NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS OF RETARDING OR STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Adam Hunter at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 31st July 1880.
ADAM HUNTER, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Engineer. "NEW OR IMPROVED MODES AND MEANS OF RETARDING OR STOPPING
RAILWAY TRAINS, AND ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM CONNECTED THEREWITH."
This Invention relates to certain new or improved modes and means or appliances
for stopping or retarding the motion of railway trains at or before entering railway
stations or at any other desired places, and which being operated automatically
without the intervention of the engine driver is particularly applicable for
preventing accidents by runaway trains, and during dark or foggy weather when
ordinary danger signals are not visible to the drivers, and also for avoiding the
risk of collision when shunting operations are going on, and the line should be
blocked or closed to through passing trains.
The Invention consists essentially in fitting in combination with steam,
pneumatic, or vacuum brake apparatus of railway trains or their locomotives a
long pendent lever or set of levers which are actuated to apply the brakes, and
through the brake mechanism to shut of the steam supply of the locomotive engine
when the pendent lever comes in contact with, and in passing, is raised by longi-
tudinal inclined planes or rails fitted in the path of the pendent lever, preferably
between the lines of rails or permanent way. These inclined planes are made
movable vertically or laterally, and are placed in such situations as at or near the
entrance to railway stations, sidings, crossings, or other places where it is desirable
to arrest the motion of the passing trains at any time to avoid danger, the inclines
being raised to arrest the train, or lowered out of action by the station master or
pointsman, and thus made to act as effective auxilliary safety signals.
Under one simple modification of the present Invention the said pendent lever
is connected either directly or through bell cranks to the usual stop cock or valve
fitted on the steam pipe communicating between the boiler and the brake cylinder
on the engine, so that when its lower end is raised by contact of a roller on it
with the inclined plane between the rails, the lever opens the cock or valve to
admit steam to the brake cylinder and apply the brake. The brake piston rod or
other. moving part of the brake mechanism is connected by a link or rod and levers
to the valves controlling the admission of steam to the engine cylinders, or to the

page_text: band levers worked by the engineman, and the action of the inclined plane on the
pendent lever is thereby made to shut off steam from the engines simultaneously
with the application of the brake, and which may be effected through a single
weigh shaft on the engine.
The inclined planes, which for use on single lines of railways will always be
double inclines, and in other cases may consist of a single inclined rail formed
preferably of T or inverted channel iron, are jointed at their lower ends by a pin
on a bracket block, which may be fixed on a sleeper, and at the higher or oscillating
end jointed to a bell crank or other lever, which is actuated to raise or lower the
inclined rail much in the same way as semaphore signals and switch points are
operated by connecting wires or rods from the pointsman's box. When the inclined
plane is double to act on the pendent levers attached to the brake apparatus of
trains running in either direction, the inclined rails may be jointed together at
their inner ends to be raised and lowered by one lever and connecting wire or rod
from the pointsman's box or station master's room, the outer jointed ends being
made to slide in grooves or slots.
In applying these arrangements to stop or retard trains in which pneumatic or
vacuum brake apparatus is employed, the pendent lever would be connected to a
stop cock or valve to admit air or permit its escape from the brake cylinder, in
other respects the action being substantially as described. The pendent levers
may be fitted with steel or rubber springs or buffers to break the force of the blow
which the lever would otherwise receive in mounting the inclined rail when the
train is running at a high speed; and the action of these levers may also be made
to open a steam or air valve of the brake apparatus to blow a whistle or give an
audible signal or alarm to the driver.