A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCES WITHOUT THE EXPENDITURE OF TIME AND LABOUR IN COUPLING OR CONNECTING THE PARTS TOGETHER FROM CARRIAGE TO CARRIAGE, BEING SELF-COUPLING AND DISCONNECTING
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Temple at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
September 1875.
I, THOMAS TEMPLE, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Timber Merchant and Brick Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING
RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCES WITHOUT THE EXPENDITURE OF TIME AND LABOUR IN
COUPLING OR CONNECTING THE PARTS TOGETHER FROM CARRIAGE TO CARRIAGE, BEING
SELF-COUPLING AND DISCONNECTING," to be as follows:-
-
The object of my Invention is to dispense with the expenditure of
time and labour in coupling or connecting from carriage to carriage
those parts that work or give motion to the safety appliances furnished
to railway trains.
To carry out my Invention and adapt it for working continuous
brakes I would arrange the brake blocks and brake rods of all the
vehicles with vertical lever arms in the manner described in my Speci-
fication, No. 391, 1875; but the lever arms of each carriage would be
connected together at the top by a transverse bar capable of moving in

page_text: the direction of its breadth in guides suspended from the under side of
the carriage. Leading from the centre of this bar are two chains, one
running over a pulley and having a balance weight depending therefrom
for the purpose of keeping the brake blocks from the wheels, the other
chain pursuing a contrary direction is taken up by suitable guides at
the fore end of the carriage to the roof, where it is linked to two parallel
chains attached to the arms of a horizontal cross head moving to and
fro in guides when acted upon by the balance weight before mentioned,
and the supply of steam to a cylinder, to which the cross head is con-
nected by a piston rod and piston. The cylinder like the cross head lies
horizontally on the roof of the carriage, and-is-furnished-with-steam-
by the locomotive from a steam pipe that runs from end to end of the
train.
To bridge over the spaces existing between the carriages and to make
the junction of the pipes self-connecting and disconnecting I introduce
a novel arrangement as follows:-To each. end of the steam pipe I fit a
funnel-shaped end, having a broad flange faced with india-rubber or any
material suitable for the purpose. The small end of the funnel shapo
is made to slide telescopically over the steam pipe, projecting beyond
the end of the carriage, and is kept to its outmost extent by means of a
strong spiral spring inserted between the aforesaid flange and a collar
fastened on the steam pipe. The whole of this arrangement is supported
on brackets projecting from the end of the carriage, and the india-rubber
face of the funnel shape extends beyond the line of buffers so as to
ensure close and continued contact with a similar contrivance of the
carriage next brought up and coupled. It will thus be seen, every
carriage and tender being fitted with my improvements applied to con-
tinuous brakes, that on a carriage or vehicle being brought up to the
tender a direct steam communication can be made with the locomotive
by any ordinary means, and steam supplied therefrom to the cylinders
on all the carriages as they are brought up to form the train, without the
necessity-of-employing time or-labour-to join the-steam pipes together,
the spiral spring as before mentioned keeping the funnel-shaped ends in
close and continued.contact, and the enlarged diameter of the connection
and the broad flange thereto allowing for any irregularity in the heights
of the carriages.

page_text: returns the piston, to which the cross head is connected, to its normal
position, being that position in which the brake blocks are free from the
wheels. On the engine driver turning on the steam it travels along the
pipes until it meets with the first piston, driving it forward, and with it
the cross head, thus braking the wheels of that carriage. The act of
driving up the piston opens a valve, through which the steam passes
onward to the next carriages to perform a like duty, and from thence
onward to every carriage in the train. When the engine driver turns
off the steam the balance weights then exert their power and remove
the brake blocks from the wheels of the carriages and return the pistons
to their former positions.
· A duplicate cylinder, piston, and cross head are provided to each
carriage, and are brought into use when the locomotive is transferred
from the fore end to the rear end of the train, as is the case when
making a return journey.
.
To adapt my Invention for connecting passenger communicators I
would have a similar funnel-shaped end to that before described tele-
scopically connected to an air pipe running along the top of the carriage.
Descending from this air pipe is an air-tight tube, the lower end of
which with a valve is connected to a double-acting bellows placed
beneath the flooring and fastened to the frame of the carriage. A
cranked shaft connected by means of a connecting rod to the bellows
has a friction wheel keyed on at one end, which is suspended by suitable
means over the upper surface of one of the carriage wheels; when the
alarm whistle (which is fixed in the guard's van or near the engine
driver) is required to be sounded a cord in any one of the compartments
is pulled. This act immediately sets at liberty the suspended friction
wheel, and falling on the moving carriage wheel the friction between
the two causes the crank shaft to revolve, thus motion is imparted to
the bellows, wind being forced upward therefrom along the air pipes to
the alarm whistles, communicating to the officials the occasion of an
accident, and any of the ordinary means now in use would indicate
to the guard the compartment wherein his attention is required. It is
unnecessary to add that every carriage in the train is similarly fitted.
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