US2334034A

US2334034A - Coupling pin

Info

Publication number: US2334034A
Application number: US465005A
Authority: US
Inventors: Homer A Richards
Original assignee: MYRON A SAYLES
Current assignee: MYRON A SAYLES
Priority date: 1942-11-09
Filing date: 1942-11-09
Publication date: 1943-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1960-11-09

Description

Nov. 9, 1943. H. A. RICHARDS COUPLING PIN Filed Nov. 9, 1942 M RH v C mm mA m v 1 fifm M I Patented Nov. 9, 1943 COUPLING PIN Homer A. Richards, Wichita, Rana, assignor of one-half to Myron A. Sayles, Wichita, Kane.

Application November 9, 1942, Serial No. 465,005

12 Claims.

My invention relates to car couplers, and more particularly to a car coupler of the pin and link type, ands peclfically to the pins used in such pin and link couplings.

While pin and link couplings antedate the Janney type of coupling used on railway cars, these are used in this country only on mine cars and other cars that are used in similar operations in private industry, on street railroads and other transportation, where the so-called automatic coupler is not required. Many accidents occur in the use of the pin and link type of coupling, due to the fact that frequently the fingers or other parts of the hand of a person holding onto the coupling pin are crushed or otherwise injured by being caught between the coupling and parts of the car in careless handling of the equipment in coupling operations.

This is due to the fact that, in order to lift the pin and hold it in elevated position ready to engage the same with the opening in the link, it is necessary for a person to hold the pin with the hand in such position that any tilting of the pin or any large amount of inward movement of the drawhead, will cause the hand to be pinched between parts of the car or drawhead and the part of the pin that is gripped in the operation of holding the same in elevated position. In lifting the pin and holding it in elevated position, it is customarily gripped by the thumb and index finger, and to some extent by other fingers of the hand, at a point slightly below the upper end thereof, the upper end of the pin being ordinarily provided with some sort of an enlargement or head to aid in holding onto the same in elevated position and to aid in lifting the same into such elevated position. As a result the palm of the hand is adjacent the upper end of the coupling pin, while the fingers are more or less in position around the pin below the top thereof with the ends of the fingers below the enlargement or head at the upper end of the pin, while the operator is holding the pin in elevated position or is lifting it into such elevated position. This places the fingers in such a position that the same can be very easily injured by careless or rough handling of the cars in a coupling operation.

It is the principal purpose of my invention to provide a guard or housing around the portion of the pin, that serves as the grip for engagement of the fingers therewith to lift the pin or hold the pin in elevated position, which completely protects the hand and particularly the fingers of the person holding the pin in such that the guard or housing be made with an imperforate wall, as slots or other openings can be provided therein to lighten the device and to prevent accumulation of any foreign matter therein that might interfere with the operation of the same in use, in that an accumulation thereof might interfere with the insertion of the hand sufllciently into the same to enable the operator to get the desired grip with the hand on the pin.

More specifically my invention comprises a cup-like or guard member that flares upwardly and is or an at the upper end thereof, and which surrounds the hand grip portion of the coupling pin, access being bad to said grip portion through said open upper end of said guard or housing member, said guard or housing member being a receptacle for the fingers while gripping the coupling pin, and not merely a shield, the fingers being housed or enclosed within said receptacle when in pin holding position.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the drawing proceeds. I desire to have it understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular details shown or described except as defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view partly in section and partly in elevation, partly broken away, showing my invention applied to a conventional pin and link coupling connecting together two cars or similar vehicles.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through one form of my invention, and

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view through another form thereof.

Referring in detail to the drawing, in Fig. l are shown fragmentary portions of adjacent ends of cars having vertical wall portions 5 adjacent the drawheads 6, said drawheads being movable inwardly and outwardly, or toward and away from the wall portions 5, due to the provision of the usual draft gear, which is not a part of my invention and not shown in the drawing, provided for connecting the drawheads with the car body. Said drawheads are connected by means of a link 1, which may be of any desired length, said links frequently being of considerable length in practice. means for handling the same, such as the handle 8, and are provided with slots or openings therein that are elongated in the direction of length of the bar-like member I, so as to permit considerable play between the link I and the coupling pins, which is frequently necessary in the use of mine cars and similar devices in turning relatively sharp curves. Said elongated slotted openings are indicated by the numeral 9 in Fig. 1.

Cooperating with said link I in the usual manner, are coupling pins having shank portions III that are longitudinally slidably mounted in the aligning openings I I in the drawhead 6. My improved coupling pin is provided with a cup-like housing portion l2 thereon that is located in embracing or surrounding spaced relation to the portion ii of the coupling pin, which constitutes the grip portion, or portion thereof that is normally engaged by the fingers, to lift the pin out of one of the openings I I and high enough so as to avoid the link 1 to permit said link I to be inserted in the opening of the drawhead and the coupling pin l thereupon dropped into position in the slot 9 in the usual manner. An enlarged head or knob-like end portion I4, constituting a stop member to aid in gripping the coupling pin with the hand and to prevent the fingers from slipping off the same in case a hard pull on said pin is necessary, is, preferably, provided on said coupling pin.

In the form of pin shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the cup-like member I2 is formed integrally with the shank portion of the pin I0 and is provided with concavely curved outer and inner surfaces l5 and I8 at the lower narrower portion of the cup-like member l2 where the same merges with the shank portion of the coupling pin, of which the gripping portion I3 is merely an extension, so as to provide a. thickened portion at IT at the Junction of the cup-like member with the body of the pin to prevent any possibility of the cup-like member or housing being sheared off the pin at this connecting portion. Said cup-like member has a gradually upwardly flaring wall portion that is concavely curved on the inner face l8 thereof and convexly curved on the outer face l9 thereof to provide a wide open upper end or mouth portion 20, the upper edge of said cup-like portion being, preferably, located slightly above the junction 2| between the end enlargement H on the coupling pin'and the hand grip portion l3 thereof. Said cup-like member I2 is made of such proportions that the largest hand of an operator ordinarily encountered can readily enter the open upper end thereof and engage the portion 13 of the coupling pin to get a firm grip thereon for lifting said pin and holding the pin in elevated position.

While the cup-like member I2 is shown as being provided with an imperforate wall and as being formed integrally with the body portion of the coupling pin in Figs. 1 and 2, it is not necessary that this cup-like member be made in this manner, as the same can be made as a separate piece and forced on the body portion of the pin, if found desirable, and furthermore, if it is found to be desirable, in order to prevent accumulation of water or other foreign matter in the cup-like member and to reduce the weight thereof, openings can be provided in the wall of said cup-like The same are ordinarily provided with somemember of such a character and arrangement that the strength of the same is not impaired, as it is necessary that the wall of the cup-like member be of such strength that it will not collapse under operating conditions, even with the rough handling of the equipment, as it must remain intact to fully protect the fingers of the operator of the coupling pin.

A modified form of the invention is shown in Fig. 3, in which the shank portion l0, of the coupli Din is provided with a shoulder at 2|, and in which the cup-like member is made of a separate piece from the body of the coupling pin having a bore 22 therein that receives the shank portion l0 of said pin above the enlargement 2| with a press fit. Obviously, to permit assembly of the device, an integral knob-likemember, such as the member ll shown in Fig. 2, cannot be provided on the coupling pin, as it would .be impossible to press the cup-like member I2 onto the coupling pin, if such an integral enlargement were provided, that is of greater size than the shank portion of the pin. The hand grip portion I3 is accordingly, preferably, provided with a reduced portion 23, which is provided with concavely curved walls merging into the knob-like member 24, which is of no greater maximum diameter than the shank portion l0 and, preferably, of slightly smaller maximum diameter, so that the bore 22 will readily pass thereover. In this form of pin, the fingers will also be located substantially within the cup-like member 12', as the major portion of the grip on said coupling pin is below the top open end 20' of said cup-like member l2.

Th cup-like guard member l2 thus form a housing for the fingers that would normally be exposed to injury in the operation of the coupling pin of the standard character ordinarily provided on mine and similar cars. The same can be made of a different metal than the body portion of the coupling pin, which is usually made of steel, or said cup-like housing member I 2' can be made of plastic material of suitable strength and rigidity. Also, if desired, openings such as the slots 25 and the substantially circular openings 26, can be provided in the cup-like member l2 for lightening the weight thereof, or to provide for ventilation of the same and the prevention of the accumulation of foreign matter therein. The particular shape of the openings is not of importance to this invention, but the same are shown merely for purposes of illustration, the number and the spacing thereof must, of course, be such that sufficient strength of the wall portions between the same remains that the cup-like member l2 will not be damaged in the usual rough usage of such a device as that to which this invention pertains.

What I claim is:

1. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a hand grip portion thereon adjacent the upper end thereof, and a rigid cup-like guard member on said pin surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member.

2. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said draw head, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a hand grip portion thereon adjacent the upper end thereof, and a rigid cup-like guard member integral with said pin and surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member,

3. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter,

said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a hand grip portion thereon adjacent the upper end thereof, and a rigid annular open topped guard member fixed on said pin and surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member.

4. In a coupling, a drawhead, a. link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a. pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having an enlargement at its upper extremity providing a hand grip portion thereon below said enlargement, and a rigid cup-like guard member on said pin surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member.

5. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a reduced portion spaced from the upper extremity thereof providing an enlargement at its upper extremity and a hand grip portion thereon below said enlargement, and a rigid cup-like guard member on said pin surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity 'of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member.

6. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a. coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a hand grip portion thereon adjacent the upper end thereof, and a rigid cup-like guard member on said pin surrounding said hand grip portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end of said guard member, said cup-like member having openings in the wall thereof.

'7. In a coupling, a drawhead, a link adapted to enter said drawhead, said link having a pin receiving opening therein, said head having an opening therein, a coupling pin slidably mounted in said opening in said head and adapted to enter said pin receiving opening in said link, said pin having a grip thereon adjacent the upper end thereof, and a rigid open topped housing embracing the upper portion of said pin and spaced therefrom except at the lower end of saidhousing to provide a receptacle surrounding said portion of the same with the upper extremity of said pin projecting out of the open upper end tion of uniform diameter, an upper handle porthereof. v

8. A coupling pin having a lower shank portion, and a cup-like open topped guard member thereon housing said handle portion except at the upper extremity thereof.

9. A coupling pin having a lower shank porton of uniform diameter, an upper handle portion, and a cup-like open topped guard member integral therewith extending from substantially the upper end of said shank portion in gradually widening surrounding relation to said handle portion, the upper extremity of said handle portion having a knob thereon projecting above the top of said guard member.

10. A coupling pin having a lower shank portion of uniform diameter, an upper handle portion, and a cup-like open topped guard member thereon housing said handle portion except at the upper extremity thereof, said guard member having openings in the wall thereof.

11. A coupling pin having a lower shank portion of uniform diameter, an upper handle portion, an enlargement defining the junction of said shank and handle portions, and a cup-like open-topped guard member pressed thereon into engagement with said enlargement, said guard member housing said handle portion except at the upper extremity thereof.

12. A coupling pin having a lower shank portion of uniform diameter, an upper handle portion, and a cup-like open topped guard member extending from substantially the upper end of said shank portion in gradually widening surrounding relation to said handle portion, the upper extremity of said handle portion having a knob thereon projecting above the top of said guard member and a reduced portion below said knob.

HOMER A. RICHARDS.