IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGGONS, AND IN THE MEANS OF COUPLING THEM TOGETHER TO FORM TRAINS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Francis Fairlie, of Gracechurch Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGGONS, AND IN THE MEANS OF COUPLING THEM
TOGETHER TO FORM TRAINS."
Sealed the 17th October 1868, and dated the 22nd April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Francis Fairlie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd April 1868.
I, ROBERT FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGGONS, AND IN THE MEANS OF
COUPLING THEM TOGETHER TO FORM TRAINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement
of railway carriages and wagons and to an improved mode of coupling
or connecting them together to form a train whereby friction is con-
siderably reduced, unpleasant shocks are avoided, the length of the train.
for a given quantity of passengers or goods is shortened, and other.
advantages are obtained.

page_text: The essential feature of this Invention consists in coupling the
carriages or wagons of a train from centre to centre of the framing
in lieu of coupling them at the extremities of the frames, and in sub-
stituting for the ordinary buffers a curved abutting surface on the end
of each framing, the curve being struck from the coupling centres. 5
The coupling or traction bars may be either rigid or combined with
draw springs, and the curved abutting heads may also be either rigidly
fixed to the framing or be combined with metal or india-rubber springs
for the sake of elasticity. The coupling bar, which is connected at
each end to the centre of the frame of the carriage or wagon, may be 1
divided in the middle, each half being connected to the other by any
convenient arrangement of screw coupling for the facility of tightening
up the two wagons. It is obvious that this coupling bar will always
form the chord of the curve traversed by the two wagons or carriages
so coupled together, and as the traction force is through the chord 1
the line of draught will be situate between the centre line of the rails
and the inner rail of the curve in lieu of outside the centre line, as in the.
ordinary mode of coupling.
By the arrangements herein-before described the centres of the axles
of the several wagons or carriages are always kept in the same relative 2
position to each other, and consequently motion may be communicated
from one to the other by means of straps, bands, or chains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Francis Fairlie in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FRANCIS FAIRLIE, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, Her special
license that I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, my executors, adminis- 3

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie,
my executors, administrators, or 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 RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND WAGONS, AND IN THE MEANS OF COUPLING THEM
TOGETHER TO FORM TRAINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Francis Fairlie, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 Robert Francis Fairlie, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement
of railway carriages and wagons, and to an improved mode of coupling
them together to form a train whereby friction is considerably reduced,
unpleasant shocks are avoided, the length of a train for a given quantity
of passengers or goods is shortened, and other advantages are obtained.
I shall now proceed more particularly to describe my said Invention,
and for that purpose shall refer to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
figures.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the under framing only of
a set of carriages or wagons constructed and coupled together according
to my Invention, and Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the same;
Figure 3 is a plan shewing a slightly modified arrangement.
.
According to my Invention the under framings A of the carriages
or wagons of a train are coupled together from centre to centre B, B,
of the framing, as in Figures 1 and 2, in lieu of being coupled at the
extremities of the frames as heretofore, and I also propose to substitute

page_text: for the ordinary buffers in conjunction with this mode of coupling a
curved abutting surface C on the end of each framing, the curve being
struck from the coupling centres B. The coupling or traction bars D, D,
may be either rigid, as shewn in the Drawings, or combined with the
usual or other draw springs, and may consist of chains for a portion
of their length, and the curved abutting heads O, C, may also be either
rigidly fixed to the framing, as shewn at one of the couplings in
Figure 2, or be combined with metal or india-rubber springs for the
sake of elasticity, as shewn at E, E, in Figure 2. The curved ends
may be lined with india-rubber and should be covered with sheet iron
plating. The coupling bars D, D, which are connected at each end
to the centres B, B, of the several frames of the carriages or wagons,
are divided in the middle as shewn in my Drawings, each half being
connected to the other by any convenient arrangement of screw coupling,
as shewn at F, for the facility of tightening up the two wagons. The
coupling bars D, D, may be either above the frames, as shewn in
the Drawings, or below the frames. It is obvious that this coupling
bar will always form the chord of the arc or curve (shewn by a
red line G, H, in Figure 2) traversed by the wagons or carriages so
coupled together, and as the traction force is through the said chord
the line of draught will always when passing over curves be situate
between the centre line G, H, of the curved track and the inner rail
of the curve, as seen clearly in Figure 2, in lieu of outside the centre
line, as in the ordinary mode of coupling.
By the arrangements herein-before described the centres of the
axles I, I, of the several wagons or carriages A are always kept in
the same relative position to or distance from each other, and con-
sequently motion may be communicated from one to the other by means
of driving straps, bands, or chains in conjunction with pullies fast on
the axles, which will be readily understood without the necessity of
Drawings. If desired auxilliary buffers may be adapted centrally to
the ends of the frames and caused to project beyond the curved heads
when uncoupled in order to prevent shocks when the wagons or carriages
are brought together for coupling up or when otherwise subjected to

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The coupling together of the carriages or wagons of railway
trains from the centres of their frames in lieu of from their extremities,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
Second. The use in combination with the herein-before described
peculiar mode of coupling railway carriages or wagons of curved abutting
surfaces or heads, the curves of which are struck from the points of
connection of the coupling bars or rods, substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Francis Fairlie, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Tenth day
of September, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.