Improvements in Couplings for Railway and like Carriages.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Nov., 1895
Comalate Specification Loft 5th Aug 1806 Accented 10th Oct. 1896
Improvements in Couplings for Railway and like Carriages.
I, SAMUEL JOHN WARSAP, of 76, Studley Road, Clapham, in the County of
London, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My invention relates to couplings for railway and like carriages, the object being
to provide a coupling adapted to automatically couple the carriages and which can
be actuated from the sides of the carriages to uncouple the same thereby avoiding
the necessity of men getting between the vehicles.
In carrying out my invention 1 provide each end of the carriage with a link
hook made with inclined meeting faces and jointed to a draw bar in such a manne
that it can move in a horizontal plane. To the said link hook I rigidly attach a
lever or crank to which is pivotally attached a rod extending to the side of the
carriage. The outer end of the said rod passes loosely through a fixed stop block
and is formed with a quick screw thread over which works a hand wheel or nut
adapted to draw the rod outwards. A spring or springs is or are provided near
the end of the said rod serving to lock the link hooks together when coupling.
With this construction when the hand wheels or nuts of the couplings are at the
outermost ends of their rods the link books are in position for coupling and when
the ends of the carriages come together the inclined faces of the link hooks will
meet and cause the link hooks to move in their joints against the pressure of the
springs and these latter recoiling will cause the link hooks to engage with each
other. To uncouple it is only necessary to turn the hand wheel or nut so as to
cause the rod to move outwards.
A spring is preferably arranged between the stop block and the hand wheel
or nut.
Instead of operating the rods by hand wheels or nuts as described they can have
the required movement imparted to them by hand levers.
Dated the 7th day of November 1895.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Couplings for Railway and like Carriages.
I, SAMUEL JOHN WARSAP, of 76, Studley Road, Clapham, in the County of
London, Mechanical Engineer, 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 couplings for railway and like carriages, the object
being to provide a coupling adapted to automatically couple and which cau be
actuated from the sides of the carriages to uncouple the same thereby avoiding the
necessity of men getting between the vehicles.
In carrying out my invention I provide each end of the carriage with a link hook

page_text: made with an inclined meeting face and jointed to a draw bar in such a manner that
it can move laterally or in a horizontal plane. To the said link hook I rigidly
attach a lever or crank to which is pivotally attached a rod extending to the side
of the carriage. The outer end of the said rod passes loosely through a fixed stop
or guide block and is formed with a quick screw thread over which works a hand
wheel or nut adapted to draw the rod outwards. A spring or springs is or are
provided near the end of the said rod serving to lock the link hooks together when
coupled.
With this construction when the hand wheels or nuts of the couplings are at the
outermost ends of their rods the link hooks are in position for coupling and when
the ends of the carriages come together the inclined faces of the link hooks will
meet and cause the link hooks to move against the pressure of the springs and
these latter recoiling will cause the link hooks to engage with each other. To
uncouple it is only necessary to turn the hand wheel or nut so as to cause the rod
to move outwards.
A cushion spring is preferably arranged between the stop block and the hand
wheel or nut.
Instead of operating the rods by hand wheels or nuts as described they can have
the required movement imparted to them by hand levers.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a sectional plan of so much of two railway carriages as is necessary
to illustrate the application of my coupling thereto :
Figure 2 is an end view of one of the carriages :
Figure 3 is a sectional side view of the parts shewn in Figure 1 the buffers being
removed:
Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustrating the arrangement of my coupling
in combination with a central buffer; and,
Figure 5 is an end view of one carriage:
Figure 6 is a sectional side view of a pair of central buffers with my
couplings; and,
Figure 7 is a rear view of one of the buffers with the coupling buckle or strap
and springs.
Similar letters of reference illustrate similar or corresponding parts in the
several figures.
a, a are the usual buffer beams and b, b the draught bars arranged at their rear
ends in connection with springs or cushions in the usual manner and having pivoted
to their front or outer ends my link hooks c, c having the inclined meeting faces d, d.
Each hook c has a rearwardly extending arm e to which is connected a rod ffor
disconnecting the couplings the said rod also having upon it springs g, g' which
when in equilibrium hold the link books c, c in such position that when two waggons
are pushed together the faces d, d will slide one upon the other and the couplings
engage.
The rod which extends to the side of the waggon is provided with means
whereby it can be moved to disengage the couplings. As shewn in Figures 1 to 3,
the rod passes through a guide h and is screw-threaded at its outer end and
provided with a nut formed in a hand-wheel . When the hand-wheel is at the
end of the screw, as shewn at the left hand bottom corner of Figure 1, the
springs 9, 91, are in equilibrium so that the link .hook is in position for coupling.
It will be obvious, however, that when the hand-wheel i is rotated to turn the nut
along the screw, the springs will be compressed as shewn at the right hand top
corner of Figure 1 and the link hook moved to one side so as to be in the
. disengaged position. The couplings of two adjacent vehicles being both in their
central position it will be obvious that when the vehicles are pushed together the
inclined faces d, d of the adjacent couplings will move laterally until the ends or
points of the hooks pass over one another and engage. During this lateral nove-
ment of the hooks the springs g, g are compressed. When the hooks engage under

page_text: the re-action of the springs 9, 9 the springs g¹ gl act as buffers or cushions between
the hand-wheels i, i and the guides h, h.
In Figures 4 to 7 which illustrate my coupling arranged in conjunction with a
central buffer, j indicates the fixed part of the buffer and the movable sliding
part, being the buffer springs which are carried on rods m, m fixed to the
movable part k and sliding through holes in the fixed part j. In this arrangement
of my invention instead of shewing the rod fdirectly connected to the arm e the
said rod is provided with a strap n, clearly shewn in Figure 7 and surrounding the
draught bar, the said strap having upon it a pin o engaging in a bifurcation on
the end of the arm e. The springs 9, g¹ are arranged at the two sides of this strap n
between the latter and the interior of the buffer part j. The rod is also repre-
sented as arranged in conjunction which a lever p moving in a slotted guide
plate having a pawl which when the lever is pulled to the position indicated in
full lines in Figure 5 to hold the link hook e in its disengaged position engages in
a notch s in the guide plate 9. The dotted position in Figure 5 represents the
position of the lever when the adjacent link hooks of two vehicles are in
engagement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Couplings for railway and like carriages wherein link hooks are pivoted to
the draught bars so that they will move in a lateral direction, the said link hooks
having inclined faces for allowing the adjacent hooks of two vehicles to slide past
one another and engage, and being connected at their rear ends to rods extending
to the sides of the vehicles, springs being arranged in conjunction with the link
hooks for permitting of the lateral movement of the hooks when automatically
engaging, substantially as described.
2. In a coupling for railway and like carriages wherein a lateral moving link
hook is piroted to the draught bar the combination with the said hook of the
screw-threaded rod, the nut and the springs, substantially as described by reference
to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings.
3. In a coupling for railway and like vehicles wherein a lateral moving link
book is pivoted to the draught bar, means for operating the said link hook to
disengage it from another hook, substantially as described by reference to Figures 4
to 7 of the drawings.
4. The combination with a coupling for railway and like vehicles wherein a
lateral moving link hook pivoted to the draught bar and adapted to be operated
from the side of the vehicle is employed, of a central spring buffer, substantially as
set forth.
5. The manufacture and use of couplings for railway and like vehicies
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 5th day of Avanat 1896
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.