IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF ACTING COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES "
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wood of Manchester in the County of Lancaster
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF ACTING
COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th April 1883.
THOMAS WOOD of Manchester in the County of Lancaster "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-ACTING COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
,,
The object of this invention is to construct a self acting coupling for railway
carriages, which will not require the attendance of a man between the carriages at
the time of coupling or fastening them to form a train
The apparatus is constructed as follows
:
I attach to one end of a carriage a frame carrying three shackles: this frame
consists of a plate or bar placed transversely across the end of the carriage between
the buffers and held in place by two rods which pass through the under frame or
headstock of the said carriage and may be connected thereto by springs after the
manner of the ordinary draw bars, each end of this plate or bar is attached to the
frame of the carriage by the ordinary chain, a third chain connecting it to a hook
on the usual central draw bar.
The shackles above mentioned engage with three hooks either fixed so as to be
capable of a certain yielding action to the under framework or headstock of the
adjacent carriage, or carried by a frame similar to the shackle frame, A locking
arrangement to be worked from either side of the carriage is provided to prevent
the shackles from becoming accidentally disengaged from the hooks.
At the front of the headstock or frame of the carriage (or of the frame carrying
the hooks) is a sliding bar provided with three hook shaped projections and with
handles at either end. These hook shaped projections correspond with the three
hooks so that when, on the two carriages coming in contact, the shackles are lifted
and fall over the hooks: this sliding bar may be moved from either side of the
carriage, until the hook shaped projections coincide with the ends of the hooks,
Di 61

page_text: and lock the shackles in position, at the same time that they allow free horizontal
play thereto:
The books may be provided in some cases with self-fastening locks consisting of
small weighted levers which yield to the weight of the shackles, but immediately
that they (the shackles) have fallen down onto the hooks, return and lock them in;
In this case the transverse sliding bars would be made with wedge shaped pro-
jections to lift the weighted ends of these small locking levers in order to uncouple
the carriages.
The hooks being unlocked, the shackles may be lifted by hand levers at the sides
of the carriages in order to uncouple the same, and it will be evident that by this
construction the man in attendance need not go between the buffers to couple or
uncouple the carriages.
Should two carriage ends provided with shackle frames accidentally come
together, the plate carrying one set of shackles may be removed from its rods,
and a plate carrying hooks substituted therefor, or the shackles on the other
carriage may simply be allowed to engage with the hooks on the carriage frame or
headstock, to which the detached plate was connected, the above locking apparatus
being applied in either case.
Should two carriage ends provided with hook frames come together a shackle
plate may be in like manner substituted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Wood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th October
1883.
THOMAS WOOD of Manchester in the County of Lancaster
F
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF ACTING COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
The object of this invention is to construct a self-acting coupling for railway
carriages which will not require the attendance of a man between the carriages at
the time of coupling or fastening them to form a train.
Such being the nature and object of my said invention I will now proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect and in order that the same may be clearly understood I have
annexed hereunto a sheet of drawings illustrative thereof and have marked the
same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof.
Fig. 1. in the annexed drawings is a longitudinal section of part of the frame of
two railway carriages showing the application of my invention thereto and Fig. 2
is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view of the frame of one carriage
showing the locking arrangement Figs 4 and 5 are plan views of modifications of
the coupling and Fig. 6. is a longitudinal section of another modification.
Referring to Figs 1. and 2 the apparatus is constructed as follows I attach to
one end of the frame a, a of a carriage a frame carrying three shackles; this frame
consists of a plate or bar b, b placed transversely across the end of the carriage
between the buffers c, c, and held in place by two rods d, d which pass through the
under frame or headstock a a of the carriage and may be connected thereto by
springs after the manner of the ordinary draw bars or as shown on the drawing.
Each end of this plate or bar is attached to the frame a, a of the carriage by the
ordinary chain e, e, a third chain f, f connecting it to a hook on the usual central
draw bar g. g. The ordinary chains e, e may however be dispensed with if thought
proper as shown at Fig. 4.
The shackles h, h¹, h above mentioned engage with three hooks i, ¹¹¹ either
fixed so as to be capable of a certain yielding action to the under framework or
beadstock of the adjacent carriage as shown or carried by a frame similar to the
shackle frame.
A locking arrangement (see Fig 3 to be worked from either side of the carriage)
is provided to prevent the shackles h, h¹h from becoming accidentally disengaged
from the hooks i i¹ i
At the front of the headstock or frame a, a of the carriage (or of the frame
carrying the hooks) is a sliding bar k, k provided with three hook shaped pro-
jections 1, 1, 1 and with the handles m m at either end.
These hook shaped projections 1, 1 correspond with the three hooks i, ', i¹¹ so
that when on the two carriages coming in contact the shackles h, h³, h", are lifted
and fall over the books, this sliding bar k, k may be moved from either side of the
carriage until the hook shaped projections 1, l, coincide with the ends of the hooks
and lock the shackles in position (see Figs 2 and 3) at the same time that they
allow free horizontal play thereto (see Fig. 1).
The hooks may be provided in some cases with self-fastening locks consisting of
small weighted levers which yield to the weight of the shackles, but immediately
that they (the shackles) have fallen down onto the hooks, return and lock
them in.
In this case the transverse sliding bars would be made with wedge shaped
projections to lift the weighted ends of these small locking levers in order to
uncouple the carriages,

page_text: The hooks,, being unlocked, the shackles k, k¹ k may be lifted by the
hand levers n, n at the sides of the carriages in order to uncouple the same, and it
will be evident that by this construction the man in attendance need not go
between the buffers to couple or uncouple the carriages: or instead of the hand
levers the shackles may be lifted by the inclined planes q, q on the sliding bar k, k
as shown at Fig 3. by sliding the same in the reverse direction to the locking
movement.
In some cases I prefer to use only one shackle h, h and hook i, i and to connect
the shackle frame b, b., d, d to the spring o, o of the draw bar g, g as shown at
Fig. 4. The rods d, d are united inside the frame by a second plate or bar 6', b¹
which is fixed to the draw bar and bears against the draw bar spring o, o and
through which pass the rods d, d being also provided with additional springs p, p:
thus should any of the connections between the draw bar and the bar b, b break,
the side rods d, d will take up the coupling.
This connection may be a simple chain as in Figs 1. 2. and 4 or it may be in
the form of an ordinary screw coupling, or instead of the weighted lever of the
latter I sometimes attach to the right and left screw a pulley having studs or teeth
round its circumference taking into the links of an endless chain passing round
any convenient part of the ordinary buffer so that by pulling these chains from
the outside the shackles can be screwed up when required (see Fig. 5) Or I fix on
the screw a small disc or wheel r, (as shown at Fig. 6) having notches in its
periphery whereby it may be turned round by a lever or key without going
between the carriages. This disc or wheel is provided with a loose swinging
bracket 8, 8 carrying a catch t, t which when the shackle has been screwed up is
allowed to fall into one of the notches so as to prevent the screw from turning
round and working loose.
These improved couplings may be used either with or without the ordinary side
Chains and hooks: in the latter case the side chains may be hooked up out of the
way as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4.
2
The shackle bar b, b is not attached permanently to the side rods d, d but is
dropped into a notch in the ends thereof (see Figs 2. 4 and 5) and secured by a
pin or other suitable device, so that should two carriage ends provided with
shacke frames accidentally come together the bar carrying one set of shackles can
be removed and the shackles of the other bar will then couple with the ordinary
draw hooks, on the carriage frame or headstock from which the bar was detached,
the above described locking apparatus being being applied in either case.
other hand should two carriage ends provided with hooks only come together a
shackle bar could in like manner be substituted, as each end of each carriage is
provided with the notched side rods d, d.
L
On the
Having now described the nature and object of my said invention together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect I wish it to be understood that I claim as my invention the several
improvements in the construction of self acting couplings for railway carriages
as hereinbefore more particularly described and illustrated by the drawings
annexed.
In witness whereof I the said Thomas Wood have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twenty fourth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
J