AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING THE PIPES USED ON RAILWAY TRAINS FOR COMMUNICATING FLUID PRESSURE TO WORK BRAKES OR SIGNALS
Year: 1883

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LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of AN IMPROVED
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING THE PIPES USED ON RAILWAY
TRAINS FOR COMMUNICATING FLUID PRESSURE TO WORK BRAKES OR SIGNALS
communicated to him from Abroad by George Westinghouse Junior of
Pittsburg in the United States of America
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th August 1883.
JOHN IMRAY of No 28. Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex "AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING THE
PIPES USED ON RAILWAY TRAINS FOR COMMUNICATING FLUID PRESSURE TO WORK
BRAKES OR SIGNALS [communicated to him from Abroad by George Westinghouse
Junior of Pittsburg in the United States of America]
"
The pipes used on railway trains for communicating fluid pressure to work
brakes or signals either by plenum or vacuum action, are usually connected from
carriage to carriage by pieces of flexible tubing or hose and couplings that can
be readily connected or disconnected. This invention relates to a method and
apparatus for effecting connection of these pipes without the use of flexible tubing
or hose which is liable to dainage, but with sufficient flexibility of the connections
to allow for the relative movements of the coupled carriages. For this purpose,
each of the carriage pipes, which is bent upwards at the end of its carriage has
jointed to it at its upper end a length of inflexible pipe, to the end of which is
similarly jointed a shorter length of inflexible pipe having at its end a half coupling
like that used for the pipes of the Westinghouse brake. The double jointing in each
case allows of the two half couplings being brought together side by side and then
of being turned partly round their common transverse axis, so as to engage with
Die

page_text: each other in the same manner as the couplings are engaged when flexible tubing.
is employed. When the coupling is thus connected, it occupies the middle of the
space between the two carriages, having a doubly jointed piece of pipe hanging
obliquely on each side of it, and these double joints allow of all necessary
movements in the vertical plane. Also each joint itself, being constructed like the
coupling, and having its two halves engaged in a similar way, admits of a certain
amount of Interal rocking movement, and in order that these movements may not
cause leakage, the caoutchouc lips, which are pressed together when the balvos of
the joints are engaged, are made somewhat deeper and broader than in the
couplings usually employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent filed by
the said John Imray in the Patent Office on the 22nd February 1884.
JOHN IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the county
of Middlesex "AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING THE
PIPES USED ON RAILWAY TRAINS FOR COMMUNICATING FLUID PRESSURE TO WORK
BRAKES OR SIGNALS A communication to me from abroad by George Westinghouse
Junior of Pittsburg in the United States of America
"
The pipes used on railway trains for communicating fluid pressure to work
brakes or signals, either by plenum or vacuumn action are usually connected from
carriage to carriage by pieces of flexible tubing or hose, and couplings that can be.
readily connected or disconnected. This invention relates to a method and
apparatus for effecting connection of these pipes without the use of flexible tubing
or hose which is liable to damage, but with sufficient flexibility of the connections
to allow for the movements necessary in the act of coupling and for the relative.
movements of the coupled carriages. For this purpose, I joint the pipes as shown
in fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings fig. 2 being a section to an enlarged scale
of one of the joints. Each of the carriage pipes, which is bent upwards at the end
of its carriage as shewn at A, and is, as usual, provided with a stop cock A¹, has
jointed to it at its upper bend a length of metal pipe B, to the end of which is is
similarly jointed a shorter length of metal pipe C having at its end a half
coupling D such as is used for the pipes of the Westinghouse brake apparatus.
The double jointing in each case allows of the two half couplings being brought
together side by side and then of being turned partly round their common
transverse axis, so as to engage with each other in the same manner as the
couplings are engaged when flexible tubing is employed. When the coupling is
thus connected, it occupies the middle of the space between the two carriages
having a doubly jointed piece of pipe hanging obliquely on each side of it, and
these double joints allow of all nécéssary movements in the vertical plane. Each
of the joints E, as shown in fig 2, is made like the coupling D, in two halves Fand G
which are equal and symmetrical. Each half has at the mouth of its side orifice

page_text: a ring H of caoutchouc, leather or other suitable packing material held in its place
by a cage L, which is made to press the packing against the shoulder of the orifice
by screwing on the cap M, and, between the two packings, there is a metal ring R
of T section. The two halves F and G are pressed together by the setting screws N,
which have rounded ends engaged in rounded hollows of larger radius, so that the
joint, besides allowing free movement in the vertical plane, allows also of a little
lateral swing such as may result from the oscillations of the coupled carriages.
Having thus described the nature of the said invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
claim――
First The herein described method of connecting the pipes used in railway
trains for communicating the fluid pressure to work brakes or signals, by
introducing between the pipe of each carriage and the half coupling connecting
it to that of the next carriage, a double jointed metallic pipe in lieu of
flexible hose.
Second: In combination with the carriage pipe A and the half coupling D, the
two lengths of pipe B and C and their joints E, substantially as and for the purpose
herein set forth.
Third: The construction of the joints E of two similar halves held together
by setting screws N, substantially as described.
In Witness Whereof I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twenty second day of February in the year of our Lord, one thousand
eight hundred and eighty four.
JOHN IMRAV ire)