Patent GB-366416-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to central coupling and buffing gear for railway or the like vehicles
IPC: B61G1/08
Filed: 1931-07-20
Abstract: 366,416. Automatic c o u p - lings for railway vehicles. DAVIES, A. and ROURKE, C. O., Saidpur, Rangpur, Bengal, India. July 20, 1931, No. 20720. [Class 103 (v).] In a central coupling for railway vehicles of the type in which a coupling pin 3 on one vehicle is adapted to be engaged automatically by a pivoted hook 1 on the other vehicle, the pin 3 forms with a rear pin 6 and connecting links 5 a coupling yoke that is slidable horizontally in slots 4, 7 in a yoke carrier 2, the yoke being normally held in a forward position by means of an actuating plate 9 which has an inclined slot 8 co-operating with the rear pin 6 and is initially lifted to a raised position, but which, when the nose 16 of the hook 1 strikes a trip device 11, is adapted to drop by gravity and retract the pin 3 into the bight 17 of the hook. Any slack between the coupling elements is thus taken up, and, in the case of vehicles having side buffers, such as would be used in conjunction with the central coupling shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the compression of the buffers is utilized to prevent chatter or backlash. In the act of coupling inclined guide surfaces 26, 29 on the yoke carrier guide the hook over the pin 3. In order to uncouple the plate 9 is raised by means of a pivoted arm 20 connected to a transverse shaft 21 having operating handles 22 at each side of the vehicle, a pin 13 on the plate simultaneously engaging a recess 12 in the trip lever 11. The yoke carrier 2 is hinged at 31 to an ordinary draw-hook 32 and is fitted with a removable pin 33 which normally rests in the hollow 34 of the hook to support the yoke carrier horizontally, but which, when withdrawn, allows the carrier and its fittings to swing down to an inoperative position, e.g. when the draw-hook 32 is to be used with a screw coupling. The coupling hook 1 is pivoted to a removable pin 35 normally resting in the hollow 36 of the second draw-hook 37 and has a tail 38 engaging under a second and rotatable pin 39 connected to the pin 35 by links 41. Prior to coupling, the hook 1 is held in the slightly raised position shown in Fig. 1 by the engagement of a cam or lug 42, Fig. 5, on the pin 39 with the hook end 59 of the tail 38, but when the hook 1 is momentarily raised in passing over the pin 3, the pin 39 and cam 42 are rotated so as to permit the hook 1 to drop to its full extent. This rotation of the pin 39 is effected by the co-operation of a pin 50 on a cam lever 51 with a slotted arm 48 integral with a weighted operating handle 46, the weight of the hook itself assisting such movement. For effecting a release of the coupling and setting the hook 1 in its initial position, the handle 46 is operated simultaneously with the handle 22, while, by moving the handle 46 further and inserting a retaining pin 53 in a bracket 50<1>, the hook may be supported in a raised permanently inoperative position, e.g. for shunting purposes. In a modification the yoke carrier, instead of being mounted on a draw-hook, is pivoted directly to the vehicle about a vertical pin, while, in a further modification, Fig. 10, the coupling pin 3a or yoke slides in horizontal guides in a casting 2a, which replaces the yoke carrier, coacts with a buffing spring 62, and is provided with a buffing face 58. The hook 1a is pivoted in a similar casting having a buffing face 67, through an aperture 66 in which the tail 65 of the hook projects prior to effecting a coupling. When the two vehicles approach the tail 65 is struck and the hook is thrown over into engagement with the pin 3a, striking a curved portion 15a of a modified tripping device on the casting 2a. For shunting purposes the hook 1a can be supported in such a position that the tail 65 lies within but does not project through the aperture 66.