IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THEM, ALSO FOR DEPOSITING EXPLOSIVE SIGNALS ON RAILWAY RAILS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Carter Stafford Percy, of the City of
Manchester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND FOR
RETARDING AND STOPPING THEM, ALSO FOR DEPOSITING EXPLOSIVE SIGNALS ON
RAILWAY RAILS."
Sealed the 10th March 1876, and dated the 14th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Carter Stafford
Percy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th September 1875.
I, WILLIAM CARTER STAFFORD PERCY, of the City of Manchester,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES,
AND FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THEM, ALSO FOR DEPOSITING EXPLOSIVE SIGNALS
ON RAILWAY RAILS," to be as follows:→

page_text: and a rigid catch fixed to the adjacent carriage. When the carriages-
are brought together the spring catch takes hold of the rigid catch and
thus couples the carriages; they are uncoupled by a lever in the guard's
van or other carriage, or from the outside of the end of the carriage by
an eccentric shaft or other equivalent; also by fixing a fork to one 5
carriage and an open link to the adjacent carriage. When the carriages
are brought together the link enters the fork, and is secured by a
shot bolt, which is pushed through the fork from the side of the
carriage.
•
.
My Invention consists also in applying to each carriage of a railway 1
train, or to as many of them as may be required, a set of four skids,
which are brought down on to the rails' when required, by means of
, wedges on the draw bars; these wedges can be brought into operation
by levers actuated by the guard or driver of the train, or in a self-acting
manner by the action of the buffers. When the skids are brought down 1
the wheels are lifted off the rails, thereby retarding and stopping the
train.
My Invention may be modified by making the skids of a curved form,.
so that they act on the circumference of the wheels as well as on the
rails. The skids are held out of action by levers supported in sockets 2
in the adjacent carriages. When an accident occurs and the train parts
asunder the levers are released and pressed down by self-acting weights
or springs, thereby applying the curved skids and stopping the carriages
that had been left behind; the end skids can be applied by the driver
or the guard.
.
ย
The apparatus for depositing explosive signals on railway rails consists
of an inclined spout, which reaches from the guard's van or other
carriage to near the surface of the rail. At the top of this spout is a
hopper containing the signals; the bottom of the hopper is closed by a
hinged segment, which when turned partly round allows the lowest S
signal to enter the spout, down which it slides on to the rail, and the
same partial turning_of_the_segment retains the other signals in the
hopper. At the lower end of the spout is a hinged piece, which is
connected-to-the-hinged-segment-by-a-link-and-when-the-segment-is=
turned the hinged end of the spout is lowered on to the rail, so as to
deposit the signal on to the rail.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Carter Stafford Percy in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th March 1876.
-
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CARTER STAFFORD PERCY, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Carter Stafford Percy,
Her special licence, that I, the said William Carter Stafford Percy,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Carter Stafford Percy, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND FOR RETARDING
AND STOPPING THEM, ALSO FOR DEPOSITING EXPLOSIVE SIGNALS ON RAILWAY
RAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Carter Stafford Percy, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals; should particularly 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 Carter Stafford Percy, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
My Invention consists, first, of an improved apparatus for coupling
and uncoupling railway carriages; secondly, in applying to each carriage
of a railway train, or to as many of them as may be required, a set of

page_text: four skids, which are brought down on to the rails when required by
means of wedges on the buffer bars to retard or stop the train; also in
making the skids of a curved form, so that they act on the circumference
of the wheels as well as on the rails; and thirdly, in an improved
apparatus for depositing explosive signals on railway rails.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed 'to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 an
end view of part of a railway carriage to which my improved apparatus.
for coupling-and-uncoupling is applied.
+
a is the body of the truck or carriage, and 6 the buffer beam; c is a
double-headed catch hinged to one carriage, and d is a similar catch
hinged to the adjacent carriage. To the catch c is connected the arm c³,
which is drawn upwards by the spring c²; and e is a forked lever fitting
on the arm c¹. The forked lever e is fixed to the same axle as the
handle e¹. To the catch d is connected the lever d¹, at the end of which
is the slotted weight d³, and a shot bolt is passed through the slot to
hold the catch & rigid when required. When the carriages are, uncoupled
the double catches c and d are about horizontal, so that when the
carriages are brought together to form the train the curved incline of
the onc slides over or under the curved incline of the other until the
catches lock together, thereby coupling the carriages; they are un-
coupled by the lever e in the guard's van or other carriage, or from the
'outside of the end of the carriage, by an' eccentric shaft or other
equivalent, or by extending the fulcrum stud of the double catch
towards the side of the carriage, and placing a handle thereon to lift or
depress one of the double catches.
.
The double catch c may be provided with a lever and slotted weight
like the catch a instead of the forked lever e and handle e¹; or they may
be used combine d
I
Fig. 3 represents a railway carriage or truck to which my improved
apparatus for retarding or stopping the_train_is-applied.

page_text: to the framework of the carriage; at the bottom of the vertical bars i
are the skids j; around the buffers bars g are coiled the springs g³,
which hold the buffers fout, and each buffer bar is connected by a
link k to the double lever / fixed on the same axle as the handle lever l
which is brought inside the guard's van, so that the guard can apply
the breaks when required. When the guard moves the handle lever 1,
into the position shewn by a dotted line the inclines 9' force down the
vertical bars i and apply the skids ; to the rails, thereby retarding or
stopping the train. When the train is being shunted the handle lever /
must be held by a catch to hold the buffers bars rigid, and thereby to
prevent the skids being applied to the rails.
In order to obtain more power for actuating the skids the handle
lever may be moved by a screw or other equivalent.
•
Fig. 4 represents a modification of my improved retarding and stopping
apparatus. In this arrangement the skid is made to act on the circum-
ference of the wheel as well as on the rail. The buffer bar
is very.
similar to that above described, but it is provided with a second
incline g³, the object of which is to raise the skid after it has been
brought down. The skid j is cast or forged with the curved lever j',
which is mounted on the fulcrum stud j. The incline g³ is connected
by the link to a double lever 7, similar to that shewn in Fig. 3. When
the buffer bar is forced or drawn "endwise in the direction of the arrow
the incline g¹ depresses the skid j, and causes its point to be pressed
against the circumference of the wheel, while the bottom of the skid
bears on the rail; as soon as the end pressure on the buffer bar is.
removed the spring 9° forces it back again, and the incline ³ acting on
the prolongation of the lever j¹ then lifts the skid out of contact with
the wheel and the rail. In the curved lever j¹ is the break block j³, '
which fits in a chamber, and is acted upon by a spring; this block
comes against the wheel before the skid is quite down, and assists in
retarding or stopping the train. A similar friction block may be applied.
to the skids shewn in Fig. 3.
.
Fig. 5 represents my improved self-acting break for railway carriages
or trucks. In this view I employ a skid j fixed to a curved lever j¹, as
in Fig. 4. This curved lever is provided with a horizontal arm jª, the
end of which takes into a socket in the sliding block m supported in the
adjacent truck; this block may be drawn endwise to liberate the arm jª -

page_text: by the levers l, and link k. The diagonal arm j³ of the curved lever.j¹
is drawn upwards by the spring j*.
The mode of operation is as follows: - The skids are held out of
action by the arms j' supported in sockets m, but when an accident
occurs and the train parts asunder the arms j' are drawn out of the
sockets m and release the levers j', which are pressed down, by the
springs or by self-acting weights, thereby applying the curved skids j
and stopping the carriages that had been left behind.
can be applied by the driver or the guard acting on the lever . The
sockets m must be sufficiently long to allow for the play between the
ends of the trucks or carriages.
The end skids
Fig. 5 also represents my improved apparatus for depositing explosive
signals on railway rails; this apparatus consists of an inclined spout n,
which reaches from the guard's van or other carriage to near the surface
of the rail. At the top of 'this spout is a curved hopper ọ containing the
signals; the bottom of the hopper is closed by the damper q, which when
raised allows the lowest signal to enter the spout n, down which it slides
until it is stopped by the second damper q¹, and when "this 'second
damper is raised the signal slides down the spout n; the motion for
raising the second damper closes the first and retains the other signals
in the hopper. At the lower end of the spout is a hinged piece p, which
is connected to a lever projecting from the lever coupling the dampers q, q',
by a link r, and when this double lever is moved the hinged end of the
spout p is lowered, so as to deposit the signal on to the rail; the wheel
being close to the end of the spout comes on to and explodes the signal
the moment it is deposited on the rail.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I claim,-
First. The improved apparatus for coupling and uncoupling railway
trucks or carriages, as shewn and described in reference to Figs. 1
and 2-

page_text: Fourthly. The application of the break to the wheels or to the rails
for gradually retarding or stopping the train.
And, lastly. The improved apparatus for depositing explosive signals,
on railway rails, as shewn and described in reference to Fig. 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Carter Stafford Percy,
have hereto set my hand and seal, this. Eleventh day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.