IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1884

page_text: I SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey Gentleman do hereby declaro
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY COUPLINGS FOR
RAILWAY CARRIAGES" (A communication from abroad by John Prince of Paris in
the Republic of France) to be as follows:-
This invention hns for its object to provide improved means by which railway
carriages may be automatically coupled together and by which the couplings can
be tightened to any required extent or can be uncoupled without the necessity of
a man going between the carriages.
For this purpose a horizontal hook is carried at the centre of the end of each
carriage. The stem of each hook lies lengthwise of the carriage and passes back
through the cross beams which form part of the carriage platform-usually it is
made to pass through two of these cross-beams.
The outermost cross beam has a wide slot formed in it through which the stem
of the hook passes so that the hook may be moved sidewise away from the central
line.
A spring is placed at the back of the stem of each hook to press the hook
laterally and hold it in a central position.
The hooks at the ends of two carriages which are to be coupled together lie in
opposite directions so that they may engage with one another.
The ends of the hooks also are inclined so that when two carriages are brought
together the inclined ends of the hooks on the two carriages meet and both hooks
are thereby pressed sidewise until the beaks of the hooks have passed one another;
the springs which press against the stems of the hooks then cause the two hooks
to engage with one another.
If it is desired to prevent the carriages from becoming coupled together it is only
ecessary that one of the hooks should be held aside to retain it from engaging
with the other hook. This may be effected by pressing a slide against the stem of
he hook. The slide may be actuated by a lever and the lever when it has pressed
ack the hook may be retained by a spring catch.

page_text: The inner end of the stem of the hook may have a screw thread cut upon it, on
to which are screwed two nuts holding between them an arched flat bladed spring
the ends of which are made to bear against the back of the second of the two cross
beams, through which the stem passes.
An arrangement of this kind would be sufficient for goods trucks but for
passenger carriages it is necessary to provide means for tightening up the
couplings.
To effect this a nut is provided to screw on to a screw thread cut upon the end
of the stem of the hook, the circumference of the nut is formed as a gear wheel to
engage with another gear wheel on an axis which passes to one or other side of the
end of the carriage. On the end of the axis a hand wheel is fixed by turning
which the nut can be turned in either direction desired and as the nut is prevented
from moving endwise the hook can so be drawn either backwards or forwards.
When the hooks of two carriages are engaged with one another and the hand
wheels are turned so as to draw the hooks inwards the pressure upon the buffers
can be increased to any desired extent.
When it is desired to uncouple the carriages the hand wheel is turned in a
direction to move the hook forward, an incline upon the stem of the hook then
comes against a roller and pressing against it the hook is moved away sideways.
Whenever it is necessary again to allow the coupling hook to come into action
all that is necessary is to again turn the hand-wheel in the direction to move back
the coupling hook to its former position.

page_text: "
I, SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey, Gentleman do hereby declaro
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY COUPLINGS FOR
RAILWAY CARRIAGES A Communication to me from John Prince and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This Invention has for its object to provide improved means by which railway
carriages may be automatically coupled together and by which the couplings can
be tightened to any required extent or can be uncoupled without the necessity of
a man going between the carriages.
The drawing hereunto annexed shews the improved safety couplings.
Figure 1 is a plan view of part of the platforms of two railway carriages
coupled together by the couplings. Figures 2 and 3 shew end views of cach of
the two carriages.
The arrangement shewn on the carriage No 1 is a suitable arrangement for
passenger carriages and that on No 2 for a carriage for goods or cattle.
The principal feature of the coupling is a hook A projecting from the centre of
the end of each carriage-the one hook pointing in one direction and the other in
the opposite direction. The stem of each hook lies lengthwise of the carriage and
passes back through the cross beams B and C which form part of the carriage
platform and is retained in rear of the beam C. In the wagon No 2 it is retained
by an ordinary arched spring held between two nuts screwed on to its end-the
ends of the spring being made to abut against the beam C to give a certain amount
of elasticity to the spring.--The use of the spring is not essential but it is used
with the existing ordinary couplings and there is no reason why it should not be
employed.
The outermost cross beam B has a wide slot formed in it through which the stem
of the hook passes so that the hook may be moved sidewise away from the central
line of the carriage.
In this slot a spring S is placed which presses laterally against the back of the
hook and holds the hook in its central position.
The ends of the hooks also are inclined so that when two carriages are brought
together the inclined ends of the hooks on the two carriages meet and both hooks
are thereby pressed sidewise until the beaks of the hooks have passed one another;
the springs which press against the stems of the hooks then cause the two hooks to
engage with one another."
If it is desired to prevent the carriages from becoming coupled together it is only
necessary that one of the hooks should be held aside to retain it from engaging
with the other hook. This may be effected in different ways-For goods wagons
it is sufficient to mount a lever D outside the end of the wagon as shown on the
wagon No 2-and to couple the lower end of the lever to a slide & whose end rests
against the stem of the hook. By turning the lever the slide can be made to press
back the hook and when it has pressed back the hook it can be sprung behind a
stop K and so retained as long as required. When the lever is released the hook A
returns to its normal position.
For passenger carriages it is necessary to provide means for tightening up the
couplings to suitably compress the buffer springs.
The primitive means usually employed for effecting this object exposes the lives
of the men and is besides slow and often ineffectual. The arrangement I adopt for
effecting this object is shown on the carriage No 1. The hook A. is arranged as in

page_text: the carriage No 2 except that it carries no spring at the rear end of its stem but
carries a gear wheel E which forms a nut screwing on to the screw thread at the
end of the stem-The gear wheel is prevented from moving end wise by stops
carried by the cross beam C so that when the gear wheel is turned the stem of the
hook is moved end wise either backwards or forwards according to the direction in
which the wheel is turned. The wheel E gears with and can be turned by another
gear wheel the axis of which can be rotated by a hand wheel G mounted near one
side of the end of the carriage so that a man may turn it without getting between
the carriages.
In this way when two carriages are coupled together the buffer springs can be
compressed to any extent desired by simply turning the hand wheel G.
An indicator may if desired be used with the hand wheel to shew the amount of
compression put upon the buffer springs.
.
The holding aside of the hook to put it out of action is effected in a somewhat
different manner to that shewn on the carriage N° 2.
The stem of the hook has on it an incline H which when the hook is moved
forwards comes against a roller I-the hook is so moved aside as it moves
forwards.
In this way the hook can be disengaged from the hook of the next carriage and
kept from engaging with it as long as may be desired.
It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the ways shewn for
carrying out the invention so that I do not limit my claim to the exact ways shewn
in the drawings for carrying out the invention but having now particularly
described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declaro that what I claim is :-
First. The combination of the engaging hooks formed and arranged sub-
stantially as described with springs to resist the coupling so as to ensure the
automatic coupling of the carriages when one is driven against the other.
Second. The combination of a lever and slide or link for pressing back the
hook and disengaging it or holding it back out of action.
Third. The combination with the coupling hook, of a screw nut screwing onto
a screw thread on its stem and formed as a gear wheel which can be turned from a
hand wheel at one side of the end of the carriage so as to tighten up or slacken tho
coupling substantially as described.
Fourth. The combination with the coupling hook and gearing for moving it
backwards or forwards of an incline to cause the hook to be pressed aside and put
out of action when the hook is moved forwards to its foremost position sub-
stantially as described.
.