US1378468A - Automatic pipe-coupling - Google Patents

Description

G. N. KNAPP.

AUTOMATIC PIPE COUPLiNG.

APIUCAHON FJLED DEC. 10. 1919.

1,378,468. Patented May 17, 1921.

3 SHEEIS-SHEET I.

//v Vin/702 G. N. KNAPP.

AUTOMATIQ'. PIPE COUPLING.

,=vmc.amm man DLC I0. I919.

Patented May 17, 1921 3 SHEHS-SHEET 2.

G. N. KNAPP.

fiLHUMATH) PIPE COUPLING.

Mi'LICAIION FILED DEC. I0. 1919.

1,378,468. P ented May 17, 1921.

3 SHEEYSSHEET 3.

.ER on UNITED STATES GEORGE N. KNAPP, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

.QUTOIATIC PIPE-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17, 1921.

Application filed December 10, 1919. Serial No. 343,867.

To nll'wim'm it 111 (13 con cern Be it known that I, Gnome N. KNAPP, a citizen of the United States. residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatic Pipe- (ouplings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to pipe couplings of the kind that are used on railway cars for automatically coupling the pipes of two adjacent cars. a If he main object of my invention is to provide an eflicient automatic pipe coupling of simple construction that is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and of such design that when it is in use an imaginary vertical line at the center of same will re main in substantially vertical alinement with an imaginary vertical line at the center of the car coupler which carries the complemental parts of the coupling.

Another object is to provide an automatic pipe coupling of rugged construction which is so designed that the complemental parts of same will be guided accurately into operative engagement with each other, even though said parts are considerably out of alinement horizontallyand "ert-ically when the cars come together.

And still another object is to provide an automatic pipe coupling which is so constructed that there is little liability of destroying or cutting the gaskets used to form tight joints between the two complemental parts of the coupling when said parts come to ether. e igure 1 of the drawings is a side elevational view illustrating my improved automatic pipe coupling in operative position on the draw bars of two adjacent cars.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one of the complemental parts of the coupling and the bracket that carries said part.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of 2,

looking to the left.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the.

complemental parts of the coupling; and

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the gaskets.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form of my invention, A and A designate the two complemental parts of the coupling which are carried by brackets B and B, respectively, that are connected to the draw bars C and C, respectively, of two adjacent cars equipped V with pipes that are adapted to be connected together by the complemental parts A and A of my improved coupling, said parts A and A being so constructed and arranged that when they are in operative engagement with each other an imaginary vertical line at the center of the coupling will remain in substantially vertical alinement with an imaginary vertical line at the center of the car coupler carried by the draw bars C and C, as shown in Fig. 1.

Each of the complemental parts A and A of the coupling comprises a male member 1 and a female member 2 arranged in the same horizontal plane and so disposed with relation to'each other that the male member 1 projects forwardly beyond the female member 2. The male member 1 is of substantially frusto-pyramidal shape'in forni and is provided with four inclined walls that converge toward the front end of said male member. The female member 2 is provided with a socket of substantially frusto-pyramidal form whose internal dimensions are the same as the external dimensions of the male member 1 so that when the two complemental parts A and A come together the male member on the part A will enter the female member on the part A and the male member of the part A will enter the female member of the part A, even though said parts are out of alinement with each other vertically or horizontally, or vertically and horizontally. In other words, by providing the complement-a1 parts of the coupling with cooperating male and female members of substantially rectangular shape in cross section and of frusto-pyramidal form in outline, I insure the parts A and A being guided into operative engagement with each other, even though one of said parts is higher or lower or at one side of the other part, due, of course, to the fact that the inclined inner sides of the vmale members 1 will cooperate with each other to bring the parts A and A into vertical alinement and the inclined top and bottom walls of said male members will bear against the corresponding walls of the female members and move said parts A and A. into horizontal alinement.

In practice I prefer to form 'each of the complemental parts of the coupling from a casting and make the male and female members on said parts in the form of shells so arranged with relation to each other that the inner side face of the male member on each part merges into and forms a continuation of the inner side face of the female member of said part, as shown in Fig. 5, thus producing a vertically-disposed diagonal surface that extends unbrokenly from the front end of the male member 1 to the rear end of the socket of the female member 2. If desired, the top and bottom walls of the female member 2 of each complemental part of the coupling can be flared slightly, as indicated at 2 in Figs. 4 and 5.

Each of the parts A and A is provided at its rear end with a portion 3 to which the sustaining means or supporting means for said :part is connected. In the form of my invention herein illustrated each complemental part of the coupling is connected to its supporting bracket by a coiled expansion spring 4 that is strong enough to hold said part in a substantially horizontal position in front of the bracket that connects. said part to the draw bar, but which has suificient flexibility to permit said part to move slightly relatively to its supporting bracket when the device 15 in use and when thetwo complemental parts of the coupling come together. As shown in Fig 3, the portion 3, previously referred to, is provided with a seat 3 for the front end of the spring 4', the rear end of said spring fitting in a seat 5 in the bracket B that carries the part-A. Said spring 4: is connected to'said bracket and to the portion 3 by hook-shaped bolts or other suitable retaining devices 6. The spring 4 is held under the required tension by means of a rod 7 connected to the bracketB and projecting forwardly from same through the spring 4, said rod being provided at its front end with a ball 8 that fits in a socket. in the ortion 3 formed by a recess 9 in said portion 3-and a collar 10 that is detachably connected to said portion 3 by screws or other suitable fastening devices 11, as shown in- F ig. 3. Such a construction permits the complemental parts of the coupling to swivel or turn slightly with relation to the depending brackets on the draw bars that carry said parts and also move longitudinally slightly relatively to said brackets, but it insures said parts remaining in proper position with relation to the draw heads on the draw bars.

The coupling can be designed to couple one or more pipes together, the coupling herein illustrated being so constructed that it will automatically couple three pipes on one car to three cooperating pipes on an adjacent can. The particular. manner of connecting the pipes to the car and to the complemental parts A and A of the coupling is immaterial, but I prefer to provide each of said complemental parts with two pipe connecting portions 12 and 13 that prothat two pipes 13 and13 can be connected to same, as shown in Fig. 2. One duct or passageway 12 is formed in the pipe connection 12 and two ducts 13 are formed in the pipe connection 13 for establishing communication between the pipes 12, 13 and 13 and two sets of ports. one of which sets is formed in the front end of the male member 1 and the other in the rear end wall of the female member 2. In Fig. 4 the three ports in the front end of the male member 1 have been designated by the reference character 8 and the three ports in the rear end wall of the female member 2 have been designated by the reference character t. By referring to said figure it will be noted that theports of each set are arranged in vertical alinement, one above the other. In order to produce tight joints between the cooperating sets of ports in the two complemental parts A and A of the coupling, gaskets G of rubber or other suitable material are mounted on' the female members 2 of said com'plemental parts in proximity to the ports 2% in same, one of said gaskets G being shown in end elevation in Fig. 1 and in vertical section in Fig. 3. In practice I prefer to construct the gaskets G in the manner shown in Fig. 6, wherein it will be noted that each gasket is provided with three holes that are surrounded on one side of the gasket by undercut annular flanges 14 and on the opposite side of the gasket by tapered or feather edged annular flanges 15. The rear end wall of the female member 2 on which the gasket G is mounted is provided with undercut recesses into which the undercut flanges 14 on the gasket can be sprung so as to detachably hold said gasket in operative position. The ports 3 in the front end of the male member 1 are made tapered so that they will conform to the shape of the feather edged flanges 15 of the gasket on the complemental part of thecoupling. When the two complemental parts A and A of the coupling come together the tapered ports 8 in the ends of the male. members 1 will embrace the feather edged flanges 15 on the gaskets G; and thus produce tight joints between the cotiperating sets of ports in the complemental parts of the coupling. the pressure of the medium that flows through the pipes which the cou- 'pling joins together being exerted on the feather edged flanges 15 of the gaskets G in such a manner that it holds said feather edged flanges in snug engagement with the walls of the tapered ports 8 in the male members 1.- above described can be molded easily. from rubber or other suitable material, they can be installed or removed easily, and as they 5. are arranged in the ends of members which move lengthwise or longitudinally into and out of engagement with each other, there is no liability of cutting or destroying the gaskets when the two complemental parts of the coupling come together. or separate.

After the complemental parts A and A of the coupling have moved into operative engagement with each other they are automatically locked together by dogs 16 pivot-- ally mounted on the outer side walls of the female members 2 and arranged so that they will snap over lugs 16 on the outer side walls of the male members 1. Each complemental part of the coupling is provided with a dog 16 that is pivotally connected to lugs 17 on the outer side wall of the female member 2, said outer wall having a notch or opening 18 in same through which said dog projects when the complemental parts of the coupling are not in engagement with each other. A spring 19 holds the dog 16 in such a position that it will engage the part with which it cooperates when the cars come together, and each'of the dogs is connected toa chain or other suitable flexible device 20 that trips or releases said dog when the cars are uncoupled, the chains 20 being connected to the brackets which carry the parts A and A and being of such length that they are slack when the parts A and A are in operative engagement, with each other.

The brackets that connect the complemental parts of the coupling to the draw bars 40 may either be of the form represented by the bracket B in Fig. 1, or of the form represented by the bracket 13' in Fig. 1', the bracket B being detachably connected to I the draw bar C and provided with an integral portion that carries the spring 4 and the guide rod 7, and the bracket B consisting of an integral arm on the draw bar C and a portion 21 detachably connected to said integral arm that carries the spring 4 and the guide rod 7 for the part A of the coupling.

An automatic pipe coupling of the construction above described is inexpensive to manufacture; it is easy to install; it is strong and rugged enough to successfully withstand the shocks and strains to which devices of this character are subjected in' service. and it is so constructed that the complemental parts of same will be accurately 0 guided into horizontal and vertical alinement with each other and maintained in proper relation with the draw heads of the draw bars that'carry the complemental parts of the coupling. In addition to the desirable features above pointed out my improved Graskets of the construction coupling insures absolutely tight joints between the pipe or pipes which it connects together and it is of such design that there is no liability of shearing OK the gaskets or cutting or mutilating the gaskets when the complemental parts of the coupling are engaged and disengaged. I

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: 1. An automatic pipe coupling, consisting of two complemental parts, each of which comprises a male member and a female member arranged .in the same horizontal plane with the male member in advance of 30 the female member. theexterior of said male member being of substantially frustopyramidal form. a sprihg-pressed latch mounted on each of said feiiiale members in s an opening in the outer side wall of same, and laterally projecting lugs on the outer side walls of said male members that are adapted to enter said openings and be engaged by said latches whenthe complemen tal parts of the coupling come together.

.2. An automatic pipe coupling for railway cars, consisting of two complemental parts provided with cooperating male and female members. depending brackets on the draw bars of the'cars. horizontally-disposed springs projecting forwardly from said brackets and connected to said complemental parts. said springs serving as supports for said parts, and a guide. rod projecting foiw wardly from each bracket through the spring thereon and provided at its end with a ball which is seated in a socket in the part mounted on the spring.

An automatic pipe coupling for railway cars, consisting of two complemental parts. one of which is provided with a tapered male member and the other having I a tapered female member that receives said male member, coiiperatiug ports in the front ends of said male member and in the rear end wallof the socket of said female members, and a gasket interposed between the portion of said members in which said ports are formed and provided with a feather edged flange that seats snugly in a tapered recess in one of said members.

4. An automatic. pipe coupling for.rai'l way cars, consisting of two complemental parts provided with cor'iperating male and female members. cooperating ports in said members, and a gasket detachably connected to one of said members and provided with afeather edged flange that is adapted to be embraced by a tapered recess in the other member.

5. An automatic pipe coupling for rail way cars, consisting of twe complemental parts, one of which is provided with a tapered female member! that is adapted to receive a male member cooperating ports 130 in the front end of said male member and in the inner end wall of said female member, a gasket detachably connected to one of said members by an undercut flange on the gasket that fits in an undercut recess formed in the part which carries the gasket, and a tapered flange on the opposite side of said gasket that is adapted to be embraced by a tapered recess in the other member.

6. An automatic pipe coupling for railway cars. consisting of two complemental parts, a tapered member on one of said parts provided in its end with a plurality of ports, a tapered female member on the other partprovided in its end wall with a plurality of coiiperating ports, a gasket provided with a plurality of holes that aline with said (:0-

frusto-pyramidal operating ports, means for detachably connecting said gasket to said female member,

and feather edged flanges surrounding the holes in said gasket and adapted to cooperate. with tapered recesses in the front end of said male member.

7. An automatic pipe coupling for railway cars, consiaing of two complemental parts, each of which is composed of a castm pipe connections that branch laterally in opposite directions from said spring seat portion, and a male and female member integrally connected to said pipe connections and being in the form of substantially shaped shells.

GEORGE N. KNAPP.

O 7 having a spring seat port-ion; tubular-shaped

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