Improvements in Locking and Unlocking the Doors of Railway and other Carriages.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 14th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 18th Sept., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Locking and Unlocking the Doors of Railway and
other Carriages.
I MATTHEW THOMAS of 47 Tideswell Road Eastbourne in the County of Sussex Fly
Proprietor do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to provide simple and cheap means for locking and
unlocking the doors of railway carriages throughout a train at once and by one
motion of the guard or other person in an extremely sure certain and efficacious
manner which will also be applicable to and with other carriages motor-cars and the
like.
To carry out this object say for example in a railway train I provide in a certain
convenient part thereof a reservoir which can in any suitable manner be filled
preferably with air under pressure although steam or any other convenient
liquid or fluid or gas or the like may when desired be similarly used. From this
receptacle a pipe is led to the next carriage and from that to the next carriage and
so on any ordinary or other unions or similar devices being provided and fitted in the
pipe between the carriages so that they can be disconnected and separated as is
customarily requisite at times. To cach carriage door in any convenient position in
respect of the same is fitted on or in the body of such carriage a sliding bolt or bar
which is properly mounted in a cylinder a piston or the like on the inner end of the
bolt tightly fitting this cylinder and the rear end of the cylinder behind the piston
is connected by a branch pipe with the main pipe aforesaid. In the main pipe it
may be in the guard's van or elsewhere convenient for the manipulation or actuation
by the person who is to operate this apparatus is fitted a valve which can admit the
air or other liquid or fluid under pressure into the main pipe and near thereto
preferably is also fitted in the main pipe another valve which can allow the air or
other liquid or fluid to escape from the main pipe and these two valves are most
conveniently connected together by any suitable devices in such wise that when one
is closed the other is opened and vice versa.
Therefore when the air or other liquid or fluid under pressure is admitted by the
valve into the main pipe it passes through each branch pipe into the cylinder
connected therewith behind the piston and forces the same out whereby the bolt or
bar that carries this piston engages in or with the door of the carriage and locks the
same in the ordinary or other manner as is desired. The air or other liquid or fluid
under pressure can then by the valve be allowed to escape from the main pipe and
therefore also from all the branch pipes and cylinders whereby the pistons and their
bolts or bars are free to retire and release the doors being preferably forced so to do
by coiled or other springs properly applied either to the pistons or to the bolts or
bars.
According to this arrangement the cylinders are single-acting but they may be
made double-acting by duplicating the pipes and thus causing the air or other liquid
or fluid under pressure to retire and disengage the pistons and bolts or bars as well
as to be engaged and be forced out as aforesaid.
The cylinders and the bolts or bars may be arranged horizontally to engage the

page_text: handle of such door B is placed near the free vertical side edge thereof is fitted on or
in the body of such carriage a small horizontal cylinder D in which can move in the
usual manner a piston E the rod F whereof can pass out of the front end of the
cylinder D or that is to say that end thereof that faces the free vertical side edge of
the door B and can enter a corresponding socket II in such free vertical side edge
whereby this rod I can act as a sliding and locking bolt or bar and the rear end of the
cylinder D behind the piston E is in cominunication with the main pipe A through
and by a branch pipe K. The normal position of the sliding bolt F is the retired
position in which it does not enter the socket H and thus lock the door B and this
position can very conveniently be assumed and maintained by the action of a coiled
spring M fitted in the usual manner inside the cylinder D round the rod Fand applied
in compression to the piston E.
In the main pipe A near the receptacle or reservoir it may be in the guard's van
or compartment in the front part of the train or elsewhere as may in each case be
convenient for the manipulation or actuation of the same by the person who is
intended to operate this apparatus is fitted a valve N which can admit the air under
pressure into this main pipe A and near thereto on that side thereof that is the
farther from the receptacle or reservoir is also fitted another valve P preferably in a
branch pipe R in communication with the main pipe A so that the How of the air
under pressure through such main pipe A will not be interrupted or impeded
which valve P can allow the air under pressure to escape from the main pipe A.
These two valves N and P are most conveniently and preferably connected together
it may be by the levers and rods T, V and W in such wise that as and when the one
valve is closed the other valve is opened and vice versa and thus only one motion of
the guard or other person will suffice to operate this apparatus.
Therefore when the air under pressure is admitted by the valve N into the main
pipe A (the escape valve P being closed) it passes through each branch pipe K to its
cylinder D and forces the piston E out against its spring M whereby the bolt F is
caused to enter the socket H as is shewn in Figure 2 and the door B is duly locked
and cannot be opened. Then the air under pressure can by the valve P be allowed to
escape from the main pipe A (the admission valve N being closed) and therefore also
from each branch pipe K and cylinder D and the spring M forces the piston E back
whereby the bolt F is retired from the socket H and the door B is released and
unlocked and can be opened. Thus the locking or the unlocking of all the doors or of
such of them as are provided with this apparatus will obviously be effected simul-
taneously or very nearly so throughout the length of the train it inay preferably be by
one motion of the guard or other person.
According to this arrangement as hereinbefore described and shewn in the accom-
panying drawing it is obvious that the cylinders D are " single-acting" but it is also
evident that they can easily be made "double-acting" by duplicating the aforesaid
arrangement of pipes and leading the additional series of pipes K to the other ends of
the cylinders D and thus causing the air under pressure to force the pistons E back
and to retire the bolts F from the sockets H as well as to force the pistons E out and
to enter the bolts F in the sockets H as herein before described. In this case as is
obvious the springs M would not necessarily be needed. The two valves N and P
that similarly govern the additional main pipe A could very conveniently and
preferably be connected with the valves N and P hereinbefore described in such wise
that all four valves would work together by one motion of the guard or other person
in their proper respective conditions.
Again the pipe R may be connected with an exhaust pump or with an exhausted
receptacle or reservoir or vacuum chamber on the locomotive engine or elsewhere and
thus the vacuum created in the pipes A and K by the opening of the valve P would
draw the pistons E back and retire the bolts F from the sockets H. In this case also
as is obvious the springs M would not necessarily be needed.
In a somewhat similar or corresponding manner this apparatus could evidently be
arranged when it may be desired that the sliding and locking bolts should engage
the horizontal top or bottom edges of the doors instead of the free vertical side edges