MENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Holly at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd February
1866.
I, JOHN HOLLY, of Regent Street North, Blackwall, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to brakes intended to be applied to the rolling stock
of railways for retarding the speed or stopping the same, and consists of certain
novel and improved mechanical arrangements and combinations for that
purpose, of which the following will serve as an example, that is to say:-To
the under framing of every railway carriage or other vehicle used on railways
I propose to adjust a swinging bar, to the ends whereof brake blocks are
fixed so as to come into contact with the peripheries of the running wheels
of the railway carriage or other vehicle. The aforesaid swinging bars I place
at each extremity of the under framing of the carriage, and midway of such
said framing and between each pair of running wheels I adjust a vibrating
cross shaft carrying at one end a fixed friction wheel intended to come into
contact with one of the rails of the line of railway when required; the other
end of the said cross shaft has a counterbalance weight affixed thereto for
lifting the aforesaid friction wheel away from the surface of the rail. I

page_text: propose also to connect a small grooved roller near to the weighted end of
the aforesaid cross shaft, and to carry a chain the whole length of each under
carriage, the said chain taking into the groove in the aforesaid roller, so that
upon pulling the said chain the friction roller will be forcibly pressed upon
the rail, and, supposing the chain of each carriage to be connected together,
the guard or engine driver could operate upon the said chain by winding it
round an upright shaft. And as regards the brake levers and blocks before
mentioned I propose to actuate these by the following means:-To the above-
mentioned cross shaft I connect the ends of two chains, and the opposite ends
of the said chains I connect to the aforesaid vibrating brake lever, so that
upon the aforesaid friction roller being moved partly round by its friction on
the rail the effect will be to pull the two last-mentioned chains in an opposite
direction, thereby pulling the brake blocks into forced contact with the
peripheries of the running wheels. By releasing the chain which holds the
friction roller in contact with the rail the said roller will come out of contact
with the rail, and thus release the brake blocks from the running wheels.
I propose to connect the chains of each carriage together so that either
the guard at one end of a railway train or the engine driver or stoker at the
other end can bring the brakes into action immediately; the advantage of
which is, that suppose the chain were to break, at least some portion of the
chain would be left intact and be capable of being operated upon for acting
on the brake mechanism, whereas in the case of the brakes being under the
control of the guard only, as is now practised, the whole of the brakes
would be rendered useless.
The aforesaid friction wheel.may be made to act on the running wheels
instead of the rails for putting the brakes on.