IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Osborne, of Derby, in the County of
Derby, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLING AND
UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Sealed the 20th April 1860, and dated the 20th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Osborne at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th February 1SCO.
I, THOMAS OSBORNE, of Derby, in the County of Derby, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of effecting the coupling and
uncoupling of railway carriages and waggons and other vehicles requiring to
be coupled, whereby the danger to life incurred by the ordinary mode of
coupling is entirely obviated. According to this Invention it is proposed to
substitute a mechanical arm for the hands of the attendant in coupling and
uncoupling a vehicle, the attendant being required merely to work a hand
lever or levers placed at one or both sides of the vehicle, in place of having
to enter between the two vehicles to adjust the coupling link on the draw-
hook. The side lever or levers above referred to is or are connected to a cross
shaft carrying another lever arm, which acts either directly upon the links or
indirectly thereon through the intervention of a radius rod or rods, and has

page_text: the effect when actuated of elevating the link and dropping it into the draw
hook, or of raising it from the draw hook and then releasing it, when it will
drop down into the ordinary suspended position. Suitable balance weights
and tightening screws may be applied if found requisite, and the improvements
may be combined with the ordinary couplings at present in use. Various
modifications may obviously be constructed for accomplishing the object in
view without deviating from the principle or main feature of the Invention as
above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Osborne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, THOMAS
OSBORNE, of Derby, in the County of Derby, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Osborne, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Osborne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Osborne, my executors, administrators, or 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 Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Osborne. by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Osborne, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: My said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of effecting the coupling and
uncoupling of railway carriages and waggons and other vehicles requiring to
be coupled, whereby the danger to life incurred by the ordinary mode of
coupling is entirely obviated. According to this Invention it is proposed to
substitute a mechanical lifting arm or lever for the hands of the attendant in
coupling and uncoupling a vehicle, the attendant being required merely
to work a hand lover or levers placed at one or both sides of the vehicle, in
place of having to enter between the two vehicles to adjust the coupling link
on the draw hook. The side lever or levers above referred to is or are con
nected to a cross shaft carrying the lifting arm or lever above referred to, which
acts eitherdirectly upon the links or indirectly thereon through the intervention
of a radius rod or rods, and has the effect when actuated of elevating the
coupling link and dropping it into the draw hook, or of raising it from the
draw hook and then releasing it, when it will drop down into the ordinary
suspended position. Suitable balance weights and tightening screws may be
applied, if found requisite, and the improvements may be combined with the
ordinary couplings at present in use. Various modifications may obviously
be constructed for accomplishing the object in view without deviating from
the principal or main feature of the Invention as above described.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Fig. 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of the ends of two
rail waywaggons divided with one modification of my improved coupling and
uncoupling apparatus; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of one of the trucks; Fig. 3
represents an enlarged detailed plan and side elevation of the coupling shewn
in Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail plan and side elevation of
another form of coupling.
A is a transfer shaft fitted on the under side of the end sole B of the
waggon, and working in hangers C secured thereto. The middle portion of
his shaft is forged square, and fits into a corresponding square hole in the
boss of the lifting arm D. The ends of this shaft are also forged square for
he reception of the square bosses of the actuating levers E; these levers when
hot in use are retained in an horizontal position by the hooks F, which are
uspended from staples G in the sides of the waggon. The coupling itself
onsists of two straight links H, H, Fig. 3, connected at one end to each side
f the shank of the draw hook I of the waggon by a pin J, whilst their opposite

page_text: ends are connected to the link K by means of the pin L; this pin has two
projections or catches M forged upon it at its middle, and its ends are squared
or flattened and fit into corresponding holes in the link K, so as not to turn
therein. The coupling link K has its straight ends prolonged beyond the
joint for the purpose of carrying the counterweights O, O, which serve to
keep the coupling in its proper position for being acted upon by the arm D.
When the operation of coupling is to be performed, each waggon may carry
a similar coupling apparatus at each end, if desired, and when two are coupled
together the link which is out of use remains suspended in a vertical position,
as will be seen on referring to Fig. 1. In coupling a pair of waggons by the
aid of this apparatus, the handle E is depressed, which has the effect of raising
the arm D, and bringing its extremity under the nose of the catch M, and
against the links H, thereby raising the links H into a horizontal position,
whilst at the same time by its pressure on the catch M it gradually extends
the coupling link K, which is thus brought over the opposite draw hook, and
then allowed to drop therein, as shewn in Fig. 1. In order to uncouple the
waggons the arm D is again raised until it bears against the under side of the
links and nose of the catch M, the raising of the arm being continued
until the coupling link is lifted clear of the draw-hock, by which time the nose
of the catch M will have been released from the end of the lifting arm D,
when the coupling link will be tipped up by the counterweights O into a
vertical position, in which it will remain suspended, as shewn in Fig. 1, on the
descent of the links H, H. In Figure 4 the coupling link K is provided
with two tails or projections P, P, so that when a coupling is too long to
clear the end of the waggon during the operation of uncoupling, the shaft A
when moved endwise, and the forks on the end of the lifting arm allowed
to slip between the projections P, P, the balance weights O, O, bringing the
coupling link K into a vertical position, when by lowering the lifting arm the
entire coupling will fall into its normal suspended position. In this arrarge-
ment a spring may be employed for forcing back the shaft A into its ordinary
working position. Although a single balance weight would answer the
purpose in both modifications, yet I prefer to use two, as they tend to keep
the coupling more perpendicular and better up to its work.
In existing waggons having the ordinary couplings, another modification of
this Invention may be employed with a view to economy of material. In this
case a stud is welded on to each side of the end coupling link, having one end
of a jointed or single lever working loose on it, the other end of this lever
being lifted by the lifting arm or lever on the shaft A, as herein-before
described.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general system or mode of coupling and uncoupling railway
carriages or waggons and other vehicles, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use to and in the coupling and uncoupling of
railway carriages or waggons and other vehicles of a lifting arm or lever
actuated from the side of the vehicle, and serving to connect the coupling link
with or detached from the draw hook of the adjoining vehicle.
Third, the application of balance weights to coupling links for the purpose
herein-beforo described.
Fourth, the peculiar constructions and arrangements of apparatus for
coupling railway carriages or waggous and other vehicles, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Osborne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
THOMAS OSBORNE. (L.S.)