IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO TRAMWAY CARS, FOR THE PURPOSE NOT ONLY OF ARRESTING THEIR MOTION WHEN REQUIRED, BUT FOR ASSISTING IN STARTING THE VEHICLE AFTER. IT HAS BEEN STOPPED, AND ALSO AIDING IN PROPELLING THE SAME
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO TRAMWAY CARS, FOR THE
PURPOSE NOT ONLY OF ARRESTING THEIR MOTION WHEN REQUIRED, BUT FOR
ASSISTING IN STARTING THE VEHICLE AFTER. IT HAS BEEN STOPPED, AND
ALSO AIDING IN PROPELLING THE SAME." A communication from abroad by
Alexandre Lemaire Douchy, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
Sealed the 7th January 1879, and dated the 13th July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th July 1878.
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS APPLICABLE
TO TRAMWAY CARS, FOR THE PURPOSE NOT ONLY OF ARRESTING THEIR MOTION
WHEN REQUIRED, BUT FOR ASSISTING IN STARTING THE VEHICLE AFTER IT HAS
BEEN STOPPED, AND ALSO AIDING IN PROPELLING THE SAME." [A communica-
tion from abroad by Alexandre Lemaire Douchy, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.]
The object of this Invention is to obtain motive power from the motion and
momentum of tramway cars just before they are stopped for any purpose.
Tramway cars are drawn or set in motion either by horses or by steam power,
and it has been found that the power required to be exertod by the horses to
start the vehicle from a state of rest is very great, and soon wears out the
horses.
One of the principal objects of the present Invention is therefore to store a certain
amount of power, which will greatly assist in starting the vehicle after a stoppage,
and thus relieve the horses from a great strain. At the same time the apparatus
will act as a break for the purpose of checking the motion of the vehicle when it is
desired to stop it.

page_text: To this end a clutch apparatus is adapted to the axle of one of the pairs of
running wheels, and in connection with a part of this clutch (the other half of
which rotates with the axle, but is capable of lateral motion thereon) there is a
toothed pinion, which gears into a toothed rack connected to the rod of a piston
which works in an air cylinder placed under the vehicle.
When it is required to stop the vehicle the rotary part of the clutch is thrown
into gear with the other part connected with the toothed gearing.
The momentum of the carriage will be found sufficient to actuate the toothed
gearing, so that the piston in the air cylinder will be driven back and thereby
caused to create a vacuum in the cylinder. The resistance of the air in this
cylinder will act as a break, and will relieve the horses from the strain required
to stop the vehicle, and at the same time a certain amount of power will be
stored up in the air cylinder and may be utilized for starting the vehicle.
When the piston has been driven to the end of the cylinder it may be retained
there by means of catches adapted to some convenient part of the rod or toothed
rack or other part of the apparatus until the power thus obtained is required for
use, when by releasing the rack from the catches the rack will act on the pinion
on the axle of the running wheels, and the stored up power will thus assist in
propelling the vehicle.
Instead of causing the piston to produce a vacuum it may be made to compress
air either in the cylinder or in a compressed air reservoir connected therewith.
As a modification of the above a toothed rack may be made on one side of a
tumbling or rocking bar connected to the piston rod, and so arranged that it may be
thrown into gear with either of two toothed pinions, one of which is keyed on the
axle of the running wheels and the other on a second shaft. This latter pinion is a
double pinion, and gears into another pinion on the axle of the running wheels, so
that by putting the rack in gear with one of these pinions the piston will by the
rotation of the running wheels be driven in one direction and made to compress the
air;
but when thrown into gear with the other pinion the piston will by driving the
rack back again act on and drive the axle of the running wheels, and thus propel
the vehicle.
If desired, the momentum of the vehicle in running down hill may be utilized.
for compressing air in a reservoir, and this compressed air may afterwards be used
to assist in propelling the vehicle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th January 1879.
"
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. IMPROVED BRAKE APPARATUS APPLICABLE
TO TRAMWAY CARS, FOR THE PURPOSE NOT ONLY OF ARRESTING THEIR MOTION
WHEN REQUIRED, BUT FOR ASSISTING IN STARTING THE VEHICLE AFTER IT HAS
BEEN STOPPED, AND ALSO AIDING IN PROPELLING THE SAME." A communica-
tion from abroad by Alexandre Lemaire Douchy, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
The object of this Invention is to obtain a motive power from the motion and
momentum of tramway cars just before they are stopped for any purpose. The
power so obtained is stored up so that it may be afterwards utilized for restarting
the carriage.
Tramway cars are drawn or set in motion either by horses or by steam power,
and it has been found that the power required to be exerted by the horses to
start the vehicle from a state of rest is very great, and soon wears out the
horses.
One of the principal objects of the present Invention is therefore to store a certain
amount of power, which will greatly assist in starting the vehicle after a stoppage,
and thus relieve the horses from a great strain. At the same time the apparatus
will act as a brake for the purpose of checking the motion of the vehicle when it is
desired to stop it.
To this end a clutch apparatus is adapted to the axle of one of the pairs of
running wheels, and in connection with a part of this clutch (the other half of
which rotates with the axle, but is capable of lateral motion thereon) there is a
toothed pinion which gears into a toothed rack connected to the rod of a piston,
which works in an air cylinder placed under the vehicle.
When it is required to stop the vehicle the rotatory part of the clutch is thrown
into gear with the other part connected with the toothed gearing.
The momentum of the carriage will be found sufficient to actuate the toothed
gearing, so that the piston in the air cylinder will be driven back, and thereby
caused to create a vacuum in the cylinder. The resistance of the air in this cylinder
will act as a brake, and will relieve the horses from the strain required to stop the
vehicle, and at the same time a certain amount of power will be stored up in the
air cylinder, and may be utilized for restarting the vehicle as already mentioned.
When the piston has been driven to the end of the cylinder it may be retained
there by means of catches adapted to some convenient part of the rod or toothed
rack or other part of the apparatus until the power thus obtained is required for use,
when by relieving the rack from the catches the rack will act on the pinion on the
axle of the running wheels, and the stored up power will thus assist in propelling
the vehicle.
Instead of causing the piston to produce a vacuum it may be made to compress
air cither in the cylinder or in a compressed air reservoir connected therewith.
In the accompanying Drawing Figures X, x, and y are diagrams explanatory of
the principle upon which the present Invention is based.
To avoid complication the apparatus is represented as consisting of a single
cylinder with a simple toothed rack, to which either the vacuum arrangement or the
compressed air plan may be adapted.
Fig. 1 represents in elevation the application to a tramway car of a brake motor,
with two cylinders and a double rack; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.
}
In Fig. X the arrangement with a single cylinder is of the most simple character.
It is composed of a base plate A, carrying a cylinder B, the piston of which is:
connected by its rod with the toothed rack C by means of a socket joint D, which

page_text: .
permits the rack to turn axially to the right or left, so that the teeth of the rack
may be made to gear either with the bevil wheel c fixed on the front axletree E of
the running wheels, or with the wheel or pinion C keyed upon the counter
shaft F. This pinion C¹ carries at its back a similar pinion C², which gears into
another wheel of the same dimensions keyed upon the axletree E.
The toothed rack is guided in its advance by a square or prismatic rod G,
provided at its outer end. with a small worm wheel H, actuated by an endless
screw or worm V.
The wheel is provided with a socket fixed in a support I, so that it may turn in
order to impart to the rack the necessary rotary movement, but without being
able to participate in the forward motion of the latter. This object is easily
obtained by the use of a pin G¹ fixed in the support I, and of a groove made in the
socket.
The small Figures x and y are end views, which indicate very clearly the move-
ments above described.
The apparatus operates in the following manner :- -When the axletree E is
rotating with the running wheels of the vehicle and is making its last rotations, the
rack is turned over so as to cause its teeth to gear with those of the pinions keyed
on the axle E. The piston in the cylinder A immediately advances with the rack
and produces a vacuum in the cylinder. When it arrives at the end of its stroke
the rack is released by means of the worm wheel and worm, and its teeth are
brought against a fixed bar or catch J, so that the return of the piston to its original
position may be prevented until it is released. Then when it becomes necessary to
start the carriage again the rack is turned over towards the wheel C¹ fixed upon
the counter shaft F, and the rack, by returning back to its original position, imparts
to the carriage a forward motion by causing the intermediate wheel C to gear into
the wheel C³ keyed upon the axletree.
The Figure y represents the three positions of the rack.
In the Figures 1 and 2 the result is effected by a somewhat different mechanical
arrangement.
In proportion to the importance or size of the carriage a double set of cylinders
and their accessories may, if desired, be adapted to and made to act upon two
different parts of the axle of the running wheels, but the whole mechanism will be
controlled by one hand lever.
The racks C are double, and their teeth, which are not in the same plane, are
actuated by pinions c, which are loose on the axle E. These pinions are provided
with sockets turned up in the form of a cone to receive the grooved sleeves or
clutches M, which turn with the axle, but may be moved along it.
Forked shifting levers F, worked in unison by means of the screw V and having
their fulcra at p, p, are used to throw one side of the clutches into gear with their
corresponding wheels and to draw the other halves of the clutches out of gear with
the other wheels, so that by this arrangement an effect analogous to that already
described in reference to Fig. X may be obtained, that is to say, the backward and
forward motion of the rack is produced, and the rotation of the axle in the same
direction is effected.
In order to stop the action of the parts when the vacuum has been produced, and
prevent the return of the piston to the end of its cylinder, a ratchet arrangement is
employed. This consists of a spring lever J, provided with a heel piece or click j,
which catches in a notch g at the end of the rod G.
A mechanical arrangement actuated by pullies and chains, and worked by the
hand lever m, serves to release the pistons when required, and allow them to return
to their original position.
In order to avoid shocks at the departure and return of the pistons by the power
of the vacuum, a small valve S is placed at the end of each cylinder.
A short rod T fixed to the piston lifts the valve slightly from its seat and allows
a small quantity of air to pass, and thus soften the return blow or stroke by pro-
viding behind the piston a cushion of air..

page_text: It will be easily understood that the same mechanism may be made to act in the
reverse way, that is to say, to compress the air into a cylinder provided for that
purpose. I therefore reserve to myself the right of using the apparatus either with
a vacuum and atmospheric pressure or with compressed air.
Not wishing to confine myself exclusively to the power obtained by means of the
last few revolutions of the running wheels, I reserve to myself the right to use an
arrangement which will admit of using the power that can be obtained (by running
down hill) to compress air into a reservoir provided with suitable valves and placed
at the side of the cylinders. This would give a progressive pressure in proportion
to the degree of inclination of the hill, and the weight of the vehicle. This storing
up of power is obtained without the use of the ordinary brake which is usually
employed to moderate the rapid motion occasioned by running down steep hills, and
which brake may be dispensed with, as the apparatus will either with long or short
hills serve as a moderator of speed, and also as an auxiliary agent to help the horses
or the steam engine employed for drawing the carriage up hill.
The mechanism is moreover very simple, and would consist in arranging the
cylinders as pumps for compressing the air into the reservoir and increasing the
pressure therein until the resistance would be equal to the power due to the
gradient.
The cylinders and the reservoir should be provided with supply and discharge
valves, which would admit of the compressed air_being allowed-to pass in the
reverse direction; so as to utilize its expansive force when it passes back into the
cylinders.
Having now described the Invention of "Improved Brake Apparatus Applicable.
to Tramway Cars, for the Purpose not only of Arresting their Motion when Re-
quired, but for Assisting in Starting the Vehicle after it has been Stopped, and also
Aiding in Propelling the same," and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect as cominunicated by my foreign correspondent as aforesaid,-
I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, the arrangement of
parts herein set forth for obtaining and storing up the motive power given off by.
carriages at the time of stopping them, and of utilizing this power for overcoming
the inertia of the carriage and setting it in motion without the horses or the engine
necessarily putting forth or exerting any additional effort for this purpose.
I claim particularly the use of a vacuum or atmospheric pressure, or the pressure
of compressed air, with the mechanical arrangements herein set forth as and for the
purposes above described.
Lastly, I claim the combination with the brake apparatus shewn and described,
of one or more compressed air reservoirs, which are placed under the carriage by the
side of the cylinders, and so arranged that they can have air forced or compressed
into them by the action of the pumps, which are worked by the carriage running
down hill, such compressed air being afterwards utilized to assist in propelling the
carriage, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.