GB384140A - An improved automatic coupling device for toy railway vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

384,140. Automatic couplings for railway vehicles. SANDTFOSS, G., 7, Webersplatz, Nuremberg, Germany. Feb. 23, 1932, No. 5430. Convention date, March 13, 1931. [Class 103 (v).] Toy railway carriages are fitted with couplings adapted to be released electromagnetically when a contact on the carriage passes over a contact on the track energized from the live rail by means of a switch. Each carriage carries a coupling loop 1, Figs. 1 and 2, pivoted at 12 and biased by springs 13, and coupling hooks 2 forming arms of bell-crank levers 5, 6 pivoted at 3 and biased by a spring 7 normally to abut against stops 5a, 6a. To engage a coupling two carriages are pushed together, a loop 1 being guided by a fork 4 between the teeth 2a, of hooks 2 which are pushed apart and then reclose behind the bridge-piece 1a. The hooks are opened for uncoupling by manual operation of an extension 8 of lever 6, or by the energization of a magnet 11, the armature 10 of which retracts levers 5, 6 through links 9. The magnet circuit is closed when a roller 15 on an insulated contact arm 14 contacts with rails 21, Figs. 4, 5, and 6, connected in parallel with the live rail 20 at the appropriate moment by manually closing a switch connected between terminals 24, 26. The rails 19, 19, 20 are mounted in clips 17, 17, 18 secured to an insulated plate 16, the rails 21 being connected thereto by bridge-pieces 22. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 describes an alternative construction in which the armature 10 is replaced by a slide member 29, Figs. 8 (Cancelled) and 9 (Cancelled), guided in lugs 30 and operated for uncoupling when a stop 37 on the track rocks a lever 36 fast on a spindle 34 rotatably mounted in brackets 35, a lever 32 also fast on the spindle and passing through slots 31, 33 in the slide 29 and floor 42 respectively rocking the former to the right, Fig. 9 (Cancelled). The stop 37 is an arm of a bell crank 37, 39 normally urged out of operative position by a spring 41, and brought into operative position by rotating a bell crank 40 resiliently connected thereto. Alternatively the bell crank 37 may be rocked into operative position by energizing a magnet the armature of which is linked to the arm 39. This subjectmatter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.