Knuckle couplers are a semi-automatic form of
railway coupling
A coupling or coupler is a mechanism, typically located at each end of a rolling stock, 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 m ...
that allow rail cars and locomotives to be securely linked together without rail workers having to get between the vehicles.
Originally known as Janney couplers (the original patent name) they are almost always referred to as Knuckles in the US and Canada (regardless of their actual official model name, nowadays generally various AAR types in North America), but are also known as American, AAR, APT, ARA, MCB, Buckeye, tightlock (in the UK) or Centre Buffer Couplers.
There are many variations of knuckle coupler in use today, and even more from the past, some variants of knuckle couplers include:
Janney: the American original, a rather finicky coupler; reportedly annoying to make open and close. This design was obsolete by 1900.
MCB: In the latter 1880's the Master Car Builder's Association (MCB) were faced with choosing a standard from the multitude of mutually incompatible automatic coupler designs then on offer. They could not, with any effect, chose a single design, but favored Janney's. The patent holders either proposed, or were persuaded, to release their rights to the Janney coupler's ''mating profile'', and in 1888 a slightly modified profile became the MCB standard. Thus the MCB standard initially specified only the interface between MCB automatic knuckle couplers, leaving all other aspects to open competition between manufactures. There were a number of revisions and additions to the standards over the next two decades, with extensive updates in 1899. By then there were a great many variations of MCB couplers in use - an 1899 Knuckle Identification Chart illustrates 78 mutually incompatible knuckles. Further revisions to the standard followed through 1916, when what is now known as the AAR type D was recommended as the North American standard ''coupler''. However some of the better MCB couplers remained in use for decades, and a few are still manufactured for non-interchange service or export.
The slotted Knuckle variation is a transitional type, used by railroads or in regions that are converting from Link-and-Pin couplers to Knuckle couplers. Here the vertically pivoted knuckle has a horizontal slot through its exposed width, with a vertical pin hole through the knuckle tip. With the knuckle closed and locked, a coupling Link can be inserted through the slot and pined through the vertical hole, allowing coupling to cars fitted with the older Link-and-Pin system. Slotted knuckles were common in North America prior to 1900, in South Africa after 1925, and anywhere else during this conversion. They are rarely found after conversion is complete.
AAR: In the first decade of the 1900s there were upwards of 75 makes of MCB Standard compliant couplers in use on North American railroads. All of these could couple together. Practically none shared internal design or parts. Most were offered with multiple shank patterns to match different draft gears - the Tower coupler had 16. With freight cars freely interchanged throughout the continent's standard gauge lines, the problem of maintaining these couplers fell upon all roads, and prompt repair of damaged couplers was effectively impossible.
Circa 1913 the MCB Coupler Committee, in cooperation with five of the principal coupler manufactures, set out to devise a standard ''coupler'' for North American railroads, one that mated with existing MCB standard couplers, was up to the heaviest anticipated service, and of proven operational efficiency and long service life. The participating coupler companies agreed to each submit their best designs for rigorous testing under the MCB committee's supervision, to work together to eliminate weaknesses and combine the best features of each, and to freely share (among themselves) any patented features chosen or developed for the new standard. The result was the American Association of Railroads (AAR, successor to the MCB) Standard "D" Coupler of 1916. This was upgraded to the No. 10 Contour in 1918, which largely eliminated the MCB coupler's tendency to jackknife under buffing forces. A stronger version, the AAR type E was adopted in 1931, the principal change being an increase in knuckle depth from .
Both the D and E were essentially freight car couplers, and necessarily provided a degree of slack in their coupling, which is undesirable in passenger service. The type H Tightlock passenger coupler was developed in the 1930's, made an alternative passenger standard in 1937, and the standard for new North American passenger cars in 1947. This design incorporates a pin and socket that flank what is essentially a type E coupler head. While it can still couple with the freight couplers, two Tightlock couplers, when coupled, form a nearly rigid drawbar between their car's draft gear, eliminating the impact associated with slack action.
The surge in North American freight car capacities in the latter 1900's, particularly that of tank cars, emphasized the need to prevent cars uncoupling in the event of a derailment. Several variations of the standard Knuckle coupler have incorporated shelves above and/or below the coupler head, to prevent vertical separation. The development of unit trains for moving coal or ore has led to the substitution of rotary dumped gondolas for traditional hopper cars. These incorporate a rotating coupler and draft gear in one end, to allow the cars to be dumped without uncoupling them.
Background

Janney couplers were first patented in 1873 by
Eli H. Janney ().
Andrew Jackson Beard was amongst various inventors that made a multitude of improvements to the knuckle coupler;
Beard's patents were granted 23 November 1897, which then sold for approximately $50,000, and granted 16 May 1899.
In the UK, several versions of Janney couplers are fitted to a limited number of coaches, multiple units, wagons and locomotives.
Janney Type E, Type F Interlock, and Type H
tightlock couplings are compatible subtypes, each intended for specific
rail car types.
Prior to the formation of the
Association of American Railroads (AAR) these were known as Master Car Builder (MCB) couplers.
[MCB]
/ref> In 1934, the MCB was renamed as the AAR.
Knuckle couplers of the 1880s and 1890s had a chaotic mixture of proprietary internal components, but all had the standard MCB external contour, making them compatible. There was a multitude of makes and models — Burns, Climax, Gould, Miller, Sharon and Tower. Some worked better than others.
In 1913, American Steel Foundries (ASF) developed the Janney "Type D" coupler, that was then made the MCB standard coupler for North America; new and rebuilt rolling stock had to be fitted with that coupler. That ended the market for knuckle couplers with proprietary components, excepting those exported from the US to other countries not complying with MCB standards.
The Alliance coupler, named after the ASF-owned foundry in Alliance, Ohio
Alliance is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States. The population was 21,672 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It was established in 1854 by the merger of three smaller communities and was a manufacturing and railroad hub in t ...
, was developed as a lighter build than the "Type D", and was marketed by the Amsted Corporation, parent of ASF, as the "Standard for the World". It is still the most-used knuckle coupler in the world. The modern Alliance coupler still uses the modern AAR-10 or 10A contour, but has a shorter thus weaker head length, and thus cannot be used on North American interchanged rolling stock.
Manufacturers of modern "Type E", "Type F Interlock" and "Type H Tightlock" couplers include McConway & Torley, ASF, and Buckeye, also known as Columbus Castings.
The external contour of Janney knuckle couplers was the first aspect to be standardized by the MCB in the 1880s. Prior to this, there was a chaotic variety of constantly evolving and proprietary external contours and internal components. In 1893, manufacturers standardized on the MCB-5 or Type C contour, then in 1915 on the improved MCB-10 or Type D contour, and again in 1932 on the AAR-10A or Type E contour. The 1893, 1915, and 1932 contours are measurably different with slight dimensional changes that improved performance, yet remain compatible. Janney couplers still use the 1932 contour, though tolerances, metallurgy and machining techniques have improved, resulting in notable reductions in coupler slack. Type H tightlock couplings used on passenger stock have a variation of the 10A contour that nearly eliminates slack during normal operation and minimizes the possibility of " telescoping" during a derailment.
Purpose
The purpose of couplers is to join rail cars and locomotives to each other so they all are securely linked together. Major Eli Janney, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, invented the semi-automatic knuckle coupler in 1868. It automatically locks the couplers on cars or locomotives together without a rail worker having to get between the cars, and replaced the link and pin coupler, which was a major cause of railroad worker injuries and deaths. The locking pin that ensures Janney couplers remain fastened together is withdrawn manually by a worker using the "cut lever", which is operated from either side of the railroad car and does not require the person to go between the cars. The only time the worker has to go between cars is after they have been securely coupled, to hook up the air lines for the pneumatic brakes, and the head-end power cables in the case of passenger cars.
Modern Janney couplers typically mount to rail cars and locomotives via draw gear; early Janney couplers often had transitional shanks which mounted into legacy link and pin coupler pockets, or bolted directly to steam locomotive headstocks.
Janney/MCB/ARA/AAR/APTA coupler
Knuckle couplers are used in the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, UK, Belgium and Spain (narrow gauge railway only).
Among its features:
* Maximum tonnage as high as such as on the Fortescue Railway.
* Minimum ultimate tensile strength
Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate t ...
:
** Grade E knuckles: [AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, Section S, Part I:Casting Details, Issue 06/2007]
*** Grade C or Grade E knuckles are required [AAR 2011 Field Manual] for interchange service.
** Grade E coupler bodies:
* Several knuckle coupler types exist to accommodate various cars, but all are required to have certain common dimensions allowing for compatibility.[AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, Section S, Part III: Coupler and Yoke Details, Issue 06/2007]
** Lighter weight railways, notably narrow-gauge lines with no need for interchange, sometimes use smaller (three-quarter- or half-size) versions of the Janney MCB coupler. Such as Victorian narrow gauge lines.
* Janney couplers are always right-handed, i.e., their shape resembles the human right hand with fingers curled, as viewed from above.
* Required coupler heights, in North America
** Empty cars: ±
** Loaded cars: ±
* Modern AAR standards require knuckle couplers to be bottom-operated on cars and top-operated on locomotives. Operation or uncoupling is accomplished by lifting the release pin with a lever extending to the corner of the car; this pin is locked when the coupler is under tension, so the usual uncoupling steps are to compress the coupling with a locomotive, lift and hold up the pin, then pull the cars apart. "Buckeye" and "SASKop" couplers are side operated variants of knuckle couplers.
* Trains fitted with knuckle couplers can accommodate heavier loads than any other type of coupler.
* In North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, knuckle couplers are typical per AAR and APT standards; mainline freight trains often exceed long; in Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
freight trains are typically much shorter, with the legacy buffers and chain coupler remaining the de facto standard.
* In New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, heavy coal trains were first fitted with knuckle couplers in 1972; a full transition began in 2013 to replace remaining Norwegian couplers with knuckle couplers on freight stock and Scharfenberg couplers on passenger stock.
Janney Type E
Janney Type E double-shelf couplers are yet another variety, typical on North American hazardous material
Dangerous goods are substances that are a risk to health, safety, property or the Natural environment, environment during transport. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials (syll ...
tank car
A tank car (International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) or tanker is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodity, commodities. History
Timeline
The following major event ...
s. The Janney coupler is commonly used on railway couplings, as it is strong and locks automatically. Janney coupler was patented by Eli Janney after the US Civil War. The Janney interlocking coupling system is much safer than the links before it. The Janney coupler best resembles two human hands.
Gooseneck coupler
With gooseneck couplers or offset shank couplers, the horizontal centerline of the coupler head is above the horizontal centerline of the coupler shank, or shaft, and the draw gear. This arrangement is designed for use with low-floor freight cars, to lift the coupler head high enough to match the couplers on other rolling stock. The large bogie boxvans for car parts, used on the Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...
, were fitted with gooseneck couplers for that reason.
Henricot coupler
The Henricot coupler, a variation on the Janney coupler, was introduced by Belgian engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
of Court-Saint-Étienne. It is used on certain electric multiple units of the Belgian State Railways, including the NMBS/SNCB class 75.
Development of the knuckle coupler
Janney was a dry goods
Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
and former Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
officer from Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...
, who used his lunch hours to whittle from wood an alternative to the link and pin coupler. The term Buckeye comes from the nickname of the US state of Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, the "Buckeye state" and the Ohio Brass Company which originally marketed the coupling.
In 1893, satisfied that an automatic coupler could meet the demands of commercial railroad operations and, at the same time, be manipulated safely, the US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
passed the Safety Appliance Act. Its success in promoting switch-yard safety was stunning. Between 1877 and 1887, approximately 38% of all railworker accidents involved coupling. That percentage fell as the railroads began to replace link and pin couplers with automatic couplers. By 1902, only two years after the SAA's effective date, coupling accidents constituted only 4% of all employee accidents. Coupler-related accidents dropped from 11,710 in 1893 to 2,256 in 1902, even though the number of railroad employees steadily increased during that decade.
When the Janney coupling was chosen to be the American standard, there were 8,000 patented alternatives to choose from. The only significant disadvantage of using the AAR (Janney) design is that sometimes the drawheads need to be manually aligned.
During the transition period from link-and-pin couplers, knuckle couplers on many locomotives had a horizontal gap and a vertical hole in the knuckle itself to accommodate, respectively, a link and a pin, to enable it to couple to vehicles which were still equipped with the older link-and-pin couplers.
File:Janney coupler drawing.png, Janney Coupler
Sketch From 1873 Patent
File:Syracuse-malleable 1899.jpg, Syracuse Malleable Iron Works – 1894. MCB5 Transition Coupler, compatible with link and pin coupling
File:Early Janney-type AAR coupler.JPG, MCB Type 5 coupler circa 1893. Split knuckle accommodates link and pin coupler or Johnston coupler. Vertical hole in knuckle accommodates the pin. Could also have accommodated a buffers and chain coupler with an extra pin.
Changes since 1873
The knuckle coupler has withstood the test of time since its invention, with only minor changes:
* The current AAR contour dates back to the 1888 Master Car Builders Association (MCBA) design, which, in turn is based on the 1879 Janney patent.
* Buckeye coupler, a side-operated version of the MCBA coupler[Buckeye coupler (scroll down)]
* Type D coupler, adopted in 1916 by the MCBA (predecessor of ARA), had individual parts interchangeable, simplifying maintenance. Earlier designs had compatible profiles, but component parts differed between manufacturers, creating maintenance problems when cars were interchanged with other railroads.
* Type E coupler, adopted in 1930 by the ARA (predecessor of AAR), also had individual parts interchangeable, though not with Type D due to improvements. Still the most widely used design today. Tank cars carrying hazardous materials
Dangerous goods are substances that are a risk to health, safety, property or the Natural environment, environment during transport. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials (syll ...
are equipped with Type E double shelf couplers.
* Type F coupler, a vertically interlocking variation to prevent accidents, derailments and wrecks from disconnecting the coupler. Type F also includes versions with rotating shafts for hopper car rotary dumpers, such as on the Pilbara railways and Transnet Freight Rail's Sishen-Sandanha Iron Ore and Ermelo- Richards Bay Coal Terminal lines.
* Type H coupler, a " tight-lock" variation to reduce slack action and improve safety for passenger cars. Now under the supervision of the APTA ( American Public Transportation Association).
* Improvements in metallurgy and casting techniques to increase maximum trailing load.
* Some narrow-gauge railways such as the Victorian Puffing Billy Railway
The Puffing Billy Railway is a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge heritage railway in the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, Australia. The railway was one of the five narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways, narr ...
use a three-quarter- or one-half-scale version of the Janney/MCB coupler.
Bazeley Coupler
Bazeley Coupler 1905-1918 M.C.B. D Type established as the Universal M.C.B. Standard, Adopted 1915
''Arthur James Bazeley'' (1872–1937), railway couplings inventor/design engineer; was born in Bristol, England, in 1872, and worked for the Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
until the age of 34 when he immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, in 1906, where he worked as a mechanical engineer for National Malleable Castings, Co., inventing and designing improvements in the function, strength, and durability of the (MCB/ARA/AAR/APTA) Janney, Knuckle, Alliance couplers and other coupling devices/ draw gear for the evolving heavier demands by US railways, as well as, National Malleable Castings' international customers in the United Kingdom, India, and many other countries building and expanding their railway systems. A.J. Bazeley was directly responsible for over 90 registered U.S. patents for railway automatic coupler improvements through design, under the coupler type names which included the "Buckeye coupler", the "Sharon Coupler" PAT APP Nov. 10, 1910, 1911,1913, 1914, the "Simplex Coupler" PAT APP May 3, 1903, the "Climax Coupler", the "Latrobe Coupler", the "Tower Coupler", the "Major Coupler", the " Gould Coupler", the "Pitt Coupler", the "R.E. Janney Coupler", the "Kelso Coupler" and others.
A.J. Bazeley related railway inventions, U.S. patents and railway coupler mechanical drawings and illustrations filed and assigned to National Malleable Castings Company can be referenced by a patent search under "Bazeley, railway couplings" or "Arthur James Bazeley, railway couplings patents" which have been drawn/filed and provided by Roger Bazeley-USA, MSTM, MSID, CHSRM Mineta Transportation Institute, Transportation Industrial Designer. A.J. Bazeley Railway Coupling, Construction/Design Improvements and Draft Rigging related patents include: US 1193222, US 124622, US 1932719, US 1518299, US 1932503, US 2235194, US 1932440 and others.
National Malleable Castings in 1891 absorbed the Chicago Malleable Iron which was founded in 1873 by Alfred A. Pope and John C. Coonley, who operated similar companies in Ohio and Indiana. By the late 1880s, the company employed nearly 1,000 men at its 26th and Western Chicago works, which manufactured various railroad couplers and steel products for the railroad industries. In 1891, Chicago Malleable became part of the new National Malleable Castings Co., the Cleveland-based company, where Arthur J. Bazeley was employed as a senior design engineer, had additional manufacturing plants across the Midwest. National Malleable purchased the Latrobe Steel & Coupler's plant in Melrose Park, Illinois, in 1909. In 1923, when it had begun to supply the automobile industry, the company changed its name to National Malleable & Steel Castings. Its stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 1936
The National Malleable Castings Bazeley Coupler 1905-1918 M.C.B. D Type as Universal M.C.B. Standard Adopted 1915
At a joint M.C.B. Coupler Committee meeting on July 15, 1913, out of numerous studied competing railway coupler manufacturers and designs two couplers were selected for the new proposed universal U.S./Canadian coupler design standard, adopted, June 15, 1916, by the M.C.B. The two couplers accepted were the ''Malleable Castings Company Bazeley Coupler'', and the American Steel Foundries No.3 modified Alliance Coupler, out of nine couplers submitted to the committee as embodying the joint specification of design, The TYPE D coupler design based on ''The National Malleable Castings Bazeley Coupler ''patented designs and improvements was selected as the standard M.C.B Association's standard from 1918., after M.C.B. performance tested it along with the Type C designs.
The Type “D” Experimental Standard M.C.B. Coupler was unanimously recommended by the Master Car Builders Association and its Coupler Committee for adoption as the National/International (United States/Canadian) standard for coupler design and manufacturing specification uniformity by the M.C.B. Master Car Builders’ Association on June 15, 1916, after its 1915 Convention. This resulted in the sharing of U.S. Patent improvements and agreed to by The National Malleable Castings Company, Henry Pope President; The Buckeye Steel Castings Company, The Gould Coupler Company, American Steel Foundries and The Monarch Steel Castings Company, and to be the active standard M.C.B. D Type forward from January 1, 1918. Buckeye Steel Castings Company was founded in 1881 as the Murray-Hayden Foundry before changing to The Buckeye Automatic Car Coupler Company and in 2002 after filing bankruptcy was reformed as Columbus Castings.
Railway couplers were manufactured in accordance with the Standard Specifications of the AAR covering the purchase and acceptance of couplers, knuckles, locks and other working parts as shown in their "Mechanical Division Manual of Standards and Recommended Practice". Specifications as of March 1939 required that the fabrication casting material be of open hearth or electric furnace grade "B" steel with specific metallurgic requirements to insure proper tensile strength and reliability of the coupler and its moving parts. In order to govern uniform standards for the interchangeability and the proper relation between fitting parts, the A.R.A. Committee on Couplers and draft gears designed and distributed templates, gauges, and master guides to assure the proper interchangeability and fitting of parts to maintain the proper operation of various multi-source manufactured railway couplers.[The A.R.A. STANDARD Type "E" COUPLER March 1931, page 9]
Gallery
Image:Train coupling.jpg, Mated Janney Type E couplers, as seen from above. Left is top-operated on locomotives. Right is bottom-operated on cars
File:Tow hitch 5.jpg, AAR Type E coupler with top operator on mobile crane.
File:GNER-91116-coupling-01.jpg, "Drophead" coupler swung down reveals buffers and chain coupler on a British Rail Class 91.
File:SMS 301-coupler.jpg, AAR Type E couplers. Upper is bottom operated on car. Lower is top operated on locomotive
File:Railroad Coupling (CMRR).jpg, AAR Type E coupler (left) , MCB Type 5 coupler (right) required by 1893 Railroad Safety Appliance Act.
File:Northern-321901-coupling-02.jpg, AAR Type H coupler on British Rail Class 321 with full auto power and control connections.
File:AAR Type E couplers.jpg, Two AAR Type E couplers
Image:USAF aviation gas placard 160120-F-GU448-011.jpg, Type E double-shelf coupler on a tank car. The double shelf holds the pair of couplers in place in a derailment, which reduces the chance of the coupler puncturing the tank.
File:Railroad coupler.agr2.jpg, Two type E Janney couplers
See also
* Buckeye Steel Castings
* Draft gear
* Drawbar (haulage)
* Dual coupling
* Gangway connection
* Headstock (rolling stock)
* Jane's World Railways, lists the coupler(s) used on any railway system
* Railway coupling
A coupling or coupler is a mechanism, typically located at each end of a rolling stock, 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 m ...
* Railway coupling by country
* SA3 coupler
* Slack action
* South Station (Boston), includes a sculpture built of railroad car couplers
* Three-point hitch
* Tightlock coupling
References
External links
Trains (magazine)
Offset or gooseneck couplers
FREIGHT VEHICLE COUPLERS AND DRAFT GEAR
Adapter piece between Janney coupler
and SA3 coupler
Patent US1194109 A
Patent US1194110 A
Patent 643581 A
Double shelf coupler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janney Coupler
Couplers