IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES OR WAGONS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Frederick Heshuysen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th October 1877.
WILLIAM FREDERICK HESHUYSEN, of Zandport, Kingdom of Holland, at present
of 123, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex. “IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS
FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES OR WAGONS."
This Invention relates to further improvements upon an Invention for coupling
and uncoupling railway carriages or wagons, and for which Letters Patent wero
granted to me bearing date May 26th 1877, No. 2063. It consists, as regards the
first part therein described, viz., " to adjust iron bars or plates on each nut of the
right and left hand screw, to check the articulation of the screw, and to fasten on
one of the nuts a ring," in dispensing with this ring, and in the employment of a
pole or hand rod of proper length, furnished at one end with a simple hook,
making a right angle with the rod in lieu of the S hook described in the said
Invention.
At the front and rear end of the carriages or wagons on each side of the draw
hook I fix two single sheave (or one double sheave) pulleys at proper height from
the bottom, and over each of these pullies I pass a working chain of sufficient length,
and provided at the ends with rings and handles. When the coupling is to be effected
one end of the working chain is to be seized by the hook on the end of the pole or
hand rod, which at the same time is caused to catch or engage with the underneath
part of the screwed coupling iron. The working chain is then pulled, and the whole
coupling raised and so directed by the pole or hand rod that the coupling will catch
the draw hook of the other carriage when the buffers meet. The pole or hand rod
is now unhooked from the coupling iron, and the working chain drawn back, made
loose, and stored away alongside the carriage end on a small hook or holder fixed
for that purpose.
As regards the second part of the said Invention" for making the coupling rigid
after being coupled together, or loosening the coupling when uncoupling has to be
performed," in dispensing with the ordinary lever and weight, and substituting
therefor a rod or bar formed with a weight at each end, and passing freely through
a hole in the square or other suitably shaped enlarged centre portion of the screwed
coupling iron.

page_text: For manipulating the so-prepared coupling when the coupling is to be effected,
the pole or hand rod previously described under the first part of this Invention is
held by the attendant at one side of the carriage or wagon, and its hook caused to
act upon the under side of the weight on the upper end of the rod or bar in the hole
of the screwed coupling iron, so as to lift the said rod or bar through the hole until
its centre somewhat passes that of the coupling iron, when its same weighted end
will descend by gravity, and in so doing cause the screwed coupling iron to partially
rotate; the weighted rod or bar finally drops in the hole until checked by the
weight at the other end. The same operation is now repeated, and so on until the
coupling iron is rotated and screwed into its nuts sufficiently to render the coupling
rigid, as desired.
In the case of goods' trucks or wagons, which are coupled by chains in lieu of
screws, the pole or hand rod is equally available, the link of one of the coupling
chains being caught and lifted by the hook at its end, as before described, for the
screw coupling, and passed on to or coupled with the draw hook of the next
truck.
The third operation, viz., " to fasten and unfasten the safety chains," is effected
by the aforesaid pole or hand rod, which is jointed at a suitable distance from its
hooked end, so that the latter is caused to assume a position at right angles to the
hand portion of the rod, and there retained as long as desired by a trigger or spring
catch, or by any other suitable device. The pole or rod is now moved from either
side of the carriage or wagon, so that its jointed end is caused to pass through the
hook of one of the safety chains up to the joint or hinge in the rod, the said safety
chain being lifted thereby a short distance until the hook on the end of the rod
engages with the hook at the end of the corresponding safety chain on the succeeding
carriage or wagon, when by turning the jointed end of the rod in an upward direc-
tion the hook of the first-named safety chain is slid or dropped along that part of
the rod so as to meet the hook of the second-named safety chain, and by then
turning the jointed end of the rod to a still further extent in the same direction the
two hooks couple themselves, and the jointed end of the rod is now withdrawn or
freed from the same by turning it slightly in a reverse direction.
For enabling the attendant to determine easily the distance of the coupling from
the buffers or outside of the carriage or wagon, in case of darkness, the hand rod is
provided with a projecting finger or gauge piece, which is made to slide or is
adjustable on the said rod, and takes against the buffers at such a distance from the
hooked end of the rod that the hook is directly underneath the coupling and ready
for catching the same without trouble.