US1148030A - Car-coupling. - Google Patents

Description

W. McCONWAY, JR. & W. J. REGAN.

CAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12. 1914.

1,148,030. Patented July 27, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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WILLIAM MQGONWAY, JR, AND WILLIAM J. BEGAN, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNORS To THE MQCONWAY & TORLEY COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYL- vANIA, A CORPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COUPLIN G.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2'7, 1915.

Application filed May 12, 1914. Serial No. 838,141.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, VVILLIAM MoCoN- WAY, Jr., and WILLIAM J. REGAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and I use the same.

Our invention relates to the construction of car couplers wherein provision is to be made for the vertical adjustment of the coupler to compensate for wear of any character or any permanent set of parts which may cause the coupler to sag or droop from its normal position. As this drooping or deflection from normal position may occur in any class-of couplers our invention is therefore to be taken as pertaining to any and every class of car couplers where found applicable to correct such defects. The invention is, however, directed more especially to that class of car couplers commonly termed locomotive or tender couplers wherein are combined a bracket having a pocket member for the reception of the shank of a coupler, a coupler having a shank which enters the pocket member of the bracket, and a pivotal connection between the bracket and the coupler shank, and in which class of couplers the compensation for wear or other causes of drooping has heretofore been commonly effected by the insertion of shims in the pocket of the bracket either above or below the shank of the coupler as the necessities of adjustment demanded.

Our invention, generally stated, involves the combination of a bracket having a shank-receiving pocket, a coupler having a bifurcated shank, a supporting member adapted to be entered in the bifurcation of the shank in a plurality of positions, and a pivot pin adapted to pivotally connect the bracket and coupler shank and'to confine the supporting member within the bifurca- 7 tion of the coupler shank.

There are other features of invention, in- ,volving particular combinations as well as special features of elemental construction,

I r all as will hereinafter more fully appear.-

I tender.

In the drawings chosen for the purpose of illustrating our invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure l is a plan view of a coupler embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the coupler taken in the plane of the line 22, Fig. 1, the bracket and pocket being shown in front elevation; Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the bracket and pocket, the coupler being shown in plan and at one extreme of its lateral movement; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, except that the supporting member which passes through the bifurcated coupler shank has been reversed to elevate the coupler; Fig. 5 is a vertical central section of the bracket, the shank-receiving pocket thereof, and a portion of the coupler shank, the coupler head being shown in side elevation; Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional'view of a bracket and its shank-receiving pocket, showing in plan a coupler and its shank and a modified form of shank-supporting member; Fig. 7 is a vertical central section of the construction illustrated in Fig. 6, the coupler head being shown in side elevation; and Fig. 8 is a detached perspective view of the modified form of supporting member shown in Figs. 6 and 7 Like symbols refer to like parts Wherever they occur.

We will now proceed to describe our invention more fully, so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a bracket by means of which the coupler is attached to the sill or draft-timber of a locomotive or This bracket is provided with a pocket-member 2 which receives the shank of a coupler that is pivotally connected to the pocket-member of the bracket by a pivot pin 3.

The pocket member 2 is of greater depth than the shank of the coupler in order to permit of a vertical adjustment of the couplerwithin and independently of the pocket; its side walls 2* flare outwardly to permit lateral movement of the coupler shank sufficient for curving; the rear wall of the pocket is preferably curved as at 2", concentrically with the axis of the pivot pin 3,

, not only-to permit the lateral movementof 7 height of the shank 6 in advance of the pivot pin 3 the lateral walls of the pocket 2 adjacent to its mouth, or in advance of the pivot pin 3, are provided with recesses 2 the bottoms whereof form shelves or seats for a shank supporting device f that passes through an opening in the coupler shank and rests at its ends on said shelves.

5 indicates a coupler head having a shank 6, the usual pivoted knuckle 5, and the pivot pin 5. The coupler shank 6, however, is bifurcated, that is to say is horizontally slotted as at 6, said slot extending from the inner end of the shank toward the coupler head a suflicient distance to accommodate the forward shank supporting device land permit the ends of such support to enter the recesses 2 in the lateral walls of the pocket 2. This feature of the shank 6 permits the use of reversible shanksupporting devices 4 of a character which couldvnot be readilyintroduced were the aperture or hole therefor in the shank formed with continu ous walls, unless the size of the aperture 1n the shank was such as to materially afl'ect the strength of the coupler.

The ends of the bifurcations of shank 6 are shaped to correspond with the rear wall of the pocket 2 and its horizontal recesses between the flanges 2, as indicated at 6 in Fig. 5 and in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The shank 6 of the coupler has openings 6 for the passage of the pivot pin 3 whereby the coupler is pivotally connected to the bracket 1 and pocket member 2.

4 indicates the forward shank supporting device in its preferred form, that is to say, as made up of a plurality of spring plates. When so constructed the pivot hole 6? in the shank will be elongated, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to accommodate the spring resisted longitudinal movement of the coupler-shank in buffing.

The shank-support 4 is preferably bent or bowed to accommodate the coupler in its lateral positions, the apex 4 of the curve,

or angle of the bend, corresponding with the median line or longitudinal axis of the coupler pocket. The width of the central portion of the shank support 4: is preferably about equal to the distance between the upper and lower arms or branches of the coupler shank 6, but the width at the ends is increased to form. projections .or legs 4 the position of which with relation to the bottoms of the recesses 52 in the side walls of the pocket 2 determines the height of the shank 6 above the bottom of the pocket.

Under some circumstances it may be desirable, as indicated at 7 in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, to use an integral, nonyielding shank supporting device corresponding in form to the series of springplatesst. This is a form that is easily produced. In this form of construction the pivot pin receiving apertures 6 in the shank of the coupler may be circular as the coupler is not designed to reciprocate in its direction of length. Except for the diiferences just mentioned the. construction shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings is substantially the same as that previously described and, accordingly, corresponding reference characters have been applied thereto.

In assembling the parts, the bracket member 1 is secured in position upon the draftbeam of a locomotive or tender, as the case may be, the ends of the shank supporting device L are inserted in the recesses 2 of the pocket 2, the shank (5 of the coupler 5 is inserted in the pocket 2 so as to straddle the shank supporting device 4, and the pivot pin 3 is then inserted in the pivot openings of the pocket member and shank.

f the coupler is to occupy a lowered position the shank supporting device 4 is inserted in the recesses 2 with the projections d extending upwardly, as indicated in Fig. 2- of the drawings; but if the coupler is to occupy a higher position, to compensate for the set or weakness of springs, wear on wheels, and the like, the position of the support 4: is reversed so that the legs or projections 4 extend downwardly and rest on the bottoms of the recesses 2 as indicated in Fig. 41. of the drawings. In this latter position of adjustment the coupler shank will be above the bottom of the pocket 2 a distance about equal to the length of the projections or legs at".

Having thus described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a pocket member, a coupler having a bifurcated shank extendinginto the pocket of said pocket member, and a supporting device extending through said shank and vertically sustaining the said shank in the pocket member.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a pocket member, a coupler having a slotted shank, and resilient means extending through said shank and serving to prevent vertical movement in the pocket member.

3. In a device of the character described, thecombination of a pocket member, a coupler having a bifurcated shank, and a supporting device for preventing the vertical movement of the coupler shank in the pocket member, said supporting device being of reduced width intermediate of its ends.

i. In a device of the character described, the combination of a pocket member, a coupler having a bifurcated shank, and a supporting device for preventing the vertical movement of the coupler shank in the pocket member, said supporting device being comprised of a plurality of resilient plates.

5. In a device of the character described,

the combination of a pocket member having pivot pin openings in its top and bottom.

walls, recesses in its side walls in advance of the pin openings and projections on its rear wall, a coupler having a bifurcated shank, a supporting device for preventing the vertical movement of the coupler shank in the pocket, the ends of said supporting device being adapted to enter the recesses in the side Walls of the pocket, and the inner end of the coupler shank being adapted to engage the projections on the rear wall of the pocket, and a pivot pin for pivotallv connecting the pocket member and the coupler shank.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination with a pocket member, of a coupler movably mounted in said pocket member, and springs for yieldingly resisting a movement of the coupler in its direction of length, said springs also serving to sustain the coupler against downward movement with respect to the pocket member.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination with a pocket member, of a coupler movably connected thereto, and a spring for permitting the coupler to move in its direction of length with respect to the pocket member and for sustaining the coupler against downward movement with respect to the pocket member, said spring WILLIAM McOONWAY, JR. WILLIAM J. REGAN.

Vitnesses:

ENOCH GEORGE, Jr., WM. ROGERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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