US570171A - Car-coupling - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT F. GUHL, OF LANDISVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,171, dated October 27, 189.6.

Application letl February 14, 1894. Serial No. 500,168. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. GUHL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Landisville, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Car- Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertaius to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in an automatic car-coupling device of that class in which a speciallyconstructed catch or hook block is so arranged within a recess or chamber in the forward end of a draw-head as to engage a link in another draw-head when the two are brought together, automatically coupling the cars to which said drawheads are attached.

The object of the invention is to provide means to securely link cars together in making up trains, as well as to uncouple the same, without the attendant having to go between said cars to guide their links or to disengage the same, an act which is always accompanied with more or less danger.

The elements of the invention will clearly appear in the following description and will be distinctly set forth in the claim.

The purposes of the invention are attained by the mechanism and devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which simil-ar letters and numerals of reference designate like parts throughout the several views, and in which- Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a longitudinal vertical section, a top plan view, and a front end elevation, of a detached drawhead embodying the elements of the invention. Figs. 4., 5, and G are elevations, from below, of the draw-head, the closing-plate, and the coupling-block detached from Fig. 2. Figs. '7 and S are views showing modifications of the device, and Fig. 9 is a plan of a link used in connection with Figs. 7 and 8.

In the drawings, A designates the body of a draw-head adapted to be secured, in any approved manner, to the bodies of cars, at the ends thereof, for the purpose of coupling said cars together in making up trains, and ct represents a connecting pin or bolt provided with buffer-springs, by means of which said drawhead is secured in place. The forward end of the drawfhead is provided with the usual bull-nose A', in the face of which is the end opening for the link to enter in coupling, and it is also provided with a vertical orifice a', through which the well-known pin is passed when the old-style link is used to couple onto a car provided with the old-style coupling. Into a side in the forward portion of `the drawhead is recessed a wall-plate A2, secured in place by screws or bolts a2, tapped into its body, and this plate is adapted to close the coupling-block chamber and confine or house said block thereinto. This block and chamber, constituting the chief features of the present invention, will now beparticularly described.

The chamber A3, extending nearly through the body of the draw-head, as is shown by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 8, is practically rectangular in form, having the lower portion a3 of its rear end wall, as well as the lower and upper portions a4 and a5 of its front end wall, cylindricallyT and outwardly concaved from a common center lin the rearward portion of the chamber, each curve having a different radial extent. The curved portions of the front end wall are joined by a rearwardly-sloping inclined plane a6, and the center l lies in an axial line which constitutes the pivot-axis on which rotates the rear end of the coupling-block, yet to be described, to perform its functions. In the top is 'an orice or slot a7, through which an arm or lug projects from the coupling-block to lift the same in uncoupling.

B designates the couplingeblock, which is practically a rectangular body closely fitted into the lower portion of the chamber A3, just mentioned, the curved rear end b to rotate freely in the concaved rear end a3 of the chamber, and the curved portions b and b2 of the front end to ride, respectively, against the portions a4 and a5 of its front end wall, while the sloping portion b3 is adapted to rest on the incline co6. In the forward end of the block is a recess B to receive the end of any approved coupling-link 2, and above, at the forward end of the recess, is a lip or hook b4 IOO to engage the lupper side or top notch of the link in conpling,while the smooth bottom portion lf is adapted to raise the link in uncoupling, and said recess must be just deep enough, allowing some freedom to the link end, to form a stop for said end to butt against and assist in coupling in the opposing draw-head. A spring B2, having one end secured to the drawhead by a screw b and bearing downward onto the coupling-block, as at 17T, serves to keep the coupling-block pressed downward and the link in place 0r engagement when cars are coupled, and B3 is a finger or arm projecting upward through the slot al, and having an orice bo in its upper end may be connected with any approved device whereby the forward end of said block may be raised or lifted when cars are to be cut loose or uncoupled.

Central ridges 3 may be formed in the mouth of the draw-head, Figs. 7 and S, on the upper lip of the coupling-block and on the lower slope of the draw-head when a closed or the ordinarylink 4 may be used in coupling, (best shown in Fig. 7,) or the lower slope may be recessed on each side of the central ridge, as shown by dotted lines 5 in Figs. 7 and S, when said closed link 4 will be held entirely bythe couplinghook in the lower slope of the draw-head.

Then so desired, the projecting arm B3 of the coupling-block may be omitted, the slot (t7 in the top of the draw-head closed, and a lifting arm or cam C acts, through a slot6 in the bottom of the draw-head, against the under side of the coupling-block, and said arm, having one end secured to a shaft C', is j ournaled across the under side of th'e drawhead in bearings c,attached to said under side, and the shaft being provided with a handle or lever arni'C2 is adapted to raise said block in nn coupling. (All indicated by dotted lines in the drawings.) It will here be observed that this construction or application of the lifting device is preferred, because the draw'- head will then be closed on top and a means for the ready admission of water or sloot into the coupling-chamber prevented.

A11 inspection of Fig. l clearly shows a ready means for coupling cars by the use of arrow or spear headed links, and Fig. 7 one by the use of links like the one shown in Fig. 9.

Being aware that various devices using arrow-headed links and jaws have heretofore been in use for coupling cars, I do not claim my invention broadly; but

That I do consider new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a car-couplin g of the characterdescribed, in combination: the draw-head A having the bull-nose A and the plate A2 secured into a side thereof; the housing-chamber in the forward end of the draw-head with the circular rear end wall a3 and the circular front end wall portions c and d5 joined by the inclined portion a", said circular portions having dif ferent radii from the common center l, havin g also the link-aperture through the bullnose end thereof opening into said chamber, and the side opening thereinto with the plate A2 adapted to close said opening; the coupling-block B housed within the chamber and having the circular rear end portion b engaging the wall portion4 d3 and the circular front end portions b and b2 engaging the wall portions ct4 and ai" with the inclined portion b resting on the inclined wall portion a, said block having in its forward end the linksocket B with the link-engaging hook b4 and the link-lifting portion b5; with mechanism provided to raise the forward end of said block, and a spring B'fa as shown to press said end normally down, all substantially as described and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT F. GUIIL. llfitnesses:

ABRAHAM II. SHOCK, EDWIN BooKMYEn.

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