Improvements in Couplings for Railway and similar Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 17th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Couplings for Railway and similar Vehicles.
I, FRANCIS PATRICK NORTON, of 51 Worcester Street, Boston in the State of
Massachusetts United States of America, 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:-
My invention relates to that class of car couplings that are self coupling and
consists in a device by which the hooking jaw of the coupling may be readily
unlocked without requiring the attendant to place himself between the cars. The
object being to add to the certainty of working of the coupling and to save the
attendants from placing themselves in dangerous positions.
These objects I attain by the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawings,
in which
Fig. 1. is a horizontal section showing one of the couplings in full lines and the
other in dotted lines..
Fig. 2 shows in side elevation the head of one of the couplings.
Fig. 3. is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevation.
In the drawings A A' A represents the body part of one of the couplings,
B B¹ is a yielding jaw pivoted to the body part at B2 and held in place by the
spring B. The hooking jaw H H' is pivoted at H2 and is free to swing outwardly
on the pivot H2 when not locked. An opening H is made in the hooking jaw H
for convenience when a link has to be used the coupling link is held by a pin which
passes through the hole H.
The locking device consists of a block P¹ which is rigidly attached to a pin P,
the pin P being free to slide up or down taking with it the block P. The upper
rear part of the hooking jaw H is cut away as indicated at H' so that it can freely
turn or swing outwardly and unlock when the block P¹ is raised up as shown in
Fig. 3; but when the block P' is lowered as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, then the
shoulder H at the rear of the booking jaw will engage with the block P' and the
booking jaw will be firmly locked in place.
My device for raising the block P¹ consists of a rotatable shaft C said shaft
having at its inner end a boss C and a bent lever arm C³. This bent lever arm C³
extends downward as shown in Fig. 2, the extreme end remaining below and away
from the block P when the said block is in its locking position. To cause the
block P¹ to raise up and unlock the hooking jaw H H, the attendant has simply to
place the bent end of a hand-rod into the hole C in the shaft C and turn it,
causing the bent lever arm C³ to swing under the block P¹ and raise it up away from
the shoulder H as shown in Fig. 3, and leave the hooking jaw H free to swing
outwardly and uncouple.
When the jaw H is in its open position the block P¹ rests on the top of the
shoulder H, but as soon as the hooking jaw swings in to engage with the corre-
sponding jaw on the other car then the block P falls into its locking position and
the cars are self coupled and locked.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
In a car coupling, a swing hooking jaw having a shoulder at its rear eud adapted
to engage with a vertically moving locking block so confined as to have no motion

page_text: except in a vertical line, and a rotatable shaft having a lever arm adjusted to
engage with and raise the said locking block, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
Dated this 11th day of August 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant