IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING THE BRAKES THROUGHOUT A RAILWAY TRAIN, SUCH CONNECTIONS BEING AVAILABLE AS SAFETY COUPLINGS
Year: 1874

page_text: 2
LETTERS PATENT to George Edwards, of the London and North-
western Railway Station, Heaton Norris, in the County of
Lancaster, Signalling Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING THE BRAKES THROUGHOUT A RAILWAY TRAIN,
SUCH CONNECTIONS BEING AVAILABLE AS SAFETY COUPLINGS."
ealed the 14th August 1874, and dated the 17th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edwards at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th June 1874.
I, GEORGE. EDWARDS, of the London and North-western Railway'
Station, Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, Signalling Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING THE BRAKES THROUGHOUT A RAILWAY TRAIN, SUCH
CONNECTIONS BEING AVAILABLE AS SAPETY COUPLINGS," to be as follows:-
I, GEORGE. EDWARDS, of the London and North-western Railway
Station, Heaton Norris, in the County of Lancaster, Signalling Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING THE BRAKES THROUGHOUT A RAILWAY TRAIN, SUCH
CONNECTIONS BEING AVAILABLE AS SAFETY COUPLINGS," to be as follows:-

page_text: taking off the brakes at one part of the train is communicated through-
out the train to the several sets of brakes thereof, the connections for
this purpose being so arranged that they may be made to serve as safety
couplings, that is to say, to keep the carriages attached to each other
in case the main couplings should become accidentally separated. For
this purpose
I mount under each carriage a pair of levers connected to
cach other at their inner ends by a link, or by a pin working in a slotted
hole, and each having its outer end projecting beyond the end of the
carriage and coupled in like manner to the outer end of one of a similar
pair of levers on the next carriage. On such of the carriages as are
provided with brakes I connect the brake levers or rods to the said
levers. Thus when these levers at any part of the train are made to
oscillate, so as to put on or to take off the brakes, the oscillation is com-
municated from lever to lever throughout the train, and thus brakes in
other parts of the train are similarly acted on.
I have above stated that a pair of levers is employed for each carriage,
there may however be four or any even number of the levers to each
carriage, so that the direction in which the outer end of the lever at the
one end of the carriage oscillates shall be the same as that in which the
outer end of the lever at the other end of the carriage oscillates. The
levers may be equal armed, or have their arms so proportioned in cach
case that the extent of the oscillation or stroke at each end of a carriage
shall be the same. The pivots on which the levers work may be in
brackets attached to the carriage frame. They may however be mounted
on the axle boxes, so that their movement is not affected by the ascent
or descent of the carriage on its springs. When this arrangemont is
adopted it is preferred to construct the levers in the form of diamond-
shaped trusses, two opposite angles of the diamond forming the ends of
the arms, and the other two angles being pivotted to the axle boxes.
Instead of straight levers of the first order bent levers or bell cranks
may be employed in the following manner:-A bell-crank lever is
mounted at each end of the carriage with its one arm projecting and con-
nected to the arm of a like bell-crank lever on the next carriage. The
other arm of each of the bell-crank levers on the carriage is at right
angles, or nearly so, to the projecting arm; but this arm of the one
lever is directed in the opposite way to that of the other lever, and these
opposite arms are connected by a rod extending along from the one to
the other under the carriage, which rod, in the case of a brake carriage,

page_text: is connected at some convenient point in its length to the brake lever.
The levers, whether they be of the straight or of the bent kind, may
be mounted so as to oscillate either vertically or horizontally; the
mounting for vertical oscillation is generally to be preferred, as it
facilitates the connections to the brake levers or rods..
•
The lever of the one carriage being connected by a link, or by a pin
working in a slot, to the lever of the next carriage; this connection
serves as a coupling for preventing the carriages from separating even
when the ordinary coupling fails. As, however, it is convenient that
these levers should couple themselves automatically when one carriage
is brought close up to another I prefer to arrange the ends of the levers
which are to be connected in the following manner:-To the end of
each lever I joint a forked piece, the joint being so made as to permit
only a limited amount of lateral and vertical play to the said forked
piece. The one fork of the piece has on it a fixed pin or stud, and the
other fork has a long open-ended slot, and the forks are so arranged on
each carriage that the stud is always on the one hand, as for example
the right hand, while the slot is on the opposite hand. Thus, which-
ever way a carriage may be turned the stud on the fork of its lever
faces the slot in the fork of the lever of the next carriage; and when the
two carriages are brought close together the stud of the lever of each
enters the slot of that of the other, the slots in each case being widened
at the mouth to permit the free entrance of the stud. When the studs.
are thus engaged in the slots the oscillation of the lever on the one
carriage is conveyed to the lever of the next carriage, the jointing of
the forked pieces to the levers giving sufficient play to permit such
oscillation. When the connection of the levers is effected in this
manner it does not serve as a safety coupling, the studs being free to be
withdrawn from the slots when the carriages separate. In order to
make a connection of this kind serve also as a safety coupling I mount
on each of the slotted parts of the forked pieces a drop latch or pawl,
cither weighted or pressed by a spring, such latch or pawl being sloped
off in one direction, so that when the stud of the lever of the one
carriage enters the slot of the lever of the next carriage the said stud
passes the latch or pawl, moving it out of the way in opposition to its
weight or spring; and when the stud has passed it the latch or pawl is.
caused by the weight or spring to return to the position where it prevents
the stud from being withdrawn from the slot. In afterwards separating
the carriages these latches or pawls have to be withdrawn by hand,

page_text: As the levers which I have described serve merely to communicate
throughout a train the movements necessary for operating the brakes
they may themselves be worked by any known mechanism, as by the
ordinary hand screw brako gear, or by other power, such as fluid under
pressure, or by motion communicated from any of the running axles or
wheels, or otherwise; and the brakes worked by these levers may be
of any known construction and arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of une Letters acII
filed by the said 'George Edwards in the Great Scal Patent, Office
on the 16th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWARDS, of the London and North-western Railway Station, Heaton
Norris, in the County of Lancaster, Signalling Engineer, send
greeting.
1
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the.
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Edwards, Her special
license that I, the said George Edwards, my executors, administrators, 2
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Edwards, 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
THE MEANS OF CONNECTING THE BRAKES THROUGHOUT A RAILWAY TRAIN, SUCH
CONNECTIONS BEING AVAILABLE AS SAFETY COUPLINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Edwards, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Edwards, do hereby declaro
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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:
This Invention relates to means of connecting brakes from carriage
to carriage in a railway train, so that the movement for putting on or
taking off the brakes at one part of the train is communicated through-
out the train to the several sets of brakes thereof, the connections for
this purpose being so arranged that they may be made to serve as safety
couplings, that is to say, to keep the carriages attached to each other in
case the main couplings should become accidentally separated. For this
purposo I mount under cach carriage a pair of levers connected to cach
other at their inner ends by a link, or by a pin working in a slotted hole,
and cach having its outer end projecting beyond the end of the cariage
and coupled in like manner to the outer end of one of a similar pair of
levers on the next carriage. 'Ou such of the carriages as are provided
with brakes I connect the brake levers or rods to the said levers. Thus
when these levers at any part of the train are made to oscillate, so as to put
on or to take off the brakes the oscillation is communicated from lever
to lever throughout the train, and thus brakes in other parts of the train
are similarly acted on.
I have above stated that a pair of levers is employed for each carriage,
there may however be four or any even number of the levers to each
carriage, so that the direction in which the outer end of the lever at the
one end of the carriage oscillates shall be the same as that in which the
outer end of the lever at the other end of the carriage oscillates. The
levers may be equal armed, or have their arms so proportioned in each
case that the extent of the oscillation or stroke at each end of a carriage
shall be the same. The pivots on which the levers work may be in
brackets attached to the carriage frame. They may however be mounted
on the axle boxes, so that their movement is, not affected by the ascent
or descent of the carriage on its springs. When this arrangement is
adopted it is preferred to construct the levers in the form of diamond-

page_text: shaped trusses, two opposite angles of the diamond forming the ends of
the arms, and the other two angles being pivotted to the axle boxes.
Instead of straight levers of the first order bent levers or bell cranks
may be employed in the following manner:-A bell-crank lever is
mounted at each end of the carriage with its one arm projecting and
connected to the arm of a like bell-crank lever on the next carriage.
The other arm of cach of the bell-crank levers on the carriage is at
right angles, or nearly so, to the projecting arm; but this arm of the
one lever is directed in the opposite way to that of the other lever, and
these opposite arms are connected by a rod extending along from the
one to the other under the carriage, which rod, in the case of a brake
carriage, is connected at some convenient point in its length to the
brake lever. The levers, whether they be of the straight or of the bent
kind, may be mounted so as to oscillate either vertically or horizontally;
the mounting for vertical oscillation is generally to be preferred, as it
facilitates the connections to the brake levers or rods.
The lever of the one carriage being connected by a link, or by a pin
working in a slot, to the lever of the next carriage, this connection serves
as a coupling for preventing the carriages from separating even when
the ordinary coupling fails. As however it is convenient that these
levers should couple themselves automatically when one carriage is
brought close up to another I prefer to arrange the ends of the levers
which are to be connected in the following manner: -To the end of
cach lever I joint a forked piece, the joint being so made as to permit
only a limited amount of lateral and vertical play to the said forked
piece. The one fork of the piece has on it a fixed pin or stud, and the
other fork has a long open-ended slot, and the forks are so arranged on
each carriage that the stud is always on the one hand; as for example
the right hand, while the slot is on the opposite hand. Thus, whichever
way a carriage may be turned the stud on the fork of its lever faces the
slot in the fork of the lever of the next carriage; and when the two
carriages are brought close together the stud of the lever of each enters
the slot of that of the other, the slots in cach case being widened at the
mouth to permit the free entrance of the stud. When the studs are
thus engaged in the slots the oscillation of the lever on the one carriage
is conveyed to the lever of the next carriage, the jointing of the forked
pieces to the levers giving sufficient play to permit such oscillation.
When the connection of the levers is effected in this manner it does not

page_text: serve as a safety coupling, the studs being free to be withdrawn from
the slots when the carriages separate. In order to make a connection
of this kind serve also as a safety coupling I mount on each of the
slotted parts of the forked pieces a drop latch or pawl, either weighted
or pressed by a spring, such latch or pawl being sloped off in one
direction, so that when the stud of the lever of the one carriage enters
the slot of the lever of the next carriage the said stud passes the latch
or pawl, moving it out of the way in opposition to its weight or spring,
and when the stud has passed it the latch or pawl is caused by the
weight or spring to return to the position where it prevents the stud
from being withdrawn from the slot. In afterwards separating the
carriages these latches or pawls have to be withdrawn by hand.
As the levers which I have described serve mercly to communicate
throughout a train the movements necessary for operating the brakes
they may themselves be worked by any known mechanism, as by the
ordinary hand screw brake gear, or by other power, such as fluid under
pressure, or by motion communicated from any of the running axles or
wheels, or otherwise, and the brakes worked by these levers may be of
any known construction and arrangement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS..
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 a plan, of the
under framing of one railway carriage and of part of another with con-
necting levers for the brakes, arranged according to my Invention.
A, C, and C, A2, are two straight levers pivotted respectively on brackets
at B and B under the one carriage; and A², O2, is one of another pair of
similar lovers pivotted at B² under the other carriage. The levers A, C,
and C, A2, arc connected together at C by a pin working in slotted holes,
as may be understood on reference to Figs. 3 and 4, which represent to
an enlarged scale respectively a side view and a plan of the ends of the
two levers with their coupling pin. The two levers C, A³, and A³, C³,
are likewise coupled together at A, either by an arrangement similar
to that employed, at C, or by an arrangement such as that represented
to an enlarged scale in side view and plan at Figs. 5 and 6 respectively,
the construction shown in those Figures having the effect of rendering
the coupling of the levers effective also as a safety coupling for the
carriages, as I will hereafter explain. Either of the levers under any
carriage is connected to the brake lever D, as shewn at C in Fig. 1, a
spring E being introduced in this connection.

page_text: When a number of carriages provided with levers such as I have
described are connected together to form a train an oscillation given to
one of these levers on any of the carriages is transmitted through the
rest of the train by means of the connected levers, and thus the several,
brake levers of the train can be worked from one part of the train. The
spring E by yielding a little when one set of the brakes is pressed
against the wheels allows sufficient farther movement of the levers for
the putting on of others of the brakes, and also by furnishing a certain
amount of clasticity relieves the brake gear and the carriages to a great
extent from shock and vibration.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew by longitudinal section and plan another form of
the levers and connections, bell-crank levers being in this case employed.
At each end of the carriage is mounted a bell-crank lever F and F¹ on
the one carriage, and F one of those on the other carriage corresponding
to F. The short arms of the two levers on the one carriage are connected
respectively by rods H and H¹ to opposite arms of an intermediate lever G;
and in like manner on the other carriage the lever F2 is connected to G³
by the rod H, the opposite arm of G² being connected by the rod H³ with
a bell-crank lever like F¹ at the farther end of the carriage. The two
facing levers as F1, F2, of a pair of contiguous carriages are connected
at A² by a sliding pin or coupling, and an arm of the lever G is con-
nected by a spring rod E to the brake lever D. It will be seen that by
this arrangement the movement of any of the bell-crank levers F is .com-
municated throughout a train, and the brakes are thereby worked as
above described.
-
Fig. 9 shews diagrammatically a modified arrangement of the bell-crank
levers and their connections, the intermediate lever G being dispensed
with, and the bell-crank levers being made each with three arms, the
two opposite arms in each case connected by rods extending from lever
to lever and crossing cach other underneath the carriage. Each of these
rods is connected at any convenient point K with the brake gear.
"
The coupling, shewn in Figs. 5 and 6, already referred to for con-
necting the arms of either the straight levers or the bell-crank levers
projecting from contiguous carriages is made to serve as a safety
coupling in the following manner:-The ends A¹, A², of the two pro-
jecting lever arms are forked, and in each fork is formed a deep slot, open
at the end, where it is somewhat trumpet mouthed. On each lever fork

page_text: is mounted a pawl or drop latch L' on the one and L² on the other, the
front end of. which is sloped off, as shewn at 1, 12. A pin P with a head
at each end, or a head at the one end and a pinned collar at the other
end, is introduced into the slots of the two forks, and the pawls L', L³,
being dropped down, as shown in Fig. 5, the pin P, while it has free-
dom to slip along the slots sufficiently far to admit of the free oscillation
of the two levers A', A², is prevented by the pawls from being drawn out
of the slots. Thus; should the ordinary couplings of two contiguous
carriages give way this lever connection serves to keep the carriages
attached to one another. It will be readily seen that the forking of the
levers A1, A2, and the arrangement of the pawls on them being made
right and left handed, whichever end of a carriage may be presented
the fork on it will be adapted to meet the fork on the next carriage for
the purpose of coupling. Also the pin P being inserted into one of the.
forks, as in A', and the latch L' being dropped when the two carriages
are brought together the sloped end of the other latch L² will ride
over the pin and drop behind it.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The use for connecting brakes throughout a railway train of
levers mounted in pairs on the carriages of the train, and connected to
each other and to the brake gear in such manner that by the oscillatory
movement of the said levers communicated throughout the train the
brakes can be worked, substantially as hercin described.
Second. The mode of connecting the levers above referred to from
carriage to carriage, so that the connection serves as a safety coupling,
substantially as herein described in reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edwards, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four