Hello [:)]
Does anyone know how the things that look like round push pads on the end of european cars and locos work or what their function is? I was thinking that if they are push pads, they might be connected hydraulicly so that when one is pushed in the other goes out? this question may not be modeling but we have some posters that might have some insight into their function.
[:-^]
Lee
They’re buffers, or bumpers. They keep the cars from hitting each other and tearing each other and the hoses up. I belive they predate hydaulics, they MIGHT be on springs, but I sus[ect they’re at just a pad on a pole.
This may clarify a little? Yes, they are called buffers, and they often used coil springs, although a nagging thought makes me think they sometimes used one leaf spring.
Flashwave
I think I missed my calling, ever since I was a kid I’ve taking things apart to see how they work. The european trains have always bugged me they don’t have proper cupplers and they have those push pads. [banghead] I might have made a descent mechanical engineer.
Anyone else have an idea?
Lee S.
Wow Eddie
Thats a great diagram. How did you come up with that so fast? It looks like they may have a power cuppler also?
Thanks
Lee S.
Actually, You’ve heard of the original American couplers, no? the Hook and Pins? I’ts not what we’re used to, but at least as a Modelling, the European couplers are again, stronger than HO scale Knuckles. (From personal experiance)
In America, the coupler absorbs both pull and push (buffing) stress in a single unit called a draft gear, located on the centerline of the car end. In Europe (and pre-WWII Japan) the two stresses were dealt with separately - pull with links of chain between hooks on adjacent cars and buff with the aptly-named spring-loaded buffers. Since that leads to some rather violent slack action, passenger stock was fitted with turnbuckle tension links, which were screwed down to keep the buffers pressing against each other - a real PITA compared to American practice.
American, “Hook and pins?” Methinks you really mean link and pin - a flat-faced coupler with a slot in it into which a single chain link was fitted, then secured with a vertical pin. When coupling cars, the already-installed link would be guided into the empty slot in the other coupler, then the pin would be inserted. The coupling process was a frequent source of crushed and amputated fingers.
As with knuckle couplers, the link-and-pin had a draft gear which would deal with both tension and compression forces, hence no separate buffers.
The “original” American couplers were chain over hook, just like the European type - except that the buffers were the ends of the cars’ side sills (which extended well beyond the end
[quote user=“tomikawaTT”]
In America, the coupler absorbs both pull and push (buffing) stress in a single unit called a draft gear, located on the centerline of the car end. In Europe (and pre-WWII Japan) the two stresses were dealt with separately - pull with links of chain between hooks on adjacent cars and buff with the aptly-named spring-loaded buffers. Since that leads to some rather violent slack action, passenger stock was fitted with turnbuckle tension links, which were screwed down to keep the buffers pressing against each other - a real PITA compared to American practice.
American, “Hook and pins?” Methinks you really mean link and pin - a flat-faced coupler with a slot in it into which a single chain link was fitted, then secured with a vertical pin. When coupling cars, the already-installed link would be guided into the empty slot in the other coupler, then the pin would be inserted. The coupling process was a frequent source of crushed and amputated fingers.
As with knuckle couplers, the link-and-pin had a draft gear which would deal with both tension and compression forces, hence no separate buffers.
The “original” American couplers were chain over hook, just like the European type - except that the buffers were the ends of the cars’ side sills (which exte
On E. Walters diagram it looks like there is some kind of device that is connected end to end of the cupplers, maybe tension shock absorber? I was just looking at a picture on www.railpictures.com of a train in India that seems to have both buffers and knuckle couplers.
Thanks everyone.
Lee S.
They’re called bumpers, buffers, puffers and they’re used to help absorb shocks between cars… In contrast to North American consists, they are rigidly coupled using the link (for lack of a better word) coupling. In the diagram is a hook mounted to the frame of the car, then the links, with a treaded section in the middle. This is used to tighten the cars together so that there is no stretch in the consist.
Here an image of two cars coupled…
Early buffers were threaded with no compression, but later ones (let’s say starting between the wars) were sprung and would compress when going through turns, across turnouts, …
The Europeans have worked on a knuckle type coupling for years, with the Russians adopting a form. In the west a slightly different form was developed and is used pretty much exclusively on large unit trains hauling ore… Locomotives used to haul these trains will be fitted with these couplers. Otherwise cars with disparate couplers will be used to join the train with the engine.
Still with me? Great.
Then there are what the Germans call Scharfenberg couplers (after the guy that developed them) that are used to connect railcars with each other. In addition to physically joining the units, they also carry all brakelines and wiring…
Between WHICH wars? Between the Napoleonic wars and the Boer wars, yes! Go back to even “Lion” of 1838, and you’ll find that the buffers are sprung!
In Germany if one looks at most cars, sprung buffers became common between the WW1 and WW2.
p.
