Improvements in Appliances for Coupling Railway Wagons and Carriages.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in Appliances for Coupling Railway Wagons and
Carriages.
WILLIAM HILL, Foreman Engineer N° 6 Shepherd Street Stoke on trent
THOMAS HILL Mechanical Engineer No 9 Albert Road, Fenton Staffre do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR
COUPLING RAILWAY WAGONS AND CARRIAGES to be as follows:-
Our invention has for its object the coupling of Railway wagons and carriages
by a simple mechanical contrivance that can easily be applied to existing couplings
and whereby the said wagons and carriages can be easily coupled and uncoupled
by means of levers attached to spindles projecting through the sides of wagons or
carriages: thus enabling the work to be accomplished without the necessity of
climbing on to the buffers or getting between the carriages.
For the purpose of our invention we have two spindles at each end of the
wagon or carriage to be operated upon: The said spindles may project through
one or both sides of the said wagon or carriage and may have levers upon one or
both ends of each: so as to enable the operator to perform the work of coupling
or uncoupling from one or both sides: The before named spindles may be fixed to
or pass through the frames at a short distance from the end of wagon or carriage
and parallel to same: By preference we use a solid and a hollow spindle: One of
the said spindles passing through and working inside the other: In the middle of
one of said spindles we fasten a lever or levers the said lever or levers being
connected to each side of end link of coupling chain by means of a simple lever
motion: By means of which the end of coupling chain can be lifted to any height
to the limit of its length: To the second spindle we attach one or more levers
which said lever or levers we couple to before-named lever motion in such a
manner as to enable the operator to extend the coupling chain to its full limit in
a horizontal direction or pull it back and hang it upon its own draw-bar: By
means of our invention herein described it will be seen that the ordinary coupling
chains of existing wagons and carriages may be converted into the most modern
and efficient coupling in existance,

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Appliances for Coupling Railway Wagons and
Carriages.
WILLIAM HILL, Foreman Engineer, N° 6 Shepherd Street, Stoke-on-Trent,
THOMAS HILL, Mechanical Engineer, No 9 Albert Road, Fenton, Staffre. do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLIANCES FOR
COUPLING RAILWAY WAGONS AND CARRIAGES and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
Our invention has for its object the coupling of railway wagons and carriages
by a simple mechanical contrivance that can easily be applied to existing
couplings thereby the said wagons and carriages can be easily coupled and
uncoupled by means of levers attached to spindles projecting through the sides of
wagons or carriages, thus enabling the work to be accomplished without the
necessity of climbing upon the buffers, or getting between the wagons or carriages.
For the purpose of our invention we have two spindles at each end of the wagon
or carriage to be operated upon. The said spindles may project through one or
both sides of the said wagon or carriage, and may have levers upon one or both
ends of each, so as to enable the operator to perform the work of coupling or
uncoupling from one or both sides. The before named spindles may be fixed to,
or pass through the frame, at a short distance from the end of wagon or carriage,
and parallel to same. By preference we use a solid and a hollow spindle:--One of
the said spindles passing through, and working inside the other. In the middle
of one of said spindles we fasten a lever or levers, the said lever or levers being
connected to each side of end link of coupling chain, by means of a simple lever
motion. By means of said lever motion the end of coupling chain can be lifted to
any height to the limit of its length. To second spindle, we attach one or more
levers, which said lever or levers we couple to before named lever motion, in
such a manner as to enable the operator to extend the coupling chain to its full
limit in an horizontal direction, or pull it back and hang it upon its own
draw bar.
:
The accompanying drawings illustrate our invention as applied to the coupling
of Railway wagons and other similar vehicles. Fig. 1 is a side view, showing a
section of the ends of two wagons, and position of levers, when coupled and chain
at full length; also uncoupled and hanging freely. Fig. 2 is a plan of our
apparatus as shown at Fig. 1 but without the body of wagons; and spindles and
draw bars broken. Fig. 3 shows position of operating levers at side of wagon or
similiar vehicle, when uncoupled. Fig. 4 is a section of bollow spindle and plan of
solid spindle with levers. The same letters refer to the same parts in each figure.
For the purpose of our invention we use an apparatus constructed and operated
as follows. To each side of end link of an ordinary coupling chain, we attach
levers A A¹ by means of a taper pin as shown by dotted lines at B B¹. The hole
to receive said taper pin, is drifted out, so as not to weaken the link. The other
ends of said levers A A¹ being connected to the hollow spindles D D¹ and solid

page_text: spindle E, by means of levers F F¹, G G¹, and H, the object of said levers being, to
give an horizontal and vertical movement to coupling chain. The said hollow and
solid spindles being fixed at a short distance from the end of wagon or similiar
vehicle, by brackets or other suitable means, and projecting past each side so as to
allow the operating levers II, and J J¹ room for convenient working.
The hollow spindles D D' are made in two parts so as to enable us to key or
otherwise fasten forked lever I, upon inner spindle.
The mode of working our invention is as follows. By reference to accompanying
drawings it will be seen that when coupling two wagons or similiar vehicles
together, operating handle J or J¹ is moved, which gives coupling chain a vertical
motion.
When said coupling chain is the required height, operating handle I or I¹ which
gives coupling chain an horizontal motion, is moved until said coupling chain is
over the draw hook, into which it falls by its own weight. Sometimes however
the said operating levers I or 1 and 3 or J₁ are both moved at once, to suit
convenience. When uncoupling wagons or similiar vehicles, operating lever J or J¹
only is required to be used. Said lever J or J¹ being moved until coupling link
is lifted out of draw hook, and at liberty; when the coupling chain may be let fall
as shown in said drawings.
When compound or double coupling is required, one of the said coupling chains
is lifted vertical, and held in that position by an ordinary catch, or otherwise
until the coupling chain of adjoining wagon, is connected to draw hook of the
first named, when the chain of the first named, is brought down and hooked upon
draw hook of adjoining wagon. It will also be seen that when the coupling
chains are uncoupled and hanging freely, all the levers are behind the draw hook,
and hang entirely out of the way underneath the wagon or similiar vehicle; or the
coupling chains may be hung upon their own draw hooks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
A combination of levers as shown on accompanying drawings, by means of
which we can couple or uncouple two wagons or other similiar vehicles together,
either by a single or compound link or links. The said levers or combination of
levers, applied to both sides of link, and entirely out of the way when the wagons
are uncoupled and at rest.
BILLINGTON & NEWTON,
Agents.