US1128974A - Thill-coupling. - Google Patents

Description

M. GRIMORD. THILL COUPLING. APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 30, 1914.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915 INVENTOR WITNESSES MM GZYFZO/d W ATTORNEYS THE NORRIS PETE m.- PHOTO-11110.. WASHING. R C- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MATTHEW GRIMORD, OF IRON RIVER, MICHIGAN.

[CHILL-COUPLING.

Application filed June 30, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATTHEW GRIMORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Iron River, in the county of Iron and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Thill- Couplers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to thill couplers, and one of the principal objects thereof is to provide an improved positive acting thill coupling, which when locked is unlikely to become accidentally unlocked and which may be readily secured to a thill or shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a thill coupling having a fixed jaw, and a movable jaw carried by a long pivoted arm, and a lever for operating against the arm in order to lock the jaws, means being provided for maintaining the lever in jaw locking position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved coupling of the class described, which will be extremely simple, durable, efiicient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which Figure 1 represents a side elevational view showing the device in operation, the unlocked position of the movable jaw and the lever being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 represents a bottom plan view of the coupling. Fig. 3 represents a transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, a thill or shaft is indicated at 5, and a draft bolt or knuckle of ordinary construction is indicated in cross section at 6, said draft bolt being carried by the axle of the vehicle in a well known manner. The coupling includes a metallic strip or plate 7, bent at its rear end to form an arcuate or curved jaw 8, said strip 7 adapted to be bent to conform to the configuration of the under side of any particular thill to which the coupling is to be secured, said strip being secured by suitable means such as Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

Serial No. 848,183.

screws 9 to the under side of the thill at the rear end thereof as indicated in Fig. 1. The fixed jaw 8 extends rearwardly of the thill and is adapted to engage over the draft bolt in the manner indicated. Formed integrally with strip 7 and bent away from the same about midway of its length and in parallel relation with each other are a pair of ears or lugs 10, through which a pivot pin 11 extends, said pin being headed at one end as at 12 and provided with a cotter pin 13 at the other end to prevent loss of the pin, and on said pin is swiveled by means of an eye 14, one end of the arm 15 in the form of a strip of substantially the same width as strip 7, the opposite end of said arm being bent to form a movable jaw 16 oppositely disposed with relation to jaw 8 and adapted to co-act with said jaw in engaging the draft bolt 6. It will be noted that this construction provides a fixed jaw, and a movable jaw carried by a comparatively long pivoted arm, and the arm may be resilient to a certain degree if so desired.

A pair of arms 17 are formed integrally with and bent at right angles to the strip 7, in parallel relation with each other and extend in the same direction as lugs 10. Said arms extend one on each side of the jaw arm 15, and serve, by means of one of a number of sets of openings 18, to retain a pivot pin 19 similar to pin 11, on which pin is pivoted one end of a locking lever 2-0, said lever provided at its pivoted end with an off set or right angularly extending nose 21 rounded on its outer end as at 22 and by means of which the jaw arm 15 may be engaged when moving the lever from the dotted line to full line position in Fig. 1, whereby to move jaw 16 toward and into clamping engagement with the draft bolt 6. A plurality of sets of openings 18 are provided so that the pin may be shifted from one set to the other at will whereby to adjust the locking lever to allow for variations in the sizes of individual draft bolts. When the lever is in locked position the engaging end of the nose 21 is in contact with arm 15 on the opposite side of pivot point 19 from the shank of the lever, and hence the lever will naturally be maintained in locked position, but in order to absolutely prevent accidental displacement of the lever from looking position, the strip 7 is provided with an integral spring latch 23 depending therefrom and adapted to be engaged by the lever 20 near the outer end thereof. The outer end of the lever is provided with a hand hole 24 by-means of which it may be readily manipulated.

By the construction set forth it will be readily understood that the coupler is extremely simple, and that by reason of its peculiar construction it may be bent without disturbing the workings of the same to fit practically any shape and design of thill, and it is for this reason also thatthe adjustable pivot for the lever is provided so that should the coupling be fastened to a thill of a shape to prevent ready operation of thelever by reason of the extraordinary bending of the strip the pivot point of the lever may be shifted to such position whereinthe lever maybe readily manipulated.

X Although I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, Imay desire to make such changes in the construction, combination and arrangement ofparts thereof as do not depart from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims. a I

I claim 1 A thill coupler comprising a strip of metal adapted to be secured to a thill, said strip formed into a fixed jaw at one end, and being provided intermediate its length withla pair of depending lugs, and being provided between said lugs and fixedqjaw with apair .of depending arms, and beyond the lugs from the arms with a spring latch, an, arm pivoted at one end between said Copies of this patent may be obtained for lugs and provided at its opposite end with a movable jaw adapted to co-act with said fixed jaw in engaging a draft bolt, a lever pivoted between said depending arms, said lever provided with a nose adapted to engage the jaw arm for locking said jaws against the draft bolt, the opposite end of the lever adapted to be engaged by said latch for maintaining the lever in position, said depending arms provided with a plurality or series of openings, and a pin disposed in onepair of openings upon which pin said lever is pivoted, said pin adapted to be adjusted longitudinally of the arms by means of said openings whereby to adjust the lever relatively to the locking jaw arm. I

2. A thill coupler comprising a strip of metal adapted to be secured toa thill and having a fixed jaw at one end, a pair of lugs and a pair of-arms provided at spaced points on the strip, a latch provided on said strip, a movable arm pivoted between the lugs and provided with a jaw adapted to co act with the fixed jaw in engaging a draft bolt, a lever pivoted between said arms and provided with anose adapted to engage the jaw arm for locking said jaws against said draft bolt, said lever adapted to beengaged by said latch for maintaining the lever in looking position.

MATTHEW GRIMORD.

Witnesses:

J. F. BENDT, JOHN P. CURLEY.

five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D.Q.f to t

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