IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY VEHICLES OR WAGONS
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Gardner at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 16th November 1876. Communicated from
abroad by Jacob Clark, of 10, Cité Trevise, Paris, France.
HENRY GARDNER, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166,
Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
CONNECTED WITH COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY VEHICLES OR WAGONS."
(Communicated from abroad by Jacob Clark, of 10, Cité Trevise, Paris, France.)
This Invention has for object coupling and uncoupling railway or tramway
vehicles or wagons of all kinds, in such manner that it is unnecessary for attendants
to run the risk and danger of having to go between the vehicles to couple or
uncouple them as at present. To effect this object a link of any desired length is
firmly fixed to a shaft or pin placed in the pin hole now used in ordinary hooks
for carrying the coupling links, and if motion is given to the shaft or pin the link
will move with it in the same direction. The link is formed so that it fits close
to the sides of the hook where it is attached to the shaft or pin, but so that it can
move freely in its bearing, and at the opposite end where it couples it is widened
out to form an open loop. The link is made of sufficient length to couple two
vehicles together when placed under the most disadvantageous or difficult circum-
stances, that is to say, when two vehicles come together having different lengths of
buffers, or when they are upon very sharp curves, or when the hook of one vehicle is
higher than the one adjacent to it.
Upon each end of the shaft or pin to which the link is fixed, it is preferred to
fix balance levers at a suitable angle, weight, length, and form, that when the link
is in action the tendency of the balance levers is to keep the link in proper position
and up to its work.
At the end of the vehicles levers are fixed, say, one on each side; these levers
are connected to suitable mechanism for the purpose of raising or lowering the link
to or from the hook to which it is coupled, and when the link is out of action it is
held by a catch or other fastening for holding it any desired position until it is
released, which can be effected by raising the lever at its extreme end which actuates
suitable mechanism for releasing the link, which then drops into its desired position
by the action of the balance levers, and when the levers are pressed down the link
is lifted off the hook and held by a catch until released.

page_text: Other methods may be adopted for accomplishing the same object, and in place
of the link being actuated by the balance levers a positive motion may be used to
force the link into the desired position..
In order to provide for the necessary amount of play required when the buffers
are in close contact, an inclined block is so fixed as to form an inclined plane at the
back part of the hook, or an inclined plane may be formed on the hook and draw
bar, or on the under side of the link, in such manner that when the link is out of
action, that is to say, hooked or held up, it will answer the same purpose as the
inclined block behind the hook, the incline may however be attached to the hook
and draw bar.
The hook and draw bar are brought forward a little, so that when the link is
lifted out of action it can take a vertical position or nearly so, or any position
desired, but the hooks are so arranged that when the buffers of the vehicles come
into contact the hooks do not touch each other.
The object of the inclined plane described is to allow the link to slide' up and
down it when the buffers come into contact or are drawn asunder. By this means
all the play necessary is provided for, and if found necessary the links may be so
locked after being placed in position for coupling that they cannot become detached
until released.
One most important advantage in this Invention is, the existing hooks and draw
bars can be used with little or no alteration.
In carrying out this Invention for use upon small wagons used in coal mines or
on tramways, it may be found advantageous to form the links and levers out of
one piece of metal, so that the lever and link is all in one piece, which can be
done by bending the ends in the proper positions after the loop is formed.
When the wagons or vehicles are of one uniform height, or nearly so, and it is
desired for them to couple automatically, stops are provided in the hooks or other-
wise, so that the link can only fall into such a position that when the link comes
into contact with the opposite hook it rides up the inclined end of the hook and
drops into position, and thus becomes coupled, but as it is necessary to place the
links in proper position for this purpose, it is preferred not to use them automatically
as the one operation is then sufficient, and this need only take place when the
vehicles are in contact or near enough to couple.
´in use.
In forming screw couplings a rigid link is made with a right and left-handed
screw passing between two screwed or threaded metal blocks or nuts as at present
These blocks are made of sufficient width to allow for a metal rod or bar
to pass through each end, and they are about the same length as the screw, so that
the two blocks are coupled together; bevel or other gearing is so fixed to the screw
and rods or bars that it can be actuated by a handle from either side of a vehicle
without going between.
In place of having only one rigid link, already described, arranged to slide up and
down an inclined plane, one or more jointed links may be fixed to the rigid link
fixed into the shaft or pin, and made in such manner that when it is lifted in one
direction, viz., upwards, the links are rigid, and when in action they are free to
become slack, and hang down and allow the buffers of the vehicles to come into
contact. When the links require to be disengaged from the hooks to which they
are attached, the shaft or pin to which the first link is fixed is moved by the levers
for actuating it, the links then become rigid and lift from the hooks in that state, or
they may also be used in connection with an inclined plane at the back part of the
hook as already described. By this arrangement it would allow of the links or
coupling being unhooked when the buffers are in contact, as the link upon the
hook being free it would slide up the inclined plane, but without which the link
would jam against the end of the vehicle, and could not be unhooked until vehicles
were drawn apart a suitable distance to allow of the links clearing.