Control system for automatic railway car coupler

Control apparatus for an automatic railway car coupler comprising one mating head, including an electrical contact portion for connecting electrical train circuitry and a pipe connector portion for connecting fluid pressure train lines, said mating head being carried on one car and adaptable for coupling with a counterpart mating head on another car for automatically and concurrently effecting coupling of the cars and connection of the respective electrical circuitry and pipe lines of the train, said control apparatus comprising:

• a. a source of fluid under pressure;
• b. normally open cut-out valve means interposed in the respective fluid pressure train lines and operable, in response to actuating fluid pressure, to respective closed positions for interrupting flow through said train lines;
• c. centering means carried by the respective mating heads in normally disengaged positions relative to the mating heads and operable, responsively to actuating fluid pressure, to respective abutting positions with the mating heads and in which said mating heads are positioned in axial alignment with each other prior to coupling engagement;
• d. retracting means disposed on the respective mating heads and operable, in response to actuating fluid pressure, to respective retracted positions in which electrical contact blocks of the electrical portions of the mating heads, respectively, are electrically disengaged from each other;
• e. latching means carried by the respective mating heads normally biased to respective latching positions for locking the mating heads, upon engagement, in a coupled relation and being operable, in response to actuating fluid pressure, to an unlatching position for releasing the mating heads from said coupled relation prior to disengagement thereof;
• and
• f. actuating means operable, at will, for effecting supply of actuating fluid pressure from said source to said latching means for effecting sequential operation thereof to their unlatching positions subsequently to concurrent operation of said cut-out valve means, said centering means, and said retracting means to their closed positions, abutting positions, and retracted positions, respectively.