Car Couplers.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Car Couplers.
1, JAMES CALVIN DEVLIN, of Hernando, in the County of De Soto, in the
State of Mississippi, United States of America, Inventor, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for CAR COUPLERS, and in what manner the same is to.
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being made to the accompanying drawings:-
-
Fig. 1 is a top plan of two engaging couplers, the upper part of one draw bar
being removed to expose parts therein.
Fig. 2 shows the same devices partially uncoupled, the uncoupling devices being
mounted in proper position upon a car.
Fig. 3 is a smaller top plan of the same uncoupling devices.
Fig. 4 shows one coupling jaw broken away along the line 4-4, Fig. 2, to show
concealed parts, the view being toward the left.
Fig. 5 shows the attachment of a certain rubber spring, less clearly shown in
Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 illustrates the position of the couplers when the cars are upon the shortest
curve over which they can pass without producing lateral strain upon the
couplers.
Fig. 7 shows the position when the coupled cars lurch laterally to the limit
where lateral strain upon the couplers begins.
The object of this invention is to produce a coupler that will automatically
engage its duplicate, that can be readily uncoupled, that will allow free lateral
motion like the common link and pin, and yet such that no motion possible to the
cars, either upon straight or curved track, can disengage it from its duplicate.
In the drawings, A is a drawbar, to be attached to a car in any suitable manner.
Its end is enlarged and has a partial cylindrical cavity, open only upon the side
most distant from the car. Within this cavity is a coupling jaw B filling the
cavity vertically, only, and having a pivotal pin C in the cavity's axis. The draw-
bar is vertically thickened from its end to a point a little in the rear of the pin C,
(see Fig. 2), and the internal cavity is correspondingly increased above, but below
the increase is due to the thickening of the lower wall of the cavity,-the jaw B
being straight upon its lower surface. By this means there is formed a transverse
external shoulder to meet the timbers of the car, and also an internal shoulder
(indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 1, 2) to serve as an additional support trans-
mitting end thrusts of the jaw to the drawbar. Laterally, the jaw extends
only from one side of the cavity to a point a little beyond the center, the
remainder of the space being occupied by a keeper D that fits the cavity like the
jaw and is held in place by the curved wall upon one side and upon the other by
an offset or lug E which projects into a space formed by cutting away the jaw in
the rear of the pin C. In front of this lug the lateral edges of both jaw and
keeper are straight and normally in contact, but in the rear of the same they
diverge slightly for some distance and then separate abruptly to give room for a
rubber spring F whose ends fit, respectively, into dovetail depressions in the rear
face of cach, as appears from Fig. 5. Both jaw and keeper project from the open
side of the cavity in a general direction parallel to the drawbar and both are
vertically thickened so as to be flush with its upper and lower surfaces, thereby
forming shoulders G, G' that work against the end faces or edges of the walls of
the cavity. The two hooks B, B' when engaged occupy the relative positions
shown in Fig. 1, and the engaging faces are preferably perpendicular to the axis of
the drawbar and provided with vertical, obtusely-V-shaped ribs H that mesh with

page_text: each other. In passing into engagement, the rounded end of each jaw forces its
way between the other jaw and the corresponding keeper, the latter yielding by
sliding around in its portion of the cavity, the former swinging slightly upon the
pivot C and both returning to position as soon as the engaging faces can pass each
other, under the elastic force of the spring F.
When the jaws are to be disengaged, the couplers must first be slacked, or
pushed toward each other, and then a small bar I, pivoted at one end in a recess in
the jaw's inner face, is swung against the opposite jaw forcing the two.apart. The
bar is thus swung by means of a wedge whose upper end is connected by a chain
to a rotary operating rod Kupon the end of the car. The wedge passes through
the jaw in a vertical plane but is inclined toward the car at the top, and the chain
is attached to an arm K' of the rod K. The latter has at each end a handle
bar depending below the bottom of the car, and evidently swinging the handle
forward raises the wedge and separates the jaws. The inclination of the wedge
permits making the arm K' shorter but it is not enough to materially retard the
falling of the wedge when the latter is released. Either wedge acting alone
uncouples the cars, and either may be operated from either side of its car.
Devices for operating the coupler from the top of the car, and also for retaining
the raised parts when it is desired to render the coupler temporarily non-automatic,
are very common and may, without invention, be applied to this coupler by any
mechanic.
The hooks and keepers are cut away at O so that the former may pass each
other farther than is necessary for coupling, thus providing for slack between
the cars.
The slack is sufficient, in any heavy train, to allow more than a complete stroke
of the engine piston between the starting of the first car and the last, and hence an
engine will readily start a train that it could not move were the cars rigidly coupled.
And further, if an engine be powerful enough to start the heaviest train to which
it is attached, the slack greatly decreases the power used and thus avoids the
destructive strains so well known to railway shops where the machines ara
repaired.
With couplers of the type known in the United States as the "master car
builder's coupler," as well as with many others, passing around a short curve, and
also the lurching of the cars due to difference in the beight of the rails, often causes
uncoupling, and at best creates a serious pressure of the wheel flange upon the side
of the rail and an injurious strain upon the couplers themselves.
The result is serious loss of power, undue wear of rail, flange and coupler, and
. frequency of accidents.
•
.
These couplers, however, make with each other, and entirely without strain, any
angle up to that where the shoulders A, A' are met by the jaw and keeper nearest
the center of curvature (see Fig. 6). So too if one or both cars lurch laterally
there is no strain until the shoulders are met in like manner (see Fig. 7).
Now these shoulders may be placed to allow any desired angle, but if they be
located as in the illustrations, no curve practically used and no lurching that leaves
both cars upon the rails, will produce any lateral strain.
To render uncoupling possible, the jaws must move relatively in opposite
directions and at the same time the keeper must move away from its jaw. But no
motion of the car can produce this movement for each jaw and its keeper are in
effect pivoted to swing freely from side to side together; swinging of the cars
; exerts no effect except an insignificant amount through friction, and this is more
than neutralized by the spring F, so far as separation of jaw and keeper is
concerned. Yet they may be uncoupled with the greatest facility, either upon
straight or curved track, by force applied as has been indicated.
In practice, the vertical depth of both jaw and keeper secures perfect working
upon cars differing in height, but for unusual differences, or when one car has a
very unlike coupler, the link and pin may be used. To this end the jaw is slotted
at L, Fig. 2, and perforated at M to receive a pin M¹. In this case the jaw swings

page_text: about the pivot C until the pin M' is in the line of draft, as shown at the right in
Fig. 6.
It is to be observed that when the cars are pushed violently together the shock
is not borne by the pin C but is transmitted directly to the drawbar. It may also
be noted as an important advantage of this coupler, that no "striker" or other
maliciously inclined person can cripple a train by removing detachable parts
beyond reach as often happens with other couplers, for no part is readily removable.
The pin is shown as retained by a nut, and for still greater security it may be
headed, either with or without the nut.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination with a drawbar, of a jaw pivotally mounted thereon and
adapted to engage its duplicate upon another car, and a keeper mounted to swing
laterally with said jaw and independently away from the same, and devices offering
yielding resistance to such independent motion.
2. The combination with the drawbar having the partial cylindrical cavity in its
enlarged end, of the jaw and keeper projecting from the cavity and swinging freely
from side to side therein, and devices offering yielding resistance to the increase of
the distance between said jaw and keeper, said drawbar being provided with
shoulders limiting the swinging of the jaw and keeper to either side.
3. The combination with a drawbar and a laterally swinging, hooked jaw
mounted therein and adapted to engage a like jaw of another coupler, of a wedge
sliding in the jaw first named, transversely to the plane thereof, to force the
engaging jaws out of engagement, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination with the hooked jaw of a coupler, of a rearwardly inclined
coupling wedge sliding in the jaw transversely to the plane thereof, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
5. The combination with the hooked jaw adapted to engage the like hook of
another coupler, of the bar pivoted in the jaw to swing into or across the hook for
uncoupling, the rearwardly inclined wedge sliding in the jaw and adapted to force
the swinging of the bar, the shaft having the handles and intermediate crank, and
a chain connecting the crank to said wedge to raise it.
6. The combination with the drawbar having the cylindrical cavity in its
enlarged free end, of the jaw pivoted in the axis of said cavity, fitting against its
side and rear walls and projecting at the front as a hook, and the keeper lying
alongside said jaw, fitting the cavity in like manner, and separated from the jaw, at
the rear of the cavity, by the rubber spring, substantially as set forth.
7. The combination with the drawbar having in its enlarged free end the
cylindrical cavity whose horizontal walls terminate in curved shoulders having
the axis of the cavity as a center, and whose vertical walls end in vertical shoulders,
of the hooked jaw and keeper mounted in said cavity to swing about its axis and
provided with shoulders to meet the shoulders above named, a spring interposed
between the rear ends of the jaw and keeper, and means for forcing out of the jaw's
hook the jaw of another coupler.
8. The combination with a drawbar, of a hooked jaw and a keeper mounted
therein to swing from side to side together and adapted to receive the like parts of
another coupler, and devices exerting a yielding pressure to keep the free end
of the keeper at its minimum distance from the jaw.
Dated this 19th day of July 1892.
HERBERT J. ALLISON,
Agent for the Applicant.