An Improved Coupling for Railway Carriages and Wagons or like Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Apr., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 8th Jan., 1900-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Coupling for Railway Carriages and Wagons or
like Vehicles.
We, ROBERT WALKER and ROBERT BURLEY WALKER, both of 54, Upper Duke
Street, Hulme, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Ornamental Iron Workers,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
This invention relates to an improvement in couplings for railway carriages,
wagons and other like vehicles and consists in constructing said couplings so that
vehicles may be automatically coupled when run together, or if not required to
be coupled, the couplings may be placed in a position whereby they may be ren
dered inoperative; the objects of this invention are to enable railway and like
vehicles to be coupled or uncoupled without the necessity of those who are
engaged in making up a train, or shunting, or at other times to pass in between
the ends of the vehicles. In this invention we fit at each end of the vehicle
between eyebolts that are secured to the headstock, a horizontal rocking shaft
either or both ends of which extend to the side or sides of the wagon. At a little
distance on one side of the centre of the headstock we form on or attach securely
to the aforesaid rocking shaft a flat shackle with an angular tail piece that rests
against the headstock, which while retaining the said shackle in a horizontal
position permits the free end of the shackle to be raised as required.
At a little distance of the opposite side of the centre of the headstock and by the
side of the aforesaid shackle we place a draw bar with hook, the shank of the said
draw bar passing through the headstock, with a coil or other suitable spring placed
thereon, and the end of the bar suitably secured at the back of the headstock.
We attach to the outer end of the rocking shaft herein before described a lever
that may be moved either by hand or by any suitable mechanical device operated
from either side of the wagon, and said lever may be locked in any required posi-
tion by a pin and lever guard or an equivalent.
In applying our invention a like form of draw hook and link are fitted in
reverse positions at each end of the vehicle so that in any case when a carriage
or a wagon is turned round a shackle on one vehicle will always come opposite
to a hook on the other. When two vehicles meet end to end, the free end of the
flat link herein before described will strike the upper curved portion of the hook
that is fitted to the opposite vehicle, the said link being caused to rise and drop
over on to the hollow portion of the hook, thereby automatically coupling the
vehicles.
To uncouple the vehicles the side lever is pulled over, causing the rocking shaft
to which the flat link is fixed to move round and said link to be raised out of
the draw hook. In order to prevent either the link being jerked off the draw

page_text: hook by concussion or to retain the link in a raised position during the time the
vehicles are being shunted and not required to be coupled the aforesaid side lever
is held by a pin or an equivalent in the position required.
Dated this 7th day of April 1899.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
Agents for the Applicants, 4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.
An Improved Coupling for Railway Carriages and Wagons or
like Vehicles.
We, ROBERT WALKER and ROBERT BURLEY WALKER, both of 54, Upper Duke
Street, Hulme, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Ornamental Iron Workers,
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 an improvement in couplings for railway carriages,
wagons and other like vehicles and consists in constructing said couplings so that
venicies may be automatically coupled when run together, or if not required to
be coupled, the couplings may be placed in a position whereby they may be ren-
dered inoperative; the objects of this invention are to enable railway and like
vehicles to be coupled or uncoupled without the necessity of those who are
engaged in making up a train, or shunting, or at other times to pass in between
the ends of the vehicles.
We attain these objects by the means hereinafter described reference being made
to the accompanying sheet of drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of part
of a railway wagon with our invention fitted thereto.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of parts of two adjacent wagons with our invention
applied showing the wagons coupled.
Fig. 3 is an end view and Fig. 4 a plan of the same. In these views similar
letters refer to similar parts.
For the purposes of this invention we fit at each end of a vehicle as a between
eyebolts that are secured to the headstock b, a horizontal rocking shaft e either
or both ends of which extend to the side or sides of the wagon or vehicle.
At a
little distance on one side of the centre of the headstock we form on or attach
securely to the aforesaid rocking shaft a flat shackle or link as d with an angular
tail piece e that rests against the headstock when said shackle is in a horizontal
position as in Fig. 1, but permits the free end of the shackle to be raised as
required.
At a little distance on the opposite side of the centre of the headstock and by
the side of the aforesaid shackle we place a draw bar with hook as f, the end or
nose of the hook being formed with an inclined flattened curve. The shank f
of the said draw bar passes through the headstock and the end of the bar which
is provided with either an india rubber or other suitable spring is secured at the
back of the headstock or to the cross bar as shown.
We attach to the outer end of the rocking shaft c hereinbefore described a
lever c that may be moved either by hand or by any suitable mechanical device
operated from either side of the wagon, and said lever may be locked in the
required position by a slotted bar as g secured to the end of the vehicle or by a
pin and lever guard or an equivalent.

page_text: In applying our invention a like form of draw hook and link are fitted in reverse
positions at each end of the vehicle (viz; equidistant from the centre) so that in
any case when a carriage or a wagon is turned round a shackle d on one vehicle
will always come opposite to a hook f on the other. When two vehicles meet
end to end, the free end of the flat link d herein before described will strike the
curved portion of the hook f that is fitted to the opposite vehicle, the said link
being caused to rise as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and drop over on to the
hollow portion of the hook as shown in full lines in same figure, thereby auto-
matically coupling the vehicles.
To uncouple the vehicles one of the side levers is pulled back causing the
rocking shaft c to which the flat link d is fixed to move round and said link to be
raised out of the draw hook.
In order to retain the link in a raised position during the time the vehicles
are being shunted and not required to be coupled one of the aforesaid side levers c
is held by the end of the slotted bar g or an equivalent in the position required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is;-
1. The improved mechanism herein described for enabling railway carriages,
wagons, and other like vehicles to be automatically coupled when run together
and to be prevented from coupling if not required to be coupled.
2. The improved mechanism for automatically coupling railway carriages,
wagons, and other like vehicles consisting of a draw bar with hook as f the end
or nose of which is formed with an inclined flattened curve and a draw link with
a tail piece as e fitted respectively on either side of the centre line of the head-
stock at each end of the vehicle in opposite positions, so that the draw link of
one vehicle may come opposite the draw hook of another vehicle, a rocking shaft
at the end of the vehicle to which said draw link is connected, a lever or equivalent
for actuating said rocking shaft from the side of the vehicle and a guard or catcli
for holding the draw link in an inactive position all substantially as described
and shown on the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 5th day of January 1900