IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND IN BRAKE APPARATUS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th November 1870. A communication
from abroad by Lawrence Odell Rost, of East Minneapolis, Minnesota, United
States of America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND
IN BRAKE APPARATUS FOR THE SAME." A communication.
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of railway carriages,
and the devices for carrying and applying the brakes, its object being to prevent
the carriages from leaving the rails or road bed if the wheels should jump or run
into a misplaced switch, or a rail become broken, to prevent travellers from falling
under the wheels should they miss their footing in entering or leaving the carriages,
to assist in stopping the train should the carriages leave the rails, and to enable the
brakes to be more effectively and expeditiously applied when it is desired to stop
the train than the brakes beretofore in use.
The said safety runners consist of narrow hars of steel or iron secured by bolts to
a triangular brace, which is in turn secured by bolts to the pedestals of the truck.
Each runner is braced to the bottom of the truck by means of a brace bar, which is
bolted to the bottom of the truck at one end, and at its other end to the runner, and
each end of the said runner is curved upward, and then extended longitudinally to
form a seat or bearing for the brake beans.
The runners are constructed with a longitudinal groove, offset, or shoulder along
their lower edges, and a lateral shoulder above the first-named shoulder, which will
rest and ride upon the rails in case the wheels leave the track, and act to prevent
the bumping of the carriages, or their jumping over the ties, which would damage
the same and injure the passengers, and at the same time the said shoulder serves
to greatly strengthen the runner. The said runners as thus constructed form a firm
support for the brake beams, the ends of the runners being connected by a flat
transverse iron bar set in a groove on the under side of the brake beam, and con-
structed with downwardly projecting shoulders resting on each side of the safety
runners, and thereby preventing the lateral spreading of the runners.

page_text: Two standards are attached to the horizontal extension of the runners, and
between them the ends of the brake beam work. These brake beams extend trans-
versely from runner to runner, and are provided at each end with a spring bearing
against the inner standards, by which they are thrown out from the wheels. The
brake shoes are secured to the brake beams directly opposite the wheels of the
truck, and are connected by. means of a link and lever, by means of which they
can be drawn towards each other in order to exert pressure upon the wheels of
the car.
It is evident that the shoulder, offset, or groove on the lower edge of the runner
may be dispensed with, the runners being simply plain bars of iron or steel, and it
should also be observed that the runners can be arranged on the inside of the wheels
as well as on the outside.