AUTOMATIC DUPLEX COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY TRUCKS, CARRIAGES AND OTHER ROLLING STOCK
Year: 1886

page_text: other Rolling Stock.
We, HENRY SYED SMART COPLAND and JAMES CHARLES GILMOUR of 42 Old
Broad Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of our said invention for "AUTOMATIC DUPLEX COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY TRUCKS,
CARRIAGES AND OTHER ROLLING STOCK," to be as follows:-
A Coupling formed in two corresponding parts. The portion attached to one
end of a vehicle to override and become connected with the portion attached to the
end of another vehicle. This is effected in the following manner.
A shackle or
link is connected or hinged to the end of the drawbar by a pin or any other suit-
able arrangement. The front end of each shackle or link is formed with one or
more long spurs on its underside and one or more shorter projections on its upper
or top side. These spurs or projections may be formed separately to a straight bar
or bars running back to and hinged on the same pin with the shackle. The faces of
these spurs or projections are curved so that they may be capable of riding easily
over or under the opposite shackle or link when the carriages or trucks are brought
in close contact, and the backs of such spurs are formed to a curve which would be
practically described by the segment of a circle struck from the centre of the pin
upon which the shackle or link hinges. At the hinged end of each shackle or link,
one or more depending arms are formed to a suitable angle and connected or hinged
to one or more flexible jointed levers which are fixed to a rod carried under the
end of the truck or carriage frame. Both ends of each of these rods have a
weighted baud lever attached, which assists in bringing the spurred shackles into
a normal position When the carriages or trucks are brought into contact, the end
of the lower spur of one of the shackles passes over the end of the opposite or lower
shackle, and on the carriages being drawn forward this lower shackle passes up the
back of the spur on the upper one till they are practically drawn into line; the
short upper projection on the lower shackle catching the back of the upper one,
thus forming a double hold.
In order to uncouple the trucks or carriages, it is necessary to raise the hand
side lever in connection with the upped spurred shackle or link, which it lifts out

page_text: of action; and, if necessary it is retained in that position by a catch placed or fixed
under or at the side of the carriage or truck, and can be readily released from either
side of the carriage, or truck, as may be most convenient.
In cases where it may be desirable to retain the existing drawbars and hooks,
we pass the pin on which the shackle is hinged through the hole in the drawbar by
which the existing chain coupling is attached, and through a distance piece or pieces
or washers between the two, thus leaving the drawbar hook available for use with
the ordinary chain coupling of other vehicles which may not be provided with our
automatic duplex coupling; and in other cases it may also be preferable to connect
the shackle to the drawbar by passing the pin through the hook instead of through
the hole in the drawbar at the back of the hook.
It may also be more convenient to place the counterbalance weights direct on
the depending arm or arms of the shackles or links, in which case it would not be
necessary to retain those on the lever handles attached to the cross rods. A simple
cam acting directly against the said depending arm or arms being fixed to the lever
rod in lieu of the before-mentioned flexible jointed lever or levers.

page_text: Automatio Duplex Couplings for Railway Trucks, Carriages, and
other Rolling Stock.
We, HENRY SYED SMART COPLAND, and JAMES CHARLES GILMOUR of 42 Old
Broad Street London, Civil Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to improvements in automatic car couplings for use on
railways, in which two corresponding shackles are hinged; one to each vehicle so
that one shackle may override and become attached to the other when the vehicles
collide.
We attain this object by the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawing in
which;
Figure 1 is a side view of the preferred method of forming and fixing our
improved coupling, showing the shackles disengaged In this figure two alternative
forms of shackle are represented.
Figure 2 a plan view of the ends of a pair of vehicles provided with the improved
coupling, showing the position of the hand levers.
Figure 3 an end view of a vehicle fitted with our shackle.
Figures 4 and 5 plan and elevation of the most preferred form of our shackle.
Figure 6. a modification of the uncoupling mechanism.
Figures 7. 8. 9. a plan and elevations of an alternative shackle.
Figures 10. 11. 12 are respectively, side elevation, plan, and end view of a second
method of arranging the shackles on the vehicles and of controling the shackles.
Figures 13 and 14 two other forms of' shackle which may be used with
advantage.
Figures 15. 16. 17: respectively elevation plan, and side-view of a plate to be used
with weak drawbar springs.
We prefer to arrange the shackles so that they rise and fall in a vertical plane
as shown in figures 1. 2. 3.
The shackles A. A' are hinged by means of bolts to the drawbars B B¹ of the
vehicles. At the hinged end of each shackle hang.one or two depending arms C C¹
fixed firmly with regard to the shackles and connected at their further ends by the
links or levers D D to the subsidiary levers X X' fixed to rods or rocking shafts
e e' passing laterally across under the frame of the vehicle and terininating at each
end in the hand levers b b¹.
The outer end of each shackle is provided with one or more double spurs
consisting of the upper spurs g g' and the lower longer spur f. f1, these spurs may
be either fixed to or formed with the shackle as shown in Figs. 4. 5. 13. 14. or may
be formed on separate bars recessed to hold the front of the shackle and hinged
with the shackle to the draw bar as shown in Figs. 7. 8 and 9.

page_text: The spur or spurs are generally formed or placed somewhat to the side of the
centre line of the shackle, so that they may not interfere with the spur or spurs of
the opposite shackle when coupling. The curve of the inner side of the longer
spurs ffis approximately an arc of the circle the centre of which is the hinge of
the shackle. The outer surfaces of the lower spurs are sufficiently curved to be
thrown upward by the opposite shackle when met by the edge of the latter. The
front parts of the shackles and of the spurs may be bevelled off as shown in the
drawings to enable the spurs to override the shackle more easily.
The drawbar most convenient for this shackle is fashioned as shown on the right
of Figure 2, but where, as is generally the case, it is required to adapt the coupling
to existing rolling stock, where it is thought desirable to retain and still make use
of the existing coupling chains, they are placed between the ends of the shackle
and the drawbar hook and take the place of the distance pieces K K which we
employ with hooked drawbars without coupling chains; and to further provide for
the quicker fall of the shackles we allow the existing coupling chains to impinge
on the lugs ii of the shackles (Figs. 4. 5) so that when the shackles are raised, the
chains are also lifted or swung forward to a certain extent and by their weight
cause the shackles to fall more readily than would be the case by their own weight
alone.
Each shackle is provided with shoulders h which prevent the shackle from
falling down further than is required, by said shoulders pressing against the draw-
bar plate.
When however the drawbar is slightly withdrawn which is the case when rubber
or weak drawbar springs are used, the shoulders would be inoperative, since they
would then pass too far in front of the drawbar plate. To obviate this we
may introduce a vertical plate L such as shown in Figs. 15. 16. 17. in front
of the drawbar plate, placed on the drawbar, so that however far the drawbar
may be withdrawn from the frame, the plate would always serve to restrain
the shoulders h.
With this duplex coupling, when two vehicles are brought together for the
purpose of coupling, the shackle which may happen to be the higher of the two,
impinges with its lower spur on the opposite shackle and is lifted thereby until it
passes over the opposite shackle and falls behind the same by its own weight..
When the couplings are subsequently in tension, the said lower spur catches behind
the apposite shackle and, at the same time, the upper spur of the latter catches
behind the former shackle thus giving a double hold.
For uncoupling, one of the hand levers of the upper shackle is lifted by hand, so
that the shackle is raised, and the latter can be secured in its disengaged position
by simply pressing up the hand lever so far as to reverse the joint of the lever D
or D with the lever X or X¹, when the weight of the shackle presses the hand
lever against the frame of the vehicle which holds the shackle in a more or less
vertical. position. If preferred a catch k can also be arranged to retain the hand
lever in its place but it is not essential.
In the modification shown in Fig. 6 a different uncoupling arrangement is made
use of. The depending levers C C are replaced by longer lovers H H¹ which may
be weighted or not as desired, and the levers D D¹ X X¹ are replaced by cams J J¹
fixed to the rocking shafts e e¹. These cams are preferably provided with flanges
to prevent lateral displacement of the depending arms.
In the modification of the arrangement of the shackles shown in figs. 10. 11. 12.
the shackles are hinged vertically so that they have a horizontal swing, controled
by the sliding bar n' and weighted levers b' which tend by their gravity to keep
the shackles at right angles to the end of the vehicles.
The shackles may also be arranged horizontally with the longer spurs above and
the shorter spurs. below, if preferred the uncoupling arrangement being the same as
shown in Figs. 1. 2.3 or 6 This however is not quite so convenient as the arrange-
ment shown in Figs. 1.2. 3 which is the method we prefer..

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim, is
1. The shackles A A¹ with upper spurs g g¹ and lower spurs f f¹, fixed to or
formed on their outer ends.
2. The shackles A A¹ with upper spurs g g¹ and lower spurs of f¹ with the
shoulders h h and lugs i.
3. The shackles A A¹ combined with a bar M carrying the double spurs as shown
in Figs. 7. 8 and 9.
4. The shackles as claimed in 1. 2 or 3 combined with the uncoupling mechanism
consisting of levers C C¹, D D¹ X X³, and rocking shaft e e¹, and hand levers b b¹.
5. The shackles as claimed in 1. 2 or 3 combined with the uncoupling mechanism
consisting of levers H H weighted or not weighted, cams J J' rocking shafts e e²
and hand levers b b with or without the catches k k.
6. The uncoupling device for shackles consisting of the levers C. D. X rocking
shaft e and hand lever b.
7. The uncoupling device for shackles consisting of the lever H cam J and
rocking shaft e and hand lever b.
8. The arrangement of the shackles horizontally on the drawbar as shown in
Figs. 1. 2. 3. 6.
9. The arrangement of the shackles claimed in claim 1 vertically on the drawbar
as shown in Figs. 10. 11. 12.
10. The shackle claimed in claim 1 arranged vertically on the drawbar combined
with the sliding bar n' and weighted swinging levers 6¹ 6¹ substantially as shown
in figures 10. 11. 12.
All substantially as described and illustrated and for the purposes set forth.