US2760652A - Knuckle anti-creep device - Google Patents

Description

FIG. 2

1956 E. H. BLATTNER KNUCKLE ANTI-CREE? DEVICE Filed April 16, 1955 FIG. 1

FIG 6 his Attorney FIG. 5

IQJUCKLE AN TI-CREEP DEVICE Emil H. Blattner, Williamsville, N. Y., assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, Depew, N. Y., a corporation of Maryland Application April 16, 1953, Serial No. 349,267

6 Claims. (Cl. 213--155) This invention relates to automatic couplers and particularly to an anti-creep device for preventing creep of a coupler knuckle from open position.

Automatic couplers of the type now approved or proposed for interchange service on railway cars, such as the E, H, and F couplers, contain no positive means for preventing creep of the coupler knuckle when the latter is in open position. In making up trains in hump yards the coupler knuckles are opened before the cars are sent over the hump and onto the classification tracks so that the couplers will automatically couple as it collides with the coupler of the preceding car. Insuch service the friction between the knuckle and the coupler head in a number of cases has proved insuflicient to prevent the knuckle from creeping closed, disenabling it from coupling with the preceding car, and requiring manual uncoupling as well as bumping of the car, before the train can be made up. Numerous anti-creep devices have beenproposed to eliminate the waste of time attendant such individual handling of a car. However, none of such devices has proved suificiently effective to merit their adop tion as standard practice, and the trouble still remains.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved anti-creep device for automatic couplers in the form of a gravity lock whereby an open coupler knuckle is effectively held against creeping without impairment of the automatic operation of the coupler.

Another object of the invention is to provide an anticreep device for automatic couplers wherein the bearing surfaces on the coupler knuckle and head are serrated and so arranged as to be intermeshed by gravity on opening of the knuckle and to have surface engagement between their lands when the knuckle is closed, whereby the knuckle in open position is restrained against creeping and in closed position has adequate surface bearing with the coupler head to minimize wear.

An additional object of the invention is toprovide an improved anti-creep device for automatic couplers wherein the bearing surfaces on the coupler head and knuckle about the knuckle pin openings are serrated and the faces of the surfaces are so arranged and constructed that the coupler knuckle will be locked by gravity against creeping on reaching open position and released by camming for automatic coupling under normal service forces.

A further object of the invention is to provide an anticreep device for automatic couplers whereby by modifying the bearing surfaces of the coupler head and knuckle about the knuckle pin openings, creep of the knuckle in opened position is effectively prevented without other modification in the construction of the automatic coupler and without change in its normal operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a coupler embodying the invention;

Patented Aug. 28,- 1956 Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the coupler of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sec= tional view of the coupler head with the knuckle removed, the view being taken along lines yy of Figure 2, look ing in the direction of the arrow 3;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional View of the knuckle taken along the lines y-y' of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrow '4;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of the coupler taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure l, but with the knuckle in open position, as in Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of the coupler taken on the same section as Figure 5, with the knuckle in closed position, as in Figure 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved anti-creep device of the present invention is adapted to automatic knuckle couplers and is particularly designed for couplers of the type now approved or proposed for interchange use by the railroads, such as the E, H, and F couplers. Of these types, the type E coupler has been selected for purposes of illustration and, since only the head portion of the coupler is germane to the invention, the showing has been so limited.

Except for its anti-creep device, the illustrated coupler is the conventional E coupler. Thus it is comprised of a head 1 having on one side a guard arm 2 and on the other a pair of vertically spaced ears 3 between which pivots about a vertical axis a knuckle 4. The knuckle is pivotally connected to the guard arms by a knuckle pin 5, the latter seating in and projecting through pin holes or openings 6 and 7 in the knuckle 4 and ears 3, respectively. On each of the ears 3 is a boss or hub 8 defining its pin hole 7 and projecting inwardly into the knuckle space or opening between the ears. Each of these projecting bosses 8, in turn, seats in a socket 9 in the confronting wall of the knuckle 4. Conventionally, the sockets are in part open-sided and defined, rearwardly, by a pulling shoulder 10, the latter, due to the elongation, longitudinally or axially of the coupler, of the pin holes 7 in the ears 3, directly engaging the sides of the ear bosses 8 in draft and thus relieving the, knuckle pin 5 of draft forces.

In the normal E coupler, the confronting surfaces of the ear bosses 8 and the knuckle sockets 9 are flat so that full surface bearing over the area about the pin holes 6- and 7 is obtained throughout the range of movement of the knuckle from open to closed positions, the former shown in full in'Figure 1 and the latter in full in Figure 2 and in dot and dash line in Figure 1. With such fiat sur-' faces, the knuckle, when in open position, is' restrained from creeping towards closed position mainly by the friction engendered by the weight of the coupler between the confronting horizontal surfaces of the lower of the ear' bosses 3 and the corresponding of the knuckled sockets 9 in the knuckle, assisted somewhat by the resistance to displacement of the locking mechanism (not shown).-

of the ear bosses 8 and the corresponding of the knuckle sockets 9. These surfaces, here those on the lower ear boss and socket, will hereafter be termed bearing sur faces to distinguish them from those at the upper end of the knuckle, which are here of no concern. Both the bearing surface 11 of the lower ear boss 8 and that 12 of the recessed boss 13 in the lower of the knuckle sockets 9, on the illustrated coupler, follow in plan or horizontal outline the configuration of the corresponding surfaces on the conventional coupler, but are here modified so as to provide a gravity interlock in the open position of the knuckle. To this end, each of the bearing surfaces is serrated, grooved or notched at intervals about its pin hole, 6 or 7, to provide on each of the bosses the same number of flat-crowned axially or vertically directed teeth, those on the ear boss 8 being designated as and those on the knuckle boss 12, as 15. Specifically, the bearing surface 11 of the ear boss 12 is formed of one or more radially extending, substantially horizontal lands or fiat crowns 16 separated by and alternating circumferentially of the boss with a like number of grooves, recesses or seats 17 and the bearing surface 11 of the knuckle boss 13 has corresponding lands 18 and grooves 1%. On both bosses the sides 20 of the teeth or grooves are inclined or sloping and diverge outwardly of the grooves, to serve as cam faces in the manner hereinafter to be described.

With a like number of teeth on the knuckle and car bosses, it is only necessary to arrange the lands of each boss to coincide with the grooves of the other boss in the open position of the coupler for the bearing surface or teeth on the knuckle to drop into mating, intermeshing or interlocking position with that on the ear boss, and thereafter lock or hold the knuckle against creeping. The requisite drop or relative vertical movement or displacement of the knuckle depends somewhat on the inclination or slope of the sides 20 of the grooves but in any case will be quite small, a drop of less than /11 sulficing in the illustrated embodiment. The extent of the drop may conveniently be limited by engagement of the lands 16 or 18, on one of the bosses with fiat surfaces 21 defining the bottoms of the grooves 17 or 19, of the other member, the grooves of both bosses here being provided with such stop surfaces. when the knuckle is open, the vertical clearance provided in a conventional coupler between the surfaces of the knuckle and the lower coupler car, outside the bosses, will ordinarily be suificient to accommodate it, but, if necessary, one or the other of these surfaces may be cut back for this purpose. Gtherwise, the coupler requires no modification.

Were only interlock against creep of moment, the interlock could as Well be obtained by the provision of a single small tooth on one of the bosses and a correpsonding groove on the other. The difiiculty is that wear on the coupler takes place primarily when the knuckle is in closed or coupled position, at which time the knuckle would ride only on the land of the one tooth. The anticreep device of the present invention is therefore designed not only to provide an eifective interlock in the open position of the knuckle, but to afford adequate surface engagemcnt between the knuckle and ear bosses at other times, and particularly when the knuckle is closed.

With 180 the optimum land-contact, in terms of degrees, between serrated surfaces, the maximum overlay obtainable between each of the pairs of confronting lands in the closed position of the knuckle will depend on the opening angle or angular movement of the knuckle be tween open and closed positions. For the illustrated coupler, the opening angle is in the order of 53 and the angle included by each of the inclined surfaces 20 is some 6, thus affording for each pair of lands an effective overlap of 47. This overlap, were the bosses circular in cross-section, would dictate the provision of either the illustrated three or four lands on each boss for maximum bearing, with the arrangement either symmetric or asymmetric for the three and preferably symmetric for the four. However, with bosses of irregular contour and three lands on each boss, an asymmetric arrangement is preferred with the lands so disposed as to take maximum advantage of the irregularity and obtain a surface bearing with the knuckle closed equal substantially to one-half the Since the drop is small and occurs only engagement obtainable between the plane-surfaced bosses. As a consequence, ample surface bearing is afforded with the engaging surfaces unrncshed and the crowns or lands 8 of the knuckle teeth 15 overriding or surmounting the corresponding crowns 16 of the ear boss teeth 14, to hold wear of these surfaces at a minimum in the closed or coupled position of the knuckle.

It has been mentioned that the sides Zfl of the grooves in the two bosses are inclined. This inclination serves two purposes. First, it enables the knuckle to slide into its interlock as it approaches open position and second, and more important, it enables the coupler to be cammed to lift and release it from locked position, by a horizontal force such as is applied in coupling. The release force is, I

of course, greater than that required to close a knuckle of a conventional coupler, as, otherwise, the interlock would be ineffective. However, the kinetic energy in a humped car is adequate for this purpose and the coupling of cars on the flat, where the force is supplied by an engine, presents no problem.

From the above detailed description it will be understood that there has been provided an improved anticrcep means for opened knuckles which is gravity actuated automatically as the coupler reaches open position, is simple in construction, requires but minor modification of conventional automatic knuckle couplers, and is eifcctive in anti-creep without interfering with the normal operation of the coupler under service conditions. It will be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart either from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on a coupler head, an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle and coupler head and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle, said surfaces being formed of alternate lands and grooves, and said surfaces being arranged relative to each other to intermesh on opening of said knuckle and have land-contact with said knuckle closed. 1

2. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on a coupler head,'an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle and coupler head and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle, each of said surfaces being formed of alternate lands and grooves, and said surfaces being arranged relative to each other to intermesh on opening of said knuckle and have substantially full land-coutact with said knuckle closed.

3. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally connected to and supported on one of a pair of vertically spaced ears on a head of said coupler, an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle and said one ear and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle, each of said surfaces being formed of a plurality of axially extending circumferentially spaced flat crowned teeth, said teeth of said surfaces being arranged relative to each other to intermesh on opening ofsaid knuckle for preventing creep thereof and to have crown contact with said knuckle closed for supporting said knuckle on said supporting ear.

4. In an automatic coupler having a coupler head and a knuckle connected thereto for pivoting about a vertical axis, an anti-creep comprising teeth bearing surfaces on said head and knuckle, the teeth of said surfaces having substantially flat lands, said teeth being arranged relative to each other to intermesh with said knuckle open and have crown contact 'with said knuckle closed, and inclined sides on said teeth for enabling camming of said knuckle from open to closed position by application of a horizontal force thereto.

5. In an automatic coupler having a coupler head and a knuckle pivotally connected to and supported on one of a pair of vertically spaced ears on said head, said knuckle having a vertical pivotal axis, an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle and supporting ear and disposed about said pivotal axis of said knuckle, a like number of vertically directed flat crowned teeth forming each of said surfaces, said teeth being arranged relative to each other to intermesh when said knuckle is open and to have crown contact with said knuckle closed, and said teeth being sloping-sided for camming said knuckle by horizontal force from open to closed position.

6. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on a coupler head, an anti-creep comprising toothed bearing surfaces on said knuckle and head, the

teeth of said surfaces having substantially flat crowns, and said teeth being arranged relative to each other to interfit in an open position of said knuckle and to have crown contact when said knuckle is closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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