1847 W. C. Bussey (caption) Car Coupling.
1874 E. H. Knight I. 466/1 Car-coupling, in Europe the connection is more intimate, the cars being coupled together so firmly as to prevent the jar as the cars collide or jerk apart in stopping or starting.
1921 Dec. 814/2 Automatic hose coupling is as desirable as automatic car coupling on railroads.
2005 H. R. Grant ii. 59 The dramatic breakthrough in the technology of car coupling occurred with the development of the ‘Janney’ or ‘knuckle’ coupler.