CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF BRAKES TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Purchas, Civil Engineer, of the City and
County of Worcester, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF BRAKES TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES."-A communication from
abroad by Albert Purchas, Civil Engineer, of Melbourne, in the Colony
of Victoria, Australia.
Sealed the 19th February 1861, and dated the 23rd August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Purchas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1860.
I, SAMUEL PURCHAS, Civil Engineer, of the City and County of Worcester,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF BRAKES TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES," communicated
to me from abroad by Albert Purchas, Civil Engineer. of Melbourne, in the
Colony of Victoria, Australia, to be as follows (that is to say) :-
The said Invention may be classed as of the description of brakes known as
self-acting, that is to say, brought into action by the compression of the buffers,
which may be of the ordinary kind, or slightly modified. And the principle
of the self-acting brake may be applied to the carriages generally forming a
train or to as many of them as it may be convenient or found desirable to
operate on, so as to arrest or sufficiently retard the progress of the train by
the retarding or reversal of the engine or principle of traction under the
guidance of the driver. And which Invention consists in the application of a
strong band, made by preference of steel, secured to the side of the carriage

page_text: with the axle plate vertically over the wheel, this band of steel forms a little
more than a half-circle, and on its inside a packing of vulcanized india-rubber
or other suitable material is applied; and within this segments of wood of the
same curvature as the periphery of the railway wheel; to the extreme ends
of the steel clip or band connecting rods are secured, and which rods are con-
nected with a lever, the lower end of which may partially or wholly clip
the axle of the wheel. The upper end of this lever being operated upon by
the compression of the buffer, brings the wood segments in contact with the
periphery of the wheel with sufficient force generally to considerably retard
its free action or wholly stop it from turning around. But when a reaction
of the buffer springs takes place, so as to force the buffers out into their
ordinary tractile position, the steel band before referred to will expand, and
thereby remove the pressure or contact of the wood segments and leave the
wheels free action.
The manner of giving effect to this Invention may be varied. As for
instanco, one-lever-only-may be used in connection with each brake and
applied either in or outside of the wheel, but, by preference, the Inventor uses
two, connecting them together at the top in such a way as to allow the buffer
roil to work suitably between. And in that case double connecting rods
should be applied secured to the steel clip by a bolt going through the ends
of the rods and the end of the steel clip and secured by a nut in the usual
way. In some instances the stop in connection with the buffer rod will
require adjusting so as to allow a certain amount of freedom to the buffer
rod that it may be slightly compressed without unduly acting on the brake
apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Samuel Purchas in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PURCHAS, Civil Engineer, of the City and County of Worcester, send 3
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the 'twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto 8
me, the said Samuel Purchas, Her special license that I, the said Samuel

page_text: Purchas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Samuel Purchas, my executors, administrators, or assigns; should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF BRAKES TO RAILWAY CARRIAGES," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by Albert Purchas, Civil Engineer, of Mel-
bourne, in the Colony of Victoria, Australia, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Purchas, 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 Samuel Purchas, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be pèr-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
This Invention as commmunicated to me by my brother, the above-men-
tioned Albert Purchas, consists in the peculiar way of arranging or applying
brake friction to the periphery of the wheels of railway carriages, while a train
of such carriages is in motion. And this is effected by the compression
of the buffers, which brings the brakes into action, and which brakes are
relieved when the progress of the train is sufficiently arrested by the expansive
force of the buffer spaings, thus, for instance, by stopping or reversing the
tractile power of the engine, the buffers will be immediately compressed by
the momentum or impetus of the motion of the carriages forming the train
effected in a lesser or greater degree by the number of passengers or amount
of luggage with which such carriages may be loaded. And this compression
of the buffer springs immediately acts on the brakes, thereby making them
self-acting, and entirely locking or destroying the revolving motion of the
wheels with more or less certainty according to 'the length, weight, and velocity
of the train desired to be stopped or retarded, or the number of carriages
forming the train to which the improved brakes may be applied.
And this Invention in detail consists in the application of a strong band
made by preference of steel, secured vertically over the axle plate to the end.
of a compound spring, formed by preference of several plates of steel laid one
on the other in the way in which coach springs are ordinarily made, the tension

page_text: or force of such springs being exerted to lift upward and to counteract the
spring, lifting the band before referred to too high, a vertical arm-is-con-
nected with it, having an oval hole formed at its bottom end through which the
axle of the railway wheels. pass. And within the steel band a packing of
vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable. material is.applied, and within this,
segments of wood or other suitable material of the same area internally as
the periphery of the wheel intended to be clipped, and to the ends of the
outer steel band or clip connecting rods are secured, and which rods are con-
nected with a lever or levers placed on one or both sides of the wheel in
connection with this brake, the lower ends of which may wholly or partially
clip the wheel axle. The upper end of this lever is operated on by the com
pression of the buffers, which with more or less pressure brings the wood
segments in contact with the eriphery of the wheels so as to retard or wholly
top them from revolving, and at the time the pressure is being applied
to the brake in consequence of their extending to more than half the circum-
ference of the wheel they are pulled down from the top, but when relieved
by the expansion of the buffe the spring-firs--described-in-connection_with
the steel band will exert itself to lift the brake from the periphery of the wheel.
And in this description, for simplicity, I have described the improvements as
applied generally to one wheel, but in practise, it is intended to operate on
both wheels on the same axle, and to apply the principle to all the wheels
of the same carriage, if desirable, and to use in each train as many carriages
with such brakes applied to them as shall be found or considered desirable for
the safe working of such train. The lever or levers for bringing the break
into action may be connected at the top with an adjusting shackle screwed
at the one end to a strong shank in connection with the lever or levers, and
at the other end with an arm attached to the buffer rod, and which part may
form a stop for the full expansion of the buffer when, out of use."
But as this Invention will be better understood by referring to the.Drawings
hereunto attached, I will proceed to describe the same, using the same letter
or letters to define the same part or parts as they occur in the various views
(that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 represents a sectional side view of as much of the framework of a
railway carriage necessary for illustrating the improvement.
1
A, A, is the side rail, or what is technically named the sole bar; B, the end
rail or head stock, shown in section; and: C, an intermediate cross rail or
bearer, also in section; D.is the ordinary strong plate or axle guard secured
on the inside of the side frame or sole bar, and extends down for carrying the
axle box-secured to and beneath the centre part of the spring.E, E; F is the

page_text: buffer, and G, G, the buffer rod; H, H, is the wheel with the upper part of its
flange removed, for the purpose of showing the position of the segments I, I,
and J, J, and which segments are secured to the flexible or other suitable
packing marked K, K, and K, K, which packing, with the segments, are
secured to the steel clip L, and which clip L, with the packing K, and seg-
ments I, are held together at the top and supported by the angle bar M, M,
the top part of which admits the end of the compound spring N, N, to pass
under it and to be secured by the nut and pin e, and which spring is secured
at the other end to a cross rail or bearer of the carriage frame marked W.
The tendency of the spring is to lift the brake apparatus up, but which is held
in the position here shown by the lower portion of the bar M clipping the
lower side of the axis P, which is represented in section. The extreme ends
of the steel clip L is .enlarged and formed with a hole for the purpose of
receiving the pin a, a, and which pins project out for receiving the connecting
rod R, and which rods at their inner end are attached in the position here
shown to the lever S, the lower end of which partly clips the axis, the top end
of the lever S. is connected by a pin to a strong screw bolt marked T, over
which the shackle U, U, is screwed and thereby adjusted, and to this shackle
a T-headed connecting piece is attached marked V, and secured by the nut
and pin 6 to a strong collar keyed to the buffer rod marked X.
Fig. 2 is a top view of Figure 1 with the exception that it represents the
parts as belonging to the portion removed from Figure 1, and in this view I
have represented the lever S in duplex, placed each side of the wheel, the
inner. one being marked S¹, the both being secured to the screw T by the nut
and pin c, c, and the duplex connecting rods Q and R being attached in like
manner on each side of the wheel to the extreme ends of the steel clip by pins
passing through and secured with nuts, the inner ends being securely attached
to the levers S and S¹, as before described. Fig. 3 is a sectional end view of
Figure One, with the compound spring N removed to avoid confusion, and in
this view the form of the angle piece M is best seen with a projecting flange
around the oval hole at the bottom, represented as marked F, F, through
which the axle works.
Having described the various parts in detail, I will for further illustration sup-
pose that the buffer F is compressed, the effect will be to move in the direction
of the arrow, the duplex lever. S and S', which working on the fulcrum formed
by the axis of the wheel and the duplex connecting rods Q and R being united
to them so near the fulcrum, the power obtained by the duplex lever S will be
immense, and sufficient at all times to hold the wood segments to the periphery
of the wheel so as to press on and arrest its revolving motion. The position of

page_text: the levers S and S', at the time when the brake is in full action (caused by the
compression of the buffers) is indicated in dotted lines, showing the position of
the shackle U, connecting piece V, part X, buffer head F, and rod G. But
in order that the operations of backing, shunting, or other movements of the
carriages requiring pressure on the buffer springs shall not cause the brakes or
segments to be immediately acted on, I allow a sufficient play between
the head of the part V and the end of the screw T, fór this to be performed
before the buffer begins to take effect, and which distance may be regulated as
*required.
Having now described the Invention and the best way (according to my
judgment) of giving effect to the same, I wish it understood that I do not
purpose confining myself either to the materials used, or to the exact mode
here described and illustrated of realising the same, as for instance, it is not
positively essential that the outer rim or band should be of steel, nor that the
part K should be of india-rubber, as an iron band may be used for the one and
any other suitable equivalent for the latter. And while I believe wood to be
the most suitable-material..for the brakes on account of its economy of price,
and the convenience for keeping such segments in stock for renewal, neverthe-
less other materials may be used. as an equivalent, and the duplex. lever S
and duplex connecting rods Q and R, with the other parts here shown may be
made of a different shape and form than here exhibited without affecting the
general principle of the Invention;' but what is claimed and sought to be pro-
tected by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the general arrangement
as herein described and exhibited for arresting the progress of railway trains,
the same being brought into action by the compression of the buffers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Purchas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
RICHD. WOOF.
Solicitor, Worcester.
SAMUEL PURCHAS. (L.S.)