IMPROVEMENTS, IN SELF-ACTING COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson, of Elland, in
the County of York, Machine Makers and Ironfounders, for the Inven-
True Com DOD PASTWAY CARRIAGES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kelshaw and John
Wilkinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th September 1857.
We, JOHN KELSHAW and JOHN WILKINSON, of Elland, in the County of
York, Machine Makers and Ironfounders, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN SELF-ACTING COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY
CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to apparatus for coupling or connecting the several
carriages and engine of a railway train, and consists in the combination and
arrangement of such apparatus so that when one carriage is pushed or forced
against another it will connect itself or become coupled with the other
without the necessity of a person having to go in betwixt the two carriages to
connect them, and thus avoid the danger and loss of time at present attending,
such practice.

page_text: To effect this object we arrange the draw bar at one end of the carriage so
as to be capable of vibrating or oscillating upon a pivot or joint, and counter-
balance it with weights or springs to keep the coupling end in a central
position when disconnected. To the other end of the carriage we apply a
funnel-formed mouthpiece or socket to the draw bar (which may be either
fixed or capable of vibrating), which will guide and receive the end of the
other or first-named draw bar. A pin or cotter passes through this socket
and the other draw bar end, where two carriages are brought together by
pressure of weight or spring, such pin being drawn back or out when the
carriages are required to be disconnected by means of a shaft across or
extending to each side of the carriage, and the said pin is held out by a spring
catch, which the draw bar end displaces when pushed into the socket of
another carriage, allowing the pin to drop or pass through, thereby securely
coupling the two carriages together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
KELSHAW and JOHN WILKINSON, of Elland, in the County of York, Machine
Makers and Ironfounders, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson, Her special licence that we, the
said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend;
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING
COUPLINGS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one

page_text: .
of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters. Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson;
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to bé performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
Our Invention relates to apparatus for coupling or connecting the several
carriages and engine of a railway train, and consists in the combination and
arrangement of apparatus so that when one carriage is pushed or forced
against another it will connect itself or become coupled with the other without
the necessity of a person having to go in betwixt the two carriages to connect
them, and thus avoid the danger and loss of time at present attending such
practice.
To effect this object we arrange the draw bar at one end of the carriage so
as to be capable of vibrating or oscillating upon a pivot or joint, and counter-
balance it with weights or springs to keep the coupling end in a central
position when disconnected. To the other end of the carriage we apply a
funnel-formed mouthpiece or socket to the draw bar (which may be either
'fixed or capable of vibrating), which will guide and receive the end of the
other or first-named draw bar. A pin or cotter passes through this socket
and the other draw bar end when two carriages are brought together by
pressure of weight or spring, such pin being drawn back or out when the
'carriages are required to be disconnected by means of a shaft across or
extending to each side of the carriage, and the said pin is held out by a spring
'catch, which the draw bar end displaces when pushed into the socket of
another carriage, allowing the pin to drop or 'pass through, thereby securely
coupling the two carriages together.
The manner in which our Invention is to be performed will be readily
understood by reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and. the
letters of reference-thereon, similar letters referring to the same parts in each
Figure.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the framework of a railway
carriage, and parts of two others with our improvements attached; Fig. 2 is
a plan, and Fig. 3, an end elevation of the same. A is one end of the draw
bar, which is hinged or jointed at B capable of oscillating thereon, and is
balanced or held in a horizontal position by the weighted lever C; a funnel-

page_text: formed mouthpiece or socket D is fixed to the frame at the other end of the
carriage (or to the other end of the draw bar), which guides and receives
the end of the draw bar A; E is a pin which passes through the eye in the
draw bar end, and has a rack formed on one side and a weight F on the top
of it; G. is a pinion which gears into the rack, and is fixed on a shaft H,
which extends across the carriage, which by having a hand wheel h fixed
at each end, the pin E can be easily raised out of the eye of the draw bar
from either side of the carriage.
;
Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical and horizontal sections of the mouthpiece with
the draw bar end, &c. drawn on a larger scale. I is a spring catch or
moveable stop, which is drawn or forced underneath the pin E by the springs J
when the pin is raised (and the draw bar out), thus preventing the pin from
dropping when the said draw bar is out of the socket, but which stop is
readily displaced by the draw bar end when forced against it.
It will be seen that if two or more carriages are forced against each other
the draw bar A (being attached to each alternate end and the socket D to the
other) they will be coupled together; but if it be desirable that some should
not couple, we have a small ratchet wheel fixed on each end of the shaft H
with a pall K, which holds the pin E up; and when it is desired to remove
the palls so that the carriages will couple, we hook on the chains L to the
palls, which, when the carriages separate, the palls are pulled out of the teeth
of the ratchet wheels. Fig. 6 is an elevation of this ratchet and pall with
part of a chain and hook.
We have here only alluded to one draw bar A and one socket D to each
alternate end of carriages, which would require the carriages to be kept in one
direction always; but it is evident that each end of a carriage may be fitted
with both bar and socket, as at M, N, in Figs. 1 and 2, consequently would
not require to be kept in one direction. We have also shewn at Fig. 7 that
a spring may be used to balance the draw bar A instead of the lever and
weights C.
For waggons or trucks, or those carriages that have not spring buffers, we
apply spiral springs P to the draw bar A, to prevent sudden concussion when
coupling, and may be used with any carriages.
Having thus fully described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein set
forth, as such may be varied or modified without departing from the principle
thereof; but we claim as our Invention, and which to the best of our

page_text: knowledge and belief has not been hitherto used within the realm, the
self-acting couplings for railway carriages and engines, as herein described
and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Kelshaw and John Wilkinson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
JOHN KELSHAW.
(L.S.)
JOHN WILKINSON. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Keishaw and John Wilkinson,
in the presence of
W* TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
named John Keishaw and John Wilkinson,
in the presence of
W* TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.