Improvements in Apparatus for Actuating the Brakes of Railway- vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Oct., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 19th July, 1897-Accepted, 28th Aug., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Actuating the Brakes of Railway-
vehicles.
I, ANDREI ANDREIWITCH KHOLODKOVSKY, of Rue Koladosky 8, Kischineff
(Kafrany) Russia, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
It is well known that the ordinary air-brakes of railway-vehicles begin to operate
only when the air conducting pipes are placed in communication with the atmo-
sphere, which takes place either through the opening of a valve provided for that
purpose or through the rupture of the air-conducting pipe caused by some accident.
But an accident may be such as not to produce the rupture of the main air-pipe
(for instance in cases, where a vehicle of a train is thrown off the line), so that in
such a case the air-brakes will not be put into operation and serious damage may
result to the rolling-stock and the permanent way.
Now this invention has for object to ensure the automatic action of the air-brakes
of the vehicles constituting a train and comprises the combination of impact-knobs
specially arranged and adapted to participate in abnormal movements of the vehicle
to which they are attached and a transmitting device adapted to cause the brakes
to act when, in consequence of an abnormal movement, the said impact-knobs
strike against the said device. The transmitting device comprises a transmitter
for recording, so to speak, the abnormal movements that may be produced in an
accident and a receiver for producing the automatic operation of the brakes on the
production of abnormal movements recorded by the transmitter.
In an example of apparatus according to this invention there is fixed on the
collar of the spring of a vehicle axle, a vertical bracket which carries two vertical
bolts of adjustable length whose heads form two impact knobs arranged opposite
to each other. To the beam of the vehicle frame there is fixed, preferably on its
guard-plate, an arın carrying two air-vessels of flexible or olastic material (herein-
after referred to as the transmitter-vessels) which are located between the said two
bolts in such a manner as to present two knobs of hard and resisting material
towards the aforesaid impact-knobs.
The two transmitter-vessels are provided with separate air-pipes uniting in a
single pipe that extends along the vehicle or train and terminates at the receiver,
where the last mentioned pipe is connected to a flexible air-vessel (hereinafter
referred to as the receiver-vessel). Against this vessel, in the case of a Westing-
house valve, there bears the upwardly turned arm of a bell-crank lever whose
horizontal arm carries, in its unoperated state, a counter weight attached by a
chain to the arm of the valve, which controls the main-brake pipe.
A brake-van, or any of the other vehicles which it is desirable to fit with my
apparatus, being provided as hereinbefore described with a transmitter connected
to one or more receivers, the automatic operation of the brakes will be produced in
the following manner.
So long as the motion of the vehicle is normal, the impact-knobs, having been
suitably adjusted, will not be able to bear against the knobs of the corresponding

page_text: transmitter-vessels but if the vehicle run off the line or any other such accident happen,
the collar of the spring will receive a shock sufficient to cause one of the impact-
knobs to strike against one the transmitter-vessels. By the impact of one of these
knobs the air-vessel will bo momentarily compressed, and will force air into the
pipes connecting it with the receiver-vessel, which will consequently expand slightly,
and thereby cause the lever carrying the counterweight to make a slight movement
sufficient to free the counterweight, which will fall and operate the Westinghouse
valve, thereby putting into operation all the brakes controlled by the corresponding
main brake-pipe.
It is obvious that this apparatus for automatically actuating air-brakes may be
adapted without difficulty to a valve of any kind. In the case, for example, in
which the main brake-pipes terminate in a simple tubulure normally kept closed at
the bottom or at the top by means of a lever carrying a weight that counter-
balances the pressure existing in the pipes, this weight can be slightly raised by
the action of the receiver-vessel acting through a pinion and a rack or through a
second lever, the rise of the counterweight thus releasing and allowing to fall from
the end of the valve-lever a washer that forms a joint at the end of the tubulure.
This washer, in falling, uncovers the orifice of the tubulure and the brakes
commence to operate.
Automatic brake-actuating apparatus according to this invention may also be
advantageously employed without employing the valve; thus, for example, instead
of the latter there may be used for closing the brake-pipe a plate of glass arranged
to be broken by the fall of a weight caused by the expansion of the receiver-
vessel.
1000
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in Apparatus for Actuating the Brakes of Railway-
vehicles.
I, ANDREI ANDREIWITCH KHOLODKOVSKY, of Rue Koladesky 8 Kischineff (Kafrany)
Russia, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
It is well known that the ordinary air-brakes of railway-vehicles begin to operate
only when the air-conducting pipes are placed in communication with the atmo-
sphere, which takes place either through the opening of a valve provided for the
purpose or through the rupture of the air-conducting pipe caused by some accident.
An accident may be such, however, as not to produce the rupture of the main
air-pipe (for instance in cases where a vehicle of a train is thrown off the line), so
that in such a case the air-brakes will not be put into operation and serious 'damage
may result to the rolling-stock and the permanent way.
Now this invention has for object to ensure the automatic action of the air-brakes
of the vehicles constituting a train and comprises the combination of impact-knobs
specially arranged and adapted to participate in abnormal movements of the
vehicle to which they are attached and a transmitting device adapted to cause the
brakes to act when, in consequence of an abnormal movement, the 'said impact-
knobs strike against the said device.
1.

page_text: The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of an example a mode of carrying
my invention into practice.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my apparatus applied to the guard plate of an axle
box of a railway vehicle.
Fig. 2 shows the same apparatus in side elevation partly in section.
Fig. 3 shows in cross section a Westinghouse valve for controlling the brakes of
a train, fitted with my automatic operating apparatus.
The transmitting device comprises a transmitter (Figs. 1 and 2) for recording, so
to speak, the abnormal movements that may be produced in an accident and a
receiver (Fig 3) for producing the automatic operation of the brakes on the
production of abnormal movements recorded by the transmitter Figs. 1 and 2.
Figs. 4 and 5 represents diagrammatically slight modifications of the receiving
device, showing the possibility of applying this system to any kind of brake-
controlling device whatever.
In the arrangement illustrated there is fixed on the collar of the spring M
(Figs. 1 and 2) of a vehicle axle, a vertical bracket C which carries two vertical
bolts p p of adjustable length whose heads form two impact-knobs arranged
opposite to each other. To the beam A. of the vehicle-frame there is fixed, preferably
on its guard-plate, an arın d carrying two air-vessels E E of flexible or elastic
material (hereinafter referred to as the transmitter-vessels) which are located
between the said two bolts p p¹ in such a manner as to present two knobs e e¹ of
hard and resisting material towards the impact-knobs.
The two transmitter-vessels E E' are provided with separate air-pipes i uniting
in a single pipe i¹ that extends along the vehicle or train and terminates at the
receiver (Fig. 3), being there connected to a flexible air-vessel z (hereinafter
referred to as the receiver-vessel). Against this vessel, in the case of a Westing-
house valve, there bears the upwardly turned arm of a bell-crank. lever t whose
horizontal arm carries, in its unoperated state, a counterweight Qattached by a
chain to the arm of the valve x, which controls the main brake-pipe T.
A brake-van, or any of the other vehicles which it is desirable to fit with my
apparatus, being provided as hereinbefore described with a transmitter connected
to one or more receivers, the automatic operation of the brakes will be produced
in the following manner :-
So long as the motion of the vehicle is normal, the impact-knobs p p', having
been suitably adjusted, will not be able to bear against the knobs ee of the
corresponding transmitter-vessels E E', but if the vehicle runs off the line or any other
such accident happen, the collar of the spring will receive a shock sufficient to
cause one of the impact-knobs to strike against one of the transmitter-vessels E E¹.
By the impact of one of these knobs the air-vessel will be momentarily
compressed, and will force air into the pipes i . The receiver vessel Z will
consequently expand slightly and thereby cause the lever t to make a slight move-
ment sufficient to free the counterweight, Q which will fall and operate the
Westinghouse valve x, thereby putting into operation all the brakes controlled by
the corresponding main brake-pipe.
It is obvious that this apparatus for automatically actuating air-brakes may be
adapted without difficulty to valves of any kind such for example as those shown
diagrammatically in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the main brake-pipes T terminate in
a simple tubulure T" normally kept closed (at the bottom in the arrangement
shown in Fig. 4, and at the top in the arrangement shown in Fig. 5) by means of a
lever t carrying a weight Q that counterbalances the pressure existing in the pipes,
and which weight can be slightly raised by the action of the receiver-vessel Z
acting through a pinion and a rack V Fig. 4 or through a second lever t¹ Fig. 5.
The rise of the counterweight releases and allows to fall from the end of the valve-
levert a washer m n that forms a joint at the end of the tubulure T. This washer,
in falling, uncovers the orifice of the tubulure T¹ and the brakes commence to
operate.

page_text: Automatic break-actuating apparatus according to this invention may also be
advantageously employed without employing the valve; thus, for example, instead
of the latter there may be used for closing the brake-pipe a plate of glass arranged
to be broken by the fall of a weight caused by the expansion of the receiver-
vessel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Apparatus for putting au air brake or brakes in operation comprising
adjustible impact knobs p p connected to the collar of the spring M of the axle of a
vehicle, and adapted to follow up said spring in its movements, in combination-
with air vessels E E¹ fixed to the frame of the vehicle and arranged between the
impact knobs p p in such a manner that on the occurence of an abnormal
movement of the axle, one (p or p¹) of the impact knobs acts to compress one or
other of the vessels E or E, and to force the air into a suitable passage communi-
cating with an air vessel Z, which by reason of the pneumatic action thus produced,
serves by means of any suitable mechanical means of transmission to cause
the brake or brakes to be automatically operated, substantially as described.
2. In combination with automatic brake operating apparatus such as referred
to in the preceding claim, a lever t arranged to bear against the receiving air-
vessel Z, and a counter-weight Q fixed either directly or by means of suitable
levers or equivalent means to the end of the lever of the valve, said counterweight
being kept in its normal position by the lever t, substantially as described.
3. The apparatus for automatically operating the brakes of railway vehicles
shewn in and described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th day of July 1907
F. WISE HOWORTH.
W. Lloyd Wise,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.
F. WISE HOWORTH.
W. Lloyd Wise,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.