Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Wagons and Trucks.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 11th Nov., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Railway Wagons and Trucks.
I, HAROLD EDWARD LORD, of Kirkhams, Bury Old Road, Prestwich, in the
County of Lancaster, Draughtsman, 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:-
My invention relates to improvements in brake mechanism for railway wagons
and trucks, and the objects of my improvements are to utilise the existing type
of brakes but to enable the brakes to be applied or released from either side of
the vehicle, and also to automatically lock the brakes when applied.
I accomplish these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying
two sheets of drawings in which―
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 an end elevation of part of a railway
wagon to which my improvements are applied and Figure 3 is a detail view on
an enlarged scale.
In these views,-1 denotes the body of the wagon, 2. the wheels, 3 the brake
blocks, 4 push rods, 5 short double brake lever, 6 rocking shaft and 7 the usual
hand lever by which the brakes are applied.
All the foregoing parts are of the usual construction, and in themselves form
no part of my present invention.
In the ordinary way when the brake blocks 3 have been applied to the wheels 2
by pushing the hand lever 7 (which can only be operated from one side of the
vehicle) the brake blocks are locked against the wheels by passing a pin through
the brake lever guard, not shown, or in other like manner.
According to my improvements I connect the hand lever 7, preferably by a
stud bolt 8 working in a slot 9 in the brake lever 7, and a lever 10, to a cross
shaft 11 supported by hangers or brackets 12 bolted or otherwise secured to the
frame of the wagon. On this shaft 11 is keyed a ratchet wheel or quadrant 13
and above the ratchet and in gear with it is a pawl 14 fixed on a shaft 15 also
supported in the brackets 12 and provided with handles 16 one at each end.
A lever 17 with a counterbalance weight 18 is fixed on the shaft 11 and always
tends to turn the said shaft in the direction to take off the brakes and bring the
lever into contact with a stop 21 fixed on the sole bar of the wagon.
A second brake lever 19 is also fixed on the end of the shaft 11 on the opposite
side of the wagon to that of the hand lever 7.
In operation the shunter applies the brakes in the usual way by means of the
hand loop 20 at the end of the lever 7 or according to my improvements if on
the other side of the wagon by means of the brake lever 19 turning the shaft 11
and by the lever 10 drawing down the lever 7 and partly turning the shaft 6.
In either case whether the brakes are applied by operating the lever 7 directly
by the hand loop 20 or indirectly by the lever 19 the cross shaft 11 is turned
partly round and the teeth of the ratchet 13 slip under the pawl 14 but as soon
as the brake blocks 3 are pressed tightly against the wheels the pawl 14 acts to
ock the brakes by preventing the cross shaft 11 from turning back in the reverse
lirection.

page_text: To release the brakes it is only necessary to turn the shaft 15 by either of its
handles 16 and so lift the pawl 14 out of gear with the ratchet 13 and allow the
weight 18 to turn back the shaft 11 and so take off the brakes.
It will be readily understood that the brake levers 7 and 19 can be actuated
as right handed levers to put on the brakes from either side of the wagon, that
the brakes are automatically locked in position when applied, that the brakes
can be released from either side of the wagon, and further that the shunter can
perform either operation, applying or releasing, with only one hand leaving
his other hand free for his lamp and shunting pole.
If found convenient the shaft 11 and the other parts of the mechanism might
be placed between the handle 20 of the lever 7 and the middle of the wagon, but
in this case the position of some of the parts would be reversed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my. said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The combination with the ordinary brake blocks and hand lever for operating
the same, of mechanism for enabling the said lever to be actuated for locking
or releasing from either side of the wagon substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
2. The combination with the brakes and hand lever 7, of the lever 10, shaft 11,
ratchet 13, pawl 14, shaft 15, handles 16, and counterbalance weight 18 all
substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
101
J
1000
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
Agents for Applicant, 17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.