Improvements in and relating to Car Couplings.
Year: 1892

page_text: being date of first Foreign Application (in 5th Apr., 1892
United States of America)
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 19th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1892-Accepted, Sist Dec., 1892
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 19th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1892-Accepted, Sist Dec., 1092
Complete Specification Left, 19th UCL., 1894-Accepted, o1st Dec., fo06
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Car Couplings.
I, GRANVILLE REVERE LEWIS, a citizen of the United States of America,
residing at Lynchburg, in the County of Campbell, and State of Virginia, one of
the United States of America, Gentleman, 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 improvements in vertical-plane car-couplings in which a
lock-pin is used pivoted on a rod passing horizontally through the body of the
coupler and is suspended in the center of the coupler. An arm extending from the
hinge of the knuckle is shaped to lock smoothly with this pin. The pin is worked
for uncoupling by a lever placed begeath the pin.
The objects of my improvement are, first, to secure easy and firm locking by a
pivoted or suspended gravity-pin second, to avoid the use of springs in securing
firm and safe locking, and, third, to lock without the jam and jar necessarily
attending the use of springs in couplers, all of which will be hereinafter more
particularly described and pointed out.
In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this Specification,
Figure 1 is a horizontal section of the coupler.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the coupler.
a, is a lock-pin in the center of the coupler, suspended on a rod, b. (Shown by
dotted lines.)
c, is a lever used for raising or throwing back the pin, a, to uncouple.
d, is a rod upon which lever, c, is keyed, as shown in center by d
e, e, are levers, one on each side of the coupler, which pass forward and are
secured to rods, d, by keys, as shown at ", du, on the ends of rod, d. These
levers e, are connected to the levers, g, on the ends of the cars by a chain or
rod marked, f, Figure 2. (Shown in broken lines.)
?, is a lever on the end of the car, connected to levers, e, e, at f.
h, is an arm extending from the hinge-joint of the knuckle and which is locked
in position by lock-pin, a. Dotted lines, show the position of the arm, h, when
the coupling is open ready for the coupler of the next car to engage with it.
i, is the slot in the knuckle for working with a link-and-pin coupler, », being
the pin-hole; k, draw-rod; 1, hinge-pin; m, knuckle; n, n, opening from front to back
of coupler; o, o, counter-sinks for the heads of suspension-rod, b, on one side and for
keying on the other, as shown by, p; s, head of draw-rod, k; r, opening in which
the arm of the knuckle works when coupled.
g, dotted lines, shows the arc described by arm, h, when uncoupling.
t, shows slot with the end of the lever, c, in position.
The operation of this coupler is as follows: Either one of the couplers can be
opened by means of its lever, g, at the end of its car, which lifts the chain or rod, /,
and with it the lever, e, which operates the rock shaft or rod, d. The lever, c, is
carried up and inwardly, and the lock-pin, a, on which it impinges, is moved to the
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page_text: position shown in Figure 2 in dotted lines, a¹¹. When thus thrown back, the arm, h,
can then be swung out of its normal position to that shown by dotted lines, h¹¹,
and the coupling is then wide open. The second coupling being locked is shoved
into the opening, and so soon as that coupling touches the arm, h, it is forced
inwardly along the dotted line, q, into the normal position, as seen at, u, Figure 1,
at the same time pushing lock-pin, a, ahead of it until reaching its proper place,
when the gravity lock-pin, a, will fall into its proper locking place, as seen in the
figures in solid lines, and the arm, h, will be securely held until unlocked by means
of the levers, and e, as heretofore described for uncoupling the cars. The
lever, c, works in a slot, e, in the bed of the coupler, so that when at rest, as in
Figure 2, it is out of the way of the gravity-pin, a. So soon as pin, a, has been
moved backward, so as to permit the arm, h, to be withdrawn, the levers, 9, and e,
are released, and the pin, a, by its own gravity will resume its normal position, as
in Figure 2.
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
The combination of the gravity lock-pin, a, the lever, e, rock-shaft or rod, d,
the levers, e, e, and chains or rods, and levers, g, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
Dated this 101 dov
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.