Patent GB-924143-A (GB)
Title: Automatic coupling for railway vehicles
Inventor: SHARMAN JOHN CHARLES
IPC: B61G3/20
Filed: 1958-12-13
Abstract: 924,143. Automatic couplings and draw gear. GARRINGTONS Ltd. March 9, 1960 [Dec. 13, 1958], No. 40261/58. Class 103(5). An automatic coupling comprises a shroud 28, Figs. 2, 3 fixed to plates 20 pivotable about a pin 21, a hook 13 which is normally centred by a spring 46 and may snap engage with a similar hook on a mating coupling, a lever 49 which may be pivoted to compress the spring 46 and hold the hook out of coupling position, and a locking and uncoupling device mounted on the hook body 14 which may engage a vertical pin 52 in a recess 16, 17 of a mating hook. The draw bar 22 has a nut 72 thereon which abuts a spring plate 73 and can rock in a vertical plane about a fulcrum point 83 formed by a nose 82 on a spring plate 75 engaging with a recess 81 in the chassis member 79. Vertical downward movement takes place against the resistance of springs 25, 26, but vertical upward movement is resisted by springs 85, the holes in the plate 73 which is slidably mounted upon rods 76, and the holes in the member 79 through which these rods pass being vertically elongated. By pivoting a handle 38 about a pin 40 a rod 31 may be moved rearwardly against the action of springs 33, 34, 36 to pivot the whole coupling through 90 degrees and present the hook 44 for coupling. The locking and uncoupling device, Fig. 4, is mounted upon the upper face of the portion 14 of the hook and comprises a rod 52 mounted between lateral arms 53, 54 pivoted about a pivot pin 55 fixed in the hook. An uncoupling arm 56 mounted on a pivot pin 57 extending upwardly from the arm 53 is provided with a handle 59 operable from the side of the track through a chain and has a fixed pin 62 depending therefrom which engages with a cam 63 on the upper face of the hook body 14. At its outer ends the arm 56 has a nose 61 and a trunnion 67 on which is fixed a rod 65 which is slidable through a boss 66 mounted on the part 14 to compress a spring 64. In operation, when two similar couplings are brought into engagement the faces 15 of the hooks engage and cause the hooks to pivot about their springs 19 and compress springs 46. The rear ends of the hooks then pass one another and the hooks spring back so that their vertical faces 18 are in engagement and the rod 52 on each hook loaded by its spring 64 engages in the recess 16-17 on the other hook. Uncoupling is effected by operating either one of the two arms 56 by means of whichever handle 59 and chain is most convenient. Movement of the arm 56 causes its associated pin 62 to bear against a cam 63 on the top face of the hook 13 and prevent free pivotal movement of the arm 56 about its pin 57, Fig. 3, and the complete assembly of locking device and de-coupling arm pivots about pin 55 and compresses spring 64. This movement causes the rod 52 to move out of the locking recess 16, 17 of the mating coupler, and further movement of the handle 59 causes the pin 62 to move over and finally clear the face of the cam 63. The nose 61 then slides along the surface 70 and into the recess 71 of the arm 53 of the other coupling and pivots into rod 52 rearwardly against its spring 64 until a spring loaded peg 69 mounted on the lower yoke arm 54 engages a boss 48. When this position is reached the nose 61 of the operating arm fulcrums in the recess 71 of the other coupling so that further turning of the handle 59 pivots the hooks about their axes 19 and permits separation of the couplings to take place.