IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME, AND IN CON- VEYING SIGNALS FROM ONE PART TO ANOTHER OF THE SAME TRAIN, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO BREAKS FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Weston at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th August
1859.
I, JOSEPH WESTON, of Fenton, in the County of Stafford, Druggist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKS
FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME, AND IN CON-
VEYING SIGNALS FROM ONE PART TO ANOTHER OF THE SAME TRAIN, PARTS OF WHICH
ARE APPLICABLE TO BREAKS FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The improvements in breaks for railway carriages consist principally of
suitable shoes mounted one at each end of a lever vibrating on a fulcrum
midway between the two wheels, the extreme length of the lever and shoes
being rather more than the distance between the peripheries of the said
wheels, so that as the lever is made to approach a horizontal position between
the wheels, the shoes become jammed by the rotation of the wheels, and thus
act as breaks to the latter. The breaks are prevented from jamming too
suddenly, and are made capable of being easily withdrawn by special means
herein-after described.
The method of applying the breaks is as follows, and I would here remark
that this part of my Invention is equally applicable to the above-mentioned
break, and to the ordinary sliding concave break thrust horizontally against
the wheels in the usual manner. The breaks are connected together and
made self-acting by the draw bars or buffer rods, and are applied by the drag
of the van or last carriage, which has to be breaked by hand in the usual or

page_text: any other manner, or the breaks may be applied by the momentum of the
carriages when the ordinary break is applied to the engine.
Another method of connecting the above-named breaks together is by means
of rods running the whole length of the train, and furnished with suitable
joints, in which case these rods may be made available for the transmission of
signals from one part of the train to another.
The details of the construction of the above-named break are as follows:-
The shoes are each mounted on a short lever which is connected to the
vibrating lever by a hinge joint which is capable of bending only in one
direction, and that only when considerable force is applied, such movement
being opposed by a strong spring; consequently the whole break is rigid when
being jammed in one direction, but gives way and bends at the joints when
being withdrawn. The break is also provided with a quadrant and ratchet
worked by catches on the wheel, so as to prevent the break from jamming too
suddenly or so tightly as entirely to prevent the revolution of the wheels.
The draw bar springs are connected together by tie rods, and the vibrating
break lever is connected by a vertical lever (keyed on the same axis) to the
draw bar or to the buffer rods, so that upon putting the break on the van or
last carriage or on the engine, the draw bars or buffers will immediately put
the breaks on the rest of the carriages.
On starting the engine it will pull forward the draw bars and release the
buffers, and thus bring the breaks out of action.