IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLOSING, LOCKING, AND UNLOCKING THE DOORS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph William Hoddinott Bugler
Chubb and Joseph Henry Still at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
on the 10th May 1877.
JOSEPH WILLIAM HODDINOTT BUGLER CHUBB, of New Cavendish Street, in the
County of Middlesex, and JOSEPH HENRY STILL, of Brighton, in the County of
Sussex. 'IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLOSING, LOCKING, AND UNLOCKING THE
DOORS OF RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES."
"
The object of this Invention is to prevent the accidents that are continually
occurring through the opening of railway and other carriage doors while the
carriage is in motion, and the Invention consists in adapting to the carriage certain
improved apparatus, whereby the door or doors which may be open when the
carriage begins to move, will be closed, and when closed will be locked until the
carriage is brought to a standstill, when the unlocking of the door will be effected
automatically.
We may here state that in carrying out the Invention, we use, instead of the
usual carriage door fastener, an ordinary spring bolt or mortice lock, which wo
prefer to insert into the door jamb instead of into the door as heretofore.
The apparatus consists of a ball governor which is pivotted to a sleeve keyed on
to a vertical spindle carried in suitable brackets or other bearings placed under the
floor of the carriage, or in any other convenient position.
The arms of the ball governor are prolonged beyond the fulcrum, and are con-
nected by links with a sliding collar mounted on the upper part of the vertical
spindle. This sliding collar is grooved to receive the forked end of a bell-crank
lever, which is connected by a rod with a second bell-crank lever, to which is
attached a bolt intended to lock the spring bolt of the mortice lock, or the sliding
collar may be connected to the bolt in any other convenient manner.
Rotary motion is communicated to the spindle from the wheel axle by means of
gear wheels or a band and pulleys, or in any other convenient manner.
The closing of the door of the carriage is effected by means of a chain or band
attached to the door, and passing through the floor of the carriage round pullies or
drums mounted on a shaft placed longitudinally under the floor of the carriage.

page_text: Rotary motion is communicated to this shaft by means of gear wheels or bands
and pulleys communicating either direct with the wheel axles or with the vertical
spindle.
A suitable stop motion is provided, so that when the door is closed the gear
wheels or band and pullies may be thrown out of gear, and the apparatus will be
so-adjusted that the action of the locking mechanism will not commence until the
door is closed and fastened by the spring catch.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-Directly the carriage begins to
move, the door-closing apparatus is brought into action, and the door is pulled to
by the chain or cord, and is fastened by means of the spring bolt when the closing
apparatus will be thrown out of gear. By this time sufficient motion will have been
obtained to rotate the ball governor at a considerable speed when the arms of the
governor will be made to extend or fly out, and by means of their extended portions
and the links connected therewith, will draw down the sliding collar. This in turn
(by means of the fork which embraces it) will rock the bell-crank levers, and the
locking bolt will be pushed up behind the spring bolt, and retained there so long
as the carriage is in motion, the door remaining thus effectually locked.
The unlocking is effected automatically on the stopping of the carriage and the
consequent return of the ball governor to its normal position.
In adapting our apparatus to ordinary carriages the arrangement of the parts
will be necessarily somewhat modified, but the general features of the Invention
will be the same.