Improvements in the Automatic Coupling of Railway and other Carriages.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th Jan., 1890-Accepted, 26th Apr., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Automatic Coupling of Railway and other
Carriages.
I, GEORGE WASHINGTON MOON of No. 16 New Burlington Street, in the Parish of
Saint James, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain and Ireland do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
For the purpose of facilitating the coupling and uncoupling of railway and other
carriages without the necessity of men having to go between them, I attach to the
existing hook which is at the end of the draw-bar, or to the draw-bar itself, a hinged
arm which is bent over at the end; and which, in virtue of the said hinge being
sloped, moves upward on an inclined plane when under pressure from the opposite
coupling consequent upon the meeting of the carriages, or when pulled back to
uncouple the carriages; and, when released, it falls to its original position by its own
weight and in consequence of the slope of the hinge.
The advantage of this movement over one that is horizontal is that no spring is
needed to keep the arm in position.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Automatic Coupling of Railway and other
Carriages.
I, GEORGE WASHINGTON MOON, of 16 New Burlington Street, in the Parish of
Saint James', Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain and Ireland, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention for improvements in the automatic coupling of railway and other
carriages has for its object to provide an automatic coupling simple in construction,
readily applicable to the present rolling stock, not liable to crash into the end of the
adjacent vehicle on the vehicles coming together, and independent of springs and of
the different heights of the carriages to be coupled ; and consists in attaching to the
existing hook at the end of the draw bar or to the draw bar itself a hinged or
pivotted arm carrying a coupling hook, the hinge or pivot being at an angle of
about 60 degrees to the horizontal. The hooks are bent round with respect to the arm
so that their surfaces of contact are vertical and the arms are bent so as to form a
guide to deflect the hook from jamming in the ordinary coupling hook and from
crashing into the end of the carriage when the vehicles meet. When two vehicles
fitted with my improved coupling come together, the hooks come in contact and
under the influence of the pressure rise upward on an inclined plane until their points
have crosse. when they automatically fall against the arms carrying the hooks by
their own weight and on the vehicles being started they couple themselves without
any person having to go between the vehicles.
The tendency of the hook is always to assume the lowermost position by reason of
its own weight, consequently no spring is required to keep the parts coupled. They
are uncoupled by slightly backing the vehicles and drawing aside one of the hooks by
means of a chain or other suitable connection.
In the accompanying two sheets of illustrative drawings.
Fig. 1 is a plan of the adjacent ends of the underframes of two vehicles with side

page_text: buffers, coupled together by means of couplings constructed according to my inven-
tion and attached to the existing draw hook now in general use.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same, and
Fig. 3 is a partial end view of one carriage, the coupling hook and arm being
supposed removed.
Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig 1 shewing a different form of hook.
Figs. 5 and 6 are similar views to Figs. 1 and 2 shewing the adjacent ends of two
vehicles with central buffers coupled together by means of couplings constructed
according to my invention and attached to the ordinary draw bar, and
Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the same.
Fig. 8 is a similar view to Fig. 5 shewing the modified construction of hook.
The arms A carrying the hooks B are pivotted to the brackets C by means of pins D
which are kept in place by pins E. The pins D are at an angle of 60 degrees to the
horizonial. The brackets Care secured to the existing draw hooks F as shewn in
Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 by means of the pins H secured in place by the split pins J, the
pins H. being so formed that the brackets C cannot turn on them; or are formed on
the existing draw bar as shewn in figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8. The arms A and the brackets C
are formed with shoulders as shown which limit the motion of the hooks about the
pins D.
To the back of each hook is attached one end of a chain L, the other end of the said
chain being led to the side of the vehicle so that the hooks can be drawn out of their
coupled position without any person going between the vehicles.
The modified form of book shewn in Figs. 4 and 8 has its point sloped backwards
towards the carriage instead of having its surfaces of contact vertical so that these
books also readily pass each other when coupling.
Although I have stated the angle between the pins D and the horizontal to be
60 degrees it is evident that this angle may be varied without departing from the
nature of my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In apparatus for automatically coupling railway or other vehicles, hinging or
pivotting the arm carrying the coupling hook at an angle of 60 degrees to the
horizontal or vertical or approximately so substantially as described.
2. The construction of automatic coupling apparatas for railway or other vehicles
substantially as described with reference to the drawings.
Dated this 27th day of January 1890
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.