Improvements in Apparatus for Stopping and Starting Tramcars, Omnibuses, and such like Vehicles.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1895-Accepted, 29th June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Stopping and Starting Tramcars,
Omnibuses, and such like Vehicles.
1, ARTHUR DANIEL HOPKINS of 19, Lower Grove, St. Anne's Hill
Wandsworth, 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 :-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for stopping and starting
vehicles such as tramcars, omnibuses etc., whereby the force or energy used for.
stopping the car or other vehicle is stored up and utilized again for restarting it.
For this purpose I provide the car or vehicle, with an air pump actuated by
means of eccentrics from one of the wheel axles and this air-pump is connected to:
a reservoir or chamber wherein the air from the pump is stored up.
This reservoir is connected by a pipe to a cylinder provided with a piston and;
rod the outer end of which is attached to a horizontal rack which gears with a
toothed pinion loosely mounted upon a transverse shaft carried in bearings fixed
underneath the floor of the car. This pinion is carried on a squared portion of
the said shaft along which it is slid in or out of gear with the rack by means of a
bell crank actuated by a horizontal rod or bar from each end of the car, the lever
which operates this rod or bar being likewise connected to another bell crank,
engaging with a coupling sleeve carried upon a squared portion of the axle which
operates the pump eccentrics, which latter are connected together by a sleeve
loosely mounted upon the said axle. Thus as the said pinion is brought into
gear with the rack, the coupling sleeve is likewise moved into engagement with :
the eccentrics sleeve causing the latter to be turned by the revolving axle and so;
to operate the pump. This action of the parts also closes a valve placed in the
pipe connecting the aforesaid air reservoir and cylinder thus causing the air to
accumulate in the said reservoir as it is pumped therein. The shaft carrying the
pinion is geared to the pump actuating axle by means of a series of four toothed:
wheels, one of which is mounted on the said shaft and another on the axle whilst
the intermediate ones are carried by a triangular plate loosely, mounted on the
axle. This constitutes a reversing motion, one or other of the intermediate wheels
being brought into gear with the others according to which direction the car is
moving, by raising or lowering the said triangular plate.
When required to start the car the aforesaid action is reversed thus opening the
valve between the reservoir and power cylinder whereby the air from the former
passes into the latter pressing its piston and rack forwards and operating the pinion
so as to cause the axle to turn in the direction in which the car is proceeding..
The bell-crank connected to the pinion is provided with a slot so as not to be
operated by this movement of the mechanism, thus the pinion is kept in gear with
the rack until the latter arrives at the end of its forward stroke when an inclined;
projection, formed on the rear end of the rack, bears against one side of the pinion
and forces it out of gear with the rack, thus permitting the latter making its,
return stroke without operating the pinion.
The power cylinder is provided with a slide valve whose rod is formed with a
projection which comes against one or other of two stops formed on a bar.
connected to the sliding rack so as to open the said valve when the rack is at the
end of its forward stroke and close it at the end of its backward stroke. The said.

page_text: valve is thus opened when the starting gear has finished its work thus permitting
the escape of the air from the cylinder and allowing the piston ant rack to be
drawn back by means of a spring into their normal position.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings illustrating my invention
Fig. 1 is a plan of the mechanism applied to a tram-car, two only of the wheels
and the axles being shown without any of the framing of the car.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the said mechanism, and Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are
details.
"
a, a', are the axles of the car upon the latter of which are mounted the
eccentrics bb, connected together by the loose sleeve and operating the double
acting air-pump c. This pump is connected to the air reservoir d by the branch
pipes d' fitted with non-return valves.d² d. The storage reservoir d is connected
with the power cylinder e by the pipe el provided with a valve-e2: The piston
rode of this cylinder is connected to the horizontal rack 'f which gears with the
pinion gloosely mounted upon a squared portion of the transverse shaft h
carried in bearings h² fixed underneath the car flooring. The pinion g. is connected
to a sleeve gl also mounted loosely on the part h¹ along which it is slid by the bell-
crank is the rod or har operating the hell-crank g², the latter being formed.
with a slot g³ for preventing its .operation. during the reverse movement of the
rod . The rod i is connected at one end to a lever j for operating: the valve e³,
and at the other end to a lever k operated by toothed wheels and a hand-wheel k³
fitted to the end platform of the car, it being understood that. similar operating
gear is to be fitted to the other end platform. The lever kis likewise connected
10 a bell-crank 1 for operating a coupling sleeve or clutch mounted so as to slide
on a squared portion of the axle a'..
The operation of my improved apparatus is as follows
In Fig. 1 the parts are shown in their normal position, and in order to stop,the
car the driver turns the hand-wheel k² so as to move the lever k in the direction of..
the arrow this pulls the rod i forward and closes the valve e, and also causes the
bell-crank to couple the clutch with the loose sleeve b', thus transferring the
motion of the axle a¹ to the eccentrics 6 and operating the air-pump c. which fills
the reservoir d with air to a pressure sufficient to stop the car. This movement of
the bar i also causes the bell-crank g2 to slide the pinion g underneath and in.line
with the rack f as shown in Fig. 3.
For re-starting the car the hand-wheel ² is reversed thus forcing the rod i back
and opening the valve e² to permit of the escape of the air, stored up. in the
reservoir d, into the cylinder e, such air forcing the piston and rod e³ and the rack f
forward, thus causing the latter to gear with and turn the pinion g and with it the
shaft and gear wheels m, m³, m², so as to cause the axle a to turn in the direction
in which the car is proceeding. The said movement of the lever k also. causes the
bell-crank to uncouple the clutch from the sleeve. thereby preventing the
eccentrics actuating the pump c. The rack travels forward until the inclined
projection on its end bears against the pinion g as shown in Fig. 3, ..which
projection pushes the pinion along the shaft h out of gear with the rack. As
soon as this is accomplished a projection n' on the barn (connected at f2 to the
rack) bears against a projection o' on the rod o2 of. the sliding valve o causing
the valve o to open so as to permit of the escape of the air behind the piston in
the cylinder e, whereupon a coiled spring p is free to draw the piston and rack/
back into their normal positions. This spring bears at one end against the
bracket g fixed to the underpart of the floor (Fig. 2). of the car, whilst its other
end bears against the projection of the baris which is guided by the rod. t
supported by the brackets q, q'. When the rack f and barn are brought back into
their normal positions the projection on the said bar bears against the projection'o¹
and pushes the valve o into its closed position.
Fig. 4 is a separate view of the reversing gear.one or other of the wheels,m!.
or m³ being raised or lowered so as to gear with the. wheels mand m³ by means of
the triangular plate m* operated by the bell-crank lever m³ (see Fig. 2) from the

page_text: ear platform, thus permitting the axle a¹ to be turned in one or the other
direction.
The rack is provided with a guide or support u shown in cross section in Fig. 5,
to keep it firm and steady in its forward and backward motions.
In applying my invention to other vehicles in which the axles are fixed I may
attach a toothed wheel to the hub of one of the wheels which would gear with and
actuate a separate shaft, similar to the axle a', shown in the drawings, for operating
similar mechanism, and when applied to such vehicles the reversing gear shown in
Fig. 4 would of course not be required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of iny said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The improved apparatus for stopping and starting tram-cars and other
vehicles consisting of an air-pump or air-pumps actuated from one of the axles
and connected to a reservoir for storing up the pressure caused thereby, and a
power cylinder, rack and pinion operated by the said air pressure on its release
from the storage reservoir substantially as described and shown in the accompanying
drawings.
2. In apparatus as above claimed the means for stopping a car or other vehicle
consisting of the eccentrics b, b, actuating the air-pump c and mounted upon the
loose sleeve 6, the sliding clutch 1 for coupling the loose sleeve to the axle a', the
bell-crank, lever k, gear wheels k', hand wheel k², and storage reservoir d
substantially as described and for the purposes specified.
3. In apparatus for starting tram-cars or other vehicles the combination of the
air-pump e reservoir d, power-cylinder e, pipe e¹, valve e³, rack f, pinion g, shaft h,
operating rod i, lever j, and gearing m, m, m³, m³, substantially as described and
for the purposes specified.
4. In apparatus such as specified in Claim 3 the combination with the cylinder e
and rack of the inclined projection f¹, clutch g', bell-crank g³, bar n, provided
with projections n', n², valve o, valve rod o² having a projection o', spring p
brackets q, q' bar s, projection s', guide rod t, and guide or support u substantially
as and for the purposes specified.
5. The improved apparatus for stopping and starting tram-cars and other
vehicles substantially as described and shown in the accompanying sheet of
drawings.
Dated the
101
A100%
F. G. CASSELL,
Of Cassell & Co.,
22, Glasshouse Street, Regent Street, London, W.,
Agent for the Applicant.