IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY COUPLINGS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gerard Wenzeslaus von Nawrocki, of the Firm of
J. Brandt and G. W. v. Nawrocki, Civil Engineers and Patent Agents, of
No. 2, Koch Strasse, Berlin, in the German Empire, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY COUPLINGS." A communication by Gottfried
Daniel Theegarten, of Muelheim on the Rhine, in the German Empire.
Sealed the 16th April 1878, and dated the 30th October 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gerard Wenzeslaus von
Nawrocki at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents. on the 30th October
1877.
GERARD WENZESLAUS VON NAWROCKI, of the Firm of J. Brandt and G. W. von
Nawrocki, Civil Engineers and Patent Agents, of No. 2, Koch Strasse, Berlin, in the
German Empire. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY COUPLINGS." [A comminunication
by Gottfried Daniel Theegarten, of Muelheim on the Rhine, in the German
Empire.]
This Invention relates to an improved construction of that description of railway
coupling, wherein the coupling of the link of the one carriage on to the hook of the
other is effected by levers at the side of the carriage.
According to the present Invention the draw bar terminates in an ordinary.
coupling hook, but has no coupling link attached to an eye formed therein, as in the,
ordinary coupling. At a short distance behind the hook a sliding sleeve is placed
on the draw bar, which sleeve is pressed forwards by a spring behind it, but can be
held in a backward position by a pawl hinged to the draw bar in front of the sleeve,.
and catching into teeth formed on the sleeve. To the latter are hinged two arms
projecting on each side of the coupling hook, at some distance from and to some
distance beyond the same; these links are articulated at or about the middle of their
length, and at the front end, being bent so as to approach each other; they are
jointed to the coupling link. The parts of the said arms behind the joint work
through guides in the end framing of the carriage, which hold them always in a
horizontal position, but the parts in front of the joint which are outside the end
Unice C1

page_text: framing hang down upon their hinge joints when the link is uncoupled. The link
is jointed to these arms in such a manner that it can be turned up to any angle
above them, but is prevented by stops from dropping below the position in which
it is in line with the arms. Above the draw bar and the said arms is a shaft
extending from side to side of the carriage, being carried in bearings and provided
with levers at its end, whereby it can be turned in its bearings. On this shaft are
two curved levers in such positions that by a backward motion they can be made to
press against the joints of the before-mentioned arms, while by a forward motion
studs projecting laterally from their ends can be brought to bear against the under
side of the front part of the arms, so as by their continued motion to raise these,
and with them the link, into an inclined or horizontal position.
The link has a curved tail projecting backward from its joint, with which the said
stud on the one raising lever comes in contact after the arms are raised somewhat,
whereby the link is canted up at angle to the arms, while these continue to rise
with it. Before the arms and coupling link are raised, as described, for the purpose
of being coupled, the shaft is turned in the contrary direction to that described so as
to cause the levers in pressing against the joints of the links to force these, and with
them the sleeve, carrying them backwards on the draw bar against the action of
the spring, they being held in this backward position by the before-mentioned
pawl.
On continuing the before-described reverse motion of the levers the coupling link
is raised in its canted position above the opposite draw hook, and when in this
position a bar, carried by tails on the raising levers, is made to press on a tail on
the pawl, so as to cause this to release the sleeve. This is then moved forward by
the spring, thereby causing the link to advance over the opposite draw hook, into
which it is then allowed to drop.. By now turning the raising levers backwards so
ns to press against the joint of the arms carrying the link, these and the sleeve are
moved back again on their draw bar, thereby tightening up the coupling link.
In order to enable the link to be coupled when the two draw hooks are not
exactly in line, as when the carriages are on a curve, the before-described arms,
together with the link, can be shifted sideways somewhat upon their pivots on the
sleeve. To effect this the transverse shaft can be shifted endways so as to cause the
one raising lever to press laterally against one of the arms.
For uncoupling, after again releasing the sleeve by the levers. so as to make the
link shoot out of its hook, the link is raised above the latter by the lever, and is
then moved to one side as just described, and allowed to drop into the uncoupled
position.
The draw hook of the opposite carriage is by preference provided with precisely
the same coupling mechanism, as above described, so that a double coupling is
thus provided, whereby the ordinary side coupling chains can be dispensed with.
For coupling on the second link this may either be done in the before-described
manner, when the one link has already been coupled, the arms of the latter being
sufficiently wide apart for the opposite link to pass up between them. Or the one
link is first moved into the raised position, and is then shifted to one side, as
described, and held in that position by a catch acting on the raising lever; the
other link is then coupled on to its hook, and the first-named one is shifted back
again and dropped on to its hook.
It will be seen that by the above-described Invention the operations of coupling of
the link, the tightening thereof, and the uncoupling are all effected by means
of one and the same shaft and hand lever, whereas in all arrangements hereto-
fore employed two separate shafts and levers have been required for this
purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Gerard Wenzeslaus von Nawrocki in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th April 1878.
GERARD WENZESLAUS VON NAWROCKI, of the Firm of J. Brandt and G. W. von
Nawrocki, Civil Engineers and Patent Agents, of No: 2, Koch Strasse, Berlin, in
the German Empire. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY COUPLINGS." A communica-
tion by Gottfried Daniel Theegarten, of Muelheim on the Rhine, in the German
Empire.
This Invention relates to an improved construction of that description of railway
coupling, wherein the coupling of the link of the one carriage on to the hook of the
other is effected by levers at the side of the carriage.
According to the present Invention the draw bar terminates in an ordinary
coupling hook, but has no coupling link attached to an eye formed therein, as in
the ordinary coupling. At a short distance behind the hook a sliding sleeve is
placed on the draw bar, which sleeve is pressed forwards by a spring behind it, but
can be held in a backward position by a pawl hinged to the draw bar in front of
the sleeve, and catching into teeth formed on the sleeve. To the latter are hinged
two arms projecting on each side of the coupling hook, at some distance from and to
some distance beyond the same, these links are articulated at or about the middle of
their length and at the front end, being bent so as to approach each other, they are
jointed to the coupling link. The parts of the said arms behind the joint work
through guides in the end framing of the carriage, which hold thein always in a
horizontal position, but the parts in front of the joint which are outside the end
framing hang down upon their hinge joints when the link is uncoupled. The link
is jointed to these arms in such a manner that it can be turned up to any angle above
them, but is prevented by stops from dropping below the position in which it is in
line with the arms. Above the draw bar and the said arms is a shaft extending
from side to side of the carriage, being carried in bearings and provided with levers
at its end, whereby it can be turned in its bearings. On this shaft are two curved
levers in such positions that by a backward motion they can be made to press
against the joints of the before-mentioned arms, while by a forward motion studs
projecting laterally from their ends can be brought to bear against the under side of
the front part of the arms, so as by their continued motion to raise these, and with
them the link, into an inclined or horizontal position.
The link has a curved tail projecting backward from its joint, with which the
said stud on the one raising lever comes in contact after the arms are raised some-
what, whereby the link is canted up at angle to the arms, while these continue to
rise with it. Before the armis and coupling link are raised, as described, for the
purpose of being coupled, the shaft is turned in the contrary direction to that
described, so as to cause the levers, in pressing against the joints of the links, to
force these, and with them the sleeve carrying them backwards on the draw bar
against the action of the spring, they being held in this backward position by the
before-mentioned pawl.
On continuing the before-described reverse motion of the levers the coupling link
is raised in its canted position above the opposite draw hook, and when in this
position a bar carried by tails on the raising levers is made to press on a tail on the
pawl so as to cause this to release the sleeve. This is then moved forward by the
spring, thereby causing the link to advance over the opposite draw hook, into which
it is then allowed to drop. By now turning the raising levers backwards so as to
press against the joint of the arms carrying the link, these and the sleeve are
moved back again on their draw bar, thereby tightening up the coupling link.
In order to enable the link to be coupled when the two draw hooks are not
exactly in line, as when the carriages are on a curve, the before-described arms;
together with the link, can be shifted sideways somewhat upon their pivots on the

page_text: sleeve. To effect this the transverse shaft can be shifted end ways so as to cause the
one raising lever to press laterally against one of the arms.
For uncoupling, after again releasing the sleeve by the levers so as to make the
link shoot out of its hook, the link is raised above the latter by the lever, and is
then moved to one side, as just described, and allowed to drop into the uncoupled
position.
The draw hook of the opposite carriage is, by preference, provided with precisely
the same coupling mechanism as above described, so that a double coupling is
thus provided, whereby the ordinary side coupling chains can be dispensed with.
For coupling on the second link this may either be done in the before-described
manner, when the one link has already been coupled, the arms of the latter being
sufficiently wide apart for the opposite link to pass up between them. Or the one
link is first moved into the raised position, and is then shifted to one side, as
described, and held in that position by a catch acting on the raising lever; the other
link is then coupled on to its hook, and the first-named one is shifted back again
and dropped on to its hook.
It will be seen that by the above-described Invention the operations of coupling
the link, the tightening thereof, and the uncoupling are all effected by means of one
and the same shaft and hand lever, whereas in all arrangements heretofore employed
two separate shafts and levers have been required for this purpose.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of the before-described
improved coupling.
On the square end of the draw bar is a sliding sleeve a, having ratchet teeth on
its upper surface. At the front end it has hinged to it arms b, b, which can move
in a horizontal plane and project through the end framing of the carriage, outside
which they are articulated at t, so that the front parts c can move up and down
vertically. At the front ends they are bent inwards and connected to the coupling
link d, by the pin f, the connection being so arranged with stops that the link
cannot drop beyond the position in which it is, in line with the arms, but can be
raised any angle above them. Above the draw bar is a transverse shaft g, carried
in bearings p, p, and having curved levers h, h, at the ends of which are studs that
can be made to bear against the under side of c, c, so as to raise these into the
position shewn at Figure 3, the levers being at such a distance as to pass down
outside c, c, with some clearance, as shewn in the plans at Figures 4 and 5, but yet
in their backward motion to come in contact with the joints t, connecting b to c.
The levers h, h, have tails 7, carrying a bar, which when the levers are raised into
the position shewn on the right-hand side at Figure 1, presses upon the tail k of a
pawl, which is hinged to the draw bar at o, and takes into the ratchet teeth of the
latter. By pressing on the tail k the pawl is disengaged from the sleeve a, where-
upon this is thrown forward by a spring x on the draw bar so as to cause the link
d to advance into the position shewn at Figure 3, in which it can drop into the
opposite draw hook. In order to allow the link d to be raised up past the opposite
draw hook, when the two hooks are too near together to allow the link to pass in
its extended position; this link is provided with a curved tail d', so formed that as
the pin of the one lever h slides along the under side of cit presses against the tail
so as to raise the link from the position in line with c into an angular position, as
shewn at the right-hand side of Figure 1, in which position it can pass the hook.
The link being coupled on to the hook the levers h are turned back so as to press
against the joints t of the arms b, c, thereby causing these to move back together
with the sleeve and coupling link against the action of the spring x, so as to tighten
up the coupling as shewn at the left-hand side of Figure 1. The pawl i then drops
into the ratchet teeth of a, and thus holds the coupling in this position, until it is
again released by depressing the tail k of the pawl for the purpose of uncoupling
again. For the latter purpose, the link having been thrown forward so as to pass

page_text: out of the hook, it is raised by the levers into the position shewn 'at Figure 3,
whereupon by pushing the shaft longitudinally in its bearings the levers h are caused
to slew the arms c, b, so as to bring the link to one side of the hook, as shewn at
Figure 5, and by then letting go the hand lever of the shaft, the link is allowed to
drop into the position shewn in dotted lines at I, Fig. 1.
If it be desired to effect a double coupling this may either be effected as shewn
at Figures 1 and 2, the second link being brought up between the arms of the first
link after this has been coupled, and after being advanced over the hook in the
manner above described it is tightened by the backward motion of the levers h, or
the one link may first be raised into the position shewn at Figure 3, and be held
there by sliding the shaft g until the tail of the lever is held by the catch u, as
shewn at Figures 3 and 4. The second link is then coupled in the manner above
described, after which the first link is brought back over its hook, into which it is
then dropped, and tightened up as before described. It will be seen that the
arrangement for slewing the link laterally also allows the coupling of the carriages
to be effected on curves when the two draw hooks are not in line with each other.
By the above described arrangement of coupling apparatus the advantage is gained,
firstly, of having a double coupling, without the use of the side coupling chains;
and, secondly, of effecting the coupling and the tightening of the same by two oppo-
site motions of one and the same hand lever. Also, by dispensing with the eye
in the draw bar by which the coupling link is usually attached thereto, it is main-
tained of its full strength.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed as communicated to me by my correspondent, I claim,―
First. The construction of railway coupling, wherein the coupling link is con-
nected to arins carried by a sliding sleeve on the draw bar, and is actuated by
levers on a transverse shaft in such manner that by the forward motion of the lever
the coupling link is raised and advanced over the draw book, while by the back-
ward motion of the levers the coupling is tightened, substantially as herein
described.
Second. The use, in combination with railway couplings, operating in the manner
set forth in the preceding claim, of a pawl on the draw bar, engaging with ratchet
teeth on the sliding sleeve so as to hold the said sleeve back against the action of a
spring, the pawl being thrown out of gear by a tail on the lifting levers to allow. the
sleeve to be thrown forward by the spring, substantially as herein described.
Third. The construction of railway coupling combined and operating as herein
described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, 'I, the said Gerard Wenzeslaus von Nawrocki, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.