Improvements in Coupling Railway Vehicles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 20th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coupling Railway Vehicles.
I, LEON PAUL CONARD of 11, Old North Street in the county of Middlesex,
engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to allow of the coupling of railway vehicles and of
the tubes of the brake and wires of communication, from outside, quicker and safer
than with the present system.
In carrying out my invention 1 suppress the handle fixed at the middle of the
coupling screw, and I fix two holders at the sides of the arms of the last link attached
to the coupling screw.
On each side of the drag hook of the coupling screw, I fix, to the cross beam of the
vehicle, two similar drag hooks to which are hinged two safety chains double in
lenght to those usually used. The extremity of these safety chains is arranged as a
double link which can slide on an axis.
A movable frame made of flat iron, so as to form a parallelogram, is mounted so
as to slide longitudinally under the vehicle; teeth are cut under one of the arms of
the movable frame, both arms of the movable frame aro turned up at right angle at
their extremity to receive horizontally a double axis. The last link of the coupling
screw is hinged to the inside axis and to the outside axis are connected the double
link of safety chain, as before mentioned.
A loose driving shaft is mounted transversally under the movable frame and
supported on each side and at its center with chairs. At each end of the shaft is
fixed a hand wheel, in such manner as to be easily handled from outside. A small
driving wheel, with a cone on one side is fixed on the shaft under the arm of the
movable frame; a conical screw, with a coupling box on one side, is fixed under the
other arm of the movable frame. A chain wheel, fixed on a coupling box, is mounted
loose on the shaft between the arms of the central chair. Two sharp edged grooves
are made out in the shaft. A movable stop plate is mounted sliding against the side
of one of the side chairs; at the upper part is made an opening smaller than the
diameter of the shaft; this opening, at its bottom part, is enlarged to allow the shaft
to pass through. A lever fixed on each side chair serves to actuate the movable
stop plate.
At the middle of the coupling screw, a chain wheel is fixed between the arms of a
movable chair; under and on both sides, two small rollers are mounted. A chain
is mounted over the chain wheel of the shaft and over the chain wheel of the coupling
screw, and is directed on this latter wheel by the rollers. A semi-circular guide is
fixed over the chain wheels so as to keep the chain engaged on the teeth of
the wheels.
To effect the coupling of railway vehicles it is necessary to turn the hand wheel of
the driving shaft till the movable frame brings the last link of the coupling screw and
the last links of the safety chains over the drag hooks of the opposite vehicle, the
operator will lift up the lever to free the shaft which he will pull afterwards in order
to engage the arms of the movable frame between the threads of the conical screw
and over the cone of the driving wheel. In the turning of the shaft, the movable
frame will come down and will engage the links inside the drag hooks; pulling again
he shaft, the driving wheel will clutch in the coupling box of the loose chain wheel;
hen after bringing down the lever, the operator will engage the stop plate in the.
groove of the shaft and he will turn the latter till the chain gives the coupling screw
he necessary tension.
In coupling the wires of communication to the tubes of the brake, in such a manner
s to put the wires in contact when the junction of the tubes is made, and in giving

page_text: more lenght to these tubes, from the outside the operator will easily took hold of
them with each hand and pull the tubes in such a way as to operate their
junction.
By means of this invention the coupling and uncoupling of railway vehicles may be
effected from the outside without any necessity from the part of the operator to get
between the vehicles.
The tightening up of the coupling screw can also be effected, firstly, with a chain
fixed, at one end, to a small bevil wheel commanded by another bevil wheel fixed on
the driving shaft; the other end of the chain fixed to a small wheel mounted in the
movable chair, under the wheel fixed on the coupling screw; or secondly, with a flat
chain mounted over the wheel of the shaft, and over another small wheel, coupled to
a propelling screw, which is mounted, in the movable chair, under a worm wheel
fixed on the coupling screw.
Dated this 20th 1
SAL
1
1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coupling Railway Vehicles.
I LEON PAUL CONARD of 11 Old North Street in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of my Invention is to provide an arrangement by means of which the
coupling and uncoupling of Railway vehicles and of the brake hoses and wires of
communication can be effected from outside in a much quicker and safer manner
than with the present system.
My Invention will be best understood by means of the Drawings which accompany
this specification and in which
Fig. 1 is an inverted plan view of the underframes of two railway vehicles fitted
with my new coupling arrangement.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the underframe which is provided with the new
arrangement.
Fig. 3 is a cross section of the other underframe through line X X fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal elevation of the two underframes and shows the position of
the apparatus when the link of the coupling is about to be dropped into the
corresponding draw hook.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section showing the link of the coupling in its position
previous to screwing tightly the latter.
Fig. 6 shows the coupling rack which forms one of the essential features of my
invention.
Fig. 7 shows the shaft working the aforesaid rack.
The improved coupling arrangement consists of
1st. The screw coupling A which is of the usual kind (Figs. 1. 4 and 5).
2nd. Two safety links B connected with each other by means of the aforesaid
ordinary screw coupling A (figs. 1 and 4).
3rd. A forked rack C and its guides D D' (figs. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 and 6).
4th. A driving shaft F, hangers H and H and H' spur wheels and eccentrics J
and a roller stop K (figs. 1. 4. 5 and 7).
5th. A tightening gear constituted by two flat link chains L actuated by the
wheel M, a worm and worm wheel P encased in a movable support O (figs. 1
and 5).
In carrying out this Invention the usual pendant lever of the ordinary screw
coupling is dispensed with and that part of the screw to which it is attached is
provided with a shoulder.
Two wrought iron sleeves R provided with suitable trunnions (figs. 1. 4 and 5) are

page_text: applied hot on the link of the screw coupling, so that they may thoroughly embrace
it in cooling.
The usual safety chains are in this invention replaced by two safety links B con-
nected with each other by means of the screw coupling and jointed to the latter by
means of trunnions provided on the nuts of the right and left handed screws (figs. 1.
and 4). The links B are also provided at one end with an elongated slot, to allow
the free travel of the trunnions of one of the nuts of the screw coupling.
The forked rack C consists of two bars of flat iron, parallel to each other and united
at the rear end by a cross stay and two angle irons (fig. 6). The underside of the
flat iron bars is provided with teeth and at the front end the bars have holes through
which the trunnions of the aforesaid sleeves R pass. As shown in fig. 4 the front
extremities of the two flat iron bars are curved upwards, and inwards towards each
other as shown in fig. 6. The front guides D of the forked rack are open from top to
bottom and are shaped like a fork. The rear guides D¹ are provided with rollers R
so as to allow the racks to move easily and freely within them (figs. 4 and 5). The
guides D and D¹ are attached respectively to the head stock and longitudinals of the
underframes.
The driving shaft F is cylindrical. Each of its extremities is provided with a
square. One of the longitudinal edges of the square portions of this shaft has a
notch S cut in it for the purpose hereinafter described. The shaft F is furthermore
provided with two grooves K¹ into which the roller stop K can enter.
The spur wheels J which actuate the forked rack Chave cast on one of their faces
eccentrics or cams the purpose of which is to lower or raise the said rack so as to
couple or uncouple the vehicles. The wheels J are fixed on the shaft F below the
bars constituting the forked rack C. A crank T having its neck provided with a
square hole is slipped on the square end of the shaft.
This crank is provided with a spring catch S¹ the hooked end of which can drop
into the aforesaid notch S thus allowing of the driving shaft F being imparted a
longitudinal as well as a rotary motion (fig. 1). The hangers H, H¹ are forked and
attached to the underside of the longitudinals and receive between their legs steps of
suitable shape kept in position by means of bolts. A roller stop K is adapted within
the hanger H. A central hanger H2 cast with a semi-circular guide for the flat
link chains L is fixed by means of bolts to one of the slabs constituting guide D¹
of forked rack C.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the shaft F runs transversely
below the forked rack and the spur wheels on the shaft cause the latter to advance
or recede whilst the cams or eccentrics cast on the said spur wheels lower or
raise it.
The wheel M driving the flat link chains forms a socket and is kept in position in
the central hanger H by means of a set screw entering a groove formed in the socket
through which the shaft F can move lengthwise. The throwing into gear of wheels M
with the shaft is effected by means of a feather fixed to the shaft and capable of
entering a longitudinal groove or key bed made in the socket or boss of wheel M.
The worm wheel P is keyed on to the middle of the ordinary coupling screw. It
is actuated by a worm provided at each of its extremities with pinions over which the
flat link chains are running. The worm is kept in place by a cage or bracket O
capable of moving lengthwise. This cage or bracket O consists of two halves bolted
together one of these halves forming a semi-circular guide for the purpose of main-
taining the chains on their respective pinions. The lower end of the movable
bracket extends beyond the sides so as to be guided between the legs of the
forked rack.
By giving a suitable length to the brake hoses and connecting the latter with the
communication wires, the shunter will be enabled to effect at the same time the con-
nection of the brake apparatus and the necessary contact to close the communication
circuit without having to introduce himself between the two vehicles.
The mode of action of my invention is as follows:-
When it is desired to couple up a vehicle with another, the crank T is slipped on

page_text: one of the square ends of the shaft F the rotation of which causes the forked rack C,
to advance along with the screw coupling A so that the link of of the latter comes
above the draw hook of the next carriage (fig. 4). The operator then draws the
shaft F towards himself, thereby lifting the racks out of gear with the teeth of the
spur wheels J, care being taken to keep the eccentric portion of the latter wheels in
an upward position so that the legs of the forked rack may engage in the said
eccentric portion. If now the shaft is further rotated, the aforesaid eccentrics cause
the outer end of the forked rack to come down so that the link of the screw coupling
drops into the draw hook, whilst the inner end rests and can slide on the roller R
fitted in the rear guide O. A further pull on the shaft towards the operator throws
the shaft into gear with the chain driving wheel, the roller stop K in hanger H¹ then
enters one of the grooves K¹ of the shaft F so as to keep it in position. The shaft is
again rotated and the flat link chains now actuate the worm and worm wheel in
movable bracket O so that the necessary tightening of the coupling can be effected.
The great advantage of this improved coupling is that it is readily adapted to
existing screw coupling arrangements without entailing any alteration in the carriage
underframe.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
An improved device by means of which the coupling and uncoupling of railway
vehicles can be effected from outside, said device consisting of a fork carrying the
usual screw coupling for the purpose of bringing it on to the opposite hook of the
next vehicle this fork being provided with racks which are actuated by spur wheels
keyed on a transverse shaft supported by brackets fixed to the underside of the frame
of the vehicle and susceptible of receiving an endwise motion and of imparting by
means of cams a lifting motion and subsequently a lowering one to the said fork, and
finally of communicating by means of central spur wheels and flat link chains a
rotary motion to a worm and worm wheel attached to the aforesaid usual screw
coupler substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
Dated this 20th day of August 1889
L. P. CONARD,
72, Tynemouth Road, The Green, South Tottenham, N.