IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THE PROGRESS OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING
AND STOPPING THE PROGRESS OF RAILWAY TRAINS."-A communication.
Sealed the 5th February 1858, and dated the 14th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th November 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THE PROGRESS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as
follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to compensate for the varying distances.
between the carriages of a railway train, occasioned by the play between the
carriages, and to keep a connecting chain or rod, which connects all the
carriages with the engine (and is employed for actuating the brakes of
the train) always tight or of a uniform tension, regardless of the varying
positions of the several carriages, whether their progress be up or down grade.
This end being attained will permit of the ready application of the brakes of
all the carriages in the train simultaneously, by a power under the control of
the engine driver. For the purpose of operating the brakes a steam cylinder

page_text: and piston attached to the engine are preferred to be employed. Steam being
admitted by a valve, the handle of which is convenient to the "engine man,"
a greater or less force may be given by a graduated movement of the valve
handle. The piston of the cylinder is forced against the end of a horizontal
sliding rod or brake stem mounted in front of the carriage, and to the inner
end of which a chain is attached; this chain passes around a pulley carried
by a link, which is jointed at one end to an arm bolted to the carriage framing,
and at the other to a rod connected to the spring "bumper" of the carriage;
the chain passes over this pulley, and connects with a rigid rod that extends
to the other end of the carriage, and is likewise attached to a swinging arm
that operates the brakes for the adjacent pair of wheels. The like arrange-
ment is provided at the other end of the carriage, the rigid rod being connected
to a second chain similarly arranged to that just described. The swinging
arms that actuate the brakes are each connected by rods to the swinging arms
of a second pair of brakes, and throw them in and out of action, according to
the direction of progress of the carriages. The brake stem at the end of one
carriage, by striking a corresponding rod in the next carriage, sets the brakes
of that carriage in action, and so on throughout the train. The swinging
arms or brake levers are supported by adjustable fulcrums, by moving which
the brakes may be readily set nearer to or further from the wheels. By a
slight change in the arrangement of the compensation chain the brakes may
be set in action by a pull instead of a thrust; or the compensation for the
varying distance may be effected by means of toggle joint connections,
which will expand as the distance between the carriages contracts, and vice
versâ, and thus ensure the proper action of the brake stem on the rigid
connection which conveys the motion to the brake levers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 30
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of 35
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THE
PROGRESS OF RAILWAY TRAINS," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,"
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
A
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to improvements to that class of railway brake apparatus in which all the
brakes of a train are connected together, and made to act simultaneously upon
their respective wheels. The main object of the improvements is to overcome
the slack occasioned by the play between the carriages, and to keep the con-
necting chain or rod between the engine and the hindmost carriage always
tight or at a uniform tension. By the length of the connecting rod or chain
being kept the same, and of an even tension in every varying position of the
train, the engine-man will have power over all its connections, and may draw
the brakes of the entire train at his pleasure. The brakes I intend to operate
by means of a steam piston and cylinder attached to the engine. Steam is to
be admitted by a valve, the handle of which is convenient to the engine-man,
a greater or less force being given by a graduated movement of the valve
handle. The piston of the cylinder is not shewn in the accompanying.
Drawing, which shews the manner of applying the Invention to a train of:
railway carriages; but the piston may be supposed to be forced against the
end of the brake stem A (Fig. 5), which, by the intervention of the chain I,
passing around the pulley B, drives forward the rod C, C, and. by means of
the chain around the pulley B at the other end of the carriage pushes back

page_text: the brake stem A' against the brake stem A² on the next carriage, and so on
throughout the train.
The peculiar feature of the improvements is the automatic apparatus, which
by the motion of the carriages keeps the chains and rods before described
stretched always to a uniform degree of tension, not influenced by the varying
length of the train. In other words, this apparatus being placed at each end
of every carriage takes up the slack produced by the coming together of
adjoining carriages, and thus keeps a centre rod and chain, to which the brake
levers of each carriage are attached, always taut or at tension, so that it may
be moved with the brakes attached thereto, at the discretion of the engineer.
The effect of the carriages coming together and pressing in the brake stems
would be to tighten the chain I, but to compensate for this action the upper
end of the lever D, which carries the chain pulley B, is connected with the
buffer rod E of the carriage, and pressed back when the buffer is pressed in;
the lever D, therefore, being actuated by the movement inwards of the buffer
rod, tends to slacken the chain as much as the brake rod in moving inwards
tends to tighten it. The swinging lever D is supported by being attached at
its lower end to the carriage body, and the pulley B, being mounted at the
middle of the lever, is moved one-half the distance which the buffer has been
pressed in; by this means the chain is kept at a state of uniform tension.
When the carriages are drawn apart a contrary movement of the swinging
arm D takes place, and by a reverse action the tightening and slackening of
the chain is in like manner compensated.
Figs. 1 and 2 exhibit the carriages pressed up, and Figs. 3 and 4 exhibit
the carriages drawn apart.
In setting forth the improvements, I have referred to a system of brakes
now in common use on many railroads, but it is applicable to other systems.
When the brake stem A is pushed back by the engine-man it draws upon the
rod C by means of the chain I, and by means of the short connecting chain F
it draws upon the lever G, and by means of rods H and levers K the brakes
of both trucks are brought into action. The upper end of the lever G bears
against a stop S on the slotted rod L, which stop is the fulcrum of the system.
of brake levers. The rod L is made adjustable by means of the screw M, so
that the position of the fulcrum may be changed, and the brakes set or
adjusted to the proper distance from the wheels. There are two such stops
to each carriage, but only the rear one operates, the two being necessary to
provide for both directions of the train.
.
Fig. 6 exhibits a mode of operating the brakes by pulling instead of
uching

page_text: The compensation for the motion of the carriages back and forth may also
be made by means of the system of toggles shewn at Figs. 7; supposing the
point R to be fixed to the carriage, and the point T to be attached to the
buffer; N, N, being the brake rods, and P, P, guides moving parallel to each
other as the toggles open and close.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in
apparatus for retarding and stopping the progress of railway trains, as cóm-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim employing the buffer rods of
the carriages to regulate the tension of the brake connections upon the
principle herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane,
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)