NEW OR IM- PROVED COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David McGill, of Corbridge-on-Tyne, in the County of
Northumberland, Veterinary Surgeon, for the Invention of "NEW OR IM-
PROVED COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Scaled the 30th May 1876, and dated the 12th February 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David McGill at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th February 1876.
DAVID MCGILL, of Corbridge-on-Tyne, in the County of Northumberland,
Veterinary Surgeon. "NEW OR
IMPROVED COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CAR-
RIAGES."
This Invention consists in a new construction and application of self-acting
coupling to be fitted on railway carriages, vans, trucks, or wagons, so that each
coupling hook and its link may be equidistant from off the centre of the buffer
beams; and as it is preferred to have a hook and a link at each end of the carriage,
rights and lefts, the carriages may be turned end for end without affecting the self-
coupling action of both hooks into their corresponding links.
The hooks, which may be draw bars, are wedge-shaped, somewhat similar to the
catch for a door latch, and the links into which they engage when coupling are held
in position by a weighted back lever, so that each link may rise freely over the
wedge-shaped portion of the hook, and drop down and engage itself therein when
the carriages are brought somewhat suddenly together, as in shunting; or in the
reverse case with the hook turned upside down the link may be depressed by the
nction of the incline on the link, and rise by the action of the weighted back lever
into the locking position.
When the carriages require to be uncoupled the links must act just in the reverse
direction, and by means of a small transverse shaft these links may be so set that their
own weight, or that of the back lever, as the case may be, may act by gravitation,
either to couple or uncouple, by the backing of the carriages, and it is preferred
that this shaft should be actuated by the attendants outside of the carriage framing
with small weighted hand levers keyed on the shaft, so that they may lie in a
lcrizontal position in catches attached to the sides of the carriage, and the attendant.
has merely to turn round this shaft one-half revolution in either direction as
required to couple or uncouple the carriages, thus bringing the coupling link into

page_text: such a position as to rise or fall when the carriages are brought together, as before
described.
When longer links or couplings are desired, as for heavy goods trains, a second
long link may be hooked to the same joint pin as the first, and work over it so as
to hang down when not in use, and be raised and rest on or be coupled to the other
by a front pin, and act in the same manner as described in reference to the short
link. The draw bars of both the hooks and the hook links may each be fitted with
the usual drawing springs to lessen the shocks and breakage of couplings, and
allow the links to slide beyond the hooks during the concussion of the carriages,
and engage themselves again on being drawn forward.
The advantages of this arrangement of couplings are that they are self-coupling,
without requiring an attendant to each special coupling or the passing in between
the carriages, and can be coupled at the sides, and be set so as either to uncouple
themselves or not as desired, thus requiring inuch less attention, with little or no
risk of accident or loss of life in coupling or uncoupling carriages.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David McGill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th August 1876.
DAVID MCGILL, of Corbridge-on-Tyne, in the County of Northumberland,
Veterinary Surgeon. "NEW OR IMPROVED COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CAR-
RIAGES."
My said Invention consists in a new construction and application of a self-acting
coupling, consisting of two main parts, namely, a hook and an open jointed or
oscillating link for hooking on to the former, fitted on the ends of the railway
carriages, vans, trucks, or waggons, the open link being moved to either its hooking
or disengaged position, as the case may be, by the gravitation of its own weight,
and vice versa, either putting it into the disengaging or engaging position by a back
lever on it, and a separate weighted lever acting thereon, tilted by a transverse
crank shaft, oscillated to the two relative positions by levers on its ends outside the
frame of the carriage and line of rails, so that the couplings engage and dis-
engage themselves automatically by the shunting or approach or receding of the
waggons themselves, without the necessity of the attendants passing in between
the carriages, thus requiring much less attention, with no risk of accident or loss of
life in coupling or uncoupling carriages.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Inven-
tion may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the two Sheets of
Drawings which I have hereunto appended in order to show the best modes and
means I am at present aware of for putting the same into effect or practice, the
same reference letters and numerals indicating the same or like parts in all the
Figures where shown.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1, are a sido elevation partly in section and a plan
respectively of sufficient of the adjacent ends or framing of two railway carriages
or goods trucks as fitted with and illustrative of one modification of my said
Invention, or new or improved couplings therefor, shown in the coupled position.
The nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Invention consist all as
follows, and will be quite understood from describing the construction, arrangement,
and mode of actuating the modifications of my new or improved couplings, shown
in the Drawings.
And referring to Figures 1 and 2, A, A, are the rigid hooks, preferably formed
in one with and on the outer ends of their rods a, a, sliding as ordinary spring draw
bars in the ends and tranverse beams 1, 1, and 1', 1', of the carriage frames, of
which 2 and 21 are the sides and stays respectively, while B, B₁, are the open
oscillating coupling links, which are jointed by a joint pin at b¹ to their stems b, b,

page_text: as spring draw bars also, and take on to the hooks A, A', at their open free ends,
both the hooks and links being rounded or bevelled at their adjacent front or con-
tact ends A, B, to glide over each other in hooking. Each coupling hook A and
its corresponding link B, and draw bars a, b, are. placed parallel to and equidistant on
each side of or from the longitudinal centre line of the carriage 3- 3, across the buffer
beams 1, 1; and to obviate the necessity of turning the carriage for coupling it, as
would be the case if only one hook and link were used, I prefer to have a hook A
and link B placed on the left and right respectively of the centre line 3---3 at
each end 1 of all the carriages, as seen in Figure 2, looking towards the end of the
carriages, so that whichever ends thereof are turned to come together there will
always be a link B opposite a hook A on each side of the centre in this arrange-
ment ready for being coupled by their bevelled ends A¹ and B₁, gliding over and
taking into each other at the hooking part when the links B, B¹, B, B¹, are set in a
horizontal plane free to do so, as will be herein-after explained. Each open link
B, B', is formed with a long back arm B" for moving and stopping it, with a fork
guide B on its upper end, lighter than the link part B, B, which thus by the
gravitation of its extra weight causes the fork end B2 to slide and rest on the
under side of its separate actuating or stopping lever C. This lever C is jointed
over the lever B₁ to the bracket c, secured to the inside of the end buffer beam 1,
made heavy enough to more than counterbalance the weight of the link B, B¹, and
long enough beyond the fork B2 to pass over and be raised or lowered by the crank
D' of a light transverse shaft D carried in bush bearing brackets E, E, secured to
the side frames 2, 2, of the carriage. This shaft D is turned to either of two posi-
tions by the weighted levers F secured to the ends of the shafts outside the frames
of the carriage and bearing brackets E, and rest on one of the two horns E¹ or El
of the brackets E; and when turned, as shown in sharp lines in the Figures, so that
the levers rest on the horns or stops E¹, with the cranks D¹ down, then the actuating
levers C rest on the back ends B of the links B, B¹, so as to raise them to the
horizontal or coupling position, and when turned in the opposite direction to rest on
the horns E, the cranks D are turned upwards in the direction of the arrows, so
as to raise the levers C and allow the links B, B', to fall by their own weight to
their unlocked positions, all as indicated by the dotted lines to the right in Figure 1.
When the links B, B¹, are set to their horizontal or coupling position as stated the
wedge-shaped ends A, B, of the hooks A and links B glide over each other when
the carriages are brought somewhat suddenly together, or with some force, as in
shunting against the power of their spring buffers 4, 4. When fitted with these, as
shown in the Drawings, that is, the links B will be depressed by the action of the
inclined heads B' and A' on them and on the hooks A, and rise (after passing) into
the locked position by the action of the separate weighted back lever C. When the
carriages require to be uncoupled the links B, B¹, act in the reverse manner or direc-
tion, and by means of the transverse shaft D the links B, B¹³, may be set or left free,
so that their own weight will act by gravitation to uncouple by the slight backing
or compressing of the carriages, and fall down to the position shown in dotted lines,
all as before stated. This shaft D is actuated by the attendants outside of the
carriage framing by the weighted hand levers on the ends of each shaft, so
that the attendant has merely to turn round this shaft one half revolution or less
in either direction as required for coupling or uncoupling the carriages, thus
bringing the coupling link into such a position as to rise or fall when the car-
riages are brought together, as before described, the actual coupling being effected
automatically by the action of the hooks and links themselves and the compres-
sion or withdrawal of the carriages. The draw bars a, b, of both hooks A, A¹,
and the links B, B¹, may each be fitted with the usual drawing springs, one form
of which is shown at 5 in Figures 1 and 2, to lessen the shocks on or break-
age of these couplings, the links B, B¹, being free to slide beyond the hooks A, A¹,
during the concussion of the carriages, and engage themselves again on being
drawn forward.
Figures 3 and 4, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, are respectively a sectional elevation

page_text: and a plan of the lower frame part of a coal truck or other such waggon, as fitted
with a substantially similar arrangement of new or improved coupling to that
described in reference to and shown in Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1, and similarly
lettered and acting in the same manner, with the addition of a transverse tilting
hand lever shaft G, preferably carried in bearing brackets Ex at the lower central
part of the frame 2 - - - 2, and having the weighted tilting hand levers F¹ secured
on its outer ends to work between and rather above the wheels 6 of the carriage.
This additional shaft G is for the purpose of tilting the two crank shafts D, D¹, at
once by cranks g on it, connected by rods g¹ to cranks g" on this shaft D, D¹, so as
either to set them or their coupling links B, B¹, to the unlocking or locking position
by turning the weighted hand lever F¹ of the shaft G to the right for the unlocking
position, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, and to the left for the locking position of the
links and their actuating parts, as shown dotted in in Figure 3, this arrangement
being particularly applicable to the trucks for mineral traffic, where the quickness
of disengaging the couplings and trucks is found desirable.
The two positions of the tilting shaft G are determined and fixed by its weighted
lever F¹ being held in the supports or catches E¹, E, projecting from the bracket
E*, carrying the shaft G, as in the case of the levers F of the shafts D of the former
modification, which in this case are dispensed with; but any other equivalent
holding attachments might be used. When longer links or couplings are desired, as
for heavy goods trains, a second long coupling link, as B*, may be linked to the
joint pin d of the first link B, B1, and work outside or over it, so as to hang down
when not in use, and be raised and rest on or be coupled to the other by the
pin bx, so as to couple on to the hook A, A', opposite it, and act in precisely the
same manner as described in reference to the short link B, B¹, in Figures 1 and 2 on
Sheet 1, all as indicated in dotted lines on the left hand side of Figures 3 and 4.
Although these new hooks and links A, A¹, and B, B¹, have been described and
shown in the Drawings, as fixed to spring drawing bars a and b of their own, it
will be understood that they might be applied to the present arrangement of car-
riages and coupling hooks 7, 7, by knecing their bars a and b on the inside of the
end frames 1, 1, and bolting or otherwise securing them to the central spring draw
bar of the ordinary hooks 7, 7, as shown at 7, 71, on the left hand side of Figure 4.
And although the hooks A, A', in these Figures 1 to 4 have only been shown and
described as used with their hooks A¹ turned down, and the links B, B¹, unhooked
by their own weight in falling, and hooked by the action of the crank shaft D, D¹,
and its weighted levers, and the weight of the lever in rising, it will be understood
that the position and action of these may be inverted and reversed; that is, the
links B, B, would be hooked by their own weight in falling, and unhooked in rising
by the action of the crank shaft D, D¹, and the weight of the lever C; but in this
case the lever C might be dispensed with, and the weighted levers F made to
counterbalance the weight of the links B, B¹, by the crank D¹ acting direct on the
back arm B of the links, as seen inverted in the elevation of these parts in
Figure 5 on Sheet 1, in their coupled position, and dotted in in the unhooked
position but detached from the carriage.
Instead of the open links B, B1, broad faced links B³ might be employed, as shown
in elevation and plan detached in Figure 6, and hollow or convex in plan at B',
so as to be sure to take on to the rigid hook A, A¹, and tend by the drawing strain
to come towards the centre or direct drawing line to lessen the liability to lateral.
strain or breakage, but acting all otherwise in the same manner as the open link
B, B', herein-before described.
Instead of the single-headed hooks A, A', herein-before described and shown, these
hooks as shown at H in the elevation and plan detached in Figure 7, may be made
double-headed and bevelled or rounded from the point backwards on both the upper
and lower sides at H, H", and made broad and slightly rounded at the hook part in
plan view, the one hook being attached rigidly to its draw bar h, and the other
I, I, I, jointed at ¹ to its draw bar i, in the same manner as the links B, B¹,
herein-before described, and might be kept in its balanced or normal position by a

page_text: spring link j attached to its back arm B", which would allow it to glide either up
or down over the inclined part H, H, of the rigid hook, and be coupled either on
the lower or upper side, according to the relative heights of the adjacent carriages
and hooks brought together to be coupled; and when attached to the central draw
bar they might have the ordinary hooking chains attached to them as at h¹.
It will be seen that for spring buffer carriages, trucks, vans, or waggons, the
hooks are desired to be made short, that the motion or momentum of the moving
carriage or carriages first presses up the buffers 4 sufficiently for the hooks A¹ and
B' of the couplings to take into each other, and the strength or reaction of the
buffers and springs keep them hooked until again pushed together with a greater
force, when, if the links are set to be disengaged they will fall and unlock them-
selves by their own weight or that of the counterbalancing weighted lever, all as
before described. And when the hooks or links are too long, or get too slack, their
draw bars a or b may be tightened up by screw nuts or hand wheels fitted at their
springs 51, or other part of these bars when desired.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming or putting it into effect or practice, I have to state that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First. The general construction and use of coupling mechanism for railway car-
riages, trucks, vans, or waggons, and mode and means of setting the same at the
sides thereof, so as to be automatically coupled or uncoupled by the motion of the
carriages themselves, all substantially as herein described in reference to and shown
in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
Second. The construction and use of rigid inclined coupling hooks A, A', and
open hooking links B, B¹, for taking over the former as couplings for railway car-
riages, trucks, vans, or waggons, acting vertically by gravitation, to couple or
uncouple by the motion of the carriages themselves, all substantially as herein
described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said David McGill, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.
35 Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
DAVID MCGILL. (L.S.)