US2048032A - Automatic train pipe connecter - Google Patents

Description

y 1935- J. ROBINSON AUTOMATIC TRAIN PIPE CONNECTER Origihal Filed Jan. 21, 1929' -2 Shets-Sheet l v INVENTOR; gasp/v fiobmaoiz I ATTORNEYS I July 21, J RO NSON AUTOMATIC TRAIN PIPE CONNECTER Original Filed Jan. 21, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet? INVENTOR efwggio%bwsam ATTORNEYS Patented July 21, 1936 AUTOMATIC TRAIN PIPE CONNECTER Joseph Robinson, New York, N. Y., assignor of one-half to Roy M. Wolvin, Montreal, Quebec,

Canada Application January 21, 1929, Serial No. 333,868 Renewed January 6, 1934 8 Claims. (01. 285-58) This invention relates to automatic train pipe connecters and has among its objects to simplify the construction and reduce the cost of manufacture of these devices. In carrying this object out I provide an improved support on which is mounted a coupling head having characteristics peculiarly important in carrying out the object of my invention.

Heretofore practically all automatic train pipe connecters have been constructed, with a rigid bracket extending from the car coupler lug downwardly beyond the horizontal center line of the connecter, a stem leading from the head rearwardly through or around the bracket, and a coiled spring at the rear of the bracket, or between the bracket and the head, for extending the head and for co-acting with the bracket to support the head in the normal horizontal position. In some constructions, the coupling head is supported against vertical downward movement by a rod or a chain, but in every connecter that I know of which has operated with any degree of success I there is a considerable distance between the head and the bracket compared to such distance in the present invention. Similarly the coupling heads used in these prior constructions have gathering means of length considerably greater than the length of the gathering means employed in my invention. There is an important relationship between these dimensions in the automatic connecter I have produced. The greater the distance between the coupling head and the bracket, and the longer the guides or prongs of the coupling head, the more diflicult it is to align the heads in coupling-see Figure 6., In the present invention the pivotal point of the head is, as usual, at the bracket, but the bracket is very near the rear side of the coupling head. The gathering means are preferably of the-pin and funnel type and are very short or shallow. They are preferably of the pin and funnel design for the reason that in the supporting device of the present invention no means is provided for resisting lateral movement of the coupling head, an advantage which will later be explained. Therefore, the pin and funnel arrangement lends itself well to the successful carrying out of the objects of this invention for the reason that once the guide pin enters the funnel the heads must come to alignment. The pin cannot get out of'the funnel, and as the heads move to final engagement they necessarily are forced into alignment notwithstanding the absence of resistance to lateral movement of the head. Therefore the particular form ofcoupling head illustrated becomes an important part of the combination of elements by which the objects of this invention are achieved. Ofttimes in service car couplers slip by, and it is necessary that the coupling heads of the connecters shall be capable of a 6;,

versal joint of the present invention (Figures 1 and 2) permits a wide range of vertical and lateral movement to the coupling head which completely protects the connecter against damage in slip bys.

A further advantage resulting from this freedom of movement in the universal joint is the reduction of stresses in the train pipe hose when. the connecter head is pushed around to one side (especially to the left, facing the car) in slip bys. In such swinging of the connecter, the hose is, with present connecter types, consider ably stretched. This is due to the relatively great distance from the coupling head face rearwardly to the center of the universal joint in existing connecters. With this distance shortened as in the present invention, the coupling head may, without strain on the hose, move to any position required by the conditions of service.

Another desirable advantage, and one applying especially to the purposes of the present invention, is that of passing the conduit through the coupling head at an angle of 45 to the track. The peculiar advantage arising therefrom for this invention is, first, it is desirable to use in this invention a compact buffer spring of nominal resistance. If the rearward forceon the connecter head due to the fluid pressure is considerable, it would, because of the position of the spring in this invention, overcome the springs resistance, unless the spring is heavy. If a heavy spring is used, the object of simplicity and compactness, with low manufacturing cost, constituting one of the objects of the present invention, would be defeated. By passing the conduit through the head at angle of 45 to the track the resistance of the fluid pressure carried is greatly reduced as respects its tendency to kick the connecter heads apart. The result is that the use of a relatively light spring is permitted with excellent results. On many cars there is not room to place a heavy spring in the position shown.

In passing the conduit through the coupling head at the angle mentioned I provide an improved form of stem for the head which will later be more fully described.

Other andifurtherobjects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter set forthand the novel features thereof defined by the appended claims. i

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention as it would appear applied to a car. In this view ,a

part of the car coupler and a part offthe ltrain pipe hose are broken away.

Figure 2 is a plan view on'the line of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the bracket or supporting means of a part of my invention, and Figure lis a side elevation of a modification of the up rti gmeans-of my invention, 1 1 I Figure 5 is a front view of such'modification ihesprin omitted." 7

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic plan view illustratingthe' advantages of the short prong and shallow funnel of the. coupling head of my invention, in'combination with the short hook up between the universaljjoint and the. coupling head, over the longhook upbe'tween these parts. I

ward endof thejstem. j

'. Re ferring now to the ,couplert by r'n'eansofa bracket or'basemthe upper end of which is'turned to pass through ah openingv in the lug to thre d n'glyr c a nut 10. A vertically extending groove ll i'spr'ovided in the lug in which the upperend or neck I} of. the baserests and is securely locked bythe nut ID. The arrangement prevents movement of the base with respect to the lug. i A forked arm or, bracket 14 is provided to the base at l5 and extends downwardly therefrom.. Pivotally or otherwise secured within the fork of the arm and extending rearwardly therefrom through a spring seat l6 forming a part of the base; A, I provide a tieerod I! having a seat .l8 for.a spring. Around the tie-rod andbetween the seats. l6 and I8 I mount a coiled spring l9 preferablyof the white type. The purpose of this spring is' to 're-.

sist rocking movement of the arm l4 longitudi nally of the car, and to hold the armat the limit of its forward movement, suchlimit being.cleter-" mined by the position of the nut 20;.on the tie rodl'L v A 'At its lower end the rocker arm or bracket I4 is hooked into, an opening or seat 2| (Figure 2) in therear end of the stemB of my invention. 'Ihe'projection 22 at the lower end ofthe arm; forms a seat or supportfor supporting the rear, end of the stem B on the arm. The arm' is'jpref-" erably round in cross section where it contacts with-the wall 23 of the stem, the contacting sur-j faces of this wall, and of the arm, being flared in, opposite directions as shown to' permit the stem to move freely onthe arm. I

.The arrangementof the parts of my improved supportproduces a universal joint of extreme simplicity, in which the pivot point of the head, C;on the bracket, is ,for the important reasons; heretofore pointed out, located a distance to the rear of the head that isless' than one-half the distance covered by the lateral spread of the gathering means of theheade-see-FEUresZ and 6,v

Figure '7' is a detail side elevation of the drawings: My. inve tion} I is attached to thecustomary lug 8' ofthe' car the connecten and preferably flush with the face" .24 of the stem, 1 mount a suitable conduit 26 having'i'n its forward end the customary resilient I gasket not shown. The conduit is removably heldin the stem by means of a suitable spring actuated'or' other form of plunger 2?, such as shown in my, c oep ending application Serial No. 248,917 filed January 23, 1928 for improvements in automatic train pipe connecters. At one side the conduit is providedwith' a perforated lug 28 through which the plunger 21' extends to lock, the conduit in place. said; the forward end-of the stem B is of rectangular'shape in cross section-see Figure 7. It'is slotted at 29 to receive'the projection 28 of the conduit, and is provided with a neck or projectio n 30 which lies'in advance of the front face of the couplinghead C. Against the inner machine finished wall 3| of this projection, the forward e'nd'of the conduit 26 lies, and is positioned thereby. The customary train pipe hose 32 is suitablysecured to the rear end'of the conduit as by the usua'lclamp 33'.

Mounted in the forward hollow end'of the stem B, and with its face disposed at an angle. of 45 to the longitudinal direction of As afore- My improved coupling head C consists of a V shallow funnel 34 disposed'on one side of the 1011- gitudinal center line of the connecter,and a prong or pin'35 disposed on the opposite side of the lon-' g itudinal center line of the connecter. The funnel and the pin are preferably integral, and the latter lies in advance of the front face of the former; Thepin is slotted as at 35 (Figure 1) throughout the greater portion of its length to minimize the adverse effect of snow and ice that might accumulate in the funnel 34. A machined seat 31 is formed'at the base of the funnel to receive the machined forward end of the pin 35 as shown in Figure 2 In thisview the stem B and conduit 26 are illustrated in the coupled position. Preferably'the pin 35 is very short, and the funnel 34 is of corresponding shallow depth. This construction provides greater ruggedness and greater strength; it facilitates exclusion of snow and ice fromthe funnel, and increases the cou- 55 plingcapacity of opposing connectors under all conditions of disalignment in service. The ad-' vantages of a short pin, and a shallow funnel, andtheir contribution to the objectsof this invention, in'co-operation with the position of the 7 universal joint formed between the stem B and the lower "end of the arm M, are especially important. 'At 38 in Figure 6 is shown the point at which a longer prong or pin would contact with a Wall of the funnel 34 under a given condition of disalignment'between connecter heads. In the. same view, it will be noticed that the point of contact at '38 is considerably inside ofthe uni versal joint 39, which is located, as in present connecters, a considerable distance rearwardly of the-head. The effect of further movement of the connecter heads towards each other would be to push the heads around to one side, causing a coupling failure. However, if the universal joint is located at ,40, as. in the present invention, even the long prong would strike outside of the universal joint and hence would cause the coupling heads to swing into the coupled position. By shortening the length of the pin 35, and lessening the depth of the funnel 34, as illustrated, and by locating the universal joint at 40, even considerably greater disalignment between heads than that indicated in Figure'fi can be had withp out failure to couple.

To'support the coupling head C in the normal horizontal position, I employ a chain or other suitable member 4| which is hooked into the head as at 42 and into a projection 43 on the base A.

In Figures 4 and a modification of my improved support is illustrated. This consists of threading the base A into the underside of the car coupler as at 44, and providing the base with a rearwardly extending finger 45 which passes through an Opening in the arm l4 and extends along a horizontally disposed seat 46 formed on the upper end of the arm. The arm is pivoted to the base A at M On the seat 46 a vertically disposed volute spring 41 is mounted, and is anchored in position by a tie-rod 48 which extends downwardly through the spring, through the seat, and is hooked over the'rear end of the projection 45 for rocking movement thereon. For supporting the coupling head C in the normal horizontal position I provide a rod 49, one end of which is hooked into the coupling head at 50 and the other end 5| of which extends loosely around the arm l4 as shown. This end 5| of the rod is provided with an elongated opening so that by turning the rod to one side it may be slipped upwardly over the projections 52 which maintain it in proper vertical position on the arm l4.

Figure 6has been included in the drawings to illustrate generally the advantage of locating the mounting, as at 40, closer to the head of the connecter rather than removed therefrom as indicated at 39. As set forth above, with the connecter heads supported at 39, and the cars to be coupled on a curve of the track, it may occur that the point of contact of the pin 35 with the head 34 is disposed on that side of the straight line connecting the mountings 39 which is opposite from the center of the track curve. Such a contact between the connecter heads would result in a slip by which would prevent the coupling of the heads. By locating the mounting closer to the head than as shown at 39, the disadvantage just noted is less likely to occur. There is, however, a critical point, which may be determined by taking into consideration the maximum curvature encountered in railway service, such that if the mounting is located between the said critical point and the head, a slip by is impossible. This is amply described in Figure 6, wherein, with the mounting located at 40, the initial point of contact between the pin 35 and the funnel 34 is disposed on the same side of the line 4040 as the center of the curve of the track. In the shallow funnel and short pin construction which I have provided, I have located the mounting 49 back from thehead a distance less than one-half the gathering range of the head. This distance,

' it will be noted by proper measurement made in point may be defined also to be such that the angle between the axis of the stem of the connecter and the line of centers of the desired mountings is smaller than the angle between said axis and the line extending from said mountings to the initial contact point of a pin and funnel.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a base fixed to the car coupler of a car, a thrust arm pivoted to the base and extending downwardly therefrom, resilient means adjacent the pivot point of said arm for thrusting the arm forward, and a coupling head supported by the lower end of said arm for rocking movement thereon, said coupling head being placed under pressure by said resilient means when opposing connecters couple up in service.

2. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head, a stem extending through the head and rearwardly thereof and provided with a seat, a base rigidly secured to the car coupler of a car, a thrust arm pivoted to the base and extending downwardly therefrom into the seat in said stem, said stemhaving rocking movement on said arm, means for supporting said head in the normal horizontal position, and resilient thrust means located above said stem and acting against said arm to place said coupling head under pressure when coupled with so an opposing connecter.

3. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head having a stem extending rearwardly therefrom and provided with an opening forming a seat, a base fixed to the car coupler of the car, and having a seat for a spring, a thrust arm pivoted to said base and extending downwardly below said spring seat into the opening in said stem, the contacting surfaces of said stem and said arm being flared in opposite directions, said arm being provided with means for supporting the stem thereon, and a spring mounted in the seat on said base and act ing against said arm to place said coupling head under pressure when coupled.

4. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head, a member extending through the head and to the rear thereof, a fixed ear member, a base rigidly secured to said car member, a thrust arm pivoted to the base and extending therebelow through a seat formed in the rear portion of said stem whereby said stem has rocking movement on said arm, a rod engaging said arm and extending rearwardly therefrom through a part of said base, and a spring surrounding said rod and disposed between the base and said arm and above said stem for thrusting the said arm forward to place said coupling head under pressure.

5. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head provided with a stem, means for supporting said coupling head including a base, a pivoted thrust arm anchored to the base and hooked into the stem, the hook connection being universal, whereby said head has universal movement, means for thrusting said arm forward to place said head under pressure, and a conduit mounted in the forward end of said stem at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the connecter, whereby the rearward thrust against said arm of the fluid pressure in said conduit will be reduced by a component of the force commensurate with said angle.

6. An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head, a stem extending through said head and having a hollow forward end rigidly fixed in the head, the face of said forward end being at an angle to the longitudinal direction of said connecter, means for supporting the head for free universal movement, said means including athrust spring, a conduit positioned in the hollow end of said stem at an angle to the longitudinal direction of said connecter, the rearward thrust on said arm due to the fluid pressure in said conduit being less than the forward thrust of said spring, and means for positioning said conduit in said stem and said coupling head and providing for quick removal therefrom when desired.

7 An automatic train pipe connecter comprising in combination, a coupling head having a member extending rearwardly therefrom in which is formed a seat, a base for supporting saidhead,

a thrust arm pivoted to the base and extending downwardly therefrom through the seat in said member, flexible means for supporting said head in the normal horizontalposition, said means and the connection between said member and said arm being movable to enable the coupling head to swing freely about a vertical axis, resilient means for resisting longitudinal movement of said coupling head while enabling the said free 7 swinging movement of the head, and gathering means for said headiwhichis adapted to connectwith a mating connecter to efiectcoupling of the respective heads under all normal coupling conditions, theinitial point of contact of "said gathering means on cooperating couplings being located on the same side of the straight line connecting the seats of the respective couplings at which they are normally located underall conditions of track coupled, and a rigid member pivotally connected 7 to the head and slidably interconnected with said arm so as to enable the angle of said member with respect to said arm to change as the head moves to coupled position. I V

JOSEPH ROBINSON.

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