US763771A - Automatic coupling. - Google Patents

Description

Patented June 28, 1904.

YATENT OFFICE.

UNITED DTATES TRUMAN VVHITFORD LUKENS AND BURT HUGHES, OF HOOPESTON,

.ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 763,771, dated June 28, 1904.

Application filed April 6, 1904;.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, TRUMAN WHITFORD LUKENS and BURT HUGHES, citizens of the United States, and both residents of Hoopeston, in the county of Vermilion and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Coupler, of which the following is a full,-clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to automatic couplers, and more especially to an automatic coupler primarily designed for use upon tractionengines to couple them to threshing-machines or the like. The coupler forming the present invention may, however, be used to couple any other structures of analogous character to those mentioned, although it is not adapted for use in coupling railway-ears..

The object of the invention is to provide an automatic coupler adapted for useunder the conditions mentioned which will hold with absolute security, preventing accidental, uncoupling of the engine from its load when on the road, and which may be quickly and easily uncoupled when desired, the uncoupling of the coupler being eifective to set it in position for automatic action when the coupling-bar is introduced thereinto.

A further object of the invention is to produce a device of the character specified which while of simple and inexpensive construction will act with certainty and prove very durable in service.

In attaining the objects above mentioned and others of minor character, which will here.- inafter appear, we preferably make use of I the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts of an automatic coupler hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form and proportions of the elements described and in their .exact mode of assemblage may be made without departure from the spirit of the invention or sacrifice of its advantages.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Serial No. 201,835. (No model.)

portion of a traction-engine having the improvedcoupler attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the coupler alone. Fig. 3 is a sectional view upon the section-line 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated, the coupler being set to receive the coupling-bar; and Fig. i is a section upon the plane of Fig. 3, showing the coupler in operation.

engine to which the coupler is applied, and 1 indicates the shell or casing of the coupler. This shell is transversely slotted at the front, as shown at 2, and presents upper and lower jaws 3 3, whose opposite faces are beveled to form .a narrowing guide into the slot 2. The shell of the coupler is also vertically slotted throughout the greater portion of its length, as shown at 4, to provide space for the operation of the automatic coupling devices.

The coupling member proper is designated 5 and is provided with a terminal lug 5, disposed at right angles to the body of the coupling member, and an extension 5" beyond the pivot-bolt 6, upon which the member 5 is mounted for rocking movement. The extension 5 is notched upon its upper surface, as shown, for engagement with a catch which will be more particularly described hereinafter. Near the terminal lug 5 a chain 7 or the like is attached to the coupling member 5 upon its upper surface and is extended upward to connect with an eye provided upon the engine-frame. This chain or its equivalent desired to uncouple the engine from its load.

In order to hold the coupling member 5 in the position indicated in Fig. 3 to permit the introduction of the coupling-bar into the space between the jaws 3 3 of the shell or casing of the coupler, a catch 8, presenting a slightlycurved and beveled face 8 and a shoulder 8", is pivotally mounted upon a transverse bolt 9, extending through the shell or casing of the coupler at the rear of the coupling member 5. This catch 8 is made automatic in action by means of a spring 10, attached at one end to the catch, as shown, and attached at its other Figure 1 is an elevational view of the rear Referring to the drawings, E designates the serves to raise the member 5 whenever it is end to the shell or casing of the coupler. The catch 8 is of such dimensions that when the shoulder 8 thereof rests upon the extension 5" of the coupling member 5 the terminal lug 5 of the said coupling member is raised entirely out of the transverse slot2 in the shell 4and is so constructed that one end of the trigger projects upward into the transverse slot 2, while the other end is disposed behind the catch 8 and is suitably connected therewith. The trigger 11 is preferably of the pecular form shown, comprising a horizontal or base portion 11* and vertical arms 11 and 11. The arm 11 is of greater cross-section than the arm 11, because it projects across the transverse slot 2 in position to receive the impact of the coupling-bar when introduced into the slot. The arm 11 of the trigger is held in proper position by lugs 12, which project laterally from the said arm and engage the the rear end of the draw-bar.

lower surface of the slot 2. The arm 11 of the trigger is supported by and also connected with the catch 8 by means of a link 13 engaging eyes 14 and 15, mounted upon the trigger and the catch 8, respectively.

In order to eliminate shocks upon the coupler as much as possible when the engine is hauling a load, the coupler is preferably provided with a cushioned draw-bar to take up such shocks by the elasticity of its cushion. In the form of the invention illustrated the shell or casing 1 of the coupler has rigidly attached thereto at the rear a draw-bar 16, which extends through an opening 17 in the'end of a box 18, having an internal chamber 18 of considerably larger cross-sectional area than the opening 17, through which the draw-barpasses. Within the chamber 18" of the box 18 a spring 19 is provided, which is, preferably coiled around the draw-bar and secured thereon by means of a washer or collar 20 at The expansion of the spring 19, acting against the washer or collar 20, keeps the coupler normally in the position shown in the several figures; but when the strain of the load is thrown upon the coupler the spring 12 is compressed to a degree proportionate tothe magnitude of the strain.

The operation of the "coupler above de- Y scribed will be clearly understood from an inspection of- Figs. 3 and 4. When the parts of the coupler are in the position shown in Fig. 3, the trigger 11 lies in the transverse slot 2 in the shell or casing of the coupler, and when the coupling-bar 22 is introduced into the slot 2,as shown in Fig. 4, the end of the couplingbar will contact with the arm 11 of the trigger and force the trigger rearwardly. The trigger slides in a rearward direction, being supported by the lugs 12 on the arm 11 and the link 13 between the trigger and the catch 8. The rearward movement of the trigger causes the catch 8 to swing rearward to the position shown in Fig. 4, and this movement of the catch releases the rearward extension 5 of the coupling member 5. As soon as the coupling member is released from engagement with the catch the weight of the portion of the coupling member in front of the pivot-bolt 6 causes it to descend, and the terminal lug 5 enters the eye 23 in the coupling-bar 22, so coupling the engine with the thresher or other structure to which the coupling-bar is attached. As the movements of the coupling-bar in a vertical plane are limited by the jaws presented at the forward end of the shell or casing of the coupler, such movements of the coupling-bar can have no effect upon the coupling member, and accidental disengagement of the coupling mem ber 5 with the coupling-bar is completely obviated. At the same time the elasticity of a the spring 10, attached to the catch 8, draws the catch forward into contact with the rearward extension 5 of the coupling member, and this extension,resting against the inclined face 8" of the catch 8, is held against vertical rocking movement by the friction of contact with the catch. As soon as it becomes necessary or desirable to uncouple the engine and its load the uncoupling may be instantly effected by merely raising the coupling member 5 to the position shown in Fig. 3, this being readily effected by drawing upward upon the chain 7.

From the foregoing-description of the construction of our improved coupler and its mode of operation it will be clearly seen that the device is entirely automatic in operation, that it contains no delicate parts which are not adapted to stand the strains to which they may be subjected, and when it is uncoupled the coupter is automatically set in position for recouping.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination in a structure of the character specified, of a shell or casing having a transverse slot therein, a coupling member extending normally across said slot, a catch adapted to engage with said coupling member to hold it out of said slot, and a trigger connected with said catch and having a laterally-projecting lug arranged for sliding movementin said transverse slot.

2. The combination in a structure of the character specified, ofa coupling member held normally in operative position, a catch adapted to engage with said coupling member to hold it in inoperative position, and a sliding triggerconnected with said catchand having a portion thereof disposed in the path of a coupling-bar entering the coupler. I

3. The combination in a structure of the character specified, of a shell or casing having a transverse slot therein, a coupling member pivotally mounted in said shell or casing above said slot and having arearward extension beyond its pivot, said coupling member being normally held in operative position, a pivoted catch mounted in said shell or casing and adapted to engage with the extension of said coupling member, and 'a trigger slidablymounted in said shell or casing and having :one arm projecting into said transverse slot and having another arm disposed behind said catch and connected therewith.

4'. The combination in a structure of the characterspecified, of ashell or casing, a coup- U ling member mounted in said shell or casing and held normally in operative position, a

spring-actuated catch adapted to'hold said couplingmember in inoperative position, a

trigger within said shell or casing'having an arm disposed in the path of a coupling-bar entering the shell or casing, and a link con'nect- TRUMAN wnlrronn LUKENS. BURT- HUGHES.

Witnesses:

Sco'r'r INGLE, C. M. BRIGGS.

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