Year: 1885

page_text: WILLIAM SHELBOURNE ICELY, Engineer, of Grange Road, Leyton, in the
County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
°
The novelty of my Invention, consists, Firstly, in coupling automatically Rail-
way, or other vehicles, by side hooks, to be explained hereinafter. Secondly, in
bending the points of the hooks, on one side, in order to prevent the ordinary links
when used on side hooks, from jerking off when the vehicles are going down an
incline; this improvement is applicable to the ordinary hooks on the Draw bar,
for the same purpose.-Thirdly, an improved method of taking up the Slack, which
I effect in the following manner; on the inner end of the Draw bar, at the back of
the spring, I place a nut; and by screwing up the same, I thus take up the Slack,
but in order to screw up the nut, without going under the vehicle, I use a pair of
bevelled wheels; one of which I secure to the nut, and the other I fix on a shaft,
running across the vehicle, the shaft is made to revolve, by a cranked handle at
each end of the same.
In carrying out my Invention for coupling Railway or other vehicles, in one
plan, I place the Draw bar on its side, with the Shacklepin hole perpindicular,
instead of horizontal, as ordinarily placed: I then knuckle joint on the Draw bar,
over the Shacklepin hole, on the right hand, a side hook projecting outwards from
the joint about 15 inches, and from the joint inwards it is bent downwards, and
again rebent upwards, projecting under the vehicle about 8 inches, and in the latter
portion there is a slotted hole about 6 inches in length, to allow for the play, or
travel, of the Draw bar, and from the said slotted hole, I joint a rod at right angles
with the side book, and connect the same to a hanging lever under the vehicle about
6 inches from the side thereof; and at the bottom of the lever is a balance weight,
to keep it perpindicular; and when in that state the hook will be in gear.-On
the left hand of the Draw bar, and over the said joint of the side hook, I knuckle
joint a link, which projects outwards about 18 inches, and kept parallel with the
side hook, by a suitable stop, at the joint of the same; and with a long Shacklepin
I secure both the side hook, and link, to the Draw bar.
As the end of every vehicle is to be fitted in the same manner, that is to say,
with the side book on the right, and the link on the left hand, or (vice versa) when
two vehicles are brought together, the link of each vehicle strikes against the hook

page_text: of each, causing the hooks to recede, and thus through the communication of the
rods, at the inwards ends of the hooks, a movement is made which raises the
hanging levers, with their balance weights, and as soon as the links pass the points
of the hooks, the re-action of the balance weights, causes the hooks to return to
their normal position; and the vehicles are then coupled and to uncouple them, it
will be necessary to raise the hanging levers by hand, which the Shunter can do,
although the vehicles may be in tension.
For Shunting purposes one link and hook need only be used; the other being
placed out of gear by hooking up the hanging lever.-I have only described two
hanging levers, but four may be used by merely extending the connecting rods
across to the opposite sides of the vehicles, and connecting them to other hanging
levers.
In another plan I make the Draw bar with a T head, and on the right I knuckle
joint the side hook, as before described; and on the left I knuckle joint the link as
before described; or (vice versa). The advantage of this plan, is to keep the
vehicles on the rails, when going round curves, through, and by the tension being
always on the hook, nearer to the outer circle of the curve, the inner being always
slack, under the same conditions.

page_text: WILLIAM SHELBOURNE ICELY Engineer of 447 Manchester Road Cubitt town
Poplar Middlesex, late of 6 Grange Road Leyton in the County of Essex do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR
RAILWAY, AND OTHER VEHICLES and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The novelty of my Invention consists-Firstly-in coupling Railway, and other
vehicles automatically, by side hooks.-Secondly-in bending the points of Draw
bar hooks sideways, to prevent the chain links from jerking off, when the vehicles
are going down an incline. Thirdly,-in placing the Draw bars on their sides for
the purpose of using the Shackle pin as a centre, for the vehicles to turn from, when
travelling round curves, and Fourthly, in a novel method of taking up the Slack,
which I effect by the use of bevelled wheels, one of which I use as a Nut on the
end of the Draw bar, and the other is mounted on a Shaft running across the
vehicle, or mounted on a pendulum frame which hangs from the socket piece on
the Draw bar.
In carrying out my Invention for coupling I place the Draw bar on its side with
the Shackle pin hole perpendicular, instead of horizontal, as ordinarily placed.
I then knuckle joint, over the Shackle pin hole on the right hand a side hook,
constructed to project outwards to any desired length, and inwards under the
vehicle about inches, and in the latter portion there may be a slotted hole about
6 inches in length, to allow for the play of the Draw bar, and from the aforesaid
slotted hole I joint a rod at right angles with the side hook, and connect the same
to pendulum levers on either side of the vehicle which are kept perpendicular by
Balance weights at the ends of the same; and when in that state the hooks will be in
gear-Instead of a slotted hole for the play of the Draw bar, the rod may be jointed
in the ordinary manner, and become a radius bar; and travel with the hook and
Draw bar-On the left hand of the Draw bar and over the joint of the side hook
I knuckle joint a link projecting outwards to any desired length, and kept parallel
with the side hook by a suitable stop at the joint of the same, and with a long
Shackle pin I secure both the side hook, and link, to the Draw bar.-Instead
of jointing the side hook, and link, over the Shackle pin hole, I may use a
Stock piece, to fit loosely, or rigidly, on the Draw bar, and thus become a T head
to the same; and from one side of the head I joint the side book, and from the
other side the link.
As the end of every vehicle is to be fitted in the same manner, that is to say,
with the side hook on the right hand, and the link on the left or, (vice versa) when
two vehicles are brought together the link of each strikes against the hook of each,
causing the hooks to recede, and thus through the communication of the radius
bar, and rods, a movement is made which raises the pendulum levers with their
Balance weights, and as soon as the links pass the points of the hooks, the reaction
of the Balance weights, through the rods, and radius bar, causes the hooks to return
to their normal position, and the vehicles are then coupled, and to uncouple them
it will be necessary to raise the pendulum levers by hand.

page_text: For shunting purposes one link and hook need only be used, the other being
placed out of gear, by hooking up the other lever by the lever catch.
When the before mentioned Stock piece is fitted loosely to the Draw bar, the
tension on the sharpest curve will be direct from the Shackle pin, but when fitted
rigidly the tension on a curve will always be on the hook and link nearer to the
outer circle of the curve, which would have the tendency of keeping the vehicles
within the rails when travelling round curves.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I will proceed aided by
the accompanying drawings where similar letters in all the figures are used to
represent similar parts. A represents the wood framework of the vehicles in
dotted lines. B the Draw bar hook. C, the improved coupling hook. and C¹ the
same shewn out of gear in dotted lines.-D, the improved coupling link. E, Balance
weight to counterpoise the weight of the link D.-F, Balance weight to counter-
poise the weight of the hook C.-G, Balance weight to keep the hook always in
gear. H, the Stock piece secured to the Draw bar loosely, or rigidly, by the
Shackle-pin. I, Balance weight to counterpoise the weight of the small chain i.-
J, the pendulum frame with bevelled wheel for taking up the Slack, and ♫ the
frame shewn in dotted lines, hauled up on one side by the chain, i, for the purpose
of operating with the cranked handle K in taking up Slack 1. 1. are the communi-
n, is the radius bar, and o, is
cating rods connecting the pendulum levers m. m.
the lever catch for holding the pendulum levers out of gear in the position as
shewn at p. p. in dotted lines.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of two wagons coupled, and in tension. Fig. 2, is a side
view of the same shewing the pendulum lever arrangement only. Fig. 3 is the end
view of one wagon shewing the pendulum lever arrangement, and the Stock piece
on the Draw bar. Fig. 4 is a side view of the two wagons coupled and in tension.
Fig. 5 is a side view of two wagons shewing the position of the coupling when
backing. Fig. 6, is a plan view of two wagons coupled and in tension, one of
which is fitted with the improved coupler, shewing the hook out of gear, and the
other represents an ordinary wagon with the usual chain links.-Fig. 7. represents
the wagons as in fig. 6, closed up, in the act of backing.-Fig. 8 is a side view of
two wagons of unequal heights, coupled, and in tension. Fig's. 9 and 10 are side,
and front views respectively of the pendulum frame, fitted with bevelled wheel for
taking up the Slack.
Fig. 11 is a front view of the Draw bar in its ordinary position, and shewing the
point of the hook bent sideways. The stock piece H is also shewn in position on
the Draw bar, with the Shackle pin hole perpendicular instead of horizontal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1st Coupling automatically Railway and other vehicles by side hooks, in the
manner as described and represented.
2nd Bending the points of Draw bar hooks sideways, to prevent the chain links
jerking off.
3rd Placing the Draw bar on its side with the Shackle pin hole perpendicular as
described and represented in Fig's. 1, 3, 6, 7, and 11.
4th Taking up the Slack by the use of bevelled wheels, as described and repre-
sented in Fig's. 9 and 10.