IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Rowland Clarke and William Hilton, of
Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND
WAGONS."
Scaled the 16th October 1874, and dated the 22nd April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Rowland Clarke
and William Hilton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 22nd April 1874.
We, FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE and WILLIAM HILTON, of Heaton
Norris, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES AND WAGONS:-
The object of this Invention is the construction of a coupling for con-
necting railway carriages and wagons which shall be automatic in the
act of securing the carriages or wagons and readily uncoupled without
the necessity of any person going between such carriages or wagons for
that purpose.

page_text: In carrying out our Invention we form on the end of the draw bar
a double hook, one half projecting upwards and the other downwards
in a vertical direction, each hook being provided with an incline, the
resulting combination being somewhat harpoon-shaped in appearance.
To this draw bar, at a point about where it enters the framework of
the carriage or wagon, we further pivot a shackle fitted so as to freely
rise or fall in a radial direction around such pivot, the outer end of such
shackle being shaped to correspond with the inclines on the double hook
herein-before described. This shackle is kept in a horizontal or nearly
horizontal position by being connected through suitable links with an
arm or arms projecting from a rocking shaft disposed a short distance
underneath the carriage or wagon and suitably weighted for that
purpose. This rocking shaft is continued through to each side of the
carriage or wagon and has hand levers for actuating such rocking
shaft which is necessary when uncoupling. Each end of each carriage
or wagon is fitted as described.
When it is desired to couple say two carriages or wagons fitted with
this appliance they are simply pushed into contact, when the shackle
from one of such wagons slides along one of the inclines on the double
hook of the next, and coming behind it is so secured; a similar locking
takes place with the shackle of the other carriage or wagon, and the
result is a double connection equivalent to the present system of double
hooking of goods wagons.
The uncoupling is effected by means of the hand levers connected to
the rocking shaft herein-before described, by actuating which the
shackles can be raised from behind the double hooks and the carriages
or wagons separated.
When not in use the shackles may be turned down out of the way
and there secured by means of a latch, this latch being brought within
reach of the porter by being mounted on a rocking shaft extending
through to each side of the carriage or wagon and provided with hand.
levers, as described, for actuating the shackles. By releasing this latch
the shackles at once resume their automatic position. I would observe
that carriages or wagons fitted with this coupling may be connected
with carriages or wagons of the old system, the shackles in such case
being actuated from one side of the carriage or wagon by hand.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Rowland Clarke and William Hilton in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, FRANCIS
ROWLAND CLARKE and WILLIAM HILTON, of Heaton Norris, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Francis Rowland Clarke
and William Hilton, Her special licence that we, the said Francis
Rowland Clarko and William Hilton, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Francis Rowland Clarke and
William Hilton, our exccutors, 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. Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND
WAGONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Francis
Rowland Clarke and William Hilton, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Francis Rowland Clarke and
William Hilton, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described.
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this Invention is the construction of a coupling for con-
necting railway carriages and wagons which shall be automatic in the
act of securing the carriages or wagons and readily uncoupled without

page_text: weight H not only ensures the shackle D always remaining in the hori-
zontal position, or nearly so, as illustrated in Fig. 1, except when locked
as herein-after described, but it serves also to prevent any tendency of
the shackle to become uncoupled when the wagons knock together.
In order to lock our improved coupling in either of the positions repre-
sented in Fig. 5, as might be required, for instance, in shunting we
employ a rod I passing from one side of the wagon or carriage to the
other and provided like the rocking shaft F with a lever handle J at
cach of its extremities, and upon this rod we secure a locking arm J¹
which is notched at J³ in order to catch hold of a pin K projecting from
one side of the arm K¹ branching from the rocking shaft F when the
shackle D is turned up by means of the hand lever G into the position
shewn in the left-hand wagon, illustrated in Fig. 5, and to catch hold of
the cross stud E¹ (herein-before described), when the shackle D is turned
down by means of the hand lever G into the position shewn in the right
hand wagon in Fig. 5.
The action of our improved coupling may be thus described:-Pre-
suming that two wagons are both fitted with our improved coupling and
require to be coupled together, the shackles being in the position illus-
trated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, now, if we suppose that the wagons are
pushed into contact, immediately the end of the shackle on one wagon
touches, say the upper incline upon the double hook C of the other
wagon, it slides up such incline until it falls behind the top portion of
the hook, meanwhile the shackle upon the other wagon has descended
the lower incline on the hook of the first wagon and has risen behind it
in virtue of the action of the weight H, and thus such wagons are doubly
coupled together, as seen in Fig. 4. To uncouple these wagons it is
only necessary for the porter or other attendant to turn the hand lever G,
that of the right-hand wagon to the right or in the direction of the
arrow until the cross stud E¹ becomes locked in the notches J' of the
locking arm J¹ when the shackle will be thereby held, as seen in the
fellow carriage in Fig. 5, and to uncouple the shackle of the other or
left-hand carriage it is only requisite to turn the other hand lever G to
the left hand or in the direction of the arrow until the pin K upon the
arm K' is caught by the notch J of the locking arm J, when the
shackle will be held, as seen in the fellow carriage in Fig. 5. To release
these shackles again from the position shewn in Fig. 5, the hand levers J
must be turned respectively in the direction of the arrows, when the
say

page_text: To uncouple railway carriages, fitted as just described, it is only
necessary to reverse the screwing action and thus to extend the spring
draw bar B to enable the shackles D to be easily uncoupled. Although
herein-before described as a double coupling it will be readily apparent
that this system of coupling may be adopted without using both
shackles.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
our said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details,
relative proportions or dimensions of the various parts of our improved
coupling for railway carriages and wagons, as hercin-before described
and illustrated, nor do we confine ourselves to the preciso method of or
mechanism employed for uncoupling the shackles of our improved
coupling or for holding the said shackles in an uncoupled position, as
herein-before described and illustrated, as the same made be considerably
varied without departing from the Invention; but what we claim is, the
improved method of coupling railway carriages or wagons by means of
a double hook formed at the extremity of the spring draw bar together
with a shackle mounted upon such draw bar, such double hook and
shackle being capable of interlocking with a similar hook and shackle
upon the draw bar of another railway carriage or wagon, and whereby a
double coupling is obtained, as and for the purposes herein-before
described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, the said Francis Rowland Clarke, for and on
behalf of myself and the said William Hilton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October 1874.
FRANCIS ROWLAND CLARKE.. (L.S.)