MACHINERY FOR CONNECTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
RICE PRATT, of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts of the United States.
of North America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of April in the year One thousand eight hun-
dred and forty-eight, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Daniel Rice Pratt, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Daniel Rice Pratt, my exors, adñors,,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel Rice Pratt, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,.
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,.
Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "MACHINERY FOR CONNECTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Daniel Rice
Pratt, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six callender months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Daniel Rice Pratt, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings herewith presented, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective representation of two of my
improved couplings or machinery for connecting carriages, the same also ex-
hibiting their joining link; Figure 2 is a top view of one of the said couplings
and its link; Figure 3 is a vertical, central, and longitudinal section of the
same; Figure 4 a side elevation of it.
In the said Figures A denotes the link or shackle; B, the buffer or concave
<lirector thereof, attached to the outer end of the hook frame or draw bar E,
which is applied to and usually projects from either or both ends of a railway
carriage. The said bar or frame E is properly made with a suitable recess for
the reception and operation of the eccentric hook C, which is arranged within
it, and so connected to the draw bar as to be capable of being moved up. and
down on a horizontal fulcrum or pin D, extending through it and the draw
bar in the position as seen in the Drawings. The said hook C in rear of its
point or front end, and below its turning bearing, is provided with a cam or
projection F so formed and mado as always by its action against the end of the
link during its entrance within the cavity of the draw bar to ensure the descent
of the hook C, and within the link in such manner as to engage. the two
together. The director or buffer B is made somewhat concave or like a
trumpet mouth, and with an opening for the link to pass through, in order to
enable it to engage with the hook, the cavity in the draw bar being made of a
size sufficient to receive the end of the link and permit it to engage with the
hook. To the top or upper part of the hook a small ring G or other
suitable mechanical equivalent is applied, the same being for the purpose of
enabling a person by fastening a rope or chain to it to raise up the hook at
any time. so as to release the link from it.
as engaged to one hook, and as in the act of engaging with another; the front
part of the hook C being so formed that when it is in its lowest position and is
struck by the end of the link on the entrance of the end into the cavity of the
draw bar, it shall cause the elevation of the hook sufficient to permit the link
to pass underneath it, and abut against the projection cam or arm F, the
striking against which will cause a depression of the hook, as before described.
The above Invention may be applied to railway carriages with or without the
ordinary buffers, the concave director serving the purpose of a buffer, in which
In Figure 1 the link A is exhibited

page_text: case the draw bar may or may not be connected with springs for easing the
shocks as occasion may require. For the purpose of saving labor in the
attachment and detachment of cars of a train my Invention will be found very
valuable; being self-acting, the risk of injury to life or limb incurred in other
couplings is by this avoided. My Invention may also be used to advantage in
connecting and disconnecting various other things, the application of it not
being intended by me to railway carriages alone.
What I claim as my Invention is the eccentric hook C, and its cam or pro-
jection, or any mechanical equivalent or equivalents therefor, in combination
with the concave director or buffer Band draw bar, or any proper substitute or
substitutes therefor, the whole being applied to a car or other body, and used
with a link or other equivalent, and made to operate essentially in manner and
for the purpose as herein-before specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Rice Pratt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
DANIEL RICE PRATT. (L.S.)
Taken and acknowledged by Daniel Rico Pratt
(party hereto), at Boston, in the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, this
Fourteenth day of July, A.D. 1848, before me,

page_text: of the United States of North America, whereby it is stated that the said
Specification was acknowledged by him, the said Daniel Rice Pratt, before the
said William Elliott, on the said Fourteenth day of July, at Boston aforesaid,
is of the proper handwriting of the said William Elliott.