Buckeye Coupling
The Knuckle Coupling originated in the USA and was the subject of a 1873 Patent by Major E.H.Janney. In 1893 the US Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act which adopted the coupling as the standard for all North American railroads. Prior to this the most common coupling between railroad cars was the link and pin, but accidents and injury's to railroad workers were unacceptably high. By 1902, just two years after the adoption of the Act the number of accidents had been drastically reduced. Today's AAR (Association of American Railroads) promotes the Standard Type E as the most common design.
The name Buckeye Coupling comes in part from the first commercial manufacturer of the coupling being the Ohio Brass Company, and the nickname for Ohio as the Buckeye State. The term Buckeye actually refers to a tree!
In Britain the term Buckeye is universally used for this type of coupling. Upto 1969 locomotives were not fitted with Buckeye couplings, but the fitting of drop-head couplings to carriages was common.
The first six photographs below show a set of castings which were sourced from the model engineering trade in North America. As received, the body and knuckle had been dressed to fit together and a vertical hinge-pin fitted.
There were no drawings available for the castings, and therefore the scale of the coupling was not clear, but they were known to be oversize for the projected model.
The other photographs show the machining of the body and knuckle to a drawing by NBLC, complimented by workshop sketches. The finished item is an Alliance coupling and will be used on a model of a locomotive built in Britain for an overseas railway. The NB drawing states that the couplings were cast in Sheffield. The coupling will be top operated. The machining of a slot in knuckle and provision of a vertical hole allows for coupling with a link and pin, and therefore this is a 'transition coupling'.
The body has been machined on almost every facet, and as can be seen from the photographs is perhaps two-thirds the size of the original casting. The knuckle is also very much smaller. As machined, the finished coupling is to scale for the model application.
The mass of casting as recieved was 1.775 Kg, and after machining 1.130 Kg, a reduction of 36% - a lot of swarf. Based upon the machining qualities, opinions of fellow engineers, and my constantly black fingers from the graphite, the material is most probably SG Iron.
Of course, this buckeye coupling would also fit on a steam locomotive.
The Knuckle Coupling originated in the USA and was the subject of a 1873 Patent by Major E.H.Janney. In 1893 the US Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act which adopted the coupling as the standard for all North American railroads. Prior to this the most common coupling between railroad cars was the link and pin, but accidents and injury's to railroad workers were unacceptably high. By 1902, just two years after the adoption of the Act the number of accidents had been drastically reduced. Today's AAR (Association of American Railroads) promotes the Standard Type E as the most common design.
The name Buckeye Coupling comes in part from the first commercial manufacturer of the coupling being the Ohio Brass Company, and the nickname for Ohio as the Buckeye State. The term Buckeye actually refers to a tree!
In Britain the term Buckeye is universally used for this type of coupling. Upto 1969 locomotives were not fitted with Buckeye couplings, but the fitting of drop-head couplings to carriages was common.
The first six photographs below show a set of castings which were sourced from the model engineering trade in North America. As received, the body and knuckle had been dressed to fit together and a vertical hinge-pin fitted.
There were no drawings available for the castings, and therefore the scale of the coupling was not clear, but they were known to be oversize for the projected model.
The other photographs show the machining of the body and knuckle to a drawing by NBLC, complimented by workshop sketches. The finished item is an Alliance coupling and will be used on a model of a locomotive built in Britain for an overseas railway. The NB drawing states that the couplings were cast in Sheffield. The coupling will be top operated. The machining of a slot in knuckle and provision of a vertical hole allows for coupling with a link and pin, and therefore this is a 'transition coupling'.
The body has been machined on almost every facet, and as can be seen from the photographs is perhaps two-thirds the size of the original casting. The knuckle is also very much smaller. As machined, the finished coupling is to scale for the model application.
The mass of casting as recieved was 1.775 Kg, and after machining 1.130 Kg, a reduction of 36% - a lot of swarf. Based upon the machining qualities, opinions of fellow engineers, and my constantly black fingers from the graphite, the material is most probably SG Iron.
Of course, this buckeye coupling would also fit on a steam locomotive.