Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Apr., 1888
Specification Accepted, 8th June, 1888
I JEAN BRANDY of No. 38, rue du Mont Thabor, Paris in the Republic of France,
Gentleman 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 :—
This invention consists in improvements in automatic coupling apparatus for railway
carriages such as that described in the specification of an English patent dated
May 8th 1885 No. 5690.
These improvements have for their object the rapid withdrawal of the bolt and the
automatic lifting of the link bar, by means of a transverse rod, which is furnished
with special appliances, and receives a rotary motion instead of a rectilinear
movement.
The apparatus thus modified will always have its link bar lowered when uncoupled;
which facilitates greatly the handling of single carriages, and avoids breakages, sinco
this bar, when lowered, will not extend beyond the buffers of the carriage, besides
which, a greater security will result to the employés, as they will not have to pass
between the carriages for the purpose of raising or lowering a bar overlooked by the
attendant.
The operation of the apparatus is rendered absolutely automatic, as will be readily
understood by the annexed drawing, to which the following description refers :-
Fig. 1 shows in front view the coupling apparatus as fixed to the end of a carriage
between the two buffers.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken
in the line 1, 2 of Fig. 2.
The box A B, in cast iron, bronze, or steel, receives, as formerly, in one of its
compartiments, the spring bolt D, held back out of action by the hinged flap v, and in
the other compartment the link bar C, which swings on the pin d.
Above the box A B, and transversely of the carriage end, is mounted the rod T,
furnished with hand wheels p, to which rod a rotary movement is imparted (instead of
a rectilinear movement). Upon the rod is formed a quick threaded screw V and a
cam c.

page_text: The screw V takes into a nut E provided with an arm the extremity of which
embraces the spring bolt D. The nut E, by the rotation of the screw V, draws back
the bolt against the pressure of a coiled spring R, which tends constantly to thrust it
forward. The pitch of the screw is such that about a quarter of a turn is sufficient to
disengage the bolt from the long eye of the link bar U.
The came is so arranged as to engage with the beak formed on the link bar C
pivotted in the box and underlying the cam, its use being to raise the link bar and
hold it in a horizontal position for coupling up the carriages.
The came and the beak may be replaced by a chain fixed at one end to the link
bar, the other end of the chain rolling around a grooved pulley keyed on the rod T, or
by levers, excentrics, or by any other means suitable for raising the link bar through
the action of the rod T. Similarly, the screw and nut may be replaced by a system
of levers, jointed or not, capable of withdrawing the bolt D by the rotation of
the rod.
Whichever arrangement is adopted, the coupling apparatus thus modified operates
as follows:-
To uncouple two coupled carriages, the hand wheels p p are turned from right to
left about a quarter of a turn (stops limiting the movement), and the carriages are
separated.
The rotary movement imparted to the rods T causes, on the one hand, the with-
drawal of the bolts D by means of the screws V and nuts E, and, on the other, the
release of the link bars CC, of which the beaks fare no longer caught by the cams e,
and which are therefore free to drop on the separation of the carriages. The bars
drop onto little spring buffers provided to lessen the shock.
To couple up the carriages, the hand wheels p p are turned from left to right, and
the carriages are brought together.
The rotary movement imparted to the rods T T returns the nuts EE to their
former position (this, however, does not affect the bolts, which are held back by the
flaps), and raises, by the cams c c and the beaks ff, the link bars CC, to admit
of ilicir introduction into the boxes on the carriages coming together. The link bars,
on entering their respective boxes, push the flaps clear of their respective spring
bolts, and thereby allow the bolts to enter the eyes of the link bars, under the pressure
of the springs R, and lock the carriages together.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
In automatic coupling apparatus for railway carriages-
1. The withdrawal of the spring bolt D by means of a quick threaded screw V
keyed upon the rotating rod T, and acting in combination with a nut E, furnished
with an arm t, which embraces the aforesaid spring bolt, as above described, with
reference to the accompanying drawing.
2. The raising of the link bar C, or the putting it into a position for coupling by
means of a beak f, and the cam c, or their equivalents, actuated by the rotating rod T,
as above described, with respect to the accompanying drawing.
3. The simultaneous withdrawal of the bolt D, and the liberation of the link
bar C, by the simple. rotation of the rod T, through the screw V and the cam c, in the
manner and for the purpose above described with reference to the accompanying
drawing.