IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND WAGGONS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lockwood, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS
FOR RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND WAGGONS."
Sealed the 22nd April 1870, and dated the 26th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lockwood
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th October 1869.
I, JOHN LOCKWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND WAGGONS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to self-acting means of coupling or connecting
together railway engines, carriages, or waggons, and the improvements
consist in applying to the draw bars or in constructing them with
catches or hooks capable of taking into cach other in a lateral or side-

page_text: ways direction, the slot holes in the framework of the engine, carriage,
or waggon being made so as to allow for lateral deflection or motion of
the said draw bars. These catches or hooks are made of sufficient
breadth or depth to provide for the difference in height of draw bars in
different carriages. A tumbler or weighted lever is also hinged to the
framework above each draw bar having a projection on each side, which
lever can be turned over to act against either side of the said draw bars
so as to hold them either in or out of gear or position for or clear of
contact with each other. Or instead of this tumbling lever I use two
weighted levers, one being hinged to the framework above and the other
below the draw bars, each lever having a projection thereon to act on
opposite sides of the said draw bars. A slot plate is also applied to the
framework for the levers to move in, with pin holes and pins to be in-
serted therein to hold the said levers from acting when required. When
cone lever is at liberty to act the draw bars will be moved laterally in
one direction, and when the other lever is at liberty to act it will move
the said draw bars in the opposite direction so that the said draw bars
may be placed either in or out of gear or position for contact with each
other as required by operating these levers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lockwood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LOCKWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Lockwood, Her special licence
that I, the said John Lockwood, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Lockwood, my executors,
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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND WAGGONS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lockwood, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lockwood, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to self-acting means of coupling or connecting
together railway engines, carriages, or waggons, and the improvements
consist in applying to the draw bars or in constructing them with
catches or hooks capable of taking into cach other in a lateral or side-
wise direction, the slot holes in the framework of the engine, carriage,
or waggon being made so as to allow for lateral deflection or motion of
the said draw bars. These catches or hooks are made of sufficient breadth
or depth to provide for the difference in height of draw bars in different
carriages. A tumbler or weighted lever is also hinged to the framework
above each draw bar, having a projection on each side, which lever can be
turned over to act against either side of the said draw bars so as. to hold
them either in or out of gear or position for or clear of contact with
each other. Or instead of this tumbling lever I use two weighted levers,
one being hinged to the framework above and the other below the draw
bars, each lever having a projection thereon to act on opposite sides of the
said draw bars. A slot plate is also applied to the framework for the
levers to move in, with pin holes and pins to be inserted therein to hold
the said levers from acting when required. When one lever is at liberty
to act the draw bars will be moved laterally in one direction, and when
the other lever is at liberty to act it will move the said draw bars in the
opposite direction, so that the said draw bars may be placed either in or out
of gear or position for contact with each other as required by operating
these levers according.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 represents a plan partly in section of the end portions of two
railway carriages connected together by self-acting "couplings" con-
structed and arranged in accordance with my Invention; Figure 2
shows a similar view, the couplings being disconnected; Figure 3 is a
perspective view of the ends of two railway waggons connected together
by self-acting couplings of the same description; and Figure 4 is a similar
perspective view of the crds of two railway waggons showing the means
whereby a railway carriage or waggon A furnished with a self-acting
coupling of this character may be connected to another carriage or
waggon B* having an ordinary draw bar and hook should they require
to be coupled together. a, a, are the draw bars, constructed with catches
or hooks a¹, a¹, and arranged so as to engage with or take into each other
in a lateral or sideway direction when the ends of the carriages A and B
are brought together. The front ends of the catches or hooks a', a', are
formed with inclines, which force the draw bars laterally in opposite
directions to allow of the parts a', a', to slide past each other when they
come together, the rebound or backward movement of the carriages
causing the hooks or catches a', a', to engage with each other and thus
connect or couple the carriages together. Each of the draw bars a can
be retained in such a position as to remain in or out of gear as required by
means of a weighted lever b, which is mounted and moves on a pin fixed
on the plate 2 through which the draw bar passes, cach plate being
formed with a slot to admit of the draw bar moving sideways when
required. The weighted levers bare formed with projections or arms b¹,
which act or press against the draw bar in one or other direction in
order to retain the catches or hooks a', a', in or out of gear as may be
desired. a, a, are links connected to the draw bars a, as shown for the
purpose of connecting draw bars of the above description with ordinary
draw bars, as shewn at Figure 4 and Figure 4* of the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is carried into practice, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein described, so long
as the peculiar character of my Invention is retained, but what I claim
is, the construction and arrangement of couplings for railway engines,

page_text: carriages, and waggons so as to render them self-acting, substantially
in the manner herein described and shewn in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lockwood, have hereunto sct
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.
my
JOHN LOCKWOOD. (L.S.)