US290452A - Maecellus h - Google Patents

Description

M. H. MERRILL.

(No Model.)

0 CAR COUPLING.

Patented Dec. 18, 1883.

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' MAROELLUS H. MERRILL, OF NEW LEBANON CENTRE, NEW YORK.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,452, dated December 18, 1883.

' Application filed May 23,1883. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAROELLUS H. MER- RILL, of New Lebanon Centre, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Oar-Coupling, of which the following is a full, clear, and em act description.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved car-coupling of simple and substantial construction, and one which will couple self-actingly on contact of approaching cars, and adapted also for coupling onto the ordinary link-and-pin draw-head, and to be operated without danger to the train-men.

The invention consists in a draw-head fitted to slide on the draw-bar, and connected to the latter by a stout pin, working in a slot of the draw-bar, the sliding spring pressed draw-' head having a stout coupling-hook pivoted on one side, and a heavy pin at the other side to be engaged by the coupling-hook of the opposite draw-head. The draw-bar has pivoted to it a trip-lever, which may be set to engage a shoulder at the heel of the coupling-hook, and to be tripped therefrom by the contact of approaching draw-heads when the cars come together, which forces the trip-lever from the couplinghook shoulder by a pin or stud on the sliding draw-head, thus releasing the hook to fall or be drawn down by its actuatingspring into engagement with the side pin of the opposite draw-head, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of opposite couplings, with one partly in section, and showing both coupling-hooks held raised by their triplevers. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the improve ment, the opposite draw-heads being coupled; and Fig. 3 is an under side view of one of the couplings, with the hook engaged by the triplever.

On the draw-bar a, arranged for connection to the car-body in any approved way, and preferably formed with the reduced forward end, I), forming shoulders a, I fit the sliding draw-head 0, which has side plates or checkpieces, 0, reaching back and lapping the side faces of the bar a, the draw-head 0 being recessed at c to fit and slide upon the reduced end 12 of bar a, the parts I) 0 being held to each other by a stout pin, d, which may move in a slot, 6, of the bar a when the draw-head b is forced backward against the tension of any suitable spring, f, placed preferably between parts a b in the recess 0 of the draw-head. At one side of the sliding draw-head I pivot strongly, at g, the coupling-hook h, made preferably of cast or untempered steel, and with a heavy or weighted hook-head, 13, for engaging the strong headed pin j of the opposite draw-head, as in Fig. 2, said hook h having also a shoulder, it, near pivot g, to be engaged by the hook arm or pawl Z, rising from the trip-lever m, which is pivoted at 7, preferably to the under side of the draw-bar a, the drawhead I) being slotted suitably at b, Fig. 3,to move freely past the pivot a the short distance required to trip lever 102. Any suitable stud or pin, 0, fixed in draw-head b, acts against lever m to trip it from shoulder k, when the draw-head b is slid back on the draw-bar a, and permit the hook h to fall to engage the pin j of the opposing draw-head, which hook h may drop by its gravity alone; but I prefer to employ any suitable spring, p, secured at its opposite ends to the pivot eye or body of the hook and to the draw-head b. The spring 9 not only serves to insure the more prompt coupling action of the hook when released from the trip-lever, but holds the coupled hook firmly upon its pin j, to prevent noisy chattering of the coupling when the cars are moving, and will also hold the hook h against undue swinging action on its pivot i, when the coupling-hook hangs head downward and free from pawl Z, to permit convenient coupling of cars having the ordinary link-and-pin coupling ,to cars having my improved coupling, which may be done by entering the common link into the socket r, (dotted, which I provide in the drawhead I), and passing the common coupling-pin through the holes 8, made to receive it, and through the link. 1

-To set my improved couplings for automatically coupling the cars, the hooks h are raised and the levers m swung to engage the hookshoulders 7:, as in Fig. 1, and when the cars come together the draw-heads b will be forced back, the lovers in will be tripped by studs 0, and the hooks h will instantly fall to engage the headed pins j of the opposite draw-head, thus eiTecting a strong double coupling, whether the ears or their draw-heads are of like or unequal heights, as will readily be understood, the draft-strain being borne entirely by the pins (6 j and the hooks h, leaving the trip-levers m unaii'ected thereby.

My improved coupling has few and simple parts, may be cheaply made, and has a positive self-coupling action, making it unnecessary for train'men to pass between the cars when coupling them, and my coupling being of like size with the ordinary link-and-pin draw-head, it may readily be substituted therefor without alteration of the frame-work 01' the cars.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A car-coupling constructed with a drawbar, a, sliding spring-pressed draw-head 0,

coupling hook and pin hj, and lever m, to be tripped by the sliding movement of the drawhead, substantially as shown and described.

2. The draw-bar a, having reduced end Z) and slot 0, combined with the spring-pressed draw-head c, socketed over end I), and having cheek-pieces c, carrying the draft-pin d, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the draw-bar a, spring-pressed sliding draw-head c, slotted at b, and the coupling-hook h, having shoulder k, of the lever m, pivoted beneath and to the draw-bar, and having pawl Z, for engaging the shoulder is of the hook h, substantially as shown and described.

4:. The combination of draw-bar a b, socketed and slotted sliding head 0 0, pin (1, coupling-hook h i In, trip-lever m l, stud 0, coupling-pin j, spring 1), link-socket r, and pinhole 8, substantially as shown and described.

MARCELLUS H. MERRILL.

\Vitnesses:

NELsoN lVEBs'rER, llIARVIN SACKETT.

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