Pearson's Coupling

Pearson's Coupling was a safety relevant improvement for connecting the hoses of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company between railway carriages.

However, in shunting operations, it was necessary to have an arrangement by which the carriages may be disconnected when required, without the application of the brakes.

[1] The not infrequent forgetfulness of a shunter to open the train-cocks after coupling-up the hose-pipes has caused accidents in the past.

[1] In Pearson's invention the cocks are necessarily closed and the levers engaged by the lugs, before the heads could be coupled together.

If the heads were accidentally pulled apart, as by the severance of a train, the cocks remained open, and the brakes were thereby applied.