GB927044A - Improvements relating to uncouplers for railway vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

927,044. Apparatus for uncoupling railway vehicles. STAMICARBON N.V. Jan. 28, 1960 [Nov.30, 1959], No. 3180/60. Class 103(5). The hook 5, Fig. 1, of a hook and link railway vehicle coupling may be struck upwardly and uncoupled by one of two coupling striker members 7 which are situated between the rails and may be rotated in opposite directions by an electric motor and belt drive 9 operated by passage of the trucks over switches 25. The couplings may be slackened for uncoupling by braking the leading truck or by means of elevations such as 26 in the track. In Fig. 1, with the direction of travel as shown by the arrow, the link 6 is first struck up and then the nose of the hook 5 is also struck up out of the link 4, generally by the right hand striker. If the other links and hooks are engaged, then the hook 3 is struck up to uncouple by the left hand striker. In the embodiment of Fig. 3 the striker 7, 8 has only one blade and its path overlaps the three blades 11 of an oppositely rotating striker. The striker 10, 11 has a greater strike frequency than the striker 7, 8, so that as the trucks move in the direction shown the idle link 4 of the coupling is first struck upwardly to permit the striker 7, 8 to lift the hook 3 and uncouple. In order to give more time for uncoupling, the strikers and their rotating gear are mounted in a carriage 12 which is connected by a draw bar 15 to a pawl 17 pivoted at 24 and having two lobes 18, 19, the pawl being guided in a track 16. The pawl is weighted to rotate clockwise when free, but is held upright as shown by a releasable spring catch 21 when not engaged by a truck axle box. In operation, the lobe 18 of the pawl is hit by an advancing axle box 20 and the catch 21 unlocked. The carriage 12 is then carried along by the trucks and is raised as it moves up the incline 14 so that uncoupling can take place. As the pawl runs down the track 16 it is released by the axle box 20 and rocks clockwise to present its lobe 19 uppermost. The carriage 12 then runs backwardly down the slope 14 and the lobe 19 passes beneath the axle box 20 and is raised by the track 16 into the path of the axle box 22. By this encounter the pawl is rocked anticlockwise to its Fig. 3 position where it is again held by the catch 21 ready for abutment by the axle box 23 of the next following car. The lobe 18 of the pawl may be given a stepped profile facing the axle box 20 to enable forward movement of the trucks relative to carriage 12 to take place. In Fig. 4 (not shown) six different circumstances in which uncoupling can take place are illustrated.