IMPROVE- MENTS IN DRAW BARS FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES to be as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: I, GEORGE WOOD, of No 32 Canning Street, Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
Ireland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of said invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DRAW BARS FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES to be as follows:-
"
With nuts and cotters as heretofore usually employed for holding drawbars of
railway carriages, wagons and other vehicles the rod is weakened to the extent of
about 1/3 of its section by the screw thread or cotter hole and consequently when it
breaks the fracture generally occurs at this point and the rod is pulled out, and by
digging into the ballast sometimes upsets the following vehicle and causes a serious
accident.
Now my invention is designed to obviate the evils above indicated, for which
purpose I adopt a construction whereby the weakening of the draw bar by cotter
hole or screw is avoided, and the strain is taken by projections formed solidly with
the bar so that a draw bar according to my invention is solid throughout, having
neither a thread cut on it nor a hole cut through it. On it are forged two T heads
or sets of projections and a hole to suit the section is cut in the head stock, cross-
rail and cradle, a spring being used that is formed with a bole suitable to allow the
bar to pass through. A front draw bar plate is put on the bar; and after one end
of the bar has been inserted through the head stock a back draw-bar plate is
shipped on then the bar is pushed through the cross rail, cradle, spring, and spring
plate. During the just described operations the draw-hook occupies a horizontal
position, that is, with one of its sides uppermost. The back draw bar plate having
been put up in its place, and bolts entered from the back side thereof, the bar is
turned through one quarter of a rotation upon its axis to put it into perpendicular,
and bolts are secured through the headstock, and, owing to the formation of the
spring plate this at the same time compresses the spring to the required extent say
about". The front draw-bar plate turns with the bar.
It will be seen that with the above described arrangement if the draw-bar
should break there will not be any risk of its being pulled out and one end of it
trying to force its way into the ground, as if it gives way between the hook and
the first head, that part will come away but is so short that no harm can be done,
and if it give way between the T heads or projections the draw hook will simply
pull out a short distance (say about 3 inches) and the strain will be transferred
from the cradle to the head-stock and at the next stopping station this may be
readily observed.

page_text: The back draw-bar plate may be of such a section that in a case of this kind,
when the square neck on the draw-hook is pulled out of its matrix in the front
draw-bar plate, the T head or projection will enter between projections cast on the
back draw-bar plate and thus prevent hook and bar from turning round, or being
pulled out.
In a modified arrangement the bar may be made square from the hook to the
first T head or projection.
It will be necessary to prevent the cradle from turning in its place.
With my invention the employment of examiners to go underneath to examine
draw-bars may usually be dispensed with.

page_text: "
I, GEORGE WOOD, of N° 32 Canning Street Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
Ireland Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAW-BARS FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
With nuts and cotters as heretofore usually employed for holding draw-bars of
railway carriages, wagons and other vehicles the rod is weakened to the extent of
about /, of its section by the screw thread or cotter hole and consequently when
it breaks the fracture generally occurs at this point and the rod is pulled out, and
by digging into the ballast sometimes upsets the following vehicle and causes a
serious accident.
Now my invention is designed to obviate the evils above indicated, for which
purpose I adopt a construction whereby the weakening of the draw-bar by cotter
hole or screw is avoided, and the strain is taken by projections formed solidly with
the bar so that a draw-bar according to my invention is solid throughout, having
neither a thread cut on it nor a hole cut through it. On it are forged two T heads
or sets of projections and a hole to suit the section is cut in the head stock, cross-
rail and cradle, a spring being used that is formed with a hole suitable to allow the
bar to pass through. A front draw-bar plate is put on the bar; and after one end
of the bar has been inserted through the head stock a back draw bar plate is
shipped on then the bar is pushed through the crossrail, cradle, spring, and spring
plate-During the just described operations the draw-hook occupies a horizontal
position, that is with one of its sides uppermost. The back draw-bar plate having
been put up in its place, and bolts entered from the back side thereof, the bar is
turned through one quarter of a rotation upon its axis, to put it into perpendicular,
and bolts are secured through the headstock, and, owing to the formation of the
spring plate, this at the same time compresses the spring to the required extent,
say about". The front draw-bar plate turns with the bar.
Referring to the accompanying drawings
Fig 1 is a side elevation partly in vertical section of a draw-bar with other parts
according to my invention.
Fig 2 is a plan partly in horizontal section shewing portions of the draw bar and
head stock, as also the front and back plates.
Fig 3 is a face view of the front plate with the square part of the draw-bar in
Bection.
Fig 4 is a sectional end view of the cradle taken in the line y, y, Fig 1.
Fig 5 is a section on the line x, x Fig 2 looking in the direction of the arrow.
A is the draw bar formed with a draw-hook B and with projections C, C,
and D, D. and a part E of square or other suitable polygonal section, the rest of the
bar being of circular cross section. F is the front draw-bar plate. G the head-
stock. the back draw bar plate, K the cradle, L the spring and M the spring
plate. This spring plate is provided with inclined portions M against which the
projections D bear whereby the spring L will be compressed when the draw-bar is

page_text: partly turned to that position in which the draw hook is perpendicular. N. N are
bolts for connecting the draw-bar plates F and H to the headstock G.
It will be seen that with the above described arrangment if the draw-bar A
should break there will not be any risk of its being pulled out and one end of it
trying to force its way into the ground, as if it gives way between the hook B and
the first head or projections C, that part will come away, but is so short that no
harm can be done; and if it gives way between the T heads or projections C, C,
and D, D, the draw hook will simply pull out a short distance (say about 3 inches)
and the strain will be transferred from the cradle to the head stock and at the next
stopping station this may be readily observed.
The back-draw-bar plate may be of such a section that in a case of this kind,
when the square neck E on the draw-hook is pulled out of its matrix in the front
draw-bar plate F, the T head or projections C, C, will enter between projections O,
cast on the back draw-bar plate H and thus. prevent hook and bar from turning
round, or being pulled out.
In a modified arrangement the bar may be made square from the hook to the
first T head or projection or projections.
It will be necessary to prevent the cradle from turning in its place, this may be
done in any convenient manner.
With my invention the employment of examiners to go underneath to examine
draw-bars may usually be dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The use of a draw bar formed with projections (or a projection) to serve in
lieu of a cotter or nut for taking the strain substantially in the manner described
above with reference to the drawings.
: 2. The use of a draw bar provided with projections such as C and D and
working through plates such as F and H bolted together at the headstock so that
the drawbar will not be pulled out of the headstock in the event of breakage of the
bar behind the projections O, as above set forth.