IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS. OR MEANS FOR ENSURING THE MORE EFFICIENT, ECONOMICAL, AND SAFER WORKING OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Bland at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
September 1875.
I, HENRY BLAND, of Luton, in the County of Bedford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS. OR MEANS FOR ENSURING THE MORE EFFICIENT, ECONOMICAL, AND
SAFER WORKING OF RAILWAYS," to be as follows:―
This Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions, arrangements,
and combinations of mechanism to be used in connection with the
O present railway system, with a view generally to the ensuring a more
efficient, economical, and safer working of the same, and comprises,―
First. A peculiar arrangement of railway break and mode of actuating
the same.
Secondly. A peculiar arrangement of coupling links and mode of
coupling the same.
mi
11
mamalian made of and annaratus for working the signals

page_text: The peculiar arrangement of railway break consists of metal or other
flanged skids carried by the engine and by the several vehicles
composing the train, the engine breaks being pressed down forcibly
upon the rail by the direct action of special steam cylinders and pistons
attached to the engine, whilst those on the carriages are actuated by
toggle-joint-levers brought into play by the inward thrust of the buffer
rods which occurs when the momentum-of-the engine is checked, such
buffer rods acting upon the ends of links attached to the toggle joints;-
in some cases these breaks are brought into action by means of special
coupling chains or rods, which connect the toggle joint levers of the
whole of the carriages, so that should a portion of the train become
detached the tension of these special coupling chains or rods will apply
the breaks at the point of rupture of the train; each skid is attached by
a hinge joint to a rod or stem working in a vertical socket piece and
carrying one of the centres of the toggle joint levers, the other centre of
the said levers being fitted to a separate rod or stem in the same socket,
and having its upper end bearing against a yielding buffer (made
adjustable or otherwise) in order to avoid sudden and violent jars or
shocks.
One of the toggle joint levers may also be made adjustable to
different lengths in order to enable the pressure on the rails to be
regulated according to the weight of the carriage.
In order to facilitate the coupling together of the carriages or wagons
of railway trains, and to obviate the loss of life and injuries which
frequently arise from the fact of the assistants being compelled to enter
between the vehicles when coupling them together, I propose to employ
a simple-and-peculiar_construction of coupling links, which can be
readily fitted on-to-existing_railway rolling stock without altering the
_draw_bars, and which can be casily coupled to the draw hooks from
¯¯¯.the-side-of_the_carriage=or-wagon; these coupling links consist by
-preference of three jointed links, the end link forming, the ordinary
coupling link, whilst the other two have each a short projection made at
the joint, which projections render the three links rigid when elevated
for coupling. The hinge bolt of the outer coupling link is curved
slightly at right angles about with the link to which it is rigidly
secured, so that should the curved part of the said bolt when lifting the
coupling be brought in contact with the hook, it will cause the link to
turn back upon the middle one, and thus facilitate the operation of

page_text: uncoupling; these coupling links may be lifted for coupling or
uncoupling by the action of a long key wrench having a square socket
at the end, which is fitted by the attendant on to a square head on the
first bolt attached to the draw bar; or as a ready means of lifting a
stick may be used placed across the buffer rod and under the first or
inner link, and used as a lever either for coupling or uncoupling.
My improved method of working the signals and points on railways
consist essentially in the application to such purpose of an extra
pressure of the gas in the pipes used for supplying the signal lamps and
for lighting the points, whereby I am enabled to dispense with the long
lengths of actuating wires, chains, rods, cranks, and levers ordinarily
employed, and thus effect a considerable economy in the first cost of the
plant, whilst at the same time I ensure greater certainty of action.
•
In carry out this part of my Invention I employ a small auxiliary
gas holder, which is kept filled with gas from the principal gasometer
at the gas works. From this auxiliary holder I draw the gas by means of
a peculiar gas compressing engine, herein-after described, and force.it
into another holder under a sufficient pressure to perform the functions
required of it; from this last-mentioned holder the gas when it is
required to raise the semaphore or close the points is turned on into the
ordinary gas supply pipes by two-way valves or stop cocks; this extra
pressure of gas passes at once into a chamber or chambers provided
with a moveable flexible diaphragm attached to the signal post or situate
adjacent to the points, and by forcing outwards a metal or other plate
attached centrally to the diaphragm transmits by short connecting rods
or levers the required motion for setting the signal or closing the point.
As the same gas and pipe which actuates the signals and points, as
above described, are used for supplying the burners of the signal lamps,.
and the lamps for lighting the points, it is obvious that by reason of the
variation of pressure in the pipes it will be necessary to employ self-
regulating burners; these may consist, for example, of a closed chamber,
having the nipple or burner fixed into the top thereof, and a flexible
diaphragm stretched across the lower mouth of the chamber, through
the centre of which diaphragm is supported a short tube made conical
at its upper end to fit into a corresponding hollow cone formed in the
bottom or nipple of the ordinary gas burner; a cut or slit is made across
the conical end of the said short tube, which is closed at this end with
the exception of the said slit. When the gas is at ordinary pressure the

page_text: "
split conical end of the short tube will be out of contact with the inner
sides of the hollow cone, and the gas will pass freely through the slit
into the burner above, but when the extra pressure is turned on
requisite for working the signal or point, as the case may be, the
diaphragm in the regulator will be lifted, bringing the conical end of the
-short-tube-in-close_contact with the sides of the hollow cone, and thus
closing more or less as required of the slit in the tube and regulating
the pressure of the gas issuing from the burner.
It is obvious that any number of signals placed along the line at
convenient intervals might be worked from one and the same gas supply
pipe, whereby an efficient system of signalling, specially useful in foggy
weather, will be obtained.
The gas compressing engine which I propose to employ for com-
pressing the gas in the second holder previously referred to, consists of
two rubber diaphragms secured together by metal rings at their
circumferences. The lower diaphragm is attached centrally to a fixed
base plate provided with an inlet valve for the first-mentioned auxiliary
gas holder, and an outlet valve leading to the second gas holder, whilst
the upper diaphragm carries a metal disc, which when the diaphragms
are closed fits within an annular rim formed on one of the circum-
ferential rings before mentioned, in order to ensure the expulsion of the
whole of the gas when the diaphragms are closed, the lower ring fitting
over the base in the same manner attached centrally to the inside of the
upper diaphragm, there is a metal plate to which a rod or other
connection is secured for the purpose of imparting motion to the same
with a view to the alternate contraction and expansion of the chamber
formed by the two-diaphragms which meet together at each alternate
movement, and consequently expel the whole of the gas which was
drawn in during the previous movement.