IMPROVEMENTS IN DETACHING LOCOMOTIVE AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
POPE, of Woverhampton, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francis Pope, Her especial licence, full power; sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Francis Pope, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Francis Pope; my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DETACHING LOCOMOTIVE AND
OTHER CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said Francis Pope, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Pope, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon;
that is to say:-
My Invention relates to a peculiar construction of apparatus for detaching
a horse from a carriage, or one railway carriage from another; and in order
that the Invention may readily be understood, I will first explain the apparatus
as applied to a carriage drawn by horses.
Figure 1 represents a carriage having my Invention applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a plan of the apparatus separately on a larger scale. Figure 3 is
a side view, and Figures 4 and 5 show side sections of the apparatus when
attached and unattached. a, a, are the shafts, each of which has two plates
b, b, affixed thereto, as is shown, such plates carrying a pin c, which forms the
axes of the shafts, and also the means of the shafts being held by the attach-
ing apparatus. The attaching apparatus consists of two side plates d, d,
which are conveniently affixed to the carriage, as is shown, there being an
apparatus for each shaft. e is a bent lever or tongue moving on an axis f, carried
by the plates d, and it is this tongue or lever e, which, embracing the pin c of
the shaft, holds that pin securely in the recesses d', formed in the ends of the
plates d; and so long as the tongue or levere is held by the catch herein-after
described, the shaft will be securely attached to the carriage; but so soon as
'the catch is removed, the shaft will be drawn away from the carriage. g is
the catch, the nature of which is clearly shewn in the Drawing. It moves
on an axis at h, as is shown, i being a link attached by a pin joint to the catch,
such link being constantly pressed on by the spring j, with a tendency to draw
it downwards; hence, when the lever or tongue e is in the position shewn in
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, the shafts will be securely held attached to the appa-
ratus, but when the catch is drawn back as is shown at Figure 5, the tongue
or lever will be released from the catch, and the shaft freed therefrom. I
will now describe the mode of drawing back the catches g of the two shafts.
k is a tube affixed in the carriage. I is a rod passing through the tube k, and
'on the rod there is a spring m which tends to hold up the rod 7. These parts,
and their mode of working, will be better understood by examining Figure 6,
where the several parts are on a larger scale. n is a spring which presses
against the rod 1, and keeps it in its place so long as the shafts are to be
retained attached to the carriage; but when it is desired to let the horse
go free, in order to separate the carriage, in the event of a horse running

page_text: away, the rod is drawn back so as to release the catch ', when the rod / is to
be forced downwards, which will force the bent bar o downwards also, as is
shown in Figure 1, and thus draw back the catches of the two shafts. The
spring m is to bring back the rod to its original position on removing the
pressure. The bent bar o, which connects the catches, passes through the
forked end of the rod 1, there being friction rollers / in order to the bent bar
moving freely when the carriage is on the lock.
Figures 7 and 8 show a side view and plan of so much of two railway car-
riages attached by similar apparatus to that above described as will enable me
to explain the use thereof to railway purposes. In connecting two railway
carriages three of the apparatuses are used, two of which have chains p applied,
and the middle one is connected by an apparatus similar to that applied to a
shaft, as before described, and the bar o, which connects the three catches, is
moved by means of the rod 1, by a guard or other person riding with one of the
carriages, such bar being connected by a pin joint, as shown; and there is to
be suitable means for securely supporting the rod when the connection
of the two carriages is to be maintained. The parts of Figures 7 and 8 being
marked with the same letters of reference, the description above given will
apply and need not be repeated here.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
mode of constructing and applying apparatus as above described.
In witness. whereof, I, the said Francis Pope, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
Que thousand eight hundred and forty-one.