IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Watkins, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
BRAKES."
Sealed the 12th September 1861, and dated the 15th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Watkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th March 1861.
I, JOHN WATKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer;
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY BRAKES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in applying a brake wheel or drum to the centre of
each axle; this brake wheel. is flanged on both edges of its periphery, and is
furnished with wood brake blocks secured by iron straps or grips, which cause
the brake blocks to clip the periphery of the brake wheel when in action.
The grips are tapped to receive a screwed rod or shaft in connection with each
pair of wheels under a tender, brake van, or carriage.
The mode of working the brake may be by any suitable appliances upon
the rod or shaft which passes through the grips, by which the brake blocks
can be tightened upon the brake wheel; and thus the revolution of the axle
and wheels is retarded and gradually arrested, or action may be applied by
centrifugal power from the axle, a worm or pinion on the axle working in a
spur wheel gearing into a second wheel fixed on the longitudinal screwed
suitable
shaft; these spur wheels may be thrown in and out of gear by any
means and at the will of an operator, so that the running speed of a train
increases the power applied to the brakes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Watkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WATKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Watkins, Her special license that I, the said John
Watkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Watkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY BRAKES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Watkins, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of, the
said Invention, 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 John Watkins, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
1
My Invention consists in applying a brake wheel or drum to the centre of
each axle. This brake wheel is flanged on both edges of its periphery, and is
furnished with wood brake blocks secured by iron straps or grips, which cause
the brake blocks to clip the periphery of the brake wheel when in action. The
grips are tapped to receive a screwed rod or shaft in connection with each
pair of wheels under a tender, brake van, or carriage.
The mode of working the brake may be by any suitable appliances upon
the rod or shaft which passes through the grips, by which the brake blocks
can be tightened upon the brake wheels, and thus the revolution of the axle
and wheels is retarded and gradually arrested, or action may be applied by

page_text: centnugal power from the axle, a worm or pinion on the axle working in a
spur wheel gearing into a second wheel fixed on the longitudinal screwed
shaft. These spur wheels may be thrown in and out of gear by any suitable
means and at the will of an operator, so that the running speed of a train
increases the power applied to the brakes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
. Figure 1 represents a sectional side elevation of a railway van with a
portion of a carriage, also shewing the application of my improved brake, a
portion of the framing of the van being removed to shew the appliances for
working the brake; Figure 2 shews a sectional end elevation of the van;
Figure 3, a plan of the under side of Figure 1; Figure 4, an enlarged detail
of the brake drum, gripper, and connecting rods; Figure 5, plan of the drum
and gripper seen from above..
I will now proceed to describe the construction and working of this brake,
referring more particularly for illustration to the enlarged detailed Drawings,
Figures.4 and 5.
(a) is the axle, upon which a disc or wheel (6) made in two parts is
securely keyed, the two parts of the disc (6) being held firmly together by the
screw bolts (c). The periphery of the disc (6) is flanged on its outer edges,
and between these flanges are placed blocks (d) of wood, or any other suitable
and sufficiently strong material; these blocks (d) are clutched firmly by the
grippers (e) which are hinged or pinned together as at (f), by which means
they are capable of being tightened or loosened upon the blocks (d). The
upper ends of the grippers (e) terminate in screwed boxes (9), through which
the right and left handed screws (h) work; (i) is a bracket fixed to the under
side of the carriage, by which bracket the brake is suspended underneath the
van or carriage. One of the screw's (h) is upon the connecting rod (5), which
is provided with a compensating sliding motion by the portion (1) sliding into
a tube (k) upon the part (j); this arrangement allows of the separation of the
carriages and recoupling by means of the joint and bolt shewn at (1). Upon
the van the connecting rod (j), (Figure 1), has keyed upon it the first of a pair
of toothed wheels (m), Figures 1 & 2). The second toothed wheel (n)
a
working into the wheel (m), being driven by pinion upon the shaft or axis
of the tiller wheel (o), by which the brake is worked. The action will be
readily understood. By turning the wheel (o) motion is communicated through
the toothed wheels (n, m,) to the connecting rod (j), which, in revolving,
draws together the grippers (e) by the right and left handed screws (h) passing
through the boxes (g), and thus tightens the grippers (e) upon the blocks (d).

page_text: The revolution of the axle being thus arrested, it follows that each pair of
wheels upon the axle that has the brake wheel is checked also. They may be
locked entirely if required, but I prefer applying this brake to every axle
throughout a train if requisite, so that I can thus apply sufficient brake power
to bring a train to a stand within a very short distance without 'locking any
one wheel, and I shall thus avoid a very large amount of wear and tear
thus avo
in the destruction of the periphery of the wheels by grinding along the rails,
as is the case invariably when the wheels are dead locked; for by obtaining
the grip upon the whole periphery of the brake wheel, I thus secure also an
equal pressure all round 'the axle and avoid torsion. To release this brake,
reversing the action of the tiller wheel, turning it from right to left, loosens
the hold of the grippers (e) upon the blocks (d), and allows the axle to run
freely. It will be seen that this brake may be applied singly to the guard or
brake vans only, or it may be, as shewn in the Drawings, continuous
throughout the train.
In my Provisional Specification I have stated that my improved brake may,
if preferred, be worked by centrifugal power from the running axles; but as
my experiments shew no decided advantage in thus applying the power, I
have not further specified this part of my improvements, and do not desire to
claim it.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that without limiting
myself to the exact details herein described, I claim as my Invention, and
desire to have secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, the improvements in railway brakes, substantially and generally as
herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Watkins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN WATKINS. (L.S.)