US611025A - Car-coupling - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

H. H. WARNER. I

CAR CDUPUNG. A lication filed Au s5, 18

Patented Sept. 20, I898.

UNITED STAT S ATENT O 'HmraYH. WARNER, or TACOMA, WASIHNGTON.

can-consume.

srnomoarrorr forming part'of'Letters' Patent No. 611,025,'dated September 20, lees;

Application filed August 9, 1898. Serial No. 688,195. (No modal.)

To all whom it, may concern.-

Washington, have invented a certain new and nsefullnrprovement in Car-Couplers, of which improvement the following is a specification. My invention relates to car-couplers of the vertical-plane or Master Oar-Builders type,

and its object is to enable the delays and inconvenience occasioned by the breakage of the knuckles of couplers on moving trains to be avoided by the provision of atemporary substitute for a broken knuckle, by the insertion of which the car on which the breakage occurs may without delay or liability to further accident to the couplerbe hauled to the terminal or to a pointwhere" permanent repair may be conveniently,made.

To this end my invention, generally stated, consists in a special or substitute knuckle adapted to be connected with a coupler-head of the Master Car-Builders type and to conple either with an ordinary knuckle or with a link pin,.the substitute knuckle being held in operative position by clutching engagement with the outer surface of the wall of the coupler.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the operation of freight-trains of the materially increased size and weight employed in approved standard practice delays are frequently occasioned in transit by damageto or breakage of the knuckles of car-couplers of the Master Car-Builders type,'which delays may to a large extent be avoided or reduced by the provision ofa suitable temporary substitute for the broken knuckle which can be promptly fitted to its place and by reason of the great variety of 'formsof knuckles now bending the knuckle-pin of the disabled coupler, owing to the space between thelugswhich hold it and to the fact that the knuckle-pin is usually inadequate to sustain the draft strain and in bending often damages or breaks available, the couplers are chained together, v s

which operation delays the train and often has to be repeated -before a terminal orrepair station is reached. To avoid these objections, the caboose or tool cars of trains are often supplied with a spare knuckle of each of the various kinds in ordinary use. Each of these has its own special design of tail-locking mechanism, which necessitates keeping and carrying an inconveniently large stock of knuckles in'each caboose-car and also that the train-crews be-educated in the removal and replacement of knuckles on the road and be provided with the necessary tools for this work. Some of the knuckle attachments are 'difficult to change even by those having a fair knowledge of proper methods, and de-' a knuckle from a car which may be at hand on a siding and be provided with a coupler I of the desired type. This operation involves delay in itself and additional delay and dlfficulty to those who must handle the standing car from which the knuckle has been taken.

The objectionable features of train-service above indicated are efiectually avoidedby the employment of my' invention, which provides a substitute knuckle readily insertible by ordinary train-hands without special tools and by means of which the car having the disabled coupler can be safely and properly hauled to a point where proper knu kles and repairers are available to restore it to normal condition or betaken to the terminal station, if desired. The substitute knuckle is made adaptable to all oar-couplers oflthe Master.

' Car-Builders type and capable cit-engaging automatieallywith the knuckles of such couplers on their proper contour lines of draft when substituted for a broken or disabled knuckle. It mayalso'be used in connection with the ordinary couplingby the employment of a link and pirhas shown in Fig.2.

Its application is effected without removing any parts other than the broken knucklewhieh'it replaces, and when this is done upon the road .in transit -no special 'tools are re quired.

In the accompanyingdrawings,'Figure 1 is a plan view of a Master Oar-Builders coupler.

provided with my invention, coupled to a similar coupler in normal condition; Fig. 2, a similar view showings coupler provided with my invention connected by a link and pin to acoupler of the ordinary type; Fig. 3,

a side view inelevation of the lefthand coupler of Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 4, a plan or top view of the substitute knuckle detached,and Fig. 5 a front elevation of the same.

In the practice of my invention I provide a substitute knuckle having a body 1 of subs'tantially similar form to that of the ordinary knuckle, provided with a central passage 2 for the insertion of a knuckle-pin, and a coupling-arm 3'of standard contour in which is formed a passage 4 fora link couplingpin,

- these portions of the knuckle corresponding substantially withthe ordinary constructions. A stop-arm 5, which is formed upon the body 1, projects therefrom on the oppo- 'cent coupler.

site side from the coupling-arm 3 and is adapted to bear on and engage in the manner of a clutch the body of the coupling when the coupling-arm is inoperative position- .that is to say, the position which it-occupies when coupled witlrthe knuckle of the adja- By such hearing or engagement it is held in this position during the exertion of draft strain with the same firmness as if the tailpiece and locking mechanism of the ordinary knuckle were employed. The stop-arm 5, which may be made of the samedepth as or of greater depth than the openingin the coupler-head, is in this instance shown as projecting outwardly, so that its end bears on the outer wall of the coupler-head. It will be obvious that .in the application of the substitute knuckle of the It will be seen thatrthe strain of draft will be exerted upon the knuckle-pin and upon the body of the coupler through the stop-arm 5 and that the stop-arm by its clutch engagement with the body of the coupler limits the forward movement of the coupler-arm 3 and holds it in proper position for agreement with the contour lines on the faces of the couplers. In order to prevents the coupler arm from plied, and wi inner wall of the coupler-head when the coupler-arm 3 is moved inwardly or toward the face of the coupler-head.

The substitute knuckles are made of steel or wrought-iron, and several of them canbe conveniently carried in the caboose or waycar of a train ready for use in emergencies, in which the?' can be readily and quickly ap- 1 enable the comparatively large stock ofextra knuckles ordinarily carried to be dispensed with, as well as avoid trouble and delay in application, which is commonly ex rienced in present practice.

claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A substitute knuckle, adapted to be-co'nnected with a coupler-head of the Master Car- Bnilders type and provided with means for being' held in operative position byapositive clutching engagement with the outer surface of the wall of the coupler. I

2. A substitute knuckle for a coupler-head .of the Master Car-Builders type, having a bodg insertible in the opening of a couplerhea a coupling-arm of standard contour on one side of'isaid body, and a stop-'arm,adapted to bear against the outer surface of the wall of (21x coupler-head, on the opposite side of said he 3. A substitute knuckle foracoupler-head of the Master Gar-Builders type, having a body iusertible betweenthe lugs of a couplerhead, provided with a passa e for a knucklepin to connect it with said lugs, a couplingarm of standard contour on. one side 0 said body, provided with a passage for a link coupling-pin, and a stop-arm adapted to bear against the outer surface of the wall of a coupler, on the opposite side of said body.

4. A substitute knuckle for a coupler-head of the Master Car-Builders type,-having a body insertible in the opening of a couplerhead, a coupling-arm of standard contour on one side of said body, a stop-arm adapted to bear against the outer surface of the wall of a coupler-head on the opposite side of said body, and a check -piece adapted to bear against the inner surface of the wall of a coupler-head.

5."lhe eombination'of a' coupler-head of the Master Car-Builders type, a substitute knuckle having a body fitting between the lugs of said coupler-head, a eoupliug-arm of standard contour on one side of said body, and a stop-arm adapted to bear against the coupler on the opposite side of said head, and a knuckle pin connecting the substitute knuckle to the coupler-head.

HENRY H. \VARNER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. ALLMEN, W. H. HAYDEN.

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