Improved Means for Locking the Doors of Railway Carriages.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 20th Jan.,
1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Locking the Doors of Railway Carriages.
I, PERCIVAL SMITH, of 173, Canterbury Street, New Brompton, Keut,
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 relates to improved means for locking the doors of railway
carriages from the guard's van and consists in fixing by the side of each carriage
door, a lock, the bolt or tumbler of which is actuated by a vertical rod descending
below the foot board and connected by an arm or crank to a rod extending along
the whole length of the train and operated from the guard's van by means of
suitable rods and levers. This rod is provided between each carriage with flexible
connections the ends of which are formed with slanting notches which when fitted
together and kept in close contact by means of a sliding sleeve, form a clutch or
coupling. This sleeve is locked in position by means of a spring catch taking into
a slot or recess in the rod and by means of which the parts may be disconnected
for uncoupling the carriages. The flexible connections are caused to slide within
the rod, made hollow for this purpose to allow of endwise movement.
A suitable
catch is fitted to each lock to allow the guard to lock, by means of a key, each
door separately, and for throwing the bolt out of action.
Referring to the accompanying sheet of drawings,
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a railway carriage fitted with my improved
door locking apparatus, and Fig. 2 is an end view thereof.
Fig. 3 is a side view to a larger scale, and Fig. 4 a plan of the flexible connec-
tions for coupling the operating rods of each carriage together, Fig. 3 also showing
the lock mechanism, and Fig. 5 is an end view of the lock with its operating
gear.
Fig. 6 is a view of the operating lever placed in the guard's van.
Like letters of reference signify similar parts in all the views.
a represents the operating rod which may be formed tubular extending along
each side of the carriage and supported in bearings 6 beneath the foot-board B.
c are arms or cranks fixed to the said rod at one end and at the other to vertical
rods d passing up between the wainscoting of the carriage C into the lock cases e.
The lock cases e are fitted on one side of each door for locking or unlocking the
same, and each is provided with a catch fcapable of being turned by the guard,
on inserting a key in the recess ", either into the position shown by dotted lines
marked 1 (Fig. 3) for locking and keeping the door locked, even though it be unlocked
by the bolt e, or into the position shown by dotted lines 2 for throughing the bolt e
and tumbler e' out of action. Each of the rods a is provided at one end with a
universal joint g for permitting of the various movements of the carriages with
respect to each other without straining the said rods, and this joint is provided
with a slanting notched portion or end k. k¹ is a similarly notched end for engaging
with the end k so as to form a clutch or coupling connecting the rods a between
each carriage. is a sleeve capable of sliding over the ends k, k¹ and locking them
together, and m is a spring catch pivoted at m² to the sleeve and engaging by
means of the springs m² with a notch n¹ in the end so as to lock the sleeve / in
position. For uncoupling the ends kk the catch m is raised out of the notch n' by
pressing on its other end; the sleeve is then free to be slid along until free of the
end & the catch passing along the longitudinal slot n until it enters the transverse
slot or recess n' whereby the sleeve is locked in its uncoupled position; the ends k
and k¹ are thus left free to be separated. The ends are hinged or jointed to
the parts h at h¹ to permit of vertical movement and the other ends of the parts h

page_text: enter and slide in hollow portions of the rods a being guided therein by means of
a pin entering a longitudinal slot, the parts h and i being preferably square in
cross section; this allows of longitudinal movement between the carriages.
t3
The rods a are operated by an arm or crank o connected by a rod p to a lever pl
pivoted at to a bracket fixed in the guard's van, the operating lever or handle s
is likewise fixed to the pin 7 for the purpose of operating the lever pl. tis a
locking lever pivoted at p² to the levers and provided with a pin t³ entering a
recess formed in the bracket r.
is a projection for preventing the upward
movement of the levers by reason of the pin t, but upon forcing down the lever t
against the spring t the pin t³ is raised above the projection thus permitting the
levers being raised so as to operate the lever p'; the pin ta then falls into the
recess on the other side of the projection and thus locks the lever s in its raised
position.
Should it be desired to throw the lever s out of locking action, such as when the
brake van is placed in the middle of a train and permit of the apparatus being
operated from another brake van at the end, the lever t is kept permanently in its
raised position by means of a pivoted stop or pieces which upon being turned into
a vertical position bears against the lower part of a curved projection t² fixed to
the levert thus raising the said lever and consequently the pin t as shown in
dotted lines so that the latter is kept out of contact with the projection and the
lever is free to move without being locked. is a counter-balance weight for
keeping the rods d in their raised, and the tumbler el, in its unlocked position.
When required to lock the carriage doors the hand lever s is raised thus
lowering the rods d and permitting the tumblers el to fall by their own weight
and the bolts to be shot as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the lever remaining
locked in this position by means of the pin t as herein before described whilst for
unlocking the doors the lever t is depressed so as to unlock the levers and the
latter lowered, thus raising the rods d and pushing back the tumblers e¹ and bolts e
into their unlocked positions as shown in Fig. 3.
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 :-
1. The improved means or apparatus for simultaneously locking or unlocking the
doors of railway carriages consisting in the combination of the rods a, arms or
cranks c, rods d, and operating mechanism o, p, p, and s substantially as described
and shown in the accompanying sheet of drawings.
2. The improved flexible rod coupling apparatus consisting of the universal
joint g, rods and i, joints ', notched ends k and k¹, sleeve provided with the
spring catch m and notches or recesses n¹ and n² substantially as described and for
the purposes specified.
3. The improved operating mechanism consisting of the lever s in combination
with the locking lever t, projection 2, stop piece s, pin t³, bracket r, recess
projection substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
and
4. The catch or stop-piece ff in combination with the tumbler lock e', es
substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
5. The improved apparatus for simultaneously locking or unlocking the doors
of railway carriages, substantially as described and shown in the accompanying
sheet of drawings.
Dated this 9th day of December 1802
F. G. CASSELL,
Of Cassell & Co.,..
22, Glasshouse Street, Regent Street, London, W.,
Agent for the Applicant.