Year: 1888

page_text: I, FRIEDRICH BRUNO VON ALTEN, of Reinbeck, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
Germany, Lawyer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to railway-car couplings by which the coupling is effected
automatically, whilst the device for uncoupling is actuated from the side of the car:
and the objects of these improvements are to facilitate the coupling and uncoupling
of cars, and to provide a very secure connection of the same.
To effect this, each end of the car is provided with an ordinary coupling hook and
a coupling-link or eye, both placed in such a manner that the corresponding hooks
and eyes of any other car to be coupled will always meet their respective hook and
eye on the adjacent car. Both hook and eye are each pivotted respectively to a rod
connected to the car-body and- serving to distribute the tractive energy of the
locomotive throughout the train. The hook lies on its side so as to engage with the
corresponding vertically-placed eye. The said rods, by which the coupling-hooks and
eyes are connected with the car-body, are provided in the usual manner with ordinary
coiled springs serving not only to communicate the tractive strain on the coupling
hooks and eyes to the car-body without shock, but also to effect the coupling and
uncoupling.
For this reason, the coupling-hook and eye at each end of the car are connected
with each other by means of a cross-bar which is secured to the end of the car by a
pair of links in such a manner that it and the said links form, with the car-end, a
parallelogram of variable angles. The coupling hooks and eyes are continued through
the said cross-bar, and are provided with suitable shoulders adapted to bear against
the said cross-bar in obedience to the action of the aforesaid coiled springs.
When two cars are pushed together, the coupling-hooks and eyes will yield to the
thrust and mutually engage. As a sufficient amount of lateral play is allowed, both
the coupling-hooks and eyes are caused, by means of the wedge-shaped surface of
the hooks, to swing on their respective pivots, transmitting at the same time a lateral.
motion to the said cross-bar. By this movement the above mentioned links cause the
cross-bar to move at the same time away from the car-end ; and, as the shoulders of

page_text: the coupling-hooks and eyes bear against the said cross-bar; the strain on the rods
carrying the coupling-hooks and eyes and on the coiled springs connected thereto is
communicated to the car-body without shock. As soon as the coupling-eyes have
passed the noses of their respective hooks, the tension of the said coiled springs forces
the coupling-eyes to engage securely with the hooks.
The cars are thereby
automatically coupled; and the coupling-hooks and eyes are tightened up under the
action of the said coiled springs. The coupling-eyes are considerably enlarged to
enable them to engage safely with the corresponding hooks under all circumstances,
notwithstanding some of the cars being loaded or empty.
When a car has to be uncoupled, a lateral and parallel forward movement of one
of the said cross-bars must be imparted by any known means to the latter, and this
may be practically effected by a rack connected by a link or links with the said cross-
bar, and a wrench attached to a pinion which is adapted to engage with the rack.
The cross-bar communicates its lateral and parallel-forward-motion equally to the
coupling hook and to the eye, which latter are thereby caused to release their respective
coupling devices on the adjacent car.
Dated thin 01st 1 1000

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Car Couplings.
I, FRIEDRICH BRUNO VON ALTEN, of Reinbeck, in the Kingdom of Prussia
Germany, Lawyer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to railway-car couplings by which the coupling is effected
automatically, while the device for uncoupling is actuated from the side of the
car; and the objects of my improvements are to facilitate the coupling and
uncoupling of cars, and to provide a very secure connection of the same. I attain
these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a top view of the ends of two cars coupled together and both provided
with my improved coupling device.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my improved coupling device, and
Fig. 3 a front view thereof.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
Each end of the car is provided with a coupling-book a, and a coupling-link or
eye b, both placed in such a manner that the corresponding hook and eye of any
other car to be coupled will always meet their respective hook and link on the
adjacent car. Both hook and eye are each pivotted respectively to draw-bars, t t¹,
by means of the vertical bolts c c¹; the eye lying in the vertical plane and the hook
in the horizontal plane, so as to engage with the former. The draw-bars t t¹, by
which the coupling hooks and eyes are connected to the car-body, are provided in
the usual manner with ordinary coiled springs ff, serving not only to communicate
the tractive strain on the hooks and eyes to the car-body elastically, i.e., without
shock, but also to effect the coupling and uncoupling. For this reason the coupling
hook and eye at each end of the car are connected with each other by means of a
cross-bar d, which is secured to the end r of the car by a pair of links g, g', in such
a manner that the bar d and the links g g¹ form, with the car end, a parallelogram
of variable angles. The hook a and loop 6 are continued through the cross-bar a and
are provided with suitable shoulders kk, adapted to hear against the cross-bar d in
obedience to the action of the springs f, f.
When two cars are pushed together, the hooks a and the eyes will yield to the
thrust and connect automatically.
As a sufficient amount of lateral play is allowed, both the hooks and eyes are
caused by means of the wedge-shaped surfaces of the hooks to swing on their
respective pivots, c, c', imparting at the same time a lateral motion to the cross-
bars d. By this movement the links g g' cause the cross bar d to move at the same
time away from the car-end r, and, as the shoulders kk' of the coupling hooks and
eyes bear against the cross bar d, the strain on the draw-bars t, t¹ and the springs,
are communicated to the car-body without any shock. As soon as the coupling-
eyes have passed the noses of their respective hooks, the resilience of the

page_text: "
springs f forces the coupling-eyes to engage securely with the hooks. The cars
are thereby automatically coupled, and the hooks and eyes tightened up under the
action of the springs ff.
b
The coupling-eyes 6 are considerably enlarged to enable them to engage safely with
the corresponding hooks under all circumstances, notwithstanding that some of the
cars may be loaded and others in the same train empty.
When a car has to be uncoupled, the cross-bar d of one car has only to be moved
into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. To effect this, a lateral parallel
forward movement of the cross-bar d must be imparted to the latter, by any known
means, such as are illustrated by way of example. For this purpose, the link m
serves to connect the traversed by means of the bolt n to the rack / which engages
with a pinion p. The rack is guided by an anti-friction roller s.
The pinion p
may be turned by means of a wrench which will cause the lateral and parallel
forward movement of the cross-bar or traverse d. The latter communicates a
corresponding movement equally to the hook a and the eye b, which latter are thereby
caused to release their respective coupling devices on the adjacent car.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. A railway coupling device consisting of a coupling hook in the horizontal
plane and a link or eye placed in the vertical plane, connected with each other by
means of a cross bar secured to the end of a car in such a manner that when it is
moved laterally, its distance from the car end is at the same time varied, and the
coupling device thereby caused to automatically engage with the corresponding hook
and eye on the adjacent car under the action of springs connected thereto.
b
2. In a railway-coupling, the combination of the coupling-book a and eye
pivotted to the rods and elastically connected to the car-body, with the cross-
bar d secured to the car end by links g g³, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
3. In a railway-coupling, the combination of the coupling-hook a and eye b,
pivotted to the elastically extensible draw-bars t t¹, with a cross-bar d, and the
links, 99 forming, with the car end, a parallelogram of variable angles, all
substantially as set forth.
Dated this 16th day of April 1889