IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, Patent Agent, of the British
and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the
Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS."
-A communication from Charles Louis Joseph Felix Jacquot, residing at
No. 4, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, aforesaid.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th March 1865.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, Patent Agent, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and
38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BREAKS," a communication from Charles Louis Joseph Felix Jacquot, a person
resident at No. 4, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France,
aforesaid, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of compressed air as a means of
stopping railway trains by combining pneumatic pumps with a reservoir of air
placed on a small one-axled truck which is fixed in front of the locomotive
or forms part of same. The pumps are to the number of two, three, or four,
[Price 8d.]

page_text: and are fixed vertically under a hollow frame forming the bottom of the small
truck, with which they communicate by means of valves. The pistons of
these pupmps are worked by excentrics placed on the axle of the small truck.
Above the hollow frame, which serves as a bottom to it, is placed the reservoir,
which consists of two hollow cylinders sliding one within the other, the outer
one carrying around its upper part a stuffing box intended for rendering more
complete the closing of the space existing between the two cylinders; the
inside one is filled with heavy materials of any description in order to compress
the air which enters the reservoir. The compressed air enters by a valve
placed in the bottom of the reservoir, which forms the upper part of the
sockle. During the progress of the train the axle of the small truck in
turning acts, by the excentrics which it carries, on the pistons of the pumps
and drives the air into the hollow sockle. The latter carries a cock, which
opens into the outer air, and which is closed when the train is to be stopped.
The air driven into the cylinder and no longer escaping rushes into the
reservoir by the valve placed in its bottom, where it is compressed by the
action of the pumps, and this compression increasing with each rotation of the
wheels of the truck the pistons work less and less, the wheels cease to turn,
and the progress of the train is gradually retarded. To set the train in motion
a second tap has only to be opened and the air allowed to escape into the
steam cylinder of the locomotive.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri Adrien
Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
in 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,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAILWAY BREAKS," a communication from Charles Louis Joseph
Jacquot, a person resident at No. 4, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in
the Empire of France aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I. the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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:-
This Invention consists in the application of compressed air as a means of
stopping railway trains by combining pneumatic (air) pumps with a reservoir
of air placed on a small one-axled truck which is fixed in front of the
locomotive or forms part of same. The pumps are to the number of two,
three, or four, and are fixed vertically under a hollow sockle forming the
bottom of the sinall truck, with which they communicate by means of valves.
The pistons of these pumps are worked by excentrics placed on the axle of
the small truck. Above the hollow sockle, which serves as a bottom to it, is
placed a reservoir, which consists of two hollow cylinders sliding one in
the other, the outer one carrying round its upper part a stuffing box intended
for rendering more complete the closing of the space existing between the
two cylinders; the inside one is filled with heavy materials in order to com-
press the air which enters the reservoir. The compressed air enters by a
valve placed in the bottom of the reservoir, which forms the bottom part of the
sockle. During the progress of the train the axle of the small truck in
turning acts, by its excentric, on the pistons of the pumps and drives the air
into the hollow sockle. The latter is provided with a cock opening into the
outer air, and which is closed when the train is to be stopped. The air driven
into the sockle, and no longer escaping, rushes into the reservoir by the valve
placed in its bottom, where it is compressed by the action of the pumps, and
this compression increasing with each rotation of the wheels of the truck, the
pistons work less and less, the wheels cease to turn, and the progress of the
train is gradually retarded. To set the train in motion a second tap has to be
opened and the air allowed to escape into the steam cylinder of the locomotive.

page_text: This new or improved break is composed of two parts, as above described, i.e.,
of air pumps and of a reservoir with their accessories..
The accompanying Drawings represent, Fig. 1, a vertical section; Fig. 2,
an elevation; Fig. 3, a plan view. Figs. 4, 4B, and 5 are different views of
the lever working the break. Fig. 6 is a side view of the lever for the double
break. Fig. 1B represents the air pump with its excentric and the communi-
cation of movement to the wheels of the truck.
1st, of the air pumps.-These pumps are more or less numerous; the
application of the system represented in the accompanying Drawing has three
united. They are fixed to a hollow sockle R, placed between them and the
reservoir. The sockle itself is made of cast iron as well as the pumps, and is.
placed on a floor or bottom plate of about eight inches thick, and from two to
two and a half yards square. This floor is made of oak planks about two or
two and a half inches thick; on it is placed the reservoir. The floor is fixed
on two beams 'D (Figures 1 and 2) plated with cast iron, and which are the
prolongations of the locomotive beams (see Fig. 2). The cast-iron plating of
these beams is joined at each side to the wheels of the small waggon by the
parts A (Fig. 1 and 2). These wheels are similar to the supporting wheels
of the locomotive, but they are invariably fixed to the axletree, so that it is the
latter which turns in the steps B (Fig. 1 and. 2) fixed in the parts A of the
cast-iron plating of the beams. These two wheels are distanced according to
the width of the railway. On the part L, J, Fig. 1, in which the axle turns,
are fixed three excentrics working the pistons of the three compression pumps;
these excentrics are connected with said pistons by iron two-armed pieces,
seen Fig. 1. The extremities of the branches are jointed with their point of
attachment to the pistons, and can thus, if necessary, deviate from the vertical,
according to the position of the excentric, but this deviation is hardly sensible,
and the thickness of the piston rods is sufficient to retain them in a vertical
position. In each piston there are two valves r and s, Fig. 1B, which open
into the interior of the pump chamber, and at the top of each of the latter
are other valves m, n, o, (Fig. 1) which open into the hollow sockle, so that
the air, as fast as it is compressed, goes into this sockle in order to pass from
thence to the reservoir by means of the valve k. The valves k, m, n, o, are
clack valves, but as the openings closed by the piston-head valves are very
small, these valves may be made of thick leather. C, Fig. 1B, represents one
of the pistons in plan, and shows the position of the openings closed by the
valves r, s, as well as that of the joints of the piston rods and branched pieces.
The sockle R communicates only with the reservoir and the compression
pumps, as seen in Fig. 1. The number of compression pumps is arbitrary,

page_text: two, three, or four may be used, but not more; four is the most suitable
number, as the excentrics may be placed in such way that two of the pistons
are at the bottom of their stroke at the moment when the two others begin
theirs. With four pumps each would necessarily have a less diameter than
those shown in the accompanying Drawings, as the space allowed to them
being regulated by the width of the rail can never be larger. The axle is
turned at that part which enters the steps and that which turns in the hollow
piece L, J: the rest of its length is square. The hollow piece L. J. (Fig. 1)
is square at the outside, so as to turn the excentrics and work the pumps.
when necessary, as hereafter described. The hollow piece L, J, is terminated
at its extremities by two shoulder pieces which form part of it, and are provided-
with slots or hollows countersunk in them having about one-tenth of an inch
depth and one-fifth of an inch width. These hollows or slots are made all
round the centre like divergent rays, see z, Fig. 1B. Two other shoulder pieces,
V and V, also slotted or countersunk (sec Y, Fig. 1B), are placed near those
which terminate the hollow piece L, J, on the square part of the axle. These
shoulder pieces V, V, are bevilled at their outer sides, or sides nearest the
wheels. They may be held against the extremities of the piece L, J, by
means of the iron pieces G, G', also bevilled. These pieces may be lowered.
press the shoulder V, VI, against those L, J, and gear them by their slots,
made in such a way that the teeth of the one gear with the slots of the other,
when the screw A (Fig. 4 and 5) raises the ends B of this lever (Fig. 4, 4B,
and 5). The screw A is easily moved by the system A, Fig. 2, placed near
the driver at his right hand, and which, by means of the endless bands, seen
Fig. 2, 3, and 4, turns the head of this screw A. The lever which presses
the shoulders, and consequently works the compression pumps when necessary,
is seen in different views, Fig. 4, 4B, and 5. It is fixed to the floor of the
break by the pieces C (Fig. 4 and. 5). The teeth of the shoulders being
round, and their slots as well, when the pieces G, G', shall no longer press
those V, V, and shall be raised, the shoulders V, VI, will ungear by. the
resistance, which the working of the compression pumps. offers. Fig. 6 repre-
sents the lever working the break fixed to the flooring of a double. break.
The screw A raising the extremity L, causes it to be lowered at M, rise, at N.'
and descend at O. on account of the joints M, N, and the fixed points P, Q, R.,
The ring of the joints M, N, is lengthened in order not to prevent the move-
ment. The pistons of the compression pumps. are solid, and are composed of
several disks of wrought or cast iron,
2d, of the reservoir. The reservoir is composed of two hollow cylinders of
different diameters, and one N (Fig. 1) of which forms a piston and enters

page_text: the other. It is closed only at its lower end. This first. cylinder is filled with
iron ore or broken stone, in order to increase its weight and press on the air
contained in the reservoir M, so as to maintain it at a suitable pressure when
this air is taken and conducted into the steam box I by means of the tube II,
Fig. 3, and thus be utilized in totality. The reservoir M is almost two yards
in diameter inside, and a yard and a quarter in height. This height is
regulated so that with the diameter it may contain 2,500 litres (about one
thousand gallons. The cylinder N slides in a stuffing box F placed at the upper
part of the cylinder M. The small truck is fixed in front of the locomotive,
as if forming part of it. It may be added to all locomotives already made ag
well as to those to be made in future. This break will, without the aid of any
other, stop a train within less than a hundred yards, although the train may
be an express. Its construction is very simple, and the engineer, without leaving
his ordinary place, can have within his reach a powerful means of stopping his
train promptly, either in case of a pressing danger or of stopping at a station.
Let us suppose, in fact, that a locomotive thus armed is at the head of a train,
and that a second train is on the same line and approaches at high speed.
What happens? The cylinder N, containing about a thousand gallons of air,
is filled with substances weighing 2,500 or 3,000 kilogrammes (four to five
thousand pounds); the engineer, after turning off the steam, presses the
shoulder pieces by means of the mechanism E, which is near at hand, and the
pumps are set in movement. The air which they compress fills within a few
minutes the sockle and produces a degree of pressure sufficient for raising the
cylinder N by entering the reservoir M by the valve K; but in order to raise
it this compressed air has to encounter a resistance equal to the weight of the
cylinder and its contents, which resistance is communicated to the pistons and
the wheels of the truck. Thus the train may be stopped within a hundred
yards from the point where the break was first geared. This stoppage will not
be so sudden as to inconvenience the passengers, but will be sufficiently so
to allow the engineer to back the engine and fly before the approaching train.
It might be supposed that the wheels, instead of turning when they meet with
the resistance of the cylinder N, would slide on the rails, but the weight of
the whole break being from ten to twelve thousand pounds, this weight
bearing on the wheels will make them as it were gear with the rails, and will
force them to turn so long as the momentum of the train is not destroyed.
To stop at the different stations of the line the steam is now turned off at
about 800 or a thousand yards distance from the station, then the breaks are
made to act. This lowering of the speed occasions a loss of time equal
to two minutes. Let this loss be repeated at several stations and hours

page_text: will soon be the result, and an hour or two is an immense loss of time for the
arrival of a train at its destination. With this new break the stoppages may
be shortened, as all the steam may be kept on up to within a hundred yards of
the station and the steam used or stored up during the short distance remaining.
Time may therefore be economized and the hours of arrival be rather anti-
cipated than exceeded. After having caused the break truck to act during a
certain number of stoppages the reservoir M is filled with compressed air at
a pressure higher or lower, according to the weight of the materials with
which the cylinder N is loaded. A volume of a thousand gallons of com-
pressed air is therefore accumulated to be employed as follows:-Let us
suppose that the break is adapted to a locomotive which spends a quart of
steam or compressed air per piston stroke, and about three for each revolution
of the wheels. Our compressed air being brought into the steam cylinder I
by means of the tube H, closed or opened by the tap L, Fig. 3, which the
engineer may turn on or off by the mechanism J, analogous to that F already
described (and which is fixed at his left hand), will cause the wheels to rotate
as many times as three is contained by 4,000, or about 1.333 times. If these
wheels are five feet in diameter they will advance at least fifteen feet at each
rotation, and thus give a distance of 6,665 yards run without using any steam,
which must bring about an economy in the fuel, as during the time the com-
pressed air works the engine the fire may be kept lower than when steam is
used. Again, as one single break will suffice for each train, and that one will
be worked by the stoker or engineer, the breaksman will no longer be required,
and thus his salary may be economized. Thus promptitude and security of
stopping, economy of time, exactitude in the arrival of trains, economy of fuel
and of salary, such are the great advantages of this new break, whose adoption
does not necessitate the suppression of any part of the rolling stock as at
present employed. Besides it would be of very great use on steep inclines
for preventing a too rapid descent. The only inconvenience connected with
this break is its weight, which slightly increases that of the engine, but the
decrease of effective working, which is very small, is nothing compared with
the advantage of this system; and besides, in constructing new engines, it may,
be done away with as follows:-It is well known that the greater the weight
of a locomotive the heavier the charge it can conduct, therefore, by making
one single machine of the break and the locomotive, and increasing the length
of the former, by that of the latter, the inconvenience would be donc away,
with, because by placing the motive wheels of the engine at the centre of the
weight of the engine and break together, the weight of the latter would form
part of that of the former and increase its tractive power. This break may,

page_text: be made double. In this form the force is doubled and the advantage which
results from the use of the air compressed in the reservoirs is increased, as the
quantity of air to be disposed of' is also doubled, the economy of fuel is also
increased. Constructed in this way the second reservoir communicates with
the first by means of a tube, and the compressed air is only taken in the first
by the tube H above mentioned, the compressed air of the second returning
into the first by the tube which causes this communication. The mechanisin
which works them is seen Fig. 6. A pressure gauge may be employed in
order to indicate the degree of pressure exercised in the cylinder.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention for "Improvements
in Railway Breaks," I neither claim the wheels, pumps, excentrics, axles, or
other parts already known and employed, nor do I restrain my Patent right
to the precise mechanical details above described; but what I claim is the use,
of compressed air as a means of stopping or retarding the progress of railway
trains in connection with the reservoirs and general arrangement and organs
above described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Ninth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)