Coupling Links of Railway Trucks or other Rolling Stock.
Year: 1887

page_text: Coupling Links of Railway Trucks or other Rolling Stock.
I, BEN RHODES, of Thornton Road, Bradford, in the county of York, Engineer and
Iron-founder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in-what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
This invention consists in an improved hand-bar or a specially formed receptacle
attached to the end of a bar or pole, for the purpose of coupling and uncoupling the
ordinary links and draw-hooks between railway waggons, trucks, or other vehicles,
whereby it is rendered unnecessary for the operator to pass under the buffers, or
between the ends of such vehicles.
To carry out my invention I inake use of a bar of wood, or iron, or tubular steel, of
suitable length, and at the end of this bar furthest from the operator, I fix a head
consisting of two chambers or scoops, one at the right and the other at the left-hand
side of the bar, which chambers or scoops.are open at the top and bottom, and each are
sufficiently large to admit easily about one third of one of the links of the coupling,
and a slit or opening is formed at the right and left sides of these chambers or scoops
which slits will easily admit the entrance of the centre link of the coupling chain to
be passed into it edgewise.
The sides of the chambers or scoops are by preference formed slightly tapering,
In order to couple a chain and hook the slit or opening at the side of the right or
left hand chamber or scoop (according to the side upon which the chain to be coupled
hangs) is passed on to the middle link of the coupling chain, and the chamber or scoop
is then dropped and held firmly upon the upper part of the next link (which is usually
the third link from the draw hook which supports it) which link is thereby held in
the chamber or scoop, and may be lifted sideways by means of the hand-bar in the
required direction, and then placed upon the draw-hook of the next wagon or
carriage.
The reverse of this operation enables the operator to lift the link of the coupling
chain off the draw-hook and thus perform the operation of uncoupling.
By means of the method and apparatus herein described the ordinary chains and
hooks hitherto in use upon railways may still be utilized without the necessity for the
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page_text: operator to pass under the buffers or in between the ends of the wagons or carriages,
as all necessary operations may be performed from the side of the line.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same with reference to the accompanying drawings in which figure 1 represents a
plan of my improved hand bar, as described. Figure 2 represents a side elevation of
the same and figure 3 an end elevation. Figure 4 represents a side elevation of the
head of the hand bar resting upon one of the coupling links, and figure 5 represents
the head of the hand bar, and the end coupling link, as it is turned aside ready to be
lifted upon the draw hook of the next wagon. Similar letters of reference indicate
similar parts in each of the figures.
The pole or shaft of the hand-bar is represented at A, and the head consisting of
right and left hand chambers at B, and C, respectively. The apertures at which the
last link but one of the coupling chain enters either of the chambers or recesses of the
hand-bar are shown at D.
The three links F, G, and H, suspended from the draw-hook E form an ordinary
coupling for railway wagons, and are shown in figure 4. as hanging in a vertical
position uncoupled-with the chamber B of the head of the hand bar placed upon the
end link H ready to be brought into operation for adjusting the coupling.
In figure 5 the hand-bar has been turned on one side (to the left) and with it the
link H of the coupling, which is then raised in a diagonal direction and placed upon
the draw-hook of the next wagon.
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 :-
For the purpose of hooking and unhooking the coupling links of railway wagons
or other rolling stock, the improved hand-bar consisting of the pole or shaft A, the
head fixed thereto with chambers B and C, each chamber having an opening D to
admit one of the links edgewise all formed and operating substantially in the manner
described and represented in the accompanying drawings.
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