IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SECURING AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS USED ON THE ENDS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stableford, of Oldbury, near Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR SECURING AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS USED ON THE ENDS OF
RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 7th March 1873, and dated the 13th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stableford at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM STABLEFORD, of Oldbury, near Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SECURING AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS USED ON THE
ENDS OF RAILWAY Carriages,” to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for securing automatic couplings
used on the ends of railway carriages.
I arrange on the buffer rod or the draw bar at one end of the carriage
a hook or claw free to rise and fall within certain limits, and on the buffer
rod or the draw bar of the end of the adjoining carriage I arrange &
shackle also free to rise and fall within certain limits.

page_text: There is a pin or rod fitted transversely in the portion in which the
shackle is pivotted, against which pin an inclined face of the claw
rides to lift it, a tail piece or extension of the claw at the same time
pushes the shackle up nearly into a vertical position, and until the claw
tooth has passed over the transverse pin when it drops by its own weight
and hooks itself, the shackle being then free to move back again and
fall upon the top of the claw stem to hold it firmly in position and to
prevent it jumping out during the motion of the carriage.
The self-acting shackle is an important feature in this Invention as
also its combination with the hook or claw.
It is immaterial for the perfect working of the apparatus whether the
centres of the buffers or the draw bars correspond in their horizontal
position, or whether either of them is deflected owing to the vehicles
being unequally loaded as the apparatus is constructed and arranged to
suit every condition of motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Stableford in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STABLEFORD, of Oldbury, near Birmingham, in the County of Worcester,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Stableford, Her special licence that
I, the said William Stableford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Stableford, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SECURING AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS USED ON ENDS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William

page_text: Stableford, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Stableford, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for securing automatic couplings
used on the ends of railway carriages and will be clearly understood
by the following description and annexed Drawings.
I arrange on the buffer rod A, or on the draw bar, as the case may be,
at one end of the carriage B a hook or claw O free to rise and fall within
certain limits, as shown at Figures 1 and 2, and on the buffer rod or the
draw bar D of the end of the adjoining carriage E, I arrange a shackle
F, Figures 1, 2, and 3, also free to rise and fall within certain limits.
There is a pin or rod J fitted transversely in the portion of the bar
in which the shackle F is pivotted, against which pin an inclined face
K of the claw C rides to lift it, a tail piece or extension L of the claw
at the time of the attachment pushes the shackle F up nearly into
a vertical position, as indicated by the dotted lines, and until the claw
tooth M has passed over the transverse pin J, when it drops by its
own weight and hooks itself, the shackle F being then free to move
back again and fall upon the top of the claw stem to hold it firmly in
position and to prevent it jumping out during the motion of the carriage
in travelling.
The self-acting shackle is the important feature in this Invention as
also its combination with the hook or claw.
It is immaterial for the perfect working of the apparatus whether the
centres of the buffers or the draw bars correspond in their horizontal
position, or whether either of them is deflected owing to the vehicles
being unequally loaded, as the apparatus is constructed and arranged to
suit every condition of motion.