the Coupling Up of Railway Carriages.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 13th July, 1886.
Complete Left, 13th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 13th May, 1887.
to the Coupling Up of Railway Carriages.
I PETER JENSEN, Fel. Inst. P.A. of 77 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex
do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
This invention consists in the use of chains or safety links now used on railway
carriages as auxiliary attachments in action and in aid of the actual couplings in case
of a breakage of said couplings. According to this invention, which is applicable to
all kinds of railway carriages, a double armed lever or beam is pivoted in the middle
by means of pivots fixed on the draw bar in the axis of traction, whether for a con-
tinuous or non continuous system and in connection with volute springs or ordinary
laminated springs as used for the axle boxes of railway carriages. In the ends of
this lever by preference composed of two wrought iron plates are two pivots consisting
of two strong bolts with their nuts and screws. To these pivots are jointed the rods
passing to the ends of the carriage and to which are attached the chains; these rods
traverse the ends of the carriages and although they may be influenced by the force
of the traction, they will never cause shocks or breakages to the ends of the carriages.
On the contrary when the chains in the ordinary manner are attached to the wooden
or iron ends of the carriage, these are very easily damaged when the chains are drawn
with force, inasmuch as a shock takes place due to the very great length of the said
chains with respect to the tension of the coupling.
In this case the buffer beams or cross pieces are rendered perfectly useless inasmuch
as their ends are not connected. The aforesaid rods are made in two parts joined by
coupling sockets or sleeves in order to facilitate their being placed in position; or
they may be made in one length if their connecting beam is placed close to the buffer
beam. With such a system the chains are shortened by two links and when they
work they can immediately replace the coupling screw without those violent shocks

page_text: which take place actually, and as they also have a part in the traction, they sustain
and maintain all alone the action of the springs whether they be volute or ordinary
carriage springs. By the effect of this beam all the chains are rendered independent
of the carriage and combined to a whole by means of the pivot on the draw bar (which
appliance being dependent on the tension should be very strong and should not break
except under extraordinary circumstances). It follows that these rods form a true
parallelogram and that their movement becomes very easy either in passing curves or
in the case of one sided attachment, that is to say when the chains are not coupled in
equal lengths.
The application of this arrangement demands that the rods should be brought close
to the draw bar, that is to say requires the reduction of their distance apart in order
to obtain a strong beam of moderate dimensions and capable of application to any
kind of vehicle.

page_text: to the Coupling Up of Railway Carriages.
I, PETER JENSEN, Fel. Inst. P.A. of 77 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication to me from abroad
by Count Emilio Siccardi of Verzuolo Piedmont Italy) and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention consists in the use of the chains or safety links now used on railway
carriages as auxiliary attachments in action and in aid of the actual couplings in case
of a breakage of said couplings.
Figure of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal section through the
bottom framing of a railway carriage and Figure 2 a plan of same.
Figure 3 is a part plan of a modified form or construction, and Figure 4 an end
view of same.
Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse section through the beam A Figures 1 and 2.
According to this invention, which is applicable to all kinds of railway carriages a
double armed lever or beam A (Figures 12 and following) is pivotted in the middle
by means of pivots fixed on the draw bar B in the axis of traction whether for a
continuous or non-continuous system and in connection with volute springs C as in
Figures 1 and 2 or ordinary laminated springs as used for the axle boxes of railway
carriages as shewn in Figures 3, 4. In the ends of this lever A by preference composed
of two wrought iron plates are two pivots consisting of two strong bolts A¹ with their
nuts and screws see Figure 5. To these pivots are jointed the rods D passing to the
ends of the carriage and to which are attached the chains, these rods D traverse the
ends of the carriages and although they may be influenced by the force of the traction,
they will never cause shocks or breakages to the ends of the carriage. On the contrary
when the chains in the ordinary manner are attached to the wooden or iron ends of
the carriage these are very easily damaged when the chains are drawn with force,
inasumch as a shock takes place due to the very great length of the said chains with
respect to the tension of the coupling.
In this case the buffer beams or cross pieces are rendered perfectly useless inasmuch
as their ends are not connected. The aforesaid rods D are made in two parts joined
by coupling sockets or sleeves D¹ in order to facilitate their being placed in position;
or they may be made in one length if their connecting beam A is placed closed to the
buffer beam.
With such a system the chains are shortened by two links and when they work they
can immediately replace the coupling screw without those violent shocks which take
place actually, and as they also have a part in the traction, they sustain and maintain
all alone the action of the springs whether they be volute or ordinary carriage
springs. By the effect of this beam A all the chains are rendered independent of the

page_text: carriage and combined to a whole by means of the pivot on the draw bar B (which
appliance being dependent on the tension should be very strong and should not break
except under extraordinary circumstances). It follows that these rods and chain
connections form true parallelograms and that their movement becomes very easy
either in passing curves or in the case of onesided attachment, that is to say when the
chains are not coupled in equal lengths.
Figure 6 shews the travel of the beam A in the case of the employment of a volute
spring as in Figures 1 and 2, and Figure 7 shews the travel of the beam A with an
ordinary laminated spring as in Figure 3.
The application of this arrangement demands that the rods D should be brought
close to the draw bar B that is to say requires the reduction of their distance apart in
order to obtain a strong beam A of moderate dimension and capable of application to
any kind of vehicle. Figure 4 shews the positions of the rods D adapted for this new
arrangement and the distance between them is preferably about 19 inches which space
is very usual with many railway companies.
Figure 8 is a sectional plan view of the hind part of one carriage and the front part
of an adjoining carriage, and Figure 9 is a vertical transverse section near end of
same. This arrangement shews the lever or beam A fitted near the end of the
carriage. The dotted lines shew the position which the beam A may take when the
carriages are passing along a curve, when it will be seen the beams A still remain
parallel to each other, so that the length of the safety chains remains the samo
in such a case and in all cases whether passing a curve or running along a straight
track.
The aforesaid description and drawings serve to demonstrate the mechanical principle
upon which the invention is based, and on a thorough examination it will be
seen that with this system all the inconveniences which take place in case of a breakage
of the couplings are avoided and that the chains become real mediums of safety so
necessary in trains which up to the present time have been much sought after, but
which have not been completely found.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim as the
invention communicated to me is :-
In railway carriages the rods D extending through the buffer beam for attachment
of the safety chains, in combination with and jointed to a double armed beam A which
is pivotted to the draw bar B substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Datal thin 19th
f AL 1007
Deted the 194.
CAL 1007
PETER JENSEN.
By Jensen & Son,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Patent Agents.