IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Eugenio Jesurum at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd February
1865. A communication from abroad by Candido Revelli, late of Turiu,
in the Kingdom of Italy, but now of Rue Neuve des Petits Champs,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman.
I, EUGENIO JESURUM, of No. 47, Gresham Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STOPPING RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for stopping
railway trains. For this purpose I apply to each carriage levers or arms,
which are hinged or jointed to the under side of the frame, and each lever at
its lower end carries a small elliptical wheel mounted on an axis. When the
train is travelling these levers or arms are carried in an inclined position, but
should it become necessary to stop the train suddenly, the levers or arms are
allowed to fall till the small elliptical wheels come down on the rails, the
levers or arms then immediately become vertical, and the carriage is lifted off
the ordinary running wheels. The carriage is then supported on the elliptical
wheels on which it runs, until in a very short time the forward motion is
absorbed in the short up-and-down motions, which the running of the elliptical
wheels imparts to the carriages of the train. When the levers or arms are
out of use they are held in an inclined position suspended by chains from
hooks, which are made so as to be able to turn upon centres, and to drop the
levers or arms; when it is required to stop the train suddenly the hooks are
turned partly round on their centres so as to slip the chains off them. On

page_text: the locomotive this motion of the hooks is produced by a chain which is
attached to them, and by winding up a portion of this chain on to a barrel
actuated by a hand wheel the required motion is given to free the levers or
arms which then descend, and acting as already described lift the engine off
its ordinary carrying wheels, the continued rotation of the driving wheels
then no longer tends to urge the train forward. The lifting of the locomotive
in this manner produces the movement of the hooks to liberate the levers
or arms in the carriages following. There is a projection in rear of the
locomotive, which when the locomotive is raised is brought up so as to strike
a rod projecting from the next carriage, and this rod communicates motion to
the hooks and liberates the levers or arms. In the same way this carriage
acts on the one next behind, and so on from end to end of the train. In
order again to raise the levers or arms with the elliptical wheels when the
train has been stopped it is necessary to apply to the driving wheel of the
engine a crescent-shaped lump, and then to set the engine in motion, having
first reversed it; the train is thus pushed back a short distance, and the
engine and carriages descend again on to their ordinary wheels. When the
lump has been removed from the driving wheel, and the chains have been
replaced on their hooks, the train is again ready to start.