IMPROVED COUPLING AND Buffing Apparatus for RAILWAY CARRIAGES.”
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Percival Spooner, of Portmadoc, in the
County of Carnarvon, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
COUPLING AND Buffing Apparatus for RAILWAY CARRIAGES.”
Coupling and Buffing Apparatus for Railway CarriagES.”
Sealed the 18th November 1873, and dated the 22nd July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Percival Spooner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd July 1873.
I, GEORGE PERCIVAL SPOONER, of Portmadoc, in the County of Car-
narvon, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED COUPLING AND BUFFING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES,"
to be as follows:-
In my improved coupling and buffing apparatus I make the coupling
rod act both as a buffer rod and as a draw bar. To the framework of the
carriage I make fast a lug to receive a vertical coupling pin, which
passing through an eye cast on a plate forming the end of a spring
box secures this spring box to the carriage frame, and allows it to

page_text: swing or yield to deviations in the direction of the draught. The
spring box is fitted with two hollow pistons, which are held apart
by coiled springs, and a cover bolted to the spring box retains the
piston and springs within the box. A central opening is made in
the cover of this spring box to allow of the shoulder of the coupling
rod to play through it and bear upon the back of the adjacent piston.
This rod is continued through the two pistons, and in rear of the
second piston it receives a nut which rests in contact with that piston.
The opposite or outer end of the coupling rod is formed with a U shaped
head which is intended to act as a buffer head, and to be coupled up
and held in close contact with a similar head of the coupling rod of
the adjoining carriage. These heads are similarly fitted with two
transverse pins, the innermost of which forms the pivot for the con-
necting hook, and the other carries an eccentric which when the hook
of the adjacent head is thrown into the coupling position, is caused
to bind upon it in that position. This is effected by fitting the eccentric
pin with a counterweight, which when allowed to drop will bring round
the excentric, and cause it to bind upon the hook overlying the coupling
pin.
The action of this coupling and buffing apparatus is as follows:—
When pressure is put upon the buffer head that pressure will be
transmitted through the shoulder of the rod to one of the pistons, and
the coiled springs in the spring box will be compressed. When the rod
acts as a draw bar the nut on its extremity will press against the rear of
the other piston, and in like manner the springs in the spring box will
be compressed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Percival Spooner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE 3
PERCIVAL SPOONER, of Portmadoc, in the County of Carnarvon, Engineer,
send greeing.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Percival Spooner,
Her special licence that I, the said George Percival Spooner, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Percival Spooner, 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 "IMPROVED COUPLING AND BUFFING APPARATUS FOR
RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Percival Spooner, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument 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 George Percival Spooner, 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 Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is.
to say) :-
This Invention relates to an improved coupling and buffing apparatus,
in which the coupling rod is caused to act both as a buffer rod and as a
draw bar.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a coupling
apparatus as applied to a carriage frame fitted with a bogie carriage, and
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same detached; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section
through the spring box, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the same.
A, A¹, are rods forming at once the buffer rods and draw rods of two
adjoining carriages. To these carriages, near the point of their con-
nection with their respective bogie carriages, or near the centre of
motion of these latter, I make fast a lug B to receive a vertical coupling

page_text: pin b, which passing through an eye c of wrought iron bolted to a cast-
iron plate forming the end of a spring box C, secures this spring box to
the carriage frame and allows it to swing freely or yield to deviations in
the direction of the draught without affecting the carriage to which it is
attached. The spring box is cast with a shoulder, against which bears
one of two hollow pistons D, D', the latter of which bears against a
cover o¹ bolted to the spring box C. These pistons are held apart by
coiled or other springs E, E, which with the pistons are retained within
the box by the cover c¹. A central opening is made in this. cover to
allow a shoulder a of the coupling rod to play through it and bear upon
the back of the adjacent piston D'. A squared continuation of this rod
passes through the two pistons, and in the rear of the piston D it receives
a retaining nut a¹. The opposite or outer end of each coupling rod is
formed with a U shaped head F, which heads are intended to act as
buffer heads, and to be coupled up in pairs and held in close contact.
These heads are similarly fitted with two transverse pins, the innermost
of which forms the pivot for a connecting or draw hook G, and the
other carries or is formed with an excentric H for receiving the hook of
the adjacent head (when it is desired to couple up the carriages) and
rotain a hold thereof. To effect the holding of the hook the pin is fitted
with a weighted arm H', which when allowed to drop towards a vertical
position, will bring round the excentric and cause it to bind upon the
hook overlying the coupling pin.
The action of this coupling and buffing apparatus is as follows:-
When pressure is put upon the buffor head, that pressure will be trans-
mitted through the shoulder a of the rod A to the piston D¹, and the
coiled springs in the spring box will be compressed. When the rod acts
as a draw bar, the nut a¹ on its extremity will press against the rear of
the piston D, and in like manner the springs in the spring box will be
compressed.
To facilitate the making up of trains I propose to fit the draw and
buffer rods of all the carriages similarly with a draw hook and weighted
excentric binder, as shewn in the Drawing.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of “ Improved
Coupling and Buffing Apparatus for Railway Carriages," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the con-

page_text: struction of coupling apparatus above described, which serves both for
drawing and buffing railway carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Percival Spooner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
GEORGE PERCIVAL SPOONER. (L.S.)