AN IMPROVED AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CARRIAGE OR CAR BRAKE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CARRIAGE OR CAR BRAKE." - A
communication from abroad by Archibald Inglis Walker and Thomas
Edwin Whitcomb, of Lynn, in the County of Essex, and State of
Massachusetts United States.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
24th September 1869.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CARRIAGE OR CAR
BRAKE," (a communication to me from abroad by Archibald Inglis
Walker and Thomas Edwin Whitcomb, of Lynn, in the County of Essex,
and State of Massachusetts, United States,) to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce means or appliances
operated by the reverse action of the engine by which railway carriages

page_text: set.
or cars can be stopped automatically, and for releasing the brakes when
A cogged bar is placed under and runs lengthways with each
carriage or car, and engages with a cogged wheel on a shaft perpendicular
to the bar, which projects at one end of the carriage beyond the drawhead
of the coupling, and at the other is attached a strong spring. On the
shaft is a loose drum (connected to the usual rods and levers for setting
the brake shoes by a chain), below which and attached thereto is a
toothed gear. The shaft has at its lower part a corresponding toothed
gear engaging with the gear of the loose drum, which can be raised and
put out of gear with the shaft gear by means of a cord (extending the
length of the train and being worked from either end) running under a
pulley; this allows the shaft to turn without turning the drum.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The train being in motion
and it being desirable to stop, the engine is reversed, causing the carriages
or cars to run together; the cogged bar now strikes against and is pushed
back by a bumper or buffer on the preceding carriage, and engages with
the cogged wheel on the shaft and turns the same and with it the loose
drum; this movement winds up the chain, which acts on the usual rods
or chains and levers operating the brake shoes, thereby immediately
applying the brake power, which remains set until the carriages are
started again, when the spring attached to the cogged bar throws the same
back and the apparatus resumes its former position. If necessary to
back a train it can be done without setting the brakes, by the engine
driver disengaging the loose drum from the shaft gear by drawing the
cord (herein-before mentioned), thus allowing the cogged bar to turn the
wheel and shaft without applying the brake power.
By the means above described a train can be stopped very quickly
without the aid of. brakemen (or guards), the train being at all times
under the complete control of the engine driver.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 80
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th March 1870..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
35

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence
that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 "AN IMPROVED
AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CARRIAGE OR CAR BRAKE," (a communication to me
from abroad by Archibald Inglis Walker and Thomas Edwin Whitcomb,
of Lynn, in the County of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, United
States,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow
Hunt, my exccutors or administrators, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bristow Hunt, do hereby declare
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 in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to produce means or apparatus - by
which carriages or cars can be stopped by the brakes being set without
the employment of brakemen or guards therefor and devices for
releasing the brakes when set.
The nature of the Invention consists in appliances. or apparatus.for
setting the brakes by the reverse action of the engine, the engine driver
thereby controlling the whole train. This is accomplished by the check
movement of the engine acting as a partial check to the carriages or
cars, which causes all the carriages or cars to run olose together, and
this movement furnishes the power for automatically setting. tho
brakes.

page_text: Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "An
Improved Automatic Railway Carriage or Car Brake," I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is
to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order
that the same may be distinctly understood I have hereunto annexed 5
a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 represents a side
elevation, and Figure 2 a bottom plan view of an ordinary platform car, 1
these Figures exhibiting the same as fitted with the improvements
herein-after described. Figure 3 represents a section of part of the
improvements.
A is the platform of a car, B, B', the trucks, and c, c², brake shoes
constructed and operating in the usual manner. The bar D provided 1
with cogs a is placed under and runs lengthways with each carriage or
car, and engages with a cogged wheel on the shaft R running in a
perpendicular direction to the bar D, which latter projects at one end
of the car or carriage beyond the drawhead 6 of the coupling; at its
other end the bar D is attached at E¹ to a strong spring E. On the 1
shaft R is a loose drum H (connected by a chain, as herein-after
described, to the usual rods and levers for setting the brake shoes); below
and attached thereto is the toothed gear q. The shaft R has its lower
part a corresponding toothed gear o engaged with the gear 9 of the
loose drum H, which can be raised and kept out of gear with the shaft
gear o by means of a lever s¹ and a cords (entending the length of the
train and being worked from either end) running under the pulley t,
thus allowing the shaft to turn without turning the drum H.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The train being in motion
and it being desirable to stop, the engine is reversed, causing the
carriages or cars to run together. The cogged bar D of each carriage
or car now strikes against and is pushed back by a bumper or buffer on
the preceding car or carriage, and engages by means of the cogs a with
the wheel on the shaft R turning the same and with it the drum H,
this movement winding up the chain m and operating on the levers n and i
by the assistance of the rods or chains k and m³, and sets the brake shoes
c, c', thereby immediately applying the brake power, which remains set
until the carriages are started again, when the spring E throws the

page_text: bar D back, and the apparatus resumes its former position. If necessary
to back a train it can be done without setting the brakes, by the engine
driver disengaging the loose drum H from the shaft gear o by drawing
the cord s, thus allowing the bar D to turn the wheel h and shaft R
without applying the brake power.
By the means above described a train can be stopped very quickly
without the aid of brakesmen (or guards), the train being at all times
under the complete control of the engine driver.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention
for "An Improved Automatic Railway Carriage or Car Brake," together
with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim
as the Invention (communicated to me by the above-named Archibald
Inglis Walker and Francis Edwin Whitcomb, the general construction,
combination, and arrangement of apparatus, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
for the purposes as set forth, or any equivalent or modification thereof
acting in any similar manner to the automatic railway carriage or car
brake herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.