A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF COUPLING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Adolph Wagner, of No. 28, Schoneberger
Ufer, Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Clerk, for the Invention
of "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF COUPLING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY
ROLLING STOCK."
Ufer, Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Clerk, for the Invention
of "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF COUPLING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY
ROLLING STOCK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Adolph Wagner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th July 1874.
I, CARL ADOLPH WAGNER, of No. 28, Schoneberger Ufer, Berlin, in
the Empire of Germany, Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF COUPLING RAILWAY AND
TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK," to be as follows:
To enable coupling and uncoupling to be effected without the necessity
of the attendant standing between the carriages my system comprises
instead of the worm in the middle of the chain, now in use, by which
the shortening of the coupling is effected, a cross as a link at the centre
which gives greater pliancy, and thereby uncoupling by the sudden

page_text: dashing together of the carriages is prevented. Instead of a hook being
immediately fixed to the axle arm or under carriage a versatile cylinder is
attached containing a worm, by means whereof the hook of a novel form
to which a screw is attached may be worked in and out. The cylinder
is put in motion by an arrangement of wheels, which may be acted upon
from outside the rails. I use a rack for preventing the unscrewing of
the hook and also for raising the chain sufficiently high that it may
drop into the opposite hook to couple, or to lift it out of the opposite
look to uncouple the two carriages. The alteration of the system
hitherto in use and its combination with the above described mechanism
can readily be effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Carl Adolph Wagner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th January 1875.
。
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
ADOLPH WAGNER, of Number 28, Schoneberger Ufer, Berlin, in the
Empire of Germany, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant. unto me, the said Carl Adolph Wagner, Her special
licence that I, the said Carl Adolph Wagner, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Carl Adolph
Wagner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW
AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF COUPLING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Carl Adolph Wagner,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Carl Adolph Wagner, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and in which said Drawings similar parts are marked
and referred to by similar letters (that is to say) :-
Whereas in the method now generally employed for coupling the
rolling stock on railways and tramways the mechanism cannot be handled
outside the rails, whereby much time is lost in coupling and uncoupling
the said stock and numerous accidents to life and limb occur from the
necessity which arises for the said operations to be performed by men
standing in the line of rails between the carriages; and whereas in the
present method owing to the want of pliancy the uncoupling of the
carriages is likely to and does frequently occur from the sudden dashing
together of the said carriages, whereby the safety of the passengers is much
endangered, now my new system for coupling and uncoupling the said
carriages facilitates a speedier operation, can be worked with case from
outside the rails, and affords much greater pliancy.
-
My system differs from the now existing mechanism in the first place
by this That every lengthening and shortening which the screwing of
the coupling renders necessary is not made to the movable links of the
chain but to the shafts of the hooks. In order to attain this purpose it
is provided with a screw for which the brass cylinder (a) forms the nut,
and to which it is fixed by a nicely fitting bevel-geared wheel (b), pro-
vided with a "key" (a¹). It is necessary not to neglect this detail in
order to make the partial coupling follow the movements of the elastic
apparatus through which the cylinder by means of the wheel (6) passes,
but which itself is prevented from moving onward by means of a stop (d)
in order to work the gearing of the bevel wheel (c). The movement of
this apparatus and the transferring of it to the cylinder is made by
means of the cranked handles (e) which fit outside of the car on the
spindle (f), passing across and projecting beyond it, and which is laid
in the bearings (9) made in the two beams of the framework; there is
farther on the vertical pin (/) a pivotting cross bar (i) passing through

page_text: the connecting hooks and lying loose therein (whereof the real purpose
is afterwards described), which pin is provided on the right and left
hand side with two horizontal studs (%) on which the real coupling fits,
and on the outside of which two bent levers (1) fit loosely; two rods (m)
of wrought iron fit into these two levers, which pass through holes made
in the beam of the framework of the car, and of which the back ends
are connected with the cross bar (n). The connection of the cylinder
'with this cross bar, and the more distant connection with the rods (w),
is to be seen clearly in the Drawings and does not require a further
description. This connection serves partly to allow the turning of the
cylinder as well as (for my purpose) to fix the whole apparatus into
the car. If now by a proper turning of the cranked handles (e) the
turning of the spindle and also that of the wheel (c) with the wheel (6)
fixed on the cylinder is performed this cylinder must by means of the
affixed key turn also, and the connecting hook (0) is screwed out through
it, at the same time the levers (1) are compelled to turn on the studs (k)
(as they are kept back by the rods (m) at the point (p), and by their
studs fixed at 1 and 2, which studs catch behind or rather under the
coupling pieces (9), lift the coupling chain. In order that the coupling
link (7) may follow the movement the hooks 3 and 4 are fixed to the
pieces (9), now there follows a movement of the car towards the other
one with which it is to be coupled; or if on the contrary the one that
is to be coupled is pushed forward the link (2) which was formerly rested
on the sloping part of the hook glides on this when the cars meet, and
after having passed it it drops into the hook.
Should the buffers of the cars be too near each other and the coupling
have been neglected at the time of the arranging of the cars though there
be then not much danger in going between them it is better not, and in
that case the following direction in order to work the passing alongside
of the coupling link may be observed (see Drawing) :-Beyond the
already mentioned pivotting cross bar (i) which is fixed on the vertical
pin (h) passing the hook a lever (s) is fixed under the hook on the pin (h),
and two rods (t) leading downwards are connected with it, by means of
which the pin (h).with the pivotting cross bar and the coupling chain
can be sufficiently turned so that the latter after having been pushed
-under the hook by a slight push is directed aside of the hook. In order
to follow this sideward movement the rods (m) are fixed with their back
-parts into a pivotting cross bar (u).

page_text: There is further to be remarked that the shortening of the coupling
(after the coupling link of the other car has been caught) can also be
done simply by the turning backwards of the cranked handles.
As this coupling apparatus requires only a slight moving power it
will recommend itself by its light and simple handling, but also by its
great movability on sharp curves and irregular loading of the cars.
This apparatus allows also the important advantage of gradual
introduction, as it can easily be connected with the old apparatus,
whereof the hooks do not materially differ from those belonging to this
system.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Adolph Wagner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
CARL ADOLF WAGNER. (L.S.)