 11, as shown in Fig. 1; and locking means which can be locked to hold the bar 20 in the position shown in Fig. 1, whereby removal of the bar 12 from the hook 11 is prevented, and which can be manually released to allow the bar 20 to be swung away from the hook 11 and thus the bar 12 to be removed from the hook 11. The hook engaging means may be provided by making the said other end of the bar 12 forked and bridging the fork by a pin 17. The locking means may, as shown in Fig. 2, comprise a finger 23 pivotable in unison with the bar 20, and a pawl 29 pivotally mounted on a pin 30 on the bar 12. In operation, when the locking means is locked its component parts are in the positions shown in full lines in Fig. 2, such that the free end of the finger 23 is engaged with a notch 32 in the pawl 29, and a spring 35 carried on a block 34 on the pawl 29 is engaged behind a peg 24 on the finger 23. To uncouple the device from the hook 11 the bar 20 and the pawl 29 are pivoted manually in the anti-clockwise direction (as seen in Fig. 2), during this movement the peg 24 sliding along the spring 35 and past the block 34 to leave the pawl 29 and finger 23 completely free of one another, whereby the pawl, finger and bar 20 can assume the positions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and the bar 12 can be disengaged from the hook 11. To manually recouple the device to a hook 11 the pawl 29 is first allowed to pivot back towards its full line position in Fig. 2, whereby it comes to-rest in a slightly raised position owing to its engagement with the free end of the finger 23, and then, after engaging the bar 12 with the hook 11, the bar 20 is allowed to swing back to its full line position in Fig. 2 under the influence of the spring 25, whereon the peg 24 slides back past the block 34 and comes to rest on top of the spring 35 causing the pawl 29 to again assume fully the full line position in Fig. 2. If it is desired to automatically recouple a vehicle carrying the device with a vehicle having a hook 11, the bar 20 is first allowed to swing back towards the bar 12; the pawl 29 is dropped back towards its full line position in Fig. 2, whereon the spring 35 comes to rest on top of the peg 24 (as shown diagrammatically at 24a in Fig. 2); and the vehicle carrying the device is then moved to engage the device with the hook 11, thus forcing the bar 20 to move back toward the dotted line position in Fig. 2 and the pawl 29 to be first thrown by the finger 23 to its dotted line position in Fig. 2 and then urged back into the above-mentioned "slightly raised" position when the finger 23 engages a lug 36 on the pawl, on completion of the engagement of the bar 12 with the hook 11 the bar 20 swinging back to its full line position in Fig. 2 causing the peg 24 to come to rest on top of the spring 35 and the pawl 29 to be pulled fully back into its full line position in Fig. 2.