Improvements in Couplings for Railway and other Vehicles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 24th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 2nd Jan., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Couplings for Railway and other Vehicles.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The
General Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication
from abroad by Edward Sydney Luard, Assistant Locomotive Superintendent,
and Mark Maxwell Lindsley, Chief Draughtsman of the Locomotive and Carriage
Department, Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, Parell Works, Bombay,
India,) to be as follows:-
Coupling hooks for central buffers have hitherto been made in one piece without
any means of adjustment to take up the amount of slack which is found necessary
in practice to allow the hook to drop easily over the coupling pin of the vehicle to
which it is required to couple, thus leaving the hook free to jump out of its
position when the train is in motion and uncouple the vehicles.
Now, according to this invention to obviate this defect, I form the hook with a
flexible joint at a convenient point to allow of the slack being taken up after
the vehicles are coupled together by a screw, spring, or other mechanical
movement; the spring thus employed can be arranged so as to act as a draw-
spring.
By this arrangement the buffer faces are held together under a yielding pressure
and no violent shocks are felt by passengers travelling in the vehicles, and the
coupling hook, when screwed up, is secured from jumping out of its position and
the vehicles from being uncoupled while in motion.
This arrangement is equally applicable to vehicles having side-buffers, and can
either be used as a slack or tight coupling. When uncoupled, the hook is
supported in its position to couple automatically by a projection.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Couplings for Railway and other Vehicles.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The
General Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a cominunication
from abroad by Edward Sydney Luard, Assistant Locomotive Superintendent,
and Mark Maxwell Lindsley, Chief Draughtsman of the Locomotive and Carriage
Department, Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, Parell Works, Bombay,
India,) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to couplings for railway and other vehicles.
Coupling hooks for central buffers of railway and other vehicles have hitherto
been made in one piece without any means of adjustment to take up the amount of
slack which is found necessary in practice to allow the hook to drop easily over
the coupling pin of the vehicle to which it is required to couple, thus leaving the
hook free to jump out of its position when the train is in motion and uncouple the
vehicles.
Now, according to this invention to obviate this defect, I form the hook in two
parts jointed together at a convenient point to allow of the slack being taken up

page_text: by means of a screw, spring, or other mechanical movement after the vehicles have
been coupled together. When a spring is employed it can be arranged so as to
act as a draw-spring.
This arrangement is equally applicable to vehicles having side buffers, and can
either be used as a slack or tight coupling.
In order to enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe how it
can be carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which :-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of part of the adjacent ends of two vehicles
with their buffers provided with a coupling such as has heretofore been
generally used.
Figures 2 and 3 are similar views but shewing the buffers provided with a
coupling constructed according to this invention.
Similar letters in all the figures indicate similar parts.
A, A are the ends of the vehicles and B, B the buffers which are formed as
usual with slots C, C to allow the couplings to be pivotted and to work therein.
D, Figure 1, is the coupling hook hitherto in general use, pivotted at E in the
slot C of one of the buffers and made in one piece, as shewn, without any means of
adjustment to take up the slack which is indicated by the dotted lines at F. G is
the pin in the slot C of the other buffer with which pin the hook D engages, the
hook when uncoupled being supported in position to couple automatically by the
solid part I of the buffer flange beneath it.
a and b, Figures 2 and 3, indicate the two parts of the improved coupling hook,
jointed together at c and having sufficient slack, as shewn by the dotted lines at F,
Figure 2, to allow the part of the hook to drop easily over the pin G.
The part of the hook is formed with an eye d above the joint c, opposite an
eye e on the part a of the hook. In the eye e turns a nut e¹ in which works the
screw adapted to be operated by means of a handle g and formed with a smooth
pin h of smaller diameter which passes loosely through the eye d and carries a nut
or washer on its outer end. On the pin is mounted a spring; (or an india-
rubber cushion) having its ends located in washers k and which bear respectively
against the eye d and the shoulder m at the junction of the screw and pin h.
When uncoupled the hook is supported in position to couple automatically by a
projection n on the part a thereof which then rests on the part I of the buffer
flange.
The action is as follows:-
The vehicles having been brought together and the hook thereby passed over the
pin G, as shewn in Figure 2, if the screw f be moved inwards by turning it by
means of its handle g, the washer will be carried inwards by it and will force
forward the spring 1, the washer k and the eyed on the part 6 of the hook as shewn
in Figure 3; the said part 6 of the hook will thereby be moved inwards on its
joint. c so as to take up the slack without necessarily compressing the spring ;. Any
pull which may now take place on the part 6 of the hook, will cause the eyed to
move inwards and compress the spring; between itself and the washer 7, unless the
resistance at the pivot E is less than the power of the spring in which case the
spring would not compress. To release the hook for uncoupling, all that is
necessary is to turn the screw f, in reverse direction until the washer / bears
against the eye e when the hook will be free to be lifted up clear of the
pin G.
It will thus be seen that the buffer faces are held together under a yielding
pressure which allows for angularity and irregularity of position of the buffer
faces in relation to one another; no violent shocks are felt by passengers travelling
in the vehicles; and the coupling hook, when screwed up, is secured from jumping
out of its position and the vehicles from being uncoupled while in motion.
I have described and shewn the two parts of the hook provided with a spring
connection as I consider it to be most advantageous. Nevertheless the spring
could be dispensed with and a solid block be used instead; or the eye d could be

page_text: screw-threaded to receive the end of the pin h which would be cut with a thread
of opposite hand to the screw e. In these cases, however, the buffer faces would
not, as before described, be held together under a yielding pressure and it would
be necessary to employ a flexible buffing gear. These arrangements would not be
suitable for application to existing gear.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A coupling for railway and other vehicles consisting of a hook pivotted to the
buffer and made in two parts jointed together the motion of the one part with
relation to the other being controlled by means of a screw, a spring, or other
suitable mechanical means substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
2. The improved coupling for railway and other vehicles hereinbefore described
and illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 24th day of November 1891
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.