EP0256975B1 - Coupling device on a vehicle for the transmission of a tractive or pushing force to another vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a coupling device on a vehicle intended for locomotion on a roadway, in particular on a traction vehicle, for transmitting a pulling or pushing force to another vehicle, at least the first-mentioned vehicle being provided with a coupling bracket which has at least one arm , the free end of which is pivotally attached to the vehicle in the vertical direction of the vehicle.

Coupling devices of this type, in particular with two-armed coupling brackets, have been known for a long time. It turns out, however, that under adverse road conditions or with an unfavorable ratio of the weight of the traction vehicle to the weight of the coupled, non-driven vehicle, one or the other vehicle lifts off the road with the result of derailment on profiled roads or tipping over of one or the other Vehicle are not inevitable in every case on roughly smooth roads. This applies not only and above all to cogwheel railways, and in particular to toy cogwheel railways, where the latter gradients and curves of the roadway are not always expertly laid by the user, i.e. within the technically permissible limits, but also for trailer road vehicles of any kind.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a coupling device of the type mentioned, which enables safe operation of a traction vehicle with a coupled trailer vehicle in pulling or pushing operation on practically any road without interference, as long as the locomotive ensures the locomotion on the road by means of adhesion or gear drive is.

According to the invention, the coupling device for achieving this object has the features stated in the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

The coupling device according to the invention largely prevents the vehicles from being pushed out of the roadway between the locomotive and at least one further, non-driven vehicle connected to it, even on extremely uneven roadways and on steep gradients and tight bends, by providing the force that is decisive for locomotion each vehicle at a point as close as possible to the driving surface of the road and near the cornering elements of the vehicle in question or the relevant chassis of the vehicle.

• Fig. 1 ausschnittweise eine Seitenansicht eines aus zusammengesetzten Bausteinen bestehenden, mit einem Zahnradantrieb versehenen Spielzeugzuges, bei welchem Fahrzeuge durch erfindungsgemässe Kupplungsvorrichtungen verbunden sind;
• Fig. 2 eine Oberansicht des Zuges der Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 eine Unteransicht des Zuges der Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Kupplungsbügels der Fahrzeuge der Fig. 1 bis 3;
• Fig. 5 eine Draufsicht auf den Kupplungsbügel der Fig. 4;
• Fig. 6 einen Schnitt durch den Kupplungsbügel der Fig. 4;
• Fig. 7 eine Seitenansicht einer Fahrzeugplattform eines Fahrzeugs der Fig. 1 bis 3;
• Fig. 8 eine Stirnansicht des einen Endes der Fahrzeugplattform der Fig. 7;
• Fig. 9 eine Stirnansicht des anderen Endes der Fahrzeugplattform der Fig. 7;
• Fig. 10 eine Seitenansicht eines Triebfahrgestells eines anderen Fahrzeugs mit einer erfindungsgemässen Kupplungsvorrichtung;
• Fig. 11 eine perspektivische Ansicht des zur Verbindung einer Fahrzeugplattform vorgesehenen Kupplungsbügels des Triebfahrgestells der Fig. 10; und
• Fig. 12 eine auseinandergezogene perspektivische Ansicht der zur Verbindung mit einem weiteren Fahrzeug vorgesehenen Kupplungsvorrichtung des Triebfahrgestells der Fig. 10.

Embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are explained below with reference to the drawings, which relate to a toy rack railway. Show it:

• 1 shows a partial side view of a toy train consisting of assembled building blocks, provided with a gear drive, in which vehicles are connected by coupling devices according to the invention;
• Fig. 2 is a top view of the train of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the train of Fig. 1;
• 4 shows a perspective view of a coupling bracket of the vehicles of FIGS. 1 to 3;
• Fig. 5 is a plan view of the coupling bracket of Fig. 4;
• 6 shows a section through the coupling bracket of FIG. 4.
• 7 is a side view of a vehicle platform of a vehicle of FIGS. 1 to 3;
• Figure 8 is an end view of one end of the vehicle platform of Figure 7;
• Fig. 9 is an end view of the other end of the vehicle platform of Fig. 7;
• 10 shows a side view of a motor vehicle chassis of another vehicle with a coupling device according to the invention;
• FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the coupling bracket of the drive chassis of FIG. 10 provided for connecting a vehicle platform; and
• 12 is an exploded perspective view of the coupling device of the motor vehicle chassis of FIG. 10 provided for connection to another vehicle.

1 to 3, for example, an embodiment of a toy cogwheel train is shown, these figures showing a partial side view, top view and bottom view of a train built from building blocks in the manner of a railcar train.

1 to 3, the train shown has three cars, namely a head or control car 1, an intermediate car 2 and a trailer 3. The head car 1 is connected to the intermediate car 2 via a chassis 4 coupled on both sides, and the intermediate car 2 connected to the end car 3 via a chassis 5 coupled on both sides. The end carriage 1 and the end carriage 3 are also provided with a bogie in their outer end regions, not shown. 1 to 3, the outer panels of the carriages 1 to 3 and the chassis 4 and 5 are not shown, with the exception of the head carriage 1, in which a suitable carriage covering 8 composed of individual components is indicated. For the construction of any car panels, each car 1 to 3 has a platform 9, 10 and 11 serving as a car chassis, via which platform the cars 1, 2 and 3 are also coupled to the chassis 4 and 5, as will be explained below. To accommodate additional components, the platforms 9, 10 and 11 are provided with coupling pins 12 in a manner known per se (FIG. 2). On their underside, the platforms 9, 10 and 11 are designed as hollow bodies which are reinforced by struts 13 (FIG. 3).

The chassis 4 and 5 are made in one piece from a plastic in the present embodiment, apart from wheel axles and coupling or fastening elements. The two-axle chassis 5, which is a drive-free 3 has a substantially hollow underside, which has molded-on bearing parts 14 for receiving rotatable wheel axles 15, each of which is provided with two pressed-on, rotatable wheels 16 with a smooth running surface. Furthermore, the chassis 5 has walls 21 and 22 which are opposed in pairs and extend essentially in the longitudinal direction. The walls 21 and 22 serve as guide walls of the chassis 5 on a smooth track provided with a central rack, the rack coming to rest in the space between two opposing walls 21 and 22 when the train shown is placed on such a track.

On the upper side, the chassis 5 is provided on both sides with an attached, pivotable coupling bracket 23 or 24, which is pivotable in the vertical direction about lateral pins 25. The coupling brackets 23 and 24 are intended to receive corresponding coupling elements at the adjacent ends of the platforms 10 and 11, respectively. This coupling device will be explained later in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9. On its upper side, the chassis is also provided with a few coupling pins 12 which, like the platforms 9, 10 and 11, permit the attachment of structures such as cladding.

The chassis 4, as far as its underside is concerned (FIG. 3), is basically of the same design as the chassis 5 and accordingly has the same clamping tabs 14, wheel axles 15, wheels 16 and guide walls 21 and 22, respectively. However, since the chassis 4 is a driven chassis, an essentially cylindrical electric motor 26 is attached in a vertical position on its upper side (FIGS. 1 and 2). The electric motor 26 has a likewise vertical drive axis 27 (FIG. 3) which carries a gear wheel 28. The gearwheel 28 is accordingly located on the underside of the chassis 4 in the region of the one guide wall 22, its axis lying to the side of the longitudinal center line of the chassis 4. The gear 28, which is preferably driven by the electric motor 26 via a gear built into the electric motor, is intended to come into engagement with a side toothing of a toothed rack toothed on both sides, which, as already mentioned, is arranged centrally on the smooth roadway, in order to engage the chassis 4 and thus to move the entire train of FIGS. 1 to 3 along the roadway when the electric motor 26 is excited.

The electric motor 26 is supplied via a plug 29 (FIG. 1) designed as a module and a supply cable 30 through a battery box (not shown) arranged on the head carriage 1. To control the electric motor 26, a slide 32 is arranged in the chassis 4 near the underside of the electric motor 26. The slide 32 is provided with switching contacts and can be brought from the illustrated "off" position (motor separated from the battery) by pressing in one or the other transverse direction into a circuit for forward or backward travel of the chassis 4 or the train . The slide 32 protrudes laterally beyond the chassis 4 and has bevelled surfaces at the ends. This allows actuating elements such as pins and the like to be arranged on the carriageway, which act on the slider 32 when the train passes through and thus cause the train to stop or change direction.

Like the chassis 5, the chassis 4 is provided with two coupling brackets 23 and 24 mounted in lateral pins 25 in order to releasably connect the chassis 4 to the platform 9 of the head carriage 1 and to the platform 10 of the intermediate carriage 2. Furthermore, the electric motor 26 is also provided with a few coupling pins 12 for fitting cladding or the like.

The coupling bracket 23 belonging to the bogie 5 is shown in perspective in FIG. 4, in a top view in FIG. 5 and in a section in FIG. 6. The coupling bracket 23 has two angled arms 65 which are provided with a clamping slot 66 at their ends. With this clamping slot 66, each arm 65 of the coupling bracket 23 can be applied to one of the pins 25 formed laterally on the chassis 5, as shown in FIG. 1.

In the central yoke part 67, the coupling bracket 23 has a slot 68, the upper and lower slot walls being provided with a small, groove-like recess 69 in the inner part of the slot 68.

The slot 68 of the coupling bracket 23 serves to receive a corresponding coupling tongue, which are attached to the ends of the platforms 9, 10 and 11. 7 to 9, the platform 10 of the intermediate car 2 (FIG. 1) is shown in detail, but on a larger scale. The platform 10 is provided with an integrally formed tongue 70 and 71 on each end face. The tongues 70, 71 each have an upper and lower locking button 72 at their outer ends. When a tongue 70 or 71 is inserted into the slot 68 of the coupling bracket 23 (FIGS. 4 to 6), the locking buttons 72 push the upper and lower slot walls slightly apart and snap into the groove-like recesses 69 (FIGS. 5, 6), so that the tongue 70 or 71 is held in the slot 68, that is to say the platform 10 is coupled to the coupling bracket 23 and thus to the chassis 5. To decouple the platform 10 is simply pulled off the coupling bracket 23. The same coupling design is also present in the further coupling brackets 23, 24 and the ends of the platforms 9, 10 and 11 of FIG. 1 to be coupled.

7 to 9 show that the tongue 70 at one end of the platform 10 of the intermediate carriage 2 has a different cross-sectional shape than the tongue 71 at the other end of the platform 10. The tongue 70 (FIG. 8) has a rectangular cross-section, while the cross-sectional shape of the tongue 71 (FIG. 9) is similar to the shape of a rhombus. The tongue 70 (rectangle) in the slot 68 of the coupling bracket 23, 24 causes a connection which is rigid with respect to the direction of rotation about the longitudinal axis of the platform 10, since the tongue 70 abuts the upper and lower wall of the slot 68. The tongue 71 (rhombus), on the other hand, allows a slight swiveling back and forth in the slot 68. If all cars 1 to 3 of FIG. 1 on the chassis 4 and 5 in the ge named direction of rotation are rigidly coupled by all tongues are formed like the tongue 70 (Fig. 8), so there is the disadvantage that cars can stand out from the road in very tight bends, especially those in gradients. If, on the other hand, only tongues according to tongue 71 (FIG. 9) are provided, the carriages may run roughly at any speed of the train. It is therefore favorable to use both forms of tongues 70 and 71 in a mixed manner, which is easily possible because the slot 68 of the coupling bracket 23 and 24 can accommodate both tongues 70 and 71.

• 1) Die genannten Angriffspunkte sollen in der Höhenrichtung (in der senkrechten Richtung) bezüglich der Fahrbahn möglichst nahe denjenigen Stellen liegen, die an der Fahrbahn und am Fahrgestell an einer Krafteinwirkung für den Vorschub des Fahrgestells und der mit diesem gekuppelten Wagen beteiligt sind. Diese Stellen sind demnach einerseits beim angetriebenen Fahrgestell die Eingriffstelle des Zahnrades des Antriebsmotors in die Verzahnung der Zahnstange, und andererseits bei allen Fahrgestellen die Auflagepunkte ihrer Räder auf den glatten Fahrfiächen der Fahrbahn. Daraus ergibt sich die erste Vorschrift, dass die Kupplungshebel 23, 24 an die Fahrgestelle 4, 5 so tief als möglich, das heisst auf dem Niveau der Zahnstange und möglichst nahe den Fahrflächen angelenkt sein sollen. Aus der Fig. 1 ergibt sich, dass die bezüglich der Fahrbahn tiefe Lage der seitlichen Zapfen 25 der Fahrgestelle 4, 5 dieser Vorschrift nachkommt.
• 2) Die genannten Angriffspunkte sollen darüberhinaus in Längsrichtung des Fahrzeuges benachbart, das heisst, so nahe wie konstruktiv möglich bei den Seitenführungselementen, d.h. im vorliegenden Fall den Führungswänden 21, 22 liegen.

With the non-driven undercarriage 5, the driven undercarriage 4 corresponds to the applied electric motor 26 (FIG. 1), so that in the driven undercarriage 4 of FIG. 1 the design and arrangement of the coupling bracket 23 or 24 is the same as in the undercarriage 5. The arrangement of the coupling brackets 23, 24 on the chassis 4 and 5, which can be seen in particular from FIGS. 1 and 4 to 6, shows the advantage of the coupling device according to the invention because it enables the road surface to be used with unusually steep gradients, also associated with very high gradients tight curves, to be laid without there being any risk that the locomotive and other vehicles coupled to it would lift off the road and thus "derail" or "crash". The measure according to the invention consists in the fact that the points of application of the power transmission from a chassis to a vehicle coupled to this chassis or to its platform serving as the vehicle chassis are provided at locations on the vehicle frame itself which have specific arrangements with respect to the roadway or the chassis in accordance with the design Fully meet the possibilities at least approximately. These arrangements are as follows:

• 1) The specified points of attack should be as close as possible to those points in the vertical direction (in the vertical direction) with respect to the carriageway that are involved in the application of force on the carriageway and on the chassis for the advancement of the chassis and the cars coupled to it. These points are therefore on the one hand the point of engagement of the gear wheel of the drive motor in the toothing of the rack in the driven chassis, and on the other hand the support points of their wheels on the smooth surfaces of the carriageway on all chassis. This results in the first regulation that the coupling levers 23, 24 should be articulated as deep as possible on the chassis 4, 5, that is, on the rack level and as close as possible to the driving surfaces. 1 that the position of the lateral pins 25 of the chassis 4, 5 which is deep with respect to the roadway complies with this regulation.
• 2) The points of attack mentioned should moreover be adjacent in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, that is to say as close as possible in terms of construction to the side guide elements, ie in the present case the guide walls 21, 22.

In the chassis 4 and 5 shown in FIG. 1, these guide walls 21, 22 lie in the middle of the chassis. Thus, the side pins 25 of the chassis 4, 5 for the coupling bracket 23 and 24 are formed very close to these chassis centers. The coupling brackets 23, 24 have, in a rather unusual way, correspondingly long and inclined arms 65 (FIG. 6), so that, according to FIG. 1, the coupling of the chassis 4 and 5 with the platforms 9, 10 and 10, 11 of the neighboring ones Vehicles 1, 2 or 2, 3 at the ends of the chassis is possible.

The fulfillment of the two requirements mentioned above by the articulation of the coupling brackets 23 and 24 to the chassis 4 and 5 shown in FIG. 1 has the effect that all forces which are transmitted from the chassis 4, 5 to the coupled platforms 9, 10, 11 are transmitted , have a major, predominant component that is parallel to the road. The vertical force component, i.e. the force component directed upwards, is considerably smaller. This means that only a negligibly small moment is generated, which strives to lift the chassis and the carriages coupled to them in operation perpendicular to the carriageway upwards from it. In addition, since the toothing on the side of the toothed rack prevents the drive gearwheel 28, which is in engagement with the toothing, from climbing out of the toothing, the present rack and pinion track has a very high level of stability, even if the track is on steep inclines and tight curves without suitable support pillars (ie "freely suspended") ") is misplaced. A slope limit is essentially only reached when the vertical plane passing through the center of gravity of a chassis intersects the contact points of the wheels on the affected wheel axle on the road. This corresponds to an incline of the road of significantly more than 100% in the present cog railway. In addition, there are the advantages mentioned in the present cogwheel train, regardless of whether the traction vehicle pulls or pushes other coupled vehicles.

1 to 3, a train consisting of several carriages 1, 2, 3 is shown for example. It is understandable that other, practically arbitrary combinations of chassis 4, 5 with coupled vehicles or platforms are possible using end bogies with the coupling devices according to the invention. In particular, the locomotive may be a single locomotive which, with reference to FIG. 1, would consist of a powered undercarriage 4 and a carriage 1 with a running bogie coupled by means of a coupling bracket 23, further carriage casings (not shown) and the coupling bracket being arranged 24 could be omitted at the outer end of the chassis 4.

Another embodiment of the coupling device according to the invention is explained with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12. This relates to a powered chassis 87 of an electric locomotive a toy rack railway, which has coupling devices 89 and 102 connected to the chassis 87. The locomotive is again intended for a carriageway which has a smooth driving surface 90 and a toothed rack 91 which is arranged in the center of the carriageway and has toothing on both sides. The exemplary embodiment in FIG. 10 is characterized in that the chassis 87 is formed by stacking several components. In the illustration in FIG. 10, wheels attached to axles 95 are omitted for the sake of clarity.

• - einem Führungs- und Grundbauelement 93, das sich über die ganze Länge des Fahrgestells 87 erstreckt, und welches einerseits als Basis für den Aufbau weiterer Bauelemente und andererseits als Gleitführungselement des Fahrgestells 87 längs der Zahnstange 91 ausgebildet ist;
• - zwei auf dem Führungsbauelement 93 aufgesteckten Lagerplatten 94, welche Oeffnungen zur Aufnahme je einer Radachse 95 aufweisen, auf welcher zwei Laufräder 96 (in Fig. 10 nur das hintere Laufrad 96 sichtbar) mit glatten Laufflächen für die seitig der Zahnstange 91 befindlichen glatten Fahrflächen 90 der Fahrbahn angeordnet sind;
• - einer auf die Lagerplatten 94 aufgesteckten Antriebseinheit 97, welche zwei Längsplattenteile 98, zwei vorstehende Seitenplattenteile 99 (nur ein Seitenplattenteil 99 in Fig. 10 sichtbar) und einen Elektromotor 100 enthält, dessen Antriebsachse mit dem bereits erwähnten Antriebszahnrad 28 versehen ist, das mit der einen Verzahnung der Zahnstange 91 in Eingriff steht;
• - zwei Haltebügeln 101, welche auf die Antriebseinheit 97 und das Führungsbauelement 93 aufgesteckt sind und somit das Führungsbauelement 93, die Lagerplatten 94 und die Antriebseinheit 97 als Baueinheit zusammenhalten;
• - einem Verbindungsbügel 102, der an das Führungsbauelement 93 angelenkt ist und dazu vorgesehen ist, das Fahrgestell 87 drehbar mit einer Plattform der Lokomotive zu verbinden; und
• - der bereits erwähnten Kupplungsvorrichtung 89, die einen ebenfalls an das Führungsbauelement 93 angelenkten Kupplungsbügel 103 enthält und die dazu ausgebildet ist, das Fahrgestell 87 und damit die Lokomotive mit einem weiteren Fahrzeug zu kuppeln.

10, the driven chassis 87 is composed of the following components:

• - A guide and basic component 93, which extends over the entire length of the chassis 87, and which is designed on the one hand as a base for the construction of further components and on the other hand as a sliding guide element of the chassis 87 along the rack 91;
• - Two bearing plates 94 mounted on the guide component 93, each of which has openings for receiving a wheel axle 95, on which two wheels 96 (only the rear wheel 96 is visible in FIG. 10) with smooth running surfaces for the smooth driving surfaces 90 located on the side of the rack 91 the roadway are arranged;
• - A drive unit 97 plugged onto the bearing plates 94, which contains two longitudinal plate parts 98, two protruding side plate parts 99 (only one side plate part 99 visible in FIG. 10) and an electric motor 100, the drive axis of which is provided with the drive gear 28 already mentioned, which with the a toothing of the rack 91 is engaged;
• - Two holding brackets 101, which are attached to the drive unit 97 and the guide component 93 and thus hold the guide component 93, the bearing plates 94 and the drive unit 97 together as a structural unit;
• a connecting bracket 102, which is articulated to the guide component 93 and is intended to rotatably connect the chassis 87 to a platform of the locomotive; and
• - The already mentioned coupling device 89, which also contains a coupling bracket 103 articulated to the guide component 93 and which is designed to couple the chassis 87 and thus the locomotive to another vehicle.

The connecting bracket 102 of the coupling device 89 of FIG. 10, which is articulated to the guide component 93, is shown in FIG. 11. The connecting bracket 102 has two arms 113, which are provided at their ends with a clamping slot 114, so that the arms 113 can be plugged onto the inner bearing journals 111c (FIG. 10). The yoke part of the connecting bracket 102 has a slot-like opening 115, in which a pin 116 is formed. The connecting bracket 102 serves to pivotally connect the chassis 87 to a platform of the locomotive by the pin 116 being able to be snapped into a corresponding horizontal clamping lug on the platform. A downward pivoting movement of the connecting bracket 102 is limited by the fact that its arms 113 abut the adjacent projections 112 of the guide component 93 (FIG. 10).

The coupling bracket 103 of the coupling device 89 articulated on the guide component 93 is shown in FIG. 12. The coupling bracket 103 also has two arms 117 and 118, each of which is provided with a hole 119 in its end regions. Thus, as can also be seen from FIG. 10, the coupling bracket 103 can be plugged onto the outer bearing journals 111a, a downward pivoting movement of the coupling bracket 103 being restricted by the fact that extensions 120 of the arms 117, 118 on the adjacent projections 112 of the guide component 93.

The yoke part of the coupling bracket 103 also has a slot-like opening 121, in which a pin 122 is formed. The opening 121 and the pin 122 serve to receive a clamping tab 123 of a further two-armed bracket 124, the two arms 125 of which each have a hole 126. A magnet holder 127, which comprises a permanent magnet 128, is provided with two bearing pins 129 which fit into the holes 126. In the assembled state (FIG. 10), the magnet holder 127 can therefore rotate between the arms 125 of the bracket 124. In a manner known per se, therefore, the permanent magnets 128 of similar coupling devices 89 of two abutting vehicles can rotate in such a way that the north pole of one magnet faces the south pole of the other magnet, so that a magnetic coupling of the two vehicles then takes place.

10, the drive unit 97 is placed on the bearing plates 94 as a further component.

In order to hold together the components mentioned, namely the guide component 93, the bearing plates 94 and the drive unit 97, the two retaining brackets 101 (FIG. 10) are present, which are plugged onto corresponding coupling pins of the longitudinal plate parts 98 of the drive unit 97 and which are attached to theirs Arms provided clamping slots are snapped into the remaining journals 111b and 111d of the guide component 93.

It can be seen from FIG. 10 that in this embodiment of the coupling device according to the invention, the force-transmitting elements, namely the connecting bracket 102 and the coupling bracket 103 in the bearing journals 111c and 111a are articulated very close to the running surfaces 90 and close to the center of gravity on the chassis 87 , so that the stability of the locomotive provided with the chassis 87 and the other vehicles attached to it on the carriageway is also guaranteed in this embodiment up to the natural tipping limit.

The coupling device according to the invention has previously been explained with the aid of a toy cogwheel train, because with such an analogy the problems of an operation disturbed by lifting the vehicles off the road are particularly acute. However, the present coupling device can also be used with advantage in other vehicles, in particular also in road vehicles, for example between a truck and a trailer, between a tractor and an attached machine vehicle or between an automobile and a caravan, etc. These applications of the coupling device according to the invention are particularly advantageous for road vehicles if the vehicle train (towing vehicle and trailer) has to travel on extremely uneven or steep sections of road with steep inclines and tight curves, under which circumstances a deviation of the direction of travel of the trailer vehicle imposed by the road conditions from the direction of travel of the towing vehicle deviates to such an extent that, if known coupling devices are arranged, tipping of the trailer vehicle or even the towing vehicle is practically inevitable.

In road vehicles, the coupling bracket provided according to the invention is designed and arranged in a manner analogous to that of the toy rack railway described. Accordingly, the two arms of the coupling bracket (or the arm of the coupling bracket, if only one arm is provided) on the towing vehicle are firstly as deep as possible, taking into account the required ground clearance, that is to say as close as possible to the tread of the driven wheels of the towing vehicle on the ground, and secondly articulated as close as possible to the plane perpendicular to the road, which contains the center of gravity of the driven chassis of the towing vehicle. Such a design and arrangement of the coupling device which is quite feasible in terms of design is in contrast to known arrangements, but can ensure safe locomotion of the towing vehicle and the trailer vehicle coupled to it in many positions extreme with respect to the road surface, both in normal train operation and in push operation.

Claims (10)

1. Coupling device on a vehicle intended for locomotion on a track, in particular on a motive power vehicle, for the transmission of a tractive or pushing force to another vehicle (1, 2), at least the first- mentioned vehicle being provided with a bent coupling link (23, 24) which has at least one arm (65), the free end of which is attached pivotably to the vehicle in the vertical direction of the vehicle, characterized in that the pivot (25) of the arm (65) or of each arm (65) of the bent coupling link (23, 24) is provided on the one hand in the vertical direction of the vehicle at approximately the height where a locomotive force is applied by the vehicle to the track and on the other hand in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle adjacent to a lateral guide element (21, 22) of the vehicle.

2. Coupling device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the arm (65) or each arm (65) of the bent coupling link (23, 24) is bent in the vertical direction of the vehicle.

3. Coupling device according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bent coupling link (23, 24) has two arms (65) attached to the ends of a yoke part (67).

4. Coupling device according to one of Claims 1 to 3 on a vehicle of a toy rack-and-pinion railway, characterized in that the motive power vehicle has a bogie (4) on which a driving motor (26) is arranged with a driving pinion (28) intended to mesh with a rack of the track, and in that the pivot of the arm or of each arm (65) of the bent coupling link (23, 24) is provided on the bogie (4) at at least approximately the height of the driving pinion (28) and in the longitudinal direction of the bogie adjacent to the plane which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the bogie (4) and contains the centre of gravity of the bogie (4).

5. Coupling device according to Claim 4, characterized in that the motive power vehicle and/or another vehicle which can be coupled to the motive power vehicle is provided with at least one nondriven bogie truck (5) which has sliding or rolling guide means (21, 22) for the track, and in that a bent coupling link (23, 24), having at least one arm (65), is also attached pivotably in the vertical direction on the bogie truck (5), the pivot (25) of the arm or of each arm (65) of the bent coupling link (23, 24) being provided at at least approximately the height of the sliding or rolling guide means (21, 22) of the bogie truck (5) and in the longitudinal direction of the bogie truck (5) adjacent to a plane which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the bogie truck (5) and contains the centre of gravity of the bogie truck (5).

6. Coupling device according to Claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the bent coupling link (23, 24) of the bogie (4, 5) contains a coupling part (67) in which a slot (68) is formed, and in that a platform (9, 10, 11) of a vehicle to be connected by the bent coupling link (23, 24) is provided at at least one end with a coupling tongue (70, 71) which can be introduced into the slot (68) and can engage in the slot (68).

7. Coupling device according to Claim 6, characterized in that the coupling tongue (70, 71) is provided with at least one lug (72) and the slot (68) is provided with a corresponding recess (69).

8. Coupling device according to Claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the coupling tongue (70) has a rectangular cross-section which fits the slot (68).

9. Coupling device according to Claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the coupling tongue (71) has a rounded or canted cross-section which fits the slot (68), for example in the shape of a rhombus.

10. Coupling device according to Claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the bent coupling link (103) of the bogie (87) carries an articulated holding device (124,127) with a rotatable magnet (128).

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