Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A coupling or coupler is a mechanism, typically located at each end of a rail vehicle, that connects them together to form a train. The equipment that connects the couplers to the vehicles is the draft gear or draw gear, which must absorb the stresses of the coupling and the acceleration of the train.
The diagram from Beard's 1897 coupler patent [1]. Janney couplers were first patented in 1873 by Eli H. Janney (U.S. patent 138,405). [2] [3] Andrew Jackson Beard was amongst various inventors that made a multitude of improvements to the knuckle coupler; [1] Beard's patents were U.S. patent 594,059 granted 23 November 1897, which then sold for approximately $50,000, and U.S. patent 624,901 ...
The railcar couplers or couplings listed, described, and depicted below are used worldwide on legacy and modern railways. Compatible and similar designs are frequently referred to using widely differing make, brand, regional or nick names, which can make describing standard or typical designs confusing.
Buffers and chain couplers (or couplings) – also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", and "screwlink" – are the de facto International Union of Railways (UIC) standard railway coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some railways in other parts of the world, such as in South America and India, on older rolling stock.
The Type 10 includes "horns" to aid coupling on curves and include a function to provide standardised automatic air-brake connections; the coupling horn is often visible poking out at the front of the nose of high-speed trains. For European freight, the TSIs mandate buffer and chain couplings at specified heights.
On a standard-gauge railway, the nominal mounting height for the coupler (rail top to coupler center) is 33 inches (838 mm), with a 34 + 1 ⁄ 2 ± 1 inch (876 ± 25 mm) maximum height on empty cars and 31 + 1 ⁄ 2 ± 1 inch (800 ± 25 mm) minimum height on loaded cars. [1]
Digital automatic coupling (DAC) is a type of railway coupling developed in the 2020's to replace the English buffers and chain couplings, initially in Europe. It resembles the Scharfenberg coupler with extra contacts to join electrical circuits (power, detection and control) and air hoses.
An axlebox, also known as a journal box in North America, is the mechanical subassembly on each end of the axles under a railway wagon, coach or locomotive; it contains bearings and thus transfers the wagon, coach or locomotive weight to the wheels and rails; the bearing design is typically oil-bathed plain bearings on older rolling stock, or roller bearings on newer rolling stock.