IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING THE DOORS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cowper Pellatt, of Saint John's Lane,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING THE DOORS OF
RAILWAY CARRIAGES.”
Sealed the 25th February 1873, and dated the 4th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cowper Pellatt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM COWPER PELLATT, of Saint John's Lane, Clerkenwell,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING THE DOORS
OF BAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
motion.
:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus
for securing the doors of railway carriages whilst such carriages are in
For this purpose I cause a pair of governor balls or any
suitable centrifugal apparatus set in motion by one of the axles of a
railway carriage to act upon suitable levers and connections, to give
motion to bolts or catches which take into or act against the doors or
parts carried thereby to secure them.
I form the bolts or catches and the parts with which they act with
inclined faces, and to act as a spring catch, so that the doors may be

page_text: closed by hand even if they should have been left open after the bolts or
catches have been acted upon to secure the doors. Thus when a train is
in motion the centrifugal apparatus will be operated, and will thereby
act upon the bolts or catches to secure the doors of the carriages, and
will continue to do so so long as the carriages continue to move
sufficiently quickly to cause the centrifugal apparatus to operate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Cowper Pellatt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COWPER PELLATT, of Saint John's Lane, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Cowper Pellatt, Her special
license, that I, the said William Cowper Pellatt, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cowper
Pellatt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING THE DOORS OF RAIL-
WAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Cowper Pellatt, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, and in what 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 William Cowper Pellatt, do hereby
L
T
in what

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus
for securing the doors of railway carriages whilst such carriages are in
motion. For this purpose I cause a pair of governor balls or any
suitable centrifugal apparatus set in motion by one of the axles of a
railway carriage to act upon suitable levers and connections to give
motion to bolts or catches which take into or act against the doors or
parts carried thereby to secure them.
I form the last-mentioned bolts or catches and the parts with which
they act with inclined faces, so that they may act as ordinary spring
catches, that the doors may be closed by hand even if they should have
been left open after the bolts or catches have been acted upon to secure
the doors. Thus when a train is in motion the centrifugal apparatus
will be operated, and will thereby act upon the bolts or catches to secure
the doors of the carriages, and will continue to do so so long as the
carriages continue to move sufficiently quickly to cause the centrifugal
apparatus to operate.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood,
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed more fully to describe the
same, aided by the accompanying Drawings, in each of the Figures of
which the same letters of reference indicate corresponding or similar

page_text: arms from the cross bar d, fixed to the shaft or axis e which is held
firmly in position at the lower end by being stepped into a bearing
formed in the frame f, fixed to the bottom of the carriage, and at the
upper end by a bearing 9, also fixed to the bottom of the carriage. This
axis e has mounted thereon at its lower end a bevilled pinion h, which is
taken into and driven by a bevilled wheel i fixed upon one of the axles k
of the carriage. And in order that the bevilled pinion h and bevilled
wheel i may be always retained properly in gear with each other a
frame is employed which is formed to fit the long boss ¹ of the bevilled
wheel i, and has a bearing formed therein to fit a groove formed in the
boss of the bevilled pinion h. The bevilled wheel i with its boss i¹ is
formed in two parts to enable it to be readily applied to the carriage
axle k, and the bearings in the frame are also formed in two parts for
ready application to the boss 2, and to the groove in the boss of the
bevilled pinion h. The bevilled pinion' h and axis e, are by means of a
feather and groove (as is well understood) caused to rotate together,
whilst permitting the axis e to rise and fall freely in the motion of the
carriage through the boss of the bevilled pinion , a spiral spring acting
on upper side of the pinion h, or other means may be used if necessary
to keep the pinion h in gear with the bevilled wheel i. The arms c¹ are
by links c² connected to a collar c³, which is also capable of freely rising
and falling on the axis e. The forked end of a lever m mounted on an
axis of motion m³, carried by the frame fembraces this collar c³, and is
operated thereby in the rising and falling of such collar on the
governor axis e. The other end of this lever m works within slotted
openings formed in the inner ends of levers n', mounted on the shafts or
axes n which extend along the under side of each side of the carriage, and
are mounted in suitable bearings carried thereby. These shafts or axes n
have fixed thereon at suitable intervals spring levers n³, the ends of
which are caused to act upon the bolts or catches b to lock or unlock the
carriage doors according to whether the carriage is travelling or standing
still. The bolts or catches 6 work freely in suitable guides or sockets
fixed to the frame of the carriage, and are freely connected with the
spring levers n² so as to permit of the free action of such bolts or
catches b and levers n³, and yet cause them to work together.
The governor or centrifugal apparatus shewn in the Drawings, and
some of the parts acting therewith may be enclosed in a suitable box or
case o to protect them as much as possible from dirt.

page_text: The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When the carriage is
travelling rotary motion will be given to the governor balls c, c, by
means of the bevilled pinion h and bevilled wheel i, thereby causing
such governor balls c, c, to fly outwards by centrifugal force; when the
collar will be raised by the links c³. The rising of the collar c³ raises
the forked end of the lever m, the other end of which by acting on the
inner ends of the levers n¹ to depress them causes the outer ends of the
spring levers n³ to rise, and in doing so to raise the bolts or catches 6
into position for locking the carriage doors.
The Drawings show the locking apparatus in the position it would
assume when the carriage is travelling, the doors being all locked. On
the stopping of the carriage the governor balls will fall, and the bolts or
catches 6 will be drawn downwards away from the carriage doors, when
the latter may be readily opened in the ordinary way.
By actuating the bolts or catches by spring levers n², and by forming
the
upper ends of the bolts or catches 6 bevelled, as shewn, the doors of
the carriage may be closed even after the bolts or catches 6 have been.
raised into the locked position.
Another form of governor or centrifugal apparatus I have shown at
Figure 4. This arrangement (which may be mounted on the axle of the
carriage itself or on a separate rotating axle either parallel to the axle of
the carriage or in any other suitable position, and which rotating axle
must be driven from the axle of the carriage) consists of a pair of
balls c, c, mounted and capable of running to and fro on the arms d, d,
fixed on to the rotating axle k. These balls are by jointed links c², c³,
connected to the collar c³, which collar is capable of moving backwards
and forwards on the rotating axle k, and in the groove of this collar c³
the end of a forked lever m works, and is thereby moved backwards and
forwards so as to communicate the necessary motion to the bolts or
catches b, the parts being modified to suit the different position and
direction in which the balls c move. When the rotating axle k is caused
to revolve by the motion of the carriage the balls c, c, will fly out by
centrifugal force upon the arms d, d, and so cause the necessary motion
to be given to the collar c³, and by it to the forked lever m, and other
parts herein-before described for moving the bolts or catches 6; and
when the carriage stops the strong spiral spring x. will bring the collar c
back to its original position, and with it the balls c, c, the forked lever,

page_text: and other parts. In order to prevent friction in the motion of the
balls c, c, upon the arms d, d, the balls are furnished on each side with
.friction rollers which run upon the arms d, d, as shewn.
I would here remark that although in the Drawings I have shown two
descriptions of governors or centrifugal apparatus, I do not confine.
myself thereto, as these arrangements are only given as examples, and
any suitable centrifugal apparatus set in motion by the revolution of the
carriage axle may be employed, according to my Invention, to actuate
bolts or catches to secure the doors of railway carriages.
I would also remark that other means than those shewn in the
Drawings, of communicating motion from the carriage axle to the centri-
fugal apparatus, may be employed without departing from the nature of
my Invention, as for example bevilled gearing may be dispensed with,
and the centrifugal apparatus may be placed at the side of the carrage
axle at some little distance therefrom, and may receive rotary motion by
means of an endless band passing partly around a pulley on, the centri-
fugal axis and partly around a drum or pulley fixed on the carriage axle.
And the arrangement of the levers and position of the bolts or catches b
may be varied.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into effect, I would have it
understood that I do not claim the various parts separately considered,
--but what I do claim is, the employment of centrifugal apparatus, sub-
stantially as herein-before described, set in motion by one of the carriage
axles to actuate by means of suitable connections catches or bolts, which
securely lock the carriage doors whilst the carriage is in motion, and
permit of the doors being readily opened as soon as the carriage ceases
to move.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cowper Pellatt, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-