US41483A - Improvement in buffers for railroad-cars - Google Patents

Description

R. D. CH ATTERTON.

Car Bumper.

No. 41,483. Patented Feb. 9, 1864.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD D. CHATTERTON, QF BATH, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUFFERS FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,483, dated February 9, 1864.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD D. CHATTER- TON, of Bath, in the county of Somerset and Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, now temporarily residing in Cobourg, in the Prov ince of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Bulfer for Railroad-Oars and I do hereby declare that the followingisa full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which.

Figure l is a transverse verticalsection of a railroad-car with my improvement applied to it, mm, Fig. 2, indicating the line ofsection; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detached transverse section of the couplingbar pertaining to the same. i

. when the coupling-bar is forced in,by collision or otherwise, the wedges of the coupling'bar will act against the springs through the medium of the levers, the fulcra of the latter being so placed asto increase the resistance or power of the springs and render the latter very effective in resisting concussions-so much so that in case of two trains of cars coming in cont-act under ordinary speed the momentum will be completely absorbed by theresist-ance of the springs, and the cars prevented from being thrown from the track, eit'her'by the force of impact or by recoil;

The invention further consists in using, in connection with the levers aforesaid, supplemental levers, arrangedwith springs in such a manner as to form a draw-buffer in case of rocoil and. still admit of the coupling-bar being readily drawn out when required to be adjusted'fo'r use.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the bed or bottom of a railroadcar, between which bed and the flooring of the car a space, 13, is allowed to receive the levers and springs pertaining to my invent-ion.

At the center of the car-bed A there is made a dovetail groove, O, which extends the whole length-of the bed, and receives the lower dovetail part, a, of a, coupling-bar, I), the part a of the coupling-bar being. allowed to slide freely in the groove 0. The upper part of the coupling-bar, which is above the groove 0, is notched or' recessed at its sides to form a series oi continuous double-wedgeshaped projections, E, as shown in Fig. 2.

. On the bed A, at'each side ofthe groove 0, there are placed aseries of levers, I the ,fulcra b of whiclrare so placed that 'the arms of the levers nearest the groove 0 will. be much shorter than the arms at the opposite sides of the fulcra. The levers F are arranged paralelly at each side of the groove 0, and in a transverse position with the bed A, and'betwcen the levers there are placed springs G, at ranged in such a manner as to bear against the long arms of the levers and tohave a tendency to keep the ends of said arms in. contact with stops 0 at the sides of the bed A, and to keep the 'levc'rs F parallel with each other at each sideof the groove 0, which is designed to be their normal position.

Hrepresents a series of supplemental levers,

which are much shorter than the levers F, and

ency to keep the levers H in contact withpins or stops d, attached to the long arms of the lever F, ata short distance from the fulcra b, as shownin the figures.

The springs I act upon the levers Hin a reverse direction to that in which the springs'G act upon the long arms of the levers F but the springs I, in consequence of being much weaker than the springs G, and bearing against the levers H near the fulcra I), do not appreciably detract from the power or efi'ect of the springs G. Y

The ends of the supplemental levers H which adjoin the edges of the groove 0 project within the path of the movement of the wedge-shaped projections E of the'co'uplingbar D.

The operation is as follows: The inner end of the coupling-bar l) is connected to the car bya pin, d, which bears againsta loop or guide, 0, through which the coupling-bar passes, and in case of a collision it will be seen that the coupling-bar wil? be driven inward,

and the projections E of he coupling-bar will actuate the supplemental levers H, and these, in consequence of their inner ends bearing against the pins or stops don the long'arms of the levers F, will actuate thelatter in pairs and. overcome the resistance of the springs G,

'as shown in blue in Fig. 2. As the couplingbar is forced or driven in ,the several levers F at each side of the groove 0 will be successively acted upon by the-projections E, all the preceding levers being actuated each time a new pair is actuated; hence the coupling-bar v meets with a gradually-increasing resistance until the momentum caused by the collision is i completely absorbed.

The strength of the springs G is very materially augmented by the position of the fnl cra b of the levers F, and this is an important feature, as it enables springs of moderate and practicable dimcnsionsbeing used.

In case of any recoil, it will be seen that the projections E will act upon thesupplemental leversH, as shown by the black dotted lines in Big. 2, and the recoil will also be absorbed by the resistance of the springs I. It is on this account that the projections E are made of double-wedge form.

.It is designed to have the first and last cars of a train provided wit'h'the springs, levers, and coupling-bar, as herein described, that bein g deemed sufiicientto avoid all accidents ,i'ro'm collisions.

I would remark'that the coupling-bar D may,

when the train is in motion, be inserted fully into the groove 0, and have a pin, d",'fitted in the front part of D, behind the loop or guide 0. otherwise be between the cars, owing to the length .of the bar D, would be avoided, and when necessary the front pin d may be withdrawn and the bar D drawn out under the draft movement of the engine until the back pin d catches against the'loop or guide e.

I would further remark that I do not confinemyself to any precise number or arrangement of springs and levers, for various modifications of the same may be devised and all answer the same end.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

n. n. 'OHATTERTON.

Witnesses; 7

Tuos. L. J. DOUGLAs. D. ROBERTSON.

In this case the space which would

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