US2797821A - Yieldable guard arm coupler - Google Patents

Description

July 2, 1957 E. H. BLATTNER 2,797,821

YIELDABLE GUARD ARM COUPLER Filed Sept. 21, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'Inventor:

Q Einil H. Blattner his Auorney July 2, 1957 H. BLATTNER 2,797,821

YIELDABLE GUARD ARM COUPLER Filed Sept. 21, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor: Emil H. Blattner his Attorney Unite atcnt 2,797,821 Patented July 2, 1957 YIELDABLE GUARD A CQUPLER Emil H. Blattner, Williarnsville, N. Y., assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, Depew, N. Y., a corporation of Maryland Application September 21, 1953, Serial No. 381,239

7 Claims. (Cl. 213-154) couplers, have failed by splitting through their guard arms during humping or shunting on bufiing with knuckles closed with non-interlocking couplers, such as A. A. R. type E couplers of A contour with which the bulk of railway cars new in service are equipped. These failures are now known to be caused by the inability of the knuckle of the E coupler to penetrate the interlocking coupler sufliciently on impact to bring the guard arm of the E coupler into contact with the knuckle of the interlocking coupler. The effect has been to concentrate the impact between the guard arm and knuckle nose of the interlocking coupler with the result that even under average load and at a moderate speed of 8 M. P. H, the force on the guard arm exceeds the strength of the metal and breakage occurs. One solution is to relieve the guard 'arm of the interlocking coupler in the manner described in my copending application. Another is offered by this invention.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interlocking coupler having a guard arm arranged to yield on impact with knuckles closed with a non-interlocking coupler and enable the force of the impact to be distributed between the guard arms and knuckles of the two couplers.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved yieldable guard arm for a railway coupler which is held against vertical movement in normal position and automatically maintains its horizontal alignment with the coupler head.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a guard arm for an interlocking coupler which, while yieldable on bufiing with knuckles closed, automatically compensates for wear in its pivot and maintains its alignment for seating on coupling in the wing pocket of a mating interlocking coupler.

A further object of the invention is to provide an interlocking coupler having a yieldable guard arm and of such arrangement and construction that, except on buffing with knuckles closed, the coupler conforms in contour and dimensions to a conventional interlocking coupler with a rigid guard arm.

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 plan View of an interlocking coupler embodying a preferred form of the invention;

Figure 2v is an elevational view of the coupler of Figure. 1, from. the wing pocket side, with portions broken away and shown in section to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction;

Figure 3 is a view partly in plan and partly in section, the latter taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved yieldable guard arm and associated structure of the present invention, while adaptable, generally, to knuckle couplers, finds particular application in interlocking couplers, such as the A. A. R. type H and the proposed A. A. R. type F. Of these, the F coupler has been selected for purposes of illustration and modified, as necessary, to embody the invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the illustrated coupler, in coupled position, has the contour and dimensions of the type F coupler and, like it, is comprised of a head 1, a pivoted knuckle 2, a guard arm 3 and a wing pocket 4, the guard arm and wing pocket being laterally aligned and on opposite sides of the head 1. Its guard arm 3, however, is not rigid with the head but yieldable, the head, on its guard arm side, ending short of the guard arm in what might be termed a stub guard arm and terminating in a wall 5 facing forwardly of the coupler. This wall, in the illustrated coupler, is vertically directed and disposed substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the coupler, being positioned, longitudinally of the coupler, to engage an outer end of a wing pocket of another inter locking coupler to which the coupler is coupled.

The guard arm 3 is comprised of a nose 6 of conventional configuration and a base or body portion 7, the nose 6 projecting forwardly beyond the head 1 and the base 7 fitting or seating in a pocket or cavity 8, open outwardly and at either end, and formed in the guard arm side of the head intermediate its vertical extremities. This pocket projects through and interrupts the forward wall 5 and is defined inwardly by a vertical wall 9 and vertically by spaced upper and lower horizontally extending walls 10, all integral with the head 1. The vertically spaced walls 10 preferably taper or converge rearwardly, as wellas inwardly, and at equal inclination or angles of taper or convergence with respect to a horizontal plane bisecting the pocket 8. Containable within the pocket 8 in normal or coupling position, the body 7 of the guard arm 3 has its vertically spaced upper and lower horizontally directed faces or walls 11 of corresponding taper or convergence to the confronting, including walls 10 of the pocket.

It is intended that the guard arm 3 pivot, hinge or swing, adjacent its inner or rear end, about a vertical axis relative to the coupler head 1 and such connection may be obtained by a pintle or pivot pin 12, vertically disposed and projecting through suitably reinforced or bossed cylindrical openings in the confronting walls 10 and 11 of the pocket 8 and body 7, respectively. It is also intended that the guard arm normally be wedged against vertical movement and thus held or maintained in horizontal alignment with its companion wing pocket 4 and in position to interfit with the wing pocket of a mating interlocking coupler. The tapered confronting walls 10 and 11 of the pocket and guard arm might serve this purpose. However, to avoid the necessity of close manufacturing tolerances over such relatively large areas, it is preferred that the walls 11 be spaced from the walls 10 and restricted in their engagement to a pair of wedging or friction surfaces 13, each formed on a rib 14 raised or instanding from the adjacent of the pocket walls 10.

Like the cooperating guard arm walls 11, the wedging surfaces 13 taper inwardly and, preferably rearwardly and at the same angle of taper, the latter to center the guard arm vertically relative to the coupler head 1 as it swings back to normal position. By positioning the ribs 14 at the forward end of the pocket and in substantial locking coupler.

alignment with the forward wall of the coupler head, advantage may be taken of the reinforcement afforded at this point to the walls of the pocket by the wall 5.

-With the inner or normal position of the guard arm 3 fixed by the wedging surfaces 13, the outer limit of swinging movement of the arm is determined by a pair of stop lugs preferably aligned horizontally with the upper and lower walls 10 of the pocket 8 and integral with and projecting forwardly of the forward wall 5 of the coupler head. As shown, the lugs preferably are triangular in plan and each seats in a triangular recess 16 of larger dimension in the nose of the guard arm, each of the recesses being defined inwardly of its stop lug by a vertically directed shoulder 17 which is engageable with a corresponding stop surface 18 on the stop lug on outward swinging of the guard arm to determine the outer limit of its swing.

The restoring or yielding means, by which the guard arm 3 is yieldably resisted in movement and restored to normal position after displacement, is designed to be contained within the lateral confines of the coupler head and thus enables the coupler in normal or coupling position to conform to the contour of the conventional type F coupler. To this end the restoring means is comprised of a spring retaining or reactance lever 19, the lever seating or fitting in a recess 20 between the upper and lower walls 11 of the guard arm and being attached through upper and lower horizontal flanges 21 to the head of the coupler by the same pivot pin 12. Connecting and integral with the flanges 21 and forming the foot of the lever is a vertically directed wall 22 of substantially S-shape and having one leg or heel 23 bearing against the inner vertical wall 9 of the pocket 8 and its other leg or sole portion 24 on the opposite side of the pivot pin and within the recess 20. On the inner face of this sole portion is an inwardly directed spring seat 25 which with an outwardly directed spring seat 26 formed on the wall 27 of the shoe defining the inner side of the recess, seats yieldable or resilient means preferably in the form of a coil spring 28. It will be noted that the spring 28 is inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the coupler and, for maximum restoring force, has its axis disposed substantially in the direction of movement of the guard arm or, more exactly, chordal to its arc of movement.

With its guard arm 3 wedged in place in the pocket 8 and normally held in that position by the coil spring 28, the operation of the coupler on coupling with open knuckles with either an interlocking or a non-interlocking coupler, is the same as that of the conventional inter- However, on buffing with knuckles closed with a non-interlocking coupler, such as the type E, shown fragmentarily in Figures 1 and 3, the guard arm 3, which if rigid would normally share with the knuckle 2 the full brunt of the impact, as indicated in Figure 1, is displaced laterally against the force of the spring 28, permitting the knuckle 29 of the E coupler to slide into the interlocking coupler until the guard arm 30 of the E coupler strikes the heel 31 of the knuckle of the interlocking coupler. As a consequence, the impact on the interlocking coupler is taken at three points, rather than two, as in the conventional interlocking coupler, and the force, distributed over the knuckle 2 and yieldable guard arm 3, is held within the strength limits of these members.

From the above detailed description it will be apparent that there has been provided a yieldable guard arm and associated structure adaptable to a convention- 'al coupler and of particular application to an interlocking coupler, there serving to enable the coupler to couple in normal fashion, while eliminating the cause of failure on bufiing with knuckles closed with a non-interlocking coupler. It should 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 a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a pocket in a guard arm side of said head, a guard arm pivotally mounted in said pocket and having a nose portion projecting forwardly thereof, spring means reacting against said head for normally holding said guard arm in said pocket, and wedge means on said head and coacting with said guard arm for normally maintaining horizontal alignment of said guard arm with said head.

2. In a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a guard arm pivotally mounted in and projecting forwardly of a pocket in said head, spring means reacting against said head and acting substantially in the direction of pivotal movement of said knuckle for normally holding said guard arm in said pocket, and wedge means on said head and coacting with said guard arm for normally maintaining lateral alignment thereof.

3. In a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a pocket in a guard arm side of said head, a guard arm pivotally mounted in and projecting forwardly of said pocket, a reactance lever in said pocket and having a pivotal connection common with said guard arm to said head, said lever reacting against said head, and spring means interposed between said guard arm and lever and normally holding said guard arm in said pocket.

4. In a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a pocket in a guard arm side of said head, a guard arm pivotally mounted in said pocket and having a nose portion projecting therebeyond, a reactance lever seating in a recess in said guard arm and contained within said pocket, said reactance lever reacting against said head, and spring means between said lever and guard arm for normally holding said guard arm in said pocket.

5. In a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a pocket in the guard arm side of said head, vertically spaced inwardly converging wedging surfaces on said pocket and confronting correspondingly converging surfaces on said guard arm, and spring means in said pocket and reacting against said head, said spring means and surfaces cooperating to normally maintain said guard arm in said pocket and in horizontal alignment with said head.

6. In an interlocking coupler having a head, a wing pocket on one side of said head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a side opening pocket in a side of said head opposite said wing pocket, a guard arm pivotally mounted in said pocket and having a nose projecting forwardly thereof for interfitting with a wing pocket of a mating interlocking coupler, a reactance lever mounted in a recess in and straddled by said guard arm and reacting against said head, spring means interposed between said lever and guard arm and disposed to react substantially chordal to the arc of movement of said guard arm, means for limiting outward movement of said guard arm, and wedge means on said guard arm and side opening pocket for limiting inward movement of said guard arm, said wedge means cooperating with said spring means for normally holding said guard arm in said side opening pocket in lateral alignment with said wing pocket.

7. In a coupler having a head and a pivoted knuckle, the improvement comprising a pocket in a side of said head, a guard arm of limited lateral swinging movement pivotally mounted in said pocket and pivotal about an axis substantially parallel to the pivotal axis of said knuckle, inwardly and rearwardly converging vertically spaced wedging surfaces of substantially equal inclination in said pocket and corresponding surfaces on said guard arm, a reactance lever seating in a recess in said guard References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS armand contained within said pocket, and spring means between said lever and guard arm and reacting through said lever against said head, said spring means and surfaces cooperating to normally hold said guard arm in said 2 gggi Jr 2g5? pocket 1n honzontal allgnment Wlth sa1d head. 5 2:454:878 Marler Nov. 30 1948

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