US605737A - Car-coupling - Google Patents

Description

(No Model v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W C. E. MOORE & J. DOYLE.

UAR COUPLING.

Patented June 14,1898.

Z, VENTOHJ ATTORNEY.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. E. MOORE & J. DOYLE.

GAR COUPLING.

No. 605,737. Patented June 14,1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. MOORE AND :JOHN DOYLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 605,737, dated June 14, 1898.

Application filed August 12, 1897. Serial No. 647,967. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES E. MOORE and JOHN DOYLE, citizens of the United.

States, and residents of Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Oouplings; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top plan view of a coupler. embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 00 m, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a bottom View, partly in section.

Fig. 5 is a detached V ew of the ball socket or bracket whereby the coupler is attached to the car, looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a sectional view of theball socket or bracket and the spring-ball,

taken on the line y 3], Fig. 5, looking down or in the direction of the arrow onFig. 5. Fig.

7 is a detached view of the spring-ball, and

Fig. 8 is a detached view of one of the congex follower-disks forming part of the springall.

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur.

Our invention relates to the construction of car-couplers ingeneral, but has been more especially devised for use in and to meet the requirements of street-railway-car service. In general construction it is allied to the class of couplers commonly termed vertical couplers, or that class wherein the coupling is made by the interlocking or engagement of correspondingly-shaped jaws on opposite couplers, the engagement and disengagement of said jaws being provided for by lateral movement of either the jaws or the stems thereof. p

The several objects of our invention are, first, to obviate or eliminate 'all lost motion in the couplers incident to their present construction and the wear thereon arising from friction of the couplerson each other and on their attachments; second, to permit the necessary and preventany excessive vertical play or sag of the'couplerfand, third, to obviate any irregular wear in the connection feature of our invention.

, between the coupler and the bracket or socket whereby it is attached or secured to the car.

To take up the lost motion caused by fric- Ttion and wear, we provide the coupler-jaw with a tapering drop-fork whereby when the jaws of two couplers are engaged or coupled up the same are forced together laterally and held in place bya constant pressure, and such construction or its equivalent embodies one In order to obviate the irregular wear or formation of shoulders in the socket connection or attachment of the coupler, we provide and combine with said coupler and its bracket or socket a resilient or spring ball, and such a construction or its equivalent embodies a third feature of our invention.

There are other minor features of invention, all as will'hereinafter more fully appear.

We will now proceed to describe our invention more fully, so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the drawings, A indicates one coupler, having the jaw a and jaw-recess a, adapted to couple up or engage with its counterparts in the opposed coupler, and B B indicate the stems of the respective engaging couplers. At the bottom of the jaw-recess a, which receives the jaw'of the engaging coupler, is a pered or inclined (see Fig. 3)or, what is the equivalent thereof, the sides of the jaws inclined, or both, to cause the forks F to pinch the jaws'andexert a constant lateral and inward pressure on the jaws a a to force them together-when the coupling is made.

The stem B is preferably one formed of two longitudinally separable serrated sections Z) I), each of which may be provided with a fixed bolt 12 and each of which may be slotted for substantially half its length, as at W, for the reception of the bolt fixed onthe engaging half of the stem, by meansof which or other suitable fastening devices the longitudinal sections 1) b may be adjusted to increase or diminish the length of the stem 13, as maybe required.

The stem 13 terminates in a tail-bolt Z), which passes through a resilient or yielding ball C, arranged in a socket or bracket D, by means of which the coupler-stem is secured to the car-body and which permits of all the lateral movement of stem B required for coupling and for curving.

The resilient or spring ball C is preferably composed of a couple of convex perforated disks or follower-plates c c and an interposed coil-spring 0 through which the tail-bolt Z)" of the stem 13 passes and from which it is prevented from escaping by means of a sleeve Z1 and jam-nuts b or their equivalents.

The bracket or socket D has a spherical cavity for the reception of the spring-ball C and is slotted front and back, as at d d, for the passage of the tail-bolt b and to permit of the lateral motion of the stem 13. It is also provided with a suitable base-plate or perforated flange d' wherebyit maybe secured to the car-body, and below with a horizontally and forwardly projecting flange or ledge (1 which affords a support to and restricts the sag of coupler-stem B.

In order to introduce the convex followerplates 0 c and the spring 0 within the cavity of the bracket-socket, a suitable opening (I is left in the base-plate (2 which opening is closed by the application of the bracket to the bottom of the car.

The construction of the coupler being substantially such as hereinbefore pointed out, it will be attached to the car by first inserting the convex follower-plates c 0 into the socket of bracket D through the opening (1' and then inserting and arranging the coiled spring c between said plates, after which the tail-bolt I) of stem 13 may be passed through the disks 0 c and spring 0 the sleeve b placed on the tail-bolt b and confined by jam-nuts Z1, and the bracket D finally secured to the carbottom by means of suitable bolts.

'hen a coupling is made by the engagement of the jaws of opposing couplers, the forks F F are allowed to drop into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and exert a constant lateral and inward pressure upon the jaws to force and hold them together and prevent any movement, so that the coupling becomes in operation a continuous rigid bar having its ends pivotally connected with the coupled cars in such manner as to permit of restricted resilient longitudinal and lateral movements, which will obviate all lost motion and irregular or unequal wear of either the couplers or their connections.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, is-

1. A coupler, having a jaw, a jaw-recess, a ledge at the bottom of the jaw-recess, and a fork arranged to straddle the jaw-recess and confine the jaw of a counterpart coupler; substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. A coupler having a jaw, a jaw-recess, and a tapering fork arranged to straddle the j aw-recess and pinch the jaw of a counterpart coupler whereby the jaws are forced together laterally; substantiallyasand forthe purposes specified.

3. A coupler having a jaw, a jaw-recess, a ledge at the bottom of the jaw-recess, and a tapering fork arranged to straddle the jawrecess and confine the jaw of a counterpart coupler, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4-. The combination with a coupler-stem comprised of longitudinally-adjustable sections, of a resilient ball, and a ball socket or bracket whereby the stem is attached to the car, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. The combination, with a coupler-stem, of a resilient ball, and a ball-socket; substantially'as and for the purposes specified.

6. The combination with a coupler-stem, of convex follower-disks, an interposed spring, and a suitable pocket for said disks and spring; substantially as and for the purposes specified.

'7. The combination with a coupler-stem of a resilient ball, and a bracket having a ballsoeket and provided with a horizontally-pro jecting ledge in advance of the ball-socket, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

8. The combination with a coupler having a jaw and a jaw-recess provided at its bottom with a ledge to support the jaw of a counterpart coupler, of a drop-fork arranged to straddle the jaw-recess and confine the jaw of the counterpart coupler, and a horizontally-projecting ledge arranged to support the stem of the coupler adjacent to its point of attachment to the car; substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof we affix our signaturcs, in presence of two witnesses, this 9th day of August, 1807.

CHARLES E. MOORE. JOHN DOYLE.

lVitnesses:

Gno. O. NAGLE, (J. L. COMPTON.

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