IMPROVE- MENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BREAK LEVERS OF RAILWAY WAGONS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard William Johnson, of Oldbury, in the County
of Worcester, Railway Carriage Builder, and William Stableford, of the
same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS CONNECTED
Sealed the 2nd August 1858 and dated the 8th February 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard William Johnson
and William Stableford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th February 1858.
We, RICHARD WILLIAM JOHNSON, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester,
Railway Carriage Builder, and. WILLIAM STABLEFORD, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BREAK LEVERS OF RAILWAY WAGONS," to be as
follows:-
The levers employed to apply and remove the break blocks for the wheels
of railway wagons are now retained in the desired position by being thrust
laterally into a notch made in a notched bar, known as a break guard or rack,
affixed to the rear of the wagon on the sole and side rail. From the exposed
position of this bar it is not only liable to be broken or damaged, but the lever
is also liable to be pushed out therefrom. Now our Invention is intended-
to remedy these inconveniences, and consists in connecting, by a bolt,
hinge, or pin, to the back part of the lever a bar [pierced at intervals
with holes or] cut with rack teeth on either edge, and made to pass
through a guide on the sole or side rail of the wagon. The lever or bar

page_text: may be either in the shape of a quadrant or segment, which, working through
the guide, balances the break lever in position, and prevents it jumping off its
Or the lever or bar may be straight and work in a groove in the body
of the wagon. [A stout pin chained to the side rail or sole serves to retain the
bar in any position desired by traversing one of the apertures in the bar and
entering a corresponding aperture made in the sole or side rail, or in a plate
bolted thereto].
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard William Johnson and William Stableford in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
WILLIAM JOHNSON, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester, Railway Carriage
Builder, and WILLIAM STABLEFORD, of the same Place, Engineer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Richard William Johnson and William Stableford, Her special
licence that we, the said Richard William Johnson and William Stableford, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Richard
William Johnson and William Stableford, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BREAK LEVERS OF RAILWAY WAGONS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Richard William Johnson and
William Stableford, or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Richard William Johnson and William
Stableford, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
".
The levers employed to apply and remove the break blocks for the wheels
of railway wagons are now retained in the desired position by being thrust
laterally into a notch made in a notched bar, known as a break guard, or rack
affixed to the rear of the wagon on the sole and side rail. From the exposed
position of this bar, it is not only liable to be broken or damaged, but the lever
is also liable to be pushed out therefrom. Or the levers have connected to
them a bar with perforations, through which a pin is passed in order to retain
the lever in any desired position. In this latter case two operations are
necessary to fix the lever and break, one is the depression of the lever, and the
other the insertion of the pin to retain the lever in. the position required.
Now our Invention is intended to remedy these inconveniences, and to render
one operation only necessary for applying the break and fixing it; it consists
in connecting by a bolt, hinge, or pin, to the back part of the lever a bar cut
with rack teeth on either edge, and made to pass through a guide on the sole
or side rail of the wagon, and in fitting a paul in a convenient position for
taking into the teeth on the bar. The bar may be either in the shape of a
quadrant or segment, which working through the guide, balances the break
lever in position, and prevents it jumping off its seat: Or the bar may be
straight and work in a groove in the body of the wagon.
Figure 1 is a side view of so much of a railway wagon as is necessary for
explaining our Invention. A is the break lever, to which is attached, by a
bolt or pin, the segmental serrated bar B; this bar B passes through and
works in a guide or loop C, bolted to or cast with a plate D fixed on the sole
of the wagon; E is a weighted paul, which, when the break is being applied,
engages into the teeth on the bar, holds down the lever, and consequently
keeps the break applied. To release the break, press down the lever, remove
the paul, when the bar may be returned to the position shown in Figure 1.
In the enlarged detached view Figure 2 the segmental serrated bar is
represented in a position it will assume in working when the level is depressed
to apply the break.
In Figure 3 we show a straight serrated bar applied to the lever instead of
a segmental bar.
Figure 4 is a detached view on an enlarged scale of part of the serrated bar,
guide or loop, paul and lever. A is the lever; B, the straight toothed bar;
C, the guide or loop bolted to or cast with the plate D, fixed on the sole of the
wagon; E is the weighted paul. In order that the toothed bar may be out of

page_text: the way, we prefer to cause it to work up and down inside the framing of the
wagon and between the framing and a shield, to keep it from contact with the
contents of the wagon.
To apply and fix the break one operation only is necessary, for on depressing
the lever the weighted paul will enter the teeth on the segmental or straight
bar, and keep it in the position required.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim the connecting
to the rear end of railway wagon break levers toothed or serrated, segmental
or straight bars, in manner and for the purposes herein-before described..
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard William Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
RICHARD WILLIAM JOHNSON. (L.S.)