Improvements in Couplings for Railway Cars or other Vehicles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in Couplings for Railway Cars or other Vehicles.
We, JOSEPH SOUTH and WILHELM BURSCH, manufacturers, both of Cologne on
the Rhine, Germany, the former 15 Sevianswall the latter 18 Josephstrasse, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the saine is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Fig. 1 is an elevation in longitudinal section, fig. 2 a plan and fig. 3 a front
elevation of our improved coupling.
The object of the improved coupling is to enable the cars to be coupled and
uncoupled and to enable the coupling to be tightened and slackened from the side of
the car without it being necessary that the attendant should place himself between
the cars.
To the connecting hooks a hinged in the usual manner to the traction hook h, are
secured arms b, so that the latter affect a motion corresponding to that of the
hooks a.
In the slot of the arm b engages the pin of an arm c; the latter is secured onto a
shaft & lodged in suitable bearings under the frame of the car and at its projecting
ends it is foursided for receiving a wrench or a key, by means of which rotary
motion can be imparted to the shaft.d and arm c.
The cars can be brought close together by means of an arrangement of arms f,f,g, 9
and i, i connected to each traction rod e. The said arms are jointed to each other,
in such a manner that they are parallel by pairs; as the arms ii approach each other,
the hooks approach each other and the device is slackened, whereas as the arms i, i
separate from each other, the hooks recede from each other and the cars are brought
closer together. This operation is effected from the side of the car by means of a
shaft w located under the car and provided with a right and left hand screw and
operated by a handle or its equivalent k; the said shaft w is prevented from moving
forward by a bearing m and it carries the nuts secured to the arms i.
Operation.. When the cars. require to be coupled, the hooks a and arms b, c have
first to be brought into the position shown in full lines in fig. 1. After the cars, with
their traction hooks has close together as possible have come together so that their
buffers touch, the arm b is caused to assume the position shown in dotted lines by

page_text: imparting rotary motion to the axis d, thus bringing the hook a of one car in
engagement with the traction hook h of the other car. The shaft w is then rotated,
the arms i move away from each other, the ends of the traction rods e approach each
other and the cars are caused to be held closer together, as required for running. In
order to uncouple the cars, the shaft wis rotated in the opposite direction, the tension
is removed and the hook a can be raised by rotating the shaft d.
As will be seen from the foregoing, the operation of coupling and uncoupling as
well as of bringing the cars close together can be performed with ease and rapidity,
without it being necessary for any servant to place himself between the cars.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :
A coupling for railway cars or other vehicles, in which the operation of coupling
and bringing the cars close together is effected from the side of the vehicle by means
of two shafts d and w located under the vehicle, of which one effects the engagement
and disengagement of the hook a by means of the arms c and b, and the other,
provided with a shaft w having a right hand and left hand screw causes the coupling
to be tightened or slackened by an arrangement of levers f, f, g, g and i, i.
8711
1 1000