A NEW OR IMPROVED BRAKE... FOR STEAM ENGINES, AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Dawson Russum, of Tipton, in the County
of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED BRAKE...
FOR STEAM ENGINES, AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES."
Sealed the 11th November 1856, and dated the 23rd May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Dawson Russum
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1856..
I, THOMAS DAWSON RUSSUM, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
BRAKE FOR STEAM ENGINES, AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of a brake, for the purpose of arresting the motion
of and at the same time cutting off the steam or other source of power from
steam and other motive power engines.
I will describe my Invention in its application to a colliery steam engine.
I place upon the drum shaft of the said engine a disc or wheel, the periphery
of which is of a conical figure. The said disc or wheel is so connected with
the said shaft that it is capable of a sliding motion thereon. The said disc or
wheel is situated, by preference, near one of the bearings of the shaft. Another
disc, fixed immovably to the wall or support on which the shaft rests, has a rim,.
concave internally, and fitting the disc on the shaft, when the latter is made to
slide into it. The disc on the shaft is moved to and fro by a forked lever,

page_text: which forked lever is connected with a horizontal weighted lever resting on a
moveable inclined plane. When the engine man, banks man, or other atten-
dant sees danger, he draws the incline plane from under the end of the weighted
lever; the said lever descends, and the forked lever, connected therewith, slides
the dise on the shaft into the fixed hollow disc; the conical periphery of the
former engages with the conical inner edge of the latter, and an amount of
friction is produced, which speedily brings the engine to rest. The weighted
lever in its descent also acts upon and closes a valve between the engine and
boiler, so that the steam is shut off from the engine; or, in case of a water
wheel or other motive power engine, the water or other source of power is
cut off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Dawson Russum in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DAWSON ROSSUM, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Dawson Russum, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Dawson Russum, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Dawson Russum, my 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED BRAKE FOR STEAM ENGINES, AND OTHER MOTIVE POWER
ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Dawson
Russum, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Dawson Russum, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a brake for steam and other motive power engines,
constructed in the manner herein-after particularly described, and iHustrated
in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents my Invention in side elevation, and Figure 2 repre-
sents a portion of the same in end view.
My said Invention when brought into operation arrests the motion of and
cuts off the steam or other source of power from the steam or other motive
power engine with which it is employed.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention as applied to a colliery steam
engine, by which description and illustration I believe my said Invention will
be sufficiently understood in its application to motive power engines in general.
a is the drum shaft of the colliery engine; b is a disc or wheel, the periphery
of which is of a conical figure. The said disc or wheel 6 is connected with
the shaft a by means of a sliding key, or otherwise, so that it can slide on the
said shaft a. I place the disc or wheel b, by preference, near one of the bear-
ings of the drum shaft a. On the wall c, which carries one of the bearings of
the drum shaft, is fixed a disc d, through a hole in the middle of which the
drum shaft passes. The disc d has a concave rim, which is of a conical figure,"
and which fits the disc b on the shaft a, when the said disc b is made to slide:
into the said disc d. A forked lever e engages with the disc b, and by moving.
the lower end of the lever e', the disc b may either be introduced into and
made to engage with the disc d, or withdrawn and disengaged from the said
disc d. The lever e is connected with a cranked lever f, turning upon a
joint g on a fixed support, and the long arm of the lever f is weighted with
the weight h. A roller i, on the end of the long arm of, the lever f, rests on
the horizontal summit of the inclined plane k. The said inclined plane k
is supported on wheels 1, 2, running on the tramway m. A chain n, fastened
to the incline k, may be extended to the engine house or other suitable place.
When the chain n is pulled the inclined face
and as soon as the said roller i rests upon the
plane & retires, by the pressure of the weight h.
e, f, and fork e, the disc b is made to enter and
the friction of the conical peripheries of the discs
causes them to arrest the motion of the shaft a.
of the chain n.is enough to bring the brake into
is drawn under the roller i,
inclined face k¹, the inclined
By the action of the levers
engage with the disc d, and
b and d against one another,
A momentary pull or snatch
action, for immediately the

page_text: inclined plane k is brought under the roller the brake becomes self-acting.
A weighted lever o is connected, in the manner represented, with. the throttle.
valve p of the steam engine. A chain q, connected at one end with the lever o,
is hooked at its other end on the pin r, fixed to the incline : The chain q:
passes behind the prolonged axis s of the roller i (see Figure 2), so that when
the inclined plane k is withdrawn by the chain n, the pin is withdrawn from
the link of the chain q, in which it was engaged, and, the weighted lever o;.
being unsupported, descends and closes the throttle valve p, and thereby slints
off the steam from the engine. When my Invention is applied to a water
wheel or other motive power engine, the weighted lever o is made to shut
off the water or other source of power.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my Invention
the new or improved brake for steam and other motive power engines con-
structed in the manner herein-before described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, a brake in which two discs having peripheries..
of a conical figure, the one being concave and the other convex, are fixed
respectively upon a fixed support and the shaft. of the engine, that upon the
engine shaft being capable of sliding upon the said shaft, and capable of being.
made to engage with that on the fixed support, as herein-before described;..
also shutting off the steam or other source of motive power by the action of
the brake, as herein-before described:
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Dawson Russum, have hereunto
set my hand and seal; this Nineteenth day of November, in the year-
of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness;
- GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS DAWSON RUSSUM. (L.S.)