IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKE APPARATUS."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Henry Ramsden
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1881.
THOMAS HENRY RAMSDEN, of Snilesworth, near Northallerton, in the County of
York, Land Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKE APPARATUS."
A suitable cistern or reservoir is conveniently placed on the engine or its tender
and stored with fluid pressure. A pipe of sufficient diameter proceeds from this
cistern to all or any portion of the train under brake. A branch pipe is joined to
the main pipe opposite each wheel of each carriage. This branch pipe may be of
smaller diameter than the main pipe, and it conducts the pressure from the main
pipe into the brakeshoe or brakeshoes provided for each wheel.
The brakeshoe connected to each branch pipe is constructed in the following
manner-It is of two parts, one facing the tire, which may be called the friction
part, and the other termed the back part. These two parts are curved like the
carriage wheel, and may be of any length required for efficient braking. The two
parts of the brake shoe are joined together by any expanding and contracting
connection, a space being left between them for the admission of the fluid pressure
from the branch pipe. This connection is preferred a flexible one of any suitable
material as indianrubber and leather, and it is made bellows like with one crease
or indent
The indent may be kept from bulging outwards by being made
stronger, or by having a wire hoop. The distance between the two parts of the
brake shoe is as small as practicable so as to allow for the application and with-
drawal of the friction part to and from the tire. A rod is fixed to the friction
part near its top, and passing through a hole in the back part projects somewhat;
and on this projecting part is fitted a nut and spiral spring. A like rod is similarly
fixed and fitted at the bottom of the brake shoe. These two rods bear up the
friction part, and the springs adjusted by the nuts take it off the wheel when the
fluid pressure is withdrawn from the brake shoe. The brake shoe is hung from
the carriage by a rod; this rod is hinged to allow the brake shoe a slight
longitudinal movement in regard to the carriage. A stay bar of a curved shape is
placed to the back part of the brake shoe. The stay bar and the back part are
grooved and tongued for each other. The stay bar is fixed from its lower end by
a rod to the bearing at the end of the carriage axle, or to any other convenient

page_text: point to keep the stay bar immovable. The top of the stay bar is inserted inserted
into a hole or socket above it, and enters it more or less according to the rising and
sinking of the carriage on its springs. The brake shoe has thus a vertical motion
on the stay bar, and is kept in proper position in respect to the tire of the wheel
when the carriage rises and sinks.
To provide against the escape of pressure by a bursting or leakage of the
flexible connection of the brake shoe, at the junction of each two pipes with the
main pipe the two ends of the branch pipes are enlarged equally both as to length
and diameter of the enlargement, and a shoulder is made at the end of each
enlargement. A rod, shorter than the length of both enlargements and passing
through them and the main pipe, has at each end a small well fitting piston.
Each piston has equally cut passages on its rim for the pressure fluid to pass
through, but so that if the piston be forced upon its shoulder by the extra pressure
caused by an escape the passages of that piston are closed and its branch pipe
cut off.
The main pipe is connected from carriage to carriage by a flexible tube; at
ench junction of the flexible tube and the main pipe a slide stop is fixed to the
main pipe. The slide stop is made in the following manner:-A square sheet of
metal, the side of which is rather longer than the diameter of the main pipe, is
enclosed in a rectangular case, the length of which is double the side of the slide.
One half of the rectangular case is fitted to the main pipe and has a passage of the
same diameter. When the slide is down the passage of the main pipe is shut ;
when raised, open. A stem attached to the slide works through a hole at one end
of the case.
The slide is shut by a spiral spring on the stem, and opened by a
short lever at the top of the stem. A stud or catch pressed by a spring fits into a
notch in the stem when the slide is raised, and keeps the main pipe open. When
the stud is pulled out the slide is pressed by the spiral spring on its stem and the
main pipe closed. The rectangular case is packed with indianrubber or other
material, so that the slide when shut being forced against the packing there is no
escape of pressure.
To the stud of each slide stop or tap at the end of each carriage a wire or cord is
attached. The other end of the wire is fastened to the part of the tube coupling.
The length of the wire is rather shorter than the length of the flexible tube.
Therefore the wire must sever first, draw the catch, and shut the main pipe in case
of the parting of the carriage couplings.
To operate the brake shoes with compressed air, a two way cock is fixed
between the main pipe and the cistern. A reservoir of compressed air is also
_attached_to_every_guard's_van_and_connected-with-the-main-pipe,-but-kept-as a-
reserve by affixing a slide stop of the before specified pattern. This store may be
under the guard's control, or connected with the communicating cord of the train
from the catch or stud. In the latter case the brakeshoes will be put on
automatically if the train be severed.