GB2048696A - Hook coupling for electric toy- and model railways - Google Patents

Abstract

A hock coupling for a model railway vehicle is provided on an extension (5) of the vehicle subframe and comprises a fixed coupling stirrup (6) and an associated coupling hook (2). The coupling hook (2) is universally mounted so that in addition to the normal pivoting movement in the vertical plane it can also swing horizontally. The coupling hook (2) is provided by a two-armed lever, the inner arm (16) of which is engaged by a return spring (10) which is preferably formed of synthetic material and comprises a rectangular frame with wave-shaped opposite lateral sides. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hook coupling for electric toy- and model railways This invention relates to a hook coupling for electric toy- and model railways, more especially large scale railways, wherein rotary subframes are rotatably mounted under both ends of the chassis of the rolling stock and carry the wheel axles and a rigid coupling stirrup, as well as at least one coupling hook which is swingable in a vertical plane against a spring force.

In contrast to miniature railways, that is to say electric toy- and model railways with a very small gauge, most of which are provided with claw couplings which swing laterally into engagement with one another, hook couplings with a closed stirrup and a coupling hook which hooks into the stirrup from below in an upward direction have proved especially suitable for larger scale railways. With the known coupling hooks, however, some difficulties occur in curves, since due to the limited angle of swing of the rotary sub-frame the laterally rigid mounted coupling hooks can push the coupled wagon off the rails.

The same applies, that is to say the danger of a derailment, when a coupling takes place in curves, since then the coupling hook which becomes positioned laterally adjacent the coupling stirrup displaces the wagon during the transition onto the straight.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to produce a hook coupling for electric toy- and model railways, especially large scale railways, which exhibits a faultless traction performance, and makes possible a reliable coupling and uncoupling even on curves.

In accordance with the invention this object is achieved in the case of a hook coupling of the kind initially referred to, in that the coupling is universally movably mounted and is additionally swingable laterally out of the middle position against a spring force.

Due to this additional lateral swingability of the universally mounted coupling hook in comparison with the vertical swinging motion which has only been provided hitherto, there is provided an increased ability for relative lateral shifting of encoupled vehicles, and in consequence a faultless traction performance also in S-curves. Whereas hitherto on curves the danger existed that the rigid laterally unshiftable coupling hook would push against one of the lateral struts of the coupling stirrup and thereby lead to a derailment, the lateral shiftability against the force of a return spring brings about the possibility of a yielding of the coupling hook beyond that point.The construction in accordance with the invention also has the advantage that symmetrical coupling can be used, in which each coupling stirrup is provided with a coupling hook, so that the vehicles can be coupled to one another in any desired orientation. This symmetrical construction was previously not possible in practice due to the laterally rigid arrangement of the coupling hook in relation to its coupling stirrup. Upon a coupling of vehicles in such a manner that the stirrups with coupling hooks are positioned opposite to one another there occurred the considerable danger of faulty couplings as well as a derailment on curves.

The universal mounting of the coupling hook in accordance with the invention can in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention be achieved in an especially simple manner when a wave-shaped return spring, preferably of synthetic plastics material, engages on the inner arm of the two armed coupling hook which is mounted on a vertical pivot with lower transverse bearing supports. This return spring, which is preferably in the form of a rectangular frame with arched longitudinal sides fastened to the coupling stirrup and having a pin engaging in a recess of the inner lever arm, serves as a return spring of the coupling hook both.

in the vertical and horizontal planes. As a result this special form of construction has the advantage that the resulting coupling has especially few individual parts, which leads to extreme simplicity and cheapness of both the manufacture and also especially the mounting of the coupling.

According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the coupling hook may comprise a blocking projection which extends upwardly into the opening of the coupling stirrup in order to prevent opposed coupling hooks from sliding over one another. By this means, entanglement of the coupling parts and the danger of a derailment is reliably prevented in extreme situations such as curves on humps.

In order to prevent an overstraining of the spring and in particular an overloading due to strong lateral swinging movement in curves, lateral abutments are respectively provided for limiting the swinging movement of the coupling hook, which abutments absorb the lateral forces in the limit swinging position and prevent them from being applied to the return spring.

In order to prevent the coupling hook from sliding off the forward cross rail of the coupling stirrup during heavy traction loads, according to a further preferred feature of the invention the coupling hook may be provided with an inwardly directed point for engaging over a rib formed on the inner side of the coupling stirrup.

Finally it lies within the scope of the invention to provide the lateral struts of the coupling stirrup, which is formed as a broader arch-shaped stirrup, with oblique ramp surfaces for the lateral encoupling of a coupling hook. This possibility of lateral encoupling via ramp surfaces, which offers the possibility of encoupling vehicles on curves, is only possible through the laterally sprung swingable mounting of the coupling hook, since otherwise, that is to say with laterally immovable coupling hooks, the danger is too great that the wagon to be coupled would shift off the rails, according to the fact that the return spring force ofthe coupling hook in the vertical swing direction also cannot safely be made sufficiently small.The provision of a broad arch-shaped coupling stirrup offers, besides the possibility achieved thereby of the encoupling both on straights as well as on curves, since the hook can always remain within the coupling stirrup, the advantage that the coupling stirrup can always take up the pushing forces.

For the uncoupling of a hook coupling in accordance with the invention, there are only required two uncoupling ramps arranged at 1800 displacement behind one another on the track in known manner, whereby the downwardly directed oblique inner arm of the coupling hook runs up on the coupling ramp and thereby swings the hook of the coupled vehicle out of engagement with the coupling stirrup. This simple uncoupling arrangement which may be conceived either as a rigid arrangement or as a variable uncoupling arrangement driven by way of an actuating motor, is very simple in construction and on the other hand renders possible uncoupling even on curves.Further advantages, features and sing u larities of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a constructional example as well as with the aid of the drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a railway wagon with a hook coupling in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 is an enlarged underneath view of the hook coupling, Figure 3 is a perspective partial view of the hook coupling, Figure 4 is a view of the lateral shifting capability in the case of a hitherto known coupling with fixed coupling hook, Figure 5 is a view corresponding to Figure 4 illustrating the lateral shiftability of the coupling in accordance with the invention and Figure 6 is a diagrammatic side view of the decou pling of symmetrical hook couplings in accordance with the invention by way of coupling ramps.

In the railway wagon illustrated in Figure 1 the coupling is constructed unsymmetrically, that is to say only on one side is there provided a coupling hook 2 as well as the coupling stirrup 1. The construction of the hook coupling to be described below renders possible however also the use of a symmet rical coupling.

On the underside of the vehicle a rotary subframe 4 is arranged on a pivot 3 and is provided with an arm 5 which terminates at the forward end in a broad arch-shaped coupling stirrup 6, in the opening 7 on which can engage the coupling hook 2 of another vehicle. The coupling hook 2 is laterally swingably mounted on a bearing pin 8 of the arm 5 which has a transverse bearing support 9 allowing vertical swinging movement of the coupling hook 2. The return positioning of the coupling hook 2 both in the vertical and in the horizontal plane is effected by way of a return spring 10 which is formed as a rectangu lay frame spring with wave shaped longitudinal sides 11, the rear transverse side 12 being provided with an integral tongue which is screwed onto the arm 5 of the rotary subframe.At the forward transverse side 14 is formed a pin, not shown, which engages in a recess 15 of the inner arm 16 of the coupling hook 2, the latter being formed as a two-armed lever. As a result of the inclined arrangement of this return spring 10 (see especially Fig. 1) the coupling hook is urged into the normal horizontal position. This con struction of the spring simultaneously effects the positioning of the coupling hook in the middle lateral position. (Figures 2 and 3).

The point 18 of the coupling hook is directed back inwards and engages over a rib 19 formed on the inner side of the coupling stirrup 6. Thereby the hook is prevented from sliding out of engagement against the force of the spring under large traction loads.

The coupling hook 2 is provided with an integral blocking projection 20 which projects upwardly into the opening 7 of the coupling stirrup 6 and prevents the two coupling hooks from sliding over one another when negotiating humps on curves. From the comparison of Figures 4 and 5 it can be seen that through the laterally swingable mounting of the coupling hook 2 in accordance with the invention, in contrast to the hitherto known hook couplings with laterally immovably mounted coupling hooks (Fig. 4) there is produced an increase in the lateral shiftability by the amount Yin comparison with only the shiftability X. This increased lateral shiftability prevents the danger of a derailment even in tight S-curves.

The side struts 21 of the coupling stirrup 6 are provided with inclined ramps 22, so that an encoupling is possible also in directly opposite curves, where particularly in the case of two-axled wagons a coupling hook lies outside the opposite coupling stirrup. During the next change in direction ofthe run this hook is pushed by means of the inclined ramp 22 into the inner space of the stirrup, whereby the laterally sprung swingability besides the vertical swingability prevents the occurrence of higher lateral forces and thereby the danger of a derailment.

For the uncoupling of a hook coupling in accordance with the invention also in the case of a symmetrical construction as shown diagrammatically in Figure 6, two known uncoupling ramps 23 are arranged at a 1800 displacement behind one another on the body of the track. The inner arms 6 of the coupling hooks 2 run up on these uncoupling ramps 23 and thereby swing the coupling hooks 2 downwardly into the position of disengagement with the coupling stirrup 6.

Claims (11)

1. A model railway vehicle of the kind comprising a rotary subframe rotatably mounted under each end of the chassis of the vehicle, the said subframes each carrying a wheel axle and a rigid coupling stirrup and at least one of said subframes further carrying a coupling hook which is swingably mounted for movement in a vertical plane against spring force, characterised in that the coupling hook is universally movably mounted against a spring force so that additionally it is swingable laterally out of a middle position.

2. A vehicle according to Claim 1, wherein the or each said coupling hook is provided by a two-armed lever pivoted for movement in the horizontal plane about a vertical pivot and rockable in the vertical plane upon transverse lower bearing supports provided on said pivot, the said coupling hook being arranged on one of said lever arms and the other lever arm being spring loaded by means of a waveshaped return spring which engages the end thereof.

3. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said spring is formed of synthetic plastics material.

4. Avehicle according to Claim 2 or3, wherein the said return spring comprises a rectangular frame with wave-shaped longitudinal sides which is fastened on the vehicle subframe and engages by way of a pin in a recess of the said other lever arm.

5. A vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the or each said coupling hook comprises a blocking projection which extends upwardly into the opening of the coupling stirrup in order to prevent opposed coupling hooks from sliding across one another.

6. A vehicle according to any one of Claim 1 to 5, comprising lateral swing limiting abutments for the or each coupling hook.

7. A vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the coupling hook is provided with an inwardly directed point for engagement over a rib formed integrally on the inner side of a cooperating coupling stirrup.

8. A vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein each coupling stirrup is formed as a broad arch-shaped stirrup having side struts provided with oblique ramp surfaces to enable the lateral encoupling of a coupling hook.

9. An uncoupling arrangement for a hook coupling according to any one of Claims 1 to 8, comprising two uncoupling ramps arranged on the railway track at a 1800 relative displacement.

10. A model railway vehicle substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 - 3 of the accompanying drawings.

11. An uncoupling arrangement substantialiy as described herein with reference to Fig. 6 of the accompanying drawings. ~~~~~~