amount of slack and so were called 'close coupling'.

The most sophisticated was the screw-link

coupling patented by Henry Booth in 1837. On the screw link coupling the centre link of a three
link chain was replaced by a threaded bar with a lever on it. The stock was shunted together, so
the buffers were just touching and the shunter would hook the free end loop over the hook on
the next wagon as normal. He then turned the handle on the threaded bar, pulling the outer links
together so that in transit the buffers remained touching. This took time however and was only
generally applied to passenger stock. A twelve coach train only had twelve couplings to adjust
but a long goods train had perhaps a hundred, and these had to be operated whenever a wagon
was dropped off or collected en route. Screw link couplings were standard fittings on 'non
passenger coaching stock', fish vans, banana vans, horse boxes, milk churn vans and milk tank
wagons which were routinely coupled to passenger coaches. Up to about 1926 these vehicles
had to have two extra chains, with large hooks on the ends, attached to the head stock to either
side of the coupling. These were called 'security chains' and were only used when the vehicle
was attached to a passenger coach.
Also where vacuum brakes (discussed below) were fitted the screw type coupling was usually
specified to avoid the pipes being disconnected as the wagon jerked in transit, the LNER used
screw couplings as standard on all its vacuum brake fitted wagons and vans. Other companies
goods vehicles, mainly longer wheel base vans likely to get marshalled into a passenger train,
were also sometimes provided with screw link couplings. On occasions where goods vehicles
were coupled to passenger stock the RCH required that screw link couplings be used. Where
there was more than one such wagon it was necessary to use a separate coupling slung
between the hooks on the two wagons or vans.
Fig ___ Typical screw-coupling
British Railway Goods Stock Couplings & Hoses http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/4-rstock/04arstock2b.htm
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