IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING BAIL- WAY VEHICLES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Younghusband, Lancelot Younghusband and
Thomas Hudson all of Darlington in the County of Durham for an Invention
of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING BAIL-
WAY VEHICLES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Younghusband,
Lancelot Younghusband, and Thomas Hudson at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents on the 27th November 1882.
WILLIAM YOUNGHUSBAND LANCELOT YOUNGHUSBAND, and THOMAS HUDSON
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
all of Darlington in the County of Durham
COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY VEHICLES."
Our Invention relates to improved means of coupling and uncoupling railway
vehicles from either side whereby accidents to the attendants, which are so frequent
with the common system, are entirely avoided. The Invention can be applied to
any of the common forms of couplings now in use, and is so designed as to be
unaffected by the inequality of level between a loaded and a light truck, or by the
varying distance between the trucks due to a greater or less compression of the
buffer springs.
The apparatus consists mainly of a sliding carrier frame for the coupling chain
capable of being projected more or less from the end of the vehicle and of being
raised or lowered as required for the purpose of conveying the end link of the
coupling chain of said vehicle to, and engaging it upon, the draw bar hook of the
vehicle to be coupled thereto. It also consists of levers by which said carrier frame
is supported and operated, said lever extending to the sides of the vehicle and being
so pivoted and so connected to the carrier frame as to enable the latter to be moved
longitudinally and to be raised or lowered as required for the purpose of coupling
or uncoupling through their instrumentality. The end link of the coupling which
is to be hooked onto the draw hook of the next vehicle is pivoted in the outer end
of the carrier frame which is curved upwards so as to support the coupling at about

page_text: the height of the draw bar. The inner end of the carrier frame is supported and
slides in horizontal guides fixed longitudinally beneath the main frame of the
carriage and the carrier frame is supported at an intermediate point in its length by
being loosely connected to the inner ends of two levers which extend to the two
sides of the vehicle respectively and are so hung or swivelled as to oscillate in any
direction for the purpose of moving the carrier frame in or out and of raising or
lowering it as the case may be.
Each vehicle is provided at both ends with a similar apparatus, that which is not
in use being retracted and supported by hanging its coupling on the book of its
own draw bar as usual.

page_text: upward bearing against an iron frame B² fixed beneath the side frames of the
truck (see figure 3) to enable the lever to support the weight of the carrier and
coupling. There may be only one lever B if it is desired to couple and uncouple
from one side only. The inner end of the carrier is in the form of a slotted link A¹
of sufficient length to accommodate itself to coupling chains of different lengths
and it is supported with freedom for longitudinal motion by running on a sheave e
mounted in a slotted bracket E pendent from the draw-bar or from the underside
of the main frame. F is an arm projecting from the lower end of this bracket and
terminating in a lug f to engage with a clutch f¹ on the underside of the link A'
to retain the carrier in its retracted position and prevent it jolting outwards in
travelling.
In the modification illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 the carrier A instead of sliding
on a guide roller is jointed to the lower end of a link A whose upper end is
pivoted to a clamp g fixed on the draw bar D, and the levers B instead of being
jointed directly to the carrier are jointed to the opposite ends of a swivelling
bar B³ pivoted at its centre b to the carrier as shown, the swivel joints for the
levers B in this case not permitting of a longitudinal motion of said levers, but only
of oscillating motions on vertical and horizontal axes.
Having described the nature of our Invention and the manner of performing the
same, we declare that what we claim as our Invention to be protected by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is:-
1. The combination with the coupling chain of a railway vehicle of the forked
carrier supported so as to be freely movable in the longitudinal, vertical, and
lateral directions, and of the means for pivoting the coupling to the carrier,
substantially as shown and described.
2nd. The respective combinations and arrangements of the parts of the apparatus
for coupling and uncoupling railway vehicles substantially as herein described aud
represented in the respectivo figures of the drawing.
In witness whereof we the said William Younghusband, Lancelot Younghusband
and Thomas Hudson have to this Specification set our hands and seals this
23 day of May A.D. 1883
W. YOUNGHUSBAND (L.S.)
L. YOUNGHUSBAND (L.S.)
THOMAS HUDSON (L.S.)