IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joshua Margerison at the
Office of the Cominissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1853.
I, JOSHUA MARGERISON, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS " to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in furnishing the carriages and tender of a
railway train with a longitudinal sliding bar, to which is attached a
chain acting upon knee-joint levers which bring into action a pair of
clamp breaks, such breaks being made each to act upon a drum fixed
on the axles of each carriage.
A slight play is allowed between the ends of the several bars to
admit of the screwing hard up in coupling. A rack and pinion or other
suitable mechanical arrangement in the break van or tender serves to
bring the break of that particular van into action, and by the contact
of the end of this rack with the end of the sliding bar of the next
carriage, which is again connected with the sliding bars of the carriages,

page_text: the whole of the friction drums of the train may be acted upon
simultaneously. Springs are employed to return the levers to their
original position when the pinion is reversed. In waggons or trucks
the sliding bar is the same length exactly as the framework, and in all
cases the ends of the bars must be at the same, or nearly the same,
elevation from the rails, so that any variety in the sizes of the wheels
of the carriages, trucks, &c. will not interfere with the proper working
of the break. Should the clamp break be found too powerful, a short
lever, with clogs, and spring behind, may be suspended on each side of
the drum, and be acted upon by the sliding rod. The above principle
may be employed obviously in single vans alone without any connection
with the other carriages of the train.
By another arrangement the clamp levers are worked by a third
lever, the shorter end of which is connected by a chain to the knee
joint of the clamp levers, while the other end is connected by a
crank to a cross bar which unites the two buffer heads. The sliding
bars above described may be obviously applied to the working of
the ordinary breaks on the wheels themselves, and in some cases
the knee-joint levers may be replaced by other mechanical arrange-
ments.
Another form of break applicable to engines consists of a stand upon
the side or framework of the engine near to the centre of the driving
wheel. On this stand is fixed the fulcrum of a lever, the short end of
which would be immediately over the crown of the driving wheel, and
the long arm extending to the furthest end of the engine from the
situation of the driver. To the fulcrum end is attached a shaft bearing
down upon the centre of the driving wheel, and fixed there to a clip
break over the crown of that wheel. From the points of this break is
attached a connection to work a small lever break on the face of each
running wheel. This machinery must be attached to each side of the
engine, and so balanced as to be out of action when at rest. From one
extreme point of the levers to the other. across the head of the engine,
is passed a bar that unites those points. and upon that bar must be
fixed another lever, the long arm of which stretches back to the hand
of the engineer or stoker, to be acted upon, either by hand pressure, a

page_text: weight, screw, or spring, but perhaps the pressure from the hand
would be sufficient with a compound lever of such length as might be
used.
Certain portions of the arrangements herein-before described are
obviously applicable to common road carriages.