U.S. patent number 3,716,146 [Application Number 05/175,107] was granted by the patent office on 1973-02-13 for slack adjuster for railway car couplers.
Invention is credited to Russell George Altherr.
United States Patent |
3,716,146 |
Altherr |
February 13, 1973 |
SLACK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY CAR COUPLERS
Abstract
A gravity-feed wedge shaped shim disposed within the coupler, is
utilized as a slack adjuster in conjunction with positioning means
to establish the desired minimum clearance between abutting parts
to substantially compensate for slack along the longitudinal axis
of the coupler.
Inventors: |
Altherr; Russell George
(Munster, IN) |
Family
ID: |
22638929 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/175,107 |
Filed: |
August 26, 1971 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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17257 |
Mar 6, 1970 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
213/75R; 105/4.3;
213/67R; 213/64; 213/69 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B61G
1/28 (20130101); B61G 5/02 (20130101); B61F
5/16 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B61F
5/02 (20060101); B61G 1/00 (20060101); B61F
5/16 (20060101); B61G 5/00 (20060101); B61G
5/02 (20060101); B61G 1/28 (20060101); B61g
001/28 () |
Field of
Search: |
;213/75R,64,67R,69 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Hoffman; Drayton E.
Parent Case Text
This application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending
application, Ser. No. 17,257, filed Mar. 6, 1970, now abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. In an articulated connection for adjacent ends of articulated
railway cars of the type having a female member, with an open ended
cavity formed therein, secured to the end of one of the cars, a
male member secured to the end of the other car and received within
the cavity, said members being located on a common longitudinal
axis, a pin extending vertically through and pivotally connecting
the members, and a vertical follower block having a front spherical
surface and a flat back surface disposed between the end of the
male member and the interior surface of the cavity, the improvement
comprising:
a. the interior end of the cavity and the flat back surface of the
follower block diverging upwardly at an acute angle;
b. a wedge shaped shim disposed between the follower block and the
interior surface of the cavity, said shim being automatically
adjustable by gravity to compensate for wear in the connection.
2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said interior end surface is
inclined downwardly and inwardly toward the center line of the pin,
and the back surface of the follower block is vertical.
3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said acute angle is less than
14.degree..
4. the improvement as defined in claim 3 further comprising means
formed in the female member for providing access to said shim to
raise said shim during connection of the male member to the female
member.
5. The improvement as defined in claim 4 wherein said access means
comprises an aperture formed in the side of the female member for
inserting a shim adjusting tool within said aperture.
6. In a coupler arrangement for adjacent ends of railway cars of
the type having a female member, with an open ended cavity formed
therein, secured to the end of one of the cars, a male member
received within the cavity, a pin extending through and pivotally
connecting the members, and a vertical follower block having a
front arcuate surface and a back surface, flat in vertical
longitudinal cross section, disposed between the end of the male
member and the interior surface of the cavity, the improvement
comprising:
a. the interior end of the cavity and the back surface of the
follower block diverging upwardly at an acute angle; and
b. a wedge shaped shim disposed between the follower block and the
interior surface of the cavity, said shim being automatically
adjustable by gravity to compensate for wear in the arrangement.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a railroad car articulated
connection and particularly to a new and novel slack adjuster for
said connection.
Articulated connections of the type disclosed herein are provided
between adjacent ends of railway cars which are supported upon the
bolster of a single four wheel truck. A male member is secured to
one end of one car and a mating female member is secured to one end
of the other car to receive the male member. The respective members
are held together around an axis of relative pivotal movement by a
vertical pin extending through the articulated connection and to
the underlying bolster center plate of the truck.
The connections of the type described also comprise internal parts
having spherical surfaces to provide for flexibility and include
separate wear-absorbing parts that may be replaced after prolonged
use of the connection. The use of such parts in an abutting
relationship under high loads requires the maintenance of close
tolerances to prevent high impact forces which cause excessive wear
and possible fracture and also to prevent the misalignment of
mating contours which may cause internal binding and galling within
the connection. For example, excessive slack between the mating
male and female members may allow displacement of certain parts
against other parts. Since many of the parts used are cast steel
structures, the maintenance of close tolerances to insure a proper
non-yielding fit is often difficult.
Prior art slack adjustment was accomplished by the use of a planar
shim which was placed at the flat end surface within the female
cavity to abut the follower block which in turn abutted the
spherical end surface of the mating male member. The purpose of the
shim was to act as a slack adjuster to minimize the longitudinal
slack in the connection and was conveniently sized to accommodate
the slack found in a particular assembly, with the shim being
changed when necessary as the internal parts wore down under
service conditions.
In order to obtain the proper size shim, the connection was first
assembled without the shim and the slack in that particular
connection was measured as the possible relative distance of
longitudinal movement between the male and female members when in a
fully compressed and fully extended position. The connection was
then disassembled and the proper shim was inserted to control the
slack. This procedure had to be repeated whenever wear occurred or
whenever one of the members was connected to a different mating
member that had a different longitudinal slack and was a time
consuming and costly operation to carry out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to overcome the problems inherent in such prior art slack
adjusters there is provided by the present invention a new and
improved novel slack adjuster for the articulated connection of a
railway car which comprises the use of a wedge shaped shim disposed
within the connection along with means to establish the desired
minimum clearance between abutting parts to compensate for slack
along the longitudinal axis of the connection.
Accordingly an object of the invention is to provide a new and
novel slack adjuster that may be used to quickly and easily remove
longitudinal slack without requiring a connection and disconnection
of the members for purposes of measuring the slack and sizing the
shim.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel
railway slack adjuster for an articulated connector that
automatically adjusts the slack while the connector is in operation
on the railroad.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel
slack adjuster for an articulated connection that allows the amount
of slack to be positively controlled and changed from outside of
the connector without requiring the removal and replacement of
shims or the disconnection of the members.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from a
reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment
and from a study of the attached drawing illustrating the
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a simplified side view of a railway car made up of two
sections, incorporating an articulated connection between the
adjacent ends of said sections;
FIG. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view, taken along line 2--2 of
FIG. 3, of an articulated connection showing the wedge shaped shim
used as a slack adjuster;
FIG. 3 is a plan view, partly in cross section, taken along line
3--3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view, taken along line 4--4 of
FIG. 5, showing a modification of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a plan view, partly in cross section, taken along line
5--5 of FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 is a vertical cross sectional view through a portion of
another type of railway car coupler utilizing the wedge shaped
shim.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates schematically the
two sections of an articulated railway car 10 and 12 having
positioned thereon a pair of trailers 14. the adjacent ends of the
cars 10 and 12 are connected by an articulated connection, shown
generally at 16, which is supported on a common four wheel truck
18, while the other ends of the cars 10 and 12 are supported by a
pair of four wheel trucks 20.
The articulated connection 16 shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3
allows relative vertical rotational and lateral angular movement
between the car sections 10 and 12 and comprises a female member 22
having an open ended cavity 24 formed therein for receiving the
male member 26 which is secured to the adjacent end of the car
section 12. The male and female members are pivotably connected by
a pin 28 which is positioned in a pair of openings 30 and 32 formed
in the female member 22 and also is positioned in an opening 34
formed in the male member 26.
The open ended cavity 24 is substantially larger than the male
member 26 to allow the connection to articulate when negotiating
vertical curves as well as horizontal curves during service
operation. Formed on the bottom portion of the female member 22 is
an annular boss 36 which is designed to be received within the cup
shaped depression of the center plate 38 of the truck bolster 40,
shown partly in FIG. 2. An aperture 42 is formed in the bottom of
the pin 28 to loosely receive a second pin 44 of a smaller
diameter, which is in turn received in an opening 46 in the truck
bolster center plate 38.
The male member 26 has an outer end spherical surface 48 along with
an inner end spherical surface 50 which is formed in the vertical
opening 34. Positioned within the vertical opening 34 is a pin
bearing block 52 having a semi-circular surface 54, partly
surrounding the pin 28, and an end spherical surface 56 abutting
and complementary with the spherical inner surface 50 of the male
member 26.
Provision is made in the articulated connection to accommodate
vertical angular movements of the male member 26 and the female
member 22 with respect to one another. For the purpose of lower
angular clearance, an annular recess 58 is formed in the bottom
portion of the female member 22, coaxial with the pin 28, said
recess defining a spherical concave annular surface 60 disposed
outward and upward with respect to the pin. A ring 62 having an
outer spherical convey annular surface 60 is carried in the recess
58 and is suitably designed for universal tilting movement therein.
A planar top surface 68 of the ring 62 supports the male member 26
on a similar continuous surface 70 thereof.
The end spherical surface 48 of the male member 26 abuts a
complementary spherical surface 72 of a follower block 74
positioned within the cavity 24 of the female member 22 and is
backed by a wedge shaped shim 76 of the invention said shim serving
as an automatic slack adjuster as will now be described in more
detail.
The wedge shaped shim 76 is positioned between the open ended
cavity's interior end surface 78 and the back surface 80 of the
follower block 74. The interior end surface 78 is formed at an
acute angle similar to the angle on the shim, relative to the
longitudinal axis of the connection, said angle preferably being in
the range of approximately 76.degree. to 80.degree. when the shim
is formed of steel in order to prevent the shim from becoming
dislodged and rising upwardly on impact.
When the shim 76 is positioned as shown in FIG. 1 it automatically
establishes the desired minimum clearance between abutting parts by
the force of gravity between the interior end surface 78 and the
follow block 74 to substantially compensate for slack along the
longitudinal axis of the articulated connection. A hole 82 may be
provided in the sides of the female member 22 to provide access to
the shim 76 for raising it with a pinch bar or some other shim
adjusting tool during assembly and connection with the male
member.
Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 there is shown a modification of the
invention wherein the rear portion of the open ended cavity 24 of
the female member is formed with a horizontally tapered end surface
84 to receive a similarly tapered horizontal wedge shaped shim 86
which is positioned as before between the follower block 74 and the
end surface 84 to adjust the slack along the longitudinal axis of
the articulated connection. In this form of the invention, the shim
is positioned horizontally, not by gravity as before, but by means
of an adjusting screw 88 contained within a drilled and tapped hole
90 in the side wall 92 of the female member 22. The end 94 of the
adjusting screw is positioned against the surface of the shim 86 so
that a rotation of the screw will position the shim between the
follower block 74 and the interior end surface of the cavity 24 to
establish the desired minimum clearance between abutting parts.
Locking means may be provided in the form of a lock nut 96 to lock
the adjusting screw in the female member 22 after positioning the
wedge thereby preventing the screw from accidentally vibrating out
of the hole 90 and allowing the shim to become loose. Since gravity
is not necessary in this form of the invention, the angle on the
wedge shaped shim 86 and the end surface 84 is not critical since
the shim is prevented from moving on impact by the restraint
provided by the adjusting screw.
There is also provided in this modification, means for returning
the wedge shaped shim 86 to its unwedged position within the
connection whenever it is desired to change male members in the
connection. The returning means may comprise a spring 98 or an
access hole 100 provided in the side of the female member 22,
through which a pinch bar or some other implement may be inserted
to force the shim 86 to its unwedged position. Prior to the shim
being returned to the unwedged position, the locknut 96 must be
unlocked and the adjusting screw must also be backed off.
The gravity-feed, self adjusting shim arrangement may also be used
in a coupler arrangement wherein the male member comprises a
coupler shank and the female member comprises a cushioned yoke or
adapter of the type having a fixed relationship, in a longitudinal
direction, between the connecting pin hole and the interior buffing
surface of the yoke cavity.
Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 6 wherein an F type yoke 102
is restrained from longitudinal motion by a conventional draft gear
mechanism (not shown) and contains an internally uncushioned
follower 104 having a spherical front face 106 in contact with the
butt end 107 of coupler shank 108, the shank being retained in the
yoke by pivot pin 110. The rear face 112 of follower 104 is spaced
from a yoke buffing surface 114 and angularly disposed relative
thereto such that surfaces 112 and 114 diverge upwardly at an angle
in the range of approximately10.degree. to 14.degree.. Similarly to
the earlier described embodiments, a wedge shaped shim 76 is
interposed between surfaces 112 and 114 to establish the desired
minimum clearance between abutting parts and compensate for slack
by dropping downwardly by force of gravity as wear occurs in the
coupler parts.
From the foregoing it can be seen that there has been provided a
new and novel slack adjuster using a wedge shaped shim for an
articulated connection, as well as for a standard coupler-yoke
combination, which accomplishes all of the objects of the invention
and alleviates all of the problems encountered in adjusting slack
with the use of individual planar shims sized and installed in the
connection after a time consuming connection, disconnection and
reconnection of the articulated connection. With the use of the
gravity positioned wedge shaped shim the slack in the articulated
connection is continuously automatically adjusted during service
operation. By using the manual positioned wedge shaped shim, the
slack may be quickly adjusted whenever it changes without having to
resort to the lengthy prior art practices. While many changes may
be made in the construction details and arrangement of the parts
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as
expressed in the accompanying claims, the invention is not to be
limited to the exact matters shown and described since only the
preferred embodiments has been given by way of illustration.
* * * * *