12.1), there is an orifice (12.4) for the mounting of the valve (13).

The function of this carriage (12) is to approach or move away the front contact surfaces of the pneumatic and electrical connection modules when the two coupler mechanisms of two adjacent wagons are facing each other. This is performed when the heads (1) are already coupled, by means of a movement of the carriage (12) in the direction of the path of the vehicle and in one direction or the other depending on whether the wagon is at the front or at the rear.

This movement is going to be identified as approaching movement which allows the corresponding surfaces of both carriages (12) to make contact, in order to carry out the electrical, the data and the pneumatic connection. Furthermore, this movement is also responsible for interrupting these connections, by means of a movement of the carriage (12) in a direction opposite to the direction of approach which will be identified as retraction movement. These movements, in addition to enabling or interrupting these connections, have the function of protecting the contact surfaces of these connection elements from the transversal movements that take place between the coupler heads (1) during the coupling and uncoupling process.

The approaching and retraction movement of each carriage (12) is guided by means of a pair of guide shafts (15), the theoretical longitudinal axes of which are paraxial to the theoretical longitudinal axis of the coupler head. The approaching movement of the carriage (12) is driven by means of a device using springs (16) or by any other analogue conventional solution.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 9, the pair of guide shafts (15) cross a part identified with the numerical reference (28) which makes up the frame of the guide shafts (15) of the carriage (12).

The retraction movement of the carriage (12) is performed by means of a cable, chain or similar. According to a non-limiting practical exemplary embodiment, represented in FIGS. 6 and 7, and in the detail of FIG. 8, a cable (17) is used which on one end, see FIG. 8, is coupled to the rear portion of the carriage (12), but it can further be coupled to another point of the carriage (12).

The other end of the cable (17) is connected to a connecting rod (18) integral to the rotation shaft of the mechanism of the coupler head (1); such that when the uncoupling lever (10) is acted upon and a rotation is generated in the shaft of the mechanism of the head (1), the uncoupling of the fixing element of the coupler is carried out and, at the same time, the cable (17) is tensioned, generating the retraction movement of the carriage (12), and removing the pneumatic and electrical connection elements, thus interrupting the pneumatic and electrical connection between vehicles.

The cable (17) has guide elements, which can be made up of pulleys (19 and 22) or equivalent elements, which fulfil the function of guides, but they also maintain the tension thereof during the whole coupling operation sequence.

According to a non-limiting practical exemplary embodiment, represented in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the pulley (22) is mounted on a fixed shaft; while the shaft of the pulley (19) is mounted on a mobile connecting rod (20), arranged in a bracket (21), wherein a spring (23) is mounted which provides the mobile connection rod (20) with a floating arrangement, tensioned by the spring (23). In this way, both in the approaching movement and in the retraction movement of the carriage (12), the cable (17) is always kept properly tensioned.

It has been envisaged that this tensioning of the cable (17) can be carried out by means of other configurations such as, for example, a system that drives the pulley (19) linearly with elastic means that provide it with that floating mount.

As a variant of practical embodiment, alternatives are further envisaged that use these devices in an inverse manner, that is, a cable (17), chain or similar that drives the carriage towards the approaching position thereof and devices which use springs (16), either by compression or traction or even other equivalent means that drive the carriage (12) towards the retraction position thereof.

In order to protect the electrical, data and pneumatic connection systems from the relative movements between the coupler heads (1), the carriage (12), in addition to the forward and retraction movement, has a mounting system that provides it with certain floating elastic play, with a limited capacity of vertical and horizontal movement, according to two orthogonal axes, contained in a plane transverse to the theoretical longitudinal axis of the coupler head. One of the axes is oriented according to the vertical direction and the other according to the horizontal one.

This mounting system is arranged between the carriage (12) and the fixed portion wherein the carriage (12) is mounted, fixed portion that is connected to the structure of the coupler head (1).

According to a non-limiting practical embodiment, this mounting system of the carriage (12) is determined by means of springs, but it will be also possible to carry it out by means of other solutions, such as for example, silent-block elastic elements or other conventional means which provide a mounting of the carriage (12) with the possibility of certain floating elastic play.

The arrangement of the vertical mounting system may comprise two, four or more springs. According to a preferred practical embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 9, two pairs of springs (24 and 25) are arranged in relation to each side of the carriage (12). According to this embodiment, a preload of each pair of springs (24 and 25) is established; such that they both work by compression, under the same load, in the nominal mounting position. In this way, when there is a vertical movement, one is loaded and the other is unloaded. The aim is to maintain a characteristic curve, as symmetrical as possible, in both directions of movement.

The horizontal mounting system admits the same variants of embodiment as the vertical one and the aim thereof is to perform a push or traction stress on specific surfaces of the carriage (12). According to a preferred embodiment, it comprises a pair of cartridges (26) on each side of the carriage (12), as shown in FIGS. 5 and 9.

FIG. 10a shows how each cartridge (26) is made up of a body (26.1), wherein a spring (26.3) is mounted, which is arranged between a rear lid (26.4) and a push piston (26.2).

As shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 9, there are guide parts identified with the numerical reference (27) which are fixed to the lower portion of the coupler head (1). The morphology of these guide parts (27) which is shown in FIG. 11 is defined by a body (27.1) of a “C” upper plan and a cantilevered projection (27.2) in the central area thereof, wherein the respective ends of the springs (24 and 25) fit in.

The shaft of the springs (24 and 25) is fixed on the upper portion thereof to a plate (28.1) integral to the support frame (28) of the guide shafts (15) of the carriage (12) and on the lower portion it is also similarly fixed to the support frame (28).

The support frame (28) is, on the ends thereof, guided in vertical and horizontal direction in the guide parts (27) integral to the coupler head (1), see FIG. 12; all of this enables a mounting of the carriage (12) with possibility of movement along the guide shafts (15) supported by the frame (28) and also a floating and damped movement, with a limited path, of the carriage (12) in vertical and horizontal direction, along axes contained in a plane transverse to the direction of movement of the wagon.

As shown in FIG. 11, rebar spacers (29) of low friction plastic or metal material are arranged between the support frame (28) and the guide parts (27), for improving the sliding therebetween. To the same end, it has been envisaged that the tip of the head of the piston (26.2) of the cartridges (26) is made of low friction plastic or metal material.

This vertical and horizontal mounting system of the carriage (12) maintains it in the centred position thereof, with respect to the vertical and transversal movements that this mounting system allows. In this way, when the coupler head (1) is in uncoupled position, the mounting system takes the carriage (12) to the central position thereof, in horizontal direction and also in vertical direction, having certain capacity for elastic movement in both directions, in each direction of the allowed movement. This limited capacity of elastic movement translates into a floating mount which is key to being able to incorporate a pneumatic and electrical connections module to a Willison type coupler head or the SA-3 Russian variant thereof.

Actually, the large mechanical gaps existing between the coupler heads (1) of the goods wagons, when they are in the coupled position, allow high relative movements between the coupler heads (1). In order to maintain the connections between the pneumatic and electrical modules of both couplers, it is necessary to have a system such as that of the present invention, which allows certain floating elastic play to the connection modules and disconnects them from the relative movements between the heads (1).

In order to make the surfaces of the pneumatic and electrical connection elements coincide, between two couplers facing each other, the carriage (12) has centring means, made up of a male element (30), based on a cylindrical geometry, with the free end thereof finishing with a semi-spherical or conical shape, and a female element (31), with a conical receiving geometry, followed by a cylindrical bore, see FIG. 12.

As part of the pneumatic connection module, there is a shut-off or isolation valve (13) formed by a surrounding body that can be made of one single part or several parts and that will be identified as casing (32), inside of which a sliding part is housed, as a tappet (33) which has the function of slider to perform the sealing and closing, or allowing the passage of air, as necessary in each case, see FIG. 15.

The valve (13) has three chambers therein, a front one (34), in the area of the nozzle (40), another central one (35), which is connected to an outlet conduit (37) and a rear one (36), the function of which consists of performing the pressure compensation, in order to avoid making great switching stress, when working against the pressure of the air. For this, the tappet (33) has a central conduit of communication, between the front chamber (34) and the rear one (36).

A compression spring (38), installed in the rear portion, pushes the tappet (33) to the forwardmost position thereof, which is the rest position and prior to the coupling process. This pressure exerted by the spring (38) is further used to secure the sealing between the nozzles (40) of the valves (13), for which these nozzles (40) further incorporate an elastomer element at the end thereof.

When the valve (13) is actuated by applying external force on the front nozzle (40), the tappet (33) moves towards the rear portion, against the action of the respective spring (38) thereof, communicating the front chamber (34) with the central chamber (35) by means of the loss of contact of a central gasket (39) with the closing surface thereof. In this position, the air passes from the front chamber (34) to the central chamber (35) and from this chamber to the outlet conduit (37).

At the same time, during the process of moving the tappet (33), interlocking is performed, by means of a locking system of the valve (13), which prevents the tappet (33) from returning to the original position thereof. This blocking system is made up of a retention element (42), preferably in the shape of a retention pin, which, by means of a preload system, fits on a recessed surface (41) in the contour of the tappet (33).

This locking system is necessary, for the possible case of a failure occurring in the mechanical coupling and the physical connection being interrupted between, for example, two wagons of the vehicle. In this case, the function of the valve (13) is to communicate the Automatic Brake Pipe (ABP) of the wagon to the atmosphere. Therefore, in this case, the front chamber (34), the outlet of which connects to the vehicle, remains in a communicated position with the central chamber (35), expelling air stream to the atmosphere through the outlet conduit (37) and lowering the air pressure on the brake pipe.

However, when an intentional uncoupling operation is sought to be performed, this communication must not exist, and the valve (13) must close the passage of air from the central chamber (35) to the front chamber (34) by means of closing the central gasket (39).

In order to return the tappet (33) to the original position thereof, there is a mechanism, made up of a rocker arm (43) with an oblong slot (43.1), wherein a single-piece rod (45) is housed that on the closest end thereof to the valve (13) is related to the retention element (42). The rocker arm (43) is related in turn to an inclined ramp (44) which is fixed with respect to the valve (13), see FIGS. 13, 14 and 16.

When the carriage (12) moves the valve (13) in the retraction direction, the inclined ramp (44) makes contact with the end of the rocker arm (43), which translates into the movement of the latter and with it, the movement of the part (45) that removes the retention element (42) from the housing thereof in the recessed surface (41) of the contour of the tappet (33), position that corresponds to that represented in