Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Carriages, Tram-cars, and other Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 17th Dec., 1897- Accepted, 5th Feb.,
1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Carriages, Tram-cars,
and other Vehicles.
We, WILLIAM HENRY SLEEP and ROBERT HENRY SLEEP, both of Excelsior
Plough Works, Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Agricultural Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in brake mechanism for railway
carriages, tram-cars and other vehicles and has for its object to provide more
simple and efficient mechanism than that now generally employed.
According to our invention we suspend a brake block of ordinary construction
from the body of the car or vehicle and to the said brake block we pivot one end
of an arm or rod the other end of which is pivoted to one end of a second arm or
rod having its opposite end pivoted to the body of the car or vehicle, the said two
arms or rods forming a toggle. Or in lieu of pivotting the two rods together
they can be pivoted to a connecting or knuckle piece.
The brake block is arranged to act upon a sleeve upon the axle of the car or
vehicle or upon an enlarged portion of the said axle or upon a pulley on the said
axle or upon the face of any part of the wheel; and is so placed with regard to
the axle or wheel that when it is in its normal position, that is to say, when it is
out of contact with the face to which it is to be applied, the two toggle arms or
rods are not in alignment and that when the said arms or rods are forced more or
less into alignment the said block is pressed against the wheel or axle with the
required degree of pressure.
To bring the brake into operation, that is to say, to more or less straighten the
toggle we advantageously employ a lever pivoted to the body of the car or vehicle,
the short arm of the said lever being designed to operate the knuckle of the
toggle whilst the long arm of the said lever is connected to one end of a chain
or the like the other end of which is operated by the usual handle.
We sometimes arrange two brake blocks in connection with each toggle which
And we
may be arranged to be pushed either up or down to apply the blocks.
can also provide that when two blocks are used only that block shall be applied
which will make contact with a downwardly moving surface so that one block
shall operate when a vehicle is moving in one direction and the other when it is
running in the opposite direction.
Our improved mechanism can also be employed for operating a brake band
instead of a block and it can be applied on any kind of car or vehicle without
requiring to be disconnected when reversing the direction of travel of the car or
vehicle.

page_text: Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Carriages, Tram-cars,
and other Vehicles.
We, WILLIAM HENRY SLEEP and ROBERT HENRY SLEEP, both of Excelsior
Plough Works, Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Agricultural Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to improvements in brake mechanism for railway
carriages, tram-cars and other vehicles and has for its object to provide more
simple and efficient mechanism than that now generally employed.
According to our invention we arrange the brake block or blocks to be operated
by a toggle the two rods being connected by a knuckle piece or pivoted together.
To bring the brake into operation, that is to say, to more or less straighten the
toggle, we advantageously employ a lever pivoted to the body of the car or vehicle,
the short arm of the said lever being designed to operate the knuckle of the
toggle whilst the long arm of the said lever is connected to one end of a chain or
the like the other end of which is operated by the usual handle.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of so much of a tramway vehicle as is necessary
to illustrate the application of our improved brake mechanism thereto; and,
Figure 2 is a central transverse section of the same.
Figure 3 is a side elevation illustrating a slight modification; and,
Figure 4 is a central transverse section of the same.
a is the under frame of the tram-car, b, b are the usual platforms and c, c are
the travelling wheels.
d, d are the usual brake blocks suspended from the frame a by the links e, e
and f, f are the toggle arms united to the said brake blocks.
As shewn in Figure 1 the toggle arms at their adjacent ends are united to a
knuckle piece g whilst in the arrangement shewn in Figure 3, which is hereinafter
described, they are directly united. Each of the toggle arms is provided with a
screw nut in a well known manner in order to permit of accurately adjusting
the lengths of the said arms and also of lengthening the same as the brake blocks
wear.
i is the lever for operating the brake the said lever being pivoted or fulcrummed
upon the hanger or bracket j, transversely of and on the underside of the car,
and being connected near the fulcrum to the toggle arms and at the extremity
most remote from the fulcrum by a chain k extending over a sheave or pulley
to a small winding drum m on the lower end of the brake shaft n.
As shewn in Figures 1 and 2 the toggle arms are adapted to be depressed in
order to press them against the wheels and in this case as a downward movement
must be applied to the toggles the fulcrum of the lever is arranged between its
two extremities so that as the chain is wound upon the small drum m and the
long arm of the lever lifted the desired movement will be effected. If it is
desired that the brake should be applied by the upward movement of the toggle
arms the lever i is fulcrummed at one end and connected with the toggle arms say
by a short chain o, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4.
In practice a set of brake blocks is arranged in connection with each pair of
wheels, the levers i, i of the two sets being connected together so that both will
be moved together to apply the brake on both sides simultaneously. A chain k

page_text: extends over the pulley to each end of the car so that the brake can be applied
from either end of the said car.
Instead of arranging two brake blocks in connection with the toggle we can
connect one of the toggle arms to a fixed bracket on the underside of the frame
so that the thrust of the toggle will be between the said bracket and the wheel.
In both of the foregoing arrangements it will be observed that the levers are
arranged to obtain a powerful leverage so that with only a slight exertion on the
part of the driver or conductor a great braking action can be obtained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. Improvements in brake mechanism for vehicles wherein brake blocks are
designed to be applied through the medium of toggle arms operated by a lever
or levers extending transversely of the vehicle and connected by a chain or chains
to a winding drum or drums, substantially as described.
2. In vehicle brake mechanism a lever extended transversely of the vehicle and
arranged at one end in connection with the brake block or blocks and at the
other end having connected to it a chain which is also attached to a winding
drum, substantially as described.
3. The improvements in brake mechanism for railway carriages, tram-cars and
other vehicles, constructed, arranged and operating substantially in the manner
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 17th day of December 1897.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.