IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND UNLOCKING THE DOORS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edwin Alfred Tappenden at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th March 1879..
"IMPROVEMENTS
EDWIN ALFRED TAPPENDEN, of Ashford, in the County of Kent.
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR LOCKING AND
UNLOCKING THE DOORS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
This Invention consists in improvements in the construction and arrangement of
apparatus by the employment of which the guard or other attendant in charge of a
train is enabled to instantaneously and simultaneously lock or unlock all the car-
riage doors on either or both sides of the train.
Beneath each carriage and extending the whole length thereof is mounted in
suitable bearings a bar or rod, the extremities of which are hinged to the main por-
tion, so that when the carriages are coupled together, as hereinafter described, they
allow of a movement to prevent injury from any alteration in the relative position
of the carriages, such movement being regulated by passing the said hinged
extremities between springs mounted in frames attached to the underside of the
carriage. On the main portion of the said bar or rod is or are mounted one or more
drums, rollers, half wheels, or other enlargements, having connected to the periphery
or peripheries thereof cords or chains which by means of intermediate pulleys or
cranks are connected to one end of locking levers in the respective doors or door
frames of the carriages. The opposite ends of the said levers engage into recesses
formed in the door frames or doors, thereby firmly securing the latter.
The bars or rods of the respective carriages are coupled together in the following
manner. The coupling piece consists of two hollow sockets connected together by
means of a jointed ring or other connection to which they are pivoted, and which,
whilst being free of the ordinary coupling apparatus of the carriages, accomodates
itself to any variation in height of the bars or rods. The side of each socket is pro-
vided with a slot. The extremities of the bars or rods are placed into the sockets,
and pins are passed through the slots into the same, thereby preventing their
becoming disconnected. This arrangement of coupling apparatus obviates the diffi-
culties which have hitherto existed in working locking mechanism as previously
proposed, in consequence of the variation of the length of space between the respec-
tive carriages, for when the ends of the carriages are brought nearer together the
extremities of the bars or rods pass further into the sockets, and vice versa.

page_text: The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When it is desired to unlock the doors on
one side of the train a rotary motion is transmitted to a horizontal bar or rod beneath
the guard's brake by means of bevil gearing and a vertical spindle provided with a
crank handle or hand wheel and extending into the said brake. The said bar or
rod is coupled by the means hereinbefore described to the bar or rod of the next
carriage to which it communicates a rotary motion, which motion is in the same
manner transmitted to the bars or rods of the other carriages. As the drums, half
wheels, or other enlargements on the main portions of the said bars or rods revolve
a certain distance they take up on their peripheries a portion of the cords or chains
connected to the locking levers, and thereby turn the same on their pivots and com-
press the spring provided for forcing the locking levers into the recesses when not so
acted on by the cords, the locking levers being thus disengaged from their respective
recesses. By causing the bars or rods to be turned in the reverse direction the
last mentioned locking levers are released; and if the turning be continued, those on
the opposite side of the train are acted upon, or the turning of the bars or rods in
one direction may be made to actuate the locking levers on both sides of the
train simultaneously. Gongs or bells may be provided in the carriages for the pur-
pose of giving warning to the guard and passengers when the unlocking of the
doors has been effected, the said gongs or bells being actuated by means similar to
those already described for the actuation of the locking levers. The locks are also
provided with spindles to allow of them being actuated independently by means of
a key.