AN IMPROVED TOOL FOR COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES WITHOUT GOING BETWEEN MEDY "
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Graham of Abergaveny in the County of
Monmouth and Thomas John Graham of Birmingham in the County of
Warwick for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED TOOL FOR COUPLING AND
UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES WITHOUT GOING BETWEEN
MEDY "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Graham and Thomas
John Graham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
18th December 1882.
JOHN GRAHAM of Abergaveny in the County of Monmouth and THOMAS JOHN
"AN IMPROVED TOOL FOR
GRAHAM of Birmingham in the County of Warwick
COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES WITHOUT GOING
BETWEEN THEM
"
Our invention has for its object the production of an improved tool for coupling
and uncoupling railway and other vehicles without going between them by which
many lives may be preserved.
Many attempts have been made to produce such a tool and there are such
"Couplers" now in use but they are more or less defective and have disadvantages
connected therewith which prevent them being as effective as they ought to be,
and the tools now used are easily broken.
Now by our invention these disadvantages are overcome and we are able to
produce a strong instrument or tool which is durable and most reliable and certain
in its action and so simple in its parts that an inexperienced man can almost
immediately use it with certainty with almost any class of vehicle, and with their
existing couplings.
Our instrument or tool as generally made would be say about 6 ft long and and
is constructed as follows:-We take a hollow tube of steel or very tough metal so
as to be very light which forms the body part of the tool. To the front end of
this tube we connect a strong tough steel or other tough metal back jaw guide
piece which is shrunk on to the outside of the tube being made to fit beautifully
over the tube so as to be practically solid. The front part of this jaw guide piece

page_text: is pierced with a square or other hole in which the front end of our tool fits and
slides upon it in a very nice manner This front end carries a nose or jaw piece
corresponding with the back jaw carried on the front end of the back jaw piece
and finishes at the front of the front jaw with a sharpened point which would by
preference be flat on the top side and rounded on the underside. This front jaw
piece fits into the back jaw piece and continues to-or is otherwise connected by a
round or other rod with the back end of the tool finishing with a light handle.
Outside this handle is the main large handle which is secured to the back end of
the tube for operating the instrument the back of this main handle being shaped
to exactly suit the hand and to give a powerful grip to the operator who can by
opening his fingers place them in the smaller inside handle connected with the
front jaw and by drawing both handles into his grasp the two jaws are brought
into sufficiently close proximity to each other to grip any link or hook or other
article requiring to be operated. A spiral or other spring at the back end of the
tube carries back the front jaw to its normal position immediately it is liberated,
and thus the tool is always ready for work. For extra convenience in heavy work
I apply another handle some distance up the instrument which may be used by the
other hand.. Also in case of very high buffers I apply a simple chain to the buffer
to lap over it hooking under the front side and hanging down below the inner side
with an open jaw carrying a friction roller to receive my new tool and upon which
it easily slides and is for the time being the fulcrum upon which the tool is
operated. But generally the top of the buffer forms a suitable fulcrum. The
fulcrum chain may however be shorter and attached more directly to the buffer or
end of the vehicle, or in building new rolling stock suitable hooks may be provided
in a proper position. In other cases the chain may be attached to the tool itself
by a ring.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Graham.and Thomas, John Graham in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1883.
JOHN GRAHAM of Abergaveny in the County of Monmouth and THOMAS JOHN
GRAHAM of Birmingham in the County of Warwick
"AN IMPROVED TOOL FOR
COUPLING AND UNCOUPLING RAILWAY AND OTHER VEHICLES WITHOUT GOING
BETWEEN THEM "
Our Invention has for its object the production of an improved tool for coupling
and uncoupling railway and other vehicles without going between them by which
many lives may be preserved.
Many attempts have been made to produce such a tool and there are now
couplers in use but they are more or less defective and have disadvantages which
prevent them from being as effective as they ought to be.
Now by our invention these disadvantages are overcome and we are able to
produce a strong tool which is both durable and reliable and certain in its action
and so simple in its parts that an inexperienced person can with very little
practice use it with great certainty so as to couple and uncouple vehicles while
standing a distance away from them and thus many lives will be saved by our
invention.
Our coupler for ordinary gauges of Railways would be about.6 ft long over
all but the length may be varied to suit the width of vehicles on different
Railways. Figure 1 on the drawings illustrates one of our couplers in side
elevation but broken off at the centre and it may thus be imagined any convenient
length. The scale of this figure is half size but the other three figures on the
drawing are full size. Figure 2 is a sectional elevation on line A. B and Figure 3
is a sectional plan on line C. D and Figure 4 is a cross section and elevation on
line E. F. The body or main portion of the coupler is made from a hollow steel or
other metal tube H which may be of any convenient length; this tube forms the
body of the coupler as will be clearly seen by the figures 1, 2, and 3 on the
drawings. On the front end of this tube we screw or otherwise secure the steel or
other metal back jaw J which is chambered out at to lighten it and has a square
hole to receive the front jaw piece K which is well fitted in the back jaw J to
slide backwards and forwards without any unnecessary liberty. The front or point
end of the jaw piece K is hollowed out at each side to lighten it. The front jaw
piece K is connected to the inner handle L at the back end of the instrument or
coupler by the rod m which is made hollow for lightness. Outside the inner
handle L is the main handle K3 which is made hollow for lightness and is most
securely screwed or otherwise fastened on the back end of the tube H. This outer
or main handle K³ is formed to give a powerful grip to the operator who can by
opening his fingers take in the inner handle L which is hollowed out at so as to
come close against the outer handle K³.
It will be clearly seen that by drawing the inner handle L the front jaw k¹ of
the front plate K is brought nearer to the back jaw J¹ and any coupling link is
thus dealt with and by the grip of the hand drawing the two handles together
i.e between the serrated back jaw J and the serrated front jaw k². Thus the
bayonet point K* serves to lift up any link or hook which lies against the nose
piece k and bayonet point k² when the inner handle is drawn back firmly holding
the coupling or hook or other object while it is either coupled or uncoupled. The
additional handle P may be used by the left hand to assist in manipulating the
coupler. The spiral or other springs serves to constantly keep the two jaws open

page_text: which is their normal condition. The bent pin r secures the spring in its position
but this may be secured in many ways. The coupler may easily be used with one
hand.
Usually the fulcrum upon which the coupler is worked is the buffer of the
vehicle but in cases where the buffers are too high we use a light chain to secure
to the buffer and which hangs down with a jaw to receive the body of the coupler
and which thus becomes the, fulcrum- upon which the tool is operated. Or the
coupler may be easily operated by, hand under the vehicle without any special
fulcrum other than the hand. In building new vehicles a, suitable hook may be
placed upon which to rest and operate the coupler. Our coupler will cross couple
vehicles. The rod m may be formed of square or oblong section near the
inner handle so as to keep it from turning round during the manipulation of
the links.
1
.
Having now described our said invention of an improved tool for coupling and
uncoupling Railway and other vehicles without going between them and the
manner in which, the same is or may be carried into practice we would have it
clearly understood that we do not confine ourselves to the minor details shown on
the drawings such as the mode of securing the spring and other parts together as
these may be varied greatly without departing from the nature of our invention,
but what we do claim is:
1 The new coupler, with two jaws to grip the chain or other object operated
from the back end substantially as herein set forth.
2 The new coupler shown in the accompanying drawings
:
In witness whereof 'I the said Thomas John Graham have on behalf of
myself and John Graham hereunto set my hand and seal this ninth day
of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
eighty three.
i