IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Sayer, of Mark Lane, in the City
of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES."-A communication from
Henri Malepart, Machinist, of Cognac, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 17th March 1857, and dated the 20th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Sayer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th September 1856.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM SAYER, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as follows:--
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for facilitating
the stopping of railway carriages. For this purpose brakes are provided for
acting upon both sides of the carriage wheels, and (when required) on all the
wheels of the train simultaneously. The brakes are carried in pairs by rigid
arms, supported at their ends by means of guides, formed in a rectangular
frame, which is carried by the axle boxes, and is thus made independent of the
vertical movements of the carriage framing. At the middle of their length
these arms are provided with tapped sockets to receive a screw shaft, which is
furnished with right and left handed threads, to work in the threaded sockets
and draw the brakes against the wheels. The shaft is mounted in bearings in
the supplementary rectangular frame, and rotary motion is given to it by
means of a vertical fly wheel, mounted in the guard's van, and connected by

page_text: gearing with the screw shaft; or it may be operated by a ratchet lever taking
into a ratchet wheel on the screw shaft. In order to quicken the action of
the brakes and increase the power at the command of the guard as the brakes
begin to bind upon the wheels, the axle that carries the fly wheel is provided
with two sizes of bevil wheels, which take respectively into corresponding
wheels on the worm shaft, that transmits the motion through a worm wheel
to the screw shaft. These bevil wheels are fixed to a sliding tube on the fly
wheel axle, and they are shifted into and out of gear according to the speed
or force required to be transmitted. Each carriage is similarly fitted with
screw shafts and arms for carrying the brakes, and the screw shafts of all the
carriages are connected together temporarily by square sliding sockets taking
on to double-jointed ends with which the screw shafts are provided. The brake
blocks are made adjustable in their frames by means of screws, in order to
insure an uniform bite upon all the wheels of the train of carriages. In
cases of emergency, the axial motion of the screw shaft may be derived from
one of the axles of the guard's van or the tender. A band wheel keyed on
the axle of that carriage drives, by means of a strap, a band wheel on a shaft
carried by the supplementary framing; on this shaft is a worm wheel, which
takes into a worm wheel keyed on to the screw shaft. The band is slack when
the brakes are not required to act, and, by raising or depressing a friction
pulley, the guard brings the band to tension, and sets the gearing in motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George William Sayer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILLIAM SAYER, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant, unto me,
the said George William Sayer, Her special license that I, the said George
William Sayer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George William Sayer, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR STOPPING OR RETARDING RAILWAY CARRIAGES," being a commu-
nication from Henri Malepart, Machinist, of Cognac, in the Empire of France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George William Sayer,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George William Sayer, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for facilitating
the stopping or ratarding of railway carriages. For this purpose breaks are
provided for acting upon both sides of the carriage wheels at the same time,
and when required they may be made to act on all the running wheels of the
train simultaneously. The breaks are carried in pairs by rigid arms, supported
at their ends by means of guides, formed in a rectangular frame, which is
carried by the axle boxes, and is thus made independent of the carriage
framing, and will not be affected by the vertical movements thereof. At the
middle of their length these arms are provided with tapped sockets to receive
a screw shaft, which extends longitudinally under the carriage, and is
furnished with right and left handed threads to work in the threaded sockets
of the rigid arms, and thereby draw the break blocks against the wheels.
The longitudinal screw shaft is mounted in bearings in the independent
supplementary rectangular frame, and rotary motion is given to it by means of
a vertical shaft and fly wheel, mounted in the guard's van, and connected by
gearing with the said longitudinal screw shaft; or the latter may be operated
by a ratchet hand lever taking into a ratchet wheel on the longitudinal
screw shaft, which ratchet lever is mounted on a stud fixed in the framing,
and when worked backwards and forwards by the guard it will actuate the
ratchet wheel on the longitudinal screw shaft, and cause the latter to rotate
on its axis and work the rigid arms which carry the break blocks.
In order to quicken the action of the breaks or increase the power at the
ommand of the guard when the breaks begin to bind upon the wheels, the

page_text: axle that carries the hand or fly wheel is provided with two sizes of bevil
wheels, which take respectively into corresponding wheels on the worm shaft,
that transmits the motion through a worm wheel to the longitudual screw
shaft. These bevil wheels are fixed to a sliding tube on the hand or fly wheel
axle, and they are shifted into and out of gear according to the speed or force
required to be transmitted to the longitudinal screw shaft which works the
breaks. Each carriage is similarly fitted with longitudinal screw shafts and
arms for carrying the breaks, and the longitudinal screw shafts of all the
carriages are connected together temporarily by square sliding sockets taking
on to double jointed ends, with which the longitudinal screw shafts are provided.
The break blocks are made adjustable in their frames by means of set screws,
in order to ensure a uniform bite upon all the wheels of the train of
carriages.
In cases of emergency, the axial motion of the screw shaft may be derived
from one of the axles of the guard's van or of the tender. This is effected
by means of a band wheel keyed on the axle of the guard's van or of the
tender, and which band wheel, by means of a strap or band, drives another
wheel on a shaft carried by the supplementary framing. On this shaft is a
worm, which takes into a worm wheel keyed on to the longitudinal screw
shaft. The driving band is slack when the breaks are not required to act and,
by raising or depressing a friction pulley, the guard is enabled to tighten
the band or bring it to tension, so that it will set the gearing in motion.
In order, however, that the Invention may be more clearly understood, I
have shewn in the accompanying Drawings various views of the improvements
adapted to an ordinary railroad carriage.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation in outline of a railroad carriage, the improved
apparatus for stopping or retarding the carriage being shewn in colours, and
part of it drawn in section, in order that its mode of application and operation
may be more clearly seen; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. a, a, a, a,
is the ordinary under framing of the carriage, and carries the springs,
bearings, and horns of the running wheels; b, b, b, b, is a supplementary
rectangular metal frame, that supports the arms c, c, to which the break blocks
are attached and may therefore be called the break frame. This frame is
supported on the axle boxes of the running wheels, and is therefore entirely
independent of the carriage framing. The arms c, c, one of which is shewn
detached in elevation at Fig. 3, are rigid transverse bars, provided at about
their middle with a screwed socket d, through which passes the longitudinal
screwed shaft e, e, e, e, supported in bearings e*, e*, at each end of the break
frame. The extreme ends of the arms c, c, work in slots made in the supple-

page_text: mentary or break frame b, b, as seen in Fig. 1. The break blocks f, ƒ, ƒ‚ƒ,
are attached by screws to the vertical bracket pieces c*, c*, near the ends of
the arms c, the attachment of the break blocks f, f, to the bracket pieces
being adjustable by means of jam nuts, as shewn in Fig. 1. The longitudinal
screw shaft e, e, is provided with right and left handed screws, which pass
through the screwed sockets d, d, on the rigid arms c, c, and at each end of the
shaft e is a double joint e¹, e', which carries a short square-headed bar e².
Upon bringing together two carriages similarly provided with breaks, the
square-headed bars e² of each are inserted into opposite ends of a sliding
tubular socket e³, which connects together the longitudinal screwed shafts e, e,
of two adjoining carriages, the connection being made in such a manner,
however, as to admit of the ends approaching each other when the buffers are
compressed, and yet at the same time obliging both shafts e, e, to turn when
rotary motion is communicated to either. At any convenient part of the
longitudinal shaft of the break or retarding apparatus attached to the guard's
van or of the tender is mounted a screw wheel g, as shewn at the sectional
elevation in Fig. 1, and also in the detached view, Fig. 4. In the teeth of
this screw wheel g works an endless screw or worm h at the lower end of the
vertical shaft i, which carries at its upper end two bevil toothed pinions j, j,
of different diameters and number of teeth. One or other of these pinions
7 or is actuated as may be desired by one or other of the two bevil toothed
pinions k or on the sleeve shaft l, through which passes the horizontal shaft
on which the fly or hand wheel m is mounted. The sleeve shaft / with its
pinions and k¹ is capable of being slidden on the horizontal shaft of the fly
or hand wheel m, so as to bring either one of the pinions k or k³ into gear
with its corresponding pinion j or on the vertical shaft i. From this it will
be seen that the guard may quicken the action of the breaks when required,
or he may increase the power at his command by merely shogging the sleeve
shaft, so as to bring whichever he pleases of the pinions k or k¹ into gear
with its corresponding pinion on the vertical shaft i, the direction of rotation
of the fly or hand wheel being altered in accordance with such change.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a break van, shewing the mode of commu-
nicating rotary motion from one of the running axles to the longitudinal screw
shaft e, instead of by means of a hand or fly wheel, as just described. To
effect this object, a drum or pulley n is mounted on one of the running axles,
and another drum or pulley o on a transverse shaft p, which is mounted in
bearings in the supplementary or break frame b, b, and carries an endless
screw q, that gears into and drives the screw wheel g on the longitudinal
screw shaft e.
A band or strap r passes loosely round the pullies n and o, and

page_text: when required to communicate motion from one to the other this band is
tightened, by means of a friction pulley or rollers at the lower end of the
hand levert. Friction will be thereby created, and the pulley o will be caused
to rotate and actuate the longitudinal screw shaft e, and thereby work the
breaks in the manner already described. Instead of working the friction
pulley or roller s by means of a band lever, as shewn in the Drawing, it
may be adapted to one end of a treadle lever which could be worked by
the foot.
Having now described the Invention of "Improved Machinery for Stopping
or Retarding Railway Carriages," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I would observe that I do not mean or intend to confine
myself rigidly to the precise arrangement and construction of parts herein
shewn and described, as they may, perhaps, be varied without departing from
the nature and object of the improvements. I claim, in conclusion, the mode
herein shewn and described of constructing and operating breaks for stopping
or retarding railway carriages. I claim particularly mounting and applying
the break apparatus in a separate frame independent of the carriage framing,
and also making the break blocks adjustable, so that they may be set or
adjusted with accuracy from time to time as they wear with use. I also claim
the use of alternative gearing, whereby the action of the apparatus may be
quickened or the power increased when required.
In witness whereof, I, the said George William Sayer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. E. NEWTON.
G. W. SAYER. (L.S.)