CATCHING DEVICE FOR A SHUNT COUPLING

Abstract

A catching device for a shunting coupling has a catching body with an end stop, a right-hand side lateral stop, and a left-hand side lateral stop that together form a holding body with an inner region delimited on three sides and an open side. The open side can be closed by a lock and the open side is dimensioned such that a specified shunting coupling can be moved into the inner region through the open side. The catching device has at least one elastic and/or elastically mounted stop element on one of the stops. There is also described a rail vehicle with such a catching device and also a method for locking a shunting coupling.

Claims

1-11. (canceled)

12. A catching device for a shunting coupling, the catching device comprising: a catching body with an end stop, a right-hand-side lateral stop, and a left-hand-side lateral stop, with said end stop and said lateral stops together forming a holding body having an inner region delimited on three sides and having an open side; the open side being dimensioned to allow a predefined shunting coupling to be moved into the inner region through the open side; a lock configured for selectively locking the open side; and at least one stop element, being at least one of an elastic stop element or an elastically mounted stop element, disposed on one of said end stop or said lateral stops.

13. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein said at least one stop element comprises an elastic buffer element which has a modulus of elasticity of greater than 0.05 GPa and less than 10 GPa.

14. The catching device according to claim 13, wherein the modulus of elasticity of said buffer element is less than 6 GPa and/or greater than 0.5 GPa.

15. The catching device according to claim 13, wherein said buffer element is made of rubber or silicone.

16. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein said at least one stop element is elastically mounted by way of a spring or an elastic buffer element.

17. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein said end stop is elastically mounted by way of a spring or an elastic buffer element.

18. The catching device according to claim 17, which comprises at least one guide element configured to guide a movement of said elastically mounted stop element in a direction of a spring force of said spring or said elastic buffer element.

19. The catching device according to claim 18, wherein said at least one guide element is arranged next to said spring or said elastic buffer element and/or said at least one guide element is surrounded by a spring.

20. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein each of said right-hand-side lateral stop and said left-hand-side lateral stop has an elastic stop element, and wherein said stop elements lie opposite each other along a line.

21. The catching device according to claim 20, wherein said elastic stop elements are disposed to hold a shunting coupling on a right side and a left side in a positively locking manner.

22. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein said lock is configured to close the open side of said catching body and said lock comprises at least one of a bolt or a chain.

23. The catching device according to claim 22, wherein said lock comprises an element for protecting other elements of said lock (14).

24. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein a portion of a stop element that is averted from the respective stop has a spherical form.

25. The catching device according to claim 24, wherein said stop element comprises a hemisphere fitted on a cylindrical base.

26. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein at least one of said stop elements is screwed to the catching device, with a screw arranged centrally in said at least one stop element or a plurality of screws arranged mirror-symmetrically with respect to a center point of said at least one stop element.

27. The catching device according to claim 12, wherein: said elastically mounted stop element is arranged on said end stop and a spring-action movement of said elastically mounted stop element is guided by guide elements; and said stop element is elastically mounted on the end stop to effectively push the predetermined shunting coupling out of a park position when said lock of the catching device is opened.

28. The catching device according to claim 27, wherein said elastically mounted stop element comprises a buffer element on a side facing the inner region.

29. A rail vehicle, comprising a catching device according to claim 12.

30. The rail vehicle according to claim 28 being a shunting locomotive.

31. A method for latching a shunting coupling, the method comprising: providing a catching device according to claim 12 with an elastically mounted stop element on the end stop; tilting the shunting coupling from a shunting position to a park position by a lifting cylinder; receiving the shunting coupling in the inner region of the catching device; pushing in the stop element on the end stop with the shunting coupling against a spring force of an elastic mounting of the elastically mounted stop element; and closing the lock of the open side, with the shunting coupling being pushed against the lock by the spring force of the elastically mounted stop element.

Description

[0035] The invention will be explained once again in more detail below with reference to the attached drawings using exemplary embodiments. In this case, the same components have been provided with identical reference numerals in the various figures. The drawings are generally not true to scale and in the drawings:

[0036] FIG. 1 shows a rail vehicle having a shunt coupling in a catching device according to the prior art,

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a catching device according to the prior art,

[0038] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a catching device according to the invention,

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a shunt coupling in a preferred catching device according to FIG. 3, and

[0040] FIG. 5 schematically shows the course of a method according to the invention.

[0041] FIG. 1 shows a rail vehicle 1, here the front section of a shunting locomotive, having a shunt coupling 2 in a catching device 3 according to the prior art. The shunt coupling 2 is in the park position here, i.e. tilted upward through 90 in comparison with the shunt position. In this park position, two shunting locomotives can also be coupled together without the shunt couplings 2 of the shunting locomotives bumping into each other during travel. As can be seen, the shunt coupling 2 is tilted in a somewhat inclined manner with respect to the side of the locomotive (on the right in the figure). It can be clearly seen that the shunt coupling 2 has a certain amount of play on the other side of the catching device 3, and therefore it could also be tilted in an inclined manner to the other side. This happens if the rail vehicle with the shunt coupling 2 in the park position were to travel around a bend.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a catching device 3 according to the prior art. Here, the catching device 10 has a catching body 11 which is composed of steel, has an end stop 12 on the locomotive side (to the back left) and has a side stop 13 on either side, so that an angled U-shaped profile with an inner region B is created. In order to prevent the shunt coupling 2 from tilting out in the park position (see FIG. 1), a lock 14 in the form of a bolt and a chain is arranged (for security) at a distance from the end stop 12 between the two side stops 13. For better insertion of a shunt coupling 2 into the inner region B, the ends of the side stops 13 are formed as oblique guides 19 which form a funnel. A portion of the catching body 11, which is designed in the form of a fastening 18, can be seen on the left, this fastening serving to attach the catching device 3 to a rail vehicle 1.

[0043] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a catching device 10 according to the invention. This catching device looks similar to the catching device 3 according to the prior art and also has the components shown in FIG. 2, but comprises further components which securely hold a shunt coupling in the park position and reduce the play of the shunt coupling to a minimum.

[0044] For this purpose, the catching device according to the invention comprises a stop element 15b on the end stop 12, the stop element here being provided with a spring 16 and a plate (e.g. composed of plastic, e.g. rubber) as the buffer element 5, and further stop elements 15a, which can be manufactured here e.g. as buffer elements 5 composed of rubber, on the two side stops 13. The stop elements 15a on the side stops 13 ensure that a shunt coupling 2 in the inner region B, that is to say in the park position (also see FIG. 4), cannot tilt to the left and right, but rather is always held upright.

[0045] The stop element 15b on the end stop 12 not only ensures that a shunt coupling is held in a positively locking manner, but also has a further, highly advantageous function. This can be derived from FIG. 4.

[0046] FIG. 4 shows a shunt coupling 2 in a park position in a preferred catching device 10 according to FIG. 3. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the stop element 15b on the end stop 12 is now shifted backward since it is pushed backward (in the direction of the fastening 18) by the shunt coupling. As a result, the shunt coupling 2 is not only pressed against the lock 14, which ensures good holding, but the shunt coupling 2 is also pushed forward by the springs 16 (see FIG. 3) after the lock 14 has opened, and therefore the shunt coupling no longer has to be moved out of the park position manually.

[0047] For interference-free movement of the stop element 15b on the end stop 12, two guide elements 17, wherein the screws on which the springs 16 are guided can also be considered to be guide elements 17.

[0048] The method according to the invention was used in order to reach this position.

[0049] FIG. 5 schematically shows the course of a method according to the invention for latching the shunt coupling 2 in a catching device 10 as shown in FIG. 4.

[0050] The shunt coupling 2 is pushed from a shunt position A to a park position B by means of a lifting cylinder 4, the shunt coupling being moved into the inner region of the catching device 10 (bent arrow). Just before the park position is reached (indicated in dashed lines), it strikes against the stop element 15b on the end stop 12 (also see FIG. 3) and pushes the stop element against a spring force of its elastic mounting with the shunt coupling 2 backward (straight arrow). The lock 14 of the open side is then closed (see closed lock 14 of FIG. 3), so that the shunt coupling 2 is pushed against the lock 14 by the spring force of the elastically mounted stop element 15b.

[0051] Finally, it is pointed out once again that the embodiments described above in detail and the method are merely exemplary embodiments that can be modified by a person skilled in the art in a wide variety of ways without departing from the field of the invention. In addition, the use of the indefinite article a or an does not preclude the features in question from also being existent multiple times.

[0052] Similarly, the term unit does not preclude the components in question consisting of a plurality of interacting subcomponents that, if need be, may also be distributed in space.