US1790292A - Oe pasadena - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 27, 1931. H. E. VAN DORN 1,790,292

I ELECTRIC COUPLER Filed Sept. 6. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 2'1, .1931. H. E. VAN DORN ELECTRIC COUPLER Filed Sept. 6. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 @QQQQ G) @QQQ Q Q Q? Q Jan. 27, 1931. EVAN DORN ELECTRIC cougLEn Fil ed Sept. 6, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 27, 1931 UNITED stares PATENT Erica HERBERT a. van norm, or cmcaao, rumors, ass eno'a T0. .WILLIAM van non-n,

on PASADENA, CALIFORNIA v Lnoa'nio co rL zr,

The present invention relates. to means for auton iatically coupling together the various electrical circuits, including a main power circuit, when two railwaycars*aremechanically coupled together; and it has for its object toprodu ce a simple, novel, reliable and eflicient electric coupler for this purpose.

The various features of novelty whereby .my invention is characterized Will hereinl'ter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a'full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of an electric coupler arranged in accordance with my invention, a fragment of the housing for. the door spring being broken away; Fig. 2 is a front View of the coupler; Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on line 3730f Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a side View of the coupler; Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately on line 55 of Fig. 1. and Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the bus contact element. 7

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a casing open at the front end and having in the bottom a large opening closed by'a detachable cover 2 held in place by screws acces 0 sible from underneath. i I

In the arrangement shown, provision mace for connecting a power circuit and a plurality of control circuits, and this specific construction and will be described in detail although my invention is not limited thereto.

'lhe'electrical connections between two cooperating couplers are produced by buttcon- The 'o1'itacts are mounted in a pluill ts.

oi blocks of insulating material. that i are titled in and completely till the front end of the casing so as, in effect, to produce a closure therefor. There are three of these blocks, a central block 4 for the bus contact, and two blocks 5 and 6 arrangedon opposite dcs of the central block. Within the casing an internal flange 7 lying at some distance behind the front end of the casing, the flange being preferably continuous across the top and bottom and down along the two sides; the flange affording a forwardly facing seat or shoulder against which the rear ends of the body portions of the blocks abut. The front ends of the insulating blocKs are cut away so as to provide between the same and the surrounding casing a continuous groove. The blocks are lined place by means of bolts 8 passing through the same from the bottom of the groove and through the flanges on the casing, at least at the top and at the bottom. The groove itself is'lilled by means of a thick rubber-gasket 9 wide enough to project beyond the front end of the casing and also beyond the front ends of the blocks. The gasket may be secured in place by means of strips 10 pressed into position between the sameand the adjacent walls of the casing and locked against displacement by means of suitable cap screws 1 r 1 I The central insulating block has a stem portion 12 extendingrearwardly throughout the entire length of the casing and through an opening inthe rear wall 13 of the latter.- The casing is provided with rearward extensions in the form of upper andlower walls 14 and 15, parallel with each other. A detachable cover plate 16 placed against the rear edgesof the walls i l and "form with the latter a chamber extending transversely across the rear end of the casing. In this chamber is a trough shaped shell 1? ofinsula-ting material, the bottom of the trough lying adjacent-to and beingparallel with the rear wall of the casing. The member 1 7 is held in place by means of insulating material 18 placed between-the same and the walls 13, ll and'l5, while in a plastic condition.

The bus contact cohn'irises'a bronze casting 20, preferably rectangular in cross-section, having a smaller rectangular part2l on the front end; Laid flat against the side of the part 21 are numerous res lient bronze lea-W522. Against the outer face of the group of leaves are placed two shorter holding plates 23 andQ l; the plate 24 being preferably heavier than the plate or plates 23. Suitable bolts 25 extend through the plate 24'and through'the part 21. The hemmworking face of the solid part 21 is inclined somewhat to'the longitudinal axis of the contact, as indicated at 25. The front ends of the leaves 22 are cut off to provide a face 26 projecting slightly beyond the face 25 and arranged in a plane making a slightly greater angle with the longitudinal axis than does the face Itwill be seen that when two similar contacts are forcibly pressed together with the ends of the resilient leaves on one engaged with the face on the solid portion of the other, the leaves fan out and wipe across the solid faces, thus insuring good elect 'ical contact. Projecting rearwardly from the member 20 is a stem 27 reduced in diameter at the rear end to produce a rearwardly directed shoulder 28. I

The contact element just described extends lengthwise through the insulating block a which is cored out to provide a chamber terminating at the frontend in the form of a flared mouth 30 much larger than the contact proper. in rear of the flaring portion 30 is a long chamber 31 slightly larger in crosssectional area than is the member 520. The bore or chamber in the rear end of the insulating block, as indicated at 32. is only sligl tly larger than the stem 27 so that there will be a forwardly facing shoulder in the block at the juncture of the sections 31 and 32,01? the bore or passage through the same. \Vithin the section 31 of the bore, in rear of the head member 20, is a compression spring 33 surrounding the steam and of such diameter that the spring will not, in service, touch the stem. Between the front end of the spring and the head 20 is a heavy washer of insulating material Set that will prevent the spring from serving as a part of the electric circuit and perhaps becoming overheated when heavy current being carried. The rear end of the spring abuts against the forwardly facing shoulder in the member l. or againsta suitable follower placed against this shoulder. On the rear end of the stem of the contact element is a collar 36 resting against the shoulder 28 on the stem. Beyond the collar, on the stem, is a terminal block 3T, and beyond the terminal block is a nut 38. The collar is therefore held firmly against the shoulder on the stem and therefore forms a stop to limit the forward movemcnt of the bus contactelement. The insulating block -land the parts of the bus contact element are :nrcurately mad and. therefore. since the spring i is placed in under an initial compression, the front end of the bus contact clement will normally lie in a gn'edetermiiwd position with respect to the front. face of the coupler. The spring itself may serve as a stop to limit the rear "ard movement of the contact element. the coils of the spring closing upon each other before the rearrnd of the stem can touch the member 16 closing the rear end of the chamber which the terminal block of the bus contact element is located. is a precautionary measure I place a layer 39 of insulating material on the inner face of the cover member 16 in rear of the path of movementof the stem of the bus contact element.

It will be seen that by having the working end of the bus Contact element in an enlarged chamber, short circuiting from the bus contact to any other metal portion at the front end of the coupler will be made dillicult because of the long path along which current would have to flow in order to from the bus contact element to some other part of electric conductive material.

The power current is brought to the bus contact element through a cable 4:0 entering through a fitting 41 connected to the cover plate 16 at one rear corner of the coupler. The end of the cable may then be carried laterally through the chamber in the insulating trough 17 to the terminal block 3?.

The insulating blocks 5 and 6 are comparatively short, is best shown in Fig. 3, so as to leave large tree spaces behind them within the casing. In these spaces are mounted panels l5 of insulating material, one behind each block. These panels are supported underneath the top wall of the casing by 11 :ans of bolts 4L6. Each panel is provided with a series of terminal screws M to which control conductors are brought in through a cable passing through a. fitting 48 at the rear corner of the casing opposite that at which the bus line enters.

The control contact elements consist of cylindrical pieces 52 of suitable conducting material, headed at their front ends. as indicated at 53, if desired. The rear portions of these elements are reduced in diameter. as indicated at 54:. Each contact element slides in a bore or pa: age extending through the corresponding block from front to rear, parallel with the longitudinal axis of the coupler. This bore or passage is made of the same diameter as the part 52, but of mucl greater length than this part. The bore for each of the contact elements is reduced in diameter at the extreme rear end so as to lit the part of reduced diameter 54. and provide a forwardly facing shoulder between which and the rear end of the part 52 a. compression spring 55 may be placed. Beyond the part 54 on each contact element is a scrowthreaded. part 56 of still smaller diameter, thus pro ducing arearwardly facing shoulder at the juncture of the part bl and the part Th. hi the part 56 is a. collar 57 bcyrmd which arc suitable holding elenients including linally a terminal 58. The collar 57 therefore con stitutes a stop to limit the for 'ard movement of the contact. Each contact lOl'll'llilEll is connected to one of the terminal screws if? by a suitable conductor 59. It will be seen that if the terminals are to be cross-connectcd from one panel to the other, conductors for this purpose, not shown, may extend underneath the long central insulating block a.

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memes In order to provide a long creepage surface auxiliary contacts, I provide each bore through which an auxiliary contact extends with a flaring mouth at both the front and the rear end, as indicated at and 61, thus reducing the danger of short circuits. A longer creepage surface is provided in connection with the bus conta-ctbecause of the heavy currents carried by the latter; but, because of the smaller currents flowing through the auxiliary contacts the creep-age surface between adjacent contacts need not be so great.

Normally, when the coupler is idle, the front end of the coupler is closed by means of a swinging door that presses against the gasket 9 and seals the front end of the coupler. On the inner sideof the door is )ldCGCl a layer of insulatin material 71.

u D v The door is hinged to the. sides of the casin at a short distance behind the front end. In order that the door may be taken off or put on, if desired, without requiring the interior of the casing to be entered, I have formed on the side walls of the casing brackets 72 that extend outwardly and then downwardly. The door is provided with rearwardly projecting ears 7 3 that overlap the downwardly projecting portions of the brackets ano are pivotally connected thereto by means of short bolts 74, passing through the same and these portions of the brackets. Room is left between the depending portions of the brackets and the sides of the casing to re ceive the nuts for the bolts 74.

In order to relieve the rubber gasket 9 from objectionable pressure when the door is closed, I place at the sides of the casing stops 75 against which the end portions of the door strike when the door is closed. The stops have niachinedfront faces so that the door, in its closing movements, is brought to rest just after it has come in contact with and slightly compressed the gasket.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangenn-mts which come within the definitions of my invention con of insulating material fixed in the front endof the casin g and filling the spaces in the front end of the casing at opposite sides of the first mentioned block a bus contact extending lengthwise through the long block of insulating material, a plurality of contact pieces in connection with each of the control or the front end, a block of insulating material f fixed in the casing atthe longitudinal center and extending from the front through the rear wall of the casing, an insulated housmg over the. rear end of said block, bus con tact member extending lengthwise through said block and into said housing, short blocks of insulating material fixed in the front end of the casing and filling the space within the latter on opposite sides of the aforesaid block, and a plurality of contact pieces extending lengthwise through each of said short blocks and terminating at points within the casing.

3. In an electric coupler, a casing open at the front, a long block of insulating material fixed in the casing at the longitudinal center of the latter a bus contact extending lengthwise through the said blocks and extending from the front end: through the rear wall, a terminal on the rear end of said bus contact, two short blocks of'insulating material fixed in the front end of the casing and filling the space within the same on opposite sides of the long block, a plurality of. contact 'pieces extending lengthwise through each of said short blocks and having terminals at their rear ends, insulating panels fixed in the top of the casing toward the rear end andat opposite sides and having terminals thereon and flexible connections between the contacts in the short blocks and said terminals on the panels;

.4; In an electric coupler, a casing at the front having an opening in the bottom, a long block of insulating material fixed in the casing at the longitudinal center and extending from the front-through the rear wall of the casing, a bus contact extending lengthwise through-said block and having a terminal at the rear end of the block, two short blocks of insulating material fixed in the front end of the casing on opposite sides of the aforesaid block and forming with the latter a closure for the casing, a plurality of contacts extending longitudinally through each of the short blocks and having terminals at their inner ends at points within the casin insulating panels secured in the top of the casing toward. the rear and at opposite sides and having terminals thereon, all of the terminals within the casing being accessible through the opening in the bottom of the casing.

5. In an electric coupler, a casing open at the front, a long block of insulating material fixed in the casing at the longitudinal center of the latter and extending from the front end through the rear wall, a longitudinally yieldable bus contact extending lengthwise through said block and having a terminal at its rear end, a plurality of contacts arranged within the front end of the casing on opposite sides of said block and having terminals at. their inner ends at points within the casing and insulating supports for the latter contacts.

6. In an electric coupler, a casing open at the front, blocks of insulating material fixed in and filling the front end of the casing, the forward portions of said blocks being of reduced cross-sectional area to produce a continuous groove between the same and the surrounding walls of the casing, and a rubber gasket fitted into said groove and projecting forwardly beyond said blocks and easing.

7. In an electric coupler, a casing open at the front end, a long block of insulating material fixed at the longitudinal center'of the casing and extending from the front end through the rear wall of the latter, said block having a bore extending lengthwise through the same and abruptly narrowed at a point toward the rear end, a bus'contactarranged in the front end of said bore, a stem extending rearwardly from the bus contact beyond the rear end of said block, a spring surrounding said stem directly behind said con tact and bearing against the inner end of that portion of the bore having the large crosssectional area, a shoulder on the stem adapted to engage with the rear end of the block to limit the forward movement of the stem, and a terminal on the stem rearwardly from said shoulder. V

S. In an electric coupler, a contact element adapted to make butt contact with a similar element on a corresponding coupler, said element comprising a solid bar of conducting material having a working face inclined at an angle somewhat less than ninety degrees to the long axis, and a series of resilient leaves laid flat upon each other against the long side of the bar, the ends of the leaves being cut off to lie in a plane at a sommvhat greater angle to the longitudinal axis than the aforesaid angle.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

HERBERT E. VAN DOB-N.

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