US1216692A

US1216692A - Railway-vehicle coupling.

Info

Publication number: US1216692A
Application number: US11879716A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harry A Hoke
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1916-09-07
Filing date: 1916-09-07
Publication date: 1917-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 1934-02-20

Description

H. A. HOKE.

RAILWAY VEHICLE COUPLING.

APPLICATlON FILED SEPT. 7, I916.

Patented Feb. 20,1917.

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RAILWAY-VEHICLE COUPLING.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feh. @d, 193?.

Application filed September 7, 1916. Serial No. 118,797.

provide an improved draft, or load trans-- mitting connection between railway vehicles and particularly between a railway locomotive and its tender. A more specific ob ject of my invention is to provide a locomotive and tender draft connection which will possess the strength and security required by standard railway practice and governmental regulations, and which will be free from certain practical defects inherent in the constructions now in general use.

In the locomotive and tender connections now in general use the load is normally. transmitted through a draw bar pivotally connected at one end to the locomotive by a vertical drawbar pin carried by the locomotive, and pivotally connected at the other end to the tender by a vertical drawbar pin carried by the tender. Standard railway practice and governmental regulations require this bar to be strong enough to carry much more than the estimated maximum load. It is also required that'a supplemental safety connection he provided between the locomotive and tender which shall not be under tension but idle, so long as the draw bar is operative, but in case of fracture of the latter will form a load trans mitting connection between the locomotive and tender of suitable strength.

In practice, this safety connection is formed by a pair of so called safety bars or safety chains, connected at their opposite ends to the locomotive and tender re spectively one at one side and the other bar at the other side of the longitudinal vertical central plane of the locomotive and tender. To prevent the safety bars or chains from being put under tension while the draiwhar is intact, slack be provided, andthis slack must be considerable to pro vent one or the other of t safety bars or chains from hei u der tension in as consequence of this considerable slack and the arrangement of the bars or chains at opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the locomotive, in case of rupture of the drawbar the whole load is put upon one only of the safety bars or chains when the locomotive is running around a curve, and when the drawbar fails while the locomotive is traveling in a straight line an appreciable movement between the locomotive and tender occurs before the safety bars or chains are put under tension.

This results in many cases in subjecting the safety connections to a rupturing shock.

I avoid the difficulties referred to by employing a safety connection having the axes of its pivotal onnection with the locomotive and tender approximately or exactly coincident with the axes of the pivotalconmotions of the drawbar proper to the engine and tender. In the preferred practical embodiment of my invention I provide the foot plate of the engine and the drawbar pocket member of the tender with spaces to receive the ends of a supplemental safety bar lying directly above or below the main drawbar, preferably the latter. and I connect the safety bar to the engine and tender by the same drawbar pins employed to connect the drawbar thereto. To enable this supplementary bar to serve purely as a safety bar, one or both of the openings formed therein to receive the provide sufficient slack so that the safety bar will not be put under tension while the drawbar is intact. The slack thus provided for may be small in comparison, howeverf with that necessary with the safety connections arranged as heretofore at opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the locomotive and tender, and the amount of this slack is practically the same when the locomotive is running around a curve as when traveling in a straight line.

The various features of novelty which characterize-my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to i and forming apart of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, however, and the advantages possessed by it, reference should he had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated and described a preferred bodiment.

@i thedrawings:

Figure 1 is a v ticalsection through a portion of a loco-in re and the drawbar pins are elongated to about reduced lower portions D tion being taken along the longitudinal center line of the locomotive and tender; and

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of a portion of the locomotive shown in Fig. 1 with the drawbar and safety bar in section.

In the drawings, A represents the foot plate of a locomotive and B represents'the drawbar pocket member of a locomotive tender. The members A and B are provided with the usual pockets or spaces A and B, respectively, to receive the opposite ends of the usual drawba-r C. The latter is formed at its opposite ends with the usual eyes or openings G through which pass the vertical drawbar pins D and E received in the usual bushed holes formed in the foot plate A and drawbar pocket member B respectively. F represents the supplemental connection, or safety bar, which has its opposite ends extending into pockets A and B formed in the foot plate of the locomotive and tho drawbar pocket member of the tender respectively.

The pocket A in the construction shown immediately beneath the pocket A, and the pocket B is beneath the pocket 13. The drawbar pins D and E extend through the pockets A and B respectively and pass through eyes or apertures F and 15 formed in the opposite ends of the safety bar F. As shown, the aperture F is elongated about as much as are the apertures C in the drawbars C, while the aperture F in the safety bar is elongated somewhat more so that in the normal operative condition of the drawbar C, the safety bar F is not under tension; The slack provided by the extra elongation of the eye F should be only sufiicient, however, to permit a slight movement of separation between the locomotive and tender before the safety bar F comes into in case the drawbar G ruptures.

Advantageously the bushings G for the lower ends of the drawbar pins D and E are provided with inturned flanges G which fit and E respectiveiy of the drawbar pins D and E, and prevent the lower portions of the bodies of the drawbar pins from dropping out of operative relation with the safety bar F in case the drawbar pins are broken where engaged by the drawbar C. l) and E represent keys passing through the reduced lower ends of the drawbar pins to prevent displacement of the latter.

Whiie in accordance with the provisions ofthe statutes T have illustrated and described the best form of my invention now known to me, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can be made in the form of the invention without departing from its spirit, and that some features of my invention can be used without a corresponding use of other features of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with two railway vehiclesto be connected, of a draw bar pivotally' connected at its ends thereto, and a supplemental safety connection also piyotally connected at its ends thereto, with the axis of its pivotal connection to each vehicle substantially coincident with the axis of the pivotal connectionof the draw bar to .said vehicle, the parts being so relatively arranged that the draw bar connection, so long as it is operative, forms the load transmitting connection between said vehicles.

2. The combination with two railway vehicles to be connected, of a draw bar, draw bar pins pivotally connecting the ends of the draw bar to said vehicles, and a supplemental safety connectiou"connected by said draw bar pins to said vehicles with provision for lost motion whereby said draw bar forms the load transmitting connection between said vehicles so long as the latter are open ativelv connected by said draw bar.

3. The combination with two railway vehicles to be connected, each provided with a vertical draw bar pin and upper, intermediate and lower apertured parts through which said pin'passes and which provides bearings for upper, lower and intermediate portions of the pin, and a pair of coupling parts each pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the two draw bar pins, one of said coupling parts being received between the upper and intermediate apertured parts and the other between the intermediate and lower apertured parts of each vehicle, the lower apertured part of each vehicle having provisions engaging the lower portion of the corresponding draw bar pin to prevent downward movement of the pin.

4:. The combination with an engine hav ing a foot plate provided with a drawbar pocket and beneath the drawbar pocket with a pocket for receiving the end of a safety bar and formed with alined through the walls oi? said pockets F- drawbar pin, and a tender having dr bar pocket member formed with a drav bar pocket proper and beneath the latter with a pocket to receive the end of a safety bar, formed also with alined passages through the walls of said pockets for a drawba" pin,

of a drawbar having its ends received in the i.

drawbar pockets oi said foot plate and memher and having apertsres in its ends to re ceive the drawbar pins and a safety bar having its ends received in the lower pockets of said foot plate and drawbar pocket member,'and having apertures in its ends to receive said drawbar pins, and drawbar mounted in said passages and passing through said apertures, the apertures said bars being so relatively arranged as to pre vent the safety bar from being put under tension so long as the drawbar forms an operative connection between the engine and tender.

5. The combination with an engine having a foot plateprovided with a drawbar pocket and beneath the drawbar pocket with a pocket for receiving the end of a safety bar and formed with alined passages through the walls of said pockets fora drawbar pin, and a tender having a drawbar pocket member formed with a drawbar pocket proper and beneath the latter with a pocket to receive the end of a safety bar, and

formed also with alined passages through the walls of said pockets for a drawbar pin,

of a drawbar having its ends received in the drawbar pockets of said foot plate and member and having apertures in its ends to receive the drawbar pins, and a safety bar 20 mounted in said passages and passing 25 through said apertures, and means for retaining the lower portions of the drawbar pins in case of rupture of upper portionsof said pins.

HARRY A. HOKE.