IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING THE SAME
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES
AND CARRIAGES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING THE SAME."-A com-
munication from abroad by Ludwig Becker, of Vienna, Austria,
Chief Engineer of the Austrian Northern Railway.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th December 1874.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY
ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING THE SAME," a
communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means and apparatus whereby, firstly, the
O screws of railway couplings can be slackened or tightened; and secondly,

page_text: whereby both screw and link couplings can be coupled or uncoupled
without the operator having to go under or stand between the carriages
or wagons.
By the employment of the arrangements described in the following
such service can be done more rapidly and without danger, while stronger
and more durable couplings are at the same time obtained.
In the case of a screw coupling the spindle of the screw of the same
is at the centre of its length, cut with ratchet teeth similar to those used
in an ordinary ratchet brace. Or such a ratchet wheel may be made
separate and be keyed or otherwise fixed on the said screw. Into these
teeth there catches a double ratchet fitted with short arms and turning
on a pin. The whole, except the arms, which are visible from the
outside, is enclosed within a casing containing a spring. This spring
determines the position of the ratchet, according as the
horizontally or are pressed down to the right or the left.
wheel turns against gun metal washers held within the casing, and the
outside of the casing itself is fitted with a notch or stop on cach side in
order to determine the stroke of the ratchet brace.
arms are set
The ratchet:
The casing containing the ratchet apparatus is further fitted with a
ring or eye or hook, or any other suitable form of catch for taking a
hook or fork or other suitable implement in order to work the ratchet
to and fro. With the link couplings this cyc or ring or other suitable
form of catch is fixed by any well-known means on the foremost.
link.
The apparatus for keeping the nuts from turning round on the screws 2
consists of a plate carrying at its two ends an eye, into which fit both
the turned down ends of the screws. One of the eyes of the said plate
is made with side projections sufficiently wide to be caught by one of
the links.
The handle or rod for working the ratchet is cither of wood or of a 3
piece of gas tube, and it carries at one of its ends a hook or other form
of catch suitably shaped for taking hold of the eye, or other suitable
form of catch fitted to the end of the ratchet. This rod can be propped..
upon one of the buffers in order to raise any one of the couplings, as
described.
3

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 3rd June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
oxccutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES AND CARRIAGES, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR ADJUSTING THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad by Ludwig
Becker, of Vienna, Austria, Chief Engineer of the Austrian Northern
Railway, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings forming a part of this Specification :-
This Invention relates to means and apparatus whereby, firstly, the
screws of railway couplings can be slakened or tightened; and secondly,
whereby both screw and link couplings can be coupled or uncoupled

page_text: without the operator having to go under or stand between the carriages
or waggons.
By the employment of the arrangements hercin-after described such
service can be done more rapidly than heretofore and without danger,
while stronger and more durable couplings are at the same time
obtained.
In the case of a screw coupling the spindle of the screw of the same
is at the centre of its length cut with ratchet teeth similar to those used
in an ordinary ratchet brace. Or such a ratchet wheel may be made
Into these
separate, and be keyed or otherwise fixed on the said screw.
teeth there catches a ratchet fitted with short arms and turning on a pin.
The whole, except the arms, which are visible from the outside, is
enclosed within a casing containing a spring. This spring determines
the position of the ratchet, according as the arms are set horizontally or
are pressed down to the right or the left. The ratchet whcel turns
against gun metal washers held within the casing, and the outside of the
said casing is fitted with a notch or stop on each side in order to
determine the stroke of the ratchet brace.
The casing containing the ratchet apparatus is moreover fitted with a
ring, eye, or hook, or other suitable catch for taking a hook or fork or
With the
other suitable implement to work the ratchet to and fro.
link couplings this eye or ring or other catch is fixed by any well-known
means on the foremost link.
The apparatus for keeping the nuts from turning round on the screws
consists of a plate carrying at its ends an eye, into which fit both the
turned down ends of the screw. One of the eyes of the said plate is
made with side projections sufficiently wide to be caught by one of the
links.
The hand or rod for working the ratchet is either of wood or of gas
piping, and it carries at one of its ends a hook or other catch suitably
shaped for taking hold of the eye or other suitable catch fitted to the
end of the ratchet. This rod can be propped upon one of the buffers in
order to raise any one of the couplings, as described.
•
I will now proceed to more fully explain the said Invention by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings.
Sheets 1 and 2 respectively shew separate modifications, slightly
differing in detail, of my improvements.

page_text: On Sheet 1, Figures 1, 2, and 3 (and Figures 4, 5, and 6), shew a
form of coupling, in which A is the ratchet arrangement fitted with the
lugs x, y, and oscillating on the pin d, the whole being contained within
the casing . An adjustable stud carried by a spiral spring m determines
the position of the double ratchet. The outer casing contains the gun-
metal washers 1, 1, and at each side are lugs z, z, to determine the
amount of oscillation or stroke of the ratchet apparatus. B is a ring
for taking the hooked handle D, Figure 7, for working the ratchet to
and fro.
Other forms of this portion of the apparatus as adapted to chain
couplings are shewn in Figures 8, 9, and 10, being also clearly intelligible
on the Drawings without further explanation.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3 is also indicated the plan employed for pre-
venting the turning of the nuts of the screw coupling around on the
screw spindle, C being a plate with its ends c¹, c", bent round and fitted
into the turned-down ends of the screw spindle. The end c¹ is the one
caught by the link, and the plate bears at g, g, on the nuts.
The rod or handle D is shewn in Figure 7, 7 being the hooked or
other form of end, sundry other shapes of which are indicated in
Figure 14, while other suitable shapes for the appropriate eye on the
ratchet are shewn in Figure 13.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 illustrate a similar coupling to that just described,
but with the relative portions of the ratchet and the nut locking arrange-
ment reversed, the latter being to a slight extent differently shaped.
It is in addition fitted at one end with an eye B for the reception of the
hooked handle.
Figure 12 is a plan of the two ends of the pair of carriages with the
rod hooked into the eye of the ratchet apparatus and propped by the
operator on one of the buffers.
On Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, and 3 shew a side elevation, a cross section,
and a plan of a form of coupling, in which A is the portion to be taken
by the hooked handle, Figure 9, in order that the coupling may be
lifted up or directed to the left or right, or otherwise, as indicated in
Figure 10. B is the ratchet apparatus fitted towards the centre of the
screw. a is the casing containing the double ratchet with its arm cable
to oscillate on the pin b. By means of the adjustable stud d, which is
kept down by the spiral spring e, the ratchet can be set in the required

page_text: positions for catching into the teeth cut lengthwise on the screw spindle.
The amount of movement is regulated by the lugs g, g. The to-and-fro
motion of the ratchet apparatus is effected by means of the same hooked
rod (Figure 9) on its being caused to take hold of the eye c. C is the
plate, the ends of which are bent back to fit into the ends of the screw
spindle in order to prevent the slackening of the nuts. The front end h¹
is sufficiently wide to bear against the front link, so that the same can
.rest thereon.
•
In cases wherein two screw couplings of a pair of carriages are fitted,
as shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 6, the pair of links i, i, are to be set at a
greater width. In other respects the only modifications are the
following: The ratchet apparatus B is fitted with a crooked piece A,
and is set with the top side upward. The plate C is fixed at its front
end to a cranked lever fitted with a hinge, and on this hinge is a
catch with a pair of claws 8, 8, having a crooked head A¹, the extent of
whose motion is also determined by lugs. On this head A¹ being caught
by the hooked rod (Figure 9) the claws 8, 8, lift up the front coupling
link, bringing it into such a position that it can be easily adjusted in the
manner described.
Figures 7 and 8 indicate linked couplings, in which the part A. some-
what differs in shape from those in Sheet 1 of the Drawings.
Figure 10 shews the hooked rod propped on one of the buffers, and in
the act of being employed to raise or prise up the coupling.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I
wish it understood that I claim, the mode of constructing the couplings
of railway rolling stock, and the apparatus for adjusting the same, essen-
tially as described and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sow
Witness,
HENRY L. BAILEY,
W. ROB. LAKE. (L.S.)