A NEW AND IMPROVED COUPLING FOR RAILWAY WAGONS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and
Company, Patent Agents, of Frankfort on the Main (Germany),
for the Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED COUPLING FOR RAILWAY
WAGONS." -A communication from Joseph Schalla, residing at Vienna
(Austria).
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th September 1873.
I, FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Agents, of Frankfort on the Main (Germany), do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED COUPLING FOR
RAILWAY WAGONS," a communication from Joseph Schalla, a person
residing at Vienna (Austria), to be as follows:-
The couplings are at the same part of the carriages as at present,
that is, in continuation of the draw rods which pass under the bodies
of the carriages,

page_text: The part or half of the coupling placed at each end of the carriage
consists of three strong links at the ends of rods firmly fixed or welded
to the draw rod, and the positions of the links are arranged as lower,
middle, and upper, the middle link being at the side of the other two.
By this arrangement two links at the end of one carriage always corre-
spond with one link on the adjacent or opposite carriage, and when
bolts are passed through both sets of links the carriages are coupled
together, but when the bolts are withdrawn they are disconnected.
Each bolt is jointed to an arm fixed to a shaft extending across the
frame of the carriage, there being handles or levers at each end of
the shaft, so that the bolts can be withdrawn and the carriages uncoupled
without any necessity of passing between them.
The coupling is self-acting, requiring no attendance, for when two
carriages sufficiently approach each other the middle link on each
carriage turns the bolt behind so that it falls into the spaces of the
upper and lower links on one carriage, and the middle link of the
other carriage, and so on for as many carriages as are to be coupled
together.
It must be understood that in all cases the links are of such widths
and lengths as to suit the oscillations of the carriages, and their varying
distances apart, and when desired the bolts can be withdrawn from the
links by means of chains and chain wheels worked by the guard or
conductor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 11th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agents, of Frank-
fort on the Main (Germany), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frank Wirth, Her special
licence that I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors, administrators, 3

page_text: and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank Wirth, my
executors, administrators, and 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
"A NEW AND IMPROVED COUPLING FOR RAILWAY WAGONS," a communication
from Joseph Schalla, a person residing at Vienna (Austria) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Frank Wirth, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Figures on the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked
thereon, that is to say :-
1
.The couplings are at the same part of the carriages and wagons as at
present, that is, in continuation of the draw rods, which are placed under
the bodies of the carriages.
The part or half of the coupling placed at each end of the carriage
consists of three strong links at the ends of rods firmly fixed or welded
to the draw rod. The position of these three links are so arranged
that they are all one above another, but not in the same vertical line,
the middle link being at the side of the other two like a fork, thus,
in Fig. 1 the links a, a, of one half of the coupling are at the side
of the link b, and the links b of the other half of the coupling are
at the side of the link a. By this arrangement two links at the end
of one carriage always correspond or take into a middle link of the
other carriage, and when bolts c, d, are passed through both sets of
links the carriages or wagons are coupled together, but when the bolts
are withdrawn the carriages are disconnected. Each bolt is connected
to an arm e fixed to a shaft fextending across the frame of the carriage
there being handles or levers g at each end of the shaft, so that the

page_text: bolts can be withdrawn and the carriages uncoupled without any necessity
of passing between them.
The coupling is self-acting, requiring no attendance, for when two
carriages sufficiently approach each other the middle link on each
carriage turns the bolt behind so that it falls into the spaces of the 5
upper and lower links on one carriage, and the middle link of the
other carriage, and so on for as many carriages as are to be coupled
together.
.
In order to render it possible for a carriage or wagon to be dis-
connected when the train is in motion, a chain h, Figs. 4 and 4ª, is 1
fixed to the rod e, which chain is wound up by the guard turning
a roller so as to raise the coupling; and it must be understood that
in all cases the links are of such widths and lengths as to suit the
oscillations of the carriages, and their varying distances apart.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said In- 1
vention, as the same have been communicated to me, I claim, the
new and improved coupling for railway wagons and other like vehicles,
substantially as herein described and illustrated on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my 20
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year
of our Land One thousand eight hundred and courants foun