IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RETARDING OR STOPPING RAILWAY OR OTHER CARRIAGES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE BREAKS ARE APPLICABLE."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Dickinson, of Pendleton, near the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Inspector
of Coal Mines, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
RETARDING OR STOPPING RAILWAY OR OTHER CARRIAGES, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES WHERE BREAKS ARE APPLICABLE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Dickinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
July 1860.
I, JOSEPH DICKINSON, of Pendleton, near the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Inspector of Coal Mines, <lo hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR RETARDING OR STOPPING RAILWAY OR OTHER CARRIAGES, AND FOR OTHER.
PURPOSES WHERE BREAKS ARE APPLICABLE," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to retard the motion of, and to stop railway.
trains and other carriages, and machinery for mining and other purposes, more
expeditiously than by the machinery now generally known and in use.
In applying my Invention to a railway train, I connect a fast and loose
pulley or other suitable apparatus to the axle or other revolving part of the
locomotive engine or tender, or to any or all the carriages, trucks, or vans of
which the train is composed; or the fast and loose pulley or other apparatus

page_text: may be applied to an additional shaft connected, by gearing or otherwise, to
the axles. A strap or cord connected to the breaks passes around the pulleys,
and is traversed laterally from the fast to the loose pulley, or vice versa, by
means of guides connected by chains, cords, and levers to the guard's van, or
to the engine, or to any or each carriage of the train. When it is requisite
to retard or stop the train, the straps or cords are moved from the loose to
the fast pulleys, thereby causing the breaks to be drawn with great force
against the wheels. The breaks are suspended near the lower portion of the
circumference of the wheels, so that when released they hang free from
the wheels by their own gravity; or each break may be furnished with a
counterpoise.
A modification of my Invention may be advantageously applied to the
winding gear of coal and other mines, and to other machinery requiring to
be retarded or stopped expeditiously with the least possible amount of labour
to the attendant, as, according to my improvements, the only power required
to be exerted by the attendant is to traverse a cord or strap from a loose to
a fast pulley, or otherwise to connect the break with the driving power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Dickinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DICKINSON, of Pendleton, near the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer and Inspector of Coal Mines, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Dickinson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Dickinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Dickinson, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR RETARDING OR STOPPING RAILWAY OR OTHER CARRIAGES, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE BREAKS ARE APPLICABLE," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Dickinson, my executors or admin-
istrators, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Dickinson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement (that is to say) :-
:-
The object of my Invention is to retard the motion of and to stop railway
trains and other carriages, and for other purposes where breaks are applicable,
more expeditiously than by the machinery now generally known and in use.
In applying my Invention to a railway train, I connect a fast and a loose
pulley or other suitable apparatus to the axle or other revolving part of the
locomotive engine or tender, or to any or all the carriages, trucks, or vans of
which the train is composed; or the fast and loose pulley or other apparatus
may be applied to an additional shaft connected by gearing or otherwise to the
axles. A strap or cord connected to the breaks passes around the pulleys,
and is traversed laterally from the fast to the loose pulley, or vice versa, by
means of guides connected by chains, cords, and levers, or other connection to
the guard's van, or to the engine, or to any or each carriage of the train.
When it is requisite to retard or stop the train, the straps or cords are moved
from the loose to the fast pulleys, thereby causing the breaks to be drawn
with great force against the wheels. The breaks are suspended near the
lower portion of the circumference of the wheels, so that, when released, they
hang free from the wheels by their own gravity; or each break may be
furnished with a counterpoise.
My Invention may be applied to other machinery requiring to be retarded
or stopped expeditiously, and with the least possible amount of labour to the
attendant, as, according to my improvements, the only power required to be
exerted by the attendant is to traverse a cord or strap from a loose to a fast
pulley, or otherwise to connect the break with the driving power.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
In applying my Invention to a railway train, I connect a fast and loose
pulley, as commonly used in machines for starting and stopping them, to the
axle or other revolving part of the locomotive engine, or to the tender, or to
any or all the carriages, trucks, or vans of which the train is composed;

page_text: or the fast and loose pulley may be applied to an additional shaft connected
by gearing or otherwise to the axle or other revolving part. A strap or cord
connected to the breaks passes around or over the pulleys, and is traversed
laterally from the loose to the fast pulley, or vice versa, by means of guides
connected by ropes, chains, or other connections, and levers to the guard's
van, or to the engine, or to any or each carriage, truck, or van of the train.
When it is requisite to retard or stop the train, the straps or cords are moved
from the loose to the fast pulleys, thereby causing the breaks to be drawn'
with great force against the wheels, the only power requiring to be exerted
by the attendant being to traverse a strap or cord from a loose to a fast pulley,
and thereby connect the break with the moving power.
The breaks may be suspended, so that when released they hang free from'
the wheels by their own gravity; or each break may be furnished with a
counterpoise, and they may be made with any required amount of leverage,
to exert more or less force on the wheels. The strap or cord when-traversed-
on to the fast pulley may be made to act by turning over or round another
pulley, to which is attached two arms or two cams, whereby the break rod
has to be moved. When this latter pulley is revolving in one direction, one
of the arms or cams acts, and the other one acts when the pulley revolves
in the opposite direction, so that the break may be acted upon whichever
way the train is going. These arms or cams when they have pressed the
break rod sufficiently need not turn further round, but may then be stopped
at a projecting part between the two side parts, against one of which each
arm or cam acts; this projection to come in contact with a curve to avoid a
shock. The lovers by which the straps or cords are thrown on to the fast
pulleys are either counterbalanced, so as to fall back and traverse the strap to
the loose pulley when the attendant ceases to draw, or a separate rope, chain,
or other connection, similar to the one used for traversing it on, may be used
to traverse it from the fast to the loose pulley. These improvements may be
used in lieu of or in aid of the ordinary breaks.
When breaks on more than one carriage, truck, or van in a train are to be
acted upon by the attendant from the van, tender, or other part of the train,
regulating bars are or may be used between each of the carriages, trucks, or
vans, so as to keep the length of the ropes, chains, or other connections
between the ends of the carriages, trucks, or vans, and other points of attach-
ment the same when the distance between the carriages, trucks, or vans
becomes either less or more. These regulating bars are in the form of knee
joints, consisting simply of two bars jointed together in the middle, and hung
by each of their opposite ends from the ends of the adjoining carriages, trucks,

page_text: or vans with sufficient spare length in the rods to admit of the required
extension by being raised up or otherwise as the distance between the two
carriages increases. The rope, chain, or other connection to the breaks, as it
leaves one carriage, truck, or van, passes through an eyehole or over a small
block, and going alongside the bar to the knee at the middle, it there passes
through a similar eyehole or block, and thence alongside the other bar to and
through another similar hole or block on the end of the next carriage, thereby
keeping the length of the rope, chain, or other connection between the two
carriages alike, whether the knee of the joint becomes raised or lowered,
according to the greater or less distance between the carriages, trucks, or
vans. These regulating bars may also be used for the purpose of keeping tho
length of signal cords between the tender and van or other parts of the train
the same, so that more distinct and definite signals may be communicated for
applying or throwing off the breaks.
My Invention may be advantageously applied to other machinery requiring
to be retarded or stopped expeditiously, and with the least possible amount
of labor to the attendant, as according to my improvements the only power
required to be exerted by the attendant is to traverse a cord or strap from
a loose to a fast pulley, or otherwise to connect the break with the machinery
or some moving part of the body in motion, to be retarded or stopped.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to
limit myself to the details given, but what I do claim is the combination of
machinery above described, means whereof the power employed for applying
the breaks is derived from the railway train or other machinery, the motion
or momentum of which is to be retarded or stopped, while the only force
exerted by the attendant is that required for traversing a strap from a loose
to a fast pulley.
I also claim the arrangement of parts described for preserving ropes,
chains, or other connections between railway engines, tenders, carriages,
trucks, or vans uniformly stretched.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Dickinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
TOSEDI DICKINSON
JOSEPH DICKINSON (LB)