US1885523A - Automatic air or steam coupling for railway cars - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 1 1932. B. B. KOsANoVlcAH AUTOMATIC AIR 0R STEAM COUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS 5 Sheets-Sheet l F'iled Aprilv 9, 1952 MF u Nov. l, 193.2. v B. a. KosANovlcH 1,385,523

AUTOMATIC 'AIR 0R STEAM GOUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS Nov. l, 1932.

B. B. Ko'sANovlcl-l AUTOMATIC AIR OR STEAM COUPLING FOR RAILWAY GARS 3 SheetS*Sheet 5 Filed April 9. 1932 Patented Nov. l, 1932 N i ,UNrrrfzD STATES BURKE B. KOSANOVICH, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO RAYMOND A. ERDMANN, OF MILWAUKEE, IVICONSIN PATENTFFICE AUTOMATIC AIR OR STEAM' GOUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS Application led April 9,

the present time. the Connections between the air pipes and steam pipes of railway cars are coupled by hand. This hand coupling delays the make up of trains and is dangerous to the men doing the coupling.

19 The general object of the present invention is to provide couplings which will couple automatically as the cars come together, thus securing an immediate engagement of the coupling members without the necessity of any manual operation and eliminating the danger of manual operation.

A further object is to provide couplings of this character which when the cars are un-` coupled will automatically close to prevent the escape of steam or air from the uncoupled cars and which will automatically open com-` munication between the couplings when the couplings become engaged with each other.

`A further obj ect is to provide devices ofthis character which are very simple, have very few parts, no loose parts or loose connections, which can be manufactured at a slight cost, which are easy to install and will fit any make of railway cars.

A further object is to provide an air or steam leak-proof connection or coupling which will operate with the cars at an angle and `either on a straight or curved track, the device further not interfering in any way with the use of the present car coupler.

Other objects will appear in the coursevof the following description. i

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of my improved air or steam pipe coupling;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view partly in section;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a like View to Figure 5 and 1932. Serial No. 604,301.

showing only one of thecoupling heads and showing the valve in its closed position;

Figure 7 is a front elevation of one of the coupling heads, and K Figure 8 is a fragmentary section on the line 8 8 of Figure 7 Referringito these drawings, 10 designates the usual air line or steam line mounted below the car in any suitable manner. This air or steam line is connected by a flexible pipesection 11 te a reducer 12 and then to a longitudinally extending pipe 13. This pipe passes through a supporting yoke designated generally 14. This yoke is formed of sheet metal to provide a vertical wall or web 15, a longitudinally extending horizontally disposed web 1G, a vertical wall or web 17 and the attaching flanges 18 and 19. The web 15 is formed with the transversely eX- tending slot 2O through which the pipe passes. Atthe unction of the web 17 with the web 16 there is provided a threaded collar or coupling 21 which has a fiat under face so that this flat under face rests against the web 16 and is thus held from any turning movement. The forward end of the pipe section 13 is threaded into this coupling 21. The coupling 21 is slidable upon the upper face of the web 14 and the pipel 13 is shiftable longitudinally through the slot 20 and is also shiftable laterally through this slot. Extending into the forward end of the coupling 21 and having screw-threaded engagement therewith is a pipe 22. The forward end of this pipe is welded or otherwise engaged with the coupling head which is designatedgenerally 23, the rear wall 24 of which is formed with the opening 25 into which the forward'end of the pipe 22 is inserted and welded. Disposed around the pipe 22 and bearing against the rear wall 24 at one end and against the vertical web 17 at the other is a coiled compression spring 26. This spring is initially 14 inches long but when inserted is compressed to a length of 11 inches so that this spring is under tension and constantly urges the coupling head 23 in a direction away from the web 17.

The coupling head is best illustrated in Figures 4 to 6. The forward wall of the coupling head is form-ed to provide two inwardly tapering recesses 27 and 28. The inside wall of the recess28 has a surface 29 extending parallel to the axial center of the coupling head. The recess 27 opens into a bore 30 having a diameter of approximately 15/Sths inches while the recess 28 opens into a bore 31 having a diameter of approximately one inch. These openings are formed in the forward wall of a chamber 32 formed in the rear end of the coupling. The lateral walls of this chamber 32 are formed with vertically extending grooves 33, these grooves 33 extending into a transverse groove 34 formed in the bottom wall of the chamber 32. Adapted to be disposed within the grooves 33 and with its lower edge within the groove 34 is a block 35 of heat resisting rubber, the upper forward corner of which is cutaway or chamfered at 36. This rubber block 35 is provided with an aperture 37 correspond' ing to the bore 30. Thevblock is also `formed with an aperture 38 alining with the bore 31 and having a iameter of approximately one inch. A transversely extending locking pin 39 is disposed across the recessed or chamfered portion 36. Rearward of the grooves 33, the side walls of the chamber 32 are formed with two recesses 40 which receive the extremities of a pintie 41 which passes through the upper margin of a valve 42 which is formed of heat resisting rubber. This valve 42 lits snugly between the side walls of the chamber 32 and is hinged by the pintle 4l so that this valve may either depend into the chamber 32 or be lifted into a horizontal position.

Vhen this valve 42 swings downward into its vertical position, it closes the openings 37 and 38 through the block 35 and when the valve is raised, as shown in Figure 5, it uncloses these openings. The chamber 32 is closed by a plate 43 and between the plate and the wall of the chamber 32 is disposed a gasket 44, the cover plate 43 being held in place by screws 45 which pass through the margins of the cover plate and through the gasket and into the side walls of the chamber 32, thus holding the cover plat-e securely in place.

Disposed within the recess 28 is a pipe 46 having an external diameter such as to fit snugly within the bore 3l formed at the inner end of the recess 28. This pipe is electrically welded to the bore forming the inner end of the funnel-shaped recess 28. The outer end of this pipe 46 is circumferentially recessed at 47 and within this recess is disposed a collar or sleeve of heat resisting rubber tubing designated 48. This rubber tubing is approximately three inches long and the pipe 46 is approximately eight and one-half inches long. The forward end of this tubing is beveled at 49. Beneath the fe ward end of this tubing, the pipe 46 is drilled with a plurality of holes 50. This rubber sleeve 48 forms a yielding packing and the holes 50 permit the air pressure within the pipe 48 to force this packing outward at its forward end.

lt will be seen from the drawings that each coupling head has a conical recess to receive the pipe 46 of the opposite head and each coupling head has a pipe 46 which projects beyond the head and is designed to enter the conicalrecess 27 of the opposite head and have air-.tight engagement with the bore 30 at the inner end of this conical recess 27. ln actualuse, when the two heads come together, as shown in Figure 4, the pipe 46 of each coupling head enters the recess 27 of the opposite coupling head and as it passes through the bore 30 and through the opening 37 in the corresponding block 35, it will bear against the valve 42 in the opposed head and lift this valve to a position where the valve will nolonger interfere with the free passage of air so that the valve will swing upward to an approximately horizontal position in each coupling head. Thus bot-h of the pipes 46, as shown in Figure 4, will act to conduct air or steam from one car to the other car. The slots 20 in the brackets 14 permit the air line to move to the left or right on a left or right curve, this being further permitted by the slack flexible hose 11. 1When the cars are disengaged, from each other and separate, the pipes 46 will bewithdrawn from the opposed coupling heads and as soon as this has occurred, the hard rubber valves 42 of these coupling heads will fall to a vertical position, closing the openings through the blocks 35, thus trapping the air or steam within the pipe lines of the respective cars.

It will be seen that by this construction, l have provided automatic means for coupling the steam pipes or air pipes of two cars to each other without the necessity of any manual manipulation of the couplings and have provided means whereby the couplings may be as readily uncoupled and at the same time provided for the automatic shutting off of the ends of the pipe lines. A,

By this meansl do away with the danger due to hand coupling or uncoupling, the necessity of using manually manipulatable valves to cut oli' or establish communication between the pipe lines and eliminate the danger of trainmen being scalded by escaping steam or burnt by contact with the hot couplings and eliminate the danger of the trainmen being injured between two cars. The structure which I have described is thoroughly practical and may be readily applied to any standard car structures. The spring 22 permits the coupling heads and the pipes connected thereto to shift longitudinally upon meeting in order to take up jar and the spring 22 compensates for any relative movement between the cars which would tend otherwise to disengage the couplings.

It will be seen from Figures 4, 7 and 8 that each pipe 46 is welded to the inside wall of the corresponding recess and extends parallel to this insidewall, which inside wall is straight or longitudinal and is not outwardly flared as is the outside wall of the recess. This is clearly shown in Figure 7 and thus it will be seen that the pipe 46 is supported for a considerable portion of its length. Y

l have found the rubber sleeveV 48 to be of Very great importance as it is necessary, ofcourse, to prevent any possible leakage of air between the rubber block and the pipe 48. ln experimenting and testing with my structure l first omitted this sleeve 48 but found under these circumstances that when air pressure was applied to the pipe 22, it would force the coacting pipe 46 rearward out of the opening 37'. In order to prevent this, I increase the strength of the spring 26 shown in Figure l so as to resist the backward movement of the `coupling head and also provided the sleeve 48 with the openings whereby air pressure would enter between the outer end of the sleeve and the pipe 46 so as to expand the sleeve against the rubber block 35. Preferably the interior of the rear end of the sleeve 48 is covered with shellac before it is inserted in place upon the pipe 46, this shellac serves to adhere to the pipe 46 and prevent the passage of air through the sleeve. it will be seen that the spring 22 has a two-fold purpose, namely to hold the coupler in the right p ace and further to keep the couplers in engagement under full air pressur rThe openings 50 in the pipe 46 might be emitted provided the spring 26 were strong enough but this increase in the size of the spring would increase the cost both in material and labor.

lt would be entirely possible, of course, to make the pipe 46 in one piece with the coupling head 23 and to form the pipe 22 in one piece with the coupling head but in that case if some part would break, it would be necessary to replace the whole coupling head, whereas by having these parts separate and welded to each other, the breakage of the part will not require the discarding of the whole structure.

It will be noted that the `forward end of the pipe 46 is beveled downward and forward and rounded. It is this rounded e'nd which iirst comes in contact with the swinging valve 42 and causes the valve to raise and this rounded end will not damage the valve 42. Preferably the shellac should be used between the rubber block 35 and the groove 84.

Preferably, the coupler should be so installed on the car that rit should project approximately an inchbeyond the car coupler.

The opening in the front and rear webs of the bracket 14 through which the pipe 13 passes is rather Vlarger than the pipes 22 and 18 so that the coupling head will be somewhat lower before engagement than after engagement. This is for the reason that assuming there is one empty car and one loaded car, it is obviousthat the coupling head of the loaded car will be somewhat lower than the coupling head of the unloaded car and these apertures will Vpermit the coupling heads to swing upward or downward slightly to make proper engagement. It is my design that this coupler shall be manuiactured at the least possible cost and that the fewest elements shall be used while at the'same time being thoroughly effective to permitY the automatic coupling of the train pipes and to do away with the necessity of manually operating valves to close off the train pipes when uncoupled or upon thetrain pipes when coupled. -While I have illustrated a structure which I believe to be particularly elfective for the purpose intended and which has been very carefully designed to meet the exigencies of the occasion, I do not wish to be limited to the exact details shown as these might be varied in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims. L

l claim l. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including a hollow coupling head oominunieatively connected at its rear end to the train pipe line, the forward end of the coupling head having two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an opening leading into the interior of the head, a rubber block extending across the interior of the head immediately behind the front wall of the head and having openings registering with the openings at the rear ends of the recesses, a pipe engaged with one of said openings and extending through the corresponding recess and beyond the head, and a valve in the hollow interior of the head adapted to close against the rubber block and close the openings therethrough but automatically opened when two coupling' heads are engaged.

2. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including a hollow coupling head communicatively connected at its rearend to the train pipe line, the forward end of the coupling head having two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an opening leading into the interior of the head, a rubber block extending across the interior of the head immediately behind the front wall of the head and having openings registering with the openings at the rear ends of the recesses, a pipe engaged with one of said open'- ings and extending through the corresponding recess and beyond the head, and a valve swingingly mounted on lateral walls ofthe coupling head and swinging by gravity into position against the rubber block to close the openings therethrough but lifted by the insertion of the said pipe of a second coupling head when the'coupling heads are engaged.

3. A pipe coupling for railway cars including opposed hollow couplingheads carried by each car and each communicatively connected at its rear end to the pipe line of that car, the forward end of each coupling head having two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an opening leading into the interior of the head, a pipe extending outward from one of said openings in each coupling head and through the corresponding recess and beyond the head, the pipe on one coupling head being offset with relation to the corresponding pipe on the other coupling head, the pipe on one coupling head being insertible into the confronting tapering' recess of the opposite coupling head and being guided thereby into engagement with the opening at the termination of said recess, a valve in 'the hollow interior of each coupling head, the valve being mounted for swinging movement in a vertical plane and normally closing both of said openings in the head, the insertion of the pipe of an opposed coupling head through said opening lifting the Valve.

4. A pipe coupling for railway cars including opposed hollow coupling heads carried by each car and each communicatively connected at its rear end to the pipe line of that car, the forward end of each coupling head having two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an opening leading into the interior of the head, a pipe extending outward from one of said openings in each coupling head and through the corresponding recess and beyond the head, the pipe onione coupling head being offset with rela-tion to the corresponding pipe on the other coupling head, the pipe on one coupling head being insertible into the confronting tapering recess of the opposite coupling head and being guided thereby into engagement with the opening at the termination of said recess, an elastic packing block carried in the hollow interior of each head against the front wall thereof and having openings registering with the openings through said front wall and forming the terminations of said recesses, and a valve pivotally supported at its upper portion to swing downward against the inner face of said block and normally close said openings, said valve being liftable by the insertion of the pipe of a corresponding coupling head into the corresponding opening in the other head.

5. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including a hollow coupling head, a support therefor including two vertical webs, the forward web having an opening, the rearward web having a transversely eX- tending slot, a pipe extending from the rear end of the coupling head into said opening,

a pipe section operatively connected to the first named pipe and extending rearward and through the slot in said bracket, the slot permitting lateral movement of the bracket and the pipe relative to each other, a iieXible tubular connection between the rear end of the last named pipe and the pipe line of the car, a compression spring disposed between the coupling head and the bracket and urging the coupling head forward, said coupling head being hollow and having its front wall formed with two inwardly tapering relatively deep recesses, the inner ends of which terminate in openings leading into the interior of the hollow head, a rubber packing member disposed within the hollow head and against the inside of the front wall and having openings registering with the terminal openings of said recesses, a pipe disposed in one of said recesses and at its rear end engaged in the terminal opening thereof, the pipe projecting outward beyond the coupling head and adjacent its extremity having an elastic sleeve surrounding the pipe, and a valve in the hollow interior of the coupling head swingingly mounted to close by gravity against the openings in the rubber block, said valve beino' lifted upon the insertion of a pipe ei;- tending from an opposed coupling head.

G. A steam or air pipe coupler for railway carsincluding a support depending from the bottom of the car. the supper having a forward i 7eb and a rear web, the rear web being transversely slotted, the webs being connected by a horizontal web, the forward web having an opening adjacent the horizontal web, a

crew-threaded coupling disposed immediately behind said opening and slidable longitudinally upon the horizontal web, a pipe connected to said coupling and extending rearward and through the slot in the inner web and flexibly connected to the pipe line of the car, a hollow coupling head, a pipe leading from the rear end thereof and extending through the opening in the forward web of the support and engaged with said slidable coupling, a spring disposed between the forward web of the support and the coupling head and urging it outward, the coupling head being hollow, the forward wall of the coupling head being formed with two inwardly tapering recesses terminating in bores leading into the hollow interior of the head, block of rubber extending transversely across the hollow interior of the head immediately behind the front wall and formed with openings alining with said bores, a pipe disposed in the bore of one of said recesses and extending outward through said recess and beyond the head, the forward end of said pipe carrying an elastic sleeve and being formed for insertion int-o the bore of a corresponding recess on an opposed coupling head and into engagement with the rubber block thereof, a rubber valve swingingly mounted within the hollow interior of the coupling head and swinging by gravity into position against the face of the rubber block7 said valve being liftable by the insertion of the last named pipe of an opposed coupling head.

7. In a steam or air pipe coupler for railway ears7 a hollow coupling head7 the forward wall of the coupling head being formed with two tapering recesses terminating in bores leading into the hollow interior of the head, a block of elastic material eXtending transversely across the hollow interior of the head behind the front wall and formed with openings alining with said bores, a pipe disposed in the bore of one of said recesses and extending outward through said recess and beyond the head, the forward end of the pipe carrying an elastic sleeve and being formed for insertion into the bore of a corresponding recess of an opposed coupling head and into engagenient with the rubber block thereof, the pipe inward of said sleeve being formed with perforations leading from the interior of the pipe to the inner face of the sleeve whereby when the pipe is inserted through the bore in the elastic block pressure within the pipe will force the sleeve outward into contact with the wall of said bore.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

BURKE B. KOSANOVICH.

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