MENTS IN BRAKES FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES OR VEHICLES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Louis Silvermann at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd September 1881.
LOUIS SILVERMANN, of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex.
MENTS IN BRAKES FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES OR VEHICLES."
"IMPROVE-
My Invention relates more especially to brakes arranged to act on the wheels of
the carriages composing railway trains, and in which the said brakes are 80
connected together as to constituto what is known as continuous brakes, the
mechanism for actuating which can be put in action from one or from any one of
several points in the train, but it is also applicable to the brakes applied to a
single carriage only, and to any kind of vehicle, whether running on rails or not,
provided the axle or axles thereof revolve with the wheels.
The power for operating the brakes I propose to obtain from the motion of the
train or vehicle itself by employing the rotary motion of the wheel axles to coil up
a chain on a barrel carried on the axle. This chain is fixed at one end to the said
barrel, and at the other end to one end of a spiral, helical, or other suitably shaped
spring, the other end of which is fixed on a counter or weigh shaft, carried in
bearings under the frame of the carriage or in other suitable position. On this
counter or weigh-shaft is fixed another chain-drum, or pulley, or a single lever.
Which-ever be employed, it is connected by a chain or rod with the lever or other
device by which the brake blocks are pressed to or removed from the wheels.
The chain drum on the axle of the wheel is arranged to rotate loosely thereon,
and it forms in fact one half of a friction or other clutch box, the second
half of which is adapted to turn with the wheel axle, but to slide longitudinally
thereon to an extent sufficient to enable it to be put into and out of gear with the
other part comprising the aforesaid loose drum by means of an appropriate clutch
fork, which I propose to operate in the following manner:-If the arrangement is
to be applied to one carriage only, a simple hand lever placed in a convenient
position in or on the carriage, truck, brake van, engine-tender, or other vehicle to
which the brake is applied may be connected by rods or otherwise with the said
clutch-fork. If however, the arrangement is to be applied to a number of vehicles
and the whole to be connected together so as to constitute a continuous brake,
I place a shaft or axis extending longitudinally under each carriage, and adapted

page_text: to turn in bearings; a lever or finger fixed on this shaft is connected to the free
end of the clutch fork, so as to operate the latter when the said shaft is turned;
when the vehicles are coupled together to form a train, the ends of the shaft under
each vehicle are connected together by a species of knuckle or universal joints, or
otherwise, so as to constitute a continuous shaft extending from end to end of
the train, or under so much thereof as may be fitted with the aforesaid brake
appliances. The said shaft is connected with levers or other appliances in the
brake vans, on the engine tender, or other points of the train as may be desired,
whereby it may be turned round from either of those points so as to place all the
clutches under the carriages in gear at once.
It will now be understood that if the train be in motion, and the aforesaid
longitudinal shaft be turned round to the required extent by the appliance
provided for that purpose at any of the aforesaid points in the train, the clutches
under all the vehicles will be put in gear with their respective chain-drums, which
will immediately begin to revolve with the wheel axles on which they are placed,
their chains will be wound upon them, and the springs to which the opposite ends
of those chains are fixed will be stretched, the effect of which will be to turn the
counter or weigh-shafts to which the springs are secured, and thereby all the brako
blocks will be pressed against their respective wheels. When the clutches are
thrown out of gear, the springs are relaxed and the brake blocks removed from
the wheels.
In the event of the train breaking in two, the automatic action of the brakes is
secured by counterweights applied to the shaft under each vehicle, so as to turn the
said shaft (immediately it is liberated by the breaking of the train) in the direction
required for putting the clutches in gear, whereby the brake blocks are applied as
before described.