US1148006A - Railway draft appliance. - Google Patents

Description

E. L. BRADFORD & G. P. RITTER.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16.1914.

1,148,006. Patented July 27, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

wvemtou @440; J. [3M1 we COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH C0" WASHINGTON, D. c

E. L. BRADFORD & G. P. BITTER.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED IULY I6; I9I4.

m m. mm m m f R COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH to wAsmNu'rom D. c.

UNTTED STATES OFFTCE.

EDWIN L. BEADEoED, 0E TAKOMA AR ANDG 'LDERT r. BITTER, or WASH NGTON,

DISTRICT OF ooLUMEIA, ssIGNoRS 'IO McCONWAY & TORLEY coMPANY, or PITTS- BURGI-I, PENNSYLVANIA, A coEroItA mN OF PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915.

Application filed July 16, 1914. Serial No. 851,372.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWIN L. BRADFORD and GILBERT P. BITTER, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Takoma Park, in the District of Columbia, and at Washingtomin the District of Columbia,

have invented certain new and useful Im-. provements in Railway Draft Apphances,

and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to the construction of draft appliances for railway vehicles and particularly to that class of car couplers which are designed to be pivotally attached to the vehicle so as to be capable of swinging to either side of their normal or centralized positions when the cars to which they are attached are passing around a curve.

It is the object of the invention to provide a draft appliance of the character indicated which is of simple and compact form, eflicient in operation, and easily assembled or repaired.

Generally stated, these several objects are effected by employing coupler centralizing means for returning the pivoted coupler to normal position which involvea spring and a lever device that includes a plurality of levers which project laterally from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler and which fulcrum upon and'are rotatable with respect to said coupler about independent fulcrums.

In the drawings illustrating the invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure 1 is a view, partly in plan and partly in horizontal central Section, of a draft appliance embodying our invention, the adjacentportion of the car to which it is attached being also shown; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the draft appliance illustrated in Fig. 1, a portion of a well known form of draft gear being also illustrated for the purpose of showing the relation of the invention thereto; Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, but illustrating the draft ape pliance in a laterally displaced position; Fig. A is a section on the line 4t, Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly in elevation and partly in section, illustrating ad acent portions of the lever device and coupler stem; and Fig. 6 is a detail elevation of the lever device.

- Our invention has been illustratedas applied toa swinging coupler having a pivotal connection between the coupler head andcoupler stem, since certain features of the invention are particularly designed for the centralizationof a coupler head with respect to its. stem. Certain features of our invention are, however, as will hereinafter appear, broadly applicable to the centralization of pivoted car couplers whether the head and stem thereof be rigidly or pivotally connected.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the stem of a coupler and 2 is the coupler head. The head is preferably connected to the stem 1 by means of apivot pin 3, and the stem 1 is preferably formed with similar upper and lower plates 4 which are united at their rear ends. As a convenient means for pivotally connecting the coupler to a car the rear end of the stem 1 may be provided with a pivot pin opening 5 which is adapted to receive a bolt 6 whereby the coupler may be attached to draft rigging devices.

Slidably mounted, upon the Stem of the coupler are two followers 7 and 8, respectively. The forward. one of these followers, 8, is preferably fashioned with an integral extension which terminates at its forward end in vertically extending shoulders 9 that are adapted to cooperate with corresponding shoulders 10 formed upon the interior of the coupler head. Inorder that its movements with respect to the stem 1 may be properly guided, the follower 8 is preferably provided with flanges 11' which embrace the corresponding bars 4 of the stem. The forward extension of the follower 8 is provided with lateral openings 12 which permit the oscillation of the lever devices and through which the latter may be easily inserted or withdrawn in assembling the apparatus or in making repairs thereto. The side walls of the extension of the follower 8 are preferably united near their outer ends by;a web 13 which is provided with a horizontally extending slot 14; permitting the insertion of the T-headed bolt or rod by which the'lever device is operatively connected to the rear follower 7.

InterpoSed between therelatively movable followers 7 and 8 is a longitudinally extending spring 15 which is housed between the top and bottom plates 4: of the coupler stem. Projecting laterally in opposite directions through the apertures 12 in the follower 8 is a lever device 16 which is pivotally connected at its center with a rod 17 that extends through the followers 7 and 8 and the spring 15 and which carries at its rear end a key 18 that bears against the rear face-of the follower 7. The cylindrical head 19 of the rod 17 fits into a correspondingly curved seat 20 at the center of the lever device which, as more particularly shown in Fig. 6,

is provided with a central opening 21 for the passages of the body of the rod 17, the lateral walls of said opening being divergent rearwardly in order to permit the lever device torotate with respect to the rod.

The lever device is preferably fashioned with a pair of levers 22 which are united to form an integral casting. Each of the levers 22 is provided with a distinct and independent fulcrum point 23 about which it is adapted to rotate. The fulcrums 23 for the levers 22 are preferably furnished by the forward outer ends of an abutment block 24 which may be rigidly secured to the upper and lower members 4: of the coupler stem by '3 the block 2 1 is suitably perforated to permit the body of the rod 17 to oscillate therein.

The levers 22, which extend rearwardly at an angle with respect to each other, are of sufficient length so that when the coupler is in a centralized position each lever engages an adjacent sill 26 or similar part of the car. The forward exterior face of each lever 22 of the lever device is, as shown, preferably curved convexly, since by such a construction, as will be readily apparent from a comparison of Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, the spring 15 is enabled to advantageously efiect the centralization of the coupler through a system of variable leverages, the leverage of the spring to return the coupler to normal position increasing as the lateral displacement of the coupler from normal position increases. As shown in Fig. 3, the convexly curved sides of the levers 22 may be provided with hardened facings 27. By the application of fa'cings 27 of appropriate thickness the width of the lever device over all may be made toreadily conform to the distance between the sills 26 in any particular type of car or, if desired, the same purpose may be accomplished by substituting a complete lever device 16' 0f the appropriate size.

In assembling the device the rear follower 7 is placed in position between the upper and lower arms 4: of the coupler stem 1. The spring 15 is then seated on the follower, and the forward follower 8 is then slipped rearwardly between the arms of the coupler stem until it bears against the outer end of the spring. The abutment block 2 1 is then secured in place and the lever device 16 is next brought into normal position by inserting it through one or the other of the lateral openings 12 in the forward extension of the follower 8. The T-headed rod 17 is then inserted from the front of the coupler stem through the slot 14 at the forward end of the extension of the follower 8, the body of said rod passing through the apertures in the lever device 16, the abutment block 24, the forward follower 8 and the rear follower 7, and its head 18 being brought to rest in the seat 20 provided therefor at the center of the lever device 16. The parts are then secured in this assembled position by forcing the key 18 through the eye in the rear end of the rod 17, such key, as shown, being preferably tapered somewhat so that, upon being driven into assembled position at the rear of the follower 7, it causes the spring 15 to be placed under some initial tension. The key 18 may be retained in position by a cotter pin 28. The coupler head 2 is then positioned on the outer end of the coupler stem 1 and these two parts are pivotally connected by means of the pin 3.

The construction being substantially such as hereinbefore pointed out, the operation of the device will be as follows: Assuming the coupler to be resting upon the carrier iron 29 midway between the center sills 26 of the car, the several parts will occupy the relative'positions illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 1. Vhen the car passes around a curve the coupler swings laterally in a corresponding direction and the head 2 of the coupler may also turn with respect to the, coupler stem 1. As one of the levers 22 of the lever device 16 is in contact with the neighboring sill 26 of the car during the lateral movement of the coupler, the lever device is caused to rotate with respect to the coupler stem 1, such turning movement occurring about that fulcrum point 23 which is upon the side of the coupler stem adjacent to the lever 22 which is in engagement with its sill 26. This rotation of the lever device causes the T-headed rod 17 to be drawn forwardly, thus causing a corresponding forward movement of the rear follower 7 and thereby compressing the spring 15 against the follower 8. When the force causing the lateral displacement of the coupler has ceased to act the expansion of the spring 15 causes the follower 7 and rod 17 to move rearwardly, thus causing the lever device 16 to rotate about the appropriate fulcrum point 23 and return to normal position, the return of the coupler stem to centralized position being necessarily attendant upon the return of thelever device 16 to normal position.

When the coupler head 2 rotates upon the pivot pin 3 with respect to the coupler stem 1 one or the other of the vertically extending shoulders 10 upon said head remains in engagement with the corresponding shoulder 9 at theouter end of the forward extension of the follower 8, the turning movement of said head while thus in engagement with the face 8 of the follower causing the latter to move rearwardly and compress the spring 15 against the rear follower 7 which latter is prevented from retreating by reason of the fact that the lever device 16 bearing against the abutment block 24 is connected to the rear follower 7 by the rod 17 Upon the cessation of the force causing the displacementof the coupler head 2 from its normal position with respect to the stem 1, the spring 15 forces the follower 8 forwardly until it reassumes the normal position, the coupler head being thereby rotated upon the pivot pin 3 until it also has reassumed its normal position.

As shown in Fig. 3, the coupler stem 1 may turn upon its pivot pin while the coupler head 2 simultaneously rotates aboutits pivot pin Under such circumstances both of the operations heretofore described-concurrently occur, the lateral displacement of the stem 1 operating to cause the follower 7 to move the rear end of the spring 15 forwardly, while the rotation of the head 2 serves to cause the follower 8 to force the forward end of the spring 15 rearwardly, the spring being thus simultaneously compressed from both ends and the coupler stem and coupler head both being thereby con-' stantly supported in a yielding manner.

7e claim:

1. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is provided with means whereby it may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head pivotally mounted on said stem, and means mounted on said stem for normally maintaining said head and stem in centralized position, said means being operative to centralize said head with respect to said stem and involving a spring which extends inthe direction of length of said stem and which is energized by the lateral displace ment of said stem from centralized position.

2. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of, a coupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a plurality of relatively movable followers, spring means operatively interposed between said followers, means whereby a rotation of said stem in either direction from its normal position will cause the movement of one of said followers, and means whereby the rotation in either direction from normal position of said head with respect to said stem will cause the movement of another of said followers.

3. In a'railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head which is pivotally mounted. on said stem, a spring mounted upon and extending longitudinally of said stem, means engaging and adapted to move one end of said spring to energize the same upon a rotation of said stem in either direction from its normal position, and means engaging and adapted to move the other end of said'spring to energize the same upon a rotation in either direction from normal position of said head with respect to said stem.

4. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a spring device, means whereby the movement of said spring device in one direction causes said stem to be returned to normal position after displacement in either direction from normal position, and means whereby the movement of said spring device in the opposite direction causes said head to be returned to normal position after displacement in either direction from its centralized position with respect to said stem.

5. In a'railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, means for yieldingly resisting the pivotal displacement of said stem from normal position, and means for yieldingly resisting the pivotal displacement of said head from normal position with respect to said stem, said means involving in common a spring extending longitudinally with respect to said stem.

6. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head pivotally mounted on said stem, a spring mounted upon and extending longitudinally with respect to said stem, a follower slidably engaging said stem and interposed between the forward end of said spring and the coupler head, a follower engaging the inner end of said spring, a lever projecting laterally from sald stem and adapted to fulcrum thereon upon a displacement of said stem from normal position, connections between said lever and said rear follower whereby the latter is moved upon a movement of said lever, and means whereby said forward follower is moved upon a displacement of said head from normal position with respect to said stem.

7 In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a spring which is mounted upon and extends longitudinally with respect to the stem of said coupler, a lever projecting laterally from said stem and adapted to rotate with respect thereto when pressed against a stationary part of the vehicle as the said coupler swings laterally, and means operatively connecting said spring and lever, whereby said coupler may be automatically returned to normal position after being displaced therefrom.

8. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of spring means, a lever device involving a plurality of levers and projecting laterally from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler, said levers fulcruming upon and being rotatable with respect to said coupler about independent fulcrums, and operative connections between said lever device and spring means whereby the latter may be energized by said lever device.

9. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means for returning said coupler to normal position after it has been displaced therefrom, said means including a spring and a lever device that involves a plurality of rigidly connected levers which are mounted upon and project laterally from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler and which are adapted to engage a stationary portion of the railway vehicle and which fulcrum upon and are rotatable with respect to said 7 stem about independent fulcrums.

10. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means for returning said coupler to normal position after it has been displaced therefrom, said means including a spring and a lever device that are carried by the stem of the coupler and also including means for operatively connecting said spring and lever device, said lever device being adapted to rotate with respect to said stem about a plurality of independent fulcrum points located intermediate of its ends, and the means for operatively connecting said spring and lever device engaging said lever device between its fulcrum points.

11. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means for returning said coupler to normal position after it has been displaced therefrom, said means including a spring and a rotatable lever which is mounted upon and attached to the stem of said coupler through said spring.

12. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler having a stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle soas to be capable of lateral movement with respect thereto, of a floating lever device involving a plurality of rigidly connected levers which are adapted to fulcrum upon and rotate with respect to the laterally movable stem of said coupler about independent fulcrum points, and yielding means operatively connected to said lever device.

13. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotallyconnected to a railway vehicle so as to be capable of lateral swinging movements with respect thereto, of means for returning said coupler to normal positionafter it has been displaced therefrom, said means including a lever device and a spring, and said lever device involving a plurality of rigidly connected levers extending outwardly from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler and forming an angle with each other and adapted to fulcrum on the laterally movable stem of said coupler at independent points.

14. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means for returning said coupler to normay position after it has been displaced therefrom, said means involving a lever device having levers which project outwardly from the stem of the coupler and which are provided with curved exterior faces adapted to engage stationary parts of the vehicle and which are also adapted to turn with respect to said coupler stem on a plurality of independent fulcrum points.

15. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a follower slidably mounted upon the stem of said coupler, a spring acting upon said follower andextending longitudinally with respect to said coupler, a rod operatively connected to and adapted to move said follower in one direction, a lever device rotatably connected to said rod and mounted upon and projecting laterally in opposite directions from the sides of the coupler stem, and means on the coupler stem for causing said lever device to rotate about independent fulcrum points accordingly as the coupler is displaced to one side or the other from its normal position.

1.6. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a follower slidably mounted on the stem of said coupler, a spring acting upon said follower, a rod connected to said follower and extendingthrough said spring, a lever device rotatably attached to said rod and having rigidly connected levers which extendon opposite sides of said rod and which are provided with curved exterior faces, and means whereby said lever device may rotate with respect to the stem of said coupler on independent fulcrum points.

17. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head pivotally mounted upon said stem, a plurality of independently movable followers, spring means operatively interposed between said followers, means whereby the position of said stem is controlled through the movements of one of said followers, and means whereby the position of said head with respect to said stem is controlled through the movements of another of said independent followers.

18. In a railway draft appliance, the c0mbination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a coupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a plurality of followers mounted on said stem to slide longitudinally with respect thereto, one of said followers being movable with the coupler head when the latter turns with respect to the stem, a spring interposed between said followers, a lever device mounted on and projecting outwardly from opposite sides of the stem, and means for operatively connecting the rear follower with said lever device, said lever device being located between the said coupler head and spring and involving levers having curved exterior faces.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN L. BRADFORD. GILBERT P. BITTER. Witnesses:

HUGH M. STERLING, WM. E. DYRE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner! of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

Images