GB486443A - Improvements in or relating to car couplers - Google Patents

Abstract

486,443. Couplings and draw - gear for railway vehicles. NATIONAL MALLEABLE & STEEL CASTINGS CO. Dec. 2, 1936, No. 33079. Convention date, Dec. 5, 1935. [Class 103 (v)] In order substantially to eliminate train slack in a train employing knuckle couplers, the knuckles 167 of the couplers are constructed so that they interlock each with its front face 168, Fig. 16, in contact with the recessed or buffing face of the opposed head, thus providing a tight coupler in which angling between the heads is obviated but the necessary angling movements are provided for in the mounting of the coupler shanks. In order to guide the knuckles into correct engagement, the coupler-heads are furnished with co-operating lateral projections 175 and recesses 173 having inclined guiding surfaces. The knuckle is firmly locked in its locking position by means of a gravity lock 238, Fig. 31, having an inclined surface 239 which coacts with a corresponding incline on the knuckle tail 236, the lock being thus wedged against the opposite wall 246 of the coupler recess. The lock is also provided with an anti-creep projection 247 adapted to engage a shoulder 250 on the coupler-head. Provision for both vertical and horizontal angling may be effected by arranging at the rear end of the coupler shank 28, Fig. 5, a radial butt piece 44 having a curved surface 38 bearing against a corresponding curved surface on a follower block 23 at the forward,end of the buffing and draught gear 22. For centralizing the shank 28, the same may be supported on a carrier plate 33, Fig. 10, displaceable vertically on bolts 70 against the effort of springs 83, while lateral displacement is restrained by spring- pressed plungers 93. In a modification, suitable for passenger service, where a smaller degree of vertical angling is required, the same may be provided for at the pivot of the coupler shank. During a transition period the couplers are adapted to lock either with the standard couplers or with couplers having the knuckles shaped so as to provide a semi-tight engagement.