Improved Attachments to Railway Carriages for the Simultaneous Closing and Locking of the Doors.
Year: 1898

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Attachments to Railway Carriages for the Simultaneous
Closing and Locking of the Doors.
We, JOHN HENRY WARREN, Engine Driver, WILLIAM MILLER WIGNALL, Clerk,
EDWIN CADDY TRELOAR, Plumber, and JOHN FLYNN, Agent, all of No. 56, Oxford
Chambers, Bourke Street, Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improved attachments to railway carriages for the
simultaneous closing and locking of the doors. The attachments for closing the
doors being arranged for the most part under the floor of the carriage and con-
sists mainly of a central longitudinal piston rod the piston of which is arranged
in a cylinder and operated by compressed air whilst at about the centre of the
piston rod is a toothed ratchet and again at the other end of rod is a coiled spring
which is compressed in the forward motion of the piston so that when the pres-
sure of air in cylinder is released said coiled spring produces the return motion.
Said ratchet gears with a pinion which is upon the same spindle as a driving
sheave, and the latter communicates motion by an endless wire cable, chain or
belt to a series of metal drums or sheaves situated one at the base of the hinge
edge of each door and under the foot board of the carriage. Each of said drums
has a volute spring within it, one end of the spring being attached to the
drum and the other end to the spindle carrying the drum and said spring is so
arranged as to allow the drum to rotate about ninety degrees before its spindle
operates in closing the door. Also attached to the endless cable are a number of
sliding bars one for each door and each of these is in turn attached by a flexible
connection with the operating bar of a lock which is fitted in the carriage body
opposite the ordinary lock in the door.
The invention will now be described aided by a reference to the attached
sheets of drawings in which,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a railway carriage attached to an engine the foot
board and side framing of the carriage being for the most part removed in order
to exhibit the under gear whilst the locks and their vertical connections are
shewn in dotted lines.
Fig. 2 is an underside plan of Fig. 1 shewing the gears as arranged and fitted
on bottom of carriage and, also by a dotted line, the operating endless wire cable
or chain.
Fig. 3 is an internal view of the lock shewing the gears in their position when
the door is open and,
Fig. 4 shews the altered position of the lock gears when the door is closed.
Fig. 5 is a central section through the door closing sheave or drum and shew-
ing the endless wire which operates it in dotted lines and also the arm which
projects from the top part of drum spindle and is secured to the carriage door.

page_text: spring within the sheave.
Fig.
is a similar view to Fig. 6 but shewing an alternative arrangement of
the spring and,
Fig. 8 is a central section of the form of sheave or drum employed for the
spring shewn in Fig. 7.
Fig. 9 is a central section of the valve which controls the supply and exhaust
of compressed air to and from the cylinder on carriage.
Fig. 10 is a sectional plan on line 1, 1, Fig. 9.
Fig. 11 is a central section of the compressed air two-way main cock, which is
arranged upon the cab of the locomotive and,
Fig. 12 à sectional plan on line 2, 2, Fig. 11.
A is the body of the railway carriage, A¹ its doors and A³ the foot board.
A the spring drums or sheaves located under the foot boards and supported
between a bracket A upon a vertical shaft A which extends upwards and has
a short arm at its top screwed to the hinged edge of the door A¹ as shewn in
Fig. 5, or the top end of said shaft may be connected to the door by a fork piece.
a is the volute spring arranged in drum A³ said spring being as shewn in Fig. 6
secured at one end a to the boss of drum and with its other end free and
designed to engage the rib a² on interior of drum whilst in Fig. 7 the spring
is made secure to the drum at a and with its inner end arranged to engage the
edge at of the gap in boss of drum. The springs in drums are for the purpose
of preventing the doors closing rigidly upon any person entering the carriage.
B is the endless chain, wire rope or belting extending around the underneath
part of the car and connected to the sheaves A by having a turn around each
and also connected in a similar manner to the driving sheave C. The said end-
less chain or wire rope carries screwed rods D having lock nuts d on it to contact
with the projecting arms of sliding pieces DI which are held in position by
guide rollers, attached to the bottom of the foot boards. D² are wire cords or
chains connecting the sliding pieces D with the lock spindles 1 and which
latter have coiled springs I around them so that when the flexible connec
tions 2 are pulled down the springs are compressed and the bolts of the locks M
attached to the body of car are unlocked or withdrawn in order that the door
may be opened as shewn in Fig. 3 whilst when the spring I is relieved the
bolt M flies to its locked position as shewn in Fig. 4. The lock M is fitted in
a morticed hole in the body of the carriage and said lock has a spring catch M³
in it to contact with the spring catch N on the ordinary carriage door lock, so
that when the catches N and M' contact the pivotted catch M2 releases the key
lever and allows the plate M³ to be slid upwards by the pressure of spring 1).
at same time a fixed pin M' on sliding plate M3 by working in an augular slot
in bolt M shoots it outward and into the catch A on the carriage door, as shown
in Fig. 4. The door can be unlocked at will by the guard or by others, by a
key fitting in the square hole M6.
The endless chain or connecting medium B derives its motion from sheave C.
which is keved to a short spindle C₁, carried in bearings in upper and lower
plates 2 and 3, spindle C also carries a small spur pinion C which is worked
by a ratchet bar E forming part of a piston rod El, said gears impart motion to
the endless connecting medium B. the direction of motion necessary to close the
doors being indicated by small arrows in Figures 1 and 2. On the end part of
piston rod, E is a coiled spring E which abuts at outer end against a rigid
guide plate E3 fixed to the under frame of car and at other end against an ad-
justable collar E' fixed on piston rod E¹ by a set screw and by means of said
collar the tension of the spring can be adjusted. The object of employing
spring 2 is to produce the return stroke of the piston rod E' when the cylinder 1
on bottom of car, is relieved of the pressure of the compressed air upon the back
of piston F. G is a path or cam plate attached to said piston rod E¹ and
designed to contact with the arm of a bell-crank G¹ centred at G2, whilst the

page_text: other arm of the crank is attached to a hollow spindle G upon which is a coiled
spring G and which abuts against a guide plate G5 attached to the bed plate C.
Said hollow spindle receives a connecting rod G which is adjustable therein by
a small set screw 9 whilst the connecting rod is attached to a cranked arm G7
which forms the handle of a plug tap in air pipe 13. By means of these
gears the plug G8 is opened to admit a larger supply of compressed air to the
cylinder when the path plate comes into contact with bell crank Gas
the piston is nearing the end of its outward stroke, the object for so doing being
to close the doors gradually and without slamming by exerting the greatest
pressure on each door just as they are closing to their locked position.
The compressed air is drawn from reservoirs as H arranged on the locomotive
and which are fed from the air pumps ordinarily used for compressing air for
working air brakes and the like, the air in these reservoirs is usually kept up
to a determined pressure by a small cylinder H2 attached to the top of one of
the reservoirs and having a piston in it the rod of which carries a coiled spring H
which is set to a certain pressure. The compressed air enters through pipe H¹
and tap H into the reservoir H and from thence to the back of the piston H
and the ratchet H gears with spur pinion H7 attached to the tap H³ so that
when the pinion is rotated by the ratchet the supply of air entering reservoir H
will be regulated, also the air reservoirs H are connected to one another by a
pipe I. Compressed air is drawn from one reservoir through pipe I' which is
connected to the reservoir 12 on the carriage and such reservoir has an outlet
pipe I, communicating with cylinder valve chest J in which are pistons which
are worked by compressed air, the smaller one by air fed by pipe, leading from
reservoir 12, and the larger piston J by air fed from main pipe leading from
the governing two-way tap 1 upon the engine and which tap L is connected to
the reservoir H by a pipe K'. When the doors of the railway carriage are to
be opened the plug tap L is worked by its handle L' and so placed that the
way I is brought over way I which allows the compressed air from back of
piston to escape through pipe K, branch L³, and way L2, L in the centre of
plug to the atmosphere. Said plug is made airtight by vulcanite rings L³, or
by other suitable means, and held in position by a screwed cover L. Fig. 9
shews the valve chest J with its valve in its open position that is when the
railway carriage doors are being closed, then when sufficient compressed air for
that purpose has passed into the cylinder F through pipe 13, and the plug
valve L has been turned to place way L opposite branch L³, the air pressure
supplied through pipe I forces down the smaller piston Jon piston rod J2 which
brings slide valve Jover the branch I³, thus cutting off the compressed air
from pipe I, leading to cylinder F and allowing the air to escape through a
small exhaust port J to atmosphere, and so relieving the air pressure in cylin-
der F and allowing the piston F to be forced back to its normal position by
the coiled spring E. Said valve 3 is opened to admit compressed air to cylin-
der by a pressure of air fed from pipe K¹ through plug valve L and pipe K
to under the larger piston J thus forcing it up and so placing valve J³ clear of
the supply pipe I³.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Compresed air from a reservoir
on the engine is admitted to the cylinder F1 through the valve J so as to drive
forward the piston and rod with ratchet E attached and such action operates the
ratchet wheel C and with it the driving wheel C and which latter gives a cor-
responding motion to the cable or belt B which in turn partially rotates the whole
of the series of drums A3 in a direction towards the carriage and thus closing
and locking the doors. On the discharge of the air from the cylinder F1 the
spring E2 which has been compressed by the forward motion of the piston rod.
immediately gives a reverse motion to the cable and drums, which has the effect
of freeing the doors and at same time unlocking them when afterwards the
doors may be opened in the usual way.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:
-
1. In combination for the purpose specified, valve chest J, cylinder F, piston F,
piston rod E', ratchet E, coiled spring E, pinion C, driving sheave C, drums A³,
having volute springs as a arranged within them, endless chain or wire rope B,
screwed rods D. sliding pieces I', and parts marked D3, D3 and D, lock M,
pipes and K and plug valve L all substantially as described and shewn in
the drawings.
2. In attachments for the purpose specified in combination compressed air
cylinder F, pipe 13, having plug G8, piston F, piston rod, E, cam plate G, bell-
crank G¹, connecting rod G-G spring G+ and crank arm G7, all substantially
as described and shewn in the drawings.
3. In attachments for the purpose specified imparting motion by a rack as E
upon a piston rod as E', to a pinion as C upon the spindle of which is a driving
sheave as communicating motion by endless wire rope or chain as B to a series
of sheaves as A³ which actuate the medium for closing the doors substantially
as described and shewn in the drawings.
4. In attachments for the purpose specified an endless wire rope or chain as B
borne on drums or sheaves as A said wire rope being provided with serewed rods
as operating sliding pieces as D¹ which actuate the locks M by the parts
marked D², D and D³, substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
5. In attachments for the purpose specified, sheaves or durms as A³ arranged
on shafts as A secured to the doors, said sheaves being worked by a wire rope
or chain as B and having springs as a arranged within them about the said shaft
substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
6. In attachments for the purpose specified the air reservoir as H combined
with the cylinder as H2 piston rod and spring as H3, rack as H, pinion as H*,
and plug or valve as H, for the purpose of maintaining a determined pressure
in reservoir, substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
7. In attachments for the purpose specified a two-way plug cock as L provided
with branches K and K' combined with the cylinder valve chest as having
within it on the one spindle, valve J3 and piston J and J and provided with
branches 13 and K and exhaust port substantially as described and as shewn
in Figs. 11 and 9 of the drawings.
8. In attachments for the purpose specified a lock as M made up of parts
marked M', M2, M³, MA, MP, M. and MF, combined with rod D3, spring D, and
flexible connection D2 substantially as described and as shown in Figs. 1. 8
and 4 of the drawings.
9. The general combination and arrangement of parts forming the improved
attachments for assemblage on railway carriages, for the simultaneous closing
and locking of the doors, substantially as herein described and shewn in the
drawings.
D L J
1111 1 Navamhar 1808