Railway coupling

A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the track gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.

The equipment that connects the couplings to the rolling stock is known as the draft gear.

Nomenclature

The different types of coupling do not always have formal or official names, which makes descriptions of the couplings in use on any railway system problematic.

Buffers and chain

The standard type of coupling on railways following the British tradition is the buffer and chain coupling used on the pioneering Planet class locomotive of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 1830. These couplings followed earlier tramway practice but were made more regular. The vehicles are coupled by hand using a hook and links with a turnbuckle that draws the vehicles together. In Britain, this is called a screw coupling. Vehicles have buffers, one at each corner on the ends, which are pulled together and compressed by the coupling device. This arrangement limits the slack in trains and lessens shocks. The earliest buffers were fixed extensions of the wagon frames, but later spring buffers were introduced.

BSI

BSI may refer to:

Iniparib

Iniparib (previously BSI 201) (4-iodo-3-nitrobenzamide) was a drug candidate for cancer treatment. It was originally believed to act as an irreversible inhibitor of PARP1 (hence, a PARP inhibitor) and possibly other enzymes through covalent modification, but its effects against PARP were later disproven. It underwent clinical trials for treatment of some types of breast cancer, but was discontinued after disappointing Phase III clinical trials.

History

Iniparib was the first putative PARP inhibitor to commence phase III clinical trials. The first was for breast cancer, another was for squamous cell lung cancer. Preliminary results in June 2009 on triple-negative breast cancer were promising. Later results showed increased median survival of triple negative breast cancer patients from 7.7 to 12.2 months.

In 2009, the FDA began fast-tracking the New Drug Application of iniparib for triple-negative breast cancer. However, Phase III results disclosed in January 2011 were disappointing.

Business routes of Interstate 35

There are thirteen business routes of Interstate 35: nine (plus two former business routes) are in Texas, two are in Iowa, and two are in Minnesota.

Texas

Laredo business spur

Business Spur 35 in Laredo, Texas, inventoried by TxDOT as Business Interstate Highway No. 35-A, has a "dangling end", running from the end of the I-35 to the downtown area in Laredo and into Gateway to the Americas International Bridge, continuing south as Mexico Federal Highway 85. The route is 3.4 miles (5.5 km) long.

In Laredo, I-35 Business runs from its junction with I-35 southward along San Bernardo Ave to Houston St; thence westward along Houston St to Salinas Ave; thence southward along Salinas Ave to the U.S. Customs Port-of-Entry; thence northward along Convent Ave to Matamoros St; and thence eastward along Matamoros St to the junction of I-35 and US 83.

Travelers going south on I-35 in Laredo can take one of two toll international bridges across the Rio Grande and the Mexican border—straight ahead into Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, or via I-35 Business through downtown Laredo into Gateway to the Americas International Bridge.

Coupling

A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded.

The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end movement or both. By careful selection, installation and maintenance of couplings, substantial savings can be made in reduced maintenance costs and downtime.

Uses

Shaft couplings are used in machinery for several purposes. The most common of which are the following.

Coupling (physics)

In physics, two systems are coupled if they are interacting with each other. Of special interest is the coupling of two (or more) vibratory systems (e.g. pendula or resonant circuits) by means of springs or magnetic fields, etc. Characteristic for a coupled oscillation is the effect of beat.

The concept of coupling is particularly important in physical cosmology, in which various forms of matter gradually decouple and recouple between each other.

Coupling is also important in physics for the generation of plasmas. In electrical discharges, the coupling of an exciting field and a medium creates plasmas. The quality of the coupling of an exciting field of given frequency to a charged particle depends on resonance.

See also

Coupling (electronics)

In electronics and telecommunication, coupling is the desirable or undesirable transfer of energy from one medium, such as a metallic wire or an optical fiber, to another medium.

Coupling is also the transfer of electrical energy from one circuit segment to another. For example, energy is transferred from a power source to an electrical load by means of conductive coupling, which may be either resistive or hard-wire.  An AC potential may be transferred from one circuit segment to another having a DC potential by use of a capacitor.  Electrical energy may be transferred from one circuit segment to another segment with different impedance by use of a transformer. This is known as impedance matching. These are examples of electrostatic and electrodynamic inductive coupling.

Types of coupling

Electrical conduction:

Electromagnetic induction: