Willison automatic couplings are used on the cane waggons of approximately one third of the Australian sugar mills and are the only automatic couplings used within the industry. The automatic coupling facility provides time-saving advantages in the field by removing the manual coupling-up requirement by operators of roll-on/roll-off field equipment and locomotive crews. The coupling also lend themselves to automatic coupling devices used by most mills with Willison couplings to reduce staffing at the weighbridge and tippler. This paper describes recent research work aimed at improving the head and shank and butt seat components of the Willison coupling. The results of an extensive tensile testing program are presented. An improving coupling has been designed.