GB1364910A - Automatic releasing apparatus for couplings of railway vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

1364910 Uncoupling railway vehicles JAPANESE NATIONAL-RAILWAYS and KAYABAKOGYO KK 22 Dec 1971 [26 Dec 1970] 59578/71 Heading B7T An automatic apparatus for releasing couplings of rail vehicles 33, Fig. 1, moving along a railway track 19, comprises an endless guide member 11 positioned above the track, a plurality of remotely controlled devices 12 suspended from and movable along the guide member, and positioning means 13 for holding each device 12 in turn in predetermined positions and for releasing them one-by-one, each device being equipped with a releasing mechanism suited to the type of coupling between the vehicles, so as to release a selected coupling during movement of the device along the guide. The outward run of the guide is directly above the track and the return run is to one side. In the positioning means 13, Fig. 5, a device 12 is held ready to go by a stop 59 and is pivoted clear of the vehicles by a rail 109, Fig. 2. When the stop is withdrawn a cylinder 72 accelerates the device to match the vehicle speed so that at the end of rail 109 the device pivots to the vertical position between the vehicles to be uncoupled and operates by battery and a pneumatic reservoir carried thereby to release the coupling. Towards the end of the outward run, the device is pivoted clear of the vehicles by a rail 110 and is positively moved by a toothed belt and a rotary actuator 99 towards the return side where a further toothed belt 107 moves the device back to a rotary actuator 100 which returns the device to the means 13. While the first device 12 is held by stop 59, a second device is held by a stop 61 and its battery and air reservoir are replenished via connections 68, 67 applied by a cylinder 69. A third device is meanwhile held by a stop 63 and the fourth and remaining devices lie one behind the other behind a stop 65. A control system involving limit switches actuated by the movements of cylinders carrying the stops, sequences the means so that when a device is released, other devices move from stop to stop along an inclined part 11a of the guide. The appar tus is particularly for use with a hump in a marshalling yard where overall control is by a computer. It is stated that each device may carry its own propulsion mechanism and speed control mechanism in which case the device moving apparatus arranged on the guide, except for cylinder 72, may be dispensed with.