A New or Improved Method of and Means for Simultaneously Locking and Unlocking Railway Carriage Doors.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 14th Jan.,
1899
A New or Improved Method of and Means for Simultaneously Locking
and Unlocking Railway Carriage Doors.
I, CHARLES ERNEST COOPER, of 70, Harbut Road, St. John's Hill, Wandsworth,
S.W., Gentleman, 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 a new or improved method of and means for simul-
taneously operating a series of locks and to the practical application of the same
to the locking and unlocking of railway carriage doors, the object being to enable
the guard or other authorized person to simultaneously lock or unlock the whole
of the doors of a train by a simple operation, while this invention further allows of
any door or doors, that may be open at the time of locking the doors of the train,
being afterwards closed and locked by "slamming" in the ordinary manner, but
renders it impossible for any door to be opened by an occupant of a carriage until
the whole of the train is unlocked by the guard or other official.
This invention consists essentially in fitting, preferably to the top, of each door
a slam lock, and in addition to the ordinary lock with which the door is furnished,
and in simultaneously operating the locking bolts or latches of such locks by the
tightening or drawing taut of a flexible connection, the lock employed, although
in many respects resembling a simple slam lock, being modified or improved for
this purpose.
In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will now proceed to
describe same with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,
Fig. is a diagrammatic view of a railway carriage and guards van (the latter
in section), illustrating the practical application of this invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the lock preferably employed with the top plate removed.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the latch or bolt detached from the lock, and,
Figs. 4 and 5 are details.
The form of lock preferably employed in connection with my invention com
prises a sliding bolt or latch a normally retained in the forward position by means
of a suitable spring such as b, and guided by a pin c passing through the longi-
tudinal slot das shown, and further by a strap e (Figs. 2 & 4) designed to be
secured above the carriage door and to embrace the forward extremity a¹ of the
bolt or latch a. The rear or inner extremity a² of the bolt or latch a is forked or
recessed as shown (Fig. 3) and carries a friction roller f under which the flexible
connection g passes, said connection then passing over a small roller or pulley h
at each side of the lock and out of same through the holes or perforations (indi-
cated in dotted lines) (Fig. 2) which are formed in the sides of the said lock.
metal socket (Figs. 2 and 5), the bottom of which is closed, is designed to be
secured to the top of each door, and into which the extremity a' of the latch or
bolt a enters when the door is closed and locked, while at the top of each door a
suitable metal striking plate is inserted to come against or strike the extremity a¹
of the bolt or latch when closing the door.
A
On referring to the drawing it will be readily seen that upon the flexible

page_text: connection 9 being stretched or drawn taut, the bolt or latch a will be raised or
drawn back bringing it into the open position, while upon the tension on the
flexible connection being removed, the bolt or latch a will be instantly pressed
forward by the spring b into the closed position.
In applying this invention to the locking and unlocking of railway carriage
doors, and as shown in Fig. 1 a series of such locks are arranged one above each
carriage door y. The flexible connection y passes through the whole of the locks
of each carriage, the flexible connection of one carriage being suitably connected
with that passing through the locks of the next, and so on throughout the whole
of the train in such a manner that the whole of the flexible connections which
practically form one continuous length, can be stretched or drawn taut simul-
taneously.
The flexible connection y may be stretched or drawn taut for the purpose of
raising the bolts or latches of the locks for unlocking the railway carriage doors
in any convenient and suitable manner, such for instance as by making one end of
the connection fast and passing the other end around a pulley. m operated by
a hand wheel n and locked until released by the guard or other official by a ratchet
and pawl p as indicated in dotted lines (Fig. 1), this mechanism being conveniently
arranged within the guards van, the extremity of the flexible connection g passing
through a suitable opening g' in the end or side thereof, and in this case, the
flexible connection would be stretched or drawn taut by revolving the pulley for
winding up the connection thereon, and released by throwing the pawl p out of
engagement with the ratchet wheel, but I do not restrict myself to this particular
method of stretching or drawing the flexible connection taut, as this may be
accomplished in any other convenient and suitable manner such as will be
readily understood.
In some cases and particularly where the train carries two or more guards vans,
instead of the whole of the locks being operated by one guard, and by a single
piece of apparatus or mechanism for stretching or drawing taut the flexible con-
nection, they may be worked in two or more sections.
I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the particular form
of lock herein described, as any suitable slam lock modified so as to allow of a
flexible connection raising or drawing the bolt or catch into the open position
upon the said flexible connection being drawing taut, may be employed.
Any suitable flexible connection may be employed such for instance as a cord,
small chain, wire cord, or the like and the connecting or forming together of
same between the carriages may be facilitated by furnishing the ends of each
length of the flexible connection with snap hooks or similar devices.
It will be readily seen that upon the flexible connection being stretched or
drawn taut the whole of the doors will be unlocked when they can be opened in the
ordinary manner by the occupants of the carriages, while upon removing the
tension from the said flexible connection, the whole of the locks automatically
assume their closed or locked position, thereby locking the doors, while any door or
doors that may be open at the time of the locks assuming their closed or locked
position, can be closed and locked by slamming them, as in the case where an
ordinary slam lock is employed; furthermore in order to render it impossible
for the occupants of the carriages to themselves operate the locks, the sockets k
into which the extremities of each of the belts or catches take, are closed, while
the flexible connection between each lock is preferably enclosed in a tube z or its
equivalent.
Although the locks have been described and shown as applied to the tops of
the railway carriage doors they may obviously be arranged in any other con-
venient position if found desirable.
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:
1. In the simultaneous locking and unlocking of railway carriage doors, the

page_text: employment of a suitable flexible connection g for operating a series of slam locks,
substantially as herein described and shown with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
2/. In a method and means for simultaneously locking and unlocking railway
carriage doors, the employment of a lock comprising a sliding bolt or latch such
as a designed to be retained in the forward or locked position by a suitable
spring such as b and having a forked inner extremity such as a² carrying a friction
roller f, in combination with a suitable flexible connection 9 passing under the
said roller and over guiding pulleys h, substantially as herein described and
shown, with reference to the accompanying drawings, and for the purposes
specified.
3/. The combination with a lock such as above claimed and a flexible connection
for operating same, of a guiding strap such as e and a hollow closed socket or
catch retainer k, substantially as herein described and shown with reference to
the accompanying drawings.
"
4/. The new or improved method of and means for simultaneously locking and
unlocking railway carriage doors, comprising essentially the employment of a
series of slam locks in combination with a suitable flexible connection for
operating same and suitable mechanism whereby the said flexible connection may
be stretched or drawn taut, substantially as herein described and shewn with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
5/. In locking and unlocking railway carriage doors, the simultaneous operating
of a series of "slam "locks by the stretching or drawing taut of a suitable flexible
connection.
Dnted this 25th day of Novemba 1000
F. G. CASSELL,
(Of Cassell & Co.),
22, Glasshouse Street, Regent Street, London, W.